We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Brant-Zawadzki a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

My client has a rapidly scaling business, and through our work together she has become not only a confident and intuitive leader, but she cried at me about how energy leadership has evolved her mothering, her partnership, her friendships and her relationship with her self. She came to me to grow her profits, but she’s discovering a love and passion for her life and everything in it she didn’t know was possible. It gets to keep getting better. If life feels stuck, if your business feels hard, do not settle or accept that as your reality. Empowering leaders to love their businesses and lives, creates stronger families, connected communities and a peaceful world – and that is the greatest success for all..

Nicole, 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?

Nicole BZ brings business expertise to creatives and creative expertise to business. With an OUTLANDISH amount of degrees, including an MBA and 20 years’ experience of leadership in the creative industries and a COO title under her belt, it’s no surprise that business coaching was the next natural evolution. Now she supports 21st Century CEOs, leaders looking to sustainably scale with a focus on digital transformation and creative growth.

Since 2003, she founded, invested in, and directed over 48 businesses, in addition to starting and saving over 100 businesses GLOBALLY. She continues to “nerd-out” in business, books, meditation, movement, and the mountains (she also loves alliteration).

Any advice for managing a team?

If you want to scale, you need a team. Every relationship in your business is a stakeholder. It’s cliché, but your network is your net worth, and this applies to your internal and external connections. Most founders and CEOs I know, and thats thousands, have struggled to scale because they experience many hardship in team building. It is normal to go through five hiring cycles within your organization, meaning you will likely need to hire for a role up to 5 times before discovering “the right fit.” I believe fit is determined by values – you can teach attention to detail, but can you teach accountability? By asking the right question, delegating appropriate responsibilities and effectively leading real resources within your business you will effectively invest in and grow your team. Don’t be afraid to shift and release any individual who isn’t succeeding in their existing role once you have exhausted the 4 key components for performance – time, understanding, resources and skill (all of which are external factors within your control as the leader).

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

My biggest unlearning has been investing in a state of uncertainty. I have bought and sold businesses, engaged in partnerships and hiring, even invested in new technology platforms and solutions in a desperate need to create certainty and success. At the time, of course, I felt like I was making balanced and responsible business decisions using financial and risk analysis. With 20/20 hindsight and radical honesty, I discovered that due to fear and insecurity I invested in “experts,” “systems” and ultimately guarantees that simply don’t exist. I placed my faith outside of myself and my businesses, blaming external circumstance (ex. forced closures, economic strife, seasonal slowdowns). Ultimately, we are our own best bet and the only expert in our business. I understand now the temptation of aspirational marketing and high-pressure, predatory sales. Backing myself has been my biggest lesson. This lesson is echoed by trailblazing, rule-breaking, visionary CEOs worldwide.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nicolebz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebzchannel/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebzchannel/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebzchannel
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebzchannel

Image Credits
Stepha Doyle @ilovestepha