Alisha Leytem: Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Unlock Your Well-Being. I'm your host, Alisha Leytem, and we have a really exciting guest joining us today.
He has a really incredible story and background that I think you will all really be interested to hear and really pick up on a lot of beautiful wisdom and advice for how you can become a better leader for yourself and for everyone else around you. His name is Enrique.
He's a CEO of Triad Leadership Solutions LLC and he has served as an executive, veteran, advocate, board member, non-op administrator, a speaker, Mentor, coach, and avid volunteer. Over the past 20 years he has held numerous executive adviser and Senior positions while serving in the United States Navy and civilian sector.
Through education and training he's helped strengthen organizations providing sound decision support and creating open communication at all levels. He’s also helped formulate and implement policies concerning moral, welfare, job satisfaction, discipline, and training of personnel. He has so many awards and accolades.
He has his own podcast, he’s written books, he's going to tell us all these things. But we've connected over on LinkedIn, which you guys hear me talk about on LinkedIn all the time on pretty much every episode. And so he's had me on multiple shows. You have a Friday live so he's had me on a few months ago and I'm so excited to have him on our show.
So welcome Enrique!
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: Thank you Alisha. Thank you for that long introduction. So grateful to be end of service on the leadership front but people sum it all up servant leaders just fine but I really love people. I love to see them develop, but thank you for having me.
Alisha Leytem: Thank you for being here. So I really would like to open up with you telling us a little bit more about your story and your background and how you started from the Navy to where you are now.
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: It was 26 years, I'm going to give you the clipped off real quick, 18 decided that the military was the best option at the time and Puerto Rico. Not too much movement in my community, so I said you know what, we had to make something better than this. And so I did, I joined the military. Meteorology and Oceanography, I did that for 26 years and a lot of great opportunities to follow first and then learn how to lead.
Until I take those practices and those experiences with me onto what I do now which is leadership development. I am so grateful to have all of that background to get me where I've been.
Alisha Leytem: How do you feel like serving that many years has helped you become a leader and now help others to become a leader?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: Well the root word there or the keyword there: serving. And it is at the heart of military service, right? We are serving our nation, we are serving our constituents of our state. We're serving our family.
We're always in service mode and if there's anything that you learn while in the military is how to serve. We see a stark difference when we leave the military to the civilians table because it almost seems like this more of a receive and then a serve.
But there are organizations and people of like mind and like heart that share that service mentality and service heart. And so, you know, it was easy to transition to using that servant methodology or that servant model to what I'm doing now because as a consultant you are serving. Your answering service provider, you are serving. But I mentioned this thing of followership.
A lot of leaders that are in the positions right now have never learned to follow. They've been great performers, but skip the follow step. They just jumped over that one, that just takes too long. Being a servant in the military taught me how to follow, which taught me how to be a good leader and continues to serve me even in leadership, learning how to follow it is important.
Alisha Leytem: Yes! Okay I love this because I think this is really important. Because I don't really hear people talking about this very often at all, right? Which is you have to learn to be a follower before you can be a true great leader.
Tell me more about what following really means and how that ultimately serves you and leading later on?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: So I liken it to a baby, right? When you have a baby while, you know, they're crawling, but first of all they're just lying there. You having a new baby can attest to that. At first they just lie there and you’re just happy to have them, but you know in you there’s this time table. That the world has set.
Your baby at this time should be pulling his head up. Your baby by this time is pushing their way. So there’s these time tables that we have set across the board that signifies competency and the ability to do something else.
It's funny that we use that in a humanistic model, but we voided from a leadership model. We teach people how to run and never how to crawl or walk. And we're always demanding the run, right?
You need to take charge, and you need to do this, then you need to do that. And unfortunately with that type of scenario and that type of environment you tend to learn how to skip steps.
I tell my son all the time when he's coming up and down the stairs he's skipping two or three at a time. I did that when I was younger and I just want to get up so I am skipping. And we follow that in Corporate America and corporate settings in corporate wherever, it’s not just America.
Because we kind of like speed to success. And sometimes the faster you go, the faster that you can fall. You won't ever know that your shoes were tied, you will never know that you stepped on your lace, you won't ever know.
And so the ability to learn how to step back and be under someone and learn what it takes and learn how it is better to listen than to speak. These are all things you learn as a follower. You learn that you don't have to say something every time. You learn that sometimes the loudest voice is the one that doesn't say a thing.
And so all these little things that you learn as a follower is almost an internship, right? It’s almost training and we tend to skip those. So, what I learned as a follower was that I needed to be the best follower that I could be, so that when I stepped into a leadership position I knew what that felt like. I knew what that looked like and I knew how to identify when someone was not being a good follower because eventually they would skip steps so many times that when they got to leadership they would not recognize that in their people, but they would continue to skip steps and almost stepped on people to continue to keep going.
So there's a lot that is a fundamental thing that you learn as a follower that if you skip, when you’re a leader you’ll become a bad one.
Alisha Leytem: Yes, yes! This is good. This is really good. Reminds me of my mentor, she would talk about this all the time and it really resonated with me as she said it. Remember the step that you're on, acknowledge the step that you’re on. And it’s not that any step is better or worse than the other, it just is what it is.
So honoring that and learning the lessons and the growth things that you need to in that step will then allow you to go to the next step, which will get you to the next step. But like you said If you're trying to get there too quickly, first of all what's the point of getting there too quickly? Because the whole point is the journey, right?
Like once you get where you think that you're going you realize it wasn't the getting or the receiving of the thing that you had. It was who you became along the way. And so if you're missing the lessons of what it is that you have to be learning on the stats of, you know, following and learning on the way to becoming the leader then are you truly embodying that, right?
And the other thing that this really reminded me a lot of is the importance of serving for your well-being. A lot of the conversation these days, at least from my perspective, is that we hear so much about you know crushing your goals and manifesting everything that you desire and you know having like the best dream life possible, but the conversation with that is so much of what are you getting? How can you get more, more, more, more, more, more, and then once you get those things because there are ways that you can do that.
You can crush those goals. You can get there really quick, like there are ways you can do that, but once you get there you end up feeling empty. You still have that hole within you that you're just like I'm still not really fulfilled. I still don't really like to reach the thing that I desired and a lot of that is because you haven't actually given what's inside of you. You haven't really come from that energy of I'm here to serve and I'm here to give my gift to the world. As a result you are going to receive, but if you're missing that part I'm here to serve then that's actually going to be detrimental to your overall health and well-being.
So those things I really come to mind I just love, love, love that you're talking about leaders really remembering to come from a place of service.
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: One of the greatest things we can learn as leaders is the power of the now and the power in staying still. There’s just so much power in those positions in life. That for the sake of the quick feeling of accomplishment because, you know, like I mentioned earlier we put time tables. The unfortunate part is that our world is structured around time tables, right? Should it take somebody's 6 years to get a bachelor's degree? I don't know. Is that the timetable for them then that's the time table for them.
But if they go, past four years we’re shaming them. What's wrong with you? I got that in or I got this and that. We always used that framework and frame a mind for everything we do. A young lady, 30 years old, single, doesn't have any children. If I start throwing those elements to describe a young lady already by the time I say the next thing. If I say a 30 year old woman that is single, people are already starting to say, okay, oh not married, oh no children.
Unfortunately that's the world we've created and the world we've risen in. And so in leadership it’s not that much different if I say oh this young man has been in logistics for 18 years. Never rose above it. What's so wrong about that trajectory?
If it's okay for them, you know, if it has served them and it has recalled their well-being. Has it served them well? Are they whole even though they didn't meet what Charlie and Bobby and Johnny did? Are they whole? Because I can guarantee you that those that have missed steps along the way and have gotten farther are not whole.
Alisha Leytem: Definitely. It's kind of like slow and steady is where the true success is. The quick overnight success can, as fast as you get there, as fast as I can fall, right?
So what's your tips and recommendations to help people who do feel like they're comparing themselves to that perceived time table, right? That culture gives us how can they kind of push that a side and still honor the stuff that they’re in?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: Well the first thing you have to do is acknowledge that there is a tactic. It exists. There is one. And then the next thing you have to acknowledge and remember is that you don't have to abide by it. That there is a distinction about you that does not fit that. That you are okay with not having one and you have to stabilize yourself before you go on, right? If I'm going on a marathon and I and I have flip flops or slippers, is what you call them in Hawaii, you know, I'm not going to get too far.
It's going to hurt, but if I calm down and say play okay what am I doing today? Am I running this race? Okay, well then I need to prepare myself. Number one is can I do this really? Do I have it in me to do it? If you have it in you to do it, okay what then to do I have the equipment to do it? Do I have the resources that halfway I can’t get through it and I am parched to death, I can have somebody give him some water, right?
So then that's all these things that you have to have a place, but the first thing is can I do it? Do you want to conform to a timetable that you never had a so in? You have to make a choice and if you choose to say okay I got to get this. Okay well you have already agreed to be on that time table but you don't necessarily have to.
So first I identify that there is a knowledge that there is a technology or participation. Because if you don't you will fall prey to it, but at least own the decision to be part of it. And then once you've owned a decision, are you making the proper concessions who have what you need to take you down that journey. Because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Especially if it's against your core. Against you and you have to own that piece, so own it. And that's what I would suggest.
Alisha Leytem: Absolutely that's great tips and advice. To me it seems like you're saying release the comparison. Acknowledge okay this pressure is here and also I choose to not allow that to affect me. I choose not to allow that to take me out. I choose to believe that I'm whole enough right now on the stuff that I am and where I'm at is exactly where I'm supposed to be.
I think that a lot of time if we, on our journey or whatever, you know, path that were on if we feel like we're not where we're supposed to be, or we feel like we should be somewhere else, or we should be further along, we should have that you know role, that position. Means that who we are and where we are right now isn't enough and that we’re not, you know, we're not whole unless we have that thing.
It's that very mindset, that belief system that's actually making you feel
unwhole when really it's just the mindset around that, right? If you can remove that it’s like, you're already whole, you are ready enough, like there's nothing that you need to do to earn “you're enoughness.” Just being alive means that you're enough.
Recognizing that we're all on our own unique path in our own unique story and you're right where you're supposed to be. And I think what I’ve seen with my clients over the years is when you give yourself permission to recognize that and honor that and say I am right where I'm supposed to be. All is well. All really is well and I'm just going to continue to do my best. You're starting to become kinder to yourself and when you're more kind to yourself you're actually learning the things that you need to on that step, which then helps you grow into the next up that you want to get into.
So we can't shame ourselves into growing very quickly. You have to have kindness and like you were saying acceptance and then the decision to believe what it is you're going to believe in order to move forward.
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: We often void ourselves from that opportunity. For the sake of answering the call and mail of others in our lives. Now there are external influences, right? We see them all the, time but you do not have to accept anything that you don't want. You don't have to. And knowing that you have that ability will empower you to make better choices for you. You know at the end of the day you have to be happy with you, even if it's just you.
Alisha Leytem: Yes. Exactly. I think that that is like the fundamental foundation for true well-being, right? You're good with you. You're content with you. You're your own best friend essentially. You're able to speak to yourself in a respectful, loving, manner. And doing that is truly the path to help you unlock that growth that you’re seeking and that you desire.
So tell me more about once you’ve done the work of being and learning what you need to as a follower. How do you know when it's time to shift into that leadership role? How do you know? Because I think on the flip side of this it's easy to stay in that follower role too long and not feeling like you're ready to get into that leadership role, right? So how do you know when the right time for you is?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: This is the beauty of being a great follower. It naturally transitions you into a leader. Others will admire what you do because they can't do it. And so once that admiration is birthed in the execution of your followership, you already become an influence and that is the point where you have become a leader.
Now the problem in followership is are you able to identify that transition. And not stay stuck in followership, right? Because the reality is that you never cease to follow. I pay my bills because I'm following the fact that I made this transaction now I owe and I need to pay, right? So you are always following. You driving down the street, hopefully you are following the law and stopping and letting people pass and things like that. But we never stopped following. But a leader is born through that natural process of becoming the best follower you can be. That's through admiration and inspiration and people putting their chips on you because you're showing the way. And it happens. The thing is, can you recognize it?
Alisha Leytem: Love that. Do you feel like you ever really stop becoming a follower?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: No, and I hope that nobody does. Because at the moment you stop following, you stop listening. The moment that you say I'm no longer a follower, I'm the leader here, you just shut your ears. At that point is where trouble brews for a leader. A leader that is unable to listen has lost. Without even getting into a conversation because people know when you have.
You're talking to somebody and they’re drifting off and looking on their phone. You're not really talking to them, you’re just talking to yourself, right? And so when leaders that are not willing to listen, show that. People know this guy is not in this for me. This gal is not in this for me. They’re just waiting for me to shut up so they can say something. And so you know so if you choose not to follow you’ve over already put a timetable on your longevity as a leader.
Alisha Leytem: Yes. It almost reminds me of when you stop learning, when you stop being a student, you stop growing, right? So you're always continuing to stay in the growth mindset because the second you stop being a follower you really start to close your mind and so you only really grow having the open mindset, right? The growth mindset.
Doing that I think when I told myself years ago as I started going on to my own, you know, personal growth journey I felt lit up by always learning. Learning, taking it in, following essentially. Following my mentors, following people who help me Unlock my Well-Being. So what they've all taught me is there is always a student and they'll never stop being a student and so it's just I love that it's an alignment with that open mindset. And I can see the visual of what you're saying of those leaders who have kind of gotten to the closed mindset and are on their phone and not really listening and you know that they're just waiting to be heard and they're not there to listen to you at all. With that you completely just close yourself off.
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: And I'll caution the followership piece with this. What differentiates a person that was a follower, great follower that has become a leader is it's not just that they can now execute at the leadership level. Instead you know when to engage followership versus leadership. You know when to be in a group setting, when to be a leader, or when to be a follower. Because every setting is going to be different for you. Everywhere we go. Everywhere I go I am not automatically the leader.
Now show me a void in leadership and I'll fill it, right? I'll fill it. But that doesn't make me automatically the leader. I go into situations first from a follower standpoint and perspective and then when the opportunity is there for me to execute my ability to lead then I do that. And you have to know the difference and that's usually what separates a person that has stepped into leadership they know that there's going to be times where you have to be the follower. But you have the capability in you to be a leader at a moment's notice, when needed, and appropriate.
Alisha Leytem: I love that. Do you think that’s something that can be learned? Is it something that you just have to practice and develop better self awareness of your surroundings and of knowing yourself well enough?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: This is something that you learn in followership. When you go into settings and you know that the old adage is that if you're the smartest person in the room you're probably in the wrong room. Goes to the point that when you got to a level that nobody can tell you something, first of all we don't want you in that room. Number one and then number two your head is probably too big to fit in the room anyways.
So when you learn how to follow, you learn to take cues. If you throw a leader into a scenario and they have not learned how to follow they can't take cues, they bulldoze people. They won't let people talk. Everybody's ideas turn into “oh we’ll take that into consideration.” Basically telling them thank you for sharing. And so a follower knows that they're are cues to indicate that their help is needed. There are cues to indicate sometimes when they're not needed, but they're poised to answer the call.
As you grow into leadership and you transition into that role where you may be a head of something you also know that even in the midst of having your team they are the first and focal point, so you start taking cues about what you hear, and what you see. Where your help is still needed. Not as a leader, but as a supporter.
That's why I said that transition facilitates from follower to leadership very nicely if you don't skip step because at the end of the day your people are requiring you to be able to take cues and knowing when your help is needed as a follower, not as a leader. As a supporter, not as a driver and so that's why I said, you know, you learn to take cues and execute it at that point.
Alisha Leytem: This conversation is making me think of everything that's really coming up right now. As leaders, recognizing when your team's health and well-being isn't in the greatest place. And so what I'm hearing you say is you are able to, as a follower, continue to be more aware of your team.
Instead of always being like this dictator and it kind of makes me think of I’ve had some leaders reach out to me and say my team is so stressed, right? There just so you know, stressed out and burnt out, and I need to bring someone in to help them. But they're not recognizing that they need to do it too. So then they'll come on to my training and they'll just kind of sit there on their phone and like you guys do what she says and it's kind of like what you're talking about. Just straight-up leadership without being open to learning and continuing to follow through leading as an example.
What's your advice for leaders listening who want to be more aware of the state of stress levels, of mental health, of all the well-being of their teams and doing that in a way that they can see? And then also their teams feel safe enough to come tell them when they're maybe not in the best place and that they need support?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez:
So there’s 3 things that I could categorize this. So if you use my team and you're not part of the restructure, if you're not part of the development, if you're not part of the healing, then that's not your team. So acknowledge that and then you'll be better off tomorrow, right? So number one. Number two there's this element of leadership that becomes “lie-dership”. If you tell me that's your team and your team tells me they can't stand you, you're not part of them, you’re lying. And it's easy to mix leadership and lie-dership and I’m talking about “lie-dership”, right?
So as a leader if you're using the “we” and it's “you” get that right. As a person that comes in and talks to people, they tell me that right off the bat and in debriefs they get big eyes. You’re like what, who, what? Because you use “we” and you operate as “me.” And so don't lie to yourself. Please ask your team if you're their leader. They'll gladly tell you at times whether you're not, right? If you can get those two things first then you can move on to the actual healing part. The developmental part, the part that you become an asset to your team versus the liability.
That part is so beautiful because if I say “Hey Alisha I have a team issue. But I'm part of it. Can you come and first work with me and then work with my team to help us connect this thing right? So that the healing comes from the leader and not from the people and skip over the leader. At the beginning we talked about skipping steps.That's one of the ways leaders skip steps. They put it on their team and it's okay if it touches me or not. Because you know why? I am getting paid for it anyway.
Alisha Leytem: That comes back to just the receiving, the getting, and that's not servant leadership whatsoever. It's easier to put what needs to be done on other people and instead of looking in the mirror and like you said stop lying to yourself and just be honest, right? Be honest with yourself, get real with what it is that isn’t working on your end. It's so easy to look at what everyone else isn't doing and what's not working for everyone else and oh let me fix the problem for them, but if you're not acknowledging your role in it, then are you really embodying true leadership? Is what I'm hearing you say.
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: Another thing to add. If you are a true leader, you know the power of followership and so if your team is not going in the right direction guess who they are following? If you tell me it's not you. Then number one, you're not the leader. But chances are it is you. They are adjusting to your inability to show them how to follow. They’re adjusting to your “I” versus “we” and they're adjusting to the fact that you never learned how to follow. So you can’t teach it.
Alisha Leytem: What would you say for those leaders who are being honest with themselves and recognize that they are not able to be a great example for their stress management, for example? And they don’t have great work boundaries and the way that they’re working and overworking is the example in the leadership further teams because that's what they’ve all been shown as, as a follower.
What would you say that they can kind of start with that since they have never had that example as a follower? They’ve done that work, they’ve been on that step because I think right now we’re at this place post pandemic world, all these leaders are like “look we know that we are not working in a way that’s sustainable anymore, like everyone’s burning out and it's the worst it's ever been.” But they’ve never had an example as a follower as to what that could look like. And so everyone's kind of in these like, you know, uncharted waters of what does this look like? How can they maybe step into that with those who are being honest with themselves and they do truly want to help, but they just aren't really sure where to start?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: Number one if you have gotten to a point as a leader that you are conscious of, bless you. Because you stepped into one of those steps that are required for true leadership. Awareness. And I applaud that. You have to give people credit for the things they do, right? It’s not all bad, so number one thank you for getting to the step of awareness and just recognize that the step of awareness automatically puts you in a position to be a follower. But you have to choose to be.
It's easy to be aware of something and then there's another thing called the decision to follow that awareness. You have to decide for yourself that the best way to regain control of any situation after awareness is to actually learn. In order to learn you must be a follower, so don't be so quick to step off awareness. To just get things done. It takes time, right?
It took many years for me to get where I am. It was not an overnight success, there was a lot of failure, there was a lot of error, there was a lot of sampling, there was a lot of education so it's not fast.
But just being on the step of awareness and deciding to say you know what let me go down this road of followership for my sake first. Remember that's where it starts is you, but my sake first and the sake of my team. Let me learn this thing.
That shows that you have the potential of being a great leader. I use potential because that's really what it is because at any time we could get hasty and just to say I'm tired of being on this stuff, right? But you have the potential of being a great leader, but your people will see that right off the bat.
A leader that has come in after becoming aware and honestly speaks to their team. That conversation is almost like pin drop after he's done. People are like oh my goodness this thing is really happening. We might get a great leader after all. They’re aching for it, they're just like almost oxygen, you know, you're that's where that term “a breath of fresh air.” Okay, so be that, right? Maybe, but remember that it has to be a choice, so please choose to continue down that road so you can finish out the work because the work has to be finished in you before you start to push it out. You don't give hot cakes that have only been in there for 3 seconds and here serve it was going to be some messy pancakes, right?
Alisha Leytem: Yes! Yes! I love how you put this. Identifying that you had been aware, yes great job, but now you have to keep going down that path. That's just the beginning and so it's one thing to really be aware of the surface level and it's another to dive in and doing the work from that awareness that you brought to the surface. I completely agree. Transformation takes time and I think so many people want it to be quick, like we talked about at the beginning of this episode. I want to skip steps and get there really fast and you know even when it comes to their health, and their well-being, and preventing burnout, and being well overall. Like the same thing, they want it to be overnight, they want it to be really quick. I don't really want to have to put in the work for this but it does take time. It takes a lot of time to change your habits and to unlearn a bunch of things that you have learned, maybe even as a follower. Of what you've learned from previous leaders because now that the landscape is changing and it's going to take really great leaders to step up and say no more, we're going to shift this. And I know it starts with me and I'm going to really dive in and do this uncomfortable work within and be okay with it not being an overnight transformation. If we want to have a change be lasting it takes time to truly embody and implement it, right?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: It does and something baked at the right temperature for the right time, it's just a great meal. People just say oh my goodness this was so good, the same goes for leadership. It’s the same as with serving, its the same as with anything else. If you undercook it or you overcook it, or it's not going to be at atta boy, it’s not going to be pleasant and leadership is just like that. Are those that are undercooked become a thorn in people's flesh. People that are overcooked just become tyrants. They want everything now and all for them.
There is a place where you become that proverbial breath of fresh air. Ask yourself as a leader can I hear from my people that I am a breath of fresh air. Honestly, right? Not selfishly, but do I hear that? Have I heard that I am a breath of fresh air because of my leadership? I have personally heard that.
I take that as a testament of how they have perceived my influence and impact on their future, their life. I'm so grateful for that acknowledgement and that compliment, but if you're a leader and you have never heard anybody say you're a breath of fresh air, I would be asking some questions. And the first question I would be asking is: am I? And if I ask anybody would they say yes? Because I'm telling you the way the landscape has been the last three years they'll be quick to tell you when you ain’t.
Alisha Leytem: The filters are gone. They’ll tell you. And it can be a blessing, right? That’s what will help us to actually grow because if people always say what we want to hear, but not what we need to hear then are you really in that position to grow and learn then continue to get better?
I think that we're all at this Crossroads to really embrace this opportunity and take a lot of really good tips that you're giving us today of coming back to being a servant leader. Recognizing you're sharing your gifts to really be of service to help and yes, you will receive as a result of that, but that's not why you're doing it. That's not that's not the core of you know you sharing your gifts with the world.
Then really being honest with yourself as a leader, where am I, what step am I on, how can I continue to be a follower and continue to learn and continue to acknowledge the step that I am on. And ask your team, am I a breath of fresh air? I think that once you ask us a question it is really important not to beat yourself up with it, but ask yourself, okay now what am I going to do about this? What's my next move here? Am I going to let it take me out and shame myself and kind of go hide for a little bit. Because that's probably what you would feel like doing right it's not going to feel great, but you can give yourself a little bit of grace and say okay I'm choosing to let this be a growth opportunity for me. I'm going to do something about this. I'm going to step into really owning that great leadership that I really desire to be.
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: And you'll be surprised how your team can facilitate some of that transition. If you’re honest and you do speak candidly and honestly with your team, you will see that they have your best interest in mind. They don't want to come everyday ,day in day out working for somebody that they just become dinner talk, right? The table talk. Where you are the focus of the conversation because they just have to get this out their chests.
They do not want to do that. They do want to come into a space where they know that they have a job to do but that at any moment they need a resource, you're there. That at any moment they need guidance, you're there. At any moment they would have to confide in, potentially at a moment, that you will be there to give them the right advice and maybe potential ways of overcoming. They just want to know that you will lead them no matter what.
Alisha Leytem: I love that. You can lean on your people. For sure. This has been really great. Thank you so much. I always like to wrap up our interview by asking my signature question, which is the name of the show: how do you Enrique Unlock your own Well-Being as a leader?
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: I'm true to myself. You know? And I'm not saying “you're the greatest thing” I'm saying I'm honest with myself. I let the people around me be honest with me. I breed that type of environment so that we all can thrive. This world is not about Enrique, but my world Enrique has a lot to do with it. And I need my world to be healthy and to be well and to thrive and that we all at the end, the whole hand and say we made it.
Alisha Leytem: I love that so much. Just staying true to you and being super authentic, which I know I see your authenticity and everything you do. You’re such a stand out person. Thank you for joining us today. Is there anything that you would like to share to our listeners where they can get in touch with you? Do you have anything coming up that they can contact you in? Tell us all the links, all the things.
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: The easiest way is on LinkedIn. That's where I live. I do have a presence on Instagram, Facebook it’s called Triad Leadership Solutions and you can always go to TriadLeadershipSolutions.com and get a bunch of information and read that whole bio, if you have time.
Several things that I'm working on, I'm doing a veteran Summit to teach others how to use podcasting as a way of transitioning into this big old world from the military service. I'll be talking about that. Pod Fest is coming up in January, kind of way, but if all up for all those that are podcasters look up Pod Fest and you can get some information on there. LinkedIn and I'm always available. You can request to connect with me. I love to meet new people, so that's the best way.
Alisha Leytem: Awesome. We will have all of your links in the show notes, so people can connect with you over on LinkedIn, for sure. He is very active over there, it's great. He has podcast, which you guys should all check out the name of your podcast “Developing The Leader Within” and then you also do a live show every Friday on LinkedIn
Enrique Acosta Gonzalez: Yes. Aloha Friday Live and you know all these mediums are just to talk about leadership, so you’ll get a lot of good folks come through with a lot of great tips, so join us there.
Alisha Leytem: Awesome. Thank you so much Enrique and we’ll see you guys all over on LinkedIn. Hope you all have a great day, namaste.
Wasn't that an amazing episode you guys? Enrique is so great and I’m really grateful to have had him on the show. I wanted to hop on to give you a couple updates and announcements as we wrap up today's episode. If you enjoyed today’s show please consider leaving us a review/ You can leave us five stars on iTunes or Spotify and we would love, love, love to see written reviews from you on iTunes as well. It really helps the show in general.
Now if you are a leader who really took to heart a lot of things that we had spoken about in today's show or any of my previous episodes, you might be the perfect fit to consider joining me in my 1 year coaching program. So this is a brand new program that I'm releasing based on my signature training series called The 6 G.O.L.D Keys to Well-Being. So, the program itself is called Resilient Reset: Your Well-Being Promotion.
And so it's one year of us working together to really help you transform. Transform your presence, your mindfulness, your stress management techniques, your ability to either recover or prevent burnout. To really step into being that leader that you truly desire, who is healthy, and happy, who's present, who's mindful, who's able to put their whole heart and soul into what they do and still have energy for their family, right? It's just feeling so good overall by really diving into unlocking your own unique wellness behaviors, so that you can become a better leader. And so this is like I said 1 year of us working together and as you heard in this episode specifically, transformation takes time. It's not an overnight fix, it's not something that is done after even just 1 month. You might definitely have some shifts and changes, but true support working with me for a year and being a part of a community. Of everyone else who’s in the community of supporting you and being there for you to lean on throughout this program it's truly priceless.
So what you get in the program is you can access the training of The 6 G.O.L.D Keys to Well-Being and all of the resources, all of the videos, all the ongoing training and resources and support that I include in that program itself. You get access to that for one year and then you get coaching with me throughout each month, so twice a month you get coaching with me as a group. I also provide mindfulness training and sessions at the beginning of each of those calls and then once a month you are going to get leadership training from Catching leadership, which is my husband's leadership consulting company. Again this is to help you really learn how to let go and truly be a more mindful leader and really focus specifically on your leadership skills with that call each month.
So this is a really powerful, powerful, powerful, powerful, program and you have the opportunity to be a founding member. So as we get this started anyone's going to be able to enroll. Well anyone will be able to apply at any time. However the first 10 people who sign up are going to be considered founding members, okay?
And the catch with us is what you're going to get, dear podcast listeners, is you’re going to get access to this at the lowest price it’s ever going to be. So this really will break down to the price I'm offering is $166/ a month, for the whole year. I wanted to make this super accessible for you.
I completely know what it feels like to invest in yourself and be really scared. Not like the money investment but what the result means because really diving into changing can be really scary, right? We just don't know what that can look like and it feels overwhelming and feels hard and it feels heavy and it feels like a lot. It feels like I don't know if I'll be able to do that with everything that I have going on in my life. And I understand that I really do you. In fact I just invested in someone who I'm going to be leaning on his support and growing myself as well and so I understand what that feels like.
For me it's always I focus on what the other side of it looks like. And if I can afford not to do what I need to, to be on the other side of what I am going for, you know? Of who I am really here to be. And accessing the truth of who I am through learning what I need to do and being led to the person who can help me in the community that I can be a part of. So if you are interested in applying for Resilient Reset: Your Well-Being Promotion, give yourself a huge well-being promotion within the next year, you can head to the link in the show notes or you can just go to AlishaLeytem.com and under the Professional Services tab you'll see more information and the the application form. We’ll hop on a call, see if you're a good fit, and then we will actually be getting started on launching and having the calls and recording the training for my well-being series, based on my book in early November.
So by the time that you guys are getting access to this show it’s going to be pretty close to when we're starting. So if you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected]. And if you’re still listening I believe that we're speaking directly to you and you can do it! Okay, Namaste. Thank you for tuning in and I'll see you next week. Bye.