424-SYB-Brand-Evolution-Orig.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
It’s okay if your personal brand feels a bit messy. That’s a natural part of an authentic evolution of who you are, which is what we dive into today on this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast.
Carol Cox:
More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience.
Carol Cox:
Hi there. This is your host, Carol Cox. Thank you for indulging me in my two month break from this podcast. It was exactly what I needed. And during that time, Diane Diaz, our lead speaking coach, and I had an opportunity to record some podcast episodes in an actual film studio on the campus of Full Sail University, where we teach business and marketing classes. You can listen to this episode audio only, but I think you’re going to get the most out of it if you watch the video. The video has extra clips in it. When we’re talking about different things, it really is an amazing edit and I would love to hear your feedback on it. You can find the video on the show notes page at Speaking Your Brand 424. So the episode number Speaking Your Brand 424. In the show notes, you can also find the direct link to the YouTube video itself. Now let’s get on with the show.
Carol Cox:
Hi there and welcome to Speaking Your Brand. I’m your host, Carol Cox, joined by our lead speaking coach, Diane Diaz.
Diane Diaz:
Hi, everybody.
Carol Cox:
Today we are filming in one of the studios on the campus of Full Sail University, where Diane and I have been teaching for 16 years in the digital marketing program. We certainly have evolved over those years. Everything from how has the internet has evolved, as has AI. And we want to talk today about reinvention versus evolution. I feel like a lot of times we are told that we should reinvent ourselves, that we should become someone new if we want to take on different aspects of our career or projects that we’re working on. But I’m not sure reinvention is the right word, because I’m not even sure it’s possible to truly reinvent who you are. I think it’s more of an evolution. So, Diane, thinking about your career that you’ve had in marketing and branding, including at the university, how have you seen this idea of evolution play out?
Diane Diaz:
I agree with you that it is not really a reinvention, because I think who we are today is largely, obviously based on who we used to be and things we’ve learned over the course of time over our careers, personal experiences. And so I really feel like it’s really just a maybe coming into who you are and an identification of all that makes you who you are based on all those experiences that you’ve had.
Carol Cox:
I wonder if part of it is also an acceptance of all these different aspects of ourselves. I remember way back when I started speaking your brand in 2015, 2016. I was told by very well-meaning people that I should not talk about my background in politics, that it could potentially turn off people if they weren’t similarly politically aligned. And I should just kind of ignore that aspect of my career. And I thought at the time, well, that doesn’t really make sense because it is a core part of who I am, who I am, who I always have been as part of my values, the work that I do, the work that I like to do with women, to help them use their voice. But I’m sure that there’s a lot of women out there that feel like maybe aspects of their career or things that they’ve done that they have not embraced because they’re afraid that either it feels messy or like it doesn’t feel like it is as part of their overall cohesive brand.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah. That’s true. I hear that from clients sometimes, or even just in conversations with women. And I think it’s a it’s a valid concern. But what I would say to that is that when we are trying to push down some aspect of ourselves, like for you, the, the political portion of your career, then you cannot be who you truly are and be your full self in anything that you do. Right. And so I think that then colors how you do what you do. But when when we just bring everything about ourselves and certainly whatever setting you’re in, whether it’s a networking event or a personal event, you’re going to change how you convey that. But when you bring your whole self and all that makes you who you are, the politics, even religion for some people, hobbies, personal interests. When you bring all of those things to the work that you do and to your messaging, that is truly what your personal brand is. Right. And that’s how we can feel more comfortable living in our personal brand. It doesn’t feel like a disconnect between who were saying we are and who we actually are, which we don’t want that disconnect.
Carol Cox:
Well, I know that you are an iron man. You completed an Iron Man. This was in 2013. Yes, yes. And so and that was a big part of your identity. And when we started teaching here at the university in 2009, I was so inspired and impressed by these triathlons that you were doing. And so I started doing more running, and I was like, I got to keep up with Diane and her fitness. And then when you did the Ironman, I was like, wow, I was blown away. I mean, it was just such an accomplishment. And I remember you telling me last year you’re like, well, that feels like it was so long ago. Can I really still talk about that? Or can I still include it in the talks that I do? And I said yes, because that number one shows so much about who you are and your personality and what matters to you. And yes, even though it may have been ten years ago now, it’s still something that shapes, I believe, who who you still are today.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah, that’s a good point. And it does. I mean, it does from my side. It does feel like a little bit of like a statute of limitations has run out on that. But I think you make a valid point, because everything that we’ve done, even things that we’ve done when we were a child, come into our personal brand. And so, yes, that does inform how I look at the world. Right? Because I do, even though I don’t do triathlons anymore, I do operate sort of in this world of doing things that are healthy for me and help keep me fit, which is a big part of what my personal brand is about. So even though that has changed what it is that I do to do that, it is still my personal brand. But even things from childhood that might have been interests that we had, hobbies that we had, those things still factor in because who we are today is based on experiences we had as children growing up. As young adults. You know that all of that informs our personal brand. So I do still share anecdotes about that experience and the lessons from it that it taught me, which had enormous lessons. I share those in my talks or with clients because I think that not That not only do they inform what my personal brand is, but they’re good lessons for clients to sort of take away and apply in the work that they’re doing. So I try to still incorporate that message.
Carol Cox:
Well as a tease. For those of you listening in another episode, we talk about stories that we have learned about ourselves from when we were younger. That very much informs how we showed up as adults, so stay tuned for that one. But let’s get back to the idea of reinvention versus evolution. And I think that one of the things that why I find the Iron Man so fascinating is because you were willing to challenge yourself in a big way. It’s not easy to do that. It takes a lot of work. You have to be uncomfortable, like physically uncomfortable. But as you said, it’s so much more as a mental game, even more than physical. And I think that we stop growing or evolving when we stop challenging ourselves. And there may be times in our life or our career where like, okay, I have enough going on, like I can’t add more to my plate and I have to just work with what I already have mastered and feel comfortable with. But I feel like for myself, I get to a point where I’m like, okay, I’ve mastered this thing. I understand how to do it. I feel really good and comfortable and I enjoy doing it now. What’s next? Like I’m looking onto the horizon and sometimes I need a push, like an external push from somewhere else to push me into that, to get me out of my comfort zone. And sometimes I can kind of force myself to do it. So have you had a time in your life where that has happened for you?
Diane Diaz:
Oh my goodness, yes. So before teaching at Full Sail, I worked in land development for a big corporation that was a national land developer, and I was there for almost ten years. And then the housing market collapsed. Now, just to back up a little bit, I was already ready to leave that job. I felt like I had sort of outgrown it and was ready to move on to something else, but I don’t think I would have had it had I not been laid off. And so I think the push of getting laid off from that is what got me here and teaching, which I absolutely love. And I felt I actually tell people when I tell that story, I was like, I was lucky enough to enough to get laid off because I am so glad that I did. I would not have left that job had it not been for that. So that that’s sort of that evolution. It wasn’t a reinvention. I didn’t reinvent myself into an educator. I took all my experience that I had from the past ten years and before, and wrapped that into bringing that to the classroom, the virtual classroom, as it were, and using that to help inform how I teach about branding to students. So even those experiences, it wasn’t a reinvention. It was sort of an evolution of who I am as a person and as a professional.
Carol Cox:
That’s a great example, because that teaching thread has been there ever since you were a little girl teaching your stuffed animals. I know you talk about that up through until what you do today. And then I think about my background in technology, in software development, which I did many, many moons ago. My first companies were tech companies, and I really dropped that entire aspect of what I did professionally because I wanted to move into doing speaking your brand and working with people, and less with typing code on the computer screen. But then when I really kind of came out with ChatGPT. A couple of years ago, I was immediately enthralled and could see all the possibilities. That could be done with it. So I kind of like went back into my past and pulled this. Like thread of technology and then brought that back into the present, which again, I think. Is more of this idea of evolution. I didn’t reinvent, I didn’t all of a sudden become. A tech person. It was just that, okay, I have this interest now, let me bring it back. More into the forefront.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s true too. If you look at just the. Story that you brought up about me doing the Iron Man, I grew up as a very uncoordinated, not. Athletic child, and I had no athletic bone in my body. And so you might say, well, that was. Reinvention. But it really wasn’t, because it was me. Like you said, you get bored and you’re like, you want a new challenge. And then I, little by little, started doing little, like five K’s and different things. And it sort of ramped up from there. And it becomes that way of showing yourself that you can take something from your past and sort of rework it. And it isn’t a reinvention, but it is evolving into understanding how to attack new challenges, like taking what you did in coding and applying that to the work that you do with clients. It’s different, but it’s it’s different, but it’s the same.
Carol Cox:
Right, right. Well, and thinking about I, I remember when ChatGPT came out and I, and I was all over it and adding it to the classes that I teach here and figure out how to use it in speaking in your brand. And I remember telling you about it. And what was your response?
Diane Diaz:
You had me come to your house, you showed me all this stuff, and I was like, well, I don’t know what any of this is, but let’s do it.
Carol Cox:
And I appreciate that because I think that is a key part of evolution, is being willing to say yes, be adaptable, be open, and not be so rigid. I feel like for myself, when I was in my 20s and 30s, I had a very clear idea of like how the world looked and worked to me and like how I wanted it to look and work. And it’s almost like, okay, I was going to make sure I fit everything into that that viewpoint. And sure, it works a little bit, but maybe it doesn’t work as well as we thought it did looking back. But I think that especially when we get to this point in our careers, having this ability to be adaptable and flexible and say yes, even to things that seem totally different than what we’ve done before, or things that seem really uncomfortable or new.
Diane Diaz:
Now, that’s a really good point, because if I look back on my younger self and my younger days in my career and trying so hard to make things happen, and now I look at myself now and I kind of just go with the flow. But things happen better and more aligned with who I am and what I want. So I think the pushing so hard sometimes you actually set yourself up for a lot more resistance than if you just go where the opportunities are and say yes to things like, for example, me doing a comedy set at the beginning of the year. That isn’t something that I would have just signed up for, but it sort of evolved from the fact that I am a speaker. I am I am a speaking coach. And then here came this opportunity to do speaking in a different way. But I also love comedy. I almost exclusively watch and listen to comedy things. So having the opportunity to do my own five minute comedy set, it’s like, oh, that’s kind of interesting and a different way of looking at speaking. And then of course, I get lessons from it that I bring to clients. But so you can take all those things and go where the opportunities are and look for ways to say yes to things that you even if you don’t know. I didn’t know how to do that, but I said yes. And then I figured it out because we’re all smart enough, we can figure it out.
Carol Cox:
That’s a great example. Another inspiration to think about what is something that you hadn’t done before, but you have an interest in and you said, okay, I don’t know how good I’m going to be at this, but it doesn’t really matter. I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to be good enough to enjoy it. And I think, again, like back when I was younger, it wasn’t so much that I wanted everything to be perfect, but I had very, very high expectations of what I wanted to produce for myself. Not for anyone else, but in my own mind. And I feel like definitely I have lessened that and think about, well, what am I enjoying in this process and can that be good enough?
Diane Diaz:
No, that’s a great point because obviously nobody was paying me to win triathlons and I was very slow, so that’s fine. But I loved it. And then when I didn’t love it anymore, I stopped doing it. Same with the comedy set. It was it’s not my job. I did it for fun and I’m not going to go out and I’m a daytime person, not a nighttime person. So I’m not looking to do comedy sets and comedy clubs at night. But it was fun and it gave me lessons and a new challenge and something to try with my skills that I already have, but in a different way.
Carol Cox:
Maybe you need to create a lunchtime comedy group.
Diane Diaz:
I need to I need to open a lunchtime comedy club where there would be nobody there.
Carol Cox:
Other people like you.
Diane Diaz:
Track.
Carol Cox:
Track. All right, so for those of you listening, really think about this idea of reinvention versus evolution. You’re probably not going to wholesale reinvent yourself. No one really does. But think about have you stopped challenging yourself? Are you a little bit bored or stagnant with things that you’ve been doing? What are some things that you’ve been neglecting doing or you’ve had just like a little bit of glimmer like, huh? Like a comedy set or an Iron Man triathlon, or public speaking or launching a podcast or doing a Ted talk. And maybe you can take the next steps getting you closer there. But thanks so much for watching speaking your Brand. Thank you, Diane, for being here.
Diane Diaz:
My pleasure.
Carol Cox:
And until next time, thanks for watching.
Sonix has many features that you’d love including advanced search, share transcripts, generate automated summaries powered by AI, transcribe multiple languages, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.
