We were lucky to catch up with Jan Daudi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jan, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

How your greatest risk can be your greatest gift.

A sad fact is life conditions us to please people. We are taught that putting people first, before our own needs, is the “right thing to do”. Don’t get me wrong, as a mother of five children; I understand well the responsibility and nobility in catering to dependents and that this may mean I experience a level of intentional sacrifice. However, many of us carry this mindset in a manner that is;

Offered to entities that are not entitled to this level of service
Our efforts to please are exploited to the point we are self-destructive and resentful
No one appreciates your effort, and they are training people with a sense of entitlement that keeps you enslaved to their agenda, while your ambitions wither in their emotional desert.

Does this sound familiar? Is this hitting a spot in your psychology that screams, “Ouch!” that’s too relevant for comfort? Then you must keep reading.

I can speak about this with insight as I have had to balance my communication skills with enforcing my values while maintaining relationships positively.

One of the major mistakes I made repeatedly was following “fear” instead of being “aware” of the reality of consequences when you have to hold people accountable for violating your safe space.

Many of the correct behaviours that seem obvious in hindsight were mismanaged in our early years when dependency on caregivers and authority figures was an essential young survival code. Also, our primitive need to avoid rejection and have connections with people can cause us to compromise our well-being so we are “accepted”. Studies show that “rejection” can be a physical pain in the brain and is one of the most powerful motivating factors in human behaviour.

What I have come to understand in my growth journey in communications is that my “risk-aversion” to having those “difficult conversations” was deeply rooted in my overthinking the ideas of “will people like me?” “Am I offending someone?” “What is this escalates into something more serious?”. All of these ideas, I now realise, are false flags disguising the real risk to my long-term mental and emotional health. If I were advising a client in my communications community, I would, of course, advise to have short-term difficult conversations to avoid long-term difficulties in multiple areas of your life. That’s the common sense risk assessment that we as mature adults must step into if we are to move beyond the narrow juvenile limitations of a past life that is no longer relevant.

We must trust our ability to react appropriately to the unknown. If people reject our safe space needs, they are not a loss in our world when their presence causes us pain or harm. As resourceful and independent grownups, we can build a healthy social life that is mutually conducive to growth and positivity. This realisation of trusting myself to be consistent with my values and teach people how to respect me has unlocked a higher version of me willing to take risks in many other areas of life. These ideas about how I communicate and manage risk in conversations can be summarised in my business mantra; “Say what you mean, mean what you say, without being mean’.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

MissCommuniTeam is a global training company that teaches elite women to;

“Say what they mean, Mean what they say, without being mean”.

Many communications training’s leave out the psychology of the human and focus on skillset. MissCommuniTeam believes that it is impossible to get the best results without a holistic approach to managing people’s needs.

That’s why their founder, Mrs Jan Daudi, uses her skills as a psychologist, English teacher, and Cambridge University-trained communicator to cover all areas needed for female leaders to use their voices to build the world they want. In fact another business mantra in MissCommuniTeam is;

“Your world is your world”.

Aside from complete business communications solutions covering negotiations, crisis communications and impact/influence agendas, safe spaces for women is another key area of MissCommuniTeams mission.

MissCommuniTeam is a global innovator in the safe space narrative as the skill that is taught to women is “Self Advocacy” not reliance on policy or people. This method, unique to the company is truly universal to all women as it does not depend on any demographics to be applicable.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The fact that MissCommuniTeam has a flawless record of customer satisfaction and glowing testimonials has meant referrals have been the greatest source of consistent revenue. Women often return for next-level training, and the community has a high level of mutual support. The consistent comment has been that women feel safe to be vulnerable and understood in terms of exploring deep inner work without the need to “show up” as “superwomen” or the “ideal CEO”. The fact that Jan Daudi has been onboarded as a mentor and expert on several high-profile and award-winning platforms has added to the global positioning of the company and its services.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My journey as a daughter of immigrants of having to navigate all of the negative labels and communications that were given to me in my early years has resulted in a deep sense of questioning everything. Being on my own to fight off bullies and having to witness so many of my female peers struggle with safe spaces as teenagers was a constant theme in my life. I won a poetry competition and was published at 9 years old when `I wrote about standing up to racist abuse in the playground. I have never been one to accept bystander apathy and would always defend those in need of support. My ability to avoid being affected by many of the dangers that a small, brown female from the Muslim demographic would usually be subjected to has always been my ability to speak up and never offer a manipulator the comfort of my silence and isolation. I became an avid observer of human behaviour at a young age I would often analysed victim dynamics and the power games involved. I was determined never to be “one of those” people who had their lives hijacked by people with bad intentions, and I now have the privilege of passing all of my formal and observational learning to other women.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misscommuniteam/
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/jan-daudi-340473168

Image Credits
image credits area all Jan Daudi