Unpacked with Ron Harvey
People Always Matter. Join Ron as he unpacks leadership with his guests.
Unpacked with Ron Harvey
How to Lead Yourself First | Entrepreneurship, Collaboration & Generational Leadership with Bency Beals
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In this episode of Unpacked with Ron Harvey, Ron sits down with Bency Beals, founder of Ignite Leadership Solutions, for an honest and energizing conversation about what it truly means to lead — starting with yourself. Bency breaks down why self-awareness is the foundation of every leadership role, whether you're in corporate America, running your own business, or serving your community.
They dive deep into the entrepreneurship journey — the grit it demands, the discipline it requires, and why finding your niche is non-negotiable. Bency also shares a candid story about navigating a leadership conflict she didn't create but had to resolve, and what that taught her about culture, trust, and staying grounded in your values.
Ron and Bency also tackle one of today's most pressing workforce challenges: leading across five and six generations simultaneously. From silencing insecurity to cultivating emerging leaders, they offer practical strategies for creating environments where every generation can contribute, grow, and thrive.
Whether you're a seasoned executive, a new entrepreneur, or an emerging leader still finding your footing — this episode will challenge you to get curious, stay intentional, and enjoy the runway while you're on it.
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Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey
“If you don’t have something to measure your growth, you won’t be self-aware or intentional about your growth.”
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Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this podc...
Welcome And Mission: People Matter
SPEAKER_02Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host, Leadership Consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. Ron believes that leadership is the fundamental driver towards making a difference. So now, to find out more of what it means to unpack leadership, here's your host, Ron Harvey.
SPEAKER_03Well, good afternoon, everyone. This is Ron Harvey, the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Global Core Strategies and Consulting. And back with you for another episode of Unpack with Ron Harvey. For all you that continue to join us and follow us, thank y'all so much. Continue to share the links, tell people about it in the conversations that we have. And if you know guests that you think would be ideal for this show, please send them our contact information and then we'll work through the details from there. You know, we own a leadership development firm. We love doing the work. And we do it for two reasons to add value and make a difference. Because we truly know that people always matter. So we we work hard to take care of people and help leaders take care of people. But this podcast is really um different because the guests, I don't know why they do it, but they they say yes, even though they don't have any of the questions, um, they don't know what's gonna happen on this show. We're gonna talk leadership. So they're always surprised what's gonna happen. So I call it leadership in the moment. So they're very agile, and they're my friends or they're my colleagues, and they're people from around the globe. So um I get to meet them for the first time most times. Um, but today I have a friend that that I uh know. We're both in Columbia um that does a lot of the same work that we do, but we're we're colleagues um and we support each other. So before I get started, I'm gonna hand the mic over to Bincy and give her space to introduce herself and tell you what she wants you to know about her, and then we'll dive into some of the fun stuff that we'll figure out as we go along. Vincy?
Meet Vincy And Her Leadership Focus
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Ron. First of all, for having me here. You know, I see the Unpacked podcast on LinkedIn and all the places, and I was always wondering when is my friend gonna ask me to come on? And so it really is an honor that I finally get to be here. Um, we're always talking leadership, and so it's it's it's wonderful to actually be um available to your audience and talk in front of them and really share because leadership is also my passion. So I'm the founder of Ignite Leadership Solutions, and we truly want to pull the potential out of every single leader on every level so that they become leaders that people actually want to follow. And that's our goal to really unpack and those layers of leadership into self-awareness so that way they can lead at the highest level. Because when they do that, their people will also lead and perform at the highest level, and they're going to get the results they're looking for, which is ultimately why they're in that role. And so that's what we do, that's what I'm passionate about, that's what you're passionate about. So really excited to talk more leadership with you today.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. And thank you, Vince. I mean, you know, we we've met, um, we we met Ali, but we both are John Maxwell people, um, and we host uh what John Maxwell does is called Live to Lead. Um, and and for a while I was in the city and I was the known person around Live to Lead. And and Vince was at an event, and someone on our team was at an event, and she was hosting, and we were hosting. Like, well, who is this guy that's doing what I'm doing? And what do you mean? Live to lead.
SPEAKER_02What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_03Um, but but we became friends, we got to know each other. Um, and honestly, I literally, you know, took the opportunity to say, hey, look, I don't really plan to do Live to Lead, which is a phenomenal event. Um, I will tell anybody that has a chance to follow it, to follow it to be a part of it if it's happening in your city. And I handed everything over to Ben C and said, Hey, you're you're here you go. I'm doing something different. And we built our Unpack Leadership, which is a brand event for our company, which you know, live to lead helped me get to where I am, um, following John Maxwell. But you since then taken that on, what have you enjoyed the most just about? Well, let me change the question. Yeah, how do you help people understand how you and I work through and navigated the fact that we do the same thing, didn't really know each other in the same city without being competitors?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think that's another, first of all, it's a wonderful question. And it's another C word, which is collaboration. But you can only do that if you have the right heart and you have to have the heart to serve. And that's what leaders need to learn how to do. And as advocates for leadership, we're walking that walkout right now. Being able to collaborate with one another, lead each other, partner with one another. And also, um, you know, you're you're a seasoned vet in this world, right? And so, you know, you have you are the one that's gone before me. And as I was sitting in that chamber meeting, I was like brand new to business, brand new, green, and live to leave was just like the first thing I decided to do. And so I was just so intimidated, like, well, who everywhere I went, it's Ron Harvey. And I'm who is this guy? Right. And so finally I met someone who was able to connect us, and it started with learning from one another. Now I thought, oh, this is I'm I'm learning from you, and it ended up to be a shared experience, and we're learning from each other, and you have mentored me in so many ways. And so collaboration was just something that organically happened because you have two people that want to serve the same community, and we understand that there's so many that need to be served. You can do it, I can do it. Um, and I am very much like you that I want to help the next one, and and we can collaborate together and great things can happen. And we've done it with Unpacked, you know, you were we we collaborated with that, we've collaborated with some retreats and learning from each other, building upon one another, making each other better is what folks in the same industry can do if you make the decision to collaborate.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. And and I love that you say that because it's really about the community. Um and I think you know, we're we're into entrepreneurship, which we'll dive a little bit into, is the importance of making sure that the pie is big enough for everybody.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Collaboration Over Competition
SPEAKER_03I mean, and so not trying to have the entire thing. How important for people that are whether you're in corporate America or whether you're an entrepreneur, what's the similarities in leadership, regardless whether, you know, because there are listeners that are running organizations, um, big major corporations that are running businesses, you know, that are serving in their communities or their churches, or maybe just supporting another company. How is leadership, what are some similarities regardless of where people are serving that are listening to this show when it comes to leadership?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it it's it's so many similarities. Number one is you have to lead yourself well when it comes to wherever it is you are placed in the moment. And sometimes it's not even you don't, you know, you you how did I even end up here in this role, right? And you have to understand that there is purpose in it. And when you can figure out what that purpose is, who you're meaning, who am I meant to serve? It's not all about me, it's about who am I meant to serve? And sometimes it's a client, it's a customer. I was selling phones at Verizon and people on my team, oh, we're just selling phones. I'm like, no, I'm solving problems. I'm I'm going in here and I'm really helping folks and you know, really making that my business. Like that's how I looked at it, you know. And yes, I get a paycheck every two weeks, but I'm earning that paycheck through collaborating with other resources. So, not just the team I'm on today. If we're thinking about corporate, a lot of times you get siloed, right? And even in business, I could just be focusing on Ignite and not worried about, oh, well, what's Ron and GCS doing today? Let me just focus on Ignite. Even in an organization, don't just focus on the team that you're on. Every team is there for the vision of the company. You have your purpose and what you're doing, but then you have IT over there that has their purpose on what they're doing, and you would be surprised on the type of connections that you can make together and how much further you can serve your client, your community, and your client may be even your students if you're in a school school district. It could be someone internally. How can you serve them better? Usually it's together with other people, other resources that you can reach out to, other work groups. If you're an entrepreneur, people doing the same thing that you're doing, you are just collaborating, you're connecting, so you can be better for those you serve.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_00I hope that answered the question.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, answer the question. It gave us a lot to unpack quite honestly. Um, but I'll go back to how you started off. When you speak about lead yourself, yeah, easy said, but but there has to be some level or application, or as I love to say, what are the ingredients or the steps to that? I mean, because to say it and to understand it are two different things in my mind. So, what are some things that that people that are listening? If you say lead yourself, what does that look like? What does that mean?
Universal Rules Of Leadership
SPEAKER_00So, number one, I I love this question because this is like my passion right here. Because anytime I'm doing a leadership training, right, even if it's having hard conversations or something like this, comes back to self-leadership because it's self-awareness. So when you think about, I just brought up having a hard conversation, right? The first thing you need to realize is why am I thinking that it's a hard conversation in the first place? Why is it a difficult conversation? It could just be I'm a leader, I need to hold someone accountable for something and follow up, but in my mind, that's a difficult conversation. Now, self-leadership unpacks that for myself. Why do I, why am I framing it as difficult? Really, I set a standard together with my team, and I want to make sure that I'm leading them to hit those standards to make sure they are successful. I need to have a conversation with them, but I'm hesitant. Where's that coming from? That self-leadership, being able to unpack that, reframing, you know what, I'm coaching them. I'm not directing them, I'm not telling them what they're doing wrong. I'm not, let me pull from them and really understanding how I am having those conversations that's making it difficult for me. Maybe I am doing too much directing and not enough coaching and being curious and trying to figure out what type of development they need, what's the right conversation to have? So I use that example only because it comes up all the time, but we have to lead ourselves well to understand how we are showing up. Regardless of whether I'm a leader, maybe I'm an individual contributor and maybe I'm showing up to work, not doing my very best, and I know it. Leading myself well means why? Why am I not showing up the way I need to? Is it because there's some kind of conflict going on on my team? Is it because I'm not feeling inspired? This isn't the role I want to be in. Well, now I need myself to lead myself well to understand where do I need to be? Maybe I need a mentor. Maybe I should ask for feedback so I can do better at my job or understand where I need to be to thrive. All of those different pieces, regardless of the level that I'm operating in, whether I'm a leader, whether I'm an individual contributor, it takes leadership skills to lead yourself well in any role.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Wow. Thank you for sharing. I want to unpack something, and I love that you you you use the word unpack. It's amazing. Like I'll I'll I'll hear that word everywhere now. Like, hey, let's unpack that. Let's unpack that. And I was telling Mike the other day, I said, Man, I love it. Everybody's using this word unpack. You know, so it's exciting because they probably have always been using it. Yeah, I'm just noticing it more now. Yeah, so so when you think about entrepreneurship, I want to dive into that. We're both entrepreneurs, yeah. And and and people get into entrepreneurship for many for several different reasons. Sometimes you the the listeners we get mad and and we're gonna quit this job and we're tired of them telling us what to do, and we're gonna go get we're gonna get our own company, we're gonna be our own boss. We're gonna we're not gonna work for anyone. That's a lie. Don't don't believe it. It's not true. You're gonna work for someone, so please don't let anger force you into entrepreneurship. And and then you get you feel like you you see what everybody else is doing, and you feel like I got this really wonderful product, I'm gonna go be an entrepreneur. Um, or you're in the retirement and you're walking out of a job and you want something else to do, and you become an entrepreneur. And and and all those are reasons. Uh, but for the people that are listening, can you speak to the challenges? Uh and then we'll go to the rewards of it. But what are the challenges to be an entrepreneur when it comes to self-leadership? Because it matters.
Self-Leadership And Tough Conversations
Entrepreneurship: Purpose And Pitfalls
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, I can I can speak as a coach here, as a business coach, because luckily, and and I will tell you this, and I should have said this in the intro, is that I am 100% a person of faith, and that has been what truly led me into my own leadership journey and now into entrepreneurship, right? And so showing up and understanding that, hey, this this potential that I have is God's gift to me, and my gift back to him is expanding that potential. And that's how I got into entrepreneurship myself, but I was prepared along the way because this is what I've always been called to do. Now, that preparation allowed me to know what it takes to go into entrepreneurship. And so when I coach business owners, I realized that they're stepping into this great thing that they know how to do. You know, I can do this thing. Let's say it's even what we do, Ron. Okay, let's say I'm a great trainer and I and I love leadership and I want to go train this thing now. Well, that's the wonderful thing that you do. However, you do have to build a business. And building a business means I need to set a big vision, and then I need to understand the strategic moves it needs to take to get clients. You can do the thing all day, but you can't do it for free. You have people, you have a home, you have mouths to feed. And so it's really understanding uh how to do it, you know, and and there's a lot of different steps, and there's that's why there's resources in every community like score, that one who does not have any idea what it is to be an entrepreneur, because I think there's also a couple of different levels. You talked about entrepreneurship, and I think there's some people who have an entrepreneurial mindset. There's some people that started a business that was successful, they sold that one, and now they start another business completely different from the one before successful. And and and that's wonderful. Entrepreneurial mindset. Then you have people like you and I who have this wonderful gifting and we want to share it with the world, and we're trying to have a business. Now, to do that, you have to be able to actually do the things. Don't just plan it, don't just figure out, well, let me get certified for this, let me do this, let me do that, let me get, you know, I'm building websites, let me make sure that I'm got all the sources and got all the things. You got to get out there and you got to meet people. You have to build relationships, you have to connect, you have to understand what problem are you solving for people? You can't just go in and say, Oh, well, this is what I do, hire me. You have to build those relationships. You have to know where who do you want to serve? Who do you want to serve? I had to learn that, right? And so for me, it was like, well, everybody needs leadership development. Well, let me just, you know, let me just go. And I realized looking back through the thread of my life, that I truly have a passion for education. I served on a school board before. I'm very passionate about, you know, education and building our new generation of leaders. And how do we do that by leading them well? And so one thing to think about as an entrepreneur, and I heard it all the time when I started becoming one, and I'm like, what do you mean by niche? I don't get it. I want to how do I do this? But it's important, and it's important because what's happening now is I'm putting myself in the right rooms to where my clients are, not just because I want to raise my hand and tell them how I can serve them, but because I want to learn their world. I want to understand what are the problems they're facing now, what are the problems that's coming, how can I solve those problems? I need to be able to speak their language. I need to understand this space from the inside out in order to be credible enough to earn the right to serve them well. And so I think as when you're starting to become an entrepreneur, that's something that we need to dial into. And then also it takes grit, it takes tenacity, it takes work ethic, and that can't be taught. It has to be in there. And if and if it is something that is not automatically driving you, then you have to set parameters for yourself. You have to use tools like your calendar, you have to use those things to be able to keep yourself on track. You don't have a boss telling you what to do anymore. So you have to set your own strategy. So one thing I do is okay, what what would success look like for me by the end of February? I write that out. Okay, well, by the end of this week, what will success look like for me to be able to obtain the goal by the end of February? And I write that out. And now I know what am I gonna do? What are the actions I'm gonna take? And I take those actions. And if, because I do reflect on if I don't meet those, if I didn't meet those, well, what got in the way? Why didn't I do that? So I gotta coach myself. I gotta, you know, I surround myself with people like you, Ron, to understand some things that, okay, you know what? Let me ask Ron. He's been in this business a lot longer. I'm being asked to do this. What are his thoughts? Great. Now I I've got some somewhere that I don't want to be an echo chamber, right? I want to talk, I want to be able to collaborate, but that also comes from building relationships with people like you, right? With other people that I can I can I can talk to, where I'm building a team of my own that I can go to. So you see that I talked about different levels of this. I talked about building a team of your own with having people around you. I talked about leading yourself well in entrepreneurship, setting up parameters for yourself that you may need, setting up standards as you would for an employee, which I hired one, so I had to set up onboarding for her. I had to set up, okay, what are the expectations? Do it for yourself. Don't be in this all willy-nilly. You know, you gotta be, you gotta be very strategic with yourself. You should know yourself well. Um, and and then align yourself with who do you want to serve and and really get dialed into it. You know, I get really excited. I love business coaching because I understand that world. I come from corporate and I love the business clients that I have. And um, and so it's hard. It's hard because I'm so passionate around this area, but okay, Ben, so you got to stay with this because you're trying to cultivate something here. And it's in order for you to get those long-term results you're looking for, that you told yourself that you committed to yourself, you have to stay on this path and don't get don't get distracted here and there. Stay on the path and it's coming. Um, yeah, and so uh I know I said a lot in the nutshell, Ron, but as you can see, it's a lot of discipline, it takes a lot of heart, takes a lot of strategy, but you can't do it alone.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I love it. I mean, you walk through you know all the challenges. So when you think about leadership, um, and for for our corporate people that are listening, people that are in organizations of nonprofits, you know, leadership leadership is tough. What's what's a time where whether you're in corporate or whether you're working in your church, where you had to a challenge that you had to overcome strictly around leadership, and and how did you navigate it?
SPEAKER_00You know, you know, this one is actually the biggest one that stands out in my mind, um, because it was the toughest one for me. And, you know, I am a leader and I have a team, I'm leading them according to my leadership principles, I'm setting standards, I'm holding them accountable, and all of this. And um, and and sometimes if you're in a performance-driven role, when you you when you set those parameters, you have to um abide by them. And so sometimes that means you have to have documentation in place and all of this for their success. Um, and I have to put someone down that path. And now that person was friends with another leader who's a peer of mine. Yes, and and now I'm I'm having a conflict with another leader because they're coming to me. Well, why did you do this with such and such? And why did you? And and now you're coming into contact with or conflict with the way that I lead compared to how you lead, and and it's affecting my employees' skewed vision of me, right? And my team. And so as you can see, this isn't just an issue now between me and my employee that I'm trying to cultivate, but now we've got another leader involved in this, and I didn't know what to do. Run, I didn't know what to do. How do I handle this one? What do I do? I mean, he was very emotional. He is um calling, uh he's he's going about this in a very harsh manner, left me a voicemail and wrote me an email, like, oh, what kind of leader are you? And all of this. And I'm like, well, I'm the kind that sticks to what I say, right? So I had to, I had to seek advice. I had to seek advice. Like, what do I do? I'm not gonna respond in the same energy because that's not who I am. I'm not gonna respond that way. Um, but I do need to address this that I will not tolerate, right? And this is how you build a culture. You need to model certain things. What are you tolerating? What are you celebrating? And I have a culture on my team where Benzi's not going to tolerate certain things that might impact integrity. That's a huge thing. And so I had to bring, you know, a mentor that I had and just talk, okay, how do I navigate this? And then I had to bring my own leader in. How did I navigate this? Because what I did was I tried to talk to this leader on my own. And the leader wouldn't respond. The leader wouldn't pick up the phone. They did not, they wanted to say what they had to say, but they didn't want to hear what I had to say. And I'm like, well, I'm not going to sit here and not let this let this just go. We have to talk about this. It's impacting my team member. So we all had to get around the table and we had to talk about this on a leadership level, on on how are we going to lead and what are we going to do with our peers. And it was a tough one. It was a really tough season because now I have to now gain this trust back from my team member. And it wasn't broken by me. It was kind of broken by someone else trying to call me out on some things. And so it was tough. Leadership is tough because people lead in different ways. You have a team of leaders coming together. And now I knew that I had to model this in a way where the other leader can learn something as well. And so ultimately everything worked out well. It was a communication situation where you know we all had to come to a table and we had to talk it out. And it was a very hard conversation. It's probably one of the hardest conversations I had to have. And the other leader had to now deal with upper leadership over it, right? But ultimately, my goal was my team member. How is this person feeling? And now I had to cultivate and come around them and move accordingly. So that that was tough. Probably the toughest situation in terms of leadership that I had to deal with, where um I learned from.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, thank you for sharing. I mean, and that's gonna happen. That happens to organization. So thank you for being transparent, which which is what the show is about. You you said something that I think is interesting, um, more difficult to do than it is to say you had to fix something that you didn't break. So the trust wasn't broken by you, but you were required. How do you help leaders settle into and accept sometimes you're gonna have to fix something you didn't break?
Niche, Relationships, And Grit
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I I think you said the word right there is we have to accept that first. Because what happens when we're in that situation where it's not my fault, but now I have to deal with this, is just owning that. Like, okay, it's fine. Because sometimes we say, Well, we want to stay in that space of how this happened, where it came, and all that, and we stay in that space for too long. And I think the first step is accepting it right away. Like, this is this is what we're coming into, um, and then understanding who is it affecting? Yeah, who is it affecting? My mindset and that what I gave you the whole time was my team member. Like, I need to preserve this and I need to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen again, right? So let's preserve what we're trying to cultivate here. And so, what you have to do is determine okay, what kind of culture do I want to cultivate now? Yes, this happened, I didn't cause it, but here we are in the situation, and be able to define what is happening. Okay, so this happened, so now I have to rebuild trust. Or, and maybe that means a process has to be in place, or maybe that means, you know, um, I have to create a role now for someone who's going to step in. So, really being strategic around how do we make sure that this doesn't happen again? How do we make sure that folks feel supported as we're going through this? How do I now need to show up? You can't, there's a lot of different ways that we can show up in various situations, and that has to really about. So it's it's it's I think it can be a complex situation, but it but it can be resolved. And that's going back to leading ourselves well, taking, you know, just just I'm gonna use the word again, kind of unpacking the situation, understanding we'll get curious, ask questions, don't make any assumptions. With you know, one team member may feel one way about it, another team member may feel another way about it. You're not gonna be, you can't and you shouldn't deal with each team member the same way. You have to adapt. So you have to understand where every single person is at in this situation that you came to, and it may take time.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_00Actually, I'm gonna take away that word may and let you know that it will take time.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it will take time, yes. It will take time.
SPEAKER_00Uh but your time in that process has to be used wisely. And I see leaders continue to blame the last leader.
SPEAKER_01Yes, right.
SPEAKER_00They continue to bring that up. Oh, and and maybe it's the last leader, maybe it's the last CEO, maybe it's the last president or whatever it is that people want to blame. We want to get out of that. Like, let's own what we can own. Let's use our time and opportunity wisely because every connection, every conversation is the relationship that you're building, every single one. You got to use those moments wisely, especially in a situation that you have to earn back trust or fix something you didn't break.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, love it, love it. You know, as as you're talking and walking through with with all of our listeners, you know, fixing something you didn't break, how important is it, you know, to your team and the people that are watching you to how do you teach them not to burn bridges that they may have to cross? I mean, because now you got social media, you got email, I mean, the stuff is out there, and people will post and they'll respond to something and on on Instagram, and and and that stuff never goes anywhere. How do you help leaders understand? Don't get caught up into some language or some behaviors that will burn bridges that you may have to cross, which is which is hard because people are less forgiving today.
SPEAKER_00Oh, we're in a country. People are very less forgiving today, and those it's never gonna go away. You post something online that's gonna come up 10 years later when you're applying for a new job and you totally forgot about that situation. And so, yes, we live in that type of a society, and I think helping people circle back to what matters most. What matters? What is your why? We hear this all the time. We you and I talk about this all the time. Like, let's let's come back to that. There's a whole lot of mess, right? There's a whole lot of mess that's gonna happen. I think where there where there are people always say this, like there are gonna be problems. It is, there's gonna be mess, but you got to come back to like why are you there? You know, what is the impact that you want to make? And is posting what you want to post or is talking about that person, does that align with why you're here and the impact that you want to make and the vision that you have for your life? Because that's really what matters. Is that aligning with the values that you have? So let's come back to the values. I always bring up core values when I'm talking to leaders in the organization. I have them do an exercise of their own values and how it aligns with core values. And let's lead from that place. Let's not lead from the mess. The mess is gonna come. Your values are what's gonna help you lead yourself well through the mess, but you don't want to lead messy. That's how you lead messy, right? Don't lead messy. So, I mean, but you have to come back to that, and and emotions are gonna be there, right? And and that's okay. But yeah, that's where there's a thing, there's a term, and it's very real, it's called emotional intelligence. And the great thing about emotional intelligence is that it can be developed. Yes, it can be developed, you just have to understand that. And so, if you were someone or you are someone that's quick to post, I want you right now, press pause, like literally press pause, and write out your values. Where are they? You know, and then come back to that. Put it on a sticky note. Like when you want to sit here and just really, really quickly, uh-uh, don't get don't get thumb happy, go back to those values. And if it does not align with your values, then it's not who you are. And hold back. Restraint.
A Hard Leadership Conflict Unpacked
SPEAKER_03I love it. I love it. I mean, if you want the results, you got to do the work. Um, and I think people, yeah, I think people are are today with everybody wanted everything instant. Leadership, the results are not instant. It may be years before you see that person turn around or that person to follow. Um, even when you're leading your kids, sometimes you don't think they're listening, then they grow up and you realize, like, oh, they were really listening. I know my parents thought I wasn't listening, and now, you know, I get to like show them like I was really listening. I know I was, you know, I wasn't always attentive. And and I, you know, we didn't have earpods and headphones on at that time, you know. So you just have to kind of just look out the window like you weren't paying attention, but it was sinking in. How do you help, you know, as you think about where we are as as leaders and five to six generations in the workforce, the workforce is older. Um, it's hard to retain talent. What are some things you're noticing in your work to ensure that you can teach all these generations how to work together effectively for the good of all?
SPEAKER_00You know, it's interesting. It's a very interesting space to be in right now. A very, it really, really is. Um, because here's what's happening. I'll even take it a step back and I'll get back to that question, okay? Because what's happening at these levels is every level of this generation that we're talking about is feeling insecure because of the other generation, right? So the older people, and I've heard this, that's why I hear it all the time. And that's why I feel like I can share this with you, is that the older people are thinking, oh, these younger people are coming in and they're just gonna take over, and you know, I'm not gonna be hired anymore, and they've got these new ideas, and the the new people, I was doing a class the other day. Oh man, I just all these people are so experienced, and what do I have to offer? And you know, all of that. And then, you know, and they're we're all thinking this, these different things, and we're feeling insecure. And so, guess what's happening? We're holding back, we're not sharing anymore, we're not talking about our ideas, we're not working at our best because we don't think that our ideas are as good as their ideas, or this person's got more experience. And so I think the way that we can actually start to collaborate together is can we just start talking to each other? Can we just start sharing our ideas and be curious? Because sometimes, yes, if we have a seasoned person and things have been being done the same way and it's been working, then they may say, Listen, we've been doing this for 20 years. Yeah, it's going to happen, right? And so, young person, ask the questions. Just ask them questions, okay. Well, what would happen if such and such? And help them think. Help them think. I think that the answer to it all is to be curious. If you're an older, seasoned individual and you have been in the company for 20 years, be open and just ask the young person, well, well, what are some new things that you're learning today? What did you just graduated? Like, I mean, I learn new terms all the time. And I'm like, oh, that's a thing. Okay. I guess, oh, wow. It was something it was literally this just this week. And it used to be um, you know, a visual learner, audio learner, kinesthetic, and now there's like six or seven added to that, right? And so I'm learning too. And so we all just have to be open to learn from one another, not, you know, stay silent, which is one thing that we can do and think that the other is better than and I don't deserve to speak. No, and we all do, we all have a seat at the table. And the other part of it, either we're silent or we're or we're pushing back. Let's not do that. Let's have room for everyone. Let's be curious and let's advocate for one another because I have learned way more from my kids than they about myself and about the world. Now that my kids are older, I have a son that I call now. And I'm, what do you think about this? And he's like, What do you think about that? And he's one of my biggest collaborators. And so I value that. And because he knows I value that, he rises to that occasion, right? He he's now reading books. Oh, mom, you got to read this article. We gotta, you know, I sent you an article the other day, Ron. That's where I got it from. Yeah, my son sent it to me, right? And so it's just that's what you want to cultivate in your workplace. You want to cultivate that young person. Oh man, you got to read this article, or or you got to get this app. What app? Oh gosh, how oh, let me help you do this, you know, and so that is bringing our differences together. We've done it before. We're in Black History Month. There was segregation, we came together before, we're still working on it. So there are areas that we can continue to collaborate on all levels, and the generational diversity is one of them.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, love it, love it. So you so as as we look at time, um, and we think about, I mean, there's so much more we could talk about. So I want to do a a quick response. Um ask you some questions and I'll learn a little bit more about you. So a little bit of fun with you. Um, so I don't we'll see. Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00I guess. Here we go. Ready or not, here we go, right?
SPEAKER_03Uh yes, yes. That's what I tell people unpack. You don't know what's gonna happen here. So uh airplane or boat? Your travel.
SPEAKER_00Airplane.
SPEAKER_03Pizza or pizza or ribs?
SPEAKER_01Pizza.
SPEAKER_03Pizza. Would you rather go bowling or would you go rather go skydiving?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh probably skydiving. Yeah, because I've never done it before. I've been bowling. Yeah. You say Betsy, you want to go bowling or you want to go skydiving today? I'm gonna say skydiving. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yes. So special holidays, would you rather stay at home and enjoy a home cooked meal, or would you rather go out and let someone else do the meal and you just enjoy the environment?
SPEAKER_00I would love to have everyone over and cook.
SPEAKER_03Really? Oh, awesome, awesome. When you look at the future, what's something that you you still have on your bucket list that you want to do that you haven't done yet?
Fixing What You Didn’t Break
SPEAKER_00I want to go on a missions trip in Africa because growing up, I wanted to be a missionary and I I've never even been to Africa. So that's actually what I want to do on uh my next milestone birthday.
SPEAKER_03Wow, wow. Who's someone that you that you admire from afar that that's a a public figure that you want to meet that you haven't met yet?
SPEAKER_00Steve Harvey.
SPEAKER_03Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, not Ron Harvey. I already know Ron Harvey. I love Steve Harvey. I really do. Oh, yeah, I just think he's uh you know, I would love to sit down and have a conversation. I think we could have such a great conversation to have.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, yes. So you and you think about the the future for you and leaders are listening. What is it that you've done to ensure because the younger generation don't feel like we're preparing them for the world they're gonna inherit? We're not passing the baton soon enough, we're not building a secession plan, and they're tired of hearing us say, wait your turn. What advice would you give to leaders to not put younger generations in a place where they feel like they're never going to be able to be in a leadership role? Um, because the workforce is getting older, and you see leaders hanging around to this 70 and 80 and 90, and the workforce is looking like, well, when are we going to get a chance? How do you how do you do that effectively? What and still keep the talent or the wisdom or or institutional knowledge, but uh create a space for younger leaders to be leaders in a prominent role.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yes, I call that cultivating emerging leaders. And I think we need as as leaders, and you have young people coming in from the beginning, encourage them to lead from the seat they are in. They don't need to have a title, they will get a title organically by leading from the seat they're in. Then you have to cultivate what that looks like. What does that mean? Well, that means when you come into a team meeting and you know how you don't speak up, and then after the meeting you come and tell me your ideas. Well, that means that I want you to lead that team meeting, right? And so create opportunities for them. Watch them. They don't even know what their strengths are. It's up to us as leaders to pull them out. Wow, I love how you're able to take a complex idea and simplify it for the team to understand. In fact, I want you to go over here and work with IT because I see that you have a technical. Why don't you go and shadow them for a day? Create opportunities for them. If you're a CEO and you have opportunities to actually create a shadowing program that possibly people can apply for and they can have a mentor and you know, they have a cohort now that they can be a part of. Create those things for them. Help them. Well, what do you really want to do? So you're here right now, right fresh out of college, and you know, you're in uh marketing, but what's your big dream? Learn all those things, help cultivate in them today in the role that they're in for the seat that they truly want to have. That is how we can help them get ready for becoming the leaders that we need this community to have in the future.
Don’t Burn Bridges In A Digital World
SPEAKER_03Yes, I love it. I love it. The last question for us, and then I'll ask you to tell people how to get in touch with you for whatever they may want to, maybe on a podcast, or maybe as a speaker, or maybe because of work that you do. When you start thinking about where you are now, um, and and you've, you know, and I've gotten to know you over the years, how important is it for people to understand the development as you're going down this path of where you're trying to get to uh and being properly prepared? So you and I were talking earlier um about you know the the airport analogy, like the runway, what's happening on the runway? Because the plane doesn't just get in the air, it builds up to that that space of being able to take off and it has to go against turbo uh go against the wind to get in the air. But but on the runway, what all did you learn on the runway that allowed you to be who you are today? How important is that for people to get like enjoy the runway time?
SPEAKER_00Oh, you got to enjoy the runway time, you know. Um, in my corporate career, I had never, ever, ever thought I would start a business, Ron. This was not like on Bensy's big dream vision or whatever. I thought I was gonna stay with Verizon until I was retired. I had no idea. But uh number one, you know, I stayed very aligned in my faith and I allow, I'm very intentional about listening and understanding and feeling what what where I need to go. And so even in my career, I didn't stay in one division, right? I went and I was able to, I was five different divisions, five different states. I probably in my 18-year career had 12 different roles. It helped me really learn business, it helped me work with other people, it helped me be able to bring different collaborations together and connect people. It helped me create programs, which is what I do today. Um, but I also had the type of leaders that I was just talking about that said, hey, Ben, so you're really good at speaking. Why don't you go speak over here? I'm like, oh no, I can't do that. Oh, yes, you can. Matter of fact, you should go on YouTube and I want you to watch this. Have you read this book by John Maxwell? Somebody introduced John Maxwell to me in my ride, right? And so the relationships that you have, I would pick mentors. I really like how this person leads. I really like who they are. How did you, what do you do? And they said, Well, leaders are readers. You see these books behind me? They're not just there for show. You know, like I read them, I give them away, you know, and I still have to do that today. I'm still on the runway, you know, I'm still on the runway. And so I'm always reading. I got a book right here. It's called Crucial Conversations. I read it before, but as I'm doing the work in the clients that I serve, I'm like, I gotta, it keeps coming up. So I'm like, you know what? Let me brush up on this, let me create this, let me create that. And so you just have to again lead from the seat that you're in, even if you're in a role that you don't want to be in. What can you get from that? What can you learn from that? You know how many times I went for a role and I didn't get it and I felt so crushed. There was a reason why. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't meant to be on the runway for me because this is where I was meant to be. So it's okay, it's not a failure. So be careful of just being so down on yourself, have grace for yourself, learn from things. I made mistakes along the way. I haven't always led people well, but I've all felt it and I knew it. And I decided, you know what, I got to figure this leadership thing out, you know? And so you just have to be very self-aware, enjoy the runway, even when it doesn't feel good, even when it's out of your comfort zone, it means that you're growing. It's your capacity is growing. And the more your capacity grows, the more you can handle. And the next step is going to surprise you, it's gonna energize you, but just continue to get prepared. If you have an idea what the next step is, be intentional about that runway. Be intentional about what you're reading, who are you around, what do you need to know. And and you will, through discipline, through consistency, putting in that hard work, there's no way that you're not gonna succeed.
Leading Across Five Generations
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. And and I love it. I mean, and helping people understand. That's a journey. Um, and oftentimes you know, you just want to get in the air so fast, which means you want to get into that role, or you want to get in that position, or you'll get into business, and you forget about all of the preparation to get into the air. The aircraft does a lot before it ever gets in the air. A lot, and there are a lot of people that that make it possible for the airplane to take off. So if you'll listen to this show, you can't do it by yourself. Bincy said that several times. Prepare yourself well, you know, envision yourself where you want to be at, make sure you get mentors around you or sponsors or advocates, change positions and roles. You know, so there are a lot of practical things that shared on this podcast, and hopefully you've taken notes of something that you can use. So as we begin to wrap up, Ben C, is there any one to two things that that you think are super important that you use yourself that you will tell people about as they go on this journey of professional development and leadership development, other than attend the unpacked conference and attend the live to lead conference?
SPEAKER_00I think you should get yourself a mentor, a coach if you don't have one already. You know, you definitely need to have that. You need someone who's able to have conversations like this with you, ask you questions you're not asking yourself. We all need someone like that. So I would say that is number one. And number two is write things down. Give get write your plan down. You know, I have so many journals and books, and I I go through them and I'll share this with you. 10 years ago, I wrote down, I want to be a motivational speaker. And now I am. And so you just never know. Write down all your plans. You know, there can I think the word inspire, I think it means like in spirit, like it's coming to me. Something is given to me, it's a gift, and I want to share it with the world, but I don't just do it loosely. I take that very seriously. I write it down, I write down my strategy, I write down my three to five year plan, even if you're in a corporate world. What do you want to do next? Have that plan for yourself. Don't just sit there and get comfortable. Life isn't meant to be, it's meant to be lived, it's meant to be prosperous, it's meant for you to increase your potential until that last day. I know I have a 78-year-old that's a mentor to me, right? And then I'm not just talking about John Maxwell. I have people who and I and I love them and I'm a mesmerized, like, how are you still doing all of this? But I'm like, I want to be you when I grow up because I want to keep going, you know? And so just don't stop, don't get stagnant. If you are right now, if you're stagnant right now and you're just like, you know what, I'm I am kind of stuck. What do I need to do? You need a coach. You need someone to talk to, you know, and they can help you get that's what coaches do. They help you get them stuck. That's literally their purpose. So um it would be great for you to do that. Uh, and that would be a great next step. And and you can reach me if you want to talk to me about that. You can reach me, ignite leadership solutions.com, um, Ben C Beals, I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. You listen, you can even reach out to Ron. He knows how to get a hold of me as well. So um, I'm here in Columbia, but I do travel and I'm happy to serve however I can.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. Love it. Thank you for telling people how to reach you and contact you. And I would tell you to follow her. I mean, she does great work. Um, you heard her on the show, and and what you see is is real for for for how she shows up in a room. Um, and for all you that are listening or watching, you know, one of the things that that I think we're seeing a lot is people are looking at social media so much and getting intimidated by what other people are doing. Please stop paying attention to that. With AI, some of it's true and some of it's not true. Just do what you're supposed to do, and what's supposed to take place will take place. So please don't let that distract you, intimidate you, make you feel insecure. There are 10,000 people, there's always going to be someone ahead of you, and there's always gonna be someone behind you. That's the way life works. Just do you do you live your dream. And here's what I'll say dreams don't have time limits on them. We put limits on it. Dreams do not have a an expiration date. It may not happen until you're 50, it may not happen until you're 70, but you still can achieve your dream. So if you're listening and you're watching and you're thinking, we shared a lot of great information with you. Always tell people about you know, um, unpack leadership, um, the podcast with Ron Harvey. We have a conference that we host every year. Vince and I both have no content out there. Um, I have several books out there that you can find on Amazon, but we could not be who we are if it wasn't for people following you like following us like you do. We would not be successful. We will not be the people that we are in this business if we didn't have people that supported us, that followed us, that took care of us, that advocate, that are champions, that that do things. So please feel free to reach out to any one of us. We're open book, uh, we are accessible. You can find me on our webpage at uh Global Course Strategies and Consulting. You'll find me on LinkedIn, um, Facebook, you'll just find stuff I drop. That is not my primary means of communication. I do look at it. Um, and like behind the scenes, Linda pays attention and does that more than I do. So she doesn't have a Facebook page, she uses mine. Don't tell her I said that. Um, but you can you can reach me out there and she'll tell me what y'all are saying and then I'll respond. But if you really want to reach me, um, send me an email uh or go to LinkedIn and send me a message on LinkedIn. Those are the two primary things that I I normally operate in. Sorry, people that on Instagram and TikTok and all that, I'm not there. Um, but you can find me on um on the other two. Um, Ben C, any last words that you want to share before we wrap up?
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. Well, thank you so much for having me. This was such a pleasure, and I am just so excited for everybody who's watching because if you're watching this show, then that means you're someone who's got a growth mindset. And if you have a growth mindset, then you have something still in you that you're willing and you're ready to get out. And I just say get to it, learn a little, do a little. Don't get stuck in getting yourself ready, go for it. The time's down.
Rapid-Fire Get-To-Know Vincy
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. And I will tell you, people always matter. Have fun, relax, stop taking yourself so serious. You're it's not it's not that serious. Relax and have some fun. Um, and I have to work on that because I always have a serious face to be like, Oh, yeah, that's saying no, not really. If you just hung around me long enough, you'll hear me say some of the wildest, craziest stuff ever. Um, but you but my face don't say that. I'll say some crazy stuff. Like, what are you talking about? I don't know, but it sounded good.
SPEAKER_00Um play a lot, you play a lot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Ben Cincy be like, I don't know whether to take you serious or not. I say, me either. So get on board. I don't know if it's real or not. Um so have some fun. Um, and please, please get people around you, build a team, and do us a favor, help us take care of this community. Please help us do that. Whatever community you're in, whether it's your church or your family or business or corporate America, we need you to be a part of this. So lean in, help us get it right. And please, we're business owners, we'd love to have an opportunity to be in partnership with you if you need our services. Again, we're gonna sign off, tell y'all thank y'all for joining, thank you for listening, thank you for staying with us. And if you know someone that's that would be a great guest, please. Um, and if that's you, reach out. Um, we will do the vetting and we'll say yes or no to it, depending on what you want to talk about. We only talk leadership, so we're we're not here to talk about anything other than leadership. That's the entire podcast. We want to unpack it for you. So, y'all have a great day. Enjoy your entire month of February. Um, and if you ever need anything, please, please um reach out to us. Last announcement October the 2nd, stay tuned. We're it's back again, y'all. October the 2nd, R2I2. We're hosting our our signature event, Unpack Leadership Conference. Please, please, we have surprises for you that we haven't released yet. It's in the back. My team told me to be quiet, don't talk about it. But it's happening on October the 2nd from 9 to 3. Registration will open soon. Please join us at that event. Um, we'll be happy to have you and we will have fun. Until next time, Bincy and I are signing off on Unpack with Ron Harvey. Y'all have a great day.
SPEAKER_02Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpack Podcast with leadership consultant Ron Harvey. Remember to join us every Monday as Ron Unpacks Sound Advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges. Until next time, remember to add value and make a difference where you are or the people you serve. Because people always matter.
