Elevate Your Network And Your Business With Dr. Tracie Lashley
Success isn’t just an individual experience. As we elevate our own lives, we can impact others and vice versa. Dr. Tracie Lashley is the Founder/CEO of THE Leaders Innovative Growth Solutions LLC and Executive Director at The John Maxwell Team. She is a speaker, author, and leadership elevation strategist. Tracie believes that by elevating yourself, you help elevate the people around you as well. In this episode, she joins host Chad Burmeister to share her story of overcoming and talk about her take on leadership in the lens of business and faith. Listen to her dramatic journey to success and be inspired to live a better story today.
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Elevate Your Network And Your Business With Dr. Tracie Lashley
I'm with Dr. Tracie Hines Lashley who is the Chief Elevation Officer of ACEIRT Solutions. That's a cool name and now I need to think about changing my title because that's awesome. Dr. Tracie, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
You're in Fayetteville, North Carolina. We used to be in Charlotte and I've gone through Fayetteville.
It's a great place to be.
It's a nice place. I like to kick off these calls by rewinding the tape and going back to when you're younger. What are your first memories? I find that a lot of times when we're younger, we're unfiltered. The world hasn't put an impression on us yet. We like to do certain things and gives us a leading indicator of where we may end up later in life. What were you passionate about when you were younger? What were some of the things you remembered as a kid?
One of my fondest memories was hanging out with my paternal grandmother. It was the coolest thing because I was like 2 or 3 years old. I hear about the stories of, "You'd always used to tell me to call your grandma because you want to go hang out with grandma." I'm hanging out with grandma, eating my potato chips and grapes soda, and hanging out with her friends. I shouldn't have been there but I was. That was the coolest thing. It's like, "I get to deal with the grownups and being nosy."
Even as I continue to grow older, I was like, "I love hanging out with grandma." I think I found out why and it’s because she was always helping people. She was very strong-willed and she will tell you like it is. She’s very blunt but she helped you. She might tell you off a little bit but her hand is out feeding you, clothing you, and giving you whatever you needed. I was wondering where I got this strong sense of wanting to help others from. I believe that's where it started.
Elevate: He'll never give us more than we can bear, but you have to go through it in order to help someone else because what you have gone through wasn't for you. It was to help someone else.
I have to believe that it’s generation upon generation. It's almost like it's built into our DNA because I see that with my grandmother and my mom. It's passed through. I might dampen it down a little bit but I still like to help people quite a lot. Thinking about how that ties into the work you're doing now, when you're doing the work that you do as Chief Elevation Officer, what does that entail? How does it tie to being a servant leader or being like your grandmother?
I always have this sense of wanting to inspire people to grow, elevate and thrive. Be your best self and start with yourself. Once you make yourself better, you can make everyone else better. Joining the John Maxwell Team, I am now one of his Executive Directors. I finished my education and I'm a Doctor of Management Organizational Leadership. I'm like, "Lord, what else can I do?" I love to grow. I can't stop growing and trying to grow other people. I started doing some research. If you are in leadership, you know who John Maxwell is. I was like, "He has a program. He has a team. Let me find out how I can join." I joined his team and I'm personally grown in and get to train with John Maxwell. He is my mentor, my coach and my trainer. It is amazing when I first saw him in person. I was like, "Can I touch you? Are you real?"
My mom took me in the '90s to see Success Talk. It was with Peter Lowe, John Maxwell, Zig Ziglar and Tom Hopkins. It was the cast of characters you read about. I remember watching that. Maxwell is amazing. He stood the test of time and is still out there helping leaders grow. A lot of times on the show, we all face something and for many of us, it’s more than one thing. Is there something that feels like a challenge in your life that you're comfortable sharing? Something that shaped who you became as a person. I always like to share that with people because you never know what they're going through. To hear other people's stories that, "Even Dr. Tracie had such and such a challenge and made it through the other side." What was that for you? What did you learn from that? How did you get through it?
During COVID, I finally started peeling back the layers and let the world know who I was by writing my first anthology. As a matter of fact, I wrote seven anthologies over the pandemic. Five of them are bestsellers. People can't believe the fact that I was a single mother on welfare. I couldn't feed my children. I'm like, "Lord, how am I going to get out of this?" Being in that moment where you know you have help but you can't always reach out. I had a sense of pride. I did not want anyone to know what I was going through.
On the outside, I had my mask on. I was this happy person. On the inside, here I am sharing a two- cheeseburger meal with my child. Here he is two years old out the window telling how the order goes because that's all I could afford. There was even a time where all I had was a pack of hotdogs and some French fries. I had to make it stretch for a week. Here I am not being able to eat so that my child could eat. It continued on for a few years and I was like, "Lord, I cannot do this." I am sitting here not only was I a high school graduate at the time, but I had very little money. Now, I sit as a doctor and beyond because I'm still in school. I have been making over six figures for the last many years.
Have you heard of the show, The Chosen? I'm sure you've heard of that. My wife and I started watching it and we're episode eight in because it's one of those that you can't put down. I saw the one where the fish jumped in the boat that day. The situation that you went through reminds me of when push comes to shove and your backs against the wall and things are like, "They're not going to come together for me," but having the faith is what gets you through. Thinking back to that, if you don't have that, then you don't have what you have now. A different unique perspective on everything.
We all hear about and I know we pushed back on one here. He'll never give us more than we can bear, but you have to go through it in order to help someone else. What you have gone through wasn't for you. It was to help someone else. Even though it was bad, it happened to you. "Lord, why me?" Think about, "Why not you?"
I've had a few of those where you go, "Why?" I've even yelled it and cry in it like, "Why this?” The answer then comes in due time and you're like, "I get it."
There are a lot of things I went through in life. A few years later, it's like, "That's why I went through it," because I talked to many women who didn't know how they are going to make it out.
The opening credits and you've probably noticed this because it took me four shows to get there. The gray fish are all swimming around in a circle. All of a sudden, you see a blue one and you’re like, "Huh," and then one of them flipped. My wife and I are like, "I wonder what the number is." I thought it was eight. I'm like, "No, it's not eight." You pause it and it's thirteen. Jesus and the twelve disciples. Now I understand what the mission is. It's to turn gray fish blue. In today's world, you watch TV and read Facebook. It's easy to get in a lane with all the fishes and swim downstream, and going upstream is where it's at.
I always go against the grain. Everybody's like, "You need to stop thinking." I'm very innovative and creative. My employees are like, "Can you please go to sleep? Don't think anymore." I'm one of the crazy people who have the pen beside my bed on a nightstand. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I have an idea and I write it down. Now, I have my phone so it's even easier. I will email it to myself.
Mine comes in the middle of the night too. It feels to me like the Holy Spirit. When you hear of parables that were told several years ago, that's what it feels like to me. They come in parables. You wake up the next day and you're like, "I got it." Thanks for sharing. My dad's dad was a salesperson, apparently. I didn't know that because I never met him. He had a brain tumor when my dad was 25. I never met that grandfather. Now finding out that he was a salesperson, it was hit or miss.
There were times where they couldn't afford to put food on the table for many months in a row. Being close to that level does give a person a unique perspective on life that you have to figure things out and you have to have faith. The further removed the next generation and the next, "Doesn't everybody get an iPhone when they're bored?" Not so much. Tell me what you're most passionate about now. I can hear it in your voice. You're doing the John Maxwell thing. What gets you up in the morning? What are you excited about?
The fact that I could help people, mothers and women. I started a non-profit to help women. My full-time job is I do cybersecurity on a military installation. They're like, "How does that fit?" It fits easily. I get to go to work. There are a bunch of women there who were in the IT field. We're separated and I get to inspire them. I get to help them grow. Not only at the job but I am growing other leaders and other entrepreneurs. They called me with these ideas like, "I don't know what I can do. I like doing this." I spit out an idea and they will get their LLC.
It seems like in the last couple of years during the pandemic, traditionally, here's your work and here's your personal life. Doesn't it feel like to you that the lines have started to come together these days?
Elevate: No one said that you had to be the know-all, be-all. You just need to know who to go to. Elevate your network, and your network will elevate with you.
They have and that's why I don't say work-life balance. I say work-life harmony. You have one life. You go to work and you have a home life. That's still one life. You harmonize your task, your surroundings and your energy into one and make them fit.
There's this website, HelpAReporter.com, HARO. I get a notice three times a day, which is three too many. You click the link and you go in and you see what reporters are writing about. They said, "Tell us about the impact of COVID on your life and the work-life balance." I gave a very similar answer. I was like, "I don't look at it like that." I didn't use harmony but harmony is a much better word. Let's fast forward. We're three years from now and you're back on the show. You're like, "Chad, this has been the most amazing three years." What happened over those years?"
I am lucky to announce that I will be retiring from the Federal Government System at the age of 50.
You'll probably have a pension and all that fun stuff too.
They say, "You can retire and start getting paid." I'm like, "Really?" I wasn't even banking on that. I was going to defer. I have already launched a TV Channel, which I have content creators on and a bunch of leaders. I partnered with Les Brown. I'm talking to Paul Martinelli about doing some things. I partnered with Lead Like Jesus and Take Flight. I am DISC certified. Now, I am bird DISC certified. We have some things coming. In a few years, I'll be like, "He's here." I have launched the first profit-sharing learning center for coaches, consultants, trainers and speakers. The only one that's out there. Amazon was the first to use it. We finalized our last training session for this cohort.
It's very motivational. A lot of people don't have the check-boxes of these are the eight things that are going to happen in the next three years. It's funny because the number one difference between people who get there and don't is the belief that they can get there. You have to have a strong belief. The minute you lose that, it's easy to become hopeless. All you have to do is believe. Sometimes it feels like I'm living in a computer game and you're like, "This is too easy." All you have to do is click the go button while everybody else doesn't.
You have to act. If you don't act, it's not going anywhere and your mindset as well. Your mindset needs to be higher. John Maxwell says in The Law of The Lid for leadership. You can't lead someone higher than you are. It’s the same thing with your mindset. You can't go farther than your mind and then you go.
That's why when I'm watching The Chosen, it seems to me that when the fishermen realize that's not his end game to be a fisher of men, that's a whole different pegboard than he was on. He had to admit that wasn't the right thing and move on to something else. There's always something with people, whether it's drinking or something. We all have something inside of us that if you can shed that and make that be your strength. To me, that's the most important thing in our lives. It’s to level up beyond whatever that thing was passed down from generation to generation.
That's why I said it starts with knowing who you are and knowing your strengths. Your weaknesses aren't your weaknesses. There are things that you haven't elevated yet. Look at those things and see how you can elevate them. You can do it if you want but there's a thing called networking with others. No one said that you had to be the know-all be-all. You just need to know who to go to. Elevate your network and your network will elevate with you.
A lot of times, especially as creators and people who want to do it alone, we realize, "That person is way stronger in that area." That's where those StrengthFinders and DISC, and when you start piecing it together and seeing it on a wall, you're like, "That is not me doing that operations role. That's someone else’s job."
It is funny because when I do the DISC assessments and I speak to people about it and do the debrief, they are always like, "You know me so well." Yes, it's all right here in black and white. I can even fold the paper because I've been doing this so long. I'm telling them what they're thinking before they even tell me. They're like, “No, that's not me. Yes, it is me." It's different when you hear someone else say it versus you thinking it.
It's not like reading someone's horoscope or those things. A horoscope can be hit or miss but when you read a DISC profile, the level of attunement is pretty high. I've got a picture on my wall and it's a series of Bible verses that makes up a fingerprint. I saw it in the mountains about a year ago at this house we stayed at. It reminds you that we all have a unique fingerprint, and finding and leading into that skill and learning what our lane is meant to be in life. I'm going to write a new book called Frictionless. Don't you feel like once you've hit your lane and the friction part will be like sandpaper or something, then less will be either looking like a fast car or it goes faster and easier? It pains me when people are like, "This life is what I have to do before I can get to the next life. I'm going to make do with it." It's like, "No, you got to get to frictionless so you can look around every day and realize that it's awesome."
Some people understand when they say, "I've outgrown someone." No, you've gone to a higher frequency level. You are no longer down there and it's okay. People are there for a reason and season. That season is up.
The other thing is you can spot someone who's operating at a different frequency. I went to this restaurant bar in the mountains. It was during ski season. We walk in and the owner was standing at the bar. We started talking to her. It was me and a friend from California. We start talking and she goes, "I won the lottery for $40 million in the '80s. It was the best thing that happened and the worst thing that happened because all of a sudden, everybody wants to be your friend. I learned to say no all the time."
She and her husband didn't work out because it causes strife when you run into something like that. She goes, "I went through a lot of counseling." I said, "I bet you the biggest thing you've learned over all those years of counseling is to be in the moment you're in right now." Her eyes lit up and she was like, "How did you know that? I've spent so much money figuring that out." When people learn that simple truth, just enjoy it. Meet cool people. See cool things. Balance your time, harmonize and life will be okay. Last question, Dr. Tracie, what role does faith play in your journey? We've touched on it a bit but it's always my favorite question.
It is everything to me. Everything I do is a gift from God. I used to be the type of person who was very reserved and didn't want to share. I've learned that the more I share my story, the more other people are growing from it. I'm growing as well and my network is growing and things are happening. I'm reaching for multimillionaire status and I'm bringing people with me. I'm not doing it and saying, "You guys are down there." No, God has lifted me and I'm lifting others as well.
You got to check this app out. We're putting it out. It's on Android. It's called 77Pray. It helps you tune the frequency to God. In the morning, it'll pop up and say, "Did you pray yet?" My grandfather's prayer was always, "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." I've never done that in the morning. I've always prayed before bed but for the last 45 to 50 days using the app we built in beta mode, that's my bookend of the first part of the day. You read a Bible verse. You click the box and it pulls a random verse in. It helps your day on the right path and two minutes of work. By noon, it pops up another thing and it's the act button. It says, "Tell someone else to sign up so that they can create a relationship with God." It will automatically fill out the text. All you got to do is pick someone in your contact book or Facebook or LinkedIn or whatever.
At the end of the day, you pray again. It's rinse-and-repeat then listen. There's a feature I almost deleted and I told someone about it. He goes, "No, don't delete that. That would be my favorite feature." It's, "What do you hear when you pray?" There's a little note area inside the app where you can take a note as you do on your notepad that you said. I was like, "Okay." You can crowdsource prayer. If you have something heavy that you need to pray about, you put it out there to the universe and all those subscribers will say done or they'll add comments and say, "I prayed for you." I printed 5,000 stickers. I've been reaching out to pastors. A woman from Zimbabwe responded. She has three churches. She goes, "Yes, ship me. I'm very excited." We're excited to see what happens with this app.
I need to tell the people at Lead Like Jesus about it.
If you need me to ship you some stickers, let me know and we'll send them your way. Check it out. This has been a lot of fun, Dr. Tracie Hines Lashley from Fayetteville, North Carolina. It's good talking with you. You've been through it and as you said, when your back is against the wall and it seems like, "How do I even put food on the table? I have to buy two hamburgers from McDonald's and share them with my son." That's what gives us character. When we have faith, it shows everybody on this call. Have faith and pray. "God, what should I do?" Listen and you'll be amazed at the frequency. You can tune in to that dial. It's available and free. You don't even have to buy a radio for it. Tracie proved that could happen. Thank you for sharing your testimony. I'm glad to have you on the show, Dr. Tracie.
Thank you for inviting me.
Thanks for joining the show. We'll catch you on the next one.
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About Tracie Lashley
I am the LeadHERz Architect™ and educate leaders on growth strategies to reach the pinnacle (respect) leadership level while creating team effectiveness and productivity. I am a dynamic, high-powered professional with a results-charged career in growth and leadership. My purpose in life is to transform lives (inspire, equip, grow). My mission is to equip leaders with the tools required to ignite an intentional growth mindset that will drive behavior to achieve actionable results of personal value. My personal vision is to see people reach their full potential, remove obstacles and knowledge gaps, and LEAD their life vs just LIVING their life.
