162: Alyson Van Hooser: How To Use Stories NOT Statistics to become a more effective leader, with Alyson Van Hooser & Kevin Bees, Profit Maximisation Expert.
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In today\'s episode,\\xa0Kevin\\xa0Bees interviews Alyson Van Hooser.
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Alyson Van Hooser is not your typical business speaker.
Alyson brings a fresh, relevant perspective to the new challenges that leaders face today, teaching her audiences how to engage, motivate, and retain a multi-generational workforce. The bonus is that along with her expertise, Alyson makes a one-of-a-kind connection with the audience that never fails to delight and inspire.
With a life resume that includes tough early years that taught her how to turn challenges into opportunities, Alyson achieved rapid success working her way up in the food, retail, and finance industries.\\xa0
She was a City Councilwoman by the age of 30; she works with a wide range of organizations as a keynote speaker, and, as if that weren\\u2019t enough, Alyson tops it off by being a mother of four.
Alyson\\u2019s unique life and business experiences led her to discover the immense power that comes when leaders own the responsibility of truly understanding and intentionally connecting with the people they serve.
Her books LEVEL UP, ACCELERATE YOUR SUCCESS, and soon-to-be-released INFINITE INFLUENCE, unveil powerful stories of lessons learned through struggles, and provide practical strategies needed to create and sustain success in life and at work.
As a speaker, Alyson Van Hooser is the real deal, and her heartfelt connection with people is a key to her effectiveness on stage. Her distinctive combination of wisdom, energy, humor, and practical strategies inspire and motivate audiences to take action on ideas that drive both organizational and personal success.
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In today\\u2019s episode Alyson shares:
- How her life changed at\\xa0aged\\xa013, when she came home one day and her parents were not there, and never came back (her father struggled with drugs, and her mother left before Alyson can remember).
- How she was prompted at the\\xa0aged\\xa016 by her future father-in-law to share her experiences to help others, and she ignored his suggestions because she could just not imagine that she could help in that way.
- How she was the youngest person ever to represent her community as a city councilwoman.
- Why she was torn when someone proposed to her to become Mayor of the city, there was a tough choice between remaining a professional in her career or going all in on politics.
- Her father-in-law Phil reminded her that he thought she should do neither of those and instead, should share her experiences for the benefit of others through writing a book and helping leaders develop.
- How she became a keynote speaker in 2019.
- Her life-changing question is - \\u2018What do I want?\\u2019.\\xa0\\xa0Alyson wanted something different than the experience her parents were creating, so she defined that clearly, and over the years has been able to move towards that and bring the vision into reality.\\xa0\\xa0Alyson chose to pursue a life that is radically different and started figuring out what others were doing and working out who to emulate and who not to emulate.
- Her second life-changing question from her book \\u2018Infinite Influence\\u2019. \\u201cWhat do they need from me?\\u201d.\\xa0\\xa0This is so important because there is no self-made success; you have to build relationships and connect with people.\\xa0\\xa0
- The two questions tie together since if Alyson can help them unlock what they want, it makes it more likely she will be able to receive what she wants.
- Why it is important for business owners to know EXACTLY what their team needs from them (if they want to get the best out of them).
- This question is important personally, professionally, and in the community.
- Her future-proof leadership strategy: Stories not statistics.\\xa0\\xa0If you can get to know someone\\u2019s story, you will uncover their need, and when you understand the need you can serve that need.\\xa0\\xa0This is more important than ever since leadership is more difficult than ever and people are more diverse than ever.\\xa0\\xa0You must understand the people that report to you.
- The importance of empathy and why most people are getting empathy wrong, and what to do about it.
- How to begin to think like someone else, so you can lead them on how they would like to be led, not on the way you want to lead them.
- Stories build a bond - so it is important for a leader to seek out people\'s stories. There are 3 stories every leader needs to know about their team members
1. Key events: what was happening in the world when you were coming of age?
2. Parenting: 80% of what we do as adults came from\\xa0the way we were parented.\\xa0\\xa0Older generations were left alone more and had to figure things out, and the younger generations almost never will be left alone.\\xa0\\xa0Therefore, this translates into expectations at work, the older generation expects to figure things out and the younger generations will expect\\xa0more to\\xa0be given support.
3. Technology - what has been the team members\' experience with technology?\\xa0 The older generation may prefer more face-to-face, and the younger is more connected to online approaches.
4. To find someone\'s story, you can share \\u201cIt was like this for me\\u2026 what was it like for you?\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0Leaders should share their stories first.
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\\xb7\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 \\u201cHow people think about your changes how they see you\\u201d - and it matters what people think about you because what they think about your changes how they treat you.
- Therefore, it is critical that you establish with people how you want them to see you, so you can get treated the way you want to be treated.
- To control how people think of you and treat you, it is critical to\\xa0be intentional about sharing your story.
- YOU have a story to share, and it will\\xa0make difference\\xa0to those who need to hear it.
And much much more.
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Resources mentioned in this show:
www.vanhooser.com