Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lenny Ovadia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lenny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I am the product of a broken home and a single mother on welfare. I have vivid memories of sleeping on floors, cockroaches and even keeping what little food we had stored in a small styrofoam cooler tucked in an alleyway. I remember my mother selling our car for rent and long walks pushing a grocery cart we had borrowed from the supermarket down the street. At each red light, you could feel pity stares coming from the cars as we crossed the street, my mother, younger brother, older sister and me. It was a feeling to this day I will never forget.
Lenny, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As a 7-year-old boy on the street I remember the one escape I had was through the music of an old Philco radio. Yellowed from years of cigarette smoke and broken, I couldn’t change the station without a pair of pliers…but it allowed me to close my eyes and forget the world around me. It was like being transported to a happier place through music. Those moments I believe were prophetic as I grew up to enjoy a successful radio broadcasting career and eventually meet many of those artists who assisted in my escape. I remember coming home from high school in 1989 to my mother wearing a cowboy hat and denim skirt, going on and on about this new country artist she adored, Garth Brooks. Fast forward to 2016 and a press conference at the Pittsburgh Steelers Training Center where I was able to introduce my mother to Garth who embraced her with a warm hug and pulled her aside from the crowd for a lengthy conversation. This same single mother who once pushed a grocery cart up and down the streets found her way to GREATNESS. What she never realized was the GREATNESS was always within her. Or the time Steven Tyler came on our show and opened up about his own personal struggles, the importance of taking chances, and not going at life alone
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I believe in being a constant student of self. Asking yourself the difficult questions and being honest and accountable enough to accept the answers. I have learned these answers usually provide the blueprint for what must be done. In 2017 my family and I were enjoying life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was hosting a very successful morning show heard throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. We were making good money; I loved the town and the people. I am certain I could have retired there if desired, but there was something deep inside me that knew I could do more than I was doing. The company I was with was content with my job performance, but that did not provide the fulfillment I needed. While I recognized so much opportunity for growth, I grew increasingly frustrated with the level of complacency I was surrounded by compounded by an absence of leadership that led to poor morale and a toxic culture. I came to the realization that I could either blame them or blame myself for staying. This caused me to take a deeper look at the industry I loved so much as a whole. I realized the problems I was facing were not exclusive to my own environment. These were problems the radio broadcast industry had been struggling with for years as the landscape of ownership changed through deregulation and consolidation. I watched as many of the heroes I admired and learned so much from began taking lesser positions just to remain working. I did not want this to be my fate. This entire experience taught me an incredible life lesson in that complacency limits self-growth and opportunity. Part of becoming a student of self means exploring what you find most important in life. What are you most passionate about? What else might you be capable of? What strengths do you have? What strengths would you like to develop? What opportunities might be around this very moment that have been ignored or overlooked limiting your possibilities? My pivot was self-inflicted. You know you want something bad enough when you are willing to reinvent yourself to get it.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Jim Rohn once said the challenge of great leadership is to become something more than average or mediocre. Technologically, we have never been more connected than we are right now. Emotionally, we have never been more disconnected. Few of us take the time to actually get to know a person, what is important to them, what makes them tick. Information that is vital to keeping good people engaged. It is not so much that you know Jim in sales has a dog named Bruno, but that you cared enough about Jim to have that conversation. We all need to feel valued in a way that is sincere. Even if I am not a dog person, I know Jim is…and Jim is important to me. Jim is also important to our team, our goals, our culture, strategy and achievements. The “average or mediocre” leader might care about the bottom line and devote him/herself exclusively to that. Barking orders, micromanagement and unappreciation lead to diminished workplace culture, poor performance and high turnover. The great leaders I have learned from were always aware of the targets but paid more attention to taking care of the people they knew would help attain and exceed them. I once heard the founder and former President/CEO of Ritz Carlton speak to this: “When you see people only as fulfilling a function, you’re treating them like a thing, like the chair you’re sitting on. I don’t think we as humans can assume the right to do that. None of us want to be just something standing in a corner.” Great leadership is more about self-discipline than disciplining others. This philosophy has been at the heart of every success I have ever been blessed to enjoy in my life whether personal relationships or professional environments. Morale will always begin and end with the person in charge. We all have the ability to SPARK Greatness in others. As a leader, I view this as my biggest responsibility. If I am successful in this, all the other details fall into place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sparkgreatnessdaily.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spark_your_greatness/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sparkmoment/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenny-m-ovadia-2699a920/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LennyOvadiaMotivationalMinutes/videos
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sparkgreatness?_t=8YYhrO6qaPC&_r=1