Learning Strong Leadership Skills at a Young Age

This week on the Lion40 Podcast, I talk to Aanchal Higorani, a 24-year-old Senior Strategy and Operations Resourcing at Pangea Resourcing, who was born in Mumbai, India, grew up in a suburb of Atlanta, and is a graduate of the University of Georgia. She lives in New York City currently and works at Pangea Resourcing. She came into this job with two years of people operations experience at a growing startup called Peopleift. In her free time, she loves to travel, cook and meditate.

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Natasha Ganem
Why You Should Go For What You Really Want

In this episode on The Lion40 Podcast, I talk to Kate Dramis, an Atlanta-based writer and former copywriting agency owner whose obsession with fantasy worlds and escaping into a good love story eventually drove her to chase her dreams of being an author.

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Natasha Ganem
Life on the Good Foot

BJ Ganem, who was raised in Savannah Georgia within a close-knit Lebanese family that has owned and operated a local store since 1939. After a year at Georgia Southern, BJ joined the Marine Corps and served until he sustained combat injuries suffered in Iraq. After struggling upon his return, he used his experiences growing up and skills from the Marines to continue his leadership journey. He built Sierra Delta in 2017 with the goal of helping veterans while also rescuing dogs. BJ has run marathons, climbed mountains, been painted by President GW Bush, been a guest on Letterman, Drew Barrymore, and so much more.

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Natasha Ganem
Being Different Is The Key to Finding Your Strengths

Laurie Curtis, Director of Children's Ministries, who grew up feeling like she didn’t quite fit in even within her own family and that something was missing. It wasn’t until later that she found what she was looking for, which would forever impact her future and shape her leadership journey. Building on her experience of how she felt growing up, teaching, and ministry, Laurie now leads a dynamic team by empowering others to discover their gifts and utilize them for maximum impact.

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Natasha Ganem
Leveraging Difference to be a Better Leader

Brandy Simula grew up with many kinds of differences that she wasn’t quite sure how to handle. Not just in her upbringing but in how she felt as a person, greatly impacting her leadership journey. Using her skills from growing up with differences and knowledge from her four degrees including sociology, Brandy learned what it truly meant to be a leader and what is so often overlooked but needed for company success.

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Natasha Ganem
Surprise, I’m The Boss: Facing Adversity = Perseverance and Motivation

Marcella Genut, at a young age, was diagnosed with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy. She learned at a young age that life wasn’t going to be easy but being different really changed how she decided she was going to live her life. She knew she was meant to do more and didn’t let others’ opinions keep her from striving toward her goals of becoming a spokesperson for Muscular dystrophy with a variety of organizations and nonprofits, graduated with a degree in Public Relations from the University of Georgia where she now currently is an academic advisor, and running her own business.

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Natasha Ganem
An unusual path? "all gas and no brake"

This week on the Lion 40 Podcast, I speak to Chris Sims, who is a Christian, husband, father, entrepreneur, and a Marietta, GA business owner with ClearVue Glass and Mirror Company. Chris spent 23 years in the Army on active duty and in the national guard. The majority of his time was spent as a green beret.

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Natasha Ganem
We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter

Celeste Headlee, is an author, speaker, journalist, and visionary recognized and noted for her intensive work with NPR, PBS, and the TED speaker stage. Celeste goes on in this session to talk about how asking meaningful questions, and how active listening, and how follow-up questions can actually make or break a person who wants to emerge as an inspiring leader. Wow. The golden nuggets of wisdom she shares here are so inspirational.

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Natasha Ganem
From a Whisper to a Roar. The Evolution of a Lioness

Altovise Pelzer, an author, speaker, podcaster, and visionary speaking up for INTROVERTED LEADERS. Yes, indeed, introverts have a powerful leadership voice, and in this episode, she unpacks exactly what that can look like. No doubt you will feel empowered not only to make your YES a true YES through listening, you will also feel empowered to say NO, to receive a NO, and to change your mind with confidence. This is one you're are going to want to listen to time and time again.

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Natasha Ganem
Game Changing Leadership

Recently I interviewed Rennie Curran for the LION 40 Podcast. Rennie is the son of Liberian immigrants and, indeed, he has seen his share of ups and downs. Even though Rennie was considered by most coaches and television announcers to be undersized for his position in football, the first half of Rennie’s life was dedicated to a highly successful career in the SEC and NFL. The public’s characterization and pressure over his size shaped his mindset and dedication to exceed beyond what anybody expected. Now, in the second half of his career, Rennie uses his experience and God-given talents to speak to audiences about how to lead well, persevere, and be resilient when life gets challenging.

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Natasha Ganem
Turning Pain into Purpose

Brandy has continually demonstrated exceptional versatility and a sincere desire to be of service to people who struggle with substance abuse disorders. What’s more, as someone who has faced her own addiction battles head on and emerged victorious, she is specially equipped with insight and understanding to lead others into the light.

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Natasha Ganem
The ADD Superpower

Randy Walton spent most of his life standing out from the crowd because he lived the first 40 years of his life with ADD but didn't know it. On the outside, everything seemed fine but on the inside, he was endlessly frustrated, and like other great leaders he then had his turning point.

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Natasha Ganem
Living Dappled

Erika Page spent much of her life visibly standing out from the crowd because she lived the majority of her adolescence and young adulthood, as she so gracefully calls it, “dappled.” Others call it living life with spots. Doctors call the skin condition – vitiligo. And like other great leaders that we will interview in this season of the LION 40, she had her turning point.

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Natasha Ganem
How to Inspire Coworkers and Direct Reports

Courtney Hodges-Lanius, Head of People & Culture at The XD Agency, talks to us about how to inspire coworkers and direct reports. Doing things like intentionally connecting with people and using your own experiences to help relate to others. Leaning into emotional intelligence, creating new leadership examples, and how all leaders at all levels need to freshen up their toolkits.

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Podcast
Advice on Parallel Entrepreneurship

Brandon Checketts, founder of Seller Labs, Roundsphere, and MouseDining, talks to us about his experience in Parallel Entrepreneurship. You can not do everything yourself so what is the best way to be able to handle multiple kinds of business all at the same time?

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Podcast
How to Prepare a Company for Sale

Tanya Osensky, an attorney at law at Osensky Law, LLC, talks to us about everything needed when preparing a company for sale such as hiring experts like business brokers, CFO’s, accountants, and a business consultant. She also discusses areas like succession planning, ESOP’s, estate planning, and who to get referrals from for quality work.

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Podcast
Advice on Mergers

Retta Gardner, EVP of Wholesale, A Mortgage Boutique, talks to us today about getting through company mergers. Mergers are a stressful time, especially if company cultures are different. If you have someone that is already thinking of leaving, this is likely the time they will do it. Here is what you need to retain people and lower stress levels.

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