Camera Ready & Abel

Alex Yaro, mediator, executive coach, conflict resolution expert and my guest for this episode, boldly asks on the home page of his website, ConflictYes.com: How much energy do you waste avoiding conflict?

If you've never stopped to think about this - and how it impacts your life - you're not alone. If you're a recovering pleaser, like me, your answer might be a somewhat sheepish a lot...

Alex was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union and has lived in Asia, Europe and North America which gives him a global perspective and special appreciation of cross-cultural communication. Re-thinking how you approach conflict - a natural part of daily life - transforms how you communicate and therefore how you live and show up in the world. Per Alex, the key to making our challenging conversations productive is Emotional Intelligence - an essential leadership skill that we can all develop.

Emotional Intelligence, also known as EQ, is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others and overcome challenges and diffuse conflict. According to Daniel Goldman, who wrote the book on it, the five characteristics of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills - all hugely important in the world of media and camera readiness.

A key takeaway this episode is the power of asking clarifying questions: What, when, where, who, how...but reframe WHY??? into a less-charged walk me through or help me understand your thinking...

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• EQ by Daniel Goleman
• The Atlas of Emotion by Paul Ekman
• Drive by Dan Pink
• Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

Having lived in Asia and Europe, Alex has a global perspective and special appreciation of cross-cultural communication. He created several courses on managing challenging conversations. His coaching style blends support with risk taking. He encourages clients to experiment with new perspectives, welcome feedback, speak directly, diplomatically, and effectively.

Learn more about Alex at www.conflictyes.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Grab your journal. This episode of Camera Ready & Abel is full of nuggets you're going to want to remember. My nourishing conversation with life, business and career coach, Brian Patacca, begins with marketing and ends with dignity and respect.

Along the way, Brian reframes the entire concept of marketing around generosity and purpose:

• Marketing is going public with your gifts and being seen for your gifts.
• If you build it and you TELL people about it, they will come
• Be determined each day, not to leave your function unfulfilled.
• Clarity is kindness and kindness is clarity - banish the vague and wishy washy and ASK.
• Your creativity is your birthright and the world is a better place when you are doing what you are called to do
• Effective marketing does 3 things, makes you FEEL something, makes you DO something, makes you NOTICE something.
• Don't be afraid of the word No. Hearing No frees you to focus your energy on where you'll find your Yes.

Brian is a spiritual practitioner who engages creative professionals seeking to ignite their businesses with fierce accountability, marketing innovation and soul satisfying success. He is the founder of a coaching organization and creative community with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Now based in Los Angeles, Brian coaches nationwide in several web-based group courses including his latest programs, Agent Goals and Actor Operating System.

Get more Brian by tuning into his podcast at www.BrianBreaksCharacter.com and download his free guide to 23 stories of people growing their networks in unusual ways that you can put into practice, at supersneakyauditons.com.

I talk about tapping into your superpowers all the time to grow your business and make an impact on the world. Cathy Pedrayes tapped into her innate ability as a well-prepared, analytical thinker to make complicated information around cybersecurity super simple and digestible, combined it with her natural warmth and relatability, posted a video to TikTok about what she carries in her first aid kit which got over 2 million views and "The Mom Friend" was born.

Cathy found the intersection of passion, purpose and - this is key - what the world needs and built a platform with over 2.4 million followers.

Also key: Cathy made herself discoverable (in a safe way - we discuss this a lot in the episode) and it didn't take long for

Simon & Schuster to come calling and Cathy is now the author of The Mom Friend Guide to Everyday Safety and Security.

When it comes to creating well-executed content, Cathy shares:

• Listen to your audience
• Good ideas come from everywhere
• If you can batch content - do it!
• Be prepared: Create shot lists + decide what works best for you and resonates with your audience
• Feeling relaxed and enjoying your content + the process makes being consistent easy

Learn more about Cathy and her signature blue dress at www.cathypedrayes.com and follow her on Tik Tok or Instagram @cathypedrayes.

To build means to make, by putting together parts and materials. It's a powerful, positive, active verb. This episode of Camera Ready & Abel is a master class in How to Build with brand strategist, change agent, marketing maverick and investor, Lauren Maillian.

Lauren shared so much valuable information I'm going straight to the Key takeaways:

• Learn how to thrive in uncertainty
• Failure is always an option so you ask yourself: is it worth it even if I fail?
• Optimize your talent
• Understand both how you work (skillset) and what you do (areas of expertise) because skills are transferable
• Develop the ability to observe
• Strive to work in your zone of genius
• Be clear on what motivates you as well as your team and the people around you.
• Look at systems - change and transformation require a multi-prong model
• Data is an equalizer - learn to read and decipher data + how to storytell around data.

Lauren has advised and invested in over 40 startups and her portfolio represents over $5 billion in market capitalization. Since 2020, Lauren has been the CEO of digitalundivided, the leading nonprofit leveraging data programs and advocacy to catalyze economic growth for black and Latin X women, entrepreneurs and innovators with the mission to create a greater world in which all women of color own their work and worth.

Learn more about Lauren’s work at www.laurenmaillian.com and sign up for her bi-weekly newsletter where Lauren shares her insights and opinions on all things diversity, equity, inclusion, innovation and why storytelling matters.

It’s time to deliver an impactful lesson on branding that will change how you think of the subject forever. Here to deliver the message on Camera Ready & Abel is DP Knudten, Chief Collaborator at his business, Collaborator Creative.

DP is the author of the must read, NONFICTION BRAND—Discover, craft and communicate the ‘completely true / completely you’ brand you already are. His fresh take on branding is a call to action with an action plan, so you aren’t left wondering where to get started.

When it comes to branding and discoverability DP shares:

• Imposter syndrome can be a good thing and can keep you honest about your deliverables
• False modesty will limit your discoverability, it’s your job to tell people about the value you offer
• Everyone is a unique combination of expert and amateur
• Be the scalpel and not the Swiss Army knife. It’s the difference of being a purpose-built tool to do one thing versus an average jack of all trades...and scalpels get paid better.
• If you are not a brand you are a commodity
• Tell the truth about who you are, what you do and how you do it

DP’s worked on some of the biggest brands in the business including Coca-Cola®, The Athlete’s Foot®, and ClosetMaid® during tenures at DDB Needham (Chicago), McCann Erickson (Atlanta) and creative shops in Denver, Sarasota, and Madison, WI. He is also a keynote speaker and clinician in branding, social media, creativity and culture for groups throughout the United States.

DP is the creator-host of the popular podcasts, The ROTOMA Podcast and NONFICTION BRAND and co-author of the book ROTOMA—The ROI of Social Media ‘Top of Mind/’.