On this week’s episode of the Vibrant Leadership Podcast, we speak with attorney, leadership coach, author, and speaker, Arika Pierce. Arika holds a JD from the George Washington University Law School and a BA in political science from Louisiana State University, has had over 15 years of corporate leadership positions, and now works with organizations to develop their millennial professionals. She is also the author of the Millennials Playbook for Adulting and The Seven Daily Habits of Successful Millennial Leaders, and hosts her own podcast called the Millennial Boardroom Podcast.
We chat with her about reading to lead, as well as:
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Keys to increasing your productivity
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Making clearer decisions
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How to infuse more creativity into your workday
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The disadvantages of multitasking and how to more effectively manage tasks
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And more
Mentioned in this episode:
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Website: https://www.arikapierce.com/
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Millennial Boardroom Podcast: https://www.arikapierce.com/podcast
Transcript
Arika Pierce: Success is not necessarily hitting a big goal. Success is what you do every single day. Your habits really, you know, are really the window to what your success what your journey will look like.
Voiceover: You’re listening to the Vibrant Leadership Podcast with leadership speaker and consultant, Nicole Greer.
Nicole Greer: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Vibrant Leadership Podcast. I am Nicole Greer. And today I have with me somebody who is an absolute dynamo. Her name is Arika Pierce, and I’m going to read you her bio, because I don’t want you to miss a lick, I want you to get the whole thing. So Arika Pierce is a leadership coach, and she’s going to help us today. She’s gonna do a little coaching right here on the call. She’s an attorney. So she’s smart as a whip, and she can help you out maybe I don’t know if she’s doing attorney stuff anymore, but she probably could give you some advice for a small fee. And she’s an author and she’s a speaker.
She’s had 15 years even though she doesn’t look it of corporate leadership positions, and she now works with organizations develop their millennial professionals. Oh, my goodness, this millennial thing is huge. She ensures that they have the right tools and the resources to excel in their organizations and become high performing leaders. She is the author of the Millennials Playbook for Adulting. Oh my gosh, that adulting is such a thing. And The Seven Daily Habits of Successful Millennial Leaders, and we’re going to talk about that in depth today. And she hosts her own podcast called The Millennial Boardroom Podcast and I went to her Instagram earlier today, please go to Instagram right now you can listen to do two things at once. Go to Instagram and look if you want to become part of her founders group.
Okay, so really exciting stuff there. She believes that leadership is a journey, not just a destination and through Arika’s coaching, workshops, books, online courses, membership community, she supports the next generation of leaders in their journey. Now listen to this, Erica holds a JD from the George Washington University Law School, and a BA in political science from Louisiana State University. Oh my gosh, I’m so excited Arika Pierce is in the house. How are you?
Arika: I am Great. Thank you so much for that introduction. I always feel strange when you hear someone talking about you. But I, thank you so much for having me.
Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. delighted to have you here. So just navigate. We just heard about you. But tell us about what you’re doing right now. And tell us about the work you’re doing with millennials. And then we’ll dive into the seven daily habits to be a successful millennial leader.
Arika: Okay, great. So I am someone who worked in the corporate space, as you just said, for about 15 years, and I held a number of leadership positions. And a little fun fact about me, I you know, I used to be uncomfortable sharing this. But you know, I became a vice president in my company before I was 30. And so I was, in every organization that I’ve worked in, I’ve always been the youngest leader, the youngest executive. And that really meant all eyes were on me a lot of times. And so I spent a lot of time just really becoming, you know, almost obsessed with how to be successful, how to succeed, how to be a leader. How to really make sure that I was, you know, thriving, not just surviving in my career. And as a result of that, I became, you know, a kind of a go to source for family members and friends.
Can you look at my resume, I have this issue going on at work, I want to get promoted. How should I ask my boss? How do I get a raise? All of those things. And so I would just, you know, give advice, some of it unsolicited, at times, to different people. And, you know, a couple years ago, I was like, you know what, I’m actually gonna write a book where I’m going to put all of this advice in one place, so I can share it beyond just my you know, my inner circle. And the book really led me to learn that I actually, you know, my passion, my purpose is really to help and to coach young professionals in terms of really reaching their leadership potential. I don’t think we have enough focus on this, especially in the academic space. I mean, even when I went to law school, I learned some leadership skills, but I don’t know that I really learned what it meant to be a effective leader.
And so I recently decided to exit the corporate space altogether, and really make this my full time focus my full time career. And so as you just shared, you know, I do leadership coaching, both to individual millennial professionals. I also work with organizations directly, who want to retain, engage and develop their millennials. And then I have a membership community for millennials. I have a podcast I’m a millennial, millennial millennial, but I will say this, even though I am that’s my niche, many of the things that I focus on that I share, they apply to any generation. Um, I’m just focused primarily on millennials. But I think these are really practical, you know, skills that being a leadership doesn’t have, you know, necessarily a generation focus. But so I think they’re practical skills that can really be applied across every generation.
Nicole: Yeah, I would totally agree. And this, this whole focus on millennials, it is totally a thing. In my own speaking, I get asked to talk about the generations quite often. And I tell people, you know, what we want to do is bring everybody together, not divide them by dates on a calendar, right. But we have a huge amount of millennials and I just happen to have given birth to two millennials, and they’re actually high functioning, you know, taxpaying people. So So I happen to think Millennials are fantastic. And I love when they come home and visit their Mama.
So so I can’t agree more with what you’re saying that you know, even if you’re a boomer, and you’re listening to this, or Generation X, or a Y, or whatever, you will learn something today from Arika. Well, I, I have a methodology and my coaching, I call it SHINE. And so the H in shine is habit. And when I saw you on your website, that you have the seven daily habits of a successful millennial like, I want to focus on h today, because I agree with you that habits are so essential. So how did you come up with this idea of the seven daily habits? Were these things you were already doing personally? Or did you like get prompted through your coaching called. How to come together?
Arika: So the first book I read of 2020 is a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. Have you read that one?
Nicole: Oh, my goodness, write it down. Everybody. Atomic Habits. I’m writing it down. That’s on your reading list. I have a philosophy Arika, all leaders need to read. If you lead you read.
Arika: Okay. All right. Atomic Habits by James Clear, and it’s a phenomenal book that really breaks down, you know why habits are so critically important. He goes into the science of habits, but also he just talks about how we can really, you know, create good habits stop bad habits habit stack, and just, you know, success is not necessarily hitting a big goal. Success is what you do every single day. Your habits really, you know, are really the window to what your success, what your journey will look like. And so because of that, I really started to do a lot of research around have around habits. And I you know, most people have heard of the book, The Seven Habits, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Right, and so that, yeah, and, and I, you know, I’ve had that book for a very long time. And it’s one of those things where, you know, when you really start to peel, you know, the, the layers back, it’s interesting to understand, you know, what are these core habits that people who are highly successful do. And so I after reading that book, I just was, you know, I started doing lots of research and googling, reading what you know, what are Oprah’s habits? What are, you know, Warren Buffett’s habits? Elon Musk, all these people that we come that come to mind and studying them. And then I also started asking me a lot of questions, specifically to millennial leaders that had been highly successful. What were some of their habits? And so as a result, I was like, Hmm, what, how can I take all this information and not just use it for myself, because that’s originally I was just trying to really improve my habits.
But I decided to, you know, again, create a book that really laid it out and really focused on the top seven, that always sort of, you know, were drawn to the top when I talked to people or did research. And that also, were all habits that were practical. You know, the first habit is not every leader runs a marathon, right? I mean, that’s something that’s not attainable. These are things that everybody can really start to incorporate into their day to day life in order to be more productive, more successful and more effective as a leader.
Nicole: That’s fantastic. Okay, so I want to read, there was a lot in there. I want to tell you what she just said. She said, first of all, write this down success is what you do every day, not some big giant goal you’re after. I mean, you got to do the little steps to get to the big step. I love that. Another suggestive reading was the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and then don’t miss the habit she was talking about, but isn’t part of her daily seven. This is you know, she does research and she follows her curiosity. And, so I think that’s a huge habit. You know, if something draws your attention move towards it, because you might just end up writing a book like Arika Pierce. Alright, so let’s jump into the book. So I love habit number one, so so you shouldn’t be writing 1234567 on your piece of paper right now. And so habit number one is make your bed. Now you’re probably thinking, Arika sounds like my mother. Okay, so Arika, why should we make our bed every day? I love that.
Arika: It’s so it’s funny. I think when people open This book or it’s no, it’s an E book, and they’re probably like, this is the first habit make my bed every day, I thought it was going to be something, you know, much more profound. But you know, number one, you actually would be surprised about how many people, adults, I’m talking about do not make their bed every day. And when you really, you know, start to go deeper into it, when you met when you start your day with accomplishing, you know, a task and completing something, it’s transformative. And the this actually comes from a, it was a graduation speech given by a retired four star general. And his name is William McRaven.
And he, he gave a commencement address called make your bed and then he wrote a book called Make your Bed, little things that can change your life. So look if a four star general is saying that these are the things that can change your life, they actually can. And when you think about even the military, there is a lot of emphasis on that, you know, I know my dad is an army person, he could make that bed with those four corners and do things because that is what was instilled into them. So when you have that habit of every day, get up, make your bed complete that task, you will start at a higher level of productivity because you are already completing things that you know need to get done. And so then you just hit repeat on doing that throughout your day on other things that you need to complete.
Nicole: Yeah, I love that. I love that. I mean, there is a satisfaction when you look at that made bed you get like I think you get like a little drop of dopamine or something happens.
Arika: Exactly.
Nicole: Yeah, that’s awesome. Okay, all right. And and I tell you, when my bed is made, it is gorgeous, too. Right? You know, so if you know for you ladies listening, have the pillows and the shams. It’s a thing. I’m just saying. Okay, so habit number two is act according to your values. Now, I will tell you, Arika, every podcast I do, the idea of values and core values comes up. So I totally want to hear about acting on them. It’s one thing to like, some but then to act on them. This is next level stuff. Talk about that. Habit number two.
Arika: Yeah. And I’m actually going to give you another book. And I love that you said you get you know, you have to read to lead. So it’s a book that I just finished this morning, actually. And it’s called Black Sheep Values. And the reason why it’s called that and this is something I learned in the book. Is that the reason why, or let me ask you the question, do you know why black sheeps are, you know, sort of disregarded by farmers as opposed to you know, the regular sheep?
Nicole: Yes, because their hair. It’s hair right? Their fluff is indelible. Correct?
Arika: It can’t be dyed, it can’t be died. And right. So right. And so that’s one of the things so really, in the book, he talks about black sheep values, because your values are those things that cannot be changed about you. They are what is true to you. They’re not what’s in the future, that it’s not what’s in the past, but it’s what’s true to you and present day. And I don’t think that we spend enough time really understanding what our values are, and what are the things that you know, are core to us. But when you get clear on this, it really will help you especially as a leader, because you’ll it’ll help you in your decision making it will help you and how you relate and connect with people, it will make all of those decisions much more clear. But again, I think as you just said, we hear the word values kind of thrown around.
And I think we sometimes struggle with it. Or we create values that are based upon the person that we aspire to be as opposed to the person who we are. And so this requires a little bit of work. But when you have a habit of always acting according to your values, again, this will make you a much more effective and successful person.
Nicole: That’s fantastic. Okay, so for a moment, I want you to think about a value Arika, that you live by, and I’ll share one of mine while you’re thinking about it. But one of my values for I mean, like I can remember when I was a little girl, I would line up my Barbie dolls and my stuffed animals and I would teach them school. I mean, I’ve always been like a teacher and a learner. You know what I mean? I love the classroom so much, I think a podcast as a classroom, you know what I mean? And so one of my lifelong values, and I act on it is, is learning. I mean, I’m always enrolled in some kind of class. I’m like, when I sit down, do my goals for the year. It’s like, what are you going to what are you going to learn this year?
And so I’m actually taking a class in to get my brain belt into six sigma, which like, that’s not something I would normally do, but I was really curious about it. So I’m like, okay, I’m gonna figure that one out. So I kind of took a softball method this year because I just finished my master’s degree, but I think doing that is so so good, because it helps you see different parts of the world in different ways. So what’s it so I’m acting on it y’all need to be thinking about whether you want learning as a core value. What’s one of your core values Arika?
Arika: So one mine is passion. Um, I really have to have passion and purpose in everything I do. And that’s honestly what led to my current career path. Because there are things that we are really great at doing that really, you know, we’re successful at doing. But for me, I must have passion and purpose, or I won’t feel that connection to doing it. And so and that doesn’t just apply to my career that applies to, you know, anything that I commit to doing, I have to feel passionate about it. Or it’s just, it’s, it’s, I’m just gonna go through the motions. And it’s, I won’t operate, I won’t give it my all. So that that’s something that’s one of my core values.
Nicole: Oh, I love that. I love that. And you know what, some of you are listening to Arika’s story, and you’re thinking to yourself, she quit her job. She was a VP before 30. And she started an entrepreneurial endeavor. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so those listen how a core value carried her into this whole new territory, and she’s slaying it. So I’m just saying, you know, these core values, they’re not light, light, fluffy things we print up on a document and give to people when they’re onboarded or throw on the wall in the foyer of the business. They’re values that you’ve made choices around. I think that’s so important. Okay, habit. Number three, be creative. Be creative. Talk about that.
Arika: Yes. So one of the things that I found when you really look at successful people successful leaders, is that they find ways to really evoke that creativity every single day, though, this does not mean you have to go out and you know, you have to be a painter or an artist or something like that. But there are other ways to really make sure that you’re touching into that creative that creativity, it could be journaling, it could be I do morning pages every single day where I wake up, I set my timer for 10 minutes, and I just I write, it could be a grocery list, it could be what my goals are, it could be something that I’m struggling with, it doesn’t matter, I just free flow, write for 10 minutes.
And that is that that’s allowing myself to, you know, again, tap into that creativity inside myself. So it’s important to find a way every single day, make it a habit. Again, it doesn’t have to be something massive it could be, you know, you’re going to just do something, do something that’s very short, it could be two minutes, but find some way to tap into your creative spirit every single day. It’s an important habit to have as a leader.
Nicole: That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Okay, so she slipped something in on us right there. So it’s another book, okay. But I but we would be so remiss if we did not tell them. So there’s a book by Julia Cameron. It’s actually she has several books, you can get them all. The Right to Write. The Artist’s Way. And then there’s this one called The Artist’s Way at Work. And in both artists way in the artwork, they talk about the morning pages. So that is huge. Okay, so don’t miss that. Write it down, write it down. Okay, so we’re gonna go to number four, habit number four, practicing mindfulness. Oh, my gosh, talk about that.
Arika: So this is a good one. And it’s funny, because you see a lot of organizations are doing are really focused right now on making sure that you know, self care of mindfulness again, kind of gets thrown around. But it’s not always explain why this is so important, especially as leaders and I actually, I taught a leadership training last week, and we spent some time on mindfulness. And everyone was like, oh, my goodness, I didn’t even think about this is something I need to work at to be better at my job, or, you know, to be better in my career. But really, this is the idea of really training the brain to you know, shut down to be focused.
And the example that I gave last week to the, to the millennial leaders I was training was, you know, we all have had that boss, where you’re talking to them, and they’re on their phone, and they’re typing emails, and they’re doing all these things. And you can tell that they’re just not there in that moment. And it’s frustrating. And so when you practice mindfulness, you are training yourself to be able to be present with someone to be able to really focus on what the task is or what you need to get done at that very moment. multitasking. While it sometimes it’s necessary, it is actually not a skill that you want to be great.
You know, you actually want to be focused on being able to complete to be focused, complete something and then move on, be at a conversation be on a project, be it a phone call, be in an email, I think now with zoom, everyone is on zoom, doing 20 things at a time. That’s actually not the way to be highly effective. So have a habit of making sure you check in. Catch yourself when you’re not being mindful. I also meditate 10 minutes a day. It’s a practice I started a couple years ago, and it helps me for other situations where when I my mind is going but I know how to now train my brain to come back and be focused on what I need to accomplish in this moment. And that is a habit that you have to work on.
Nicole: Okay, I love that. All right. So cool. things there that she put in there, I want to make sure you guys didn’t miss it. She said, you do not want to be good at multitasking. And she said, instead, what you want to do is be able to train your mind to focus on what needs to be done in the present moment. Mic drop, but I’m sorry, we have three more habits. Okay. All right. So that was awesome. Alright, so now number five, habit number five is create a daily plan. Talk to me about that.
Arika: So many people are familiar with the quote, he who fails to plan plans to fail. And so this is honestly, this is one that I learned from a lot of different people, when I would talk to them about what makes them successful. And it’s that they have a plan every single day, as opposed to sort of just drifting, you know, through the day. So this is incredibly important, I think, especially right now, for many people who may be working virtually, or who have, you know, they don’t have the same sort of rigor that they had, when they were working in the office, make sure that you know that I always do it at the end of the day, where I take that 5-10 minutes.
And I really kind of map out what my day is going to look like the next day doesn’t have to be perfect. I’m not talking about planning minute by minute. But when you have a habit of really planning out your day, you will be much more productive. It could be everything from setting aside, you know what time you’re going to start your day, knowing if you’re going to you know, get a workout in. Times to check and process your emails, as opposed to just checking your email all day. Time to make certain phone calls. All of those things, when you have just a decent sense of when you will do all of that you will be much more effective, you will be much more productive, as opposed to just kind of drifting to whatever comes through next.
Nicole: Yeah, I totally agree. And I’m wondering, do you have a tool for that, that you give to people or something that you might suggest as a tool to create their plan? People are like, I need something to fill out.
Arika: Yeah, so stay tuned. Actually have a career journal that’s coming out fairly shortly. And it has, so I recommend that you actually spend 10 minutes every single week, really reflecting on the week. So it’ll have that in it. And then I’ll also have space for you to kind of work through planning for each day as well. But really, you know, I think this can best be done just by taking a look for many of us, our calendars are what we operate, you know, with. And it’s really just booking that time, I believe when you schedule time with yourself, keep that commitment. That’s the first meeting we always cancel.
It’s the one that we make with ourselves. So go into your calendar right now. Put some time on your calendar every single day, I do it towards the end of the day, where you just take that moment to kind of think about what got done today. What didn’t get done, what needs to be done tomorrow, and really just, you know, then you’ll be better prepared. Make that a habit to consistently have that time to plan the next day and to reflect on your day every single day.
Nicole: Wow, I love that. Okay, so if you want to stay tuned, officially, you could go to Arika’s website, sign up for her newsletter and I bet she’ll let you know when her journal is on the presses. Okay, so tell us your website real quick so we can all jot it down.
Arika: It’s very easy. arikapierce.com, but Arika is with an A so it’s a r i k a pierce p i e r c e.com.
Nicole: Okay, we’re looking forward to that hitting the presses. Okay. And so habit number six is be a lifelong learner. I kind of preempted that, but you talk about it.
Arika: Well, when you stop learning, you stop leading. That’s a quote from John C. Maxwell, who is a leadership expert that I you know, I really, really respect. And, you know, I love what you said that you you know, you’re currently always learning, you’re curious. People, I think sometimes, especially once you finish school, and you’re like, I’m done, I don’t ever have to go back. I don’t ever need to learn anything ever again. I’m me too. And so that’s why you have to make a habit again, a daily habit of making sure you’re always learning you’re always curious are always doing different things.
And I always ask people, like, tell me something, tell me the most recent thing that you learned. And you know, and some people are like, I’m like, it doesn’t have to be something significant. You know, I actually last weekend, I learned how to make candles. Because it was something that you know, again, it was tapping into my creativity, which is important as a leader. And also, you know, it’s something I buy a lot of candles, so I was like, you know what, I’m gonna figure out how to make them on my own. And so really be a lifelong learner.
I there’s a great article, I just read on ink.com that Warren Buffett says the same thing like you never stop learning and you know, so always make that an investment in yourself to keep learning and I’ll tell you real quick, my grandmother is 87 years old. She is. I call her my millennial. She’s now become the zoom, sort of Guru for her church, because they were all doing, during quarantine. They’ve all been doing their church meetings on the phone. And she and because we do all of our families zoom, she now knows how to use zoom. So she has really set up her little church meetings now on zoom, and they’re coming to her to, you know, figure out to troubleshoot. And she’s 87 years old, so don’t tell me
Nicole: What is her name?
Arika: Rosie Johnson.
Nicole: I love Rosie Johnson. She’s my favorite person on the planet right now. Oh, my gosh, I love it. And 87 year old zoom guru at that church. All right, well, we got to get the worship out there. We’ll let people know. All right. So that is awesome. I totally, totally love it. Okay, and so bring us home. We’re on habit number seven, prioritize your health. And so I bet you bet you Rosie Johnson is doing something right. So tell us about prioritizing your health.
Arika: Yes, yes. Well, you know, look, healthy leaders are happy leaders and I that we don’t necessarily realize until sometimes later in age, how important our health is to just our you know, our brain health, our mental health, everything, it all plays into each other. And so it is so incredibly important to prioritize your health, especially as you you know, you have more responsibilities and more commitments, and making sure that you’re taking time, every single day to focus on both your mental health and your physical health. And so again, that’s something that we often overlook, but it must be a habit, if you want to be successful if you really want to make sure that you’re operating at your peak performance.
So find things that you can do every single day, to really make sure that you know, you’re getting that blood flowing. You are you know, really getting that adrenaline going. Rosie walks every single morning as a matter of fact. Yeah. So yes, those are the things that you really have to do, but you have to make it a habit. You know, I think again, sometimes when you’re so focused on like the journey that let’s just focus on I call it micro stepping or a micro habits, what can you do to become 1% better every single day, as opposed to feeling like you have to bite off a huge, you know, chunk of something. Just focus on becoming 1% better, having making finding habits that you can just do that 1% every day.
Nicole: That is awesome. That is awesome. Okay, so first of all, I need a picture of Rosie Johnson sent to my email. So I want to see a picture of this woman. I know I will love her. Okay, so this is this is where we’re bringing it home with Arika she says that, you know, not only do you have to worry about your physical health, but also your mental health. So that totally dovetails what she was saying about earlier about, you know, starting out your day with a habit that puts you in the mental space that I get stuff done, make your bed, act on your core values, which is habit number two, get yourself creative habit number three, practice mindfulness there, it is another way to stay healthy in your mind number four, and number five, create a daily plan, be a lifelong learner number six, and then prioritize your health.
So I don’t know, I wrote down three pages of notes today. Hopefully you had your pen in hand. I am trying to get all of my listeners to take notes, go back and reflect on what they learned. We got a lot of great books, we’ll put it in the show notes. The things that Arika is reading and making her fantastic can make you fantastic too. Arika, tell us again, how we can get up with you and what you can do for us before we sign off this episode of the Vibrant Leadership Podcast.
Arika: Absolutely. Well, first, I will say um, the ebook is available to download for free currently. So if you go to my website, arikapierce.com or any of my social media, you should be able to access it. So there’s much more detail examples in the E book in terms of each of the seven daily habits. And also please do follow me on social media. I am the millennial boardroom and as well as my podcast and I have a new membership community that you mentioned in the beginning. And this is a place that I’ve created for millennial professionals to come in to get access to career coaching, networking, accountability, and community and support.
And so please check that out as well. It’s the first career growth community for millennial professionals. And if you’re not a millennial, but you have a millennial in your life, it makes a great, a great gift. To really make sure that you know we are giving millennial professionals that support as they are going through their career journey. So please check those things out. And if you have ever have any questions or any thirds any way I can ever support anyone, I’m easy to find hi@arikapierce.com is my email address.
Nicole: That’s fantastic. All right, well, it has been an absolute delight to hang out with you and get to know all about you and your grandma. Love me some Rosie. Right. So, get the ebook people and stay vibrant. Thank you so much, Arika for being on the Vibrant Leadership Podcast.
Arika: Thank you so much, Nicole, for having me.
Voiceover: Ready to up your leadership game? Bring Nicole Greer to speak to your leadership team, conference or organization to help them with her unique SHINE method to increase clarity, accountability, energy and results. Email speaking@vibrantculture.com, and be sure to check out Nicole’s TEDx talk at vibrantculture.com/TED talk.
