Maha Abouelenein: The Real Reason CEOs Need a Personal Brand

[00:00:00] Introduction and Personal Brand Definition

[00:00:00] Charles: You guys today, I’m sitting down with a very close personal friend, someone who’s advised me for years, someone who has affected my life, but I’m gonna share with you her more professional accolades. She’s known for her amazing book, Seven Rules of Self-Reliance, but beyond that, she advises some of the biggest household names on the planet.

[00:00:24] Charles: I’m talking Gary V, Deepak Chopra. People that you know, and today we’re gonna talk all about personal branding, understanding how to reach more people and do it in a better way while building a brand that’s worth remembering.

[00:00:53] Charles: Maha Abuelenain. Yes, it is so great to have you. Maha:Thank you, Charles. I’m so happy to be here. Charles: I’ve been counting the [00:01:00] minutes till you get here. Maha: Really? I’m so excited.  I just wanna start off by asking you, what is a personal brand? Maha: Yeah, I mean, here’s the thing. I have been doing communications my whole life and people hear the term personal brand and they think it’s about being a social media influencer.

[00:01:19] Maha: What I want you to do is take that term outta your head and throw it away and replace it with the word reputation. Your personal brand is your reputation. How do people see you? How do you show up in the real world? How do you show up online? What do people think about you? Your reputation is the only thing, Charles, that you actually own.

[00:01:37] Maha: It’s gonna open doors for you. Build relationships for you. Keep relationships for you. So I really want everyone listening to the podcast to think rethink about what do they think of when they think of personal brand. It’s not about being a social media influencer, it’s not about self-promotion.

[00:01:53] Common Personal Branding Mistakes

[00:01:53] Maha: It’s about idea promotion. What are you an expert in? What value can you bring to others? [00:02:00] Start there. Charles: Okay, so when, when you say that, Maha: yep. Charles: My mind automatically goes to what are the mistakes you see all the time. Maha: Yeah, I mean, I think everyone needs to think about building their personal brand because it’s, it’s something that you can control, right?

[00:02:16] Maha: So one of the thing, one of the mistakes I see is people don’t think it’s important, so they don’t pay attention to it. So they don’t have a good LinkedIn profile. Like that is your real estate, where you can have something online that represents who you are that you actually can control. So when people Google you or people look you up, I want them to find things that you put there, not what other people put there.

[00:02:38] Maha: So the biggest mistake is not doing anything. And I always say silence doesn’t scale. If you’re not visible, you’re invisible, right? So how can you get a partner or find a job or get a investor, or get a client or find a customer? If you’re not where customers are, you have to be where customers are. [00:03:00] So the biggest mistake people make is they don’t put in the effort to build something online.

[00:03:05] Charles: So when you think about, uh, building something online, is that, um. You know, you have all these different platforms, right? Do do you believe that you have to be on all of them? Maha: No. Charles:  don’t have to be on all of them. Maha: No. You need to do what’s authentic to you and feels good about you. Feel good doing that You can do consistently.

[00:03:25] Choosing the Right Platform for Your Content

[00:03:25] Maha: So do you like to write? Guess what? Blogs are back. Newsletters are back, Substack are in, or you are into writing. There’s an audience that wants to read really good things of any expertise you have. If you are a stay at home mom and you are good at organizing, I wanna read about your tips and tricks and how you do that.

[00:03:43] Maha: If you are running a business and you wanna talk about how you lead and motivate your team, I wanna learn from people who are actually operating in the field. So, if you’re good at writing, do a blog. Do long form content on LinkedIn. Do a substack if you are good at videos. Because you just feel [00:04:00] natural talking in the camera.

[00:04:00] Maha: Charles, you’re really good in the car talking on camera. It’s natural. You’re conversational. I wanna listen to you. You’re fun, you have really good insights. You’re natural. So you should do more video content. Is that on YouTube? Is that TikTok? Is that Instagram? And some people just like being a curator, like I’m really good at having a pulse of what’s happening in culture.

[00:04:20] Maha: Mm-hmm. So I’m gonna share with you interesting articles, hot Takes on what we can learn from Taylor Swift’s marketing strategy. What do we need to know about AI that’s actually gonna help us get ahead? So being a curator is another way of thinking about what’s the best way for me to share it on my community.

[00:04:36] Platform Selection Based on Business Goals

[00:04:36] Maha: Maybe it’s Facebook. So. Don’t be, feel pressure to be on every platform. Charles: So it really is a, um, it really is okay to follow your natural inclination Maha: Exactly. Charles: For something, if you’re into celebrity gossip, go for it. Maha: Yep. Charles: And just do that consistently. Maha: Yeah. And I think there’s another thing too. When you think about the platforms you should be on, what’s your business?

[00:04:59] Maha: What’s your [00:05:00] interest? So LinkedIn is not for finding jobs. LinkedIn is where the business community is. Mm-hmm. That’s where you’re gonna find leads, that’s where you’re gonna find customers. That’s where you’re gonna build your brand. That’s where you’re gonna share your expertise. That’s a really effective way to think about which platform should I be on.

[00:05:15] Maha: Depends on your business. If you’re selling a product and service, you wanna be on TikTok or Instagram because people can buy from within the app. They can hit a link and go purchase something. Charles: So if someone’s a, an entrepreneur or a CEO and they’re thinking, you know, geez, I’ve been behind the ball here, I, I really need to get ahead of this.

[00:05:35] Charles: You know, I feel like it’s just so overwhelming to get started. I mean, how many really successful people do you know that feel that way? A lot? Maha: Yeah. Right. Yeah. So yesterday I was just having a conversation with the CEO of a company, a $600 million company. Mm. A major company. And she runs the CEO, this company, this business.

[00:05:52] Why CEOs Need Personal Brands

[00:05:52] Maha: And she’s like, now we gotta be creators and influencers too. Like I gotta run a company. Revenue streams, teams, supply chain [00:06:00] marketing, sales, operations, logistics, and be an influencer and creator on social media. And I said to her, yeah, do you know why? Because people follow people. They don’t follow companies.

[00:06:13] Maha: You build trust by getting to know a person, by learning the reputation of their ideas and their business, their ways of working. So I might buy a product if I really like the CEO of the company, if I see their ethical, that they have good behavior, that they treat their employees well. The name of the game today.

[00:06:33] Maha: Is the trust economy. How do you build trust? You do it through people. Charles: Well, and I guess that’s so true when you think about like, oh, I’ve loved this product forever. And then you see the CEO EO say something really stupid or nasty and Maha: you’re like, that’s, and Charles: you’re like, well, I’m not buying that anymore.

[00:06:48] Maha: Well, we, and we all have seen so many stories in the news about bad behavior by CEOs, and it can ruin a reputation, but it can also build and grow. Loyalty, trust, [00:07:00] connection, emotional connection. We, we make purchase decisions based on emotional connection. I’ll work with someone I know and someone I trust and someone I built a relationship with versus somebody I don’t.

[00:07:11] Maha: Hmm. So that’s why CEOs understand the importance of building a positive reputation and a strong personal brand. Charles: So if, if someone’s trying to build a better personal brand Maha: Yes. Charles: And you talk about, you know, there was two things. There was being consistent. Maha: Yep. Charles: And then there was consistency, right. So like, you’re the same person across all the platforms.

[00:07:33] Maha: Yep. Right. Like you are in real life. Right. I wanna be the same person I am with my friends, that I am with my teammates. Yeah. I’m not like one person at work and one person at home. Yeah. I’m that person that they can rely on that’s always there to shake a hand and lend a hand and help them out and listen or problem solve.

[00:07:50] Maha: I’m met with my sister the same way I am with my team. Charles: Yeah, I suppose that helps build trust because then people feel like. There’s a consistent product they’re [00:08:00] getting when they interact with you, whether you’re at a ball game or a dinner or in the workplace. Maha: Yeah, I mean, if you’re an entrepreneur, you really need to build your your brand, personal brand for many reasons.

[00:08:10] Maha: One, it’s how you’re gonna attract investors. Two is how you’re gonna attract talent. People are gonna come work for you because they see your reputation. They like you, and they wanna work with you. They believe in your vision. If you’re an entrepreneur, you also need to work on your personal brand if you wanna get a strategic partner or collaborate with someone or a sponsor.

[00:08:28] Maha: So as an entrepreneur, there’s legitimate reasons why you need to do this, to stand out, to attract all those things. Now, if you work at a company and you’re like, Oh Maha, I’m an employee. I don’t need to build my personal brand. I get a paycheck. I’m secure, I’m fine. You’re not. Because your personal brand at work is how you’re showing up.

[00:08:45] Maha: Are you a team player? Are you a collaborator? Are you a problem solver? Are you difficult to work with? Are you not a good listener? Are you a road blocker or are you a door opener? Those are all the things that make up our personal brand at work. Charles: So when you were mentioning [00:09:00] that CEO earlier about, oh my gosh, it’s so overwhelming, you know, now I all of a sudden have to manage a personal brand too.

[00:09:06] Consistency and Frequency in Content Creation

[00:09:06] Maha: Yep. Charles: You mentioned the need to be consistent. Maha: Yes. Charles: Like on an ongoing basis. Maha: Yes. Charles: What, how, what is an acceptable amount of activity or posting or Yeah, engagement. Should, should someone expect to pour into this and have it be. Successful. Yeah. First of all, it’s a long-term game. It’s not something where you can just show up once a month or once a week and expect to get any kind of results.

[00:09:30] Maha: It’s like anything in a relationship. You need to work on it. You need to nurture it. You need to spend time with your audience. You need to listen, engage. I’ll give you feedback on the advice I gave her on what she should do. One is we have to find a rhythm of something she can do consistently based on her work schedule.

[00:09:45] Maha: She’s got children, she travels, she runs a business, so we put together frameworks. What’s a framework that would work for you? Let’s say we’re gonna write a newsletter of your thoughts on how you’re leading and managing this company at scale that we’re gonna put out to the, our audience once a [00:10:00] week in a long form.

[00:10:00] Maha: Written content. That’s one framework. Two, we’re gonna have something called signature content or pillar content. Things that we always are gonna train the audience that you are going to produce. Is it a tip on Tuesdays or is it the way that you put your posts out? Like Sarah Blakely from, uh, Spanx, the CEO.

[00:10:18] Maha: Spanx has like this mug and she always puts a quote on her mug. That’s like a signature pillar piece of content we always get from her, uh, for motivating or insights or lessons that she’s learning. Um, is she gonna take us behind the scenes when she’s on to our investor meeting or when she’s on the road?

[00:10:33] Maha: So teaching her how to build a framework of telling a story, holding the camera. So we’re with you on your business trip. So if you can create two or three frameworks. Do those consistently. That’s where you should start and master that for as long as you feel comfortable. And then go on to the next thing.

[00:10:50] Charles: So you say consistently, so is this like something you know you should be doing daily? Is this something you build into your daily routine? Is this weekly, you know, when it comes to the, the [00:11:00] lighter content, not say the heavier things like a podcast episode. Maha: Yep. I mean, I think if you should be posting weekly, you should be posting a couple times a week.

[00:11:08] Maha: You, you can’t just expect to talk to your customers once a week and keep them. Right. How much time do you have to spend talking to your customers, Charles? Charles: I mean, we’re talking to them all all the time. All the time. Exactly. Yeah. Maha: The same thing goes for building your personal brand. If you wanna build trust and relationships and nurture relationships, don’t show up and disappear.

[00:11:26] Maha: Mm. Try to build it into your calendar. Try try to build that muscle so that it becomes something you do. One thing that I personally do is I put on my calendar every day, 15 minutes of I’m gonna go online and just start networking with people and, and that’s building my personal brand by building relationships.

[00:11:43] Maha: Mm. So I’m on there 15 minutes a day, showing up for people, high fiving their work, sharing their feed, their posts to my feed, uh, commenting on their posts, sharing their work. It’s a way to network. Quickly, one to many, but it’s also there to build your brand of like, Hey, she’s showing up. She [00:12:00] cares, she’s paying attention.

[00:12:01] Charles: That’s good for my reputation, that I’m somebody who cares about other people. And people wanna be, feel, they wanna see be seen, and they wanna feel that you’re paying attention to them. And I think in our bandwidth of always on in real time and 24 hour seven news, you know, news cycles and feeds, and just always being connected, that one-to-one relationship can go a long way.

[00:12:23] Charles: Hmm. So when you think back to the, um. The success. ’cause you’ve been around Gary VA lot. Yeah. And Gary has obviously become a household name. Yes. And when you think about what Gary did in the beginning and then what he consistently does, what are the patterns you’ve seen that have really worked for him?

[00:12:44] Learning from Gary Vaynerchuk’s Content Strategy

[00:12:44] Maha: Yeah, so I’ve been working with Gary. Next year will be 10 years. Wow. Which is incredible. Um, he’s someone who’s teaches me so much every single day. I think a couple things stand out for me that I think a lot of people can benefit from Gary documents, what he’s [00:13:00] doing, he doesn’t create content. Mm-hmm. So it’s easy to tell stories at scale when a camera’s just documenting everything he’s doing so he doesn’t have to be in front of the camera, talking, speaking, acting.

[00:13:12] Maha: He’s just letting people see his day. Hmm. And I think that’s a great thing for anybody to do at any level. If you’re a fitness routine, if you’re a gym trainer, if you are making sourdough bread, if you are CEO of a company, if you work in retail, take me behind the scenes of what it’s like. Mm. I wanna know what’s it like to fly on that airline for 18 hours?

[00:13:36] Maha: What do they serve you? What do you do in the cabin for that long? Like, I wanna know everything. The beauty of the internet today is we get access to information, right? Mm-hmm. So Gary’s really good of like taking that veil off, documenting versus creating content. It’s also easier to be yourself when you’re always documenting with the camera on.

[00:13:55] Maha: So I think that’s the first thing Charles: I’ve really enjoyed watching your travels, especially to Dubai. [00:14:00] Yeah, it’s so fun because you bring me from your, basically where you’re living in Minnesota Yeah, in Minnesota. The rough the airport. Yep. Onto the beautiful airplane, and some of the seats you get, oh my. The first class seats you have, like, there’s like a door that shuts and you have your own fridge.

[00:14:17] Maha: You get a menu, you, you, it’s like on demand, like at a restaurant where you can just order whenever you’re ready. And then the things that they serve in Emirates first class is insane. Like I don’t expect to get like a box of popcorn, like I’m at a movie theater or slider burgers. Like there’s just different things that they can offer you.

[00:14:35] Maha: And then they have a shower on cabin. They have a spa service. Charles: I feel like I go along with you. Maha:  Yeah. And they make you green tea when you come out of the spa. It’s, it’s extraordinary. Charles: So what is a spa service on an airliner? Maha: Like it’s just. It’s just incredible. And they give you your own pajamas and they give you your own like kit.

[00:14:53] Maha You walk out of there. Yeah. So I think that’s the fun part of seeing like, what’s it like to travel to Dubai? Charles: Well, like the food you eat there. Yeah. I mean, [00:15:00] you, you remember that? I don’t know if it was swarm. There’s, and I was like, oh my gosh, I’m going to Dubai for Z Maha:  just to eat that. Actually, that was in Egypt.

[00:15:07] Maha: But yeah, Egypt, that’s just like, that’s, I’m trying to build trust. I’m trying to do storytelling. I’m trying to connect with my audience. I’m trying to share to make us, Charles:I‘m trying to make you hungry. Maha: I’m trying to get you to buy that ticket. No, but I feel like those are things that people remember and you connect with your audience when you pearl curl back the curtain a little bit and document versus, Hey, this is Maha.

[00:15:26] Maha: I’m gonna tell you the top five things you need to do when you go to Egypt. Why don’t you just come with me and I’ll show you. Charles: Yeah, yeah. Bring them along. Yeah. So when you think about the, um, the documenting that Gary does, yeah. I mean, like you said, he, he documents his travels, he documents the things he’s doing, but he’s also spending time talking to the camera a lot of times, right?

[00:15:45] Charles: Yes. With an idea. Yeah. What do you say to some of us who are like, we’re we, we don’t naturally have, you know, brilliant ideas flowing out of our mind all the time when it comes to adding value to people. Yep. That’s just, I mean, that’s a very special [00:16:00] thing. Yeah. How do I come up with these things and then be like, oh, well, well let’s put a camera with me and I’m gonna share these four tips that I learned while I was on my trip.

[00:16:11] Charles: Or, I mean, is it self-reflection? Yeah. Is it? Maha: Yeah. I think it’s just like, I mean, you are an expert in everybody listening to this show, whether they’re at work or at home or in the car, whatever. They have expertise that something that they’re good at. I’m good at listening. I’m good at solving people’s problems.

[00:16:30] Maha: I’m good at untangling something that a lot of people are stuck on. I’m good at talking to people. I’m good at writing. I’m good at, um, producing, like I’m a machine. Like some people, everyone has something that they have to offer and there’s a way that they learned it or there’s a process that they go about it.

[00:16:50] Maha: It could be a morning routine, it could be a workout, it could be how they approach their nutrition. It could be how they approach a big task that they have to break down [00:17:00] into smaller pieces. So I think if someone’s thinking about, well, how do I do that on camera? How do I translate that into content for social media, again, find something you feel natural doing.

[00:17:08]  Maha:: You could just write a note and take a picture of that note and post that. Like, don’t overthink that you have to produce something and you have to be good on camera. Sometimes I do that. I write something on a post-it note, take a picture, and I post that because it’s easy, it’s authentic, it’s my handwriting.

[00:17:24]  Maha: I I just want you to not overthink the steps. The most important thing is to share and to get it out there and, and to bring value to the audience, like you said is the most important thing. Charles: So. Obviously you have all of these skills you’ve developed over your career. Yes. What, how did you get to be so Maha?

[00:17:45] Maha’s Career Journey and Philosophy

[00:17:45]  Maha:: Well, I think I’m very curious. I’m a very curious person. So when I was in college, I went to school here in Mankato State. When I was interning, I was in grad school and I interned for the local TV station, K-E-Y-C-T-V-C-B-S affiliate in Mankato, Minnesota, a very small town [00:18:00] news network, and I got that bug.

[00:18:03]  Maha: I was in the newsroom where some information was coming in off the wire. We would have to figure out how to package the story and tell it before it went broadcast onto the network and the public could see it. And I just got that thrill for the bug of information and learning and storytelling. I have that curiosity thing where I’m like, I’m 55 years old.

[00:18:23]  Maha:: I, I’m always curious. I wanna learn how I, like last night I was like trying to take this AI course ’cause I wanna learn how things work. Like I think that’s how I got to be. How I am is like, I was always curious, I was always excited about the news industry being in the pulse of what’s happening in real time.

[00:18:38]  Maha: Like I can tell you everything going on right now, today from the sports world to music, to culture, to entertainment, to ai. Like I just am a curious person and I just wanna be fed with that knowledge. And I think if I’m not learning, I’m not growing. If I’m not growing, I’m gonna die. So like, I need to always kind of feed my curiosity and luckily we live in a realtime world where I can get access to [00:19:00] everything from LeBron James’ morning routine to what Charles did on his flight yesterday.

[00:19:06] Charles: So what is your, when you think of all of the things you do to be curious. What, what’s your favorite way to learn something?  Maha: Oh, my, my learning digest is kind of, is, is very diverse. So I do get a lot from social media. So I do consume things on Instagram or I look at a, a lot of, um, experts on LinkedIn. I do love learning.

[00:19:30]  Maha: There’s a woman who writes about the future of communications. There’s a guy named Justin who writes about brand marketing. So I like to learn about different campaigns. Um, I also follow different people in the Middle East and Dubai. It’s one of the cities of the future, so they’re always on the pulse of what’s now next.

[00:19:45]  Maha: So I’m always like following specific people or experts in the Middle East. And then I talk to people. You learn a lot. From talking to people, the good old fashioned human connection. Don’t just think you have to [00:20:00] learn from the news or social media. What about people like I can learn, I mean, I call you a lot for business advice on being an entrepreneur, and so learning for people, please don’t overlook that because there’s wisdom between your two ears, and I wanna gain as much of it as I can.

[00:20:16] Charles: We have had some good chats. Yeah, we had, yeah. Uh, okay. So. Someone’s thinking, you know what? What we do is really interesting and my network’s really interesting and I think I should start a podcast ’cause I feel like there’s so much I could give. Yes. Right. And so what are the steps to creating a great podcast?

[00:20:39] Charles: And then how do you get people to listen to it? Maha: Yeah, I mean, it’s a great question Charles: I’m asking selfishly yes, obviously you have a podcast.  Maha: I mean, first of all, I love that you’re doing this right, storytelling, connecting with your audience, building your expertise, interviewing people that you wanna learn from, that you think your audience would go from, like your network’s incredible.

[00:20:56]  Maha:Why not? You know, share that expertise with others. So I think if [00:21:00] someone’s listening to this and wants to start their own podcast or like you think about keeping it simple, right? You wanna find out who, who are some people that you potentially could interview once you’ve identified what you want your podcast to be about, and it can change.

[00:21:13]  Maha: There’s not one blueprint of like you build a show, it has to be only this and stick to this. No, markets change. Interests change. You’ll grow. You will have other interests. You wanna make sure that it’s, it’s something that can grow with you because you are also gonna continue to grow. Secondly is like, I would really think about like you’re trying to build an audience, so you need to build awareness for the show.

[00:21:34]  Maha: Put out a teaser for the show. Put out the actual episode and then ask for people to give you feedback on the show. I would create a newsletter that you use that you will start creating a, you can create a newsletter using the LinkedIn template. That way it’ll send an email to everyone who subscribes and will put a notification on their page that you’ve posted a new newsletter.

[00:21:56]  Maha: Put that podcast in the newsletter. Here’s summary of the [00:22:00] episode. Here’s the episode in case you missed it. Here are the come of the three takeaways from the episode that you have. That’s definitely something you should do. So use social media to promote it, but create your own audience. The name of the game today is owning your own Audience.

[00:22:14]  Maha: How do you do that? You have to build a newsletter. People love following specific topics, specific people You can pray and spray to the world, or you can start to build your own audience, your own network of people and bring them in and then add value to them. Charles: So when you talk about adding value, you’re saying think about the things that are important to them that you can give them.

[00:22:35]  Maha: Yeah. You don’t wanna know what your audience wants. It’s simple. Ask them. Yeah. Hey guys, I’m gonna do a podcast. What guests will you guys be interested in learning from? Or who would you be interested in learning from? Or, I have three topics I’m thinking about for the next show. Which one do you guys like?

[00:22:50]  Maha: Mm-hmm. You know, people wanna give their opinion and why not do what your audience wants, because that helps build trust, build a connection, build a relationship, grow [00:23:00] loyalty. Ask them. It’s one, one of the most overlooked things. The internet can give you real time insights and feedback. Say, Hey guys, I’m planning on doing this.

[00:23:09]  Maha:What’s the best way for us to connect with you? Or, what’s the best idea you think? And, and let, take a poll. Get that audience engagement. Get feedback and simple. Just ask them. Charles: Yeah. Yeah, that’s a really good point. You know, I feel like social media is such a great medium to get feedback. It, you get instant pulse.

[00:23:27] Charles: I mean, I’m at the point now where I get so many dms on the story post. I can’t keep up with them, and then I go over to Facebook, I’m like, I haven’t even looked at these. Yeah, I feel like I’m falling behind and,  Maha: but you need to just carve it into your schedule, Charles, like 15 minute. Always think about tiny experiments.

[00:23:43]  Maha:Don’t try to boil the ocean. Don’t try to do big things because that’s not what’s gonna make progress. Say I’m gonna spend 10 minutes a day responding to people, then I’m gonna spend 10 minutes a day, twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening. If you book it into your schedule, like everything else you do in your life that you prioritize.

[00:23:59]  Maha: It’ll become [00:24:00] easier to manage. Mm-hmm. And also, you know, get help, get people who, who are really good at social, who enjoy social. Yeah. A big thing that I, I get at questions a lot, a lot. It’s like, I don’t really like social media, but I know I need to do it. What should I do? Mm. I’m like, there are tons of kids that love being on social and they’d love to get paid to be on social.

[00:24:17]  Maha: Find someone who’s really passionate about it and can take that off your plate. Charles: Oh yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s funny ’cause I go in like these, uh, like sprints of doing a lot and then not doing a lot. And then when earlier on the podcast you just said, don’t be that weirdo that, uh, is there and then just disappears on people.

[00:24:35] Charles: And I was like, oh my gosh, I’ve done that before. Yeah. Not on purpose, but because I’m like,  Maha: well, you get busy. You’re traveling, you have family, you’re on vacation. Yeah. You’re with your clients. You clients, like, Charles: nothing’s happening. My views aren’t changing at all. What’s going on? Yeah. Maha:  It takes a while.

[00:24:47]  Maha: Like it just, I want you to think about it, of where you’d like to be a year from now. Hmm. It’s not about short-term gains. Mm-hmm. It’s about long-term wins. So what could you be doing consistently today? It’s just like diet, exercise. [00:25:00] Like I need to just put in the rest. Charles: Which by the way, you look amazing and  Maha: you do too, by the way.

[00:25:05] Charles: It’s been a lot of work.  Maha: I was gonna say. I can see it. Um, but I feel like we really need to shout out Jess, who’s been working out with me. He’s made me much better. Um, but I feel like you really need to think about what could you do consistently? Because if you could do it twice a week and that’s all you can do, that’s great.

[00:25:22]  Maha: Yeah. Don’t beat yourself up. Yeah. But I found like we are gonna be on social media forever. It’s not gonna be turned off ever one day. Mm-hmm. So, and the internet right now is for free. We have access to build our brands for free. We have access to sell this to any customer right now. Mm-hmm. I can take anything in my house and go on TikTok shop and do a QVC style shopping and sell it and, and ship it to somebody.

[00:25:45]  Maha:  We have extraordinary access to build a business on the internet. It’s real. They said the number one thing students coming outta the workforce wanna do is become YouTube creators. Charles: Really?  Maha: Yeah. YouTube creators. They make so much money. Charles: I mean, I love, I [00:26:00] honestly, I love YouTube. I get, I didn’t use to watch a lot of YouTube and now I get sucked into these hour long episodes of stuff like Steven Bartlett, diary of a CEO.

[00:26:08] Charles: Yeah. I’m literally, he is the inspiration to what I’m doing. Yeah. That’s great. I, I’m addicted to his content. Yeah. I’m like, what is wrong with me?  Maha: It’s valuable content. It’s a good show. It’s easy format. Yeah. He always digests it for you, but he also, his model of how he does it, put the teaser out, how they introduce the guests.

[00:26:25] Maha:There’s a format of how they follow it. Charles: Yeah. He’s a great blueprint. So I want to ask you about something I know you’re gonna have a ton of insight on and a ton of opinions on which I, I am dying to hear about this. In a world that is AI is exploding. Yes. And it is taking over a lot of things. What is your take on AI and the use of it and the tools and creating and Yeah.

[00:26:51] Charles: You know, I mean, it not being lazy, et cetera.  Maha: Yeah, I think, I think AI is an incredible technology and [00:27:00] revolution that’s gonna have extraordinary benefits. I think. Look at medical breakthroughs, look at education breakthroughs, the things that we can learn from ai. Uh, is it gonna replace us? No. Um, is it gonna be an incredible, valuable tool to work alongside us?

[00:27:12]  Maha: A hundred percent. It can improve our productivity, our scale, our ideas, help us structure systems, you know, calculate and tabulate data. Like it can, it can do tremendous things faster than humans. Tremendous. But the best way to work with AI is to use ai, right? You can’t just like learn how to be a chef without getting in the kitchen.

[00:27:35]  Maha: Same thing goes for ai. Like even for my team members, I’m like, you’re not gonna be replaced by ai. You’re gonna be replaced by someone who knows how to use it. Mm-hmm. So you gotta start experimenting with it, seeing how it can help you with ideation, with research, with helping you do shortcuts. Like I was actually online today. 

[00:27:52]  Maha: I use Google Tools, Google Gemini, and there’s a document that me and my colleague are working on, and I saw [00:28:00] this little button that I didn’t see before. It was like a Gemini button. And I pushed it and it said it. And then the, this hover over said like, give me the scoop or tell me what changed. And she worked on the document yesterday and I came in this morning to check it and it gave me like a little popup summary of all the changes she made.

[00:28:17]  Maha:So I was like, that seems that’s time saving, like for before I even opened the file. I can see a summary of what the three changes were that she made. I popped in, looked at ’em good to go. Like I didn’t have to reread the whole, that just saved me tons of time. Yeah. Of going through a 10 page document. I got all the bullets.

[00:28:33]  Maha: I went and checked them. Good to go. So I feel like you need to figure out how you can be more efficient and how you can use your time for the bigger tasks that need your brain power. Um, and so I feel like it’s extraordinary. I’m using it across different things. Like today I was trying to, I’m gonna automate some workflows to try to make my team more efficient.

[00:28:52]  Maha:I’m like, what are the biggest things about your job that you hate? Hmm. And so they’re like, these things just take so much time. Well, is there a way to automate that through ai? [00:29:00] We’re gonna find out. Charles: So are, do you have any favorite tools that you use when you’re, I mean, you mentioned Gemini, obviously, or chat Useem.

[00:29:07]  Maha: T We use Gemini. We don’t use chat. Bt it’s like public and stuff like that. So we, we do a lot of client work that’s private. So we, we use Gemini. We have a closed system within our company that we use for that, um, anthropics tool, claudee. Is extraordinary. I feel like that company’s gonna be the bigger company to watch when it comes to this space.

[00:29:25]  Maha: Yeah. So Claude. Claude. Yep. Claude is a great one. Those are the two big ones that we use. We have other kind of social media content platform tools that we use and we, we use the AI tools within them. Charles: So why not GPT You’re saying just ’cause it’s not as secure?  Maha: It’s just, it’s more, everything on there I think is a little bit more public.

[00:29:40]  Maha:  And so I like, I might use it for like planning a vacation or looking for a menu or like, you know, I have like a question I wanna ask. I’m like, I, I’ve recently found out I have high cholesterol and so I’m like, what are the foods I should avoid or the foods I should eat? Did you know that you could put all your macros into chat, GBT and it?

[00:29:59]  Maha: You [00:30:00] can just tell it what you ate and it can keep track of your macros every single day. That’s crazy. And at the end of the week, and it’ll tell you, like sometimes I can just send like a picture of what I’m eating, like the product and then it’ll, it knows the label. Like, so I use it for stuff like that.

[00:30:14]  Maha: Yeah. My personal stuff. But I wouldn’t ever put like. Company stuff or private things in there? Charles: Yeah, just don’t go on statin drugs that they’re linked to, like Alzheimer’s and stuff. Really? I don’t know if you’ve seen that. Okay. But there’s a lot of like statins are really, I started on the carnivore diet and I can’t eat red meat though.

[00:30:31]  Maha:Well, you don’t have to eat red meat. Charles: You could eat other, you could eat chicken or fish, I suppose, but I lost like 20 pounds in two weeks and it just keeps getting better. Now I’m supposed to eat a lot of fat ’cause you’re not eating a lot of carbs. Yeah, but I gotta tell you, my energy has never been more steady and stable.

[00:30:49] Charles: Yeah, you look very now the everything. Thanks. That the other thing that, uh. I’ve heard is, oh well your cholesterol’s gonna be a mess. Uhoh better go in, check your blood work. [00:31:00] All the new research that I’ve read, like Paul Salad, Dino’s book, um, wow, we just took a health detour. That’s great. Paul Salad, Dino’s book, carnivore code.

[00:31:09] Charles: They talk about all the science behind, um, how the people that have the longest lifespans actually have the highest cholesterol and that we’re demonizing cholesterol ’cause it cells. Drugs. So I don’t know if that’s a fact, but I need to look at that. I’m doing a lot of research on it and I’m like, well this is interesting.

[00:31:27] Charles: So I’m still learning. I’m not a doctor and I would never pretend to be one, but I will tell you that doing carnivore has made me feel really good.  Maha: Yeah. I mean, I like, I like my steaks from Gianni’s. Yeah, I wanna go to Manny. So you can’t eat any red meat? Well, no. Not that I can’t. Yeah, but you’re not supposed to if you have high cholesterol, like just butter.

[00:31:44] Charles: Yeah, I don’t need butter, but I put butter in my coffee now. You do? Yeah. I wake up in the morning, have coffee. Jessica makes a French press. I put two tablespoons of butter in it and I drink it with some Stevia and I’m not hungry till like one o’clock. It’s pretty [00:32:00] awesome. That’s pretty awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:32:01] Charles: Anyways, little health detour there. You did. Very divergent. But, uh, when you think back to the ai, because, but actually wait.  Maha: Going back to your personal brand, Charles, lemme give you a quick little, uh, consulting session right now. Yes, I would love that. I think you should talk about your life as a CEO and some of the things that you do to stay healthy.

[00:32:17]  Maha: Okay. What are, what’s your routine? What are some of the things you’re eating? What’s your workout? You’re traveling a lot. Mm-hmm. What do you take with you? Do you pack protein bars? Do you take powders? Mm-hmm. Are you taking any, um, you know, sleep stuff? Like, I feel like mm-hmm. You are incredible. CEO of a cool company.

[00:32:34]  Maha: You do a lot of events, you’re on stage, you’re doing things backstage. Like I just feel like, I would like to know what’s your diet? Mm. And how do you stay healthy? How do you get in your workouts? Yeah, that’s interesting. ’cause it’s part of you. Charles: Hmm. I like that.  Maha: Yeah. I mean, and you should share that as part of your personal brand because I feel like I wanna know someone with your, you supervise an incredible team of people.

[00:32:57] Charles: Yeah. Coming up on 50.  Maha: Do you work out in the [00:33:00] morning? Yeah. Do you like Charles: Yeah, I work out at 7 45 every day. Except Wednesday I take a rest day because I was starting to feel like really sore constantly and I was like, I think I need to have a little rest in here. I hit 40 and I was like, uh.  Maha:Yeah. So I think like just that kind of thing, like what you eat, how do you, you know, take your, you know, coffee.

[00:33:19]  Maha:  Like all that stuff is so interesting. I love learning that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Really. So Especi so’s especially for high performance people, like Yeah, I’d love it. Like a lot of pe you know, a question I get all the time is, how do you not have jet lag? ’cause you go to Dubai, like for a day or two, you come back to ask it.

[00:33:33] Charles: I think time to know this about you because you go back and forth to Dubai like it’s nothing all the time. Yeah. And I like, what is your trick? Yeah.  Maha: Well the trick is there’s an app called Charles: Time shifter.  Maha: Time shifter can write that down. And so like two days before you leave, you start to adjust your schedule, you start to adjust your coffee.

[00:33:48] Maha: Like I, the minute I get on the plane, no matter what time I, I always sleep right away. Like, don’t stay up, don’t watch movies, don’t eat the meal. It’s full of salt. Don’t do the, I don’t do any of that [00:34:00] stuff. The only time I’ll eat on the plane if, if I’m first class in Emirates, which isn’t very often ’cause uh, depending on my clients, but because it’s 50 grand a ticket.

[00:34:07]  Maha: Yeah. It’s like very expensive. But I think, I think, you know, I don’t, I don’t, I sleep right away. Like, even if I’m going to Europe and the flight’s like three or four o’clock or five o’clock and I’m going to Paris or London or something for work. Mm-hmm. I, I, you just force yourself to sleep right away so that you can get on the other time zone.

[00:34:22] Charles: Interesting.  Maha:  Yeah, but I’m just saying it’s like, it’s like a, it’s like a executive traveling thing. Yeah. But it’s also a personal brand thing. Yeah. Like what’s your trick? Teach us, like we wanna know how can you always travel like that go? Because I never have jet lag, but I just learned how to build a framework and build a system.

[00:34:37] Charles: That’s amazing. You know, I was doing. I love that you do that. I’m gonna totally use that. When in 2016. Wow. That was a while ago. We were doing an event for the Pope in Poland. Wow. And we had to go over there to do a site visit before we would then later go over for the event. And I remember [00:35:00] talking to my doc and I was like, Hey, I’ve got this flight.

[00:35:03] Charles: I’m a little anxious about like, not the flying, but like the sleeping jet leg thing. And he’s like, oh, you gotta be good to go. Yeah. Yeah. So he was like, let me give you, I’ll just give you a prescription at Ambien. Just take one right before you take off and then you’ll be good. And so I was like, okay. So I get on the plane and I’m, I’m traveling with like this guy who’s on staff at the time.

[00:35:25] Charles: And um, I take the Ambien and I fall asleep and all of a sudden, you know, like the rumbling of the plane is like about to land. And I’m like, oh, that worked really well. And I looked down and somebody’s like. Half eaten tray of food is sitting on the in front of me. And I’m looking at it like, first of all, who did this, this, and why did they put their food in front of me?

[00:35:47] Charles: And I said to the guy next to me who was with me, I was like, whose food is in my lap? And he was like. That’s yours, dude. You ate that? And I was like, wait a minute, I ate that food. I don’t, I don’t [00:36:00] remember eating that food. And he is like, yeah, it looked kind of funny. And then you just nodded off.  Maha: You woke up, you ate and you put up.

[00:36:06]  Maha: Yeah, but I feel like it’s just, that’s so funny.  Charles; My memory was completely shot during that time.  Maha: Yeah. So like a lot of people take melatonin or another like supplement called Let Me Sleep or Alice. Those like, there’s, there’s other, uh, things that you can do. Magnesium obviously helps. AG One has a new drink called A GZ, which I’ve just got.

[00:36:23] Charles: I love it. Ooh, yeah. A GZ.  Maha: Yeah, basically you take it before bed. Yeah, it’s like a drink though. It’s like melatonin. Yeah, it’s Altheine. Yeah, exactly. So good, really good stuff. Charles:  I’ll have to check that out. Hey, ag, you should sponsor. No, I’m just kidding. Um, when you think about AI tools though, yes. Uh, how do I know if I, how do I know if I’m being lazy?

[00:36:46] Charles: By using them and how do I use ’em the right way? Like, I don’t want my audience to be like, well he, he wrote that post with ai.  Maha: You should use AI to help you structure and scale your stories, [00:37:00] but it should be your ideas and your thinking. Hmm. So like, for example, you might put into one of the tools that you’re using.

[00:37:09]  Maha: I’m the CEO of EideCom. You know, give it a persona so it knows who you are. I’m the CEO of EideCom. You have to train the tool. Yeah. Otherwise it’s not gonna work good for you. But I’m the CEO of EideCom. I’m getting ready to do, to talk internally to my employees. I really wanna motivate them on these three things.

[00:37:26]  Maha: I wanna thank these people for doing 1, 2, 3, but I really want the tone to be inspirational and upbeat because we’re getting ready to go to the fourth quarter and that’s always a big challenge. Hmm. Can you gimme some ideas of how I can open my talk so that I can hit these values of my company? So you’re giving a persona, you’re giving it your tone that you want, you’re giving it the specific things you really want to hit on.

[00:37:52]  Maha: They’re your ideas, you are thinking. And then it’ll come up with something, then take that and then tweak it, massage it, and then deliver it and does the same, but it’s a [00:38:00] collaborative process. Not like, oh, copy and paste and go repeat that. ’cause you don’t, it doesn’t know you as well as, you know, your team and your, your vision for how you want that to come off.

[00:38:09] Charles: So does the same thing go for like making a a LinkedIn post or  article? Like you, you don’t want it to be. In someone else’s words.  Maha: Yeah, I mean, LinkedIn is cracking on down right now because they, he is like, a lot of people can just like go to chat GBT and write a post copy and paste in their creator and influencer.

[00:38:27] Charles: So LinkedIn’s like downgrading that.  Maha: Yeah. They’re like, no, there, there, there’s ways to check. You can go right now and copy and paste anything. From the internet and put it into a a, a Chad sheet. A scanner. Yeah, scanner. And it’ll tell you, is this 70% originated by, you know, interesting. So you can’t get away with it.

[00:38:44] Charles: Yeah. Yeah. So you have to, so are you saying be thinking you, are you saying that you would then have to rewrite it in your own words?  Maha: Yeah, I would use it for direction of ideas or concepts, help me structure my story. I didn’t think about structuring it that way or scaling it. Like, okay, I need to scale this to a [00:39:00] lot of people.

[00:39:00]  Maha:What’s the most inclusive language I can use? I need a funny opener, but I don’t wanna hurt people’s feelings. What’s the right tone? Like, there’s a lot of good feedback and insights you can get from collaborating with it. Charles: For sure. So what are, speaking of that, ’cause you mentioned LinkedIn’s cracking down when you look at the, um, you know the different algorithms you’ve watched them change over the years.

[00:39:20] Charles: A hundred percent. Right? So what are things that people should be thinking when it comes to the posting and the quality, the frequency, the kind, and, and not tripping up on. Old ideas, old algorithm. Oh, well if you post, you know, with hashtags, I’ve heard hashtags are not as important anymore. Important, yeah.

[00:39:39] Charles: Like what trends are you seeing there?  Maha: Yeah. A couple things. There’s a couple of things you should do is one is look at your industry and think about how you can bring value to the things in your industry that are happening. Right? Look at the calendar, what’s coming up between now and end of the year.

[00:39:52]  Maha: That might be a really good way, the way for your content to matter is to be relevant. Mm. So how do I be relevant? I could look at the [00:40:00] calendar. Um, event season is coming up. Like, I don’t know if you have a seasonality for specific Charles: Totally. Yeah. That you’re doing corporate event season. Yeah, yeah.

[00:40:06] Charles: Corporate event season.  Maha: What are some things I should be thinking about if I am going to be hiring an events agency? Basically, if I wanna hire EideCom, what are five things I need to know that I need to do? Have a good brief, understand your audience, understand the logistics of your venue, whatever those tips are that you wanna give.

[00:40:23]  Maha:Mm-hmm. I always try to do stuff like that around timely news event. Mm. Right. Or everyone is back to school or football season kicks off. Like what can you do to be relevant to conversations people are interested in? Mm. And people are already having. Mm. That way you close the gap, you don’t need to like lead them on that bridge.

[00:40:41]  Maha: They’re already there. So that’s the first thing you can do. The understand the industry and your calendar and how to be relevant in culture. The second thing I think about is look at your own business. Are there any milestones, any team members you wanna celebrate? Things that you have product launches coming up that are gonna be moments where you wanna tell better stories or tell bigger [00:41:00] stories and use your own brand as a platform to connect with the that audience.

[00:41:06]  Maha: And then third thing is don’t overlook the people in your building. Mm. Stories come from anywhere. Your head of hr, the person who works on the techie, the the guy who’s loading up the truck, like their stories come from inside the building that help people love your brand, love your business. It’s about the people behind the scenes, not just you and your leadership and your vision, but nothing happens without your crew.

[00:41:29]  Maha: Mm-hmm. So highlight your crew. Charles: Yeah. I was just thinking about the idea of, you know, when we send out a proposal Yep. With a deck, uh, a lot of times. It’s put in competition with a number of other proposals. Now we do everything we can to make the deck look good. Image, you know, the whole thing. Yeah. But I was like, but the, the real difference is are people, right?

[00:41:51] Charles: Like everybody has that gear. Like not everybody, but you know what I mean? Yeah. It’s like it’s a commodity. Yeah. And, but what’s not a commodity  Maha: is the people and the, and your service. [00:42:00] Yeah. And your approach. Yeah. And your attention to detail and your care for customer and your love for service. Yes. And your passion for events.

[00:42:06]  Maha: Yes. Like you have to make sure that comes through. Charles: Yeah. So I was like, maybe we should make like video stories about each really interesting person or every person.  Maha: Yeah. That and about like what’s it take to put on an event like this? Yeah. Like the project manager and then rewind it and then show the person who has to do the graphics on the screen.

[00:42:24]  Maha: The person who has to wreck you, the stage, the person who has to like all of those, those details that builds affinity for my brand to love you. Because like, oh my God, the effort that goes into this is insane. Charles: It’s unbelievable.  Maha: And you’re actually taking me behind the scenes. Yeah. Like if you had a behind the scenes of that Pope thing, that would be incredible.

[00:42:41]  Maha: I would love to see that. Charles: I, I. I think we’re gonna try and figure that out. ’cause it was an absolutely fascinating experience. In fact, funny story, when the Pope was about to enter, they had everybody that was in the crew or standing stand inside these tape lines they put on the [00:43:00] floor and they said, uh, you cannot step out of this box.

[00:43:04] Charles: Okay. Unless you want to have trouble with the Swiss guard or the police. Oh wow. So I’m standing on like this corner and there’s this big Swiss guard guy, you know, the Pope security and he’s standing next to me with this umbrella. And then I’m like looking around the room and I’m like, all the Swiss Guard guys are wearing, um, or have umbrellas.

[00:43:24] Charles: And I’m like, what is going on here? And I said, Hey man. What’s with the umbrella? Why do you have this umbrella? And it’s not gonna rain in here. Uh, we’re indoors. And he was like, oh, this is a, this is a shield. And he kinda cracked it open, and I’m not joking you, it was like a Kevlar shield in there. Wow.

[00:43:45] Charles: And he pointed to another one and he was like, this one machine gun. I was like, they look like umbrellas, but they’re not. They look like umbrellas, but they’re not. It was kind, I mean, I don’t know what they do today. That was 10 years ago. Yeah. But that was, yeah. I’m sure there’s something, yeah.

[00:43:58] Charles: Unbelievable.  Maha: But just like your [00:44:00] stories of like, you know, events gone wrong or things that happened or, yeah. Charles: My events don’t go wrong. Okay. No. But like something that happens. I’m sure there’s things that, like if a, a client could learn from all those mistakes. I mean, I’m learning a, I’m learning, we’re going through some things that we’re learning big lessons and we’re filming the whole thing right now.

[00:44:17] Charles: Yeah. Because the other side of this. Is that we’re gonna release like a behind the scenes called, uh, flight log, and it’s gonna be all behind the scenes of EideCom, like a day in the life. That’s so fun. So that, that’s  Maha: so I wanna see that peel back the curtain. I wanna see that. Yeah. It’s, that’s the kind of stuff that build, that tells story that builds audio relationships with your audience.

[00:44:37] Charles: Yeah. So we’re, we’re excited about that, but I wanted to move on to asking you some questions more about high pressure moments. Okay. Right. This is something you coach leaders on dealing with when, when a leader is stepping into a very high pressure moment and everybody, the world is watching. When you’re in that back green room talking to them [00:45:00] before they go out for that press conference or whatever, what are you saying to them?

[00:45:04] Handling High-Pressure Moments and Crisis Management

[00:45:04]  Maha:  Well, I think a big part of, uh, my job is to build and protect reputation. So we’re trying to do offense to make sure nothing bad happens, but sometimes we have to do fee defense when a crisis hits, right? And so a couple things is don’t overreact, stay calm. A lot of times when um, bad situation happens, a bad news story or a high pressure situation, our gut is to overreact.

[00:45:28]  Maha: We get emotional. We wanna protect ourselves, we wanna say something we wanna defend. Mm. That’s the exact opposite of what you should do. Mm. You need to take a pause. You need to not attach it emotionally to you. You need to remove yourself from the situation. And that’s why we were like, we’re the guiding hand.

[00:45:47]  Maha: Mm. We’re the crisis counselors that come in and say, listen, if you respond to quickly to a situation, you might make it worse. Often when you see a news story going viral, everyone wants to have their 2 cents or change their [00:46:00] Instagram feed and you know, bandwagon and get in on a story that’s probably still evolving.

[00:46:06]  Maha: So I’m always like, I know it’s really, really hard, but don’t do anything. Don’t post, don’t see anything. Charles: So like go silent.  Maha: I would just take a pause. Okay. To see how it plays out. ’cause a lot of situations are super fluid and you just, sometimes we tend to overreact and then we said something and we put our hand out there and then like now we can’t take it back.

[00:46:25]  Maha: Nothing on the internet is erasable. Right. So my first advice, I would say in a high pressure situation, take a pause, take a step back, reflect and think, am I gonna make this situation better? Am I gonna make it worse? Is my va, am I adding anything, gonna add value to this conversation or the situation?

[00:46:42]  Maha: And if I’m a high pressure situation where I kind of feel insecure or uncomfortable, literally it’s about doing breath work, taking a breath and just. Pausing. Hmm.  Maha:So when you, when you’re talking to somebody that, let’s say it’s not a, um, let’s say it’s not a crisis. Yes. But you’re [00:47:00] coaching a, a leader, um, a big CEO.

[00:47:03] Charles: They’re about to take the stage. They’ve never done this, and, and you’re giving them that last moment Yes. Before they walk on and they’re, they’re, they’re nervous. Yeah. What do you say to them?  Maha: Rely on yourself. You did so much to get to here. Lean on your values. Go back into your, well, of all the things that got you here that prepared you for this moment, I always think about like, if you were taking in the stage, there must have been something you did.

[00:47:30] Maha: Right. People asked you to be here. People want to hear from you. People wanna see from you. So just reminding them who they are, reminding them of the success and the steps and the struggles and the failures they had to take to get there. I always say that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is part of your success.

[00:47:51] Maha: I remind them of that. Charles: That’s so powerful because there’s really nothing to memorize then. Maha: No, just be [00:48:00] yourself because you got here for a reason. I always used to say, and I put this in my book, um, if not me, who? And if not, now when. And so sometimes I say, what’s the alternative? If you don’t do this ’cause you’re afraid of failure or afraid of what people will think of you or afraid that it may not work out, what’s the alternative?

[00:48:18] Maha: Hmm. If you don’t do it, you’re never gonna know. Right. So many things that I faced in my life, I didn’t know I was capable of doing them. I didn’t think I could do them. ’cause no one had asked me before. But then when I got put to the test or got asked to do something, I’m like, I’m not a speech writer. I don’t write speeches.

[00:48:38] Maha: And then they asked me to write a speech for the Prime Minister of Egypt. And I was like, I don’t even know how to do that. How do you write a speech for, he’s like basically the head of state. But then I figured it out. And actually I’m a really good speech writer and now I’m like, yeah, I’m a speech writer.

[00:48:54] Maha: Now I can do it. You know, I always think about what would I wanna hear if I was in the audience? Yeah. [00:49:00] How do I tell a story? Am I good at writing? I can write. What’s the difference between that and saying it out loud? How do you like just learning a new skill? That curiosity, I’m curious to see if I’m capable of doing something I’d never done before.

[00:49:10] Maha: Hmm. You’d be surprised if everyone listening to this show right now, what you’re capable of doing. You just don’t know. ’cause you have never been asked. Hmm. That’s amazing. Charles: I remember, uh, when my, on my first episode with Kris Lindahl, he said that he was in a lot of trouble with a lot of things when he was in middle school, high school.

[00:49:32] Charles: And it took one coach that believed in him and asked him to step up and like. Gave become something. Yeah. Gave him, yeah. And he well, and believed in him and he was like, it, it literally changed the entire course of my life when that guy asked me to step up and Maha: no one had done that before and be great.

[00:49:51] Charles: It no one had done it for him. And it was just so amazing. Because you’re right, like a lot of times we don’t, we don’t have someone [00:50:00] giving us the opportunity. You have to give it to ourselves. Yeah. Right. You have to step into it like this. Especially when we’re adults. Yeah. No one’s gonna put you at the top of your priority list, Charles, but you, no one’s gonna hand you something on a silver platter.

[00:50:12] Maha: You need to ask for that promotion. You need to ask for that raise. You need to ask for that opportunity. No one’s gonna give it to you because you think you deserve it. You need to advocate for yourself. And I think it’s hard for people to do that, but I’m like, that’s why I say, if not you, who? And if not now when?

[00:50:29] Charles: Yeah. Yeah. Believing in yourself. Yeah. I mean, it sounds so cliche, but it’s like at the core of so many problems. Maha: Yeah. But like, why would, if I don’t believe in myself, why would I expect you to believe in me? To gimme your business or to help you, right. In any way, shape or form. Yeah. Like, I have to believe otherwise people will, will know that I’m not good enough to do it for them either if I don’t think I’m good enough to do it for myself.

[00:50:53] Charles: I think that’s one of my favorite things about you is how bold you are. Like, like, and, and how bold you are with the, the [00:51:00] knowledge you have. It’s just, it’s infectious, you know? Maha: Well, it’s just, um, thank you for saying that. I’m so grateful that you, I am actually friends with you in the first place, but I feel like I didn’t really have a lot of choices, Charles.

[00:51:13] Maha: Right. My parents were, my mom had ms, my dad had multiple, uh, uh, a LSI grew up a caretaker most of my life. I grew up in Minnesota, ended up moving to Egypt when I was 27. Didn’t have any friends, didn’t speak the language, didn’t know anybody, didn’t know anything. My mom is disabled. Like I didn’t have the best cards and I kind of had to figure it out.

[00:51:36] Maha: I kind of had to figure out what’s the best way for me to make friends in Egypt. How do you make friends? How do you, did you have to speak Arabic? How do, I don’t know how to, how do you network Arabic? I didn’t. I had to learn Arabic. Yeah, I didn’t speak Arabic like, but it was just like, that’s why my book is about self-reliance.

[00:51:51] Seven Rules of Self-Reliance Book Discussion

[00:51:51] Maha: Like I had to rely on myself to figure it out. And then once I did, I was like, okay, I’m gonna rely on myself to build my own relationships. ’cause I can’t like come to you and say, Hey Charles, [00:52:00] you know that network you have? Can I, can I borrow those? Why can’t I learn how to build a relationship with someone and maintain a relationship?

[00:52:06] Maha: It’s a skill that everybody needs. Charles: And now you have the biggest network of anybody I know, which is insane. Maha: Well, I made it my business because I don’t wanna have to rely on somebody else to help me. I wanna know how to call someone if I need something. So I have to like learn how to add value to my network, how to serve them, how to show up consistently, how to be a good person.

[00:52:25] Maha: All of those things build not just my reputation, but build relationships that I can also, you know, leverage in the future. Charles: So speaking of relationships Yes. And all this digital stuff, I wanted to get your take on. What is the difference between visibility and credibility? Maha: Yeah. I think a, a lot of people think that if you are an influencer and you’re visible, that you have influence that you don’t.

[00:52:54] Maha: Hmm. You have to have credibility, you have to have trust. Somebody might have a lot of [00:53:00] followers, but have no influence. Visibility means that you are out there, but do people trust you? That’s the piece that has to do with credibility. So how do you build, how do you build that? How do you build trust? Yeah.

[00:53:14] Maha: Showing up for people, being consistent in your behavior, doing what you say you’re gonna do. Charles: So like the normal human things. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, just being reliable, being trustworthy. It’s something you have to earn. Maha: Yeah, exactly. Charles: Wow. Okay, so another question I’ve been dying to ask you is, what’s a mistake that you see leaders making constantly when they’re telling their story?

[00:53:42] Charles: Like, you’re like, oh, there it is again. Maha:  It’s not about, it’s not about them. It is, it’s about your audience. Like, don’t make it about you. Hmm. A lot of people’s, like, I don’t wanna post like, oh, who’s she? Who does she think she is? Or what is she doing? Posting that again, I’m like, guess this. It’s not about me if I’m trying to do something for the audience.

[00:53:59] Maha: So the biggest [00:54:00] mistake is they overthink it. They think it’s about them, it’s about the audience. What’s the value you’re creating for them? And you had mentioned you get better at that by asking your audience, what do they care about? Where can, where can you bring the most expertise? Like for my content, sometimes I’m like, what do you guys wanna know?

[00:54:17] Maha: Do you wanna know about, you know, PR stuff, communication stuff, what it’s like to run your own business, what it’s like to travel to Dubai, what it’s like doing business in the Middle East. Do you wanna hear about like, what am I wearing? Do you wanna learn about my love for sports and why do I love sports so much?

[00:54:32] Maha: Like, I wanna know what do they care about, like lifestyle stuff or business stuff. And then you, you kind of deliver what people need. Charles: I mean, that’s one of the things I love about your book is it’s so relatable on so many levels to just about everybody. Yeah. It’s fun. Oh, she’s just bringing a copyright there and it just magically appears.

[00:54:52] Maha:  Thank you. Just like television. Charles: Uh, so tell me about your book. Maha: Yes. I mean, I’ve read it. Yes. Clearly. You, you gotta [00:55:00] actually, one of the first copies I, I read the manuscript. Yeah. You were actually the first person I sent it to. I literally think so My sister read it and probably you, I loved it. Yeah, I was, I, I honestly, I loved it.

[00:55:13]Maha:  I just wanted someone who’s in business to read it. Um, first of all, the book is a practical book. It’s a quick read, but it helps you figure out what are the things you need to do to be valuable to other people. Mm. What are the rules of self-reliance? Is learning how to network and build relationships. I teach you how to do it.

[00:55:29] Maha: Mm. How do you master the art of a DM on LinkedIn? How do you take a relationship from a DM to an email, to a meeting? So, building relationships is something I want everyone listening to rely on themselves to do. Hmm. You have a robust network of relationships. You’re gold for the rest of your life. People will refer you, people will work with you, people will hire you, people will recommend you.

[00:55:50] Maha: The number one social currency in the world is building relationships. So I give you a whole playbook on how to do that. Um, another one of the book rules of the book is learning, investing in yourself. No one’s [00:56:00] gonna wake up and teach you, Charles, I’m sorry. It’s not that easy. You need to teach yourself.

[00:56:04] Maha: Hmm. So how can you learn? Everything on the internet is free. Podcasts are for free. Uh, YouTube videos are for free. Books are something you can get for free. Learning from people is for free. Yeah. So how are you feeding your curiosity to invest in yourself? Um, another rule of the book is to be a value creator.

[00:56:23] Maha: What can you do? Charles: Rule number two. Maha: Rule number two, how can you create value for other people? How can I help you solve a problem? How can I make an introduction for you? How can I be so good that you’re like, I wanna keep Maha around because she’s always creating value for me, or she’s teaching me something, or she’s sharing an interesting article that she knows I care about, or she listens to my podcast like she, she’s sharing my episodes with her audience.

[00:56:46] Maha: I’m trying to create value for you by showing up for you. And that’s what being a value creator is. Charles: I mean, you live that. I mean, I do. I practice these? Maha: Yeah. From from the moment I met you. We were talking earlier about the moment when I met you. Yeah. We were at [00:57:00] WeWork in downtown Minneapolis and I saw you scurrying around.

[00:57:04] Charles: You were very busy. I was like, she’s very important. And then I saw you standing over next to Gary V and then you’re moving around. And I was like, she’s more important than Gary for certain she is. And then we met and I was like, oh my gosh. And from the minute I met you, you have been nothing but uh. The embodiment of what you’re saying.

[00:57:25] Charles: You’ve always been there to add value to me and my network and everybody I know and I’m like, yeah, this book is, yeah. Maha: So the way, the way that I get into these rooms, these private parties, these big events, to speak on these big stages, to work with the biggest names in the world, is I learned how to create value for people.

[00:57:44] Maha: And if you create value for people, they’re gonna wanna keep you around. I’ve been with Gary almost 10 years. I work with other people like Deepak Chopra and I worked, you know, on project with Halle Berry. Like I’ve done things with big names and Target and JP Morgan Chase and um, you know, there’s [00:58:00] a lot of clients that I’ve served over the years, Google, Netflix, you know, and it’s because I learned the value of being value for other people.

[00:58:07] Maha And it’s not what I think is important. I have to figure out what’s important to you, Charles, and then help you do that. Charles: Yeah. Yeah, it’s been amazing. I mean, even just being a friend of yours has been such a joy and I, and I, I truly mean that. Where can people buy your book? Maha: Amazon, please go to Amazon and buy the book.

[00:58:25] Charles: Uh, it’s available. Yeah. And make sure you leave a review too, right? Maha: Reviews are so important. Yeah. Yeah. You know that from helping Chris with his book too, I’m sure. Oh, yeah. No, the, it’s all about the reviews. It’s all about the reviews. Yeah. So, yeah, that means a lot to me. Thank you, Charles. Charles: Yeah. So you’re welcome.

[00:58:38] Closing Thoughts on Legacy

[00:58:38] Charles: Tell me this, and I like to wrap this up with this question. What do you want to be remembered. Maha: for being a value creator.  Like always someone that people could rely on that I was gonna create value for them. Like, if I’m gonna be in your life, I’m gonna add some quality to your life. Mm. And as an Auntie Maha, I’m like, I wanna be the cool Auntie Maha for my niece and nephew, that she was [00:59:00] always the person that brought the fun, that always did fun things with us, that spent time with us, that created unique experiences for us.

[00:59:08] Maha: And I wanna be that person for my team where I taught them so much. And then my friends and family, obviously just someone that people will remember that, oh, she, she brings this little quality to what we’re trying to do. Charles: You’re living that every day. Maha: Thank you. Charles: Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Pleasure’s mine.

[00:59:27] Charles: Hey, thanks for watching Cleared for Takeoff. If you enjoy this as much as I do, make sure you hit that subscribe button, maybe share it with somebody, drop a comment. We love to know what your thoughts are on each episode. And we’ll see you next week on another episode of Cleared For Take [01:00:00] Takeoff.