The Leader Brew Podcast
The Leader Brew podcast features the leadership stories of our former students who share their lifelong experiences from the classroom to the real-world.
Join Dr. Rick Arrowood and Co-Hosts as they reignite the magic of the classroom in these unscripted discussions. Learn from remarkable guests about how they overcame some of life's most challenging obstacles and yet found a way to keep their passion alive.
The Leader Brew Podcast
Strategies for Success: Dr. Julia Ivy's Story of Choices, Open-Mindedness, and Growth
Explore the inspiring journey of Dr. Julia Ivy, an extraordinary educator, and international business strategist who transformed her life from a top management consultant in Eastern Europe to an internationally recognized leader in global strategies for businesses and individuals. Julia's story of choosing to shift her comfortable life back home to unknown opportunities and navigating a new life in America brings forth valuable lessons in open-mindedness, resilience, and strategy for businesses and anyone facing significant life changes.
Our conversation with Julia takes a deep dive into the evolution of personal and professional strategies in new markets. She shares her transition from a GROWTH-focused strategy, crucial for establishing her place in a new country, to an EDGE-focused one that leverages her unique skills and background. By questioning "what's next," Julia emphasizes the importance of adapting strategies to meet current needs and guiding students and professionals to align their goals with strategic actions. Her insights on creating and using the BE-EDGE method provide a roadmap for celebrating achievements while remaining agile in the face of new challenges.
Reflecting on legacy and personal positioning strategy themes, Julia discusses the sometimes anticlimactic nature of reaching significant milestones, such as earning two PhDs. We explore the metaphor of "unfreeze, act, refreeze" in leadership to acknowledge achievements and promote progress. This episode offers a vision of creating supportive environments where educated individuals from diverse backgrounds can capitalize on their unique skills and thrive as global talents. Listen in to be inspired by Julia's journey and her commitment to empowering the next generation of global leaders.
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Leader Brew podcast. I am Rick Arrowood and I'm your host today, once again. You know I always say you're getting ready for an exciting interview, but today I just feel even more excited because I get to interview someone I've worked alongside for a number of years and I think you know so much about. The Leader Brew, of course, is from the classroom to the real world and we want to learn about those experiences. And I was thinking earlier today how so many times, once you get out into the real world, the working world, we have a tendency to just sort of see people, we say hello to them, maybe we have meetings with them, but do we really ever get to know their story? So today is about learning about Julia Ivey's story, who I have come to know and have a great friendship over the years and I think you're going to find her story quite fascinating, particularly our international student population. So, julia, welcome to the Leader Brew, our international student population.
Speaker 2:So, Julia, welcome to the Leader Brew. Thank you so much for having me. And very similar to your introduction of me, I do know Rick for many years and we become very close friends, so I'm very honored to be invited.
Speaker 1:Well, it's earlier in the, before we started taping the broadcast. Julia says I'll follow your lead, and I quickly said to her nope, I've always followed your lead. So you know, we've got that mutual respect. I mean, I've seen your work, obviously, both here in the US as well as in Australia, and it's just one of those, you know, really exciting things. I have always wondered about you when did you start? Let's take you back to a classroom. Pick whichever classroom you want to talk about and share with the audience what that was like.
Speaker 2:So we're talking about classroom. Okay, so let's say the class. What I am teaching right now, say is a class. What I am teaching right now, and right now I am teaching international business. So which, for both undergrad and graduate levels, and every single class, and I teach in this class, like for number of years, every single class. We help a real company to enter a new market, to enter a new market, and every single class.
Speaker 2:I ask myself why we are helping always companies to enter a new market. But what about us? Like when we like me, when I was ready to enter a new market yes, as an international, leave my own country and come to another country there is no, I didn't have any guidance. I would say how to enter a new market For the companies. We develop a lot Strategies, it's market entry mode and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, how we choose the right market for us.
Speaker 2:And I constantly tell my students that it's not about which market is better, it's about which market is better for you. It's all about the fit, about the feed. So, starting from my classes, I'm here asking again and again the same question what about us? What is the most important project I want to do in my life? Is it helping a particular company? Of course, but honestly no, it's me, me, me, me. I want to help myself to enter every time a new market, and it might be a foreign market, but also, you know, when we are changing careers, when we leave one job and we ask ourselves what is the new market for me, this is the same stuff.
Speaker 1:This is where I am right now. So so, looking back, do you feel like you sort of had this amazing desire and excitement and quest for learning in a, as you call it, a new market? Was that it, and was it scary?
Speaker 2:So there are two questions here. Did I have this passion and quest to learn about a new market? I would say yes and no. Yes, I wanted to be global Like, I think, most of my life. What I remember myself, uh, when it became possible again being from soviet union, it just was iron curtain, so it was no other world available. But when it's open, yes, I was curious. But no, I didn't know about which market. America wasn't even in my zone of interest. I was, in general, was interested in being there.
Speaker 2:The other question you asked was scary. Yeah, but it became scary when I moved. You know, when I was going to move, I didn't even know how unprepared I was to move. For me, it was more like being brave, more like trying and knowing how it works. And I did exactly like what I just told you. I got my green card by lottery. At the same time. I also told you, I got my green card by lottery At the same time.
Speaker 2:I also consider it Canada. I also consider it UK. I also consider it what else? No, I think UK, canada and America. But you know, america was the first, it was the winner. It just gave me green card and I just like, okay, now we will try. And then I became scared when I learned how complicated it is and how much time I was wasting because I didn't know all these you know techniques that we are doing for companies. And this is what was a bummer for me. Kind of like looking back every time in my classroom, back to your first question. Every time I feel like like damn it, why I didn't do it for myself 20 years ago, why I see again and again so many internationals moving with no idea what they're doing and we're all becoming fine, but what's the price? And how much time we lose. And are we fine or we are true to ourselves? This is the point.
Speaker 1:You know, as you're talking, I'm hearing echoes of leadership, right? So so much of what you and I do is teach leadership, and what I'm hearing in your story is that of a leader. So, yes, you went through some uncertainties, challenges, things along that line, but there was something instilled within you that now has taken that power of uncertainty and turned it into something that people in your position can then ripple, replicate to others, share with others, and I think, for me, I think that is the core of why are we on this earth, right? I think it's. Ultimately, it's to help people, and the work that you do as a result of what you went through is genuinely helping others. I mean, I see it in your social media, right? So I know I see it in. Oftentimes we'll have students that each of us know, and so I just see, I see that leader that developed in you over the course of time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, maybe I didn't absolutely First yes, absolutely, I wanted to help others Did I become a leader? I think I am kind of a leadership material from the very beginning. But you know, for me it's about being in control of what I'm doing, of what I'm doing, and feel this empowerment of that. I'm in control of my life, that I'm not following anybody's directions. I would say I consider them as very highly respected stakeholders but at the end of the day I can say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. This is what I'm doing being in control. This is what I learned and this is what I want.
Speaker 2:People who are brave, as I was brave, and maybe even like too brave sometimes, but it's good, I'm grateful to myself that I did it, but I want them to make it more, to feel more empowered, I would say, to feel that they don't have to become too much American to become accepted in America, american to become accepted in America. Because some period of time I asked myself like, oh, I should stop talking about where I'm from, I should stop telling again and again kind of like, oh, but you look at how high, you know how transportation system could be much, much better than America, or health system could be much, much better in America, or da da da. So I have like a bunch of examples which I brought as my background and some period of time. I kind of told myself, julia, shut up, you choose to be in America, you are in America. And I was told, by the way that, like hey, julia, are you American or you are what? Away, that like hey, julia, are you american or you are what?
Speaker 2:And now I arrived to this empowerment of we call this reverse innovation that if you are in control and you appreciate your background, which might, which is background to being from different country, background to be raised by a military father, background to be travel whatever countries, but we know how to do inventory of our background and, yes, including that you know I'm from Belarus. Who cares about Belarus, to tell the truth, you know, like I do and people from Belarus do, or from Ukraine, right, but it's not about Belarus-Ukraine, it's about the competences I gained from this and how to make an inventory of these competences and how to appreciate them, but how to reshape them to become relevant to new market. So how not to be, you know, like chinese people who always chinatown, or russian people who are always in the brighton beach. No, it's not what I mean, but, the same time, not how to lose yourself.
Speaker 2:This is what I feel. This is what I want to help people and the idea of reverse innovation. This is what I really like and I feel like, yeah, I do. I can bring so much in America because of my background.
Speaker 1:I love that you know now that you've been reflective and you can sort of look back and see what characteristics brought you to the point where you are today. I'm curious from your perspective, how do you handle pacing yourself on the one hand, and genuinely wanting to just take the newly arrived student from wherever and just give them everything you've got? So you know, I guess the question is really more along the lines of balance. How do you balance that passion or do you balance the passion?
Speaker 2:I know the answer would be yes. Strategic leadership right, this is what I'm passionate about, about strategy. You know, we started conversations with this and I I learned that in a particular time of my life I have this strategy of that strategy right. So right now it's and you know I always talk about what types of personal strategies and, yes, when I just freshly arrived to America, my strategy was I call this positioning strategy. I needed a job, I needed a job, I needed safety, 401k, health benefits for my children and, yes, some income like sustainable income. I call this positioning strategy. But then, when I already established myself and I kind of got this basis covered, I asked myself what's next? And I kind of naturally moved to another strategy, which was growth strategy. I wanted to be back to, you know, big deal as I was in my country. In my country, I was big deal, and I wasn't big deal in America when I moved. It's a new market, so I worked very hard for these top publications, all this game. But then I asked myself, okay, what's next? And now I am on this edge-focused strategy where I want to be me and each of us.
Speaker 2:We can stop every moment when we feel, asking what's next. You know, when we feel that we like, okay, it's a new territory, what's next? Or I reach some level, what's next? Or I feel suffocating in this job, what's next? Or I feel great anxiety because I don't know what. Maybe I'm losing something in my life. What's next? And every time, what's next? I found this is my aha moment. You have to stop.
Speaker 2:And yet and you have to do strategy work, exactly what we do for the companies we have to start with the challenge, like what's the problem? What, what, what? Why are you unhappy? What's the challenge then? To define your uh, your guiding principle, like what's the game I'm playing right now for the next period of time? It might be like a year, it might be three years, it might be two months. What's the game I'm playing right now? And then to reshape your strategy.
Speaker 2:And this is really helps me to face myself. I know what I'm doing right now. I'm not trying to do growth, because it's not where I am right now, and I'm not trying to do position. You know my job is quite secure and you know, most important, I'm secure. You know like even my job decides that they don't need me. You know it means that I can find easily another job.
Speaker 2:But what I want to do, I want to be edge-focused. Edge-focused which means combining all my unique skills yes, my psychology background yes, my strategy background yes, my Eastern European background yes, my mother of two background yes, my et cetera, et cetera background to my establishing my own space in this market and this is my pace. So, answering your question, how I help students, I did this mistake and pass. I did, and I learned from this. I honestly believe that all the students, all internationals, especially masters, master students they all so want to be also in an edge focus strategy. Like me, right, it was wrong, wrong of me, wrong. And now. Then I developed this system of four types of strategies and now I just I look at some of them and I understand they need a job. This person, he needs a job. Stop Julia to talk about age growth. This is what is his goal for now. But she might want to be growing like crazy. That's why she's in America. But that person one of my favorites, she would be, or he would be, self-focused, which means there are four again growth, position, edge and self, self.
Speaker 2:The guy recently I talked with him. He came from China. Parents paid for his undergrad. He was very good. He never made any choices in his life. He finished there. Parents told him why wouldn't you go to America and get a fancy degree? He said, okay, why not? And he's in America finishing his degree. And I asked what is the challenge? And he's just like the challenge is to shut them up.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't want to do any career, I don't want to make any money, I want to keep having my amazing life, which is a self-focused strategy. And you know my job to help each of them in their strategies. Somebody who wants to get a job position focused I'm here for them. Somebody who wants to get a job position focused I'm here for them. Somebody who wants to grow it's totally different strategy. I'm there for them. And somebody who wants to be self-focused. I'm not judgmental, I'm just like okay, baby, this is what you do. You do stakeholder engagement. This is a self-focus. This is how I pace myself. So your question has to. You know, like I answered first how I pace myself, I just focus on one strategy at a time how I help students. I try to figure out what is their strategy, each of them and helping them in whatever they need at this time, this period of time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's fantastic, but I want to add a third question to you personally how do you celebrate the wins? So where I'm positioning that when I look back at your life and your story? Right, you've accomplished quite a bit when you really look at it. You look at your two doctoral degrees, dr Dr Julia Ivey. You look at your teaching record. You look at your B-Edge launch. It's a terrific organization and so many, of course, personal things in your life. But how do you celebrate those wins and what advice would you give to someone who is, you know, going through that process? Just a thing called life?
Speaker 2:You know like I should be better. So you got me and it's my personality is the moment I reach some area. You know, like I remember that, like 40 years ago somebody asked me and I said, like you know like I run, run, run, run, run, run, run run. Then I look back and nobody else here. I'm so far ahead of anybody who started to run. You know this race with me and I am so much already far, far, farther than all of them. And then it becomes boring for me and I start a new run.
Speaker 2:But it's now how I celebrate, I think, based on people who I see the change I made in them. It's, for me, so rewarding. But how I celebrate my own achievements, maybe I should be better at this. Sometimes I ask myself for God's sake, yeah, julia, two PhDs. Yeah, you came to America with age of 36 with two children and a husband who was a nuclear physicist researcher which means unemployable if you are not an American citizen. And look at you right now executive professor, top school, you know, list of publication, book published, etc. Like I should invent some kind of better way to celebrate.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I think we all do, and I think that's where, when it comes to faculty, in particular, those who are not transactional we're more transformational, and so we spend our whole day trying to get into this transformational mode of anyone that will listen to us. We go through our semesters, we do our work and we do it to the very best of our ability, and then we go home, we submit the grades and then what I learned many, many years ago, no matter what it was, whatever I accomplished, I would celebrate it, and in the early days, the most that meant was a Snickers bar. That's about all I could afford. But I would eat that Snickers bar slowly and say you know what? You did it. You're not there yet.
Speaker 1:That was always a gnawing part of me. I'm not there yet. Therefore, I think that's really what motivates me to keep going and keep doing and keep dreaming. But do think, you know, stopping um and celebrating I think is is. It's a hard thing to do, because I do think we get so busy and we get so caught up on the main objective that I do think it is um, it is key absolutely, and you know, you said it so well and actually we do teach in leadership, right, we change leadership.
Speaker 2:Defreezing, refreezing changes and defreezing we have to refreeze again must be frozen just to stop, to celebrate, to kind of like, say like, okay, if I accomplished the first stage, now I need to break, have a break and what is my next stage? And yes, it's my uh, it's, it's it's my shortage that I must be back. You know, like uh, to stop and to celebrate. I travel a lot. This is my uh rewards. You know, like I, I go and I I don't work when I travel honestly and I travel lot. So maybe this is my celebration, but I must be better. I agree with you.
Speaker 1:Lewins was right Absolutely Unfreeze, refreeze, freeze. Let's talk about sort of a broader issue and that of legacy. So you know, I think what happens sometimes is we get to a certain part in our career and we can look back and sure, I can tell you, I've had thousands of students and graded thousands of papers and given recommendation letters and all that, but what do you see as the julia ivy legacy?
Speaker 2:oh, it's amazing question. That's why, maybe, I started this bh. You know, like, yeah, I'm on the stage of my life and my career that I achieved everything what I uh told you know I wanted. I remember that in 2009, when I um got my american citizenship and at the same month I got my tenure a tenure professor and I just was like, oh, so what? Now? Just to die or to what? And I was in my 40s. But then I started.
Speaker 2:Then I moved to this edge focus, which is the idea, is okay, look at what you cherish doing, and for me it's a psychology and strategy and being international. So it's my three things and other people would have their three things. You know, there are many internationals and psychology, there are many internationals. And strategy, there are many internationals and strategists. But my weird combination, being from a state-controlled economy, from emerging economy, being, you know, degree psychology, degree strategist it's me, unique me, and you have totally unique you, you know. So then I was like, okay, what is my legacy? My legacy, I guess, to establish a place. I even envisioned this. It's almost like a space station or like island where all people like me, educated foreigners, can come at the beginning, at the one entrance and then they follow from one station to another and they do.
Speaker 2:Okay, what is my strategy, what is my? You know, how do I connect with others, how do I prove my value, how do I send the message. And then again, thank you to my partners which were like, oh, what I should know, what I would rather do and develop this as a whole holistic universe. It's like it's like the, you know, lord of the Rings it was just new universe or Harry Potter new universe. This is what I want to be, universe which I develop, which I developed, where every student of us or every, not student of us, but somebody who is brave to move to a new territory would not feel lonely, as I used to sometimes feel. Not to feel that they constantly have to prove that their previous degree from their country is also good, not, they feel that their accent, my accent, makes you kind of like second class citizen, because every single time they ask where are you from? It's just like oh.
Speaker 2:It's the same as ask people who are not white like, oh, what percentage of you are white, what percentage of you are not white? Just because of your curiosity. And it's like constantly proving yourself. So I want people come to this island, to this space station, to this platform, to this place from the beginning, be with us a year while doing their master degrees, bachelor degrees or just been raising their children, whatever they do, and in a year, becoming a powerhouse and saying this is who I am, this is why I am powerful, this is how I am powerful, this is how I am in control of my life, this is what I bring with me to this country, this is how I can prove that what I bring generates actually value, and this is how I can be professionally happy. So this would be my legacy. If I establish this universe you know like do this established universe with this North of the Ring or Harry Potter or so many then I would be ready to die. Not yet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's all right. So I think that's fantastic. It's certainly. You articulated a beautiful blueprint for this universe. I want to go to it. Of course, Let me in. I want to come and visit, but I see where you're going with that and I think that's very admirable. It's your life work, and I think that's what's important. One of the things that we always ask on the Leader Brew is this question, which is what would you tell the eight-year-old about what's ahead? Sometimes people will say that, in your case, maybe the eight-year-old from Belarus, maybe the eight-year-old from America, wherever that may be, what would you say is ahead?
Speaker 2:America, wherever that may be, what would you say is ahead? Don't be defined by the country you were born. You know, like, look at Belarus right now. It's a dictatorship. Kids who are born right now, like, who are eight years old right now in Belarus, I don't want them to be defined by this because you know, presidents come and leave, even like president like Lukashenko, who has 30 years, they still will leave. They will die sooner or later. You know, and it will change it's.
Speaker 2:You are in control, the door always somehow open. You know, even in Soviet Union, it's still the door is open and try to. You know, be always, know that you are in. You know, like, you have your wheel in your car. It might be your car of eight years old, your bicycle, then it would be your first car. It might be whatever it is that you are driving. Do not allow the country of yours to define who you are. This is your benefit, this is your asset. You must play for your benefits, but it's not who you are. You are so much better, so much bigger than the country you are born. I want to say the same people in America Don't let this country define who you are. You decide America. Good for you, good choice. If you decide that maybe New Zealand is your choice, you know this is your choice. So no parents, no country define who you are. You define who you are.
Speaker 1:That's absolutely wonderful and I absolutely agree with you 100%. Just be you, you know, work with what you have been given and make it even better.
Speaker 2:And one challenge per time. I'm so sorry for interrupting this is no, not fine you just touch very something important in in me.
Speaker 2:I mistakes I made in past and I see many people makes mistakes. They make like this grande, grande strategy with capitalized S, just like I see here, and I see myself like 30 years. It's such a BS. Strategy is moving, understanding your challenge right now and developing your path to the solution which you can see, because when you come to that point it will be next challenge and this is a good strategy. Strategies doesn't mean to having your plan for 30 years. It's a bad strategy. It's a Soviet Union strategy. The good strategy is to having your core, your basic principles, your guiding principle, and just be you and don't try to solve all the problems at the same time. You know right now, you think about what is your next job. This is your strategy. Next time it would be. You know which city you should live. This would be the next one. Don't try to solve all the problems at the same time and this is exactly what makes you strategic and what makes you in control.
Speaker 1:Quite, frankly. That's why, as kids, we start off walking, not running. Our baby steps are walking, they're not running, and it's a good I think it's a very good reminder. Julia, thank you so much for your time today. I look forward to, of course, our continued friendship and it's just really it's been a pleasure having you on the show. I'd like to thank Northeastern University and Swinburne University as our participating universities for the Leader Brew and also our sponsor, soliton Technologies. So thank you and have a great day. Thank you.
