How Brianna Greenspan Uses Questions to Fuel Conscious Leadership

[00:00:03] Hector: \Hello and welcome to another episode of the How to Scale of Business podcast. My name is Hector Santiesteban, and our special guest today is longtime friend Brianna Greenspan, who is a multi-time bestselling author, , multi-time CEO and business leader, and one of the most amazing and genuine human beings you will ever come into contact on this planet.

[00:00:21] Hector: So Brianna, thank you for sitting down and hanging out with us today.

[00:00:25] Brianna: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be with you, and thank you so much for all that you do in the world. You are an amplify. Impact. And it's a pleasure to talk about scaling a business 'cause that's something that, , a lot of people like to talk about. And in the context of the work that I do, I scale businesses with heart and with integrity.

[00:00:44] Brianna: And that's not always, , the playbook way to do things. And so, I love wherever this conversation's gonna go.

[00:00:50] Hector: Well, there's a lot of show. Those, I would imagine, and a lot of YouTubes or books on how to start a business. And I think that's great and those are all fantastic and needed, but I think there's this, let's call 'em generation of entrepreneurs very much, you know, that are our age. I guess that's sort of, you know, we did it and we're like, now what?

[00:01:09] Hector: Like, okay, we got to step one, we got to, you know, phase one is done, but it's not totally. What we envisioned, or it's not totally in alignment or it's not, you know, at the scale or impact that it could be. And so, , we're like, what's next? And I think you've started to put some of those pieces together because it's not always like a, a tactical thing.

[00:01:30] Hector: It's, not always an external thing. You know, a lot of times it seems to be this internal journey , and voyage that we go on that creates, you know, external business success.

[00:01:39] Brianna: Absolutely. Well, the thing is, , everything really is an inside job. Who we are, how we show up, what we think, and the impact that we have starts with the conversation we have in our mind, and the intentionality with which we make our own choices. And so in the leadership game, there is an opportunity to get really clear and intentional about taking our work to the next level. And that's something that I have had the opportunity to do in a number of ways. And it's nice to be able to get to step one. It's also nice to be able to get to step two. It's also often a need to move forward to step three or four or five. And it's the grace and leadership and, openness to the evolution that have all been, , invaluable ingredients with which I brought to moments of pivot or moments of scale, which every business goes through these moments where you're in one season and that's great, but like, we want more, you wanna hire more people, you wanna help more people, you wanna, you know, have a bigger footprint and what does that look like?

[00:02:46] Brianna: And so it is a constant evolution because not every industry has the same blueprint for scaling. You know, if you're in a B2B business, it's one thing. If you're in a B2C business, it's another thing if you're, you know, in some kind of new age profession, if you'll like, you are an influencer or whatever, the keys to scale are often different.

[00:03:11] Brianna: And so there isn't one fits all kind of approach to scaling a business, but that's part of what makes entrepreneurship, , so interesting and so exciting. the unknowns, if you will.

[00:03:22] Hector: Yeah. One of the great things about someone like you is that you have such a, diverse set of experiences. You know, in the sense of the roles you've played, the businesses you've been in, the industries that you've been in, , the impact that those things have made.

[00:03:37] Hector: . When you look back at the stew that, you know, makes up your experience and sort of the skills that you have, are there any, you know, pivotal moments or big defining sort of events or experiences that, , you know, dictated the rest of your career or changed your perspective on how you approach things?

[00:03:55] Brianna: Absolutely. So first and foremost, , you know, all of the ways that I'm of service in the world are the direct response to what I wish I had or what I saw There needed to be more of, and so there is a lot of my purpose and my leadership and the drive behind it is literally predicated on what I wished I had.

[00:04:16] Brianna: And so from the standpoint of I grew up with a pretty serious, complex chronic illness. A of challenges that went along with that. There were a lot ofmindset challenges. There are a lot of physiological challenges. There was a lot of labels and diagnosis and medications. There was a lot of otherness. , Kids were cruel, school was hard.

[00:04:37] Brianna: Just, you know, the whole gamut. And what transpired is that once I learned that there were resources and tools and frameworks and rituals and practices and modalities that could actually help me with the way that I was suffering, I started getting really curious about how could I use those. And then teach those and then bring those to other markets.

[00:04:58] Brianna: And what that led to was a passion that eventually led to businesses that eventually led to scalable opportunities. I have this deep sense of awareness and gratitude that it was in my hardness moment opportunities to be of Service showed themselves. I don't think I would've been in the professions that I'm in, if not from my lived experience. And I'm deeply entrenched in the medical genetic space and the wellness and wellbeing space, and in the resilience and culture change space, all of which are spaces within healthcare and education that I'm deeply passionate about.

[00:05:37] Brianna: And it became a gift, these dark and transformative moments because they catalyzed impact.

[00:05:44] Hector: You have this sort of, in like team sports, we called it like see a need, fill a need where there was like a, an opportunity, you know, some, something needed to be done and you were like, I can do that. And I think, , it seems, and I'm once again like assuming and. , Presuming here that a lot of people would say, oh, that's nice, Brianna, but I can't, because, you know, that's nice.

[00:06:06] Hector: You know, it would be nice to do something like that. It would nice to write a book. It would be nice to work in that sort of industry. It'd be nice to help people, but I've got bills and I've got help, whatever, whatever, whatever. Like internally or what, what sort of allowed you to move past those sort of, you know, limitations and just sort of find a way despite all of those things that you listed.

[00:06:28] Brianna: Yeah. , Well, I will say that first and foremost, I'm a different breed. I'm a very beat to my own drum kind of girl, and as a result, everybody has the same amount of time in a day, but I utilize my time very differently. I use my time in an action oriented way. I use my time in a conscious leadership driven way, and as a result, there's a lot of non-negotiables in my life that other people, , might prioritize as a need or a desire and or a want.

[00:06:58] Brianna: For instance, I don't own a television. I, I've been owned a television in 14 years. Think about the amount of hours you spend a day or a week or a month or a quarter or a year, sitting and staring at For me, I already sit and stare. I'm literally gazing into your eyes right now on a screen.

[00:07:19] Brianna: I'm sitting and staring at you. So it's not like I don't have tons of moments that I'm on a screen and captivated by something. But I often try to balance when I sit and stare versus when I'm doing it for a conscious purpose versus an unconscious purpose. So what's happened in my life is that I've gained massive chunks of time.

[00:07:39] Brianna: I don't go to movies or watch television or consume pop culture, all three of which give me an extra four to seven hours a day. what do I mean by that? If every single person who listened to this podcast looked at the amount of hours they were on their phone and looked at how many hours they were doing what.

[00:07:58] Brianna: That's really it. And that's the thing that has been able to give me from a time perspective. I learned a long time ago that my time is valuable because I grew up with a chronic illness. I may have five minutes that I don't have excessive pain. I may have, you know, an hour or fill in the blank. There may be 20 episodes that happen in five minutes or in an hour.

[00:08:19] Brianna: And so time is precious and something that I'm constantly, what am I capable of doing in this moment because I don't have the next moment guaranteed. And in my hours, in my days, I have so many episodes that take up a lot of my time. So I don't really allow, , nonsense conversations, nonsense experiences.

[00:08:39] Brianna: Like your drama is your drama. It's not my drama. I really try to mitigate versus expand on challenges. And that has also given me a lot more time to be reflective and a lot more time to be proactive. And when we talk about leadership and entrepreneurship in scaling, I often make quick decisions.

[00:08:59] Brianna: I often pivot quickly. I often fail quickly, learn more, and I'm already onto the next or the seventh thing before other people have even attempted anything. And so I'm in a faster pace. Like we have friends in our learning community. , Including our friend Carolyn, who connected us for this podcast, and she was just reflecting on, she watched a miss and a miss, and a miss and a miss and one after the other.

[00:09:26] Brianna: Pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot. And then we succeeded. And she's like, I watched you miss and have so many challenges that you witnessed or faced or had to overcome so much quicker. Things that would've had other people stay down. You figured a way through, and that's part of the scaling business. Because the truth is, anytime you wanna take something to the next level, there's gonna be an insurmountable amount of friction and challenges and obstacles, and they're all gonna happen at once.

[00:09:57] Brianna: Like this is what happens. It's the layered approach of complications to kind of evaluate. Do you really wanna scale? Do you really wanna take it to the next level? Are you ready for what's coming? And a lot of people don't know what they're ready for until they're in the moment. And so there's a lot of learning that happens on the scaling journey.

[00:10:17] Hector: Yeah, it's, really good that you brought that up. First, I want to point out that I don't think that you ascribe to like the team, no sleep, like the don't take care of yourself. Like risk your health at the sake of working, you know, , you're more about intentionality than just working because you're, you know, team. No sleep.

[00:10:38] Brianna: Yes. In fact, , my team just produced an entire wellness village in a Vegas casino at a principal's conference and very on brand. Of course, I was using the tools. Of course, I had a personal sound bath and red light therapy, and biofeedback and, and, and, and all before the conference started. Each day, of course, I was resourcing myself as well as sharing how others could resource themselves because.

[00:11:07] Brianna: Filling up your own cup is essential in the impact at scale game. We are not capable of being highly effective leaders at the expense of ourselves forever. And what most people don't understand, if you have this energizer bunny syndrome, is that. You might think that you could always go at a certain pace because you always have, and you haven't felt the ramifications.

[00:11:29] Brianna: But the truth is, the science behind wellbeing will show that eventually it catches up with you. So if you're not someone who's actively engaging and recharging to support your own nervous system, there are moments where it becomes too much. And there are are moments for everyone where life becomes too much.

[00:11:49] Brianna: But the real question is, are you capable? To being a resource to yourself so that you can be a resource to others. So, no, I do not subscribe to like the hustle harder, but we also, we work really hard and we played really hard. Like our team plays full out. We are in it to impact everyone.

[00:12:12] Hector: Oh, I'm glad you brought up all of this stuff about the sound bath and the, you know, the red light therapy because , , To your point, I'm like, I've seen the impact and I've seen it work. And I have had that, burnout where early on in my sales career, you know, we were in the middle of a big competition in a sales push. And, and my, I just would not get, wanna get, get out of bed.

[00:12:31] Hector: literally, my body could not get out of bed. And I remember judging myself so hard for it. Like you woos, you pansy, you just, you know, because you see all these other people that are wired differently or have different, whatever, different nervous systems and they're crushing and they're, you know, 16 hour days, 40 days in a row, whatever it is.

[00:12:52] Hector: . And it took me a long time to realize that like a, I'm a little bit different and so I need to, treat myself differently. And so now I work, I do work way less, but I'm also more intentional with my time and I'm, I'm the guy walking down the block barefoot in the grass, you know, in between my phone calls and because it's just, you know, I'm the weird guy.

[00:13:09] Brianna: You're literally doing what is scientifically shown to recharge your nervous I'm anti woo. I'm like neuroscience all the way. Bring me the science, bring me the facts and like I work in medical genetics. I work with the NIH and Harvard and Stanford and the Department of Defense. We publish academic papers and lemme tell you, there is so much validity to supporting your own wellbeing.

[00:13:36] Brianna: There are a lot of questionable ways to do that, which could get a little bit of woo scrutiny, like a sound bath. But when you understand sound frequency, you'll understand how certain frequency can make you feel different. It's not that complicated, frequencies, strengthen yourself. Certain frequencies make you not feel good. And it's not that big of a deal, but like once you start to understand, it's hard to dismiss as like woo woo. It's hard to dismiss as that's nonsense. It's hard to dismiss as like something just like out there because it's really like, Hey, I'm on a podcast.

[00:14:10] Brianna: Because it's really so important for us to sell ourselves on what's helpful and why we should do it regularly, and it's complex. If our mindset is saying, that's worthless, that has no value, that's woo woo, you're, already building a barrier between the potential solution, the potential tool being useful for you or not, and it's invaluable that everyone really understands the mindset with which they enter actions. Because if your mindset is jarred, then the action, even if you're going through the motions, you're not gonna get the same impact as going through the motions with full belief as going through the motions with full passion as going through the motions with the intentionality that you're doing this in order to.

[00:14:57] Brianna: So there's a lot in behind the scenes, , of what's essential to have the right mindset in order to be the type of entrepreneur in order to take a business to the next level.

[00:15:11] Hector: Yeah, I think that the. More that leaders can realize that like how they fuel themselves or what they put into themselves is what, they can put into their team, what they can put into their organization, to their community, to whatever. , and to just think that they can draw on this well, that isn't ever refilled . to consistently tax their body and their nervous system in a way that like they just think they can outrun it with Red Bulls and monsters. . At the end of the day, it does have like real business implications. it moves from the spiritual and the personal development side to like, oh, actually, are you able to lead your team?

[00:15:48] Hector: Or, you know, like this week we had a we lost a couple clients, we got some clients, we had some, like, it's just a lot. And I think in years past, my nervous system would've been like, oh, this is a lot. We should go lay down.

[00:16:01] Brianna: but that might actually be the answer. And so like if the answer is I need to lay down. Give yourself that moment. So I have this new book coming out. It's called The Book of Questions, living with Chronic Illness. And it's something that's, it's just ridiculous. Like of all the things that I've ever done, it's the culmination of who I am, what I care about, what I stand for, and the ways that I impact those suffering at a deep level and the number one guiding question in the entire book.

[00:16:26] Brianna: So we have, there's two sections of the book. The first section is like questions you can ask sometimes or sporadically. And the beginning section is questions that I recommend asking every moment. And so with regard to, oh, I may need to lay down, well, if you asked yourself a question like, despite how I'm feeling, what can I do to best support myself starting now?

[00:16:48] Brianna: And the answer is, I think I need to lay down before this podcast. Then the response should be, okay, I'm gonna do that because I've now given myself permission to ask an honoring ownership question despite how I'm feeling. What can I do to best support myself starting now? Get that water ground yourself.

[00:17:03] Brianna: Take a deep breath, go outside, take a nap. Fill in the blank. Call that supportive friend, like read a positive affirmation. See the sun, whatever. It's, most of the things that may come up are free. Easily accessible, readily available, but it's a choice. It's a choice of like, do we ask a good question that allows us to take ownership over what we're experiencing in our real time moment and mentally honor.

[00:17:30] Brianna: What came up versus like, I can't believe you're so lazy. You're, why aren't you getting on this next? Whatever the narrative is, you are the only person in your head. So make sure that the narrative in your mind is one that supports you, resourcing yourself, that supports you taking moments of pause that supports you in getting mental clarity, because it's not just about what you do, it's about giving yourself permission to ask that type of question and allow for whatever comes up to be enough.

[00:17:59] Brianna: We're enough and this like hustle harder culture isn't helpful to actually scaling in a sustainable way. And so it's important to ask questions that are in alignment with the actions that we hope like, that we hope our future self. Like I hope my future self asks questions that help support my nervous system.

[00:18:20] Brianna: So this is an opportunity for everyone to start thinking about like, what are the questions that invite us to reflect on and take action over our lived experience? And if you don't have any guiding questions, this is a perfect starting point. Despite how I'm feeling, what can I do to best support myself starting now?

[00:18:39] Brianna: It's the first question that I ask myself every single morning, which dictates which morning practice I engage in. It's the first question I ask every time I have a symptom, I just threw up. I just had a seizure. I just blacked out. I just fill in the blank of whatever nonsense happens in my regular lived experience because I do have a chronic illness, and instead of that taking me down and keeping me down for days, weeks, months, years, I instead, I'm able to ask a question and get a range of answers.

[00:19:10] Brianna: That I then get to choose which answer I'm going to, you know, oh, I need some water and I need to see the sun and I need to breathe and I need to go to physical therapy and I need this, you know, pain cream and I need, okay, great, well now I understand what I need and I understand like assemblance of an order in order to get them.

[00:19:28] Brianna: And I might even understand who I need to call or what help I need to ask for because I might not even be able to do all those things on my own. And that's really where letting go of Ego comes into play in order for the bigger picture. Like I might feel a certain kind of way if you see me looking disheveled, but I also feel a different kind of way if I'm now on the kitchen floor for four hours because I didn't have the courage to ask for help from someone that was probably willing to help if I were to ask, and so there's this catch 22 within the conscious leadership realm. It's all the subtle aspects of being a leader that are essential for expanding the work that you offer.

[00:20:11] Hector: I think you and I both have read like all the books, right? Like we went through the thing where we like just consumed all the information and read all the books and, you know, listened to all the podcasts and then the, the actual implementation or the execution of it. Like you are sort of forced to deal with yourself.

[00:20:27] Hector: Like you can't read your way into some, you know, through some of these experiences you have to, to your point, you have to live them. , Or you have to be willing to, you know, sort of go through them. I love the idea , of a book of questions and, , we'll link that up at the end and, and give you some more time to share when that's coming out.

[00:20:42] Hector: , Are there any questions that you think business owners, any other questions that you think business owners could be? I, , don't like to use the word should, but, , want to ask themselves more, , throughout the day.

[00:20:55] Brianna: The thing is, there's no one size fits all for anyone, but if you're the type of business leader who's like a glass half empty kind of business leader, then I'd love for you to ask yourself a question like, do you focus on more of what you've gained as a result of your experiences or what you've lost as a result of your experiences?

[00:21:14] Brianna: You know, asking questions that bring out a reflective. No right or wrong. The whole point is for you to explore your own thoughts, for you to grow type of questions. Help everyone to understand where they're at and understand, , where their areas of growth can be. Because most people who walk around with like the glass half empty mindset, they don't even know.

[00:21:42] Brianna: They don't even know they're the person with the dark cloud that walks into the room. But like you, if you're the sunshine and rainbows person, like I am the sunshine and rainbows person. So like I not only bring sunshine and rainbows to the rooms that I walk in, but I'm able to notice.

[00:21:59] Brianna: when someone with a dark cloud walks by and tries to like rain on our positive parade, because what's happening in the world is that most people are unconscious to how they show up to their natural demeaning. And so reflective questions are one powerful way to invite people to see themselves as they are, not who they pretend to be, who they think they are, who in their, you know, aspirational world.

[00:22:24] Brianna: They will be one day, but get to really confront who they are. And when we confront who we are, we're also able to confront who we wanna be moving forward. Because at each moment we're of choice in how we show up and what we care about and what we stand for, and if we're operating from a subconscious standpoint where we don't even really know why we're doing certain things or how that's impacting others, it's an unconscious operation versus one where we're deeply intentional about what we care about, how we impact others, and the leadership with which we're bringing to it. And so reflective questions. There are so many, we can drop some in the, I dunno, there's so many. We can drop some somewhere. You follow me somewhere where, you know, depending upon what you how you're choosing to impact the world, different questions can be appropriate.

[00:23:19] Hector: Yeah, one of. I and this is definitely a taken question, but, , Jay Papasan's and Gary Keller's book, the One Thing, , it's, you know, they have a question there. It's something to the effect of, you know, what's the one thing that I can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary? And that question for, you know, over a decade has been something that's ran through my head.

[00:23:39] Hector: And I often ask, you know, , myself, and there's always an answer, which is, you know, incredible.

[00:23:45] Brianna: Yeah, like that's the thing, like the same question can be asked over and over again in different contexts and it brings up different answers. There's certain

[00:23:52] Brianna: opportunities within leadership to reflect and to grow, and there's often like a quarterly check-in or certain kinds of conferences. And why do people, you know, do the same quarterly check-in different quarters of the year or attend the same conference year after year or multiple years, you know?

[00:24:11] Brianna: And it's because we evolve and as we evolve, the content may be the same, but how we interact or engage with the content changes.

[00:24:20] Hector: Yeah, absolutely. This is have been, , such a fun conversation, Brianna. And, , if we had the time, I'm sure it could go for hours because it really is a well, that, there's no bottom two. , If people wanna get more connected with the project or more connected with you and, and stay in tune with you and what you're doing, where's the best place for people to go?

[00:24:38] Brianna: Thanks so much for asking. , There's many different ways. If you're interested in BGI, my educational consulting firm focused on resilience and culture change in the education space. We serve, , thought leaders and school-based leaders at a city, state, , regional and national level. So if anyone is of, interest in that realm, bgi impact com is our company.

[00:25:03] Brianna: And if you're interested in anything else related to the books that I've written or the medical genetics work that I do, or any speaking, et cetera, I have a website, Brian greenspan com. And beyond that, there's a hundred other ways because I have a publisher and a distributor and our genetics partners.

[00:25:21] Brianna: And so depending upon the nuances of what you could be interested in, there's other. Google search away. There's other ways that you could find out more.

[00:25:28] Brianna: I noticed we didn't actually talk about medical genetics or like any of the actual business things, which is so nice and refreshing because the truth is how you scale a business has nothing to do with what you offer.

[00:25:40] Brianna: It has to do with who you're, it has to do with your strategy. It has to do with your, embodiment. It has to do with the values that you bring forth. Offer many things to many different people and they're available all over the internet.

[00:25:54] Hector: Mostly Brianna. It is your heart , that you bring to the world. , and that's what we're most grateful for. My last question for you though is, in your opinion, what is the secret to scaling a business?

[00:26:05] Brianna: my gosh, friend, the secret to scaling a business. Pivot fast. Never, let your head get too big. There's always something to learn. There's always someone who knows more. There's always someone who's gonna do it better. Stay humble, pivot fast.