Mother Nature: Our Wise Counsel and Coach in Aspirational Leadership

0:00 The topics and opinions express in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. What's working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their highest potential. Business can be such a force for good in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we all want working on Purpose. Now here's your host, doctor Elise Cortes.

1:04 Welcome back to the Working in a Purpose program, which has been brought to you with passion and pride since February of twenty fifteen. Already, thanks for tuning in again this week. Great to have you. I'm your host doctor at Least Cortes. If we have not met before and you don't know me, I'm a workforce advisor, organizational psychologist to management consultant, LOCO therapist, speaker and author. My team and I, Augusta now help companies to enliven and fortify their operations by building a dynamic, high performance culture, inspirational leadership and nurturing managers activated by meaning and purpose. And did you know that inspired employees outperform their satisfied peers by factor of two point twenty five two one. In other words, inspiration is good for the bottom line. You can learn more about us now. We can work together at gustodashnow dot com or my personal site at last Cortes dot com. We have with us today two amazing women.

1:50 We have Funke Michaels, a dynamic leader with a rich cultural heritage, seamlessly blends her Nigerian and Kenyan roots with global perspectives. As an MIT Slung Fellow and Harvard Mason Fellow, Funke remains committed to fostering development through academia, entrepreneurship and innovation, making her a sought after voice in international forums and educational settings. She joined today from Newcastle in the United Kingdom, also with us IS Absining. She is a seasoned entrepreneur and technology enthusiast with global leadership experience. She's a Senior Innovation Platform Officer at the African Development Bank, where she manages the Innovation and Entrepreneur Lab Entrepreneurship Lab. She's also the founder of jeter a DO Bank. I love that DO Bank, not a think tank, but a do bank, empowering growth entrepreneurship in twenty five plus African countries. She's also a content creator behind Productivity Planners, Serendipity and Spiritualies podcasts showcasing your dedication to innovation, education and social change in Africa. She joins it today from Senegal. Decar Ladies a hearty welcome to Working on Purpose. I'm so happy to have you. Bothy's slightly slightly enthusiastic to have you here. Now, let's just let's celebrate this beautiful thing that the two of you brought into the world. Look at this beautiful book.

3:08 It's gorgeous. Ah. We'll get into. More of really why I think it's so clever and special and distinctive as we go. But let's just first let our listeners and viewers who haven't met you or known you quite yet the way that I have, just get a little bit of glimpse of each of your backgrounds. If you could just talk a bit about your early work, your leadership experiences, and why they. Contribute to you. Wanted to write a book that is anchored in what we can learn from mother nature. I always say that I've been fortunate to work with amazing women, and our presence here is a testament to that, because I used to work without that, and we work together on the team at chams On and learning from people is the key to leadership. Really, no matter where you find yourself, whether you're sitting on the floor of the market in Canoe or you're sitting in a boardroom presenting you know your brand's plan for the next year, you need to understand people.

4:07 And I believe that all the places. I've worked in, at one point or the other, I have been fortunate enough to be in. The company of amazing women. Out my hand, They've given me shoulders to lean on, They've given me shoulders to climb on to get ahead, and many of them are lifetime friends. As well, I says here to testify. So I think that for me, this book came out of what I've seen, what I've received, and what I sought to give every class that I taught, I looked up for women like myself, people who wanted to do something and do it differently. And I think that's why Outside and I became friends, because I walked into the office and I saw someone that I could relate with.

4:48 And it makes all the difference in the world. Sure does. Yeah, and Egoing, what's fun? She just said, you know, there is an amazing journey that we also need to start developing right now. It's that in a conversation with oneself as women, should we be in business, or as a mother, or as a woman or as a wife, we tend to doubt a lot. And I think it's always good to be reminded of how strong we are, and that in a conversation needs to start early enough, because at no point of time at school or even within our own families, we are told or reminded that we need to have that conversation with ourselves to be appreciated.

5:29 And it's a tough conversation, by the way, and you'll discover that in the book, but it starts with that beautiful if I were to use that anology with the mother nature, you know, the caterpillar transformation is very tough. It's not easy. You know, we see the butterfly and all, but it requires that we ask ourselves the real question. And I hope we'll have the opportunity during this podcast to also develop feel of the techniques we use during that journey Thanky and I that we are mentioning in the in the book. I want to celebrate something that's in your book as well that I just experienced as well. Last week, I had the opportunity to mc a women's conference called Thrive in twenty five. It was in Chicago last week and our out speaker is a woman named Aaron Gallagher, and she her whole thing is she has a book coming out in October called Hype Women, and it's something about spearheading the karma economy. And essentially what she's putting forward is, you know, we as women have an opportunity to support each other and also to influence each other in terms of how it is we choose with whom we choose to do business, and when we choose to do business to support other women. Now we strengthen their economies and give a greater voice to them. And I think that also speaks to a lot of the spirit of what I got from your book. Yes, more to come on, Aaron Gallagher. She's amazing.

6:50 Okay. So one of the things that I thought was really interesting up so you talk about when you were working at PNG, it was an extraordinary experience for you, and you said it was one of your very first journeys through human capital development. And I really appreciated, because I do so much work helping organizations build their culture and their leadership, that they had a motto that they really stood behind, that you that really meant something to you and shaped you, and that motto was Promises Made Promises. Yeah. Yeah, how that experience formed you and why it was so important to you. No, starting with P ANDNG, and first of all, I've had the chance and me made where's the extreme honor of working for companies that are centuries right, one hundred years in avolve, which means that ethically we're talking about sustainability and working for PNG has been an extraordinary experience.

7:43 I mean, my very first journey as a professional, and I get in that office and I see that you know, the sentence promises made from it is kept. To me didn't mean much until I started embracing the value of the company. It went beyond a motto. Really it was really it was not a slogan. It was something I really wanted to leave by and I saw how the company was honoring commitments and how we were developing people. How beside the fact that we were trying to sell something, we were also trying to have a huge sense of response sabity in the countries that we were covering. And for me, it goes back to that connection. I was talking about how do you connect to values and purpose, these values that drive you in a way or in a context that you can even strike beyond the storms and feel of the crisis that you might be going through.

8:45 And for me it was important because I was extremely young when I joined Procterian Gamble and that's how my leadership journey started with integrity and commitment. And now that I'm working for the public sector, I'm dealing with government now more than ever, I can really value the sense of having promises made from it is kept even to the citizens that we are trying to serve in the countries and the governments we are trying to support, And life is all about that at the end of the day. If we don't have valuies, if we don't nurture ethics in this world, so what do we have at the end of the day.

9:25 I really got it as a through line. This is like the heartbeat of the company that you all could feel connected to it. You know, it informed how your heart actually worked. And I think that's so powerful And I just couldn't help starting our conversation by celebrating that because so many organizations are missing that and they have an opportunity to create that anchoring force. The way you experienced it abs absolutely. And I don't know which of the two of you this was. I think it might be you two apps. But that whole story that you talk about, and this is the value. This is the other thing about pulling from talent from across the globe that has had wildly diverse experiences and their work experiences, how they grew up. But that story of you know, being working in this city for your new job and being under your bed because there was a robbery going on next door. Your mother actually called and you were, you know, slowly enough to be able to you know, not to not to concern her and just simply passed it off as fireworks. And you say that it really forged you as a leader and made you tough. I should say, who was that which with the two pie?

10:32 Was that experience? That was me? Again? You know. The reason why this this story is quite funny is because I was telling her and she was laughing about us again and saying, you you're not serious. But to be very honest, I think it. What it tells us is that we will have to leave top situations and going through the storm. As Funkie was mentioning, we tend to, you know, with the social media, to put it all out right, living in a sense of drama. You know, let me make it concerning so that people can get on me and I'll be the show in the town. Here, it was a bit different. I was going through a situation which I know that if I was to tell my mom she would just ask me, oh, girl, take the first plane and get back home, right. But I was like, she's my first she's my supports system as of today, by the way, but I'm learning to take care of her emotions the way I would want her to take care of mine. And it goes back that exchange between women. We don't necessarily want to hurt. We don't necessarily want to be in a position where I'm adding a burden on your shoulder. As my sister, I want to be a relief.

11:51 And I have to say so before you continue. Part for interrupting you what you experienced that evening. That was my life growing up. That's my snity. The city that forced me wow. So it takes a lot to scare me because not what aara normal. By the time I met Upster, it was so Nigerian that we could convert and we could converse in several languages and people couldn't tell the difference because we could make the same references. She could talk about places in my city. I took got places in our city. And that helped us to work together over the years. And I'm talking almost twenty years now. Right absolutely, And you know that chapter when I'm starting by telling the story and by saying that I didn't need I needed my mom to be there for me.

12:39 So if I was to scare her, no one would listen to me when I would come and cry at the end of the day. So I needed to keep her safe so that when I'm coming back in the evening, tired, sick and tired and really willing to get out of this down, she would still be there, calm and quiet enough to you know, bring me back to where I mean it to be. So I needed her to be one hundred persons available for me. So I needed to protect her. Now the other side of the story that Funky has brilliantly presented, and I wanted to invite her at some point. You know, I learned to be a child. When I came back in that car, I came with an accent, an English accent. They call it broken English because I had to break my perfect, you know, UK style of English. And my manager called me after I want to see you. I say, okay, and as motawakia, I'm saying hi. By the way. He said this would work.

13:38 I said, what wouldn't work? Say the way you're speaking? So how am I speaking? You're you're speaking English or something, but we don't get it. You know. Remember I'm leaving the car, so it's a front compone country. I literally had to adapt and forget about my English, my French and embrace agility, embrace the culture that I was living in in order to be able to survive. Did I like it? Not at all? Did I do the job? Of course I did. So That's why I came back home with all the glory and all the glory and all the status. But it was tough. And that paragraph is meant to teach us that for us to be able to surrender and be a Chile, we need to protect our support system my mom in this case, but we need to be a child and embrace the environment that we're living in.

14:37 That is so powerful, abscess so powerful. And then I want to take it another step further and just sit to it. I'm going to I want to read from a little bit from the forward of your book here because I want our listeners and viewers to understand just how much richness and depth your book and its content polls on. So I want to read that really quick for our leaders or our listeners and viewers and then let one of you or both of you comment on it. But so this is from Amina Gurub Fakim. She is a PhD. And she's the president of or maybe the former president of the Republic of Maritius. She says, I have always been passionate about sustainable development and women empowerment. I have used my scientific background to add value to our rich heritage that has been handed over to us by our elders. Phototherapy, medicinal plans, especially indigenous ones in our region, and our unique biodiversity have all helped to forge my career pathway. I've always believed in operating at the intersection of science, environment, and leadership, and this is the reason why I believe that this book provides invaluable insights for any woman seeking to develop her leadership journey.

15:42 It offers a refreshing perspective on how aligning with nature can inspire authenticity, innovation, and a deeper connection to both ourselves and the world around us. That is so incredibly beautiful. Thank you, thank you. Yes, and we're also taking Liseo ortunity to thank her, because you know, I've had the privilege and the honor of meeting. Also, I was posting it on LinkedIn this morning. Missus Ellen Erlis Johnson excellence. She was the very first president women president in Africa the Way. Also missus Aninazi Vakim has also paid the Way in Mauritius. And what it tells us is that we have something in common.

16:34 Should we be women in power, women in leadership, women leading in general. We have that inner sense of responsibility and we are driven by purpose. And I love the podcast. I'm like, this is exactly the podcast we need. To part of right. We work in purpose and that's part of who we are, our identity as women. And if there is one thing, one thing I would want our listeners to think about and start thinking about as we go through this podcast, is how can I develop that inner strength in me?

17:18 That deep power I have that is just waiting to be awakened and to be understood or to be utilized. That is sleeping now. And I think Fanky had the same aha moment when we decided to write this book. And thank you to Veneicia Gino, the lady who introduced us to her excellence I mean of good facing. I have to say that then writing that book was not deliberate. It was a rather difficult. Time for me. I had packed up my family, we left Boston and the US and we moved to Kenya to do two things.

18:05 I had written an agricultural education policy strategy document during my Harvard days with the guidance of professor one of my professors who we have lost now and it's still. Very very painful to us. Callista's Juma was his name, and Callistus encouraged me to go back to Kenya. When we went back, we didn't anticipate the antagonism that we were going to meet, and we got there and so. We essentially lost everything. And in that moment, I realized that losing that investment and we took our four O one k. We took everything.

18:45 It set us at a point where we needed to understand that this was a paradigm shift. We could not use Harvard knowledge, we couldn't use Mit technology. Here we have We had come to the land and I had to pay respects to the land and its people, understand it sculture before we could begin to build. We needed to make that social foundation first. So then I decided to take my skills and invest them in the people. I went to teach, and technically I thought for free. While teaching, I met people who were entrepreneurs, young starters, restarters of scalers, and.

19:30 They would ask for help. They couldn't afford marketing help, but I gave it to them. Now at least some of these people would come and pay me in yogurt, in kegs of yogurt, in onions, in corn, in potatoes, and they were always welcome up my home. I had Massie who would bring me fresh milk. They'd bring it in the mornings. And I got a community, I got people. I became a Kenyan. It became possible for me to start to build, and I began to build around that knowledge when I began to teach people. By the time COVID nineteen happened and we were all grounded, I had already been teaching online for about two years, and in that time I was able to gather all of these things into pieces that were well. They made sense to me, but they also needed to make sense to someone else who would get me and whom I needed to complete this, and that woman was absent because during that time I was also gathering women together and helping them raise funds to keep their businesses alive in rural Africa.

20:43 So if you had a. Business that was supported by your community, you could come on that. Platform and we would vote and give you five. Hundred dollars, and to many people it was a lot of money. So Absa came on and she wowed everyone. She didn't just give the five hundred dollars for that session, she also gave them knowledge. She took those women onto Jedda and she transformed many mindsets. Even today, there are women that you know are in our network from that group. Now, this brought all of that ideas, those ideas together, and so we sat down and I would write and send it to Upsa.

21:24 She would fill up and send it back to me. I'd be like, oh wow, And then I'd write some more and send it back to her and You're like, oh yeah, we forgot to put that and they should send it back. It was such fun to do this work. While we were doing it, we were also. Having children and at some point moving countries. It's taken us three years to get to this point. Three excruciatingly painful for both of us in certain ways, yet very happy years because this book is like a child in and of itself. It's seeing it develop and form and be birth and be sin and being appreciate it. No, that is so beautiful. I'm so grateful to know both of you. Let us grab our first break and let our listeners and viewers just let us sink in just really who it is that they're keeping company with for this particular almost hour.

22:14 I'm your host, Doctor release Cortez. We've been on area with Funke Michaels and also Absa Ning Ningye. There are two dynamic women who have been up to all kinds of things, and they're decades long careers and are tapping into some really amazing knowledge and expertise that we're gonna learn more about it as we go along in the show. We'll be right back. Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies visioneer for a greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning imfuse cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at Elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes to reach our program today, or to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to Alise A Lisee at Eliscortes dot com. Now back to working on Purpose.

23:41 Thanks for stating with us, and welcome back to Working on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes. As I am dedicated to helping create a world where organizations thrive because there are people thrive and they're led by inspirational leaders that help them find and contribute their greatness. And we do business at Betters the World. I keep researching and writing my own books, so one of my latest came out. It's called The Great Revitalization, How activating meaning and purpose can radically and live in your business. And I wrote it to help leaders understand the lay of today's very diverse and discerning workforce. What do they want to need to give you their best and want to stick around? Then I give you twenty two best practices to fold into your culture to create that for them. You can find my books on Amazon or my personal site at least quotes dot com if you're just now joining us. My guests are Funke, Michaels and Absining. They are the authors of Modern Leadership inspired by mother Nature.

24:28 So on that note, I really want to applaud you as I did just before we got on air together. Is just I'm so delighted by the unique way that you've crafted your book and the message in it, and you're celebrating or I'm celebrating with you this idea of learning, learning and leading toward aspirational leadership. And so you provide an awful lot of different personas, perspectives scenarios in your book, and then you also situate them around you know, I think it's ten different animals, and then each of your chapters and has five key learnings that you can apply to remember and corporate incorporates in your everyday life. It's so it's so clever and so unique. So I just want to start by celebrating that where did this idea come from? Why would you go about this?

25:14 I'm a teacher's daughter, Okay, okay. This granddaughter, and I was taught things by five because it helped with strategy and with planning ys iver plans. Thanks to a tenure plan, it's easy for a child to learn things in fives. And if a child can remember, a grown up can remember. Now, ABSA should take all of the credit for the work in that workbook because she's done something similar with Jedda. It was easy for her to transfer that skill and distill from everything we've written together the key lessons and then put them in such a way that for those who've read the book and just you know, read through it, they can take the workbook and work through it. So we find ourselves straddling two horses very beautifully. You have the easy read, but you also have those who are serious and want to do some work with this. For them, that work book is like a strategy template that you can use to develop your own strategy.

26:24 And I think thank you is completely right. It always helps to come back and see who you were five years ago. The persons of it all is also to compile it all. So on the website that you're seeing on the on the banner here, we've compiled them all for you to be able after reading the book to come back again maybe two, three, four, five years time, ten years time and check the answers you had given back then and see how you are growing up. Because at the starting point, I was mentioning the importance of having that in a conversation with yourself without fear, without question, without judgment, but just yourself, asking yourself simple questions and responding to them. And there is that funny thing, and we'll come to that. When you mentioned the ten person is, a lady came to me and say, this book is just transgenerational. I'm like, what do you mean? She said, I went through the book and I thought I was done with it. But my daughter, she has three daughters, came in and started coloring the person. Yeah, and then the two other daughters started competing, and now they asked to their mother to explain what the book was about.

27:40 Wow, and she is. Telling me now see me, see me going through the book and now explaining what the book is to my daughters. I'm like, wow. I could have ever imagined that this book could speak to different generations all at the same time. It comes partially, I guess from the relationship we have Thankie and I, you won't feel the age difference. But what you didn't mention is that it's also a call for sorority because she was my second line manager, and that's a crazy part part of it. I'm like, well, we knew each other because she was sitting in South Africa.

28:29 I was sitting in Senegal. We were both working for a Korean company. You'll see which what's the name of the company. Then now I'm sitting in Victoria, South Africa and she's sitting in the UK. But two lessons here. Number one, what it does take from a manager to recognize the value of people she works with. It's not very common, so I think it's something commendable that we need to remind. And the second thing is sorority. It was not easy to work together. Three she had her I'm like, Frank, know what you got. We gotta finish this book. You are going to finish this book. I know, excuse I don't want to hear anything. You're still born.

29:17 I'm still born. I've been in Nigeria. You will finish this book. And you know there were challenges, you know, health issues here. When I was promoting the book, I was heavily pregnant. She was at the hospital. You know, it was kind of a crazy environment. But I think it's also important in each of these personals to see that sorority is also important and humility is important in the learning past. Yeah, and what was that you Funke who drove yourself to the hospital to deliver your child. You're at Harvard, and you're like, I don't want to disrupt anything, and I'll destructed anything. I got this.

29:57 You know you're in labor on driving yourself. Yeah, Okay. Of twin girls they are now, there'll be eleven in about a month, and they did read the book actually, and then we have that conversation because at the age that they are now, I began my womanhood training, and I was raised by agreet On, a sage who raised. Me in five languages. She was my paternal grandmother and she sat on the seat of Yaami in her generation. So for many reasons, we are trained beyond our academic qualifications up sir and eye, and these things pass on to our children and incidentally to those around us one way or the other. If you're friends with me or you're my colleague, you all find that my culture will touch you one way or the other beautifully.

30:53 This is so stunning. I know I'm never going to let you to go, but let's do this. Let's take our last break now, because I want to finish the conversation by really focusing on just some of the beautiful gems about what we can learn from the different animals that you showcase in your book. It's just so beautiful. So let's grab our last break really quick. I'm doctor release Cortez. We've been on the air with Michaels and Absining. We've been talking a bit about just have the richness of what informs this book's message and their own experiences and really the idea of we're empowering women. We're helping to develop a sorority for them to connect into and grow from and draw strength from. So after the break, we're going to take you into this very rich experience of how they have derived key learnings for aspiracial leadership from the various animals so that they showcase. We'll be right back.

31:58 Doctor Elise Cortez is a man consultants specializing in meaning and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author. She helps companies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite a lease to speak to your organization, please visit her at Elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your employees working on Purpose. This is Working on Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to Elise Alise at Elisecortes dot com. Now back to Working on Purpose.

32:50 Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program. This is Atlas Cortez, your host. As you know by now that this program is dedicated to empowering and inspiring you along your journey to realize more of your potential. If you want to learn more about how we can work together and see into about the Gusto Now Academy, which we've just now stood up, you can go to gustodesh now dot com and then go to the training tab to learn more about the academy and what we're doing there. If you are just joining us. My guests are fun K, Michaels and Apsining. They're the authors of Modern Leadership Inspired by Mother Nature, which is what we're going to talk about next. So we have to first talk about the unassuming bee. And I like how you really focus on what we can learn from bees in terms of their cooperation which is not competitive, and also the way they use information.

33:35 Yes, absolutely, I believe that. Sorry, darling, were you going to go ahead? No? No, no, go ahead. I believe that my. First conscious lesson in cooperation came from MIT and Steven Saka was the name of my. Director during the soone Fellows program. Since Stak looked at one hundred plus young, unimaginably smart people. If you thought you were smart, you got into that class and you got quiet because these were smart people. And he said to us, you don't need to prove anything to anyone. You're here to learn to cooperate with one another.

34:18 So it's not about competition, it's about cooperation because you cannot influence and affect the world if you do not cooperate with one another. It doesn't matter how brilliant you are. If you can't work together, then the world is in trouble. And so we've taken that. In that analogy, we found a Bees. They have such similars hierarchy, and everyone knows what everyone needs to do, and everyone supports the other. It's what I've I was talking about in this sense of sorority. Now. When I was during my Harvard degree a period I had to decide whether I was going to go to school or be a mother, and it was not an easy decision to make.

35:01 My husband was working full time. And I had to go to school full time because you don't do half classes with Harvard. But my father came through for us. My dad flew in from Nigeria. He took care of my son, who at that time was nine, and he took care of the babies when they came. So I wasn't just driving to the hospital. I was driving to the hospital with my father sitting next to me. At that time, he was in his mid seventies and he was with me all the way as I was willed in before my husband arrived. In that part where my classmates as well, I am talking about dozens of people who came together and cooked in their homes as their families, and then brought the food every single day so that I didn't have to worry about cooking. In fact, we had friends who would just call and say, what do you guys feel like for next week? And that's the kind of support that helped me to get through a rigorous Harvard degree with three children, two of whom happened to be premi twins. Because the twins came prematurely, we had no breaks, We had no holidays.

36:14 We took care of our babies, and we were only able to do it because we lived like a hive. Our neighbors, our friends, We had caretakers, caregivers everywhere. My classmates would come to the house and come wash babies and feed them and do laundry. It was a beautiful time. It could only have been that way because we were bees. No, that's beautiful, is saying. And while going through this chapter, I think it's important to ask yourself two questions. Who are you nurturing and who nurtured you? Yeah? As women? You know, I'm an advocate of women empowerment, but I need to pay this through. Yeah, most of us women do not support other women and it's just the brutal truth and we need to accept it. I do accept the truth. That's how I get, you know, to perform and to succeed what I'm doing. And the truth is that it's not common to see women supporting women. And after this chapter, the reason why I'm mentioning specifically the Nana Benz story, I consider them as an icon. Nana Bents were saleswomen in Toto and they were called bends because you know, they were driving methods tents and I'm explaining the whole story. But they did write history in the sense that they were one of the first women becoming entrepreneurs in Africa and having that power and that empowerment.

37:45 Who are really trying to build a game decades after you know, their generations has done. And to me, if after this paragraph, the listener or I'm saying listener, but the reader is through, identify two or three people they're supporting and two or three people they've supported, or you know, mentors and mentors type of relationship, it would be amazing because we don't take enough time to recognize the ones who did lift us up, and as women, we need to identify them and say, oh, you know what, doctor Allis gave me that opportunity when I need a little more.

38:33 And we also need to be able the way funk you was also selling that story of the women we support it with five hundred dollars and mentorship to say I don't remember everyone. To be very honest, you know, we are thousands and thousands of volunteers and Jeter has supported such a lot of people starting the age of eight so that they can grow up with that entrepreneurial mindset. I can't recognize them all and they can recognize me when I you know, going out on TV, etc. But what you keep in mind is this impact the same. It remains. They'll never ever forget. They will never ever forget.

39:15 And if we're able to have that ripple effect, And that's why we're talking about the hive and how structured the hive is, how structure is that I'm not competing with you. You're good at what you're doing. I am your first supporter, but recognize that I'm also good in what I'm doing, and support me when I need you. So that's the type of message we want to drive in this in this spetific paragraph, I. Think one thing, sorry Elise, and just quickly odd. One thing that we've noticed is that people, because we speak as women and we address a primarily feminine audience, people assume that we're speaking only to women, but we're not.

39:56 The truth is I am who I am because I am my father's daughter. This is how he raised me to be. And it's the same thing with Upset because I know her story. In spite of the fact that we're from matrilineal families and from very strong matrachial communities. We are our father's daughters. It takes a man to stand behind a young woman and say this one, let's go. I'm right behind you, and she'll have that confidence. So I ask people, don't wait until it's your daughter. It could be your knees, it could be the girl next door, it could be you know, someone at church, someone at school. Give a girl some steal in her spine, she'll not forget it, and you'll be helping the world.

40:40 Yeah, and that's why we start with bees and we slightly move to the next animal. That's the end. Amazing animal. Well, I learned so much about nature, and I revere nature too, But just a couple of things about the end that I thought were interesting. Just I love that the message in there that you are not too small, and that ants can carry things on their head and they can carry four times their weight. It just all kinds of amazing things that you think about this little humble ant can do. So let's hear a bit about what we can learn from the ant. I think for me the biggest thing is the sharing, the fact that I can regorgitate of my knowledge, of my financial power, of my counsel good advice, the benefits and harvests of my education, and I can share those with my sisters now, because often say this to women that I meet, Because people like myself have walked through those like Mit and Harvard, the rest of you who are home can also walk through. So we have come with all that we've learned. Because Alsa has walked in all of these places and learned from all these places and gained all of this knowledge. Those who come behind also have it because she does.

41:56 If we are the ants that we're supposed to be, then what I. Have learned is what you have learned. It should then benefit us. It should be a quantum benefit to all of us. Who are within this ecosystem. And really two lessons here, really echoing what Funky has just said. You're not too small means don't let people to judge you based on what you look like physically or what you think or there is no ridiculous idea. I'm into innovation, and what I learned first was there is no good or bad idea. There are just ideas that you can turn into something amazing or into impact.

42:43 That's one. So don't worry about how you're seeing. You are as great as you see yourself when you look at yourself in the mirror, you're not too small. And the second lesson when we started with the bees, we did put an emphasis on the importance of identifying who is doing what the structure, who is in charge of what, who is good at what? Who is wake up what? Here? The lesson is to measure the weight of the burdens from it yourself to carry, so that you know what this one can take. You remember the support system with my mother, I know what she can carry. We can't carry hearing, you know, guns around her daughter. So I was like, let me handle that part that I know I can still keep on my shoulders and let me ask her to do the rest, meaning to remind me of why I am in this journey, to keep cheerleading me.

43:45 It's important. We carry too much on our shoulders and we tend to forget to find a leading hand or someone who can really support us. So so powerful ladies, and we of course there is ten different animals that you showcased, and we only talked about two. I would love I have to talk about octopus and if we have time, owls a bit about each because those are two animals that I just really really revere. Which one would you like to talk about? Owls are octopus, I'll take the owl. I'll let also take the octopus again, because she has the three hearts of the octopus, and I have the. Sight of the owl. Okay, Now, the owl is my favorite of all of this because from.

44:26 Times before us, the owl has been revered as a symbol of wisdom, of foresight, of knowledge beyond the ordinary, of ability to you know, swivel that neck and see all around you. And these are gifts that Mother Nature made to the owl for a particular reason. Because the owl straddles both the day and the night. This is the character that I see wherever I might find myself, whether it's a bright, sunny meadow or it's in the dark of the valley. I need to understand that my site allows me to see beyond where I'm at and zero in on what I want to achieve, and achieve it by focusing on it.

45:11 Now, what do I do differently? I surround myself without like people, people who can also see, and who can tap in when they don't see what they see that I see. They can tap into my side and get to see what I'm looking at now. I believe that the. Perfect example is when I first met Absa, she didn't know what kind of person I was going to end up being, but I knew the kind of person she was gonna end up being because I could see the beginning of that amazing person. And today I feel I've been proven right everything I've seen and watched her do. And I've watched her over the years, sometimes in her face, telling her you need to do this, you need to finish this, you need to sign up for this, and sometimes just behind just you know, chilling, and sometimes I'm the predictor. I say to her, this is going to happen to you, and she's amazed because.

46:03 It does happen. Now, I need people like that around me who can key into my dream and into whose dreams I can also key in. And this is where it comes. It becomes from inside of one to the outside of all. I'll let her take the octopus from there, perfect and. We've got maybe two minutes max. Maybe it's a mine and a half. Yes, perfect. Now. The only is my is my best friend's favorite animal. I've never understood that. And I got to love the old things To thank you but she's completely right, you know, with octopuses, I wanted to explain how we as women were very unique in our way of feeling things. Octopusons have three herds. So sometimes we love something, sometimes we down't, sometimes we hate it. We're not easy to understand. But that's what is the beauty of us being as a whole, with our nine brains as octopus. Very important point here is really to learn to understand your emotional intelligence. The whole paragraph is about emotional intelligence. And I had someone phoning me today and saying, you know this Octopus's chapter, you know that paragraph. I just I went through it and I really again and I went back and read. I'm like, I asked you three weeks ago, you were still at this octopus. What's wrong?

47:27 And she said, whenever I'm reading it, I'm having a post it and I'm explaining a story of me doing something I didn't understand, and now I understand why I'm doing it. I'm just an octopus. I'm like, okay. So the beauty of it is also to understand that emotional intelligence doesn't happen overnight. You need to call the experts. You need to call people like you know and I love what you do with Gusto. Now, doctor Alian, that's exactly that's how do you pick within the personalities that you have, what's to strengthen, what to develop, how to level up the strength that you have and you know, evolve into a community. But also as a human being, it's important that you know what you want, what you want to do in your career, and that starts now.

48:21 And it's important that you start nurturing that emotional intelligence. This is so beautiful, ladies. I could go on and on. Let's do this. Let's let each of you just close with a little something that you just want to share or say. In about fifteen twenty seconds, ooh. Thank you. Right, this is a class I teach. For me, life is about legacies. It's about the stories that reached into me and got me where I am today, and the stories that come from within me and will get other people to where they're going tomorrow. I believe that for each one of us, especially those who actually pick up this book and read it, we will realize that we're on a journey, and this journey is the most giventful one that we could ever be on. It's a journey of life. And Mother Nature is giving it to us.

49:09 That's my little piece. Beautiful, beautiful. Now I plead them with three verbs, really three simple verbs. Align, Adapt, amplify, Align with yourself, adapt with the ecoses steps, and amplify your impact so that it's a ripple effect. It's just not you, it's so many, many, many other people around you. Oh Asa. It is such a complete delight to know both of you. Two have been inspired by you, to be educated by you. I thank you so much for coming out, working in purpose and sharing who you are and what you've learned over your decades of life. It is an honor to know you both. Thank you, honor, and thank you for having us.

49:53 For sure, listeners and viewers, you are going to want to learn more about fun Ke, Michaels and Absa Ning they and their book Modern Leadership Inspired by Mother Nature. Just to start, just to get acquainted, I want you to go to their website. It's Women Wisdom Nature dot com. Women Wisdom Nature dot com. You can find both of them on LinkedIn as well, so check them out. Last week you've missed the live show, you can always catch it be a recorded podcast wherever you get yours. We were on air with Rich Fernandez and Carolina Lasso talking about their book Purpose Reset, How connecting to what matters Most drives fulfillment and performance. We talked about how individuals, teams, and organizations benefit from a purpose Reset to align what they are good at, why they do it, and who they wish to impact. Next week will be on air with Wendy Liptendibner talking about her book What Matters Most How leaders build impassioned engagement, unrivaled loyalty, and boundless growth by measuring real world impact. In other words, her message and book are about enabling leaders to help individual team members see the through line of their performance and contribution to what really matters to them. See you, then, remember work is one of the best adventure and means of realizing our potential and making the impact we crave and give us to new business and that betters the world.

51:07 So let's work on Purpose. We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes each week on W four CY. Together we'll create a world where business operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion, performance and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the meaning and purpose. They crave see you there. Let's work on purpose.