IAM086 – Strategist & Expert Helps Develop Leaders People ‘Want’ to Follow

Halelly Azulay is CEO & leadership development strategist at TalentGrow LLC. An expert in leadership, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and authentic networking, Halelly develops leaders that people *want* to follow. She is the author of two books, Employee Development on a Shoestring and Strength to Strength. She offers actionable leadership insights and advice as a sought-after speaker and workshop leader as well as on her blog and her leadership podcast, the TalentGrow Show.

• CEO Hack: Having a small army (e.g. virtual assistant) of people to delegate tasks to.
• CEO Nugget: Your network is your net worth. Also, look to connect with people that can mentor you. Go forward and stick with it. Get help if you're struggling. Book mentioned: Jab, jab, jab right hook by Gary Vaynerchuk.
• CEO Defined: Visionary and someone that executes on that vision, make an impact on the world and shape the world the way you want to.

Website: http://www.talentgrow.com

Free Offer from Halelly – 10 Ways to Become a More Engaging Communicator: talentgrow.com/iamceo

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/HalellyAzulay
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HalellyAzulay 
Business Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TalentGrowLLC 
Podcast Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TalentGrowShow 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/talentgrow
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/talentgrow
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/Halelly and http://www.instagram.com/TalentGrowShow
Books: https://amzn.to/2CGYY7O and http://www.talentgrow.com/shop

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Halelly Azulay of TalentGrow LLC. Halelly, It's awesome to have you on the show.

Halelly Azulay 0:39

Thank you Gresham, it's great to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

No problem. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Halelly so you can learn a little bit more about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Halelly is CEO & leadership development strategist at TalentGrow LLC. An expert in leadership, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and authentic networking, Halelly develops leaders that people want to follow.

She is the author of two books, Employee Development on a Shoestring and Strength to Strength. She offers actionable leadership insights and advice as a sought-after speaker and workshop leader as well as on her blog and her leadership podcast, the TalentGrow Show. Halelly, Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Halelly Azulay 1:22

Ready, and Rockin

Gresham Harkless 1:24

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I have is just to learn a little bit more about your CEO story and build upon your bio. And let us hear a little bit more about what led you to start your business.

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Halelly Azulay 1:34

Sure. Well, I first spent a good bit of my career as an internal employee. And I don't know at what point it came into my mind that I thought that it would be a good idea to have my own business. I actually don't remember when that started. But I know it was something that I spent a lot of time just thinking about and not doing. And I think that for me, it was just getting myself ramped up and ready and feeling like I was I had the credibility and the experience that could help me differentiate myself and sell myself in a very competitive marketplace.

And then I think there was probably a series of two or three pattern-forming situations at work that showed me something about myself. And that was that I really, really wanted integrity, it's a top value for me. And I kept feeling like I was in situations where I was doing great work, and then something would change. And there would be a situation where I felt like my integrity was getting put into a risky space where I had to choose between keeping my job or keeping my integrity. So finally, after I saw that pattern enough times, I think if I were on my own, I would be 100% in charge of being integrity. And that's when I made the decision to do it.

Gresham Harkless 2:43

Awesome. And that's great that you do that. No, it's definitely been a lot of people I know I myself have you know, been in those situations in positions where you want to make sure that you stay keep your job so that you can, pay the bills and do all those important things. But you also want to make sure that you can sleep at night, which is also important, so to speak. So, being able to kind of navigate that makes it a lot easier when you're kind of a when you have your own business so to speak.

Halelly Azulay 3:04

Yes, it's really important.

Gresham Harkless 3:06

Yes, yes, yes. And now I wanted to ask you, I guess a little bit more about like, how you serve the clients and what exactly you do to kind of help them out. No, you have definitely a lot of things that you're doing. So could you kind of take us through some of the products and services and ways that to serve the clients that you work with?

Halelly Azulay 3:19

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, everything in my work is revolving around developing leaders that people actually want to follow. How people say you leave a bad manager, not a job. That yeah, and that's really actually true. So but I've worked with enough managers and leaders in organizations to see that sometimes it's the bad managers, and most of the time, they don't mean to be a bad manager.

A lot of times, they're a bad manager, because in most cases, people are promoted not because they have management or leadership skills or even capability. It's just because they're really good at the technical aspects of their job. And then they're just thrown into leadership roles. And often, they're not really given any development beyond that.

So especially for really fast-growing organizations. At some point, they start doing that, you know, they sort of promote people and promote people and promote people and hopes that they can fly, you know, they just throw them off a cliff and hope that they can fly. But at some point, it becomes enough of a problem where they see that really great people are leaving and when they ask them why they're leaving, they say my manager isn't good.

So this is where I come in, you know, when that pain point is strong enough, I come in and I help that organization that's been fast growing and has enough of a layering system that's been put into place that they know they have enough people in leadership roles, but not enough of a strategic approach to developing them. And I help them build a strategic intentional approach to developing leaders. That means that you don't just bring in a workshop or send them to some workshop here and there or do nothing but you think about this more from a proactive stance from the organization's perspective and build this in into the process that the organization uses regularly to build leadership skills both in the people that are managing, leading, but also in the people that you want to make ready to step into those roles when those roles become necessary or available.

So that's the consulting aspect of my work. I help companies and organizations put together a leadership development strategy and program. But I also sometimes come into organizations either to those organizations where I did that consulting, but also into the ones that already have this together, they kind of have an approach, but they need skill building. And this is where I speak at conferences and meetings, or I conduct workshops, like one-half day, one day to day, and so forth, workshops around specific leadership skills. And I helped develop the leaders around certain areas that they need to get better at.

Gresham Harkless 5:45

Awesome, awesome, awesome, it makes perfect sense. And I automatically think like what you were talking about, especially with those companies that are smaller, and they're growing, like at a rapid pace, sometimes, as you said, they promote people, that's not necessarily somebody that's they've been with the company and their employee number, you know, three out of 3000 or something. And so they automatically become a manager, even though they may have had those skills to kind of be developed into being that management skill. So I guess when the business becomes more mature, you have to make sure that you are developing men in your management, but also down the line.

Halelly Azulay 6:18

Yeah, because you know, when, like, when you have a small business, you just fly by the seat of your pants, and you make things up as you go along. And it's okay, what at some point, it becomes the big business becomes big enough that that doesn't work anymore. And once you've reached that point, where you have enough layers that the founder can't really keep like this, you know, it's like the sand is slipping between their fingers, and they're trying to hold on to all of it, they cannot.

And once you have enough of the layers going on, and the different reporting levels, and enough people that are doing it, there is a critical mass, that it makes sense to invest in it. Because when the business is small, it doesn't always make sense, although there are ways to develop leaders even within smaller businesses, but at that point that it makes sense for them to bring someone like me in to help them get this organized within their own system so that it's no longer just an afterthought. But that is something that is a strategic part of their business. Because if they want to function and grow, they have to think about everything from a strategic perspective as you and I know, rather than reactive.

Gresham Harkless 7:17

Exactly, exactly, yeah, to change, you know who you are to get to that next level, who we are and who you are, and who the business is, I guess, as well to take it to that next level. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, which is whatever you feel kind of distinguishes you or your organization from maybe other potential competitors, that you might have.

Halelly Azulay 7:36

A lot of the folks that are out. And first of all, there are lots of really great people out there. And thank goodness, because there's a lot of need for it. But a lot of organizations like me, or consultants, like me, tend to have what I see as like, there's sort of like one model, one trick pony, they get fixated on an assessment, or a model or something where everything is seen through that lens. And that's what they sell, they ended up developing a lot of off-the-shelf programs that they just sell it over and over.

So when people come to them for help, they kind of just try to shove every square peg through a round hole or however you say that, and I don't do things that way I really look through what does the audience need? What does the client need wonderful people who have a problem need order to help them resolve it, and I go from there. And so everything that I build is customized. Now, of course, I have things that I use repeatedly because they've worked before, but it's always tailored and customized to the client's needs. Because I feel like a lot of these problems are so contextual, and so situational that I really make an effort to make it fit for them.

Gresham Harkless 8:43

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And a lot of times, even though you might be able to use like like you said, similar clients that maybe you worked with and use similar situations, usually, there are so many different variables that you do need someone to have a customized kind of look at it and have a person with that expertise to be able to answer those questions to be able to solve those solutions. So it's great that you are able to incorporate both into help and solve your client's problems.

Halelly Azulay 8:43

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 8:44

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have. But the idea is something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Halelly Azulay 9:18

Well, I do have a small business in the sense that I don't have tons and tons of employees. And one of the things that I realized in recent years is I used to just try to do everything myself, but the value of my time is much better spent doing what is my secret sauce and doing what my strengths are. And there are lots of things that other people can do just as well if not better.

So taking contract virtual assistants and having a small army of people to delegate work to outsource work to fat can help me free up my time to do what only I can do is been a tremendous help and I've got a virtual assistant helping me with scheduling with looking for Media opportunities for updating my certain things on my website, I have a virtual assistant helping me with my newsletter, I have another one for transcriptions for my podcast. And I have another one that helps me do the show notes for my podcast.

So and another one who does like the editing and the production for my podcasts. And this has been an amazing thing. So there are lots of people, but none of them are on my payroll or anything like that. So I don't have to worry about, feeding their kids directly, but they freed me up to focus on the work where I really add value.

Gresham Harkless 10:31

That's huge. And I think that sometimes, you know, you try to figure out, you see somebody that's doing so many different things, you're like, how do I have the same 24 hours that they do, but I guess it's all in how you're leveraging it? Is that what you're saying?

Halelly Azulay 10:42

Yeah, and, and making sure that you're, you're thinking about not just like, okay, I can do it myself. So I'll give an example of editing my podcast, like anybody who starts a podcast from nothing, you probably don't come into it with any skills, but that's fine. You can build skills around whatever you need. And I could probably figure out how to edit a podcast, but it would take me hours and hours and hours. And when I thought about it, I was like, I don't think I would enjoy doing it.

So it would work. That would be grunt work, I would hate it probably it would take me forever. And then I could take someone who's a professional editor, who could probably do it in the third or fifth of the time that it would take me and they don't charge what I charge my clients for my hour, you know, they charge what is a market fair market share for their time.

So for me to spend that money on their hour, I could make that money back, and then some in my hour with my clients. Right, so it's just thinking about what is your time worth. And how can you recapture the value of the time that you lose to certain things? So making decisions about how you spend your time, even though sometimes it'll cost you money in the long term, it makes you back that money and more.

Gresham Harkless 11:46

Exactly, I love that CEO hack. And I think that's a phenomenal thing for us to kind of remember as entrepreneurs and business owners. And now I wanted to ask you for a CEO nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or maybe something that you might tell your younger business self.

Halelly Azulay 12:00

Well, I've found that you don't have to know everything, and you don't have to be everywhere. But your network is your net worth, like an old cliche, you can increase your value, you can increase the opportunities you have, and you can increase the access you have to information and resources by growing the right kind of network and nurturing it. And then related to that, also making sure that you have mentors, so part of your networking should be connecting with people who can mentor you or maybe 1 to 10 100 steps down the similar path further from you who can give you insights and help you not reinvent the wheel as you're moving on your journey towards whatever your vision is. I've seen many people who are struggling you know, who come to me for mentoring, who are struggling and building a business.

And I often find that what they do is they sort of go pedal to the metal head down and they work on their work and they don't take the time to connect with other people because to them it feels like Well, that's you know, there's no direct ROI if I go have coffee with someone or you know if I connect with someone on the phone so they don't do it and then only when they need something they suddenly remember that they know someone and when you connect with someone after two years, whatever and all you're doing is asking for a favor, that's not really going to entice them to help you what is going to entice them to help you is that you've kept that relationship alive and have given to them along those two years.

Offered them insights advice, thank yous, kudos, recognition, or even just a hello. So that two years later, have you doing all of that for those two years? Now, if you have something that you want to ask of them, like a favor, they're itching to help you.

Gresham Harkless 13:39

Exactly, exactly. And that's at the essence of building relationships where it does not take, take, take and not give, give give. You want to be able to balance both of those at the same time because then you're truly kind of empowering each other as individuals.

Halelly Azulay 13:51

And Gary Vaynerchuk has a book called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, right or however he calls it, I'm terrible. I don't know boxing. So it is a boxing metaphor. But you know, he just says, give, give before you ask, right? So I think that that's a similar approach we all should follow. Do not count chits, do not like trying to balance the checkbook. You should think about if you're giving endlessly to someone and they never give you anything in return. Okay, check that one. But in general, don't worry about giving more than the other because that just primes you for having an abundance around you of people who are so eager to help.

Gresham Harkless 14:27

And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of being a CEO we're having different CEOs on this podcast and but I wanted to ask you specifically what does being a CEO mean to you?

Halelly Azulay 14:37

Well, it means being a visionary. It means being someone who executes your vision. It means being someone who has built something from nothing and you get to control your destiny. You get to make a true impact on the world in a positive way, and you get to shape your life the way you want to.

Gresham Harkless 14:59

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I love that definition. And, Halelly, thank you so much for taking some time out of your schedule, what I wanted to do was pass the mic to you, so to speak, to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and also how best people can get a hold of you.

Halelly Azulay 15:13

So I would say go for it and stick with it. If you haven't already started and if you're in there, get help if you're struggling, because there are lots of resources out there to help you so that you can stick with it, I have a gift I'd love to offer to listeners, that is a guide 10 ways to become a more engaging communicator. I find that in your efforts to promote your business to influence people to sell, and to network, you need communication skills, and you need to be someone that other people find engaging.

So that's something that I know a lot about, and I'm happy to share I can put that on my website, which is the best way to keep in touch with me in general, everything my podcasts, my blog, my services, everything is on my website. That's talentgrow.com. And I'll put that free gift on talentgrow.com/iamceo all one word.

Gresham Harkless 16:02

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much Halelly, what we'll do is we'll have that link and the rest of your links in the show notes just so that anybody can listen to your podcasts, visit your website and hear about all the awesome things that you're doing. But I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. Hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Halelly Azulay 16:16

Thank you so much, Gresh. I appreciate that you invited me and I look forward to speaking with you again soon.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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