Dr. Cathy Greenberg: Today we are delighted to have on our show, Dr. Nicole. She is the real deal and her real, real book is A Woman’s True Purpose – Live Like You Matter. Representing a new generation of life and relationship coaches, Dr. Nicole has changed the lives of all who dare to strive for their personal best. Her passion and championing of clients is what many have said sets her apart. Author of, A Woman’s True Purpose – Live Like You Matter, the good doctor inspires you to confront avoidance, take ownership of the truth and make a choice that results in more fulfilling careers, relationships, and experiences.
As the CEO of Volition Enterprises Inc. and former director of Training and Organization Development for News Corporation fortune 500 company and parent company of all Fox entities. Her consulting career included work with professionals from Twenty Century Fox, Fox Sports, Fox Searchlight, Fox News and Anheuser-Busch Corporation and Southwestern Bell just to name a few. With a diverse entertainment corporate and faith-based clientele, Dr. Nicole has promoted significant change in the personal and professional lives of both men and women.
Her doctorate in organizational psychology and masters with a concentration in clinical psychology was received from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri. Her undergraduate degree in psychology was completed at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.
You can reach Nicole at www.askdrnicole.com and www.volitionenterprises.com and we will come back to that in a second.
Dr. Relly Nadler: We mentioned that Dr. Nicole LaBeach is the real deal, her doctorate is in organizational psychology and a masters in clinical psychology.
She is known for her work with women and couples. Dr. Nicole has also served as the Associate Director for counseling for mega congregation Faithful, Central Bible Church in Los Angeles, California. In addition, her community leadership involves being the founder of the Brightest Stars Foundation, maybe we will ask her about that.
Dedicated to educating girls in impoverished communities and under-developed countries and also the professional organization of women. She is a native New Yorker and is happily married to Calvin Thomas the 4th and taking her day by storm.
I love that.
So, Nicole, welcome to the show.
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: I’m really happy to be here, thank you so much.
Dr. Relly Nadler: One of the things we always like to ask folks at the beginning of the show is; who have been some of your most influential people, thinkers in your life and career that may have shaped your thinking? This way people we get into the influences behind some of the good work that you’re doing.
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: Sure. You know, I have had really great mentors over the years, in business. Some of the companies I mentioned, Anheuser-Busch and some of the Fox affiliates, have allowed me to really connect with some great thought-provoking leaders that were doing some dynamics things in the industries of entertainment. And just being at the top of their game because many of the companies I have worked for fortunately have been in a position to have a lot of market shares.
So, I have had the opportunity to really connect with out of the box thinkers that were not afraid to take risks and from connecting with them it has kind of shaped me into being able to do some of the work that I do now, from a standpoint of helping people reach their best potential and to go out there and do some of the cutting-edge things that they think is important for their companies.
Dr. Cathy Greenberg: And Nicole, I’d love for you to talk a little bit about your mom, is that okay?
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: Absolutely.
Dr. Cathy Greenberg: What I’m going to do, is I am going to ask you to think about a couple wonderful things you want to point out from your background with your mom.
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: Absolutely. My mom is a Caribbean-American, who, when I was growing up was what we would now consider to be a cosmetologist – a hair stylist, back in the day was just considered as a hairdresser. The thing that influenced me the most about what she did was, she was the first kind of backroom psychologist of sorts that I was introduced to as a kid. Because people were coming in feeling one way, looking one way and leaving feeling so empowered and sometimes having solutions to some of their problems and having a different outlook and feeling better about themselves.
So, seeing that experience over and over and just the connection that she was able to have with her clients, it really influenced me a great deal.
Dr. Cathy Greenberg: Isn’t that beautiful?
Dr. Relly Nadler: Yeah, that’s great. I think hair stylists, because they are working and are so close to the person and they are there for quite a while, hear the stories and they are always there to help. Similar probably, but to a lesser extent, is the bartender, depending on how long they are actually sitting there. But a hair stylist certainly has a lot of influence.
Dr. Cathy Greenberg: Good stuff.
So, Nicole, one of the things that Relly and I would love to know more about is; What is your background, and what brought you to doing this work now?
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: You know, I started in clinical psychology. I was sure for a nanosecond, I guess, that that’s what I wanted to do. From going down that path, I started to recognize that most people spend a great deal of their time at work and absolutely, we have folks that are having problems with living and challenges at home but it became really clear to me after I had gone down the clinical path that people are spending more and more time at work, they are struggling with the concepts of purpose and fulfillment and am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing and that was inspiring to me. I wanted to be able to help with some of those questions and help with making peoples work more meaningful.
So, it became really apparent that I wasn’t going to get my needs filled from a career standpoint, staying on the clinical side and that’s how I moved over to organizational psychology. Then, found out more about the power of coaching and that was it for me. I was sold that this was the path that I was supposed to take.
Dr. Relly Nadler: So, that is a great story. And I think all of us are coaches and the idea of dealing with organizations where you can kind of change systems versus helping people change, and I know that has always been an influence for me.
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: Absolutely.
Dr. Relly Nadler: Tell us a little bit about the kind of clients you work with and the scope of your practice these days.
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: I work with a lot of corporate executives and it’s like a continuum, on one end I’m dealing with corporate executives in either the entertainment field or fortune 500 companies and then, on the other end I’m dealing with men and women that are really trying to figure out what’s next. Whether it is a career transition or trying to tap into what their purpose is and how to get on that train, so to speak.
So, it’s been really a blessing because I get to do a lot of great OD work in organizations as far as helping people meet their targets and motivate their teams towards results but I still have that personal contact with executives that are trying to be phenomenal leaders, in their own right, and women across the country that are trying to live their best life, so to speak.
Dr. Cathy Greenberg: Now, Nicole, I’d love for you to kind of start at the beginning if it’s possible and talk about some of the highlights of what you offer in your book around, A Woman’s True Purpose. Is that possible with the time that we have?
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: Sure, sure. A Woman’s True Purpose, really was born out of me getting tired of hitting my own head up against a wall as it related to how to really accept my own personal power and then feeling a great burden to share some of what I have learned. Not so much as an expert but just as a person that had been down a path of challenge and triumph and wanting to share some of that because I kept hearing in speaking engagements, “you should write a book, you should write a book.” And once I sat down and said, “well I’m not an author but I do have some things I’d like to say” low and behold here came, A Woman’s True Purpose.
So, I really wanted to give some women some steps on how to get from the place that they may be presently, that may not be most fulfilling, to where they really desire to go and to have the courage to not only say where they want to go but take the journey to get there.
Dr. Relly Nadler: So, one of the things that I’ve noticed is “live like you matter,” is a very cool subtitle and then even in your intro taking each day by storm. I imagine each of those are almost like personal visions and I’d love to hear how you have come up with that. That sounds like for me, I think it would be motivation but also kind of direction to kind of push yourself. Live like you matter, take each day by storm.
Dr. Nicole LaBeach: Absolutely. The “live like you matter” title was very cathartic for me because it was not just about goals, it’s not just about getting to the next thing, it’s not just about getting another promotion, any of that stuff but it really was about me being centered enough to figure out what it meant to matter and what is meant for me as a person to live like I really did matter. That my feelings, my thoughts, my intuitions, all that stuff made a difference and that I needed to try my best to respect that, every day in how I was living. I say try because it’s not a passive, you know when you say take life by storm there is nothing passive about it. It really is being conscious of what’s going on around you and how you’re choosing to live every day.
You can listen to the entire interview above.
Relly
