In episode 11 of Season 3, Arthi is joined by Al Dea, one of the newest Tasha10 members. Arthi and Al discuss finding your voice and learning how to use it to speak up for yourself.
Al shares how early in his career he received a surprisingly less-than-positive performance review, even though he thought he was excelling. It was only after sharing his thoughts with a manager that he learned that while working hard and doing your job was important, it's equally necessary to speak up and advocate for yourself. It was this experience that taught Al the building blocks of standing out and advocating for yourself to be seen as a leader and to be even more effective inside your organisation.
Al elaborates on why it is so challenging for people to find their voice, one of the reasons being leaders who are not creating the space for people to feel secure and confident in sharing their voice. Al details how he started connection meetings with like-minded people which allowed him to meet colleagues but more importantly created an opportunity to be noticed and heard.
Al explains how when you first start using your voice it may seem that no one is listening but he encourages us all to not be fixate on this and push through this challenge, focus on the journey, and overcome the fear.
Some wise words from Al:
“I really only think that authenticity is the way and doing it in a way that is unique to you”
“if you're going to think and catastrophize about what the worst thing that happens is you're also going to have to play out the scenario. Well, what if, what if it ends up being the best thing?”
Listen to the full episode for so much more insights and ideas offered by this wonderful guest.
About Al Dea:
Al Dea is a talent & leadership development consultant, keynote speaker, and facilitator. He is passionate about helping develop and cultivate organizations where people can thrive, and developing a new generation of leaders in the workplace.
Al researches, writes, and speaks on leadership development, workplace trends, and company culture, and his thinking and insights have been published in outlets such as Fast Company, Business Insider, The World Economic Forum, Inc and Time Magazine.
Al is also the Host of The Edge of Work podcast, a podcast that helps leaders think differently about leading and growing organization’s in today’s world of work.
Connect with Al Dea. in the following ways: ● LinkedIn ● Website
Do rate, write a review and share with others.
Share too, your own insights from your journey based on themes from the episode - what has worked or hasn't for you. We can all learn from each other.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the inspire your life podcast with me your host, Arthi Rabikrisson. I believe we find inspiration all around us, especially from the stories that we all have in us. My aim with the inspire your life podcast is to bring some of those real stories to light. Stories of my guests that resonate with you and me. It's by listening to the stories that we can be inspired and motivate ourselves to overcome, find a new path and rise even higher than we thought possible. Joining me on the show today is one of the newest Tasha 10 members, Al Dea. Al is a talent and leadership development consultant, keynote speaker and facilitator. He is passionate about helping develop and cultivate organizations where people can thrive and also developing a new generation of leaders in the workplace. So Al he researches he writes and speaks on leadership development, workplace trends, company culture, I mean, these are all such trending things at the moment, everyone and his thinking and insights have been published in a variety of outlets from things places like Fast Company, Business Insider, the World Economic Forum, Times magazine, I could go on. He's done so much in terms of the space he's also a fellow podcaster Yes, being the host of the edge of work podcast, which everyone you must listen to it, which helps leaders think differently about leading and growing organizations in today's world of work. So Al, you and I, we're going to be having a conversation today about speaking up for yourself. So listeners before we get into it, firstly, let me just welcome our welcome to the Inspire live podcast today.
Al Dea:
Oh, it's It's so wonderful to be here with you. I'm excited to talk to you today and thank you for such a lovely introduction
Arthi Rabikrisson:
now. Well, absolutely. My pleasure, you know, we haven't had a chance to properly get a conversation in and so I think this is such a great way to have to get to know each other a little bit more what do you think Al?
Al Dea:
Absolutely.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Wonderful. Okay, so look, I've given everyone sort of that high level biography to you in a nutshell. But actually, Al let's get to know you a little bit more. So tell us more about yourself.
Al Dea:
Sure. So I am a son of two immigrants in the United States, my Chinese American and I grew up in a incredible household full of love and compassion and support and something that always I think fueled me when I was young, as a result of my parents was just the importance of education and learning and curiosity in terms of trying to use those things and find those things in my life and to pursue those things, which led me to, I think, like many people wanting to do well, in school wanting to do well, in the activities I was in, and at least in the United States, that meant, you know, going to college and getting a degree and then after getting a good degree, getting a good job. And, you know, kind of pursuing that general path of good job means good career, good career means continuing to progress and work really hard and, and achieve many things but it definitely has been a journey in the sense that while all those things are super, super important, something that I've had to really learn along the way is the importance of really being able to bring your own element and flavor to that in terms of finding the unique elements about yourself, and being able to bring them out into the work that you do each and every day. And I think I think we'll probably talk about a little bit but that is so much and so central to my own story of really figuring out and trying to find my place in the world where I can make the most impact with the skills and talents that I have.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
You know, I hear what you're talking about resonates with me so much Al because I think it's something that's very, very prevalent across different Asian communities. I mean, I'm I'm of Indian descent, but South African born, but similarly that same sort of like background and ethic around, our parents provide that loving, beautiful family setting, but you know, they want to set you up for that career, for that job, you know, with education, so I completely resonate with that. But again, as you're saying, finding your own unique voice amidst some of those expectations, it can be a little bit challenging sometimes, isn't it?
Al Dea:
It's, it's so challenging and I think what it really amounts to is just this almost this juxtaposition of wanting to make good on what you've been given from your family from others around you, while also having this desire to find your own place and sometimes those polarities can be in tension with each other. And I think they're learning for me, and we can certainly get into it a little bit is that the tension is okay, the tension is by design and what that allows you to do, even if it is challenging is to explore it, and to through that exploration to find your own unique path.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
I think that I think that's great and you're right, we're touching on some of these key things that I really worry about, while we actually do find our voices and speak up around it. So Al that is what we're talking about today, right, speaking up for yourself. Now, we hear this all the time and I mean, I think this is also something that's quite trending in terms of, we need to find our voice, we need to be able to stand up for ourselves. It sounds great. In theory, it really, really does right to be able to be empowered in that way. But actually, and I find this in my coaching practice, and I'm sure you come across this too in the workplace environments you're in, many many people just struggle with the how to how to actually do this. How do we make this happen when you've got so many different things going on in your environment, in your context, from personalities, to company cultures, to even personal as we were talking about expectations of others on us. I guess I want to get a sense of a little bit of your story in the space about how did you actually find that courage, find your voice in your journey thus far, and share this with our listeners
Al Dea:
So ever since I was a child ever since I was a teenager, I have always had a knack for being a leader and that dates back to even my first job was working at a golf course. And within two years of working at a golf course, I eventually became a manager and managing other people. And that extended into high school and in college when I was president of clubs and president of the student body. But upon joining the workplace for the first time, I like many I think I had a couple of deer in the headlight moments in terms of while I had a great and wonderful education, there is a certain element of being in the workplace, that is an adjustment when you're first starting off. And I remember I started off my career in management consulting and in my job, I in my first year, after the initial kind of getting to get acclimated with the actual job, things started to click a little bit and I thought I was doing really, really well. And then I walked into my first performance review. And I can't tell you how out of touch I was from what I thought I had been doing to what I had actually been doing. And while I wasn't doing necessarily poorly per se, what I didn't understand, which I would then learn was that while working really hard and doing what people tell you to do, certainly there's an element of that that's important in the workplace. If you actually want to stand out, if you actually want to achieve the goals that you have for yourself, there's a lot more out there that you actually need to do. And I didn't realize that I didn't realize that it's important to take the time to actually get to connect and meet other people, I didn't really understand that just because you do something and do it well, if unless other people are actually aware of what you're doing, it may not necessarily get the visibility or the impact, even if you did a really great job at it. And even if you worked really, really hard at it. And I didn't realize that just simply just waiting around for other people to tell you what to do. Even though that was it's important to, to when someone you know, particularly someone who's a supervisor asked you to do something, it's important to do it, that you actually need to be proactive about that. And so what eventually happened was I get this poor performance review. I'm kinda shocked and fortunately, I had a manager who was working with at the time who I kind of confided in, and I said, Hey, I'm not doing really well, I don't really know what's going on, can you help me and that was where I kind of started to learn some of these things. And so it is this general idea. And going back to I think, perhaps maybe some of those cultural things, working hard and doing good work is really important. But it's not enough and simply just putting your head down and expecting that things are going to work out is never going to lead towards the outcomes that you want. And so that moment is where she kind of taught me and said, hey, it's not only just important for you to do great work, but you need to let others know about it. You need to use your voice and from there on out. It would be a journey of figuring out okay, if that has to be true, well, how do I find my voice? What does that even mean? And how do I then use it not only just for myself, but also for being able to drive impact for others too. And so that's kind of been my journey ever since then it's figuring out how do I? What is that voice and then how do I use it?
Arthi Rabikrisson:
And that's so key, right? Because sometimes, and that comes back even to the question about, you know, it's in theory, it sounds easy, like we must stand up and speak to ourselves. But we just have to roll back a little bit to first of all, think around, well, what is my voice, what is my stance around this right? Before I can actually do that. And I like that you touched on perhaps one of the reasons that this wasn't something that sort of came naturally to you was a bit of that cultural upbringing and that expectation as well. And it got me thinking, you know, that's probably one of the reasons why sometimes we don't we find it hard to find a voice. It's muted. What could be some of the other reasons why many of us struggle with this. Finding a voice or knowing what our voice is?
Al Dea:
Sure. So I think first and foremost, if we've never had to really think about or intentionally use that muscle before, or that practice that happened before, it's just out of sight out of mind. Right. And so I think that's, that certainly is one thing, I think, certainly too, in certain cultures, at least I'm based in the United States, it, I definitely, absolutely think that it is harder for certain people, certain populations to use their voice, because of the systemic structures that exist in terms of some voices tend to be favored more than others. And so I think that is absolutely a reality. I think the third thing is, is that there oftentimes isn't always a baked in expectation that is set by the job that you're in, or the role that you're in that that says, hey, this is this is what we this is what we're hoping that you do. This is what we what we need you to do. And then I think the last thing is, is that it's a leadership thing as well, in terms of not all leaders are always great about making space, to enable other people to share their voice, and to welcoming that voice into empowering people to speak up to share their ideas, to give their perspective and point of view, there are some that are, but I would say that, and I'm sure you may see this in your own coaching practice, not all leaders intuitively understand that enabling others to share their voice can be a very powerful thing, and can actually lead to better ideas, better problem solving more innovation, as opposed to having a leader have to come up with all those ideas on their own. And so I think I think those are a couple, those are a couple examples of reasons why I could see and then maybe the last one is just confidence, right? And if you don't have confidence in knowing what your voice is, or being able to use it, or for some reason, unfortunate, unfortunate reason, someone has told you that your voice doesn't matter. Right? It's it's hard to, it's hard to it's hard to know that it's hard to believe that you can can even use it. So there's a lot of reasons. But those are a couple that come to mind.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Ya you know, as you're going through the reasons even I'm just sort of thinking Yep, I've heard this one. Yep, I've experienced this one. You know, and I think for many people, they probably going to be nodding when they listen to this Al because it's so true. These sort of barriers that come in a stall us right because it immediately gets into that sort of, Am I good enough? I integrated this doubt this whole sort of impostor syndrome sometime. Even if you're at the table, people typically think, Oh, am I good enough? Sometimes you have the voice, but you don't know how to use it. There's so many of these permutations around this. Right? So that's what was coming up for me as you were talking, I guess. Okay, so those are some of the reasons, right. Let's think coming back to your, your sort of journey. So firstly, you needed to find your voice and kind of figured out that this is authentically you. and then you kind of had to go about making sure everyone knew this was you. This was your voice? What were some of the triggers that made you kind of, you know, move into that space of, okay, this is my voice. This is what I want to be known and what I want to show up for. And here's the first few steps that I've taken. Can you walk us through that a little bit?
Al Dea:
Yeah, sure. So as I mentioned, understanding, particularly, this topic really came from that that first manager who really opened my eyes and kind of said, you, you need to start using your voice and you need to start speaking up, both in terms of advocating for your work, but also just more generally. The other element of this is that I worked in a company of over 100,000 people. The reality is, is that if you wanted to stand out, you didn't necessarily have to be the loudest person,but you did have to be seen and had you did have to be heard.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
First thing actualy to be visible.
Al Dea:
Yeah, absolutely. So I think for me what tactically that meant was, there were a couple things that I knew about myself that I just knew how to do and I just started with that. So as an example, as I mentioned, I was always have been a leader and I've always been able to bring people together because I know how to build relationships. And I also just like being around people. And so one of the very first ways that I started to build my voice was that I started convening people who shared the same interests as me professionally inside my company, just for meetings once a month where we could share ideas and knowledge and best practices around topics that we all had a mutual interest in and that, to me was something that was very palatable for me because I realized that that was something I would do on my own time. But what I didn't realize when I did it was that that was actually a way of using my voice, right in terms of reaching out to people in terms of bringing together in terms of facilitating the dialogue and conversation that happened. But the as I started to do that, a couple of things happened. Number one, I started to meet more people, which again, 100,000 person company, when you get out in front of people, it's a way of getting more visible, as well as being heard more. But the other thing that started happening, when I started bringing people together was that other people started amplifying my own voice, because then all of a sudden, I became the person who was an expert in this or who was an expert in that just by the very nature of convening a bunch of people on a topic that I was sharing ideas about. So that was the first thing I think the second thing was, is that I also realized, particularly by the nature of bringing people together, well, if I'm going to bring people together, and we're going to have a conversation, it might be helpful if I have an idea or a point of view or a way of thinking, right, or this specific topic. And at the time, this was you'll have to forgive me for this as I'm dating myself here. But at the time, the topic was how companies can use social media to better connect with our customers and this mind you, was in the early 2010. So that was a very novel topic at the time. But what I realized in terms of meeting these meetings was that if I, unless I had a list that came with at least one kernel, or one idea, or one like point of view on something, it would just be us kind of, you know, sitting around talking, which is it's not bad, but it wasn't helpful. And so I started thinking about, Okay, well, what can I come into with a point of view on that would be really helpful here. And so then I started having to do research having to talk to other people, and then coming up with that point of view. And so that was, the second thing I did is that I just realized that I needed to have a point of view so that I could share and then other people could associate me with it. And then I'd say maybe the last step that that I took was just making the people around me, who played a role in my own growth and development, more aware that I was doing the first two things in terms of bringing people together in terms of having a point of view. And the great thing about working in a large organization is that your success is often going to be correlated with the people who want you to succeed. And so as I I mean Al these are sounding like such beautiful but simple, started to talk to more people about, hey, I'm bringing these deliberate questions, you know, that you took, and, and you took people together, and I'm sharing this idea or these types of it from a place of confidence and a place of where you knew ideas, I'm just letting you know, I'm doing this, that was you had a little bit of an authority around. Right? You knew what some of your skills were. So that talks to your when they heard that they could start to think about oh, this is level of self awareness as well. Right? So even even though you interesting. Well, have you talked to this person? Or oh, were even though you were blindsided with, you know, what you got from your manager initially around Oh, we will that's really interesting that you have this point of view. actually expecting this from you. But you know, you kind of Have you ever thought about x or y? Or can I introduce you to took that on board, and then you sort of keep a where am I really these other people who also share the same ideas. And so strong at and you work from that. And I think that's something we tend to forget that we can actually start from our that's when things started to kind of unlock with me, but I place of unique strength to, you know, incrementally work through would say the just to kind of close off here and tie in a nice a process to get to where we need to be, would you would you say that's right? bow. Once I started realizing that this was working for me, I I think that's, I think that's absolutely right and I think that the important thing to remember is that even even if realized, hey, this could work for other people too and so you want to start speaking up and using a voice and even if that's when I started championing and encouraging you want to be heard, unless it really feels authentic to how other people, Hey, you should really be thinking about doing you want to sound or what you want to say, I think it's gonna some of these things. And that's where things started to really be really hard for you to do and so I really only think that take off. Because not only was I being seen as someone who had a authenticity is the way and doing it in a way that is unique to you is is the best way and it is very similar to I think what point of view, and who had expertise and who was using his any good marketer or brand manager would think about the voice on a particular topic, in this case, social media to context of like a product that they have like you can only you connect with customers. But then I also became someone who was can't copy someone else's product. Like you have to lean seen as someone who is advocating on behalf of others into the things that make you unique were you in use those to and encouraging and empowering other people. And once people cultivate your voice and to share it and I think that's what saw me in those two lights, then then things started to really I, even though I was starting from a place of challenge that is something that I did well I started with a things that I take off for me. thought that I knew were both things that were unique to me, but things that I also could do well. And I think that's ultimately led to me being successful in that endeavor.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
I love it. I love what you're sharing. Yeah. Tell me, have you stumbled along the way, though? Or have..
Al Dea:
Absolutely
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Okay, so how did you deal with that? How did you deal with that?
Al Dea:
Sure. I mean, the I would say, I would say a couple things that happened along the way. I think, first and foremost, it is very easy, particularly when you are, you know, in the case, I of me now, I mean, more or less as a, as a speaker, facilitator or researcher, podcast host. I mean, I use my voice for a living, right. And that is, is great in many ways. But when you are sharing your voice out there, it is very easy, or I find it very easy to second guess yourself all the time. And you, it's very easy to wonder if you are saying the right thing, going to say something that resonates that other people, particularly other experts don't think that you're or they think that you're saying something that is valuable or insightful or adding to the discussion in the dialog. And in my case, what that often means is that I will either put something on pause and procrastinate on it or not, not put it out there, because I'm afraid of what will happen. Or in some cases, I might water it down, because I'm afraid of what other people might think. And so that has been a challenge that has come up time and time again, in all the work that I've done. And you know, I've done it all I've podcasted I've blogged I've post I post regularly on LinkedIn, I've written a book I've I've pretty much shared and pretty much any single medium that you can imagine. And I have plenty of, I had plenty of things in the draft folder or things that got put on the cutting block on the chopping block floor. And it wasn't because the idea itself was bad it was because I had this voice in the back of my head telling me that it was. So there is that is like a very real thing that I think I'm sure I'm sure maybe even you might go through this from time to time, like having a podcast where you just are like, I don't know if I can do this. So that's that's one of them. And then I would say another another one, I think is just, when when you're when you're trying to when you're trying to use your voice, particularly when you're just getting started. It is really, really easy to feel like no one else is listening and, and that is I remember one. So one of the very first ways I really started using my voice is through a blog I started about seven or eight years ago and I just remember being like looking at the statistics, sometimes in terms of the page views and things like that, and just getting really, really discouraged. Because I was like, no one cares about this. No one's like looking at this. And it's one of those things where it's very easy to say in hindsight, because I've seen what as I've benefited from since that all has happened. But early on, it is really easy to fixate so much on the outcome and less on the process itself. And I definitely caused myself a lot of consternation and stress just because I was thinking so much about what that outcome was. And and that was, you know, a challenge. And still, I would say it is a challenge. I mean, obviously I would love to be able to get my stuff seen by more and more people in when it's not like it, it definitely makes you it makes you feel a really challenged by that. So I'd say those are, those are some of the challenges that have come along the way.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Yeah, I get it. And you know, personally, yes, definitely it happens. I mean, I still recall Al when I had to put on my first regular series of LinkedIn posts and I was like, Can I do this? If you don't really know what I'm thinking, you know, and I have that fear and education around it. Similarly, when I started the podcast as well, oh, my goodness, it's there. It's real. But I guess you've learned lessons along the way, sure, learned how to bounce back. So maybe share with our listeners who are at that sort of stage of you know, they're trying, they're putting the toes out there, they're getting a feeler, and then suddenly they're hit with this level of fear and doubt, share some of your key lessons that could help them to bounce back on track. So not to completely retreat, but find the way forward again.
Al Dea:
Sure so I think there's there's a couple things, I think the first thing is is that one of the things I know I always struggled with is this general fear of if I posted this going automatically catastrophizing into the worst thing that could happen, right?
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Yes. And it will lead to the worst.
Al Dea:
Exactly. Exactly. And that's as humans, that's just sometimes well, how we how we operate. And so the first thing I would say is if you're someone who does that, and you're someone who thinks that well then you have to take the other side of that coin. And so if you're going to think and catastrophize about what the worst thing that happens is you're also going to have to play out the scenario. Well, what if, what if it ends up being the best thing? Right? What if this ends up being like actually really great, or a version of great, right. And so I think that has always been like a check for me to remember that if, if I believe in myself, and I'm going to believe that the worst thing that can happen, I also have to intuitively and pragmatically also believe that what equally could happen is also the best thing. And usually when I do that, it kind of calms back down and gets me to a place where I can be like, alright, like, I can go and use my voice, or I can go and speak up. I think the second thing is just this general idea of going back to like, what's the worst thing that can happen? If you put something out there, speak up, and it doesn't go as planned? Well, guess what, you can just try something else. And assuming like, in most cases, like assuming you're not putting something out there, that's gonna get you banned, or that is going to like, cause a huge controversy. The reality of it is, is like if you share a podcast episode, or do a keynote talk, and it doesn't necessarily land, well, guess what, you're going to be probably able to do another one. And then the next one, you can try something new. Right. And so in many ways, I think what always helped me with this is that, particularly as I started sharing more publicly, is that I always knew that whatever post whatever speech, whatever podcast episode I was doing most likely was not going to be the last one that I was going to do. And so as a result of that, it could it remembering that often can take the pressure off of me in terms of really, really feeling that that that fear that this isn't going to end. And then I think the last thing that has always been really helpful. And it's was back to something that I did in the beginning, when I when I was trying to find my voice, when you find other people who also are sharing their voice or sharing their ideas, or being able to have those groups of people to bounce ideas off of to go to for advice to support as well, that can also be really helpful, both from an accountability perspective, but also from an idea generation perspective, from a feedback perspective, from a creative perspective. And I think that is one of the beauties of being a part of Tasha 10, where there are so many other people who, even though we're all, we're directionally all in the same sharing very complementary ideas. But we're all doing it in different ways. But being able to be around other people who are sharing or open to sharing, or who are going through the same thing, or to be able to ask for help or to be able to get support from that can also be really, really helpful in terms of helping you keep going. And, you know, I think, again, like one of my first forays was starting my own blog. And one of the things that I did that was super helpful was that I started interviewing other people for my blog. And what that meant, though, is that it gave me another accountability partner, because that would mean that I would have to make sure that I had enough people that I was interviewing and, and so in order, if after I interviewed him, it meant that well, they just gave me 20 minutes of their time. So I better hold myself accountable and be thankful that they they were they were willing to help me exactly. And so there's like little things like that, that I think can often help you. But I think a combination of those things can help people, particularly if they end up getting stuck.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
I think I think those are those are relevant, they practical, it's things we can do everyone, right, yeah. So if you're feeling stuck, if you're feeling like you wanting to retreat and run for the hills, because of the doubt, and fear starting to paralyze, you just think of some of these really, really simple ideas to get you back on track, right? That rational thought that support and resources and that energizing nature of people around you could be some of the ways that work for you as well as listeners. Brilliant. I love that. I love it. So Al, I mean, coming back to today, and looking ahead, what's in store for you? What are you busy with at the moment share with us?
Al Dea:
Yeah, so as you mentioned, I'm a podcast host. And so the edge work podcast, which again, is a podcast for leaders to help them think differently about how to lead and grow people in the workplace. That has been a the where I've been mostly sharing my voice and what I've been spending a lot of time on. And it's been wonderful to bring other people on the podcast to talk about these topics, because it's allowed me to continue to sharpen my own thinking around what my voice is on this topic and how I want to show up. It's a very, very broad topic and there's lots of great people who are talking about it. And so that is the incredible thing about a podcast, you do get to bring on so many other people or I've been able to bring on some of the other people who have helped me kind of think about how do I want to sharpen my voice and kind of carve out my own unique path. And so that podcast is definitely did what's both on my plate and also what's what's literally an x ray, because I'm after recording this, I'm literally going to be working on something with that. But, but but in addition to that, you know, I think again, like as you said, in my bio, my mission is to really help and develop the next generation of leaders so that we can create a better workplace for more people. And so that's where I spend a lot of my work each day in terms of working with organizations directly on the front lines to develop those leaders and as well as talking to other leaders of organizations about talent and leadership issues because I'm really fortunate in that I have had some great leaders and managers that I've seen in my career, as you know, even the first one who really helped me find my voice, and I see the power and saw the power of what a great leader looks like. And so I really think that the more that we can really develop this next generation of leaders to be great leaders and great managers, I think the better chance we have at creating a workplace that works for all people and so that's, that's really what I'm excited about and on what I'm focused on.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Well, it does sound exciting. And I mean, your mission is so, so vital, absolutely vital. So wishing you all of the best of success. And of course, as part of Tasha10, we're going to talk more about it and you'll see each other with our mission. So that's that's beautiful Al. Thank you, you know what we're coming to the end of this really wonderful conversation and again, thank you so much for sharing these wonderful, wonderful tips. As we close off Al, I'd love it if you would share something that inspires you to keep growing to keep finding your voice, pushing those boundaries for yourself both internally, as well as externally that you come across. It could be anything, a poem, a song, a quote, what would you like to share with us?
Al Dea:
Sure. So this is more of a it's somewhere between a quote and just an antidote, but it was going back to the beginning, education was something that was really important to my family and growing up, I went to a middle school high school in college that was affiliated with the Jesuit priests. And if you're not familiar with the Jesuits, they are a sect within the Catholic Church. But one of their big things is this concept of education and furthering education for all and they have built some of the best universities in the world. But one of the ethos or one of the things I learned about the Jesuits in this is just something I've tried to live by is this idea that in a big world, you are but a small person, but as a small person, you are capable of doing something big. And that is something that I try to live by each and every day. It blends both a sense of humility, and understanding that the world is much and far bigger than myself, my ambitions and anything that I could ever imagine. But even if it is, even if it is bigger than just me, even if even if there's more people out there besides just myself, I still am capable, using my own talents and skills to do something big. And that is both blending both a sense of humility, as well as confidence. And I think that duality, that tension, positive tension in that way, is what really motivates me to continue to share my voice, but also to do so in a way that understands and respects the broader system and universe that we all are a part of. And so that's just something I've tried to live by and, and live out in terms of how I use my voice, but also how I interact with others on a day to day basis.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Al you've put it so eloquently and such a beautiful sentiment to want to continue and pull that thread along your journey. Beautiful. Thank you What a great way to end of our conversation. It's been an absolute absolute pleasure and thrill to have you on the show today. Al thank you so much.
Al Dea:
Thank you. It's been wonderful chatting.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
All right. Take care. I'll we'll chat again soon.
Al Dea:
Sounds good.
Arthi Rabikrisson:
Cheers. Bye. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode today. If you like what you heard, rate, the episode and podcast and feel free to write a review. Plus, of course, share with others too. I love talking around topics like these. So if you like my perspective or insight in a subject close to your heart, or something that you're grappling with, reach out to me in your comments or send me an email via my website, or connected me via LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook, all my social media on the podcast information. If it's important to you, then it's important too. So happy listening to the inspire your life podcast, and catch you soon on the next episode.
