We were lucky to catch up with Alicia Couri recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alicia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

The idea that coaching, consulting and training is a one and done occurrence and you can fix all issues you’re having with 1 training session.

When consulting with a client for the first time they would often ask for a seminar or team building exercise, then list off a host of issues and challenges they are facing as an organization that is happening in multiple departments, across multiple levels and think 1 team building workshop is going to solve all their problems.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As the Audacious Confidence™ Growth Expert and Legacy Queen elect for Woman of Achievement, Alicia Couri, knows what it is like to hide in the shadows, struggling with low self-worth. As a beauty professional, she discovered that while making someone beautiful on the outside was only a temporary solution to what was really bubbling up for people under the surface. Many people had insecurities and worth and value issues as well. Alicia felt like there was so much more she should be doing to address the whole person, not just the outside. What she didn’t realize was that she needed to take that journey first before she could help others overcome their challenges. After years of personal development work, she discovered some truths about building and sustaining confidence. She now strives to Influence, Educate, Inspire, and Entertain audiences to encourage them to step boldly in the direction of their dreams and achieve what is possible despite their feelings, fears or past failures.

She is the founder of Alicia Couri Inc.; a boutique consulting firm for mind-market organizations specializing in the development of Audaciously Proactive leaders & teams using brain science and people data to get results, the founder of AC Beauty; onsite professional MUAH services & founder of the RedCarpetCEO™; a digital media & content creation company.

Alicia is an Author of multiple books, a Speaker, Actor, Beauty Professional, and coaches leaders to show up more powerfully with strong Executive Presence. She Executive Produces and Hosts the Nationally Syndicated Podcast – “Leading with Audacious Confidence™”, and 3 Web/tv shows – “Small Business Saturday Shout-Out”, “Love My Body, Love Myself” & “Unleash Your Audacious Confidence™” on Win Win Women TV Network. She is on the Advisory Board of Keiser University, A Faculty Member of BoldHaus – an INC. 5000 company, and the Marketing Chairperson of the Black Owned Media Alliance (BOMA).

Alicia claims that her main mission in life is to “Rescue Fish from Trees” based on a quote from Albert Einstein that proclaims, ” Everyone’s a genius, but if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree it will live it’s entire life believing it’s stupid”. She helps individuals in and out of companies uncover their zone of Genius to unleash their superpowers and operate in their strengths. She brings her experience and combines it with data and analytics as a Kolbe Certified™, Talent Optimization Certified and Predictive Index Certified Consultant to help accelerate results for leaders and teams.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Team management requires trust. If you don’t have trust from other members of the team and if you don’t trust every member of your team, then managing them and motivating them becomes an uphill, frustrating battle.

There are 3 key areas in effective team management.
Trust
Vulnerability and
Having the right people in the right place on the team

We already talked a little about trust, but the other 2 areas are ways to strengthen trust. First vulnerability. No one is perfect, so for managers who walk around like they have all the answers or that they are infallible become less trust worthy. It is ok to be vulnerable and allow the team to figure things out together. The second is to have the right people in the right place on the team and that comes from and understanding of their strengths and blindspots. When a leader knows the strengths of each member of the team and can put people in positions to shine and make tremendously valuable contributions despite their job title, that makes people feel seen, valued and appreciated. That motivates them and keeps them fully engaged.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I have made many pivots in my business and career. I remember when I made the decision to go into corporate consulting and to move away from professional makeup & hair services. So many people were confused including my family. It was such a drastic change and they couldn’t understand why I would do that especially since my brand was really beginning to take off and more and more people were wanting to book me.

I was already in my mid forties and couldn’t imagine continuing with this back breaking work for 10 or 20 more years. I needed a change. My hands would hurt after a long day with multiple clients, many times I would have to carry all my tools and equipment up flights of stairs and it became physically and mentally exhausting. But I loved to see the transformation I was able to achieve with people in a short period of time.

I gradually began to learn other skills like speaking, booking media and personal branding. I realized I could use those skills to build clients up from the inside and still use my background in wardrobe styling and makeup & hair to polish them up for stage or tv. But that wasn’t enough for me. I needed to help them get lasting transformation so I decided to get certified in one of the assessment tools that really helped to change my life greatly and that way the Kolbe Assessment. After certification I realized I could really make a profound impact in how people were showing up in the world if they really understood some of these things about themselves. That began my journey into what I am doing now. Working in companies to help people find and unleash their super powers for success in leadership and on teams.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aliciacouri.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealiciacouri/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicia.couri/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealiciacouri/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thealiciacouri
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/aliciacouri
• Other: All platforms: https://alicia360.com

Image Credits
Ken Rochon – Umbrella Syndicate Cece Espeut