The Role of I/O Psychology in HR

Welcome to the Talent Empowerment Podcast, where we share the stories of great humans so that you can lift your organizations, your teams, and your community. I am your host, Tom Finn. And on with the show today. We have a very proud Navy veteran who is a lover of all topics in HR and the empowerment of women.

Her name is Marla Albertie. Marla, we are thrilled to have you here.

Thank you so much, Tom. I'm so excited to be here.

Well, if you don't know Marla, let me take a second to introduce you to her. She was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL. A proud Jacksonville, Floridian, and she serves as an HR director for a healthcare organization. She is also a pH-D candidate. She's the owner and founder of the Truth Speaks Group LLC, a multimedia coaching company that helps women integrate their lives and delivers resources for working women to create work, life harmony.

She's the founder of I/O for Teens, a new nonprofit aimed at helping teenagers understand and apply the principles of I/O psychology so they can learn life skills and achieve their dreams. She's an avid cruiser. She loves concerts and comedy shows.

I have no idea where you find the time, my friend. Between Ph. D.s and all of these jobs, you've got a lot going on. But we are so thrilled to have you. Let's start there. What is your time? Management secret?

I know Tom. Thank you so much. You know, I get that question all the time, and I have to go back to say that I'm a member of quite a few different industries, you know, the training and coaching industries. industry. You know, I attended conferences.

And I'll never forget, Sara Blakely spoke at a conference earlier this year. Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, shouts out to her! Well, the same question was asked to her, and she said "You know what… I'm in my lane. And that just resonated with me so much because I have so much joy in the things that I do. I love coaching in my business, coaching my friends and family, and then studying … We'll talk more about IO, psychology, and chemistry…. studying IO, psychology, and psychiatry and understanding how to apply them to teenagers.

So, to me, it is about finding joy and doing and doing what you want to do. And when you find that joy, in what you want to do? And when you find that joy and what you. I want to be real with you. I am human.

So, do I get tired? Of course, I do. Do I go to sleep? Yes, I. visit to watch TV. I do hang out with my friends. We have a very close-knit family, so I do spend a lot of time with him. I'm actually in the process of earning a Ph. D.D. Believe it or not, there are times when you must complete tasks. Your coursework people So if you want to, get your Ph.D. time spans where you do have little breaks in there because you've got to wait on people. to look at stuff. So, you do have breaks in there to rest your brain a little bit. I'm just saying that here. That is why I am staying in my lane. I'm in my why; I'm in my joy, and that is what allows me a time frame. And then I also know how to say no to things that aren't in those areas and delegate the things that aren't things I don't want to do.

So, no, stay in your lane, and appreciate the little things that make you happy. Make sure you're doing things you enjoy and saying no to things that aren't within your scope; this is what keeps your head on straight.

Yep, exactly.

It's just that easy.

It is that easy. I'm not saying don't try new things. I am a fan of trying new things, but again…. Does what ring? Will it bring you joy? Do you think it'll bring you joy? If he does, it will only happen once. It shut it off and moved on, right? So don't keep them. I think people get bogged down when they try to keep doing something "for the cause." Someone else said I think you'll be good at this. I think you'll be good at that. OK, try it; you don't like it. Don't keep trying it. Let it go. You'll be fine if you keep going. What makes you happy, and what can you wake up every morning and not get paid to do? That's how you know you're in your happy place. That's how you know.

Yeah, I feel the same way. What would you do for free if you didn't have to work and tried to make that your career?

So now that You're thinking about how you support others, and you've spent your life helping other people. Talk to me about it. Your decision to go back and get your doctorate at this point in your life and why that's meaningful to you

Wow! Thank you so much, Tom. So let me tell you a quick story about that.

I had never heard of I/O psychology, which stands for industrial organizational psychology. But in my brain, I knew there was something out there beyond HR, so it's a true story. I went to Google one day; I typed in all the stuff that I liked. I typed in coaching, training, development, and research. I typed behavior at the workplace as "being treated fairly." I typed all that into Google. It demonstrates Google's power and calls out to Google, yes, Google's power. I typed all that in there. And literally, I/O psychology came up.

And so, when this came up, a whole bunch of degrees and graduate programs came up, so I said, "Oh, what is this I/O psychology?" I started doing the research behind it because I knew there was more to it than just HR. Folks get I/O psychology and HR confused, right? HR is the implementation of what I/O psychologists do. I/O psychology is a study. How do people behave at work, in layman's terms? So we study behaviors, period.

Now there are different ways of doing that. You have quantitative and qualitative data. That is not something I intend to do. We study behaviors, so you may say a payroll analyst will pay you, right? So, we're going to look at payroll trends and why a person might act in a certain way, why they're getting paid, and why they may negotiate that pay, so there's a difference.

So, I said to myself, Ah Ha I discovered the promised land. I knew there was something else. There are 25 specialization areas in psychology. When that other has other stuff in it, there's a 26. There will be 25 areas of specialization that we all work in, and that's the beautiful part about it. We are all doing I/O psychology stuff every day. We just didn't realize it was science, and it has been approved by the EPA and the American Psychological Association. So it's not just made up. I didn't make it up. It's something that has been around for years, but it is a newer psychology. It's not as new as Positive psychology is pretty new, but it has been around for some years.

I love the way you said that it's an emerging trend. Industrial-organizational psychology. Several people are coming out with degrees in this space from around the country and the world, and you nailed it right on the head. The whole idea is: what's the philosophy behind human behavior in the workplace, and can we impact that with tools and programs? Resources: how can we impact that through the lens of DEIB? Can we be thoughtful about different groups and employee resource groups? How does this affect pay? How does that impact leadership?

And then, of course, For those CEOs, Are there any CFO friends out there? How does that impact revenue? How does that impact retention, expenses, and all of those components? They are the core of the business, so you're getting at it. I love space.

You're not going to get any pushback from me, Marla, in this area. You're just going to get me asking lots of questions. OK, so now we know. Now we know you're doing this. There are 25. Principles:

What are some of the most important things I should be aware of if I were in HR and only in a leadership position? Give me the cliff notes version and a couple of other things.

Oh, that's so awesome. So, there are tons, right? But if you're in a leadership role, one of the first things you want to understand is the coaching aspect. Coaching is one of the specializations. People don't realize it in I/O psychology, but let's start with that in coaching.

Coaching is a non regulated field, meaning you can go anywhere and be a coach. You can go to burgerking.com and become a coach if you want to. It's entirely up to you, but what we mean is that it's not owned by anyone, so people are making millions of dollars by being a coach, right? I am a fan of becoming a certified coach because when you become a certified coach, that teaches you the principles of how to coach. Experience is good, which a lot of folks have. Coaching is based on experience, but coaching does not necessarily mean telling people what to do. You're listening and guiding, and as a leader, that’s something you've got to do. You've got to listen, and you've got a guide. You've got to listen, and you've got a guide, and you have to do that with yourself first. So that starts with emotional intelligence and self-awareness, both of which are important in coaching.

Then you have to do it with your teams, and you have to deal with your peers. Any idea why it would vanish? years, so you have to do that for everyone. So, if you've mastered the fundamentals of coaching—how to coach, lead and guide, and help people get to where they want to go without giving them the answer—I believe you've come a long way. You've made some progress there. That's just one area.

Another area is that kind of overlap. Of course, understanding it entails understanding D.E.I. diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has become a buzzword. Understanding that we're all different and that we're all dynamic we're all unique, and you have to come with that mindset of thinking that way.

D.E.I is also one of the specializations of I/O psychology, and we know how to break that down. You have DNI experts. Listen Tom, there are 25 specialized areas. The facts state that most I/O psychologists focus on anywhere between three and five specialization areas, so you're not going to find one I/O psychologist who knows all 25. But if you do let me in, I want to meet them. Please, because it is. It's impossible, right?

However, most of them dabble in a lot of them. You may specialize in three, four, or five areas, but you dabble in a little bit of them, and if you're It's going to be a leader, going back to your original question, you've got to be a leader. You must learn to think in a variety of ways. There are diasporas of thinking that's something organizations are waking up to now and realizing Oh, the table looks the same. Maybe I should change the way the table examines the diversity of thought and how to change it in organizations so that you can, and you'll discover that it does help the bottom line. Because it's all psychological, there are two areas to consider.

Yeah, we talk a lot on this show about diversity of thought, culture, language, background, upbringing, and various statuses of being active and having a disability. And those who have had difficulties in the past. There are so many different types of people who have had experiences that make them who they are. It just makes for such a rich culture in an organization. If you can embrace our differences and understand that this diversity, this equity, this inclusion, and this belonging are so important too. the future of human relationships, and it's bigger than just a DEI initiative at your company. It's bigger than that. It's much bigger. It's societal in nature, and I think what you're saying is that you can be a catalyst with this degree to help bring people together through coaching, which was item number one, and then ultimately through listening and guiding people in positions of leadership to incorporate this diverse experience into their work world, so I'm with you.

I love this space because it's so rich and deep, but one of the things that you're trying to do is get into it from a little bit of a different angle, and you're starting to think about teenagers, which I know is important to you, so talk to me about it. Talk to me about adolescence and the teenage years, and why you're interested in this field.

Yeah, yeah, so going back to our initial Google search, which I told you about. Remember when I put in the Google words and what came up? What came up were college programs, university programs, and programs, it found that's it for graduate programs. Nothing came up about teenage stuff.

That was a few years ago. So, this year I was driving, you know you have your best spots for thinking when you were in the shower or just driving. So, I'm driving and thinking... how will a teen know, how to behave in the workplace, would they’d know… we can't put people in boxes, right? We can't assume every teenager is going to go to college. We shouldn't assume that; how will they know this world even exists?

So, I came home and did what I do best, google search and I can't seem to locate anything that anywhere finds that would show a teenager how to behave at work. Now, there are programs info stuff know, that development and, career development and stuff like that, but the actual science of why behave the way we do in the workplace to teenagers. So, it was like a lightbulb.  I’m of those whom my friends and family would tell you is a doer if I said I was going to do something, you better believe that it will be completed. It may take some time, but it will be completed. So, from there, take advantage of that offer.

So, from there I/O for Teens Inc. was started. It is a nonprofit 501(c)3 or a newly certified organization that was founded in August of this year. You know, it takes some time to get a nonprofit up and running.  We are fully operational, and we have four objects.

The objective is to help develop a curriculum for 8th through 12th grade, and now let me address this… I've been asked, why did I not choose ages. Because I'm going back to my DEI mindset. If I choose the ages right, I can't decipher who's in 8th grade. I can't say, "What 8th grader is 12 years old?" There might be an eighth grader out there who's 14 years old. I don't want to discriminate, so we say 8th through 12th grade because there could be someone who's in 12th grade and then maybe 20 years old. We're not going to judge. That's not what our mindset is; we're going to create the curriculum for 8th through 12th grade.

Then next we're going to create a teacher certification. So, teachers can understand the principles again of how to teach this in their classroom.

Third, we're going to have a scholarship fund for those who want to go to college, and we're going to have a community fund, which is the fourth objective, for those who don't necessarily want to go to college. And for those who cannot necessarily afford the programs, everything that we're going to have in our curriculum is going to be downloadable online, and that's what we're looking to have in the first portion of our curriculum, which is a module that we will have.

The first section, which is a module, has three parts that will be downloadable for you. A basic introduction to I/O psychology will be available by the end of this year, which could be December 31, 2022. So, with that said, we want to accomplish, though those four objectives do so because teenagers require this information; they require career development. They need coaching for career development as well. One of the aspects of I/O psychology They need coaching. They need it. They need to know that they can do it, and they need that self-esteem. Allow their confidence to shine through. I can do this, but not only my parents can do this; there's a science behind it that says I can do this, and I don't think many people realize that there's actual science behind this.

Once again, research into how people think the band has at work. If teenagers know how to behave at work and understand the study and the science behind it, they will know how to behave at work, and our job is to hopefully create a better world and continue to create a better world for teenagers who grow into adults who are going to be our future leaders? Who knows how to take these behaviors and achieve their dreams and do the best that they can in life?

What I love about this is that you're starting to think about the next generation and how we support the next generation in the workforce, and you know, for many people, I think you could argue both sides of this, but for many people, they would say how we failed in a lot of areas in supporting the next generation. Certainly, in some of our schools across the country, certainly with some academic programs or university costs. The inability of certain socioeconomic classes to support themselves through university experience results in lower-paying jobs in today's environment.

What I love about this so much is that you're thinking about the next generation of those eighth to 12th graders, which is an influential phase in their lives. And it's not just behavior at work. I mean, this type of psychology can help them with areas of depression, anxiety, feelings of helplessness, or not feeling included within certain groups in their communities. And so, it has so many things, or tentacles, that can be positive. That's what I love so much about this area of the space that you're working on.

Yes, yes, and I don't want to leak too much, but in our first year, that curriculum is going to be coming out here soon. We have a section just for them to brag about themselves, talk about themselves and understand their value. Because if you don't understand your value at a young age, how can you go and produce that in the world? So, we have to start young. We have to start. We have to get them there. I mean, it starts running then, right? But we know that the critical period is from eighth to twelfth grade; that's when they are thinking about life and what they want to do.  I mean, they are already social media influencers out there. So, they're already out there doing it. So, we've got to think about how you're influencing social media. What are you doing? Are you following trends? Why are you following that trend? What does that trend say about you? How do you feel about yourself? And of course, they're not thinking about that, so that's where we step in to introduce those principles to help them understand why they should.

So, let's say I'm a mom or a dad. I've got a child in the eighth or twelfth grade, or somewhere in the middle, at home, and I'm thinking, "Wow, I would love to get more information on this. I'd love to figure out how to help my child through this process, I know we're going to talk about this later, but there's a website they can go to, to check this out and get some information.

Yes, we're still working on the curriculum, but it's www.ioforteens.org

Go out there and investigate. This website is fully developed. We don't have the curriculum out there yet, but we do have a couple of freebies out there. I'm just posting this because I love freebies, and I encourage you to join our email list. Please sign up for our email. She can stay abreast of what's going on. Follow us on all our social media outlets. Those are also listed on the website.

We have our Instagram going, which is I/O for Teens Inc. That's I/O for teens on Instagram but follow us out there; if you just want more information in one step, I highly suggest subscribing to our email list and we'll send out updates on what we're doing and where? Where is the money going? We're not making any money, right? So, where's the money going? how we're supporting folks and getting that curriculum up. That's like the next big thing is getting that first round of curriculum up, and then eventually we're going to continue to have more sessions next year. We're super excited. We're looking into having some speaker series and some webinars. I was interviewing some college students who are taking I/O psychology classes right now. What skills are they learning? How are they going to take those transferable skills into the workplace? So, teenagers can see … Oh, they're doing it. I can do it. People need to be able to model, right? So here we are. We have some exciting stuff coming up, so please go out there. And get on the email list.

Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I think. I think it's fantastic, and I guess it makes me think of this other field known as mental health, and how does I/O psychology relate to the work you're doing with teenagers?

How does that blend with mental health resources for teenagers or, my goodness, adults? Does it blur, or are we in different lanes, so to speak?

No, no. I love that question, Tom. So, it integrates, right? Remember how I said I don't believe in work because I enjoy creating? Work and life are inseparable. Life harmony with work-life integration means good mental health, so that's how you are mental. What is the scale from one to ten? And so again, I'm not going to leak too much, but in that first module Have some things for them to truly answer some questions about themselves or teenagers, so we've had some questions about them and to get them thinking about what is, what are they thinking about themselves. How do they see themselves in the future? Why are they hanging around this person or doing this or that again? They're not going to leak too much, right? So, this would get them to start thinking differently about different scenarios and different situations that they put themselves in so that they can be proactive rather than reactive, right? Because a lot of times teens, I mean, we all know we were teenagers, right? When you look back, some things don't change.

You can look back and ask… why did I do that?

Well, we want to be able to put some stuff in place. Some skill sets are in place for them, like, "Oh, if I do that, this will happen." Or if I do that, that'll happen. Oh, and we even have a section called "don't get caught up."

Because if you do that, this will happen, right? So that and that all feed into mental health, right? Again, how they think about themselves will help them. Perhaps some of us enjoy therapy. There's nothing wrong with that. We believe in counseling. There's nothing wrong with that. That will help them realize that. Well, maybe it's OK to go do these things. It's all right to go get it. It's OK to get counseling to seek help. And it's OK to reach out to others, so that's how they integrate. So, it's a great question.

Yes, so tell me. Tell me about the day that you realized you wanted to be in HR and that you wanted to go down this path of understanding people and dynamics.

Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I wasn't sure… I'm one of those people who think about what they want to do first and then go looking for it, right? As I said, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I have a title called "IO Psychology,” I didn’t know what I wanted to do was embedded in HR.

I kind of have this thing where I go around and teach and preach all the time while you're building your career, and mine is very diverse. I don't have a linear career. You know, my associate degree is in financial services. My bachelor's degrees are in supervision and management. My master's degrees are in adult education. The study of how adults learn and here I'm getting a Ph.D. I/O psychology has certifications in positive psychology. I'm trained in life coaching, goal setting, leadership development, and executive coaching.

So, I'm kind of all over the place. Just because I like to learn, I like to take all that information and pack it up and be able to teach it to others. So, I know that is my foundation; being able to teach, train and educate others to go out and do that very same thing that they want to do.

So, I would necessarily say that I knew it was the HR path that I wanted to go down, so I didn't. I didn't know it was HR. I didn't know it was I/O psychology, and I didn't know it was an HR path I just took, knew what I wanted to do and went after it. I just kept moving, and then if it didn't work, I said OK, I'll try something else. Call me a daredevil, I guess.

Yeah, I think that's fair enough, and that's the way a lot of careers unfold. You go, one way or the other? You either had a well-planned career, you wanted to be a doctor, you wanted to be a lawyer, you wanted to be a fashion designer, you wanted to be a schoolteacher; Whatever it is. Or whom we sort of just get interested in certain areas, and we follow that path, and it leads us, but it also helps you identify your lane when you try lots of different things because you can figure out a little bit the direction on your own and which way to turn your sail and lean in a little bit which I believe is brilliant.

You're very confident, and you're very put-together. Were you always this way? This was created while managing multiple projects at the same time. Was this the case with little Marlo?

Little Marla used to teach her baby dolls. I had to have twin beds, right? So, I had the baby dolls lined up. When I went to school, I would ask my teachers for their old textbooks that they didn't need, the old ones that they didn’t need.

I would name all the baby dolls, and I would put name tags on them. I'd take them all out for recess. Yes recess, yes, in my brain they needed a break. I knew I wanted to be a teacher from the beginning.

This is why whatever is inside of you is the childlike thing, don't lose it, because I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but then one day as a young child I discovered maybe I didn't know. Maybe 9 or 10. I discovered that teachers didn't make a lot of money.

And I said I want to be a teacher, and I told my mom I don't want to be a teacher anymore. They'll make a lot of money. She's like, OK. She's well. If it's meant to be, it will be, and you already know who she is. She just said that, and I left it alone. Then I pursued a career, believe it or not, I pursued a career in drafting because I became very good with a triangle in a T square. And I love drafting, so I initially started my associate degree in TAG in computer-aided drafting. But what I did not like was the computer part. I liked having the T-square sheet of paper, the pencil, and the triangle to draw.

Marla, your old school! You are still old school.

Yeah, that's what I love.

You want that; you want that sheet of paper.

I love that, and once you

A protractor, if you will.

That was me, and one day in college, in my second year, my teacher approached me. He walks up to you and say what? Are you doing so? Because I was in my computer-aided drafting, I was staring into La La Land. he said, "here he is. What are you doing?" I said, "Oh, I'm." He was just daydreaming. You said you didn't want to do this; he said go do what you want to do. A light bulb went off, and I said, "Well, I went back to that childhood thing on the inside of me, and I said, "OK, I want to teach, I want to lead me. Want to help people? I want to go back, so when I finished, I also finished with my fans. I went and finished. I had no credit for my financial degree because I was also interested in finance, so I went and finished that out, and that's when I went to my bachelor's degree and did business leadership, supervision and management. So, I knew I wanted to understand that field and then understand how to study how adults learn with my master's degree.

To answer the question, I mean being so put together. I kind of just went in different directions, starting with my baby dolls. I begin with a childlike mindset. I've also always been entrepreneurial. I've had that attitude since I was a little girl. Back when it was so I colored pictures of myself. My six-year-old girlfriend was standing on the corner, holding up pictures and selling them for five cents. I would go from door to door and sell my pictures for five cents so I could go down the street to the store and get some candy.

When I was in 6th grade—and this is going to date me—we used to make friendship bracelets out of yarn. I wouldn't braid them up, and I would sell my friendship braces for a dollar or two for $3. I always knew I wanted to own a business. I should tell my mom that all the time.

I encourage people to simply return to what it is you like? When I do coaching sessions, I always advise people to make a list and remove money, obstacles, time, and all obstacles. Make a list of what you like to do and what you love to do; for example, I enjoy teaching, coaching, and coloring. I still love the color—there's adult coloring, right? I still have to do all that stuff. Just make a list of all the fun stuff You like doing. How can you monetize that? How can you make it? How can you develop and grow that into a career? So that's the story of my journey.

And you're spreading a lot of great ideas and joy for other people, but somebody along your path helped you along the way. Somebody gave you a leg up; somebody gave you a hand, who trained and influenced you to take on these fears and these dreams and accomplish what you've accomplished.

Yeah, such a great question. I've had so many coaches and so many mentors. So yes, as coaches, we have coaches, right? And one of my coaches said something that resonated with me, and it still makes me shake. Whatever you believe, you are completely correct.

And I paused and was like, OK, whatever; I believe so. She spoke in other words, if you believe the sky is purple, Marla, no one is going to argue with you. They shouldn't, at least. If you believe the sky is orange, no one is going to argue with you. If an elephant is purple, no one will disagree with you. Well, they shouldn't. Whatever you believe about yourself and others, believe it. Your beliefs, your values, whatever you believe you are 100 percent correct, and that has helped guide me throughout my life.

I've also had a wonderful and, I have to say, awesome career throughout my different jobs. I've had wonderful leaders and managers; I must say your leader can make or break a situation. People don't leave organizations, you know. We all know what time it is, right? People don't leave organizations where they meet new people, and I've met some amazing leaders who have guided and helped me along the way.

And some of their advice I'll never forget. One of the executives that I knew said, "Once you know..." It is now time to move on. And I said it was very interesting. And she said that because there's no need to learn why this is the case. There's no need to just learn the 80% and go ahead and learn something else because we don't use the full capacity of our brain, which scientists say we die using. I think I forgot. The percentage doesn’t want to quote it wrong, but there's a small percentage. Think it's less than 15%? of the capacity of our brain, we die. So that means there's 85% of our brain that's untapped, not used, right?

So, there's this thing called neuroplasticity, right? So why are we tapping into this even more? So, folks can go do other things. Folks can go be what they want to be and do what they want to.

I, for one, do. I firmly believe that if you want to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I'm not going to do that, but if you want to go do that, then what is the path to get you there? What is the ultimate goal? Start with the end in mind. Stephen Covey, I'm quoting a lot of stuff here, so as you can see, I have mentors who are people I've never met. Podcast - books that have mentors who are people I've met and who have been leaders, and then I have my family and friends who would be if it weren't for them. I mean, I've had a YouTube talk show. I've had a women's conference here in Jacksonville, FL. I couldn't have done it without the support of my family and friends., I'm spreading it out. You know, I think we have multiple levels of I'm grateful for all of the coaches, guides, and mentors in our lives. And they're still there. They're still there.

Yeah, I think the beautiful takeaway here is that you can have authors and allow public figures to serve as your guides; they are both the key and watch out here is certainly a lot of information out there, but I would argue that there is also a lot of misinformation out there that will lead you down the wrong path.

And I constantly hear people on social media. Standing up and saying that you understand how you should behave at work or that you are more than qualified to lead. incorrect, so you must. You must carefully select those individuals.

You know what they say about your net worth is your network, right? And so, treating people with respect, love, and admiration around you will create a great network. It'll attract people to you, which you've done. along your journey, and then ultimately, that makes you more successful if you do it right.

These are core principles that people have been tapping into for generations to find not only monetary or financial success if that's what they're into, but that inner peace, that inner calm, and that sense of self-worth, which I think is important, is the ultimate success. Outside of the sort of monetary components that we as Americans tend to point to and say that success

Yeah, the monetary thing, right? It's a money tool, right? When you think about using the right tool, you use a tool to fix your car. So, money is something you need to fix. That's what it does. So, the more money you have, the more you can use to fix things. That's what it does, but, you know, there's the debate: does it bring me happiness? Does it? Does it? You know, I think it does add to your happiness, right? I believe that happiness is internal, and that happiness feeds off of joy. So, all that's internal, so I can't give you something external to make you feel something internal, right? You have too already felt it there. It can add to it. It could improve things, but you'd have to have it already. You have to kind of know your value.

And I think that comes from a lot of self-reflection. Those car rides involved a lot of sitting and talking to yourself aloud. Those drives consume shower time, walking time, and sitting time. I'm a big general. It takes a lot of time to sit down and do that with yourself and our teenagers.

Some may be doing it, some may not, but these are again, we're operating on principles. To teach them and show them that yes, you have it already in you—that's what we do at coaching. We believe in our clients. We believe you already have the gold inside of you. We're not tapping into anything that you don't have with that. We don't believe that you have. If you're coaching someone, you don't believe in them, stop coaching. Right, so we already believe that the untapped talent is already there, and that's how I feel about our teenagers. It's already there. It's already there. We just have to help you figure it out with the right questioning in the right direction. And moving forward, that will be the case. lead you to the money, right? That will lead you to whatever you want.

Certainly, I'd like to know where your heart is. What are some examples? You had to put your self-talk on hold because it could have all been positive. There must have been a couple of things you told yourself years ago that you had to put on the shelf and say, no, that's not the way I'm going to view myself. I'm going to view myself in a strong, powerful way.

What were some of those things that you were thinking about?? I feel like we've all had those things as teenagers. And even as it does

Yeah, oh my God, true transparency moment here, so I have marks on my skin, and I love to write; I'm a writer. I'm working on two books at the same time; I've written some stuff on Medium and even an article about this on Medium and I had to accept that you know what I have. I've always had marks. On my face, it's OK. It's all right, Marla. You have what you have. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Brown skin has beautiful brown marks on your face. It doesn't stop you from being who you are. You're a beautiful, awesome person, and again, that's self-talk.

Your mind hears that it's, you know, a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? So, I'm a huge fan of the law of attraction, so what you say and repeat all the time is your drawing to yourself, right? So, I have to remember. What are these? Mark, what is that? So, as you suggested, I'd put that on the shelf. I also have to put it on the shelf. Here's a funny story I could put on the shelf I went for.

I used to work for JP Morgan Chase. And before JP Morgan Chase, it was Washington Mutual, and before Washington Mutual, there was home side lending. So, if you know that story, Google it. You don't Google it. There's a backstory to it.

OK anyway, so I began at the home site as a lending mortgage processor. Do you know the details of a mortgage? one of the questions. Do you know how to type quickly? And to be honest I replied, "No, I don't. So, I said, "Well, I guess I didn't get that job."

That's all.

So, a few days later I found out I got the job, and when I walked into one of the offices, one of the managers told me she said, "You know what, Marla?" The manager didn't want to hire you because she couldn't type fast. But she said she had something to say to him, so what did she have to say to him? Do with. Anything I believe is beneficial to the customers. Not to brag, but I believe she can process the loans promptly. But I want it to be one of the best processors they have ever had. I became a team lead, became a supervisor and, you know, became a VP. He will move forward up the ranks, you know, but I was one of the best processors. Again, it just goes to show. I had to put that not-typing-fast book on the shelf. So, I'm still not a fast typer and have no plans to change that. I'm not a type, you know, but again, as something I could put on the shelf, I had to wake up. "OK, this is this,"

I love that metaphor. You said, "Put it on the shelf." That's why I've had to do that. and I, I think. You know it sounds like you have it all figured out, right? Oh yeah, it's no, I'm not perfect it says. I'm a human being like everyone else, and I have my moments and my days.

I've always been self-assured. I've always been the person who said I could bounce back. I don't have a jealous bone in my body. What other people do I look at? Take a moment to exclaim, "Wow, that's awesome. “That’s wonderful if you have an address that I like. I'm going to ask you where you got it and tell you not to be surprised if I'm wearing it as well. I don't want the dress you have. I want to dress my y body, I might be a little bit juicier than you are, right? As a result, it will not be the same.

One thing I love about Kevin Hart I'll say is Kevin's pick for himself, right? When you're able to do that, I believe it lowers… It brings everything down, so people are like, "Oh, OK, they're cool, you know." And that's what I do. I know my flaws. I know I don't always have to admit it, and I don't think you have to admit it all the time. But I know that. I know what my flaws are.

I just want to see people grow and succeed because I know it's possible in my brain. Figure out a way, but that's where that entrepreneurial spirit comes from. That mindset comes from figuring out a way. I'll figure it out. One of the things I constantly tell myself is: I look at my life. I look at my schedule, and I say it'll get done.

That's it.

It'll get done.

And it does.

And you made time in your hectic schedule to come on this podcast, share this love and joy with us. Marla. You are an absolute phenom. You're an incredible person. I'm just so grateful for the work that you're doing at I/O for teens pushing the boundaries and principles of psychology to help. Help the next generation.

I think it's commendable, and I'm just so thrilled to share your story. I know you're going to do and continue to do amazing things for others on your journey. If I wanted to find you but didn't know how to tell me how you'd go about doing that.

Please go to ioforteens.org and fill out our contact form. Reach out to me, or you can go to www.truespeechcoaching.com and the Truth Speech Group. In any case, you can find me on LinkedIn. Marla Albertie But if you go to one of those three, you can find me. I am not hard to reach out to. I promise to respond. Problems may not be resolved immediately. I do respond, and please support us. We need to provide them with assistance in developing these programs and curricula. These community funds Send these kids off to believe in themselves, so support us and go out there. Follow us on Instagram. All the social media, all the Facebook—just reach out to me. I'm here.

Well, I appreciate all of the energy you're putting forth and all of the work that you've been doing, as well as the great work that you're going to continue to do something for those people. Is anyone out there who wants to contact me? We'll put everything in the show notes for you, and we thank you for joining the Talent Empowerment podcast.

I hope this conversation lifted you. So, you can lift your teams and organizations if desired. to be like Marla in your community. Let's get back to people and culture together. We'll see you in the next episode.

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