The Jo Show · 27 January 2026
Episode 10: She was #1 in global sales. She slept 8 hours a night.
Radia Carr hit the top spot in worldwide sales at one of the largest professional training organisations on the planet.
When someone asked how she did it, they expected the usual story. Less sleep. More hours. Sacrificing everything.
Her answer? “I was working out twice a day. Sleeping eight hours. Working with nutritionists. I was so dialed in — and I did more in less time.”
That’s the part most people get wrong about high performance.
The myth that won’t die
We still treat exhaustion like a badge of honour. Less sleep, more work, more hours. The assumption is that elite results require elite sacrifice.
Radia proved otherwise. And she’s not alone. She recalled a colleague years ago who consistently hit a million dollars in sales working nine to five. At the time, it didn’t make sense. How could someone outperform while working less?
The answer isn’t about working harder. It’s about being more focused, eliminating noise, and building a foundation that actually sustains performance.
Clarity beats motivation
This was one of Radia’s sharpest points in our conversation.
Motivation fades. You can listen to all the Ted talks and podcasts you want, but there will be days — sometimes whole seasons — where you just don’t feel it.
Clarity doesn’t care how you feel. When you know exactly where you’re going and why, you move anyway. Your values guide you. Your purpose pulls you forward.
That’s the difference between people who sustain performance and people who burn out chasing it.
Three habits she sees in every high performer
Radia has coached leaders across industries. These three habits show up consistently in the ones who last:
Continuous learning. The best performers never think they’ve arrived. They’re still reading, still getting certifications, still asking questions. They treat learning as a lifestyle, not a phase.
Prioritising health. They’re at the gym at 5am. They protect their sleep. They manage their energy because they know that if they show up exhausted, they can’t think clearly, coach their people, or make good decisions.
Building relationships with no agenda. They’re connectors. Mentors. They introduce people, build networks, and invest in others without expecting anything back.
The foundation comes first
Radia’s own daily non-negotiables have been built over years, not weeks. That’s the part people miss when they try to overhaul their life every January.
Her current stack includes meditation before getting out of bed, daily exercise, 128 ounces of water, and eight hours of protected sleep. But she didn’t start with all of that. She started with one habit — exercise — and layered in more over time.
When you try to change everything at once, you set yourself up to fail. Then you get demoralised and pour yourself back into work, telling yourself you’re too busy to take care of yourself.
The leaders who sustain performance build their foundation first. Then everything else gets easier.
On imposter syndrome
Radia still deals with it.
She told me about standing backstage before speaking to 800 people, close to a panic attack, thinking “Why do I belong here?”
She started out painfully shy with bad grades. Called herself “corporate clueless” — didn’t even know what a CLO was. And yet she ended up sharing stages with the people she once idolised.
The imposter syndrome didn’t go away. She just learned to move anyway.
If she could tell her younger self one thing: “Believe in yourself. You have something special to bring to the table that might not be the same as what people expect. And that’s okay.”
Watch the full conversation
We covered a lot more in this episode — how to give feedback that builds trust instead of destroying it, why follow-through is where leadership begins, and the one shift Radia wants to see in leadership over the next five years.
Connect with Radia:
- LinkedIn: Radia Carr
- Website: radiacarr.com
At McKee Creative, we work with founders like you to bring bold ideas to life through strategy, marketing, and creative that converts.
Book a free strategy call to explore how we can help you double your revenue—without doubling your workload.
Transcript
Radia Carr (00:00)
I was number one in the world in sales. And someone asked me, you must’ve like barely slept, barely worked out. And I was like, no, I actually was working out twice a day. was sleeping eight hours a day. I was working with nutritionists. I was so dialed in and I did more in less time.
I called myself corporate clueless, no idea. And I had so much imposter syndrome going in with like meetings with directors and VPs and going, oh my God, what are they gonna find out?
I was so painfully shy, didn’t have good grades in school.
Jo McKee (00:30)
Can you start by telling me where you’re joining us from?
Radia Carr (00:32)
South Brunswick, New Jersey, just about 10 minutes away from Princeton, about an hour away from New York.
Jo McKee (00:38)
Sounds
fabulous. I want to visit already and go back to New York. Your background is pretty wild, Radia. At the moment, you’re known for elite sales results, world beating, and coaching elite performing leaders. What’s one story from early in your life or career that people don’t really know about, but that has really shaped who you are today?
Radia Carr (00:58)
Probably, just working for one of the largest global professional organizations, training organizations in the world. And I just remember my first year of going in sales and I was just, I wanted to make it work so bad. And I remember just asking one of the top performers, what do you do? just, I like idolized him. Like, how can I ever be on stage with this person? And I think that was a come around moment when we shared the stage many years later.
It was pretty incredible. I just never thought I’d make it. And so with great mentors, it just makes me really think anything is possible with guidance and grit and discipline, anything can happen.
Jo McKee (01:36)
It’s very interesting. I know a lot of people have trouble with sales, so I’m really excited to dig in today and pick up those gems from you. also help leaders to…
hit elite levels without burnout? Yes. What’s the biggest myth with high performance that you’ve come across where people think they have to do to succeed, but they really just don’t need to do that at all?
Radia Carr (01:55)
I truly think that we are in the society that more is better and less sleep, right? Still the badge of honor of less sleep, more work, more hours. And I should have realized this probably many years ago, about, let’s say 17 years ago when we had a high performer in our office and she somehow made it work. She worked from nine to five and she was the top performer. was a million dollar producer, which was like, it was like, wow. And that…
I think over time, I just never saw how she could do it and was reminded about it later on because it just, think a lot of us think we just have to do more. And I think we just have to be really much more focused and the more focused you are and the more you can eliminate the noise, the more successful you’re going to be. So I’ve done it myself, right? I’ve personally gone through so much burnout, so many ups and downs over the years that that’s why I help people now because I truly believe that you can have a very
powerful professional career and be successful and you can also have a wonderful personal life too. And I think people feel like it has to be either or and I think you can really have both. I’ve seen it and expect
Jo McKee (03:00)
It’s
so refreshing to hear that. Honestly, so refreshing. I’m firm believer in that. Yes. I actually don’t believe in work life balance. I think that just gets stupid because sometimes when you just pour yourself into a project and you need to, need to go with the flow, know, but, have being able to have both and enjoy both is it’s really exciting when you do get to that point. I love that you will do that. You’ve said that clarity beats motivation. Can you give me an example of that?
Radia Carr (03:26)
would just say being, we’re not always going to be motivated. That’s just a reality, right? You can listen to all the motivational talks and Ted talks and clips that you want, but there’s going be days or times in your life, seasons of your life where things are going to be tough. And just having that clarity of where your destination is, where are you trying to go? And every day working towards that, whether that’s clarity of purpose, of your mission, of what you want to accomplish and just having that on the radar every single day, because some days you’ll be motivated. It’ll be great.
that there’ll be days that you won’t be, but that clarity, think really will guide people just like their values will guide them. I think that’s really important to know.
Jo McKee (04:01)
I’m really big on helping people build businesses that suit them rather than the template or what the gurus are telling them. when I see you talk about clarity, beating motivation, I think that allows room for that because you’ve got your mission, your ways, you’re in your lane and you don’t get so distracted.
maybe by what everybody else is saying as well because it’s very clear where you’re heading.
Radia Carr (04:21)
Definitely, I think in this day and age, there’s more and more distraction. There’s so much noise. And so it’s so important for us to be as clear as possible. I was just talking to my admin, today we’re talking about how much noise there is with AI. There’s so much content out there. And everyone can push out content now, unless you’re a podcaster. And you can push it out. can put
chat GPT and it’s just so much noise and it’s like we all need to be clear. Like what do I need to consume this or do I not need to consume this? And what are my priorities for the day? Not letting everyone else’s priorities be your priorities, especially as a business owner, a salesperson, all of those things. It’s so important.
Jo McKee (05:01)
So what are three habits or rituals you would see in every leader who sustains performance without burning out? Are there things that you’ve noticed that are consistent with what they do?
Radia Carr (05:10)
Yeah, the ones that I’ve worked with over many years and the ones even I’m interviewing now on my podcast, it’s a big part of what I ask is what habits and I truly believe, you know, one is the continuous learning. They’re the most successful leaders. They’ve never made it. There’s never, I’ve achieved it and that’s it, right? It’s not, just got my degree. It’s the person that’s looking for more certifications. It’s reading books. That’s a huge one. And I’ve seen that theme across the board. They’re all still reading books. And the other I would say is,
the priority of the prioritization of their health, right? They’re at the gym at 5 a.m. and they’re doing whatever they have to do to make sure that they move their body because I really truly believe effective leaders, they manage their energy, right? And if you are wound up and sleeping terribly, you’re gonna show up in meetings and just snappy and just not your best self. You’re not gonna be able to innovate. You’re not gonna be able to think through.
and coach your people, you won’t be able to do any of that. So that would be a second one. And the third is, I think they’re just master networkers. I see that theme across the board. They build strong relationships with nothing, no expectations in return. They either mentor people, they introduce, they’re massive connectors. And I’ve seen a lot of those. I don’t; I wanna say I’ve not been that person in the past. I’ve become that person now. And even me interviewing people.
On my podcast. I feel like I’m learning so much from them and it’s just amazing. But those are three habits I could definitely say I see that they’re pretty consistent across the board.
Jo McKee (06:39)
I just want to tie that back in: bringing things back to building to suit you. So continuous learning. Yes. Take charge of your health. Yes. And networking. Yes. They’re brilliant. And for me, for my health, I hated exercise. Absolutely hated sweating. I’d get really stubborn about being pushed to rush and never sprint. Don’t like it. But I bought a rowing machine and I’ve discovered that if I do the things I want to do around the house or in my business for the first part of the day,
And then I get out there by three o’clock onto the rowing machine with some weights and just put a podcast on. I’m learning and I don’t feel like, cause to me it just, I know it’s a not a waste of time, but it feels that way, but doing it a way that suits me. And I’m managing to hit it every single weekday now. And it honestly does feel really good to achieve that. So I just want to encourage anybody listening to again, do it in a way that suits you because that way you’ll find your way through and you might find you start liking things you didn’t, but it’s just that getting started, isn’t it?
Radia Carr (07:18)
Amazing.
I love that.
Jo McKee (07:33)
Continuous learning, learn to curate your feed. Don’t just get assaulted by everything that’s hitting you. Find the brains that inspire you and just follow them and have, you can create your own board of reference, can’t you, with the smart minds that you want to follow. And then, yeah, anyway, so I just like to see how it plays out in people’s lives because as you say, the continuous learning, the health and the connecting.
Radia Carr (07:46)
that’s a great point. Yeah.
is
Jo McKee (07:57)
It’s brilliant.
Radia Carr (07:59)
love that. And kudos to you for taking care of your health too because that’s also something I often say is find what you like to do. I love CrossFit and I’d always tell, I’m not telling you to do CrossFit, just do what works. Go for a walk. Rowing machine is amazing. It’s like a full body workout.
Jo McKee (08:15)
Exactly,
I could sit down and exercise, mean how good could it get?
Radia Carr (08:19)
It’s really hard though. It’s very difficult.
Jo McKee (08:20)
What about routines? What’s something people get terribly wrong about routines? We get all enthusiastic as we record it’s the start of a new year and we’re going to have new routines and we’re to be fabulous. What do people get terribly wrong about their routines that you see?
Radia Carr (08:33)
I really believe everyone I see it’s like they have this beginning of the year motivation. It’s as if January 1 means something. It really doesn’t, right? You start any Monday, you can start on a quarter, you can start tomorrow at five o’clock. It doesn’t matter. I think people just try. They get overly motivated. It’s like New Year, right? That’s it. I’m not going to drink. I’m not going to eat garbage food. I’m going to work out. It’s just too many habits. You can’t do all those habits. When I think of I have a pretty solid stack of maybe six or seven things that I do every day.
But those have taken years to build. That started from exercising consistently. That’s all I was doing. Then it was adding in another thing maybe the next year or the next two years. It evolves. then realizing sometimes you might have an exciting habit or this morning routine and it might no longer serve you. So for me personally at the end of the year, and I had some of my coaching clients do it, is reflecting back and looking at what were your goals?
What were the habits that got you there and which habits don’t serve you anymore? Because if, you know, trying to be really strict with your diet five days a week turns into six, day six or seven, you binge eat, then don’t do that, right? That doesn’t, that habit doesn’t serve you. So it’s just figuring out what really works. And I love helping people realize it’s like, find your goals. What are the top couple goals? Don’t do too many. And then think of what are one, two or three habits that will help me hit that goal. And then just do those every day. Doesn’t have to be simple.
Okay.
Jo McKee (09:56)
Simple, simple works for me. So at risk of, you know, I tell people do your own thing, make it suit you, be, be unique. But what are those six things that you do do every day as an example? Because it’s obviously serving you and you’re successful.
Radia Carr (10:08)
Uh, Yeah. And it’s funny when someone had asked me, I believe it was in 2023 was when I was number one in the world in sales. And someone asked me, remember saying, wow, you must’ve like barely slept, barely worked out. It must’ve been so to work the most. And I was like, no, I actually was working out twice a day. was sleeping eight hours a day. I was working with nutritionists. I was so dialed in and I did more in less time. It was amazing. So.
some habits that really serve me. mean, I am a very high energy person. So my mother used to tell me I need to meditate. And I was like, stop telling me to meditate. It’s not for me. And it just finally hit me to try guided meditation. And so I would say I was really consistent for the last about year and a half now, finally. And I know when I go off track for four or five days, I’m like a different person. It’s actually amazing. So it’s a first thing in the morning before I even get out of bed, I do it. That’s one.
Exercise every day, that’s just non-negotiable. Hydration, water, people think I’m funny. They know I have this water bottle that’s like this big, 64 ounces. I drink two of those a day. You’re gonna ask me those big like aluminum things. I was like, well, it doubles as a weapon, God forbid. I’m in an alley somewhere. It’s heavy.
Jo McKee (11:11)
Not one those people.
Radia Carr (11:19)
So that would be another the other would be just sleep that is I mean I guard and protect my sleep like that is Everything because if I don’t sleep I can’t make decisions. I’m it’s taking me nine hours to do what I would in five That’s another one that I think you know and finding the tools that I think there’s very simple tools that people can use like taking magnesium Glycinate before bed that could help you Right
So that’s another habit. the movement and then the nutrition too, that’s always been just not always been, but for the most biggest part of my life, it has been making sure I’m eating right. Because if I’m not, it’s just game over. If you’re running on cap, I did those years of, I was a cigarette smoker for many years. Some people don’t know, but I was running on cigarettes and caffeine and like, that is not good. You’re essentially running on fumes. You’re not, not, you’re not.
just nourishing your body and your body, your brain. Your body and your brain need sleep. They need hydration, like all of those things. People think it’s just like fitness, but it’s so much more. Show up as a leader every day.
Jo McKee (12:18)
I think understanding why helps for me, helps me change habits more effectively than being told you should do this. You know, a lot of years feeling shame that I didn’t do this. But when I start to understand the importance of your gut microbiome and the effect of processed foods, because I like processed foods, you know, I don’t know why, I don’t know what’s inside that crap, but
realizing that chewing is good for you and it can also reduce anxiety. So swapping, this is going to sound very nerdy, but potato crisps for celery, you get to chew, you know, but understanding those little things as to why it’s good for you, I think helps you stick with it because you start to appreciate that you are being kind to yourself in so many ways.
Radia Carr (13:02)
And it’s like not this all or I think a lot of people misunderstand it’s all or nothing. If I exercise, like I had a friend recently who just started going back to the gym three days a week, cutting out all sorts of food that he ate. And I’m like, that’s not sustainable because just step by step, don’t try to go to the gym. never go. And now three days a week and you’re cutting out all the foods you like, just go, like try to hydrate and go to the gym three days a week. That’s it. Right. Then another week, once you can do that after a few weeks and add in another habit.
But it’s demoralizing for people when they try to do all of these things and then they’re frustrated. And then they just might even dive in more hours at work and then it’s, I’m so busy at work. I don’t have time to work out. Well, you have to put it your calendar. You prioritize you before anything. No one’s gonna say, “Jo, I see you have a meeting at five o’clock, but I need to talk to you anyway,” right? They’re just not gonna ask you, you need to go to the gym today?
Jo McKee (13:51)
Exactly.
love that you’re covering things that, know, it’s the old mind, body, spirit, but you’ve really covered that spectrum and consistently. And I mean, you look great. Your energy is great. So it’s working. It’s fantastic. We talked about follow through with, we’ve said that’s where leadership begins. And I really liked reading that.
Radia Carr (14:05)
I’m
Jo McKee (14:13)
Can you break it down a bit?
Radia Carr (14:14)
Just follow through. Well, I think follow through for it’s building. It’s doing so many things, right? Follow through is building trust and following through, following up. And if you can’t lead yourself, how are you supposed to lead other people? Which is why I back, right? I go back to that foundation. If you can’t find time to go for a five, 10, 15 minute walk during the day or hydrate, then.
how could you be responsible to take care of other people that are under your guidance? And so I think that follow through is just following through. You say you’re going to do something, do it. And if you’re saying that you’re going to lose some pounds because you want to be healthier or you say to your team that, we’re going to make sure we do an offsite meeting this year because I know you guys all want to get together. Well, that follow through. You need to show up or else no one’s going to trust you. So it’s the same thing for yourself. You stop trusting yourself too when you don’t.
Keep those promises.
Jo McKee (15:06)
The way I understand leadership, it’s I guess setting a vision, communicating that vision to your team and then equipping your team and giving feedback so that they can help make it happen. So how would you suggest that leaders set a vision?
Radia Carr (15:19)
Is that a vision? I think first needing to create your own personal vision. I think a lot of people are just kind of in the hamster wheel every day of just doing their job and coaching and whatever they’re doing, but they’re not like, why are you doing what you’re doing? What’s your purpose? What’s the long-term vision for you personally? And then I really think you have a responsibility to your people to help after you’ve done your own, share that you’ve done your own and what yours might look like to help them create a vision for themselves.
So they can come up with a personal development plan for what they want to do. How do they want to build in their career? What mentoring do they need? What coaching guidance do they need? And creating that vision. And I think aligning your personal vision, your team’s vision to the company vision is really important. But if you’re just showing up every day and you’re just doing the tasks, I mean, I don’t even see where you can see the why in what you do and build passion, how.
Jo McKee (16:09)
That’s a little demoralizing in the longer term, isn’t it?
Radia Carr (16:12)
Yeah,
I just did a session about two months ago, November, with a client and we just had them reflect. was a lot of change going on. was a lot of really, you know, some negative change with some positive change over time, but it was really stressful. And we just incorporated a conversation and a little bit of a small group talk.
where we had people reflect on why did they even start with the company? What was the day they got the phone call when they got the job? And what were they feeling? And how excited were they? They landed this important job and just reflecting back to where their pride was. it was so, you just see the energy in the room, right? I think oftentimes as leaders, we just forget about why we’re here, right? And if you’re a small business owner, like why are you doing this? What is your purpose? Who are you trying to help? I know every day when even if it’s stressful, I know I want to have this vision of who I want to impact and I want to impact more people.
And so when you’re maybe a little demoralized or tired or you’re in a season of life where things are challenging and that’s your opportunity to say, hey, where does it align? Where does it align?
Jo McKee (17:13)
What a good way to remember it, reflect back to where your pride was. Yeah. What a moment, you know, that’s like makes it very clear, brings that clarity back immediately, which beats momentum. So, so.
Radia Carr (17:23)
of those feelings that you had, right? The, just the excitement. think a lot of times we forget that we just, get the job. We’re excited in the moment. there’s a book that I read not too long ago and I really love it. I think it’s a great one. I would always recommend. It’s called the gap and the gain. And it’s like a lot of times we’re always just trying to, especially as business owners, small business owners, leaders, salespeople, we’re always living in the next thing. And I’m even working on that too. It’s okay. You close the deal. What’s the next one? What’s the next one? And you’re not really, you’re always
being like, what did I didn’t do instead of what have I accomplished? And I think that’s important to like reflect on your accomplishments. We don’t do that.
Jo McKee (17:57)
So important is that you almost feel like as a small business owner, if you stop and reflect on it, you’ll jinx it or something, or you don’t have time for it, or you don’t want to be full of yourself. So you just get on with the next thing and you look back and you look at some things and go, that was really good. We achieved something there. Yeah. It can be just a game of, you know, you’re always trying to play to beat the control with the numbers and you see another spreadsheet and go, yep, great. Move on. And, it was good. Really? Yeah. With them.
Radia Carr (18:12)
Yeah
Jo McKee (18:23)
Feedback as a leader, often you have to give feedback that’s a bit uncomfortable. How would you suggest that leaders do that in a way that builds trust?
Radia Carr (18:30)
Yeah, absolutely. think doing it, doing it, I was just having, I just had a meeting today where we were talking about this. I’m probably facilitating a training around it. And it is having the conversations and the difficult ones often and not waiting until the six month performance review or the one year. And I try to help people understand that first you have to take time to get to know your people, right? That’s important. We all know that. Build trust, build trust, build trust. Have those conversations because…
the more you’re not talking to that person or you know what’s going on in their life, the more uncomfortable it is, which I think is a good thing that it shows, you know, most of us as humans, we want to do the right thing. We don’t want to offend or upset someone. But I tried to get people to think that how you’re actually doing that person such a disservice and you’re actually cheating that person out of not giving them feedback because if they’re not doing a great job and you’re not helping course correct and teach them how they need to do it.
then you’re cheating them out of it. You’re actually being really selfish. And so don’t think most leaders don’t want to think that they’re being selfish, but you are being selfish if you don’t want to do that. You’re thinking about you and how you feel and you don’t want to give this feedback and it feels icky. Figure out how to do it in a way that’s just respectful. And I love asking for, know, would you be open for me to just give you a little bit of feedback on how this could have landed even more and elevated your performance?
giving them a little bit of feedback that’s something positive that you saw, but hey, would you be open? It’s just a respect thing. most, like 99 % of people are gonna say, yes, I’d be open to it. And then you can say it. And now they feel they own that because they’ve given you permission to give them feedback.
Jo McKee (19:55)
I like that, just bringing the respect into it, knowing your people, asking permission to give the feedback just opens, puts the defences down a little bit, hopefully rather than raising the defences and letting people think more clearly about what you’re actually saying instead of how they’re to cover themselves, you know.
Radia Carr (20:11)
Absolutely. of course, right, there’s going to be those times where people need to be put on a performance improvement plan and you can’t sugarcoat it. You have to just say, hey, this isn’t working. But it’s you don’t want it to come as a surprise to the person you need to have ongoing dialogue. So they’re not shocked. And a lot of times I see that shocked. And I’m thinking that’s not that’s a that’s an everyone’s
Jo McKee (20:31)
So
you teach executive presence rather than just posturing. What’s a change that somebody could make, you know, right now as they’re listening, just to lift the way that they show up in a room.
Radia Carr (20:36)
That too, yeah.
I would say just being present so often, it’s meeting to meeting, whether it’s online, people are in these online meetings and they’re closing out and they’re late going into the next meeting and it’s trying to catch up on what’s going on. I think oftentimes, again, we’re thinking, what did I have to do in my last meeting? But just being present. And even if you’re showing up in person in a meeting, literally like shut your phone off, turn your Apple watch or whatever watch, turn the notifications off and be
fully present because your people know when you’re picking up the phone and you’re like, yeah, okay. And you’re just looking at it just shows that that person is not important.
Jo McKee (21:19)
And we do get the cues.
Radia Carr (21:20)
And people think they’re hiding it, we know.
Jo McKee (21:23)
Yeah, Yes, the mask is slipping. So thinking about imposter syndrome, music works, Jo It does hit a lot of brilliant people and very high achievers. I’ve seen musicians talk about it as they come off stage, no matter who you are. Was there a moment where you’ve personally struggled with it?
Radia Carr (21:40)
I still do Jo. still do. Absolutely. I feel we all do. I feel like I struggled with imposter syndrome almost. I mean, I won’t say it’s all the time in the meetings that I had over the years, but there be I mean, going on stage in front of 800 people, I’m short of having a panic attack before going, Why do I belong here? Why did they ask me and like,
you know, you feel like the mask is, you know, I mean, you’re going to be unveiled and they’re going to say, you’re you. What do you serve to be here? But yeah, I mean, imposter syndrome, that is real. And I do I do bring that up a lot with leaders just because I know it’s there, whether they say it or not. It’s it’s there at some point. And I think we all struggle because it’s like this. We were this one person and now we’re this person. So we might have been this, I don’t know, quiet person.
didn’t do so well in school. And then all of a sudden now we’re this director and there was this imposter syndrome because we haven’t quite caught up to the person that we are now. And I struggled with it so much because I was so painfully shy, didn’t have good grades in school. I was like, wanting to be a police officer, didn’t want to go to school, like didn’t even know what I had in my early in my career because I had not a business background. I didn’t even know what a CLO was when they said chief learning officer. I’m like, okay.
Jo McKee (22:41)
Bye.
Radia Carr (22:55)
I’m like, CTO, I had no, I called myself corporate clueless, no idea. And I had so much imposter syndrome going in with like meetings with directors and VPs and going, oh my God, what are they gonna find out? I have like no experience.
Jo McKee (23:07)
Carry yourself through it. If you were to say one thing to young Radia now, what would that be?
Radia Carr (23:12)
Wow. I would say just believe in yourself because you have something special to bring to the table that might not be the same as what people are expecting. I think that’s a, I think it’s not only myself, but it’s also others. We feel that we have to be someone else or we have to model another leader. And when I finally came to the acceptance of I’m not gonna
be this person who speaks all this corporate speak. don’t, I don’t, that’s not, that’s not me. I can’t be fake. I can’t come up with these fancy words for things. I just want to talk to people like they can all understand me. And I learned later that that was like a superpower that, that people, everyone could understand me. No one felt like things were over their head as a trainer. So I think that’s what I would have told myself. Like you’re okay. You’ll figure this out. You’re a quick learner. You’re smart. You know, I, I’ve rejected my, being smart because of my grades and because of, you know,
past teachers that said I wasn’t good at math and all these things, right? So I struggled for that for a long time, for sure. So believe in yourself.
Jo McKee (24:10)
Yeah, it’s odd just the things that we struggle with that just don’t matter, you know, so I love that. Just tell Young Radia you’re okay. Just get out and do it. I’ve got a few fast questions, so just whatever comes to mind, go with it. What’s a book that you gift often?
Radia Carr (24:25)
‘The Next Conversation’ by Jefferson Fisher. He’s an attorney and he blew up here in the United States and I gift it a lot actually and it’s just how to have to those difficult conversations when people are being condescending or dealing with narcissists, all the things. I think it’s a great toolkit. So I give that a lot.
Jo McKee (24:42)
I will read that. I’ll put the links in the show notes, of course. What’s one daily non-negotiable?
Radia Carr (24:49)
Exercise.
Jo McKee (24:49)
What’s the hardest thing about leadership?
Radia Carr (24:51)
leading different personalities, leading others who don’t want to be led the way that you think they need to be led.
Jo McKee (24:57)
Mm-hmm. What’s the best compliment you’ve received?
Radia Carr (24:59)
I just, the best compliment. my gosh. I feel like when I just get a messages, like I got today, I got today a private message on LinkedIn, saying someone read one of my articles and said, I did exactly what you said. I shut my phone off and for Christmas, even Christmas. And I was so present with my family. And I love when I get those messages that people listen, they might not comment, but they send me a private message. And that’s like, that’s like the best, that’s the best compliment for me that they actually listened and they did something.
Jo McKee (25:25)
Yeah,
that’s great. That’s so great. What’s one word to describe your mission?
Radia Carr (25:30)
transformation.
Jo McKee (25:31)
I like that. thinking about the next five years in leadership, what’s the shift that you would most like to see happen?
Radia Carr (25:38)
in other organizations.
Jo McKee (25:40)
Yeah, leadership, I guess, as a discipline or a skill.
Radia Carr (25:43)
Yeah, I would love to see people finding the right balance of technology and people interaction and really working hard on the people side because since the pandemic, we saw this turnover to digital and now everyone’s wanting in-person training, in-person everything. Today I had an in-person meeting, tomorrow I have another in-person, which is not common.
But I think it’s the fastest, especially in the next five years, technology just, it’s like every year, every couple of years now, it speeds up by like three years. I know. Like, can you imagine? was just, when was it when we started using Chat GPT and Grok? It wasn’t that long ago. And now it’s like we’ve had it forever. And so finding that balance, because the human side, that’s never gonna go away. I don’t care how much people say AI is gonna take over.
Jo McKee (26:16)
of weeks.
Radia Carr (26:32)
It’s just not like the human connection and for leaders to figure out how to do that and for them to be more, the less blaming of generations and be more understanding and compassionate about some of these leaders that are coming into the workforce that are balancing, they’re not balancing, but they want work life integration. They want more flexibility that they’re seeing that because of their parents. They saw their parents have no flexibility.
really difficult, a lot of burnout, a lot of exhaustion. And so I think they’re teaching us something that we need to start thinking about. Where do we want to have more family balance and just more balance in our lives overall? Again, I’m with you on not having balance, but just being able to spend time with our families and do what we love. Why are you working so hard when you don’t even have time to spend doing the things that you love outside of work?
Jo McKee (27:19)
That’s right. And if people are motivated with initiative, it’s still productive. You’re still achieving what you need to achieve. As you say, you can do a lot more with a lot less when there’s that clarity there. So it’s very important to recognise that, think, and build for that, rather, as you say, building for the prison of the old way.
Radia Carr (27:37)
Absolutely. And even with communication too, feel like with communication, there’s going to be tools and there are some already with AI and I know there’s some already and who knows what it’s going to be like soon where you put a VR headset and you can public speak to a group and get coaching and feedback. That’s great. But don’t forget as a leader, you should be coaching your people in their meetings too. Don’t let that be a replacement for your job as a mentor and a coach.
If I think anyone that thinks back to the coaches and the mentors they had, that was so powerful and there’s no AI that’s going to replace that.
Jo McKee (28:09)
You’re right about the in room too. are biologically wired to pick up signals through a lot of other ways besides just looking at somebody. Absolutely. There’s a lot more data coming into our systems and how we make decisions and respond to one another. So it is valuable. I think it’s definitely where a lot of money will be made as people want that human connection. People listening did one thing differently tomorrow.
What would you suggest that should be?
Radia Carr (28:34)
as a business owner.
Jo McKee (28:35)
Yes.
Radia Carr (28:36)
I would say work on the foundation first before, I think, giving yourself some grace, but working on the foundation, working on the, I feel like I’ve been so blessed to have a lot of success in my business in just seven months. And I do really believe that that was because of the discipline of still making the calls, still making the reach outs like I always did, but also still taking care of my health, prioritizing my sleep, all of those things. So I show up.
with energy every day. So I think really work on the foundation because if, and if that foundation is operations and processes and systems, make sure those are super clear so that the rest of the stuff doesn’t fall apart, right? The foundation always has to be really strong.
Jo McKee (29:17)
Thank you for being here. I think your work on leadership is something that the world needs more of and I love your approach to it. So thank you so much for your time.
Radia Carr (29:25)
Thank you
so much, Jo Thank you for having me.