"The best bet you can make is what you do have control over: yourself."
Lisa Marie Platske Tweet
An award-winning leadership expert in human behavior, Lisa Marie Platske has received accolades from the United States Small Business Administration, and The International Alliance for Women, recognized as one of the top 100 women making a difference in the world.
She left her Federal law enforcement career after 9/11 to build Upside Thinking, Inc. A member of the Forbes Coaches Council, she has trained or coached over 100,000 leaders around the globe.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Lisa Marie Platske: Challenge and vulnerability have shaped me and the work I do. The hardships have enabled me to become stronger and clearer about what I believe in, what I want, and why it’s important. I’ve discovered that the challenges have been integral to my success, and I pass the lessons learned on to my clients to shorten their learning curve.
For example, I was raised by a single mom. Time and money were scarce. As a result, I developed an appreciation for the strength it takes to move forward in life with little of either, and better understand the value of my time and resources when running my company and household. And, because I grew up in a home where there was violence – I am fiercely committed to safety, protection, and justice.
And, I encourage others to speak up and use their voice even when they may be the lone voice and counter to the “culture” personal differences. I’ve failed and bumped up against limits, I’ve learned and grown. From the variety of jobs and careers I’ve had from banking to federal law enforcement, I’ve built a company that delivers premiere leadership coaching–a unique blend of business practicality as well as executive skill-building.
What I am particularly proud of is that both internally and when interfacing with clients– at Upside Thinking we try to model being true to the values of excellence, accountability, and responsibility.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Lisa Marie Platske: Flexibility, Adaptability, and Relevance – Lessons learned: FAR will help you get far.
The lessons learned over the past few years can be summed up in this pneumonic phrase: FAR will help you get far in 2022 and beyond. What is required today and going forward for the foreseeable future are the three qualities of Flexibility, Adaptability, and Relevance.
Flexibility is “the quality of bending easily without breaking” — an essential when dealing with stressors or conditions that press your limits. If you are too rigid — whether it’s your systems or your personality, you’ll snap when encountering the unfamiliar or something that challenges your current norm of doing things.
Related to flexibility is adaptability– defined as the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions, as a more permanent response to change, such as a pivot, focus shift, or brand re-fresh. Because the rate of change has increased, it is even more important to be able to thrive in continually dynamic business environments.
The final key is relevance: the quality or state of being closely connected or appropriate. If the pandemic reminded us of one thing, it’s our human need for connection, and in terms of a business entity, relationships internally and externally make or break it. To speak to the second part of the definition of relevance, if your product or service is no longer essential, your work becomes obsolete despite decades of need. There is little tolerance for products or services that don’t solve an urgent problem or address a need in the marketplace.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Lisa Marie Platske: The best bet you can make is what you do have control over: yourself. Do that and you can never go wrong.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Lisa Marie Platske: Several years ago, my business coach told me I was one disaster from going out of business. I changed business operations, diversified, and created more opportunities that were varied. When the pandemic hit, many of my colleagues lost their entire book of business.
Their speaking gigs dried up and their clients were frightened. I doubled-down on hiring and created new streams of revenue. I also heavily invested in myself by hiring new mentors and coaches to work with me. When many people were pulling back I was going all in.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Lisa Marie Platske: I can’t claim to have wished for any different advice because I let the Holy Spirit guide me, and I’m never disappointed when I do that.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Lisa Marie Platske: I’m looking forward to it being my best year yet…just like every year.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Lisa Marie Platske: As much as possible opting for calls over video conferencing and taking walks on the farm while I’m working.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Lisa Marie Platske: People don’t want you to tell them what to do. They want you to show them by how you do your work and live your life. Then they can follow suit or modify the message so that it works for them. Leaders lead best when setting an example and people learn best through stories. If I can share what I’ve learned through my mistakes or challenges, I might inspire them or they might glean an insight, and I might save them some steps on their journey!
And, by communicating this way they’re more likely to find me relatable as well which enriches and strengthens the relationship. I want my team to be vulnerable, open, and connected – so that’s what I try to model. Some days I do it better than others.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Lisa Marie Platske: The real challenge for most business people is 1) to trust and 2) to slow down to be more effective. Trusting their own information in a world of doubt, trusting their relationships where there is a lot of deception, trusting their choices when there is a lot to process, and trusting that they’ll get through the turbulence of constant disruption.
Trusting in the face of all these conditions can be incredibly challenging. Ultimately, it’s also about trusting themselves through it all. And, in order to find internal peace, it requires going counter the culture and slowing down. When you give yourself time and space to be still, you create opportunities for growth. And, in today’s busy world, that it isn’t always obvious or typical.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Lisa Marie Platske: Being the best version of who I’m called to be.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Lisa Marie Platske: When you look externally for the issue, you’ll rarely find it. And, unless you’re on your own growth path, seeing yourself as the constraint in a problem is rare. It’s easier to look outside yourself and look for something to fix than to do the work and become the most optimal version of leadership…what a leader worth following would be and do…and the action they would take. You’ve got to get real and be willing to listen despite how busy you may be. Investing in people looks different for each person, too.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Lisa Marie Platske: I’d say it’s twofold – the gift of listening to the Holy Spirit is first which is odd to count as “mine,” so I’ll add that it is the ability to see potential. I see potential in people – often what they may not have even seen in and for themselves. I see the potential in an opportunity. I see the potential in each day.
In seeing the potentials, I have energy and focus to be able to act on those possibilities to bring them into reality– whether in working with a client, an organization, or my own business.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Lisa Marie Platske: Gratitude for everything. The downs. The ups. And everything in between. And that takes great patience, empathy, and compassion as I’d like to believe we’re all doing the best we can.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Lisa Marie Platske for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Lisa Marie Platske or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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