Transcript
Nikki Woods: 00:00
That everybody is here so just let us know who you are where you are what you’re doing. If you’re at work or if you’re at home or if you’re working from home like I am just let us know check in so that we can. Oh there you go. Hey Sam thanks so much for sharing the video invite your friends. You can also share the videos that everybody has the opportunity to learn about this conversation. It’s going to be a phenomenal one as the previous two have. So now that I have confirmation that people are checking in. Oh very good. Thank you so much. We are going to get started. There we go. So let me introduce Dr. Angela Reddix.
Nikki Woods: 00:37
She is chairman and founder of Envision Lead Grow a nonprofit organization aimed at aspiring girls of all ages to chart their destinies by teaching them the skills and dedication required to accomplish their dreams their entrepreneurship her own entrepreneurial drive led Angela to found ARDX, an award winning healthcare management an IT consulting firm with 100 plus employees.
Nikki Woods: 01:02
Hi Angela. How are you.
Angela Reddix: 01:04
Hello Nikki I am great. How are you doing today. Good. You look pretty in pink today. VERY GOOD. I’M SO HAPPY YOU FINALLY KNOW no rain. It’s been raining for a week here so it’s nice.
Nikki Woods: 01:19
We are experience the same thing but that’s how things bloom right. So we will accept it.
Nikki Woods: 01:24
So today I want to make sure that everybody knows that we have something special for you. You can go to https://AngelaReddix.com/reddixrules and get your free gift from Dr. Reddix. The Reddix Rules where she talks about some of the principles that have helped her in her leadership journey and can also help you so definitely go and pick that up.
Nikki Woods: 01:47
And today one of the things that I think is is really lacking in the conversation behind entrepreneurship is the direction of your company and the overall vision. And I know that is something that you are extremely passionate about.
Angela Reddix: 02:05
Absolutely. You know Nikki and it’s so important that we recognize that the vision for Angela is certainly different from the vision for someone else. And often times we get caught up in looking at what someone’s doing to the left or the right of us that we try to fit their vision into our world. And I just believe vision statements and vision period is such a personal because a personal thing. And so we have to know what we’re what our calling is and ensure that our vision is in line with that.
Nikki Woods: 02:44
So. So let us just kind of you know set a foundation for the conversation. Let’s talk about your definition of vision. What do you mean by division overall vision?
Speaker 4: 02:56
I mean it’s defined as really identifying where you want what you want to become where you want to be. So as an organization is where is your organization. What are you What are your plans for your organization in a in a brief statement that’s no different than a personal vision. And quite honestly I think it starts with defining what your personal vision is before you can really as a founder your organization becomes an extension of you. And so if you’re not secure in what your vision is and it may adjust through time. But that’s the foundation for creating the vision for your organization.
Nikki Woods: 03:34
And so when you talk about your personal vision and your business vision and how they’re all intertwined and now we’ve talked it out before just your core values and how that is a part of know the direction for your business and you’re in your life is that part of the vision process.
Speaker 4: 03:53
Absolutely defining first the vision for yourself. You know early on I think I’ve explained to you in some of our conversations my vision every since becoming a parent and business has been a part of my DNA since the very beginning of time but that I would create opportunities that leave a legacy that my children will be proud of. That’s such a huge part of everything that I do. And so founding ARDX our vision was around becoming a trusted adviser and navigating the nation’s evolving health care challenges by consistently providing innovative and efficient solutions and a unique overall client experience in the areas of population health, payment reform and patient centered care and outcome. Envision Lead Grow, our vision is to impact is to transform communities of poverty into communities of prosperity through the promise of middle school girls. So each of those vision statements they’re about leaving a legacy. They’re about creating a community that’s stronger from a health care perspective, but also from a population health perspective, from an economy perspective with Envision Lead Grow.
Nikki Woods: 05:09
I just got a question. Yeah I think you answered part of that. Somebody wanted to know if you have a foundation or maybe you are, you have a coaching business or it’s something that’s not you know like your health care company. Do you still need a vision and you say yes.
Speaker 5: 05:24
Absolutely. If you think the saying is if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything. If you don’t have a vision statement that you keep in front of you I can’t tell you now I’m a federal government contractor and there are different approaches that people take. So business development you could if you look at every opportunity that hits the street you could end up being the Wal-Mart of consulting just a little bit of this and a little bit of that. And that may be your vision. My vision is that we are a boutique we’re very specialized so we are deep deep deep in health care. We’re not wide. We don’t do ships. We don’t build rockets. I love shoes but we don’t. We don’t sell shoes. We are a health care organization if we don’t. If we’re not careful you know you see a million dollar opportunity all of a sudden you start changing who you are when you do that as a founder with your organization. You look back and at the end of the day you’re not sure who you are as an individual. So you really have to be clear on your vision or you will end up somewhere that you don’t want to be. Your vision statement is your strategic roadmap is the foundation of that.
Nikki Woods: 06:36
So and I guess my question is I think that’s a brilliant point because I think a lot of us in our head we have you know what we want our company to look like. But actually physically writing it down and then sharing it with others may not happen all that often. So how do you communicate that vision and how often should you tell your employees and freelancers whoever may be working with you to develop this company or foundation. How often do you communicate that and how?
Angela Reddix: 07:02
At ARDX we are 13 years in business in November. 13 years in business and I can tell you from the second year of the organization we have followed this model. Now there was a time when all of our associates were local to the Norfolk area. I’m proud to say that we’ve transitioned from everyone being physically here to now we’re all over the nation. And so when we started everyone was here. So at the beginning of every year we would get together and we would go over our strategic roadmap this the road map included three different goals from three different perspectives. And that was to rally the troops and say OK here is where we’re going to win this year you all. And then quarterly we are back together and we go through the report card. How we doing so that we can course correct.
Angela Reddix: 08:01
So whether everyone was here physically or remotely we still follow that model. Just now we do a lot through web conferencing but still everyone should be on board with where you’re going. It’s so important that you communicated verbally but also we have posters in every conference room that has the roadmap and then to make sure everyone understands that it’s not just about the CEO or the V.P’s or someone else but them whoever the them will be we make sure that everyone has it. So we we provide a laminate that everyone keeps on their desk. So if you’re doing anything that’s not contributing to these goals from three different perspective which is the financial perspective, the client perspective, and then the internal process improvement perspective then we have to ask the question why are we doing it. The same holds true for Envision Lead Grow if we’re not moving towards our goal of increasing the number of girls who are exposed to this program 2019 the goal is six hundred, twenty 2020 the goal is a thousand. There are three perspectives for that. We need the girls, we need the parents, and we need the mentors. So we’re constantly focused on how do we build those stakeholder groups and our strategic roadmap includes strategies towards reaching those particular goals.
Nikki Woods: 09:26
Gotcha. So I guess because one of the one of the ways I was going to ask is about the creativity but you clear that up with laminates and posters and and so does the vision ever change. You’ve said your 13 years in with artists and you know a few years with Envision Lead Grow. What if the vision changes?
Angela Reddix: 09:47
The vision has we tweak tweak the vision through the years that we’ve tweaked the vision based on what’s happening in our world with ARDX it’s about what’s happening with health care legislation. So we may tweak but again we’re not going off center from where we we are. The core of who we are remains the same. So they may be a word here or there that we feel like we need to make more pronounced to be competitive but also to rally the troops and make sure that everyone’s focusing because maybe we had an articulated it clear enough. So it may be a word tweak here or there but but basically we are who we are now as a part of a personal vision. I’m saying that’s you know it’s progressive elaboration. Who I thought I was going to be at twenty one versus 30 versus forty. There may have been some shifts but fundamentally I have been if you look back at you know the activities that I was involved in in high school and college I’ve always been drawn to the community. That’s the vertical that is who I am at the core. So doing anything that would be just about myself and not building the community it really wouldn’t be true to who I am in my purest state.
Angela Reddix: 11:05
And so I think it’s important that that people really write that out and check yourself at the beginning of every year just like I do the strategic road map for the company. I also look at my personal goals and who I am and am I creating. Am I creating the path that at the end of the day I’m going to look back and I’m going to be proud of who I am because I am closer to who I am who I identified I was early went before.
Angela Reddix: 11:35
I had the demands on me that sometimes you have your vision get a bit blurred cause of just demands so that that’s really a tool that I use to just stay centered.
Nikki Woods: 11:48
So we have some questions coming in and Karen we’re going to get to your question in just a second. But I think in line with what you just said you said earlier about really being focused on what you do. We had a question about early goings and people who are just starting a business and needing to do just generate revenue so they may accept things that are not necessarily in line with the vision. What kind of advice do you give to people who are just starting out who are are just trying to generate revenue and stay in business. And checking with the vision.
Angela Reddix: 12:26
So I’m going to only share and I can only share from my experience so I am not you know preaching one way or the other. I’m sharing what my experience has been and I’m also sharing from the perspective of being in this game for 13 years. We had the recession during this time many of my peer organizations went out of business during that time. We tripled in size year over year doing that. The toughest economy that we’ve faced in my lifetime and so I’m telling you one of the things that was different for us versus others and there is you know there are other contributing factors. But I will say year one I had a vision statement. Year one I had core values. What that allowed me to do is be very strategic about what I take on you know the thing about just trying to make revenue is sometimes you overstate your capabilities.
Angela Reddix: 13:27
So in the end what people found is that they lost money trying to make up for commitments that they really weren’t ready for. So you have to be really careful about when you’re saying you’re just trying to make money and sometimes you accept things that are not that’s really not good for you. So I will say for me it was having this vision and understanding that every project that I take on may not be profitable. But as long as it’s leading me towards the goal then it’s worth it because it was important in those early years to build past performance. And sometimes you’re not going to have the the profit margins so that you can build that experience as long as you have a purpose and that purpose is connecting to a long term goal which is your vision statement then you’re moving in the right direction. But sometimes we spend as entrepreneurs and startup entrepreneurs we spend a whole lot of time running in circles and you’re really not getting anywhere closer to your absolute goal. Yes.
Nikki Woods: 14:30
Or is my daddy says oh money ain’t good. That’s right. He really said that we were playing dominoes but I think it’s true. It’s absolutely true.
Nikki Woods: 14:39
Absolutely so Karen would like for you to explain the difference between vision mission and purpose to you know I really don’t see vision and purpose.
Angela Reddix: 14:54
You know very very almost the same in my mind. Your vision statement is really stressing what is your purpose why why are you in business. The mission is what you’re going to tackle. What are you going to accomplish. So the vision is the big picture where you is almost your roadmap so to speak. Your mission is how you’re going to tackle it. I hope that that clears up the two in my mind.
Nikki Woods: 15:22
I think I think it absolutely did. And so as leaders in our organization and we look at our vision what is what is our responsibility to to the vision?
Angela Reddix: 15:35
Is to live it and really to live good. And you know that’s that’s why it has to be real for you. It has to be real because you can’t live it if it’s not real for you. And I’m speaking from the founder’s perspective now. It’s also important that you align with organizations if you’re not an entrepreneur that you believe in the vision and that’s a struggle for a lot of business owners because if you don’t have people who believe they really can pull you away from the vision so you can’t be in an organization of an organization is serious about their vision. You can’t be in an organization simply for the check or the experience. Sure. Because it really distracts the organization from focusing on the goals. So it’s a it’s a huge responsibility of the leader to live it and to evangelize the vision because you sometimes have to say it and say it and live it and have pep rallies so people really believe in your vision.
Nikki Woods: 16:42
I want to talk about that in just a second, but I want to remind people that we have a gift for you it’s called the Reddix Rules.
Nikki Woods: 16:49
You can go to the website https://AngelaReddix.com/reddixrules to download your free copy and learn the principles that Dr. Reddix believes in and has lived in order to become a leader and grow her company and also her foundation. And also you can go and learn more about http://EnvisionLeadGrow.org. They are gearing up for their summer immersion tour. They’re going to be in a lot of cities this summer so you can find out what cities they’re going to be in. And you can also see how maybe your daughter can be a part of that or how you can support the organization so that other young women and girls can take you know participate as well. So it’s an amazing organization and certainly I encourage you to go learn more about that. So Dr. Reddix is one of the questions that we get is what if other people in your organization people that you’ve hired and people that do contribute don’t really believe in the vision.
Angela Reddix: 17:49
There are challenges. There’s conflict you know and it depends on the leader. Honestly I am I am definitely a Type A personality and what I commit to paper. I’m very serious about it. So I don’t just write fluff you know and so that kind of leader they do expect that we’re all we’re operating with a level of trust and that there is a high level of integrity.
Angela Reddix: 18:22
So it does pose challenges to be in an organization if you don’t believe. So I would say that it’s important to have ongoing conversations. We utilize one on ones in our organization. If you’re in an organization where you’re doing something as personal as health care as critical as health care working with the community you can’t do it if you don’t believe. So it just depends on your organization and the tolerance of the leader.
Angela Reddix: 18:50
But for me I expect you to believe. I expect that there may be a process where you’re taking the person where they are and you’re taking them where you need them to be. So there’s a process in that but I still expect that there’s a belief system within the organization. And we’re holding each other accountable to it.
Nikki Woods: 19:11
Sure. And just to switch gears just just a little bit I’d like to talk about a Envision Lead Grow because you really are developing young leaders that are starting their own businesses and at the head of those organizations as well. What kind of process do you take them through in order for them to you know really become clear on what their vision is especially at such a young age.
Speaker 9: 19:35
Absolutely I love it. See they’re the age where they you can mold them. You know.
Nikki Woods: 19:40
They think anything is possible right.
Angela Reddix: 19:44
So day one we are asking them to consider what makes their heart sing. Now again these young ladies they’re coming from some tough situations in many respects. They’re coming from communities where they may not see possibilities and they’ve been at never been asked to dream. So the first day we’re asking them if you didn’t have any barriers what would your dream be.
Angela Reddix: 20:10
Think about the times when you feel most at peace and when you feel a sense of joy. And we’re going through exercises with them to help them tap into that. That is the beginning of creating their vision statement by day two. They’re actually documenting their vision statements. So that’s the process and then everything that they’re doing for that whole week. We’re going time back to OK how is this going to lead you towards what you said brought you Joy. So that’s the foundation really of creating that vision.
Nikki Woods: 20:44
Wow that’s amazing. One question that we got from a mother who has a daughter that’s graduating from college is if she is you know interviewing and she’s going to go work for someone else. What is the process for her when it comes to vision if she’s not actually creating a company but she’s going to go work for someone else. Does she have to have her own vision statement?
Speaker 5: 21:05
She absolutely needs it especially just graduating from college. So before she goes into the workplace she really needs to write down where does she see herself as an individual. What’s her aspirations so that when she’s going in for these interviews prior to going there she needs to research what’s the vision of this organization. How is this organization organized. How am I. What’s the appropriate place for me to start in order to align with where I’m actually trying to go. Is this a three year plan in this organization. Is this what what’s my move going to be. Well she understands her vision. It’s going to help her attract the right people to her when she’s in that organization. So so many people contact me and say well I’m looking for a mentor can you be my mentor.
Angela Reddix: 21:56
I ask the question why me. They can’t answer the question I asked the question what are your goals.
Angela Reddix: 22:03
Because it’s important if you’re going to have someone in your space as a mentor you really need to know that they have something that they can pour into you not just because of where they stand but you have something in common. And so you want to have someone as a mentor who’s five steps ahead of you not in a whole different world. So the thing is if it doesn’t align with what my background is what my interests are I’m probably not your best mentor.
Nikki Woods: 22:31
Yeah. That is what probably my biggest frustrations when it comes to that because people will they’ll see what you’re doing and they’ll like it and they’ll just ask you to be a mentor and then I’m like well why. What is the goal for this mentor mentee relationship. And I would say 98 percent of them don’t have a clue like they have no idea.
Angela Reddix: 22:50
So you know if you’re grounded first with who you are you really are clearer about the people who you’re inviting into your space.
Nikki Woods: 23:02
And I just encourage especially if you’re asking and you can. I think you should have a mentor at all stages in life so it’s not really necessary for younger people but you should always have a clear why you want the person to be your mentor. And what the relation and really take ownership of it as opposed to putting the ownership on the person you’re asking to mentor you to lead that relationship.
Angela Reddix: 23:27
Absolutely. Definitely know who you’re asking and why. I mean it’s a two way street. So you know it’s an honor to be asked but you know I don’t want to disappoint. So just be clear what you’re asking for is that you know I’m sure that I’m the one that can help you with that.
Nikki Woods: 23:45
Oh as if you could ever disappoint. We have someone asking about as as a group of leaders do you suggest that other leaders talk to each other and support each other’s vision or what is. I guess it’s kind of like a mastermind question how as a leader do you continue to develop your leadership but also support the vision through that that network.
Angela Reddix: 24:10
Nikki that’s such a great question and that’s such a huge challenge especially for entrepreneurs.
Angela Reddix: 24:17
You know when I was a leader in corporate America in larger companies that’s something that I enjoy the most is that on your level whatever your peer group was you had a peer group. And so you had like experiences when you’re an entrepreneur it feels like you’re out there on your own and you really are. And so you have to be very intentional about finding like minded leaders.
Angela Reddix: 24:45
I’ve been able to find a group. It’s actually International Organization for Women who are business owners at a certain level. And so our experiences while we’re in different industries our experiences are quite similar as far as as our struggle and sure are some of the challenges and the victories. And so we are it’s a structured session and we have those once a month I fly you know out of town to to go to those I encourage any entrepreneur to find a group that has a structure for that that’s using some not just getting together talking but there’s some theory and some models that you’re using that you are applying and there’s several out there. International organizations I strongly recommend that.
Nikki Woods: 25:35
Now I certainly agree I mean I think the benefit that I find from those organizations is that you get so many different skill sets and strength salute you may not necessarily have it I always walk away with you know something I didn’t know or something that I can incorporate, not just in professional my business but also in my life, I think that there is such a close correlation business and just life that it just always just feel better because of it. And I always feel better because of these interactions that we have and we’re really getting some good some good feedback on the information that you’re giving. And so if you guys are enjoying the conversation definitely make sure that you’re going to the website. AngelaReddix.com you can read articles you can look at information you can see where you know Angela will be speaking next but you can also go to https://AngelaReddix.com/reddixrules and you can download a free copy of the Reddix Rules that talks about additional principles in order to make you a better leader. So Angela any final thoughts as we wrap this up.
Angela Reddix: 26:42
I would just say this is such an important topic one that I believe people skip a lot. Yes I know I feel that if you don’t start with understanding the core the excitement of being able to create your tomorrow starts by understanding what that needs to look like and when we don’t do that we run the risk of just having to apologize to ourselves a whole lot because we just haven’t taken the time to slow down sure and just write a statement about what you are tomorrow could look like. And so I hope that people will take this challenge. I’m excited that the girls that we put through ELG and by 2020 we’ll have a thousand girls that one thing that I can say with 100 percent certainty is that they will have a personal vision statement and a vision statement for the entity that they are deciding to start. So I encourage others to do that also.
Nikki Woods: 27:44
I just think about the impact that alone the world is everybody being so clear about why they’re here and what they’re supposed to do. That’s amazing. So we got a one last minute question. I think it’s an important one so just real quickly do you ever abandon the vision and move on to something else?
Angela Reddix: 28:04
So I have not abandoned my vision. I’m sure that you know have I adjusted the vision. Yes. Has it gone from A to Z. No. For me. But I can imagine that you know as you are going through self discovery you may decide to go some somewhere else. But I think it’s just key to have a vision statement. So at the beginning of the year just take a look at it and if it is drastically different it’s OK but just make sure you have something that you’re focused on so that you’re just not out there without a roadmap.
Nikki Woods: 28:40
Sure. And I think but I think the key thing that you said earlier that’s really important is that usually whatever we do is based on who we are. So really doing that self discovery work to find out at the core who you are will help and go a long way into making sure that you are creating the vision statement that’s going to make the most sense for you and what you’re supposed to do.
Angela Reddix: 29:01
I think one other part of that which helps you to kind of true that up. I mean certainly you need to understand yourself and certainly I mean I’m a woman of prayer so you pray about it. But having a personal board of directors a personal group of individuals who can check you and say now where did you get that you want. This is not what I’ve seen in all these years because sometimes we get information in so many different ways that we can get a little bit confused about what our heart is saying versus what we actually heard on the radio the TV the Internet all all of these information means we think to make sure that it really is our voice that we’re hearing and that the voices around us.
Nikki Woods: 29:43
Yeah that’s such a great point. Such a great point. So we are we are at the end of this particular conversation but we have a lot more coming. So make sure that you connect with Dr. Reddix on all her social media platforms right here on Facebook but she’s also on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram and also connect with her via the Web site at https://AngelaReddix.com. If you go to https://angelareddix.com/reddixrules you can get your free copy of the Reddix Rules, but we will have more conversation coming to you as we gear up for the end of the second part of the year I can’t believe we’re almost there. And so thank you Dr. Reddix. We always appreciate your time and I wish you a good day.
Angela Reddix: 30:23
Thank you Nikki always a pleasure. Bye everyone have a great day. Thank you guys for tuning in and we will talk to you soon.
