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Hello everybody! Glad to have you here for Episode #11 of Feminine Wealth TV! Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Brooke Alexander, Legacy and Branding expert and founder of The Legacy Project.
‘Living your Legacy’ is not just an interesting concept, it’s part of being fulfilled as you gain clarity on your goals and your purpose. It’s about being true to yourself rather than conforming to any expectations for the sake of it. Often people start thinking about ‘leaving’ a legacy towards the end of their careers or lives, as we hear from Brooke, really it is important that we give thought to that much earlier and build towards it…
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Barbara Turley: Hi there, I’m Barbara Turley and you’re watching another episode of Feminine Wealth TV, the show that uncovers the diamond tips on creating truly conscious wealth from change-makers, world-shakers, and wealth creators. I’m super excited to be joined on the show today by Brooke Alexander, who is the founder of The Legacy Project, and author of the soon-to-be-released book by the same name. Brooke, welcome to the show.
Brooke Alexander: Thanks for having me.
Barbara Turley: Yes, it’s great to have you on the show, because I know when I first found you online, because I actually found Brooke online, I was following your work. What I loved about it initially, I saw that you talk about living your legacy as opposed to leaving a legacy, which is what we normally say. Can you tell us a bit about that? What was the decision there to change those words around and just launch this new movement and wishing your legacy.
Brooke Alexander: We have been surrounded by the concept of legacy my whole entire life. I grew up on a 40,000 acre shape-weight and cattle station.
Barbara Turley: Great farm.
Brooke Alexander: My great grandfather is actually buried on one of the properties, so in the bush where you have this overwhelming sense of heritage. As a little girl, I can remember being told this is how we’ve always done it, so this idea of legacy and the actions of others from the past has kind of been in my psyche all the way through.
Barbara Turley: You’ve grown up with that.
Brooke Alexander: Yes, I learned sort of a sense of business, because I come from a family business my heart was always in bush, but my head wanted to do more. My body is made up of entrepreneurial bones.
Barbara Turley: Right, okay.
Brooke Alexander: What I considered about what people are doing and how they’re making a difference in the world, they’re consciously living their legacy, they’re not leaving a legacy by default. It’s this idea that, rather than think about why you’re doing something down the track, bring an awareness to living your purpose and your mission, and your vision, every single day.
Barbara Turley: I suppose if you are going to leave a legacy, you can’t just at the end decide: okay now I’m going to leave a legacy. You’ve actually got to build that before and along the dream.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely. Intentions is 99% of this game, as you well know. I’m sure for those watching, people understand that you need to have an intent to create something. This idea of living your legacy. We all create a legacy whether we’re conscious of it or not, that’s the defining point, I think. We’re all walking around, many people are walking around, unconscious of their actions, their thoughts, their behaviors, and they-
Barbara Turley: The footprint that you’re leaving and the impact on the world.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely. This idea of living your legacy, whether you’re an individual, or an entrepreneur, or an organization, it’s really about being active, and aware, and conscious of what you’re creating in every moment.
Barbara Turley: Tell me, the Legacy Project, we’ve talked about living a legacy, but the Legacy Project, what is that exactly.
Brooke Alexander: The Legacy Project is an extension of how you would live your legacy. Many people talk about finding their purpose and living on purpose. For a lot of people out there, that’s tough. We’re sucked into this spiritual-
Barbara Turley: They’re very upset when they can’t “find their purpose.”
Brooke Alexander: They are. You know, “What’s my purpose? I don’t know what I’m meant to be doing.” It creates fear, and this fear makes us contract rather than expand and share what our difference and contribution can be in the world. We actually make ourselves smaller. This idea of a legacy project is actually thinking beyond your immediate self. “What’s something that I can create?” For an entrepreneur, their business is their legacy project. For a writer, their book is their legacy project. For an artist … That’s taking specific examples, but if you look at big organizations, there’s legacy projects within every division-
Barbara Turley: Making up a cultural brand or an idea that they’re going after.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, I think it taps into this movement that we have around planet, and profits, and purpose and how you actually make that tangible.
Barbara Turley: Companies, there is a big movement there, there’s a whole triple bottom line accounting, that everyone’s trying to think differently, it’s not just about profit, it’s about the footprint that we’re all leaving.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, and how you’re benefiting all stakeholders. I was recently at an event that was for directors and executive directors, and the guy at the front of the room said that, “The Board, the Board Table, the Directors, they have a responsibility to all shareholders.” I piped up from the back of the room and I said, “Actually, they have a responsibility to all stakeholders.” He shut me down. That’s what the Legacy Project is all about. It’s changing thinking, it’s shaking things up. It’s saying, “No. You have to be consciously responsible.”
Barbara Turley: I think, actually for me, I love the word, “project.” It implies this sense of movement and this sense of something evolving and changing and a lot of people working on it together. I love the idea that it almost feels to me like the website or whatever is going to be this place where everybody can come together. We’re all actually living and leaving a legacy as a collective, whether we like it or not.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely. Yeah. I think that’s what’s really powerful. If we look at the web, and social media, and using the power of that for good and not evil. All we have to do is look at the rise of Upworthy, in terms of sharing content. Now, for the entrepreneurs out there, I think this is a really interesting fact that their business model was actually repurposing, there’s that word again, but repurposing content that actually existed online-
Barbara Turley: Already.
Brooke Alexander: -but sharing it in a meaningful way. I think that’s what’s hooking me into popular culture. That’s what’s making people question the role that they’re playing at work, the tasks that they’re having to entertain on a daily basis. I know for women who are going back to work-
Barbara Turley: I know.
Brooke Alexander: You know?
Barbara Turley: Women are really struggling with this. I’ve had this conversation with a few women in the corporate world. Women are, I won’t say, “leaving in droves,” but there’s two camps. There’s either the Sheryl Sandberg camp of lean into your career and feminine leadership and all that in the corporate world. Then there’s the ones going, “Yeah, I get all that, but I actually want to go my own way because that doesn’t really appeal to me anymore.”
Brooke Alexander: Yeah. I think women, and maybe the Legacy Project will attract more women than men in the short term because women actually like projects.
Barbara Turley: They do.
Brooke Alexander: It’s like, “Give me something that I can do,” and they’re done.
Barbara Turley: We love giving. It’s that whole sense of giving and contribution and growth and all those things that women tend to … I’m not saying men don’t like that, they do too. Women tend to respond very well to that.
Brooke Alexander: Something that you’re talking about, which I love, which is this whole idea of femininity and [crosstalk 00:06:58]of that, I think that’s coming into me now.
Barbara Turley: Yeah, but I think it’s the balancing up, really. I talk a lot about this feminine energy that’s coming into the world. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the world of business, wealth, politics, leadership, whatever. It’s not about men versus women. It’s that men also have feminine energy, and women also have masculine energy. The whole world has been driven by masculine energy for far too long.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly.
Barbara Turley: We just need the feminine to come in and balance things up rather than tilt it too far the other way. In terms of your own legacy project, or living your legacy, do you feel you’re living your legacy now?
Brooke Alexander: I do. I feel like I’m doing the work that I’m meant to be doing. I’m trained as a brand strategist, so I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole life. I started my first business when I was 23.
Barbara Turley: High five. I love that. I wish I had done that.
Brooke Alexander: Oh, but there are a few times where I thought, “I wish I was getting a paycheck from accounts.” That idea that I was meant to be doing something has always been in me. Right now, this is how it’s showing up. I don’t believe that we’ll have a purpose that stays true all the way through, our entire life.
Barbara Turley: It changes.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely. For me right now, I feel on purpose. I feel on track. I’m still learning in the moment, within that. A friend of mine would say that actually I’m remembering, getting my life lessons. She actually believes that we come here to remember, whereas I believe we come here to learn something that we need to know.
Barbara Turley: I’m probably more on that one, I think we need to learn, and then to impart that learning. Each of us gets a different learning and our responsibility is to impart that learning on others, so I believe the collective can learn from each other. What would you say, in finding your own voice and your own truth, it’s like finding a purpose. People really struggle with it, and they find it very difficult. What do you see in the clients that you deal with, the greatest obstacles that people have in trying to find their voice.
Brooke Alexander: That’s a great question. You know, I think historically, we have particularly in Australia and I think in the US, we have this culture of conformity.
Barbara Turley: It’s probably the Anglo-Saxon culture.
Brooke Alexander: It is. I can remember years ago, sitting at a dinner party, probably having one too many glasses of wine, that-
Barbara Turley: All the best ideas come that way.
Brooke Alexander: Of course, we have notepads, write everything down, but that, “If I could remove this concept of a tall puppy in Australia, I would go my dogs.”
Barbara Turley: Change the world!
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, and I can remember people at the time, you know we were smoking, some of us were, back then, good luck with that Brookie, I think that’s it. How do you remove that framework and that barrier. It’s really through people recognizing their talents.
Barbara Turley: Helping people to bring that out of themselves.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely. Particularly women, we become so used to wearing masks, that we become the mask.
Barbara Turley: We wear several masks. We a lot of different masks all the time. We peel one off and another appears and before you know it, you don’t even know who you are.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly. There’s that concept called, “Imposter Syndrome.”
Barbara Turley: We all have that, I think we all have that.
Brooke Alexander: To some degree. I think it serves us in some ways.
Barbara Turley: It’s probably a protection mechanism as well, in some ways.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely. It really does. I think for people to become authentic, it’s such a buzz word, I don’t love it, but it serves a purpose in that I think people do need to get really clear on what those values are. When you understand inherently what you’re values are, and I like to think of my values as my emotions and my feelings. Danielle LaPort talks about, are they called, “desired feelings.”
Barbara Turley: That’s right. I love that idea
Brooke Alexander: Danielle, if you’re watching, we love your work-
Barbara Turley: We do, yeah.
Brooke Alexander: That whole concept of being attached to the feeling, because the feeling is what we really want to feel.
Barbara Turley: Actually, the feeling … It’s interesting you say that because I always think as well, when I talk about money, I always say to people, “What does money mean to you?” Really, it’s the same thing. We’re all after a certain feeling, we’re after how it makes feel and the things we can buy or do with money. It’s how it makes us feel, and you want to tap into that to make sure people are truly getting what it is they want.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly.
Barbara Turley: Not what they think they want.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly. Big difference that one.
Barbara Turley: Big difference.
Brooke Alexander: I think that’s a big part of it, for people to actually get real. Sometimes you’ve got to have icky conversations.
Barbara Turley: Or icky experiences.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah.
Barbara Turley: Sometimes people are broken open by bad experiences or as I call them, the bitter lemons that get thrown at you in life. They crack you wide open, and actually that’s where the diamonds are. When those hit you in life, you have to go into them to find the diamonds.
Brooke Alexander: They are. Exactly. Lots of people talk about professional development programs or any type of personal journey that comment of, “I wish I didn’t have to break down to break through.”
Barbara Turley: The only way to the other side is through the middle.
Brooke Alexander: You’ve got to feel it. It’s a bit cliché, but you’ve got to feel it to heal it. You really do. I think that’s in all aspects of life. The individuals that take responsibility for their lives, they’ve been living their legacy.
Barbara Turley: What about, obviously without going through all the icky experiences and the whole journey of life to get to your legacy, is there any way we can get to “yes” with our legacy. Some steps that you can take us there.
Brooke Alexander: I think everybody over complicates things. I really do. I think we have a lot of static noise going around in our heads. I think that if you-
Barbara Turley: We have a lot of “shoulds,” and other people’s judgments and ideas about who we should be.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly, so you need to clear that. How you clear that is to simply make a decision to clear that. It actually comes from a place of inner strength. It comes from a desire to change your life. A lot of the work that I do when I’m mentoring and coaching people, I’m actually a little bit confrontational.
Barbara Turley: Well, you kind of have to push them out, you have to push them out of their comfort zone in order to find the answers.
Brooke Alexander: You do, but the answer will always be within.
Barbara Turley: It’s in there, you’ve got to bring it out.
Brooke Alexander: The right coach will always help you bring it to life. That’s really what I think people need to do, is just say, “Well, how do I get clear?” Now, for some people, that might be changing careers. For other people, that might be changing their diet. I think the world really needs to live better by eating whole foods.
Barbara Turley: I totally agree. Waking up from the slumber that we’re all in from bad food.
Brooke Alexander: The toxic chemicals.
Barbara Turley: You can’t find your core voice and your truth if you’re eating crap and you’re filling yourself full of toxins and everyday stresses.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly. It’s something I’m actually going through at the moment. I’m going through quite a dramatic lifestyle change in terms of my diet. Not in a weird-wacky-woo-woo way, just a, “Wow, I feel so much better.”
Barbara Turley: I did that a few years ago, as well. I think I was going through a big transition in my own life and thinking career and everything and I started reading about the whole nutri- … I was always a good eater, but I started eating more raw foods, and the difference in me in the years is phenomenal. In my outlook and my clarity. It’s clarity.
Brooke Alexander: Clarity, that’s what we’re after.
Barbara Turley: The fog is gone.
Brooke Alexander: You make better decisions when you’re clear. You’re not reactive, you’re proactive. You come home and someone has a bad day, you’re not uh-uh.
Barbara Turley: You feel it’s all because of you. Yeah. Somebody else’s thing is their thing.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah. That also kind of wraps into that whole thing of how are we showing up in the planet. What’s our legacy for the next generation? It’s our responsibility to actually change our habits so that organizations and companies-
Barbara Turley: Yeah, what kind of effect on everyone, our families, on the businesses you work for and create and whatever way you’re going to show up in the world. It’s a mindfulness thing, so being mindful for a while, and embrace the answer.
Brooke Alexander: So many people are meditating now, and I personally have a meditation practice, I probably don’t do it as much as I should.
Barbara Turley: I was thinking as you said that, “I do too, kind of.”
Brooke Alexander: Then you you’re saying as I’m joking, “I meditate everyday.”
Barbara Turley: I’m like, “Do I have time to do it?” After four minutes, I’m like … I do agree with you, though, it is something I try to cultivate.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, so you know, a friend of mine, he suggested just go for a morning walk meditation. Just choose to be present in that moment.
Barbara Turley: It doesn’t have to be the “Om,” thing, it can be whatever it is to you. Just out in nature and just try to clear your mind.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, totally. I think that’s a lot more realistic in our lives. If you like this idea of living a legacy and creating a legacy, then okay, “How do I make it work for me?” A lot of people have passion projects, and they discover, “That! That’s my purpose.” It doesn’t necessarily look like the life they had in the past, so they have to make a massive change.
Barbara Turley: That’s what it is, creating one.
Brooke Alexander: To create that change, I think discipline is key. Whether that’s-
Barbara Turley: You need courage to change something so big.
Brooke Alexander: You do.
Barbara Turley: I want to talk a bit now, you work with individuals, companies, and large organizations. What I wanted to ask you about that … Today, in the business world, when everyone’s talking about, “Pick your niche, get specific, I deal with women that are this age, with this problem …”
Brooke Alexander: “Know your customer avatar.”
Barbara Turley: Know your avatar and all that stuff. I love the fact that you haven’t gotten drawn in to that so much. I want to know, what are your thoughts on that and what was the decision to decide that yours was bigger than that? That small thinking.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah. Totally. Wearing the hat of [inaudible 00:16:43] I have been plagued by that concept myself, if I was going to be open and share, I have been. What I realize is that your legacy is your ultimate brand. From a commercial value proposition, I have two markets. Your brand individually is how you show up everyday in life. Choosing to live your legacy fits beautifully for the individual. For an entrepreneur is, “What is the legacy I am creating?” It’s, “What’s your brand to the market?”
Barbara Turley: I see. What’s your message?
Brooke Alexander: Exactly. To me, I have different service offerings, but I have the same individual client. All of my clients actively want to make the world a better place. They want to make a difference. Whether it’s the individual at home, in their life, with their family and their relationships. Whether it’s the entrepreneur in his organization. Whether it’s the senior leadership team about their culture and the change they need to make to engage more people. It’s the same person.
Barbara Turley: It’s the same philosophy, as well. It’s the same message and the same ideas, just in a slightly different way.
Brooke Alexander: It is.
Barbara Turley: Something I’m talking a lot about in my programs and what i do, is I firmly believe that, with business owners, I think the problem out there has been … A lot of business owners create a business vision. You’re told to create a business vision, and then a business plan, and a strategy, and work all that. The problem is they do that first, and their personal vision gets driven by the business vision. I think we need to flip that on it’s head.
Brooke Alexander: I couldn’t agree more.
Barbara Turley: Say surely, you should start with the personal vision first and every business decision that you make, you ask yourself, “Does that align with my personal vision of where I want to go, where I want to end up?” Rather than, where they’re at and that makes decision making in business a lot clearer. I want to know your thoughts on that idea. As you say, you’re always starting with the individual and the legacy they want to leave and live, and what the brand wants to do, and then following up with that.
Brooke Alexander: Look, I agree wholeheartedly, and I think that’s what creates the net.
Barbara Turley: Yeah, overwhelmingly. You have this passion, because a lot of people are so passionate about their business.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, and just in case you know, I’ve got this baby that I’m working on, I have my business, it doesn’t define who I am intrinsically. I’m someone who loves connecting with others. I love caring for other people. I love researching ideas. I love just getting out there and watching a great movie. That’s who I am.
Barbara Turley: That’s who you are.
Brooke Alexander: How I show up in the world and the work that I do … That’s the work that I do. It’s a part of who I am, but-
Barbara Turley: That’s your … The business that you’re running, that’s a part of your contribution back to the legacy of the world and your bit that you’re putting in there. It’s really important to also have your own.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely, so I’m very conscious of that.
Barbara Turley: You do that everyday, as well.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, and that’s a journey. That really is a journey. That, having a very clear vision of what you want life to look like, it’s a game-changer.
Barbara Turley: Do you think entrepreneurs are doing that?
Brooke Alexander: They’re starting to.
Barbara Turley: Yeah, you’re seeing that?
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, that, “One foot on one side of the fence and one foot on the other.”
Barbara Turley: Yeah.
Brooke Alexander: I really do think that still exists. It’s slowly shifting and it’s slowly changing. I think that becomes just a case of habit. We’re used to … I know Arianna Huffington, in her latest book, Thrive-
Barbara Turley: That’s the whole movement-
Brooke Alexander: Fantastic book, guys, by the way. Arianna, we love your work too.
Barbara Turley: Yes, hopefully you’re watching this too.
Brooke Alexander: I think these are the conversations the world’s going to be having. We’ve got to have them as business owners and women in business, but we’ve also got to have them with the men in our lives, as well.
Barbara Turley: They’re feeling it, too. I think it’s going to benefit everyone and our children and our next generations coming up need to know a different way, too.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, and someone told me the other day in Australia, we have the longest working hours in the world.
Barbara Turley: Really? I don’t feel like it’s that way. I moved to Australia and I was like, I’m loving it here. This is awesome.
Brooke Alexander: Generally, yes. It’s a statistic.
Barbara Turley: It’s such a lovely country here, it’s a shame to be working so much.
Brooke Alexander: I know.
Barbara Turley: I’m interested now to talk about, there’s also the large organizations, which are a whole other beast. They are just a completely other beast, I would imagine that some large organizations are very masculinely run, banks, and all that sort of thing. How on board are they with this idea?
Brooke Alexander: Well, you have to package up, and every entrepreneur will know this, you have to package up your offer. I think Marie [Folio 00:21:14] says, “Give them what they want.”
Barbara Turley: “Sell them what they want, and give them what they need.”
Brooke Alexander: Exactly. It doesn’t matter who you are and what you’re selling. That’s what you’ve got to do. For the work that I’m doing right now, it’s all about brand and how you’re communicating that brand in the marketplace in a paradigm where customers are wanting businesses to be more sustainable, to be more transparent.
Barbara Turley: To be more human, I think as well. They want them to be more human. The corporation is kind of dead, I think.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly, when I think back to Supertown, I read that back in 2011, that was very much around attracting and keeping the individual. You have these bright shining stars but you just don’t know how to look after them. The model around that was helping them to create a professional legacy in the workforce and the workplace. How you did that was through legacy learning, so allowing them to self-direct their own learning and love, which was acknowledgement and appreciation for who they are and what they do.
Barbara Turley: Of course, yeah.
Brooke Alexander: It’s this idea of value, and people in business just want to be valued.
Barbara Turley: Everybody wants to feel significant.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly.
Barbara Turley: Tony Robbins talks about this, the needs of people, significance, love, and connection, variety, I can’t remember the other ones, certainty, something like that.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly. These things aren’t rocket science, yet so many businesses fail to accommodate basic needs of the human and treating them like a human.
Barbara Turley: They fail that, yeah. I think it’s because they go in after … A lot of corporations, they’re going after the money-
Brooke Alexander: Yeah,
Barbara Turley: -and profits, and they’re saying, I always think, there’s businesses out there that are doing incredibly well and I just think to myself, “How much better could they have done had they embraced more of this stuff? More of the soft stuff, the feminine energies.”
Brooke Alexander: I think a great example of that, particularly in Australia, and there’s lots of great examples in America, that’s a new word, “Americals, I love that.”
Barbara Turley: “Americals.”
Brooke Alexander: Ramsay health, in Australia, back in 1997 they had 14 hospitals, and they needed to basically give their culture a big wake up call. They embedded the vision through each individual staff member, which was, the mantra, was, “Caring for people.” This operative, idea, philosophy-
Barbara Turley: It’s seems so basic, Ramsey Healthcare, surely they’re caring for people, but they have to create it as a mantra.
Brooke Alexander: They did that, so culturally, over a period of time, I think it only took maybe five or six years, the whole business was transformed. Now, in 2014, they have I think something like 140 hospitals in 10 countries. It’s just extraordinary what can actually happen.
Barbara Turley: It couldn’t have happened without that.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah. Without the involvement and the collaboration and the cohesion culturally to allow that change to take place.
Barbara Turley: Well, because then all the staff and the people in that corporation feel part of the movement themselves. They feel part of something greater than themselves. It’s not just about profit or the bottom line. Of course, it comes on to the next question we are here to talk about wealth, but what is the impact on the bottom line?
Brooke Alexander: Huge, it’s enormous.
Barbara Turley: Why aren’t more companies doing it?
Brooke Alexander: I think they slowly, but it’s hard to change.
Barbara Turley: Well, because I think you’re sort of selling an idea to them and they’re thinking, “Well, our bottom line is looking pretty okay, so what, we do all this woo-woo stuff.” I imagine the corporates thinking that, and, “You say, it’s going to triple our bottom line,” or whatever, I think it does.
Brooke Alexander: It seriously does. I’ve got case studies that prove it. It’s up to the leaders how they actually want the culture to change and what they want to create. It’s values-based leadership, and it’s getting really clear. Sometimes it’s very evident who’s sitting around a table who isn’t meant to be there.
Barbara Turley: Yeah, the other people at the table are too afraid to say it.
Brooke Alexander: Oh yeah. It’s tough conversation, sometimes you’ve got to have those. Or, as my good friend John Demartini would do, he would just extract what’s going on and he would balance the emotions of that value hesitation process to get to the core value of the individual and to see how that’s actually serving him, and change it, and reframe the whole exercise.
Barbara Turley: Do you know what’s interesting as well? Corporate, they’ve always had … I’ve spent my life in the financial institutions and they always have the thing on the wall, “Our values: integrity.” I think, it’s sort of lip service, really.
Brooke Alexander: Totally lip service.
Barbara Turley: I don’t think they … I don’t know whoever came up with them, but I often used to look at them and think, “Oh, integrity, of course that’s got to be one of your core values if you’re a bank.” Surely.
Brooke Alexander: Fingers and toes crossed.
Barbara Turley: Yeah, I think after the financial crisis in particular, I mean the banking industry has seen it needs this desperately. Are they, and it feels to me though, they’re only just getting it now and it’s five or six years later.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, because banks now, out there in the marketplace are actively spending more money in training and development than any other sector in the market.
Barbara Turley: Well, they kind of have to, I think.
Brooke Alexander: It’s part of the reason, but I think it’s also about cultivating environments where you’ve got leaders worth following. You’ve got a culture worth belonging to.
Barbara Turley: People want to follow leaders.
Brooke Alexander: They do.
Barbara Turley: People are desperate for a tribe, they’re desperate to belong to something, and not everybody is a leader, and some people want to be the supporter of the leader.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly.
Barbara Turley: I absolutely love the work that you’re doing. I love this whole fusion. I feel like it’s coming but it’s cut and paste, this fusion of feminine and masculine.
Brooke Alexander: It does, I think because it’s also commercial development.
Barbara Turley: That’s what it’s got to be. That’s the only way it’s in corps everywhere.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely, if they can understand, “Well, we can benefit people. We can make money. We can look after the planet at the same time.
Barbara Turley: That’s the abundant attitude. We can actually have it all, if we all pull up together and do it right.
Brooke Alexander: Exactly.
Barbara Turley: I love to look at Apple. Apple seems to be a company, and I have no idea what your views are on this, Apple seems to be a company that’s gotten this right, a bit, have they? They impressed upon me, they’ve gotten me to a point where I could probably never change, because everything’s syncing on my machines, everything’s syncing together and the idea of changing now, and figuring it all out again, I don’t want to.
Brooke Alexander: I think the secret to Apple’s success is the coined phrase, “Be faithful to the small.”
Barbara Turley: Yeah, each one of the small makes up the-
Brooke Alexander: It was that being faithful to the creators out there. I remember having my 1LC Macintosh when I was at uni. I wish I’d kept it now.
Barbara Turley: It would be worth a fortune.
Brooke Alexander: Oh yeah, it’s being faithful to the small. Anyone starting in business, but faithful to the small. Have clarity around the market, the avatar that you’re talking to. We talked about earlier, talking to all these different markets, but I’m actually talking to one person, to one identity, to one-
Barbara Turley: To each particular one. That’s interesting. I like that idea that you can have one need that fills different markets.
[00:28:53]
Brooke Alexander:
Exactly, so you’ve got to have that. I couldn’t be selling silk stockings and yeah, exactly. That just wouldn’t work. I think this idea of being faithful to the small, so the companies that I work with, it’s a small group that’s a tribe inside and saying, “Okay, I want to expand and saturate this idea in our culture, in our business.” With entrepreneurs, “Yes, I’m ready to change.” A lot of the entrepreneurs I work with, they’ve reached a high level of success that they’re asking the classic question of, “Is this all there is?”
Barbara Turley: Yeah, it’s this whole problem with goal setting as well. The implication of the goal is that you put head down, bum up and you go for the gold. Then, when you get there, you come up for air and you go, “What next?”
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, “Hang on, this isn’t what I thought it was going to be like.”
Barbara Turley: This is kind of the road to unhappiness, I think. I do agr … I love the goal setting thing, but I think it’s more … That’s why I love what you’re doing with the project idea, because a project, you just keep moving with it.
Brooke Alexander: It gives you freedom.
Barbara Turley: It changes and evolves and you can change your mind and you can decide that’s not the route or whatever.
Brooke Alexander: You can decide, this is a six week project, this is a 12 week project, this is a 12 month project.
Barbara Turley: All leading into your big project of you life.
Brooke Alexander: Absolutely. I think we all have things. A big thing of mine for a long time has been identity. “Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing? Who do I work with? How do I make money? What does that look like?” RRRRRRRR!
Barbara Turley: We could go on forever.
Brooke Alexander: Oh yeah. I charted that up and I thought, “It’s actually about how you show up. It’s actually about what you create. It’s actually about your legacy. Oh, Brooke, you’re onto something here.”
Barbara Turley: You’re finally getting it.
Brooke Alexander: Yeah, I think that’s what it’s like for a lot of us and some people, they have that early on, and some people have that later in life. The thing is, get comfortable with it.
Barbara Turley: I was thinking back to what you said earlier about changing, because I thin, really early on in my career, I was going for, I felt like I wasn’t living my legacy. Then it did change, and I got tired of that, but I was still in it. It became really exhausting and I lost my way there for awhile. Now, for the first time in a long time, I really feel like I’m living my legacy again, doing this work. It lights me up. It really lights my soul up.
If our viewers want to know more about your amazing work, where should they go?
Brooke Alexander: Well, they should go on over to brookealexander.com.au, you can jump on Twitter and follow me @frombrooke, and everyday I “face” on Facebook at Brooke Alexander communities. I’d love to connect and meet with you there.
Barbara Turley: Brilliant. Brooke, thank you so much. What an awesome topic to talk about on a feminine wealth TV show. I absolutely love it.
Brooke Alexander: Thanks for having me.
Barbara Turley: Remember, you can catch me later this week on my podcast, Wealth Unplugged on iTunes. I’m going to be giving you my key takeouts from my chat with Brooke today. Remember to come and join me next week, when I’m going to be going offshore for the first time, and I’m going to be interviewing a lady called Pina De Rossi, who’s based in California, and we’re going to talk about the power of your choices. See you then.
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