SNS 155: Saturday Night Special - Interview with Donna Dahl author of Empowering the Leader Within You

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Welcome to tonight's Saturday night, special episode 155.

[00:00:05] Donna Dahl: I'm Donna Dahl I challenge you to invest in yourself. Invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to overcome challenges in your life is key.

[00:00:31] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer,

[00:00:43] the accident I was in, changed everything.

[00:00:46] And it, it caused me to turn more inward. I'm just, I needed to focus my stewardship on me. I [00:01:00] needed to take care of me because if I didn't take care of me, my skills, my talents, my resources.

[00:01:10] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:01:15] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the work.

[00:01:36] And tonight's Saturday night special. I interview Donna Dahl, Donna shares with you, how the challenges you face should help inspire you. Donna also shares how we can face challenges and challenges in a healthy way that both protects us and builds our relationships with others. And Donna also shares how she helps others develop their influence, both as a coach [00:02:00] herself and by helping Arthurs write their books.

[00:02:03] One area that a lot of folks need some help with is around the area of productivity. Getting not just more things done, but actually getting the right things done can be really tough. I've got a course called productivity for your passion. That's designed to help you do this and then to hold you accountable and walk with you so that you can tailor productivity, not just to be getting more done, but actually getting the right things done.

[00:02:37] What's more, we take the approach of looking at your personality and how you actually look at things in the world and tailor the productivity system to your personality. Because the truth is a lot of the systems that are out there are written really well for somebody with a particular personality type.

[00:02:55] But if you have a different approach to things, they just don't work, but [00:03:00] there's tools and techniques and approaches that you can take that will work for anyone. And we help you do that and productivity for your passion. Check it out over@inspiredstewardship.com slash launch. Donna doll is an award-winning author, inspirational speaker and master empowerment coach who has built a reputation for facilitating change through her empowerment coaching.

[00:03:24] She has been recognized with several awards, including the 2016 woman of inspirational award for lifetime achievement. The queen Elizabeth, the second diamond Jubilee medal and the 100th anniversary international women's day award for outstanding service to business. Her master's degree in educational psychology, her background in neurolinguistics and meditation and her vast experiences as a journalist and editor together have melded into her unique and significant professional profile.

[00:03:54] Her most recent book is called empowering the leader within you. Welcome to the show, Donna. [00:04:00]

[00:04:00] Donna Dahl: I'm happy to be here with you.

[00:04:02] Scott Maderer: Donna, one of the things we talked a little bit about some of the books you've written in the intro, and I was really inspired that one of the messages that you share is that challengers inspire us to take giant steps long before we ever become giants.

[00:04:20] And I think that was from the lessons I learned from the tortoise and the hair story. Can you share some of the challengers that you've faced and how they've actually inspired you?

[00:04:30] Donna Dahl: Thanks for asking Scott challengers come in a variety of forms. They can be events. They can be bullies.

[00:04:41] They can be cheerleaders. They can be motivators people who challenge you to be more and do more. And I can say that I have had all of these challengers show up in my life [00:05:00] from teasing in school. That, that left me all too often in tears. To parents who gave me opportunities to succeed to the cheerleaders and fans of my work, but the, probably the most debilitating challenger of all was the accident that I was in 10 years ago.

[00:05:23] It left me in avoid a avoid that prevented me from being able to engage in my own social life. But I worked through it over the course of 10 years, determined that I was going to regain some of my former life. So one of the things that it taught me was that it's important to applaud our cheerleaders.

[00:05:56] When they offer [00:06:00] invitations, it's important to say yes, because if we deny ourselves that we don't take the opportunities to gain and move forward,

[00:06:13] Scott Maderer: you talk about the cheerleaders that you've had too is. For you, do you put those, you put all of those in the same category of challengers, both the good things, as well as the bad. And I think a lot of times people only think about one or the other when they're thinking about challenging or challengers or challenging events and that kind of thing.

[00:06:34] Why do you include both of those? For you?

[00:06:37] Donna Dahl: There I am on the stage with Monica kretchma with the universal women's network. And that's the name of the company now, and I'm being awarded the it, the women of inspirational award for lifetime achieve. and I looked at her and I said,[00:07:00] you've given me big shoes to fill

[00:07:03] It was as though that was a step forward into a brand new phase that I very much wanted to live up to for having been awarded something at that level.

[00:07:22] I've since been awarded a number of other awards. I was named top top 100 professional for Canada in 2020 by top 100 magazine out of New York. These are these gifts to me are very special and only cause me to. I wonder what more I can give.

[00:07:47] Scott Maderer: So as you talk about earlier you mentioned the accident and kind of some of the challenges that put on you. I think a lot of times when we have challenges in our life [00:08:00] and things that come up, we often are trying to protect ourselves. I know for me, I tend to withdraw. I tend to try to get away from people and get away from things whenever I'm undergoing that kind of stress and yet I also know.

[00:08:17] That having relationships and surrounding myself with those cheerleaders and all of that is important. So how can people that are responding to especially difficult challenges, both kind of protect themselves and build relationship and build connections and connect to those cheerleaders in their life?

[00:08:35] Donna Dahl: The way that I look at this Scott is that we wouldn't necessarily Dawn a FLA jacket to stay at home and sit in our easy chair.

[00:08:49] Scott Maderer: It just I know some people that would,

[00:08:51] Donna Dahl: but yeah but it doesn't quite make sense to to do that. So if what we're doing is protecting [00:09:00] ourselves with a suit of armor.

[00:09:01] That suit of armor actually makes us stand and in the same breath, it it covers us with confidence. so what can we do in order to provide ourselves with a suit of armor without necessarily having to be covered in metal or wear a FLA jacket? What do we do? We square our shoulders or we put on the the three police Navy pin striped suit, or we whiten our teeth, or perhaps we we wear a bigger smile things that we do in order to show others that we're the, a that we showed up.

[00:09:54] And be that we're ready.

[00:09:55] Scott Maderer: And how about the building the connections part? Because I think [00:10:00] a lot of times, part of the reason we put on that armor is to keep people away is the. And yet, I think you would agree with me in saying that oftentimes it's important to let people in at least the right people so how do we also build connection while still showing up that

[00:10:20] Donna Dahl: way?

[00:10:20] When, if we're building connection What's the connection we're after is, are we after something that is a business deal? Are we AF after a romantic relationship? So how we show up could be a handshake, could be a hug. There's so many different ways in which we let other people know that the boundary that surrounds us is open and available.

[00:10:45] I always used to say to to people that I worked with that are in, we want our invisible boundary to be as far as our arms will reach. So if we made that [00:11:00] like a hula hoop circle around us, what are the things that we can do in order to bite and bite others inside our hula hoop?

[00:11:08] Sometimes it might be, come on, let you know, just let's sit down here and and share a glass of wine and chat more about that.

[00:11:17] Scott Maderer: I'm laughing because so I'm a former science teacher and I have a background in science. And so immediately I, I went to. You wanna make sure that your boundary is a semipermeable membrane, meaning it lets some things in and some things out not a cell wall.

[00:11:32] The plant has that blocks everything out. You wanna let some breath cross that boundary.

[00:11:39] Donna Dahl: Yeah. Yes. And so we give signals whether that's a wink or a smile, we give sing signals that let other people know that there are spaces in our boundary that are available to

[00:11:52] Scott Maderer: enter.

[00:11:54] Yeah. I, what I used to work in corporate I was in senior [00:12:00] management and I learned that I had to smile on my way to the re. and that sounds funny, but it's because I was walking down the hall and other people would see me. If I just relaxed my normal relaxing face to many people looks like I'm mad.

[00:12:15] I'm actually not. I'm just thinking I'm just relaxed. I'm in my own head. I learned to actually have to smile because if I didn't, people would immediately assume things were going bad and they would panic. Then it's oh my goodness, something's wrong. And it's no I'm going to the restroom.

[00:12:32] That's all the only thing that's wrong is I need to go to the restroom. But it's, it was funny. So I literally learned, had to learn it almost like a skill of when I walk outta my office. I need to remember that I'm being looked at. I need to put a smile on my face and be approachable.

[00:12:49] Yes,

[00:12:50] Donna Dahl: absolutely. If you do an exercise in running the gauntlet in a modern day sense where you're walking in a [00:13:00] mall in a post COVID environment, when people aren't wearing masks and you wear your smile. for a full hour, you could count how many people are, make eye contact with you and

[00:13:11] Scott Maderer: smile back

[00:13:12] Donna Dahl: It could change the perspective on someone's day.

[00:13:16] Just something as simple as a smile

[00:13:19] Scott Maderer: So in your, the latest book that you've got empowering the leader within you. You are directing that more towards entrepreneurial leadership and entrepreneurs. Why did you choose to write this book? And why did you write it in the style that you did?

[00:13:38] Donna Dahl: That's that's very interesting. I was invited to speak at a conference, Scott that the theme was entrepreneurship and leadership combined. And we don't necessarily think about entrepreneurs as being leaders. And so I [00:14:00] not having anything in my bag of tricks that dealt with the concept together, I thought I'm going to have to develop something.

[00:14:11] I sat down one Sunday afternoon and wrote a page and a half of notes. A page and a half was going to be too long for the presentation time. I was all allotted. And so I said, I wonder if there's a book and I sat down and began to write. And what came up was a fictional character. From 1899, who came to the prairies to, for, to establish a homestead.

[00:14:42] And I woke the challenges that my character. Was engaged in carving out Prairie land to build an enterprise together with modern day [00:15:00] entrepreneurship and discovered that the challenges are just the same. It's only the tools that are different. So that tells me that we still very much need the support of one another in a framework of reciprocity in a framework of establishing goals.

[00:15:26] Because in the more we develop community, not only with fellow entrepreneurs, but with the people that we serve the stronger our business enterprise is likely to become.

[00:15:42] Scott Maderer: And so you took on that style of writing it as almost a parable or a fictional character. What are some of the commonalities between that journey to the Prairie and a modern entrepreneur?

[00:15:57] Donna Dahl: Everybody needs a [00:16:00] why. For my character, Albert his, why was that?

[00:16:07] If he stayed in Russia from once he came, he would never have had a chance at owning land. And the homestead program wasn't was an opportunity to be able to own land for which he could work to acquire and not have to pay for him. And for a young man that was like a gift waiting at the end of the rainbow.

[00:16:36] All he needed to do was to complete the requirements to, to get that at that pot of gold. Is it really any different today? If we have a dream, if we have a vision of what we want. And where we're going. It helps to forge our footsteps onto the path that's needed for success.[00:17:00]

[00:17:00] Scott Maderer: So one of the things that you also do is you work with entrepreneurs and coaches and other people to help them write a book. And of course you've written. Several books yourself. Can you share why you feel like that is an important part of what you do?

[00:17:18] Donna Dahl: There is, there's so many people to today that are on the internet at promoting advertising saying write your book, establish your platform, develop your business card in the form of a book look, but I'm not sure that they have necessarily done that when I started.

[00:17:43] Someone challenged me to take an article I wrote for a magazine and develop it into a book. I never knew the impact of what that challenge would do

[00:17:55] Scott Maderer: for me.

[00:17:57] Donna Dahl: Not only did I launch the [00:18:00] book after, after going through some

[00:18:04] How can I say it?

[00:18:06] Lack of confidence. And could I write a book? Wrote the thing, launched it and launched a coaching practice PR pretty much all in the same breath. And so I can say from a voice of experience that writing your own book to establish your authority. Takes you to a higher rung on the ladder than someone who is simply opening their doors and saying, I am a coach.

[00:18:39] Scott Maderer: So before I ask you a couple of questions that I like to ask everybody, what else do you really think? Somebody listening today needs to hear about either your coaching or the books that you've put out? What else would you like them to hear from you today?

[00:18:54] Donna Dahl: One never knows the ripple effect [00:19:00] of what they say or what they do. Might have an effect upon things. And so I challenge the, my listeners. I challenge your listeners to consider the possibility of writing. For instance, if it wasn't for the Rosetta stone. There would be a huge chunk of history that we would never have been able to receive.

[00:19:28] If the Gutenberg press would've never been invented there would've been a large chunk of history that we would never have had access to. If Shakespeare wouldn't have given us a glimpse into what Elizabeth and England was about, we would not. Have access to that history. If Samuel Clemen Clemons as mark Twain, wouldn't have shared with us the stories of two naughty boys on the Mississippi river, we wouldn't have the same kind of insights [00:20:00] into what was going on at that time.

[00:20:04] And so I, if we didn't write what pieces of our history are we leaving out of the landscape? I challenge your listeners, our listeners, to write

[00:20:20] Scott Maderer: one of the questions that I like to ask everybody is about stewardship. My brand is inspired stewardship, and that's a word that means a lot in my life, but I've also discovered that a. People when they hear the word they think of and hear different things. So what does the word stewardship mean to you?

[00:20:39] And what is the impact of that understanding been on your life?

[00:20:42] Donna Dahl: The accident I was in changed everything and it caused me to turn more inward and I needed to focus my stewardship on me. I needed to take care of [00:21:00] me because if I didn't take care of me, my skills, my talents, my resources, then I wouldn't be able to be supportive of others to the best that I could be.

[00:21:15] So I have a responsibility to take care of me so that I can take care of others.

[00:21:21] Scott Maderer: This is my favorite question. So let's assume I could invent this magic machine right now, Donna and I could pluck you out of the place you are today. And I could transport you into the far future, maybe a hundred to 150 years. And through the magic of this machine, you were able to look back on your entire life and see all of those ripples and all of those connections that you've left behind.

[00:21:48] What impact do you hope you've left on the world?

[00:21:50] Donna Dahl: I think the impact that I would like to see left behind comes from two forms.

[00:21:58] That of being a [00:22:00] model coach and that of walking the walk and talking the talk of writing the books and that my books continue to inspire others. The reviews of my tortoise book alone have spoken to my heart in ways that have brought tears to my eyes. One reviewer commented that he bought the book for his son to read to his son.

[00:22:31] And that was one of my dreams was to have my book read by adults, to their children. Oh my goodness. And he said, highly recommend. And then that review was followed by another, which said this book should be a classic. And I, those those kinds of. I think of them as rewards for my work in one sense, but also [00:23:00] that the review itself without the book is inspiring others to pick up the book and read it.

[00:23:08] So the tortoise the tortoise rules. The tortoise is a wonderful example of how of how we can take the concept of tenacity and apply it to our lives where wherever we choose to park it.

[00:23:30] Scott Maderer: So what's coming next for Donna is you continue on this journey and continue.

[00:23:37] Working in writing and all of these other things. What's on the roadmap.

[00:23:41] Donna Dahl: One of the things that's on the roadmap is more podcasts. One is two. To work on the invitation. I've had to do more, more writing at a, at another level. I have more speaking opportunities that I'm looking forward [00:24:00] to having and continuing to to work with burgeoning writers that they might that they might too pursue the world of becoming authors.

[00:24:11] I hope that I get an opportunity to inspire as many people as

[00:24:18] Scott Maderer: possible.

[00:24:19] You can find out more about Donna Oliver coaching and the books that she's put out over at her website, Don. P doll.com and that's spelled D a H L all. I have a link of course, over to that in the show notes. Donna, anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:24:39] Donna Dahl: I think the best way to end this would be to, to.

[00:24:44] Go back to where we began this conversation. And that is with the quote from lessons I learned from the tortoise challengers inspire us to take giant steps [00:25:00] long before we might ever become giants. May I inspire you the listener and become your challenger?

[00:25:11] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate.

[00:25:40] All one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed until next time invest your. Your talent and your [00:26:00] treasures develop your influence and impact the world.