Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Ericka E. Kelly, Author, Global Professional Speaker, Executive Coach, and Leadership Trainer

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

As a 32-year veteran of the military, Ericka E. Kelly has seen and experienced it all when it comes to transitioning from a military career to civilian life. Her latest book, “Take Charge of Your Military Transition,” is a guide for transitioning military members who are seeking clarity and guidance during this pivotal time in their lives.Ericka E. Kelly wrote this book to provide a different roadmap for military members who want to transition well from their military careers and find incredible civilian opportunities. With her extensive experience and knowledge, she aims to empower her readers to navigate this transition with confidence and determination.She is uniquely qualified to help transitioning military members reach their goals. With her background as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief of the Air Force Reserve and Command Chief Master Sergeant for the Air Force Reserve Command, she offers valuable insights and practical advice.Additionally, as a European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) Master Coach, she is an iconic mindset expert. With her Certificates as a John C. Maxwell speaker, trainer, and licensed DISC trainer and consultant, she brings a wealth of expertise in communication skills and personality styles.Her civilian professional background includes serving as a Senior Special Agent for the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Notably, Ericka was honored by the United States Congress for her invaluable contributions to the nation’s security.Ericka E. Kelly’s educational achievements include a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s in business administration.Learn More: https://erickakellyenterprises.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-ericka-e-kelly-author-global-professional-speaker-executive-coach-and-leadership-trainer

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with us, Erica E. Kelly, who is a global speaker, executive coach, and leadership trainer, and bestselling author. Erica, welcome to the program.

Thank you, Mike. How are you? Hey, doing amazing, and I'm excited to talk with you because I understand you have a brand new book out that actually hit an Amazon bestseller, so I want to hear all about that. But before we do, give us a little bit of your story and your background and what got you into the leadership and executive coach space. Yes. Well, I got to the United States when I was 12 years old from Central America.

So let me start there because I think it's very significant that culturally I come from a very submissive family. And so here I am living the American dream of opportunity. And I saw the military, the Air Force specifically, as a path for me to have a second chance or possibly have a first chance. And I served in the Air Force for 32 and a half years. So a journey of starting as a medic and then developing leadership skills, mentorship skills, coaching skills, and then ending up my career as the command chief, master sergeant for the Air Force Reserve, which is a major command for the Air Force. So you know a thing or two. So 32 years in the military, you went well past the 20 that it takes to, you know, retirement. higher, you went and it stayed an extra decade or more. So obviously you learned a thing or two.

And then I'm sure that some of those lessons you took in creating this book. So tell us a little bit about at what point did you think, you know, people need to hear the story behind, take charge of your military transition. Well, this is how I see things. We can learn from books. We can learn from mentors, but I really don't talk or teach or facilitate anything from theory alone. And framing this book, I used myself as an example of how it took someone like me, serving 32 plus years in the Air Force, transition into retirement, transition into being an entrepreneur and business owner, and that space of time, that space of, man, moving from one world to another world and being able to assimilate and not get stuck in the middle of the road.

You know, when you describe that, and I want to go deeper on that transition, it brings up a word that I think that you will resonate with identity. Because whether you were in the military for 32 years or in, you know, the NFL or a professional sports league and then retire, you have a certain identity that now is changing. So talk a little bit about the how the transition as it relates to identity needs to be addressed. Absolutely. I'll give you a very quick example, the uniform. Yeah. When someone comes and and they're wearing a uniform, it doesn't matter what branch of the military you're from.

You have a rank. You have a name. You have a career specialty. So just by looking at someone, you know so much about them, which the civilian side doesn't. So there's little gaps, the language, the expectations,

something that we think it's normal, that it's not normal. when I talk to individuals about identity, we are, you know, in our military identity, we are the 1%. One percent of our population serves. So how can we then transition that identity into a smooth assimilation to the 99% of the population? You know, you use the word retire. and I know after 20 years or in your case, 32 years you retire, but you're typically not at retirement age like

traditionally civilians think about, you know, 67 or 72 or whatever age that is. So when a lot of people that are in the military for 20 plus years, they retire and they're in their, you know, mid 40s, let's just say. Well, you've got a lot of runway ahead of you to still be doing things. And that's where this transition comes in that you're talking about because, you know, you're a roadmap to post-military success is not just, okay, you put your time in and you've got your pension, so now you can play golf all day long. What is some of the things that people need to start thinking about to successfully navigate that transition? And that's the magic. The magic

is of finishing a fantastic, and I'm going to say fantastic, I'm going to even say magnificent chapter of our lives. And being able not to get. stuck and think that our best days are behind us and start looking at that chapter. What is it that we can use? What is it that we can bring with us in order for the days that are in front of us to be better days or just another amazing chapter in our lives? But what does it take? It takes communication and not just communication, Mike, but how to

connect with the individuals in their world, not our way, not our language, right? Be able to transition into a communication phase where it makes sense. How can we be truly intentional, intentional on what is it that we want to do in our next chapter. And I think it is so much mindset, but it's also so much blueprint and checklist and being intentional because I've never been in the military myself, but from what I understand, you pretty much are told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. And you don't need to think about being intentional other than following orders to the best of your ability. So when you are now transitioning into civilian life and you think, okay, now I want to use my skills to do whatever that it is,

that intentionality, it could swallow you up to where you feel lost, right? Absolutely. I call it we need to learn self-leadership. In the military, we talk and we do everything in a team. Anything. If we go anywhere, it's like for the Air Force anyway. Where is your wingman? Where is your wingman?

So we are, if I may use the word condition, but we are conditioned to do. do things as a team unit, right, sacrifice for others, serve others. And when we transition, the definition of team looks different outside of the military, Mike. And I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. It just feels and looks different. So we don't have that, that team anymore. So now we have to self-leadership ourselves in order for us to move forward and in order for us to have the confidence that we did while in the military in our new environment, which is the civilian world. And even if you were in leadership in the military leading a team, I would suspect that self-leadership, even though the L word is there, leadership, it looks so much differently and it's executed so much

differently when you're thinking about it on leading your own self to move forward and to have that, you know, begin with the ended mind and I want to accomplish this and the end results should be. So that that leadership mindset really kind of takes a shift, doesn't it? Of course. Of course. When we are in the military, and you mentioned this, Mike, we're used to someone giving us the margins, someone giving us the lines of where we can cross or not cross. And as we transition out of the military, what we get sometimes, not all the time, but what we get is a sheet of websites to go to some phone numbers that can help us. maybe find a job, maybe someone to review a resume.

And that's not what this book is about. This book is truly about mindset, how we can communicate better, how can we transition to a different chapter and still bring our good, amazing qualities into that chapter. But the leadership side of it has to come from ourselves. No one's good. You know, the subtitle of the book is a five-step roadmap to post-military success. Can you share what those five steps are?

Yes. The first big step is just this big picture, this big overview of us. And for us to really be proud of what we have accomplished. and understand that there is a phase in which we have to walk another path and it's okay and it's okay to walk that path. Now, I think it's the second chapter. The second chapter is all about mindset and how can we start changing the mindset to put the oxygen on on ourselves first before we put it on others.

And that is, Mike, that is so huge. Because most of the time, when you come from the military side, it's sacrifice, sacrifice. And now it feels selfish. Yes. Yes. And now it's like, can you just take a breath and take care of you for a second? Regroup, right?

Regroup and then move forward. And then definitely communication. I use or I talk in the book a lot about disc and the different personalities and how we have different strengths, but we have different fears. And depending on what fear we have, then that's going to dictate sometimes how we make decisions and how we get into this loop of how did I get here. Because I don't want to be here. And then absolute commitment to success is another of my chapters. And being intentional, intentionality is important on the path of walking forward. And the last chapter, chapter six, is, you are worth it.

That's the title of a chapter. We are worth it to go into this transition and find success in a different light. You know, I think that there's there's almost like a, we're all programmed. You know, you hesitated a few minutes ago, like almost like it was a bad thing. But we're all programmed. We're programmed by our environment. And that's just the way that it is. We're programmed to get up at a certain time and do certain things.

So if it's military programming, great because some of the top, top leaders in business these days have a strong military background. We applaud that. But I think that that same structure all of a sudden needs to be taught how to turn that into your civilian now next step. Because like I was mentioning earlier, you might have 20 plus years of more life before you really start cashing it in and going now I'm going to play golf or travel the world as full on retirement. So what is that next phase of your life going to be? and it could be 15 to 20 years and have beginning with that end in mind. And I love the hesitation of you need to be comfortable working on you. And, you know, Jim Rohn, the famous philosopher has said in the past, boy, the most important thing to work on the most way to focus is personal development so that you're ready to go out there and conquer the world.

And what if all you did was work on your business success, but you didn't work on your business success. but you didn't work on your mindset or your health. Well, if your health fails, you can't really go out and do the business. So it all ties in together, but it really is not a selfish thing. In fact, it's a gift to the people around you to take care of yourself mentally, physically, and all of that. So I want to, I highlighted in my mind the word harness intentionality. And I know that is your chapter five. So we talked about being intentional.

How do you harness it? You harness it by repetition. And it's funny that you mentioned, Six Ziegler. I was, when you said him, I was thinking of Bob Proctor and how Bob Proctor thinks of or talks or talked about paradigms. And how we just get set into this mindset of this is who I am. And this is who I am and this is who I am. And it's no, no. because our thoughts are very powerful.

And the more awareness we gain, and the more we are teachable, the more we are willing to unlearn, to learn new things, the better it will be to harness that intentionality of us giving ourselves a command. A little bit of discipline here. Can I say, I'm going to get up at this time.

I'm going to take care of my body. I'm going to take care of my nutrition. I'm going to take care of my mind and do it. Yep. So you harness it by repetition. You harness it by surrounding yourselves with good mentors. You harness yourself by understanding. that you are not in the past, that you are creating, right?

You're creating a new future. You know, it reminds me of this example I heard because in our, you know, I know you're a big fan of personal development and mindset and neuro approach. You know, like when we have these neuro pathways, if we do repetition the right way, it ends up with the right result. You know, practice makes perfect is a false statement. Perfect practice makes perfect because if you practice something the wrong way, you're going to keep on doing it wrong. And I heard this analogy recently where they said the difference between a rut and a grave. So if you are walking and let's just think using the military, you know, you're marching on dirt. If you just marched in circles and circles and circles, you're going to start seeing a rut where all of these people have now been marching along that same path. And now there's this rut. It might be two. inches deep. But if you keep it, now, you know, not not in reality, but, you know, if you continue

that process, a rut becomes a grave because it gets deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and you can't climb out of it. So we need to have that intentionality and consistency, but all of that North Star, that compass needs to be focused on. Where do you want to end up? And I think that brings me to my last kind of point I want to bring up is one of your teaching philosophies is success versus significance. Talk a little bit about that. Yes. Success is a journey that is almost selfish, meaning that, and I learned this from Dr. Johnson Maxwell, by the way, success is this beautiful picture of two things, two highways of, you know, failure and success mixed together, and then you have a little spark of, yes, good, yes, good, yes, good.

And then you find success, and then you get to the, you get to the top of the mountain, let's say. And you have degrees, you have a rank, if we're talking military, or you have a position, and you're like, yes, you can showcase, you can showcase success. But there's a huge difference, Mike, between success and significance. because once you again, let me use the word transition, when you transition from success to significance, that is when you are taking care of someone else. When you give and when you take care of someone else

and you are significant in that person's life, now, now you have arrived at a different level. Because it's almost like up to that point, you were striving and working and grinding for you to get those accolades, to get that position. And then now when you look at it and go, okay, now I'm going to give back.

Now you're shifting your perspective off of you onto helping other people get that same level of success. Well, then in doing that, that you then start your journey to significance. Yes. And then you harvest, right? Before it's just you. But now the more you give and the more you take care of others, then you see their successes.

And you see them becoming significant. And it's just a beautiful harvest. And you start getting that same proud feeling you got when you were on your upward trend of achievement and position. And you start feeling that same way. But when you look at your mentees or your people that you're helping to, you know, move along their path and you start giving that same pride, but it's not within. It is for them.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I love it. You know, I think that it, what you're doing here is so significant for the people transitioning out of the military because like you said, having that email or that piece of paper with some links to resources, you're kind of. sharing at that going, now what? But if someone can follow your blueprint and your path

and start getting that excitement and taking care of themselves and seeing where they want to be and, you know, being all of these things that you're describing, I would venture to say that that now becomes a super rewarding result for the reader as well as rewarding for you because now you're showing them that path to success. I love it. I mean, I know my purpose is people and I, I,

love what I do. Well, let's wrap up with this, Erica, is so wonderful talking with you. If someone is listening to this, go on, I want a little bit more. How can they best learn about what you do? You're speaking, your coaching, your leadership training, and your books. Yeah, the best way is my website, Erica Kelly Enterprises.com. That's the best way to find me. Excellent. Well, Erica, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you today. Thank you, Mike. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.