From Rothschild MD to Executive Coach: Alina Addison’s Leadership Journey

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues, host Pedro sits down with Alina Addison, founder of Adapta, executive coach, author of The Audacity Spectrum, and former Managing Director and Head of Trading at Rothschild.

Alina shares her remarkable journey from the high-pressure world of global finance to building a thriving coaching and leadership development business. She discusses the power of audacious leadership, emotional intelligence, team performance, and how courage can become a leader's greatest competitive advantage.

The conversation explores the challenges of building a coaching business, leading high-performing teams, empowering women in leadership, and creating transformational experiences through retreats in the heart of Transylvania. Alina also reveals how her personal experiences, including raising a son on the autism spectrum, shaped her coaching philosophy and leadership framework.

Whether you're a business owner, executive, coach, or aspiring leader, this episode is packed with practical insights on leadership, courage, team dynamics, and building a meaningful legacy.


Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alinaaddison/
Website: https://www.alinaaddison.com/

Transcript

Alina Addison 0:00

Because there's a lot of investment right now in individuals. But what I feel really passionate right now and what adapter offers is to take your team, Pedro, you know, however small or big, and and really take it on um high performing. It's the same as sports, because if if every individual is extraordinary and yet they can play together in the team, they don't row in the same direction, you're not going to have the same outcome. So it's about that sort of performance. With women that we do a lot of leadership programs, it's also about how do they show up as powerful leaders. And there are different dynamics in terms of for women, it's a lot about power, visibility, how do they show up, especially in those boxes, but industry which are still very male dominated, you know? So yeah, and and we do it unconventionally. I mean, that's one thing. The non-conforming part of my audacity is we take people, for example, on retreats or team of size.

Davis Nguyen 0:50

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Swain, and I'm a business coach and the founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven-figure, and eight-figure year, all without sacrificing their quality of life. Before becoming a business coach and before founding Purple Circle, I started scale with several seven and eight-figure coaching businesses and have been at consultant at several businesses doing over $100 million each, including some that are publicly listed and doing over a billion dollars each. In every episode of the podcast, you're gonna learn lessons that took our guest years to learn, and you'll be able to learn that in No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is gonna give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro 1:34

Welcome to Success Leave Schools Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Alina Addison, who spent over 25 years at the heart of global financial markets, including serving as a managing director and head of trading at Rothschild, where high pressure decisions and razor thin margins for error were simply part of the job. That lived experience in one of the world's most demanding environments now shapes everything she brings to her work as an executive coach, speaker, and trusted advisor to leaders and global financial institutions. Alina's leadership philosophy centers on audacious leadership, grounded in courage, care, and nonconformity, and her book, The Audacity Spectrum, published by Profile Books, captures the framework she's built over decades of real-world leadership. As founder of Adapta, she runs signature programs including women in power and audacious leaders and hosts retreats at her boutique hotel in Transylvania. It spring where impossible dreams take shape. Welcome to the show, Alina. Did you like that? Yes, I think that's right.

Alina Addison 2:36

What an is probably you could have stopped even earlier, but it's nice not to miss out the hotel.

Pedro 2:40

All right, let's get started then. Editor, start recording here. Welcome to Success Leaves Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Alina Edison, who spent over 25 years at the heart of global financial markets, including serving as the as managing director and head of trading at Rothschild, where high pressure decisions and razor thin margins for error were simply part of the job. That lived experience in one of the world's most demanding environments now shapes everything she brings to her work as an executive coach, speaker, and trusted advisor to leaders in global financial institutions. Alina's leadership philosophy centers on audacious leadership, grounded in courage, care, and nonconformity, and her book, The Audacity Spectrum, published by Profile Books, captures the framework she's built over decades of real-world leadership. As founder of Adapta, she runs signature programs including women in power and audacious leaders and hosts retreats at her boutique hotel in Transylvania, it's spring, where impossible dreams take shape. Welcome to the show, Alina. Thank you, Pedro. Thank you for that wonderful introduction. Well, Alina, you're the one to blame it. I'll put it simple like that, right? You built that yourself. Now, Alina, uh, I'd love to go back to the origin story, you know? So let's rewind it a bit. Because every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, Yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So when was that for you?

Alina Addison 4:12

A long time ago. And I think for me, I'm celebrating 10 years of my business adapter. So that's my 10-year anniversary. And it was probably five years prior to that. So about 15 years ago, my real inspiration for me being a coach today was my own coach, John, who I I really sort of I was inspired and I admired for many years. And the catalyst for change for me was my own son Dan. So, you know, those those two humans have really shaped who I am today and inspired me to become the coach that I have been for the last 10 years. Okay.

Pedro 4:46

Now, congratulations on the 10-year anniversary. That's first second. Now walk me through the name, Adapta. What's up with that, Alina?

Alina Addison 4:55

Yeah, Adapta. So for me, there it's quite a few things in there, but you will see that, you know, Adapta has got seven letters, which serendipitously it's it's it's my lucky number, I would say. However, I wanted a very short name for my business, and I wanted it to start with an A. Well, actually, ADA. So there is um there is a story behind the story. When I was a managing director at Rosh Child, I was known by the initials. Not that's a sign of status within the Rothschild is once you become a managing director, you are known by your initials. And my initials were ADA. So you're, you know, and this is an unwritten rule that well, as I said, as you become the managing director, people have to talk to you or about you as an initial. So they won't say, I spoke to in an email, I spoke to Alina, I spoke to ADA or Ada. And there was this little book of initials. So you actually had to go and find, because it was a cardinal sin, not to address someone by their initials once they were managing directors. So that's so I had this vision that I wanted to use the ADA somewhere in my business name. I loved the so I played. I used to be on the plane many times between Edinburgh and London, because I've got sort of family there. And for that one and a half hours always used to do words, puzzles. And I thought I hit the jackpot. I thought, oh, adapt, adapt. I mean, how simple. And then um, I was just about got got excited to go and you know, there's sort of two things when you set up any business. So one, it's in the UK at least. One is you have to register the company with the company's registrar, and two is you have to have a web domain. And one of the advices that I had very early on as a new entrepreneur, the new kid on the block was Alina, when you register the company, make sure you have the web because it can become expensive if you haven't done it immediately. So I went and adapt was gone. I was so happy. I came back from that, but the plane gone. There was no, there was taken by the company's house, as we call it in the UK. And I was so disappointed, so disappointed. And I just thought, okay, I'll just add an A. And I again, it's like I hit the jackpot, adapter, with just one A. And I thought, how creative am I? And then I got to do the web. Um was gone, was taken. And I remember being at the dinner table, and my daughter at the time was tiny. And I thought, oh my god, six months of playing, and I can't do it because it's not available. And then she very simply said, Mum, why don't you just add another A? Just like that, like any creative, you know, for them there's nothing impossible. I thought, why not? So I added another A, and so that's how a dark tar with two A's became. And everybody thinks today that it was deliberate because that my initials are AA, of course. And it wasn't deliberate, but you know, there is no coincidence, as I always say. So interpretate it, it was meant to be the way it was through a pure coincidence.

Pedro 7:50

Okay, super cool. Okay, now curious about another thing. We're getting 10 years in the game, right? In the coaching space, and uh there's always a shift, right? In the beginning, you're giving advice, sometimes you're helping people and all that, and it gets to a point that you're like, oh, wait a minute. I'm actually building a business around this, right? Sometimes that happens, sometimes it's different. But in your own experience, what collect for you that you're going through a business that was be gonna be built around a coaching practice? And when did you realize that happened? Was it the first paying client? Was it the first invoice? You know, how did that look like for you when you you started and where we're at right now today?

Alina Addison 8:32

Oh, I already had that vision as I started. So I gave myself two years, because that's the most difficult part of any entrepreneurship, whether it's a coaching business or any other type business, a tech business. Really, the first two years of building is when you build a foundation underneath the ground, then you can't see it. Um, and it's the most difficult part. And my own, even my own coach said, Alina, if you can make the first two years, then it will become a lot easier. Most people fail in the first two years. But I had the vision of having a business which was bigger than myself. That's why I wanted a name. I mean, going back to adapter, my business was not going to be called Alina Addison, which probably 95% of the coaching businesses are called the coach's name. It's just easy. And it's also the identity that's linked to the actual coach or the head coach. So I always had the vision of my business was going to be bigger than me, my business was going to serve corporations and do more than one type of coaching. So we do not just one-to-one coaching, we do team coaching, we do group coaching, we do retreats. So it's there's a breadth and width of service.

Pedro 9:37

But why coaching? I mean, you could be doing a lot of things. I like I said, I come from a financial background. I am a coach. It's not, I would say, like, that's not not a natural transition. So like financial to coaching. So why did you choose this lane?

Alina Addison 9:54

Good question. And for me, as I said, it was really having had an incredible role model in my coach, John, at the time. So when when I was the head of trading and execution at Rochal, we used to joke on the on the desk, actually, that I was going to leave, I was there for 15 years. It was a long time. You know, I had longevity in the business. That when I was going to leave, I was going to do something completely audacious, you know, crazy, they would say at the time. And the joke on the desk was a hedge fund for women or a women hedge fund. That's what we were playing with. And I always used to say, well, whenever I'm going, and that was sort of the last three years, it is going to be something so different. I didn't know what that was, but I really meant it. And I knew there was going to be something different. Having watched John, John also came from the financial services industry, and he had a fairly similar story to mine, is he was also really inspired by his own son. So there was something that I saw, um, and I got inspired by the possibility. I didn't know much about, you know, ex except experiencing, having experienced coaching on myself and having known how transformation that beyond the human, the eye, was and where it took me. I was also very realistic in as much as I gave myself two years. If it wasn't going to work, I was going to go back into the finance world. So it was a calculated risk. I love risk. I love experimentation. I was the head of trading. So it's an unregulated market. I mean, it's so crowded, even at the time I remember. And I got really inspired probably many more years before I got inspired by John, is when I went, before I became a managing director, I went on one of these um, you know, one week residential. And it was a group of, it was an intimate group, uh, husband and wife and another coach. I had no idea what coaching was. I actually did not even know that. As in in the context of corporate coaching rather than sport coaching. But again, that week was so transformational. I remember sitting in that classroom and it was a very small group, thinking, wow, that's just such an amazing job to teach people, train people, transform people. And talk about the origin story, Petro. I mean, if you go back all the way to my origins, I was born in Romania during the communist and so era, and I qualified as a teacher at the very green, fresh age of 18, never professed. But I learned psychology very young, and I learned so I literally almost went back circle many, many months later.

Pedro 12:21

Okay, interesting. Well, now I have another question for you because it sounds like right off the bat at the start, you'll kind of have a lot of intention of doing what you're doing right now, very focused, right? And uh, in the early days for coaching, sometimes coaches are trying to help everyone, right? They're just trying to land the client and and all that. So it doesn't seem like it was your own uh situation. So what I'm asking you is who do you serve, you know, eventually and and right now, and if that evolved from the start, you know, if in the early days, but was it the same people you're serving right now?

Alina Addison 12:59

It's probably the same psychographic as I call it. So I always had the intention to go back into the financial services industry because I understood that world. And you know, you go to the coaching faculty, if you like, academies, and they say you actually don't need to understand the industry, which is true. And it helps. It helps with the credibility, it helps. I I mean, I understand they don't have to explain to me I I can relate immediately to the pressure, I can relate immediately to you know the high standards and and the pace of that environment. So I went back just literally straight after the the school of coaching into the financial services industry, and I I have been there for the last 10 years. It hasn't changed much. So for me, maybe in terms of you know, in terms of who I serve today, they are the leaders, you know, the people at the top, the the heads of the departments and the in these big global financial corporations. And I teach them, well, today I teach them audacity, interestingly. But what I found very early in my career, it was the emotional intelligence. There was a one tool that I really connected with, I really resonated with. So I use that a lot in, I still do, but uh maybe a lot more in the early part of my career. I mean, I told you about my son has been the inspiration, or the catalyst rather. He is on the um autistic spectrum, hence my book is called The Audacity Spectrum. So he, you know, he's been my biggest teacher and my biggest student of probably many of the tools that I use today. Because if you can negotiate with someone on the spectrum, you can negotiate with, well, almost anyone. And I always say part of my story is that the head of training and execution, I could negotiate with almost anybody. The one person I couldn't negotiate with was my own son. So that training ground has been extraordinary, you know, in terms of um the experience that's given me. And the whole emotional intelligence became very close to my heart because if you understand the spectrum, in theory, is a very extreme case of low emotional intelligence. So then I learned that it's a learned behavior and it can be learned. So my belief system was if I can teach my own son to increase his emotional intelligence, I can do it with anybody else. And that's my biggest testimony.

Pedro 15:17

Wow, okay, very impactful. Appreciate you sharing that. Okay. Now I want to do kind of an exercise, you know. Let's pretend I'm your ideal client profile. I'm one of those leaders at the top of the financial corporations in the world. Let's put it like that. So, first of all, marketing-wise, how would I be able to find you?

Alina Addison 15:37

The most likelihood is that someone would have told you about me. So, you know, that's what I've learned sort of early on. It's called the advocacy market. Is actually when you serve someone very powerfully, the likelihood of them going and telling their boss, the person who reports to them, their peer, their friend, it's very high. But that the you know, majority of my business has been through that sort of word of mouth referrals recommendations. And, you know, as as I've grown the businesses, I've also working with the team and the team of collaborators, not just about me and Alina being, you know, working with someone and then being referred to someone else. We've also used the the social media. So LinkedIn is my platform of choice, and I have a marketing manager, so you will see content being put for the last quite a few years now. And certainly since my book came out two years ago, that's also been one of the reasons why we've been a bit more present.

Pedro 16:33

Okay. I'm still that same person, okay? And um I was let's say I was referred to you or I looked at your content on LinkedIn, or eventually I read your book, okay? Let's say that happened and that resonated with me. I'm like, Alina, or better than Alina, adapter seems like a cool place to, you know, take a look at what's going on there. Maybe they can help me. So let's speed up the sales process a bit. Let's just say there is alignment, okay? You guys see that you can help me. I can see that you guys can help me. Now, I understand you may have different offers, but if you wanted you, you can give me a quick rundown about them or just pick the main one, you know, whatever feels helpful. So walk me through how does it look like to work with adapter, okay? And uh potential outcomes I can expect out of it.

Alina Addison 17:22

Yeah, so I mean, in terms of I mean, adapter it's very much sort of the emotional intelligence piece. Most of the the coaches that work within adapter will have that one. But we have many other sort of tools. So it will very much depend on on the client. So you and I, if if you were my ideal client, we'll have a conversation, we'll find out, Pedro, you know, where what's next for you? What do you need to achieve? It's very much in that family of achievement. I personally would take you on what I call an audacious journey. So we will set a very exciting destination for you. And that could be the next step in the career or something else that you want to, it's it's a passion project. There's something that's been really sitting with you that you have you wanted to do it for a while. So that will be the North Star for me, is courage. I always say, I used to say I give people courage. That's it's incorrect, as in it's not accurate, because I don't, I'm not gonna hand you the courage. I will help you to find the courage within. And it's um it's that you know, to care about your mission. The caring bit is, you know, care so much about the mission that you want to accomplish that you then don't care about what other people think. And finally, is how can we do it in a creative, non-conforming way? Because yes, it's great, let's find what the rules of the games are, and can we find ways to get there faster or to get there in a more intentional, creative way? So so just to give you examples will be, you know, someone who will want to set a new set up a new business, or someone who have already become in these places that I am, there will be a managing director or partner. So you work with with someone on a one-to-one basis, but really the biggest transformation is when you then work with the team. Because there's a lot of investment right now in individuals. But what I feel really passionate right now and what adapter offers is to take your team, Pedro, you know, however small or or big, and and really take it on um high performing. It's the same as sports, because if if every individual is extraordinary and yet they can play together in the team, they don't row in the same direction, you're not gonna have the same outcome. So it's about that sort of performance. With women that we do a lot of leadership programs, it's also about how do they show up as powerful leaders. And they are different dynamics in terms of for women, it's a lot about power, visibility, how do they show up, especially in those boxes, but industry which are still very male-dominated, you know? So yeah, and and we do it unconventionally. I mean, that's one thing. The non-conforming part of audacity is we take people, for example, on retreats or team off sides or into the Transylvanian in Transylvania, overseeing Dracula Castle. So you take them in a place which is really so unusual that they have no choice but to really start thinking creatively. You create that sacred, different space, and you could actually achieve a lot of transformation in in in four days, and then you come back and integrate that over 12 months.

Pedro 20:23

So it sounds like if I got that right, uh, we have a B2C kind of offer and a B2B. You also have teams and all that. You you receive them on those retreats. I got that right, something like that. That's right.

Alina Addison 20:37

That's right. So it's it's for us, it's it's really it's a it's mainly B2B, if I were to be know in terms of the the business. The B2C, the retreats, yes, because a lot of people do self-fund. And when that, and what we used to do less so, but we also used to, we still do, but not as much as I had in the first part of my 10 years, if you like, is what we call the open programs. So we will have people from different organizations from private equity one, private equity two, three, four, and we'll put them into intimate groups of eight, and we'll work with them over nine months, which is a lot of the connection peer group, you know, at this particular level, and used to be, let's say, directors in this, you know, what do they need? What how do they need to be? It's all about the being in their roles to be an exceptional leader. And it's a lot of the the learning is from us as coaches. We normally do it in pairs, so I will do it with my business partner, Chatiana. So it's we will be paired to show actually in role model the partnership, and then we will have the cohort, then they will learn from us, but mainly from each other.

Pedro 21:40

Okay, interesting. I'm curious about one thing, especially in the B2B side, right? We're talking about someone who makes a decision at uh upper level and say, Hey, I need help to facilitate this team with X, Y, and Z. Whatever that looks like. So my curiosity tends to be in. The buy-in from them, the team. So let's say there's friction, a little bit of friction, because they're being told to be there, right? I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I'm just curious about how to navigate the buy-in from the team where they didn't make the decision to be there in the first place.

Alina Addison 22:17

Well, that's my job. It's interesting you say that absolutely, but but it truly is. It's so you need to have the buy-in of the leader. If you don't have, I mean, there is no there is no assignment. You're not going anywhere. It's the same. I mean, think about a football team or a basketball team. You know, once they once you get them gelled around what's the common purpose, what's the common ground, it's it's extremely exciting for the team because they especially in those environments where they are rewarded in terms of its financial rewards. So it's all about how much money do they make. And if you sell the dream that if they all row in the same direction, actually one plus one equals 11 as a team. Really, the the absolute competitive advantage is in the team. Because they say, you know, the the the advantage of a team is the individual, and the advantage of an individual is the team if they're part of the team. So once they understand, of course, it's not a little friction, by the way, or tension, it's a lot. It's a lot because that's what teams are. That's they're very complex. And you put two people together in a partnership. I mean, that's complex. You put 10 and it becomes exponentially more complex. And so you get to, you know, and once they understand they are different, and you leverage the difference. I mean, that's a key part of the team coaching. Actually, how do you leverage differences? You don't want people to be all conforming. Uh because then, you know, that's you just get group bias, actually. You want people to feel safe and brave and you know, to take risks. And I'm not saying it's easy because if it's if it were easy, everybody would do it, as my dad would say. It's not.

Pedro 23:50

Okay, I have another one for you. You know, like I'm just thinking out loud, like I'm I'm I used to to put myself in the ICP shoes, and I I'm putting myself in your shoes. I'm trying to understand the the dynamics. So let's play it like this. You mentioned uh Tatiana is your partner, right? And I hired you guys, adapter, and I'm like, hey, I need help with my team, you know, they need to get to what I need to be, and this happened. And they're not really, you know, they're they're slacking, they're not really good at what they're doing, okay? Let's put it like that. I I I framed it as as it is, and then they go to the retreat or the the cohort or the group setting, whatever that looks like. You're two days in, okay? You start talking to people in the first day, you're just adapting, and right? Second day in, you're in a Tatiana are looking at each other and you're like, I think the problem is the leader. I don't think the problem is this team because they seem like nice folk, you know, they're they're into it, they're trying their best. I mean, how do you navigate that conversation, you know, Alina, with the paying client that is coming from a biased point of view of saying my team is to blame when actually here's the problem.

Alina Addison 24:58

Well, uh you know, I get paid to tell people the truth, and I take a lot of pride. So if you were to if you were to work with me as a leader, you then there's there's there's no clubs. Number one, I wouldn't take you on if I don't believe that you committed it. And of course, most of the time, and I'm I'm gonna say something incredibly provocative here, but most of the time, yes, it will be the leader. Because they, you know, that the the saying that the fish always smells from the head. There is, and it's not true all the time. But if you don't have leadership at the top, you know, you could have the best team in the world, as you said. That's why nobody won the Olympics without a coach, whether you are an individual tennis player or whether you are a basketball team. So that's rule number one with anyone who wants to get engaged with a coach. So you have to have the buy-in from the leader. I have no problem to say to the leader, you know, the tension is here. We need to the reality of it is most of the time when we work with the team, we would have already worked with the leader. They would have already been primed. Now, if it's a team, not a group, if it's a it's a team, we have, so you talk about Tatiana and I, we have a an incredible tool, Meta team. So this is one of the, you know, in in terms of the range of tools that we use. But for the team, we have many. You know, most people who are team coaches will tell you we they use the Lencionis model, which is great. You know, there are many, you know, we used something else which is called the TPA, the team performance accelerator. So but the but the one which we found incredibly powerful, it's it's a it's um diagnostical meta team. So I'm gonna I'm gonna promote them right now. But what the team will do, they will do a diagnostic. So they will do a questionnaire. So you'll have the leader, you'll have, let's say in company, yours, as you said, you'll have the CEO, you'll also have the chairman. So those two will have to do it. The team will do it, let's say it's a team of ten, and then they will also nominate stakeholders. So then you have the whole system, and it's very, very visual. You you see it in a wonderful map with colors. Where are the pressure points? And this particular model works in eight behaviors, eight team behaviors. So you have, for example, so trust will be one, adaptability will be another one, agility will be another one. So you can then measure, and under each of these eight behaviors, you have four subcomponents. So they are actually 32. So imagine, and the way we use that sort of language is it's you get 32 potential workouts, because there are 32 different muscles. Use the the sports metaphor. Every team will have pressure points, and that will tell you black and white or color, because it which are the pressure points for your team. So then the leader may think, well, actually, you know, this this team is not agile enough. Yet the data comes back and says there's a lot of agility in this team, you know, they're very innovative, they're very creative. The real problem is the trust, but not trust, because actually they're very trusting in each other. There is one the component of the trust, which is they're not enough difficult conversations. They're not allowed. So you start flexing where you see the reds. And the idea is to turn those reds, because you'll see it in the map, into yellows and then blues. And then you will redo this in 12 months' time or 18 months' time, and the transformation is, I promise you, um incredible. And they cannot argue with the date because it's them. It's confidential, nobody knows who said what, but it's very but what you do see, you will, you know, for example, I give you one example is the leader thinks that the team is not agile, everybody else. So you start seeing where you need to have the conversation. Or the chairman thinks everybody's very clear on the stakeholder demands, everybody else is not. So it's like so you get to start seeing the mirror in terms of the the different perceptions.

Pedro 28:35

Drama. I love it. It's a drama. Sometimes it feels like you hit an I well, first of all, I hit a nerve, it sounds like. And you kind of I I I agree with you, kind of nail that it's about the leadership at the end of the day, most of the time. Also, you mention a curious uh and interesting part, which is that uh the team is not agile, and there may be that someone may raise their hands and say, Hey, I'm not agile because you need to approve everything and look at everything I do, you know, and that stops me from being more productive. And then you have to have that type of conversation because it's like trying to control because it's coming from a place of fear. You and it it just peeling off the onion, right? To get into the bottom of the truth. Now, shifting gears for a second, okay. I'm curious about where you're taking all this, you know, 10-year anniversary for your adopter. So looking ahead a bit, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling even more, hiring more people, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Alina Addison 29:28

Yes, yes, to all of that, actually, Pedro. Interestingly, I do I don't want to I don't want to scale too much because it then you lose the intimacy. This is where our our real competitive advantage is in the intimate containers that we create. When we do the retreats or the teams in Transylvania, you know, the hotel, it's a boutique hotel and it's got 20 rooms. So we at the moment, unless we sort of so so the teams that we take on are within that size. My sort of desires and mapping the next 10 years are for sure to become, you know, the real the experts. So people know in in audacious leadership, as I call it, or you know, emotion and human intelligence. Um, my partner Tatiana is um an expert in intensity, so intense environment, but also intense human beings. And so I want to develop and expand the team of experts that we have that will be known for best in class. So if you want, you know, the best in class in strategy, you come to uh adapter. If you want the best in class, so that's my desire. The the hotel, my it's my dad's legacy, because we built it from a ground zero, or he did. And his dream was to have a center of excellence, you know, on top of the mountains overseeing Dracula Casa. That's what I want to develop in the next 10 years. So you can come from Brazil into Transylvania with your team. We may expand from 20 rooms to 30 rooms, but no more, to have some real transformations over four days or uh or a week or a year, you know, in terms of because a lot of this stuff can be done in London and in Brazil and in Transylvania and virtually. There are many ways of cutting the cake. But yes, I think it's transforming, you know, leaders on a one-to-one basis, because that's always going to be the the bread and butter. You as you said, you get the leader to lead properly and audaciously, everything else will follow. Then you work with the team and get them into high gear, high performance where they all row in the same direction. And that's about it. That's how I want to to scale.

Pedro 31:24

You know, I love the legacy when you you start to talk about your dad. We like that. It hits home hard. We also just had our retreat. I remember we talked about that when we first met, right? And we just came back from Toulum, Mexico. We spent a week there for a community. So yeah, I'm excited. I I would love to take a look at that castle. I'll put it simple like that. Okay. I like the uh the intimacy of it too. It's like you it's a container, you're you're not in a big place and eventually avoiding people. You're like just there and making it work.

Alina Addison 31:56

Yeah, you have no choice, no choice whatsoever. That's a beauty. So actually, one of the things, you know, I'm part, I can't remember what I mentioned to you when I saw you, but I'm part of um a community of coaches which is called 4PC, led by Rich Litvin. So the 4% coaches in the world. So they came, they they do we do two intensive a year, and they came in in at the hotel in Transylvania in September 25. Now it's 30 of them, and everybody wants their own rooms. But what I did do, so that was also uh, you know, in a sort of groundbreaking for me, is finding a few sister little cottages around where we can accommodate everybody close enough. But we stayed at the hotel, which has got a wonderful, wonderful uh conference room and the restaurant and the tower. And I always say it's it's a it's it's a family feeling. We all eat together, you know. The chef will do it specially just for us. It's exclusive into one place, and it makes it so much more intimate and so much more powerful.

Pedro 32:51

Okay, what's the name of the hotel?

Alina Addison 32:53

It's called uh the Transylvanian well, not the it's called Transylvanian Inn. Transylvania Innovan Inn. Transylvanian Inn, I N N, because it's an Inn. It's it's and um yeah uh uh dot row R O because it's Romania. I can send you the link.

Pedro 33:08

Uh it's all good. I can add into the description and later on the episode's all good. Appreciate the insight. Now, you know, whenever we're aiming towards the next chapter, an exciting next chapter, as it sounds like, there's always something we're refining in the present, right? So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Alina Addison 33:26

What am I currently trying to improve in the business right now? Well, my biggest challenge, Pedro, is to say no. I've been working on this for 10 years. And I have been working for all, if you ask my own coach, probably for eight years, I am getting there. Is to, you know, what do I say no to in order to keep my energy for the big yeses? So it's it's more that and really selecting the lanes and being very clear as to who we serve and for the industry. Because I did a bit more than just financial services and you know, it might go back, but you know, healthcare is we I'm coming back to the center again. I want it's size, it's probably the biggest challenge. I'm sure you have heard that from many people, maybe old. It's how do you stay ahead of what's happening in the air world and reuse it in our favor and stay still human? That's the biggest challenge right now. How do you navigate because it move so fast? How do we navigate that? So that's top of my mind.

Pedro 34:28

Okay. And if you had the opportunity to come back 10 years, okay, in time and give one piece of business advice towards the coaching adapter business to pass Helena, what would that be?

Alina Addison 34:41

Actually, it is. I mean, for me, it's be part of an incredible coaching community, which I have, but maybe be braver, do that earlier on. So you know, maybe than just one. I I can think of a few things. One is ask for advice and ask for help. You know, just don't hesitate because there are so many people out there who want to sort of you know help you for sure. And because I'm such an experimentation, I've experimented with so many things, so I've learned so many things, but you know, maybe for my the wiser self to the my younger self, I'll say sleep on some of these things because I'm almost the extreme, you see. Sleep and and see how it feels rather than jump so fast into so many different things.

Pedro 35:18

Great reminder. Okay. Now, if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, Palina, and we're gonna have all the links in the description, okay? But what's the best way for people to find you and connect with you?

Alina Addison 35:29

Well, I have a one of the things I didn't mention at all, Pedro, is one of the on the back of my book, The Audacity Spectrum, I also do keynote speeches on Audacity. So I have a website which is called alinaadison.com, and that's just me as a speaker. I obviously have the website which is Adapta, which is us as a business, but that's in progress of having we'll be vamping it for the next 10 years. But that's adapta.co.uk. And then the um the other thing that I have, and you know, I haven't sort of leveraged, is I have my own audacious conversations live on LinkedIn. So they're LinkedIn Live, it's not a podcast, it's a LinkedIn live, and they all get uploaded on YouTube. And my YouTube channel, if you want to call it that way, is Audacious Alina.

Pedro 36:10

Okay, you know, Alina, there were a few moments from the conversation that I feel the need to highlight. Okay. First one, let's go back to the Yorgin story. Your inspiration for coaching, very unique from the conversations I've had here in this podcast. You were inspired by a mentor, which is John, right? So interesting to look at someone you admire doing something. You're like, you know what? I'd love to do something like that. So that's interesting. Great reminder, by the way. And also by being a risk taker your entire life. So it sounds like that's a line. We're taking that leap of faith and running your own business, adapter. Okay. Another thing I feel the need to highlight is also the book, right? The audac audacity spectrum. And then you told me the story about your own son, and then you're you're telling me if I can navigate that negotiation, I can navigate almost everything. And that always brings me back to perspective. I think that's the word, right? It's like I had people doing the we we do kind of a vibe check for those that are listening and uh not aware of it. We do kind of a a vibe chat before the podcast, which is a vibe check to see if they're cool. Well, in the school, which is here. And I had people in Israel while they were being bombarded. He was like in the safe house holding his cell phone like this, looking at looking up. And I had people taking calls at 5 a.m., you know, 5 30 in the other side of the world. So that really put things in perspective to me as someone that like people are so committed sometimes. And sometimes we take like C and Bs as something that is regular, but there are eight players out there, okay? So having that mentality, the perspective, and the lens you you added to your book with the experience of your time. So such an important reminder, okay? And last but not least, I would say the North Star you mentioned, which is courage. It's funny, right? Because marketing-wise, positioning-wise, we usually in coaching, at least I don't do it, um, we don't sell courage, but at the end of the day, there's a quote which is sell them what they want and give them what they need. And eventually we get to that point. But the the from a point of view of a positioning piece, it's hard to sell someone courage, confidence, because they're like, what does that even mean? I they don't even know me, you know? And sometimes they even don't they don't even know they need that. They're on the tactic level, they're they're on the surface level, trying to understand their own hurdles, right? So Alina, this is just my long-winded way of saying that. I appreciate what you do. I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. Okay, it was great having you on.

Alina Addison 38:47

Thank you. Thank you, Pedro. And absolutely, I shall be looking forward to having you visiting the Dracula Castle at some point. And I'll visit Brazil during the Gramado and see the snow, which is really unusual. I didn't think that would be possible. Okay.

Davis Nguyen 39:02

That's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business to six, seven, and eight figure years all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at join purplecircle.com and see what we can do to help you.