Why Every Entrepreneur Needs Leadership Coaching Now with Hakim A. Lakhdar

Hakim: [00:00:00] leadership I can do with my eyes closed, hands behind my back, Entrepreneurship.
Hakim: That was brand new to me. You know, this sort of eat what you kill, concept was foreign to me. I was a very comfortable domesticated house cat, you know, my food got put out at the same time every day. And I was, a good
employee and I liked that paycheck showing up, you know, on time to the penny.
Hakim: I could plan for that. So all of a sudden realize if you're going to build this, then you got to put the work in. And as you put the work in, you start to see things come up.
Dustin: Welcome back to the seven figure leap. I have an amazing guest today. I came locked are is one of the few people I've ever met on LinkedIn immediately said, I think we should talk, had a initial [00:01:00] conversations like may need to be on my podcast. So, that will tell you the amount of connection and energy.
Dustin: I drew from Hakeem someone of similar values to me, a husband devoted father, a coach with a really unique background and his title is leadership coach, which initially I'm like, yeah, I'm not sure that that's like the best fit for what we do at seven figure leap, but as we got to talking, I'm like, this is exactly what I need and my audience needs.
Dustin: So Hakeem please introduce yourself briefly. Let us know a little bit about who you are and what you do, and then we'll start digging into the goodness here in your entrepreneurial story.
Hakim: Yeah, thanks so much buddy. I appreciate it. And and you're right. I don't often take meetings Randomly off LinkedIn, but there was something compelling me to connect. And then just as you said, Ooh, I got to have them on my podcast. You beat me to it because I was thinking to myself, Ooh, I got to have them on my podcast.
Hakim: So you'll be on my podcast in a few short weeks. And it's a pleasure being here. It's a pleasure sharing what I do with your audience. I am a transformational leadership coach, and because I have spent so [00:02:00] much time, and we'll get into a little bit of that. Working with people at, you know,
some of the most elite institutions at the most elite levels, I saw that at the end of the day, people are just people and we all have our struggles and we all have our blind spots and that what I really loved about what I was doing on a broader scale, sort of a one to many approach was actually more transformational when it was on one on one.
Hakim: And that's what I transitioned to in my practice. So now I get to work with leaders and really transform their leadership.
Dustin: Awesome. Yeah. And we'll talk about what that means because Even as we were recording, I'm like, we're talking about each other's businesses, but like, we're pretty similar in the structure and it kind of feels funny to say, I need leadership help in air quotes, right? When some, some of us are solopreneurs, we have some contractors, maybe we have one employee, but we all have clients.
Dustin: Many of us lead families. Some of us, have clients that really need us to be leaders to them. There's a lot of aspects of leadership. And we're going to unpack. Okay. Like how Hakeem helps people with that in sort of a self leadership [00:03:00] manner. But Hakeem, I think it's really interesting and gives us, I think a really good context for why you do what you do to go back.
Dustin: You can go back to, you know, like birth or your first job, but like where you start to see this formulation of this entrepreneurial spirit. And some of the background of your professional life that is like informed this leadership coaching that you do today.
Hakim: Yeah, well, there's, there's a variety of directions I could go here and I'll just say, buckle up. So, the question I often get, which is, is a part of what you just asked is, so why leadership coaching? And. I used to, when I first used to get this question, as I started my practice, I would think of, okay, I need to come up with some really awe inspiring, pithy response to that question.
Hakim: And honestly, when I, when I think about why leadership coaching, it's because I've always been this guy. I mean, when I was seven years old, I was the guy that, you know, who was friend who got, Pick last in kickball. And I would opt to bow out of this kickball game. So I could [00:04:00] walk my fence, the fence line with my friend.
Hakim: And we talk about why I didn't pick last, didn't define him. And that Dustin: as a seven year old.
Dustin: That's awesome.
Hakim: tomorrow's another day. And, you know, Hey, if you want to practice kickball, we can practice kickball after school. And. I was just, that was always my mindset was, you know, compassion is one of my three C's and compassion is different from sympathy or empathy because it's the, it's the empathy piece with the added desire and compulsion to help, to want to do something.
Hakim: And that's why compassion is actually one of my core values too, because when I feel people experiencing what they're experiencing, not only do I feel that with them, I then feel drawn to help them and support them however I can. And I've been that way again, like since I was in elementary school.
Hakim: So, you know, you fast forward a little bit, not even that far to, to middle school, and there was a program in my middle school, which I have to give them credit for having called peer counseling,
Hakim: and it was, Peer [00:05:00] counselors were just everyday students who opted to want to participate in this elective course.
Hakim: I was the only boy in the class. I had a satin jacket that said peer counselor on the back. I wore it around proudly. I don't know how I didn't get beat up. You know, like my buddies were razzing me about that all the time. Why would you pick this class? Why would you want to do that? But I just felt compelled.
Hakim: I felt compelled to want to learn how to help people even, even more than I already, I could, I could naturally do. And we would. Counsel our peers, middle school kids, just middle school kids, counsel our peers when their parents were getting separated or divorced, when they were going through abuse. We would conflict mediate.
Hakim: So we learned how to do conflict mediation, where I'd be out of the lunchroom on the, on the circle, watching two, two kids fight at the lunchroom. And then an hour later, I'd be sitting in a room with the two of them mediating this conflict that they'd have, they'd both have the sign agreements. I mean, like, I think back to that and I'm like, what six or seventh grade kid was Thinking [00:06:00] like, yeah, sign me up for that.
Hakim: And,
Hakim: and I
Dustin: That's amazing. think about like today, if you tried, if you're like. This leader in the school and you're a teacher and you're like, man, this would be so powerful. And it would, it just sounds like you're going to get sued, right? Like,
Oh, this person's not qualified. And they caused my kid to get bullied worse and like all this stuff.
Dustin: So that's amazing. You had this opportunity as a middle schooler, like the time when this stuff is really most present in our lives. And we're dealing with so much uncertainty and conflict and trying to fit in and all this stuff to have a peer counselor. And then for you to be the only, the only male to like, step up and say, yeah, I'll do that.
Dustin: I think that's cool.
Hakim: Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was an amazing opportunity. And then when I got into high school, I had no aspirations of going into the military. I've got lots of friends who are in the military or were in the military. My brother was in the army. There was an opportunity to do GRRTC and I said, is there a leadership component to that?
Hakim: And they're like, yep. And I was like, sign me up. And I did four years of GRRTC in high school and I wore a uniform. I shined my belt buckle. I shined my shoes. I [00:07:00] was doing drill and ceremony. I mean, I did all of what was required of me in that role and it was part of that program because there was a leadership component to it.
Hakim: So I was like, I want to learn leadership. In all areas of life, this is just yet another one for me to kind of like sharpen my, my edge a bit in terms of leadership. So now fast forward, I'm in college and I'm thinking to myself, okay, what is leadership to me? And you alluded to this. If I'm not leading people, is leadership still present in my life?
Hakim: And it is because self leadership is where it all starts. And you know, there was a guy playing guitar on a stage with the Florida State University, and I was enjoying him playing his solo act. And during one of his set breaks, I walked up and I said, have you ever thought about playing with somebody else?
Hakim: And he said, no, not really. But why? And I said, well, cause I sing and I like to perform and maybe you're looking for a partner. This guy was not looking for a partner. We ended up hitting it off that night and we ended up touring the Southeast. [00:08:00] We ended up playing all kinds of shows
throughout, the colleges and universities in Florida and all throughout the Southeast got picked up to be a featured act.
Hakim: And we went down to Key West and played Irish Kevins in Key West. And when I think about those moments, I realized. Wow. how was this created? And it was created because of my, my clear sense of self, who I was, what I had to contribute, what I had to offer. And when we were given this full time gig
offer by Kevin himself from Irish Kevin's was the same day I was offered a admittance into a graduate program at Indiana university.
Hakim: And here I was faced again with this choice. Of who am I? What do I value? Where do I want my life to go? I could stay down here in the keys and continue this lifestyle, which was, you know, wild and crazy. Or I could opt to
advance my, my education and my knowledge. And I could go to graduate school. So I elected to go to graduate school.
Hakim: And then when I was done with graduate school, I was like, well, I still have this. Entertainment industry, acting bug. So I came down, I got two agents and I started doing acting and I started doing [00:09:00] stunts and I was in Spanish soap operas doing stunt driving and, you know, falling down the stairs. And I mean, all my friends were thinking, you have a master's degree.
Hakim: Why are you getting pushed downstairs? Why are you doing stunt driving? I was like, because this is where I am in my life and that's okay. And I'm following what's alive in me. And I know that there's opportunity to be had either here or elsewhere, but right now this is what's present for me.
Dustin: have to say real quick,
Dustin: like, the reason I'm giggling, I have to like, you know, you got the, you got the seven year old and you know, the kickball, the peer counseling, we all know you're a leadership coach, right? And I already alluded to the fact that you, you know, I don't know if I said Harvard yet, but Harvard comes into the story.
Dustin: So I'm totally thinking this guy's going to say. And then that's why I decided I wanted to be a U. S. Senator, you know, it's like, it's just not like this path. And then all of a sudden you're like, and then there was Irish mics. And then there was this stunt double thing where I'm rolling downstairs. And like, I love that so much because it's like, it just shows to me, like, you're just being a real dude and, and you're following your heart, but it's not just your heart, right?
Dustin: Like, I feel like there [00:10:00] is a real calling here. If you're a person of faith, like you're, you're taking what would appear to be weird turns and twists in your story. Which I, of course, can share and, and have in past episodes. And so I guess that's why I'm so like sort of amused and empowered and, and enthralled with it.
Dustin: I'm like, this is so awesome that you, but you were so free to kind of choose these different things in the early parts of your life, which I'm sure as you're going to get to here in a moment, have really informed who you are now and how you're able to help others. So it's, it's really cool.
Hakim: Yeah. Thank you for that. And, and I'm sharing all of this because I think it's important to understand the directions it could have gone had I chosen or not chosen. Or if I had said, okay, everyone's told me in my younger years, you'd be a great lawyer. Well, I could have very easily taken that to heart and then said, okay, well, I guess, I guess I should be a lawyer.
Hakim: And, and all of us who are so wrapped up in this, I should, or I have to, or I need to, or I must, or I ought to, we don't, where does that show up in our businesses? Where does that show up in the decisions that we make throughout the day? And for [00:11:00] me, it was never about that was really about what do I get to do?
Hakim: What's alive in me. And I like that better than do what you love, man. You know, like there's truth to that. And I believe in that too, but also what's alive in you. You can be an employee working in an organization and not have to go out there and do your own thing and follow your passion, but still be passionate about your leadership, being passionate about being what kind of employee you are.
Hakim: So as I realized that, that acting in stunts was not the direction I want to go. And my, my body would never allow me to do that for, you know, for decades on end. I went to Las Vegas and I moved to Las Vegas and I lived in Las Vegas for a year cause I had an opportunity to do that. And I thought, why not?
Hakim: So I lived in Vegas for a year. I bartended, I taught kindergarten. You know, I just thought like, what, what, why not? Let's let's see. And then, and then after I'd had a, my fill of, of that, of that town and that life, I decided, okay, it's time to really explore where I go next. And I went to Washington, [00:12:00] DC sight unseen.
Hakim: I'd never been to Washington DC before I packed up my Ford Explorer and I drove in. Started doing temp work and got a job at the American Bar Association after a few months. And next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Kyrgyzstan. And I was on my way to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, working there doing legal professional reform.
Hakim: I, my master's degree from IU was in Middle East studies. So I had some background in Islamic law and, you know, Middle East culture and relations. So that helped me familiarize myself with, you know, the region and the culture and, and some of, you know, the internationally based work that I was doing.
Hakim: So I was there, I was in Istanbul, I was in Prague, and then I came back and, you know, life took me to Boston. I got a phone call from Harvard Law School. They said, we've got a position here that we think you'd be great for. I accepted the job and next thing I knew, I was working at Harvard Law School. And, you know, it's amazing because the self leadership comes up throughout all of this, where had I chosen to, [00:13:00] you know, to, to, to go somewhere else.
Hakim: I mean, I loved growing up in South Florida, which is was raised. I always wanted to come back to South Florida, which is where I am now. But I just knew that life was taking me in a different direction and that I was going to be okay, and I wanted to see what was available, what the possibilities might be.
Hakim: So when I got the job at Harvard, of course, imposter syndrome comes flooding in. Who am I? I'm not a lawyer. I'm working at Harvard Law School. I'm not an Ivy League graduate. You know, my rich uncle didn't get me the job here. What, what am I doing here? And I doubled my salary in five years. And
I, you know, was named Dean's award for excellence and the mayor of Harvard law school, and, you know, had great connections.
Hakim: I met my wife there. We had our twin boys there, and then we decided now what? And we had a vision, a very clear vision. And I was telling you this story, I think, where. If someone had stopped me on the street and said, you know, here's a napkin, here's a pen, sketch for [00:14:00] me your dream home, it's the house we're living in now.
Hakim: And when I said to my employer, you know, my colleagues at Harvard, I'm leaving, and I didn't have any job lined up, and my kids were in the NICU for five weeks and six weeks, and they were just coming out, and they're thinking, wait, wait, wait, you're leaving Harvard with no job lined up? With
brand new babies that just, that you just brought into the world and you're relatively newly married and you're going to just relocate.
Hakim: It just baffled the mind. I mean, for a lot of people, they really struggled with why would you do that? And for me, it was a matter of clarity and I'll talk more about this. It was a matter of confidence. And it was, it was my vision that I really, I really lived into every day. So when we moved back down to South Florida, I got a job at university of Miami I worked there for a number of years working, you know, building out their executive education and professional programming.
Hakim: And once I had the chance, you know, sort of post pandemic, I said, It's time to get [00:15:00] out and do what I love all day, every day. And that's what's led me to this.
Dustin: That's amazing. So we won't cause we want to, you know, respect the listeners and we'll have separate conversations about this. There's so many tangents to go down. And I think it's funny because anyone that's heard me, you know, we're 50 plus episodes in here and you know, engineer, marriage meat sticks, marketing, masterminds on there.
Dustin: Everyone always says, you have such a crazy story. And I'm like, no, I'm not. You haven't met Hakeem like now I got Hakeem story. I'm like, I've never been. I didn't even know where central Asia was. Certainly hadn't been
there. And you know, Harvard and, and, you know, by way of Vegas and, and Indiana. So it's amazing.
Dustin: I think it's really cool though, that your stop in Boston was. Not only instrumental in your career, but that's where you met your wife and you had your, your twins and you had the NICU experience, which I'm sure was transformational in your life. So you mentioned pandemic, but like, so how long have you been quote unquote self employed or an entrepreneur and in your own coaching practice?
Hakim: So as luck would have it, I launched a business at the very end of 2019[00:16:00]
Dustin: Of course.
Hakim: and got out there shaking hands and networking and noticed that more and more people around me were struggling with a little bit of a cough. And,
and before I knew it, we were all home and you know, we were a single income family and my wife was home full time with the boys at the time.
Hakim: And I was working at still. I wanted to secure that paycheck and make sure that that was taken care of and that we were, secure during this very, you know, turbulent time for, for the entire world. And as things started to settle down I transitioned more into focusing into the, the coaching practice.
Hakim: But the thing I always say is it was a silver lining of a very challenging two years for a lot of people. Was that. We all hopped on zoom and my network, which had been global and not actually regional to where I had grown up in South Florida, I was now back in South Florida after 20 plus years of having traveled around and worked abroad.
Hakim: So that, that network felt [00:17:00] inaccessible to me for a long time. And then all of a sudden it was a matter of copying and pasting a zoom link. And all those people were now just a click away. So my practice blew up because all of those, those people were no, no longer inaccessible to me. And, you know, I sort of half joked that if I were to tell clients now, Oh, you know, you're nearby, we should meet up in person.
Hakim: They'd be like, Oh, can't you just send me a zoom link?
Hakim: You know, I got to put pants on. I got to drive somewhere, you know, like, and I just think that. That was, that was eyeopening for me where I realized, you know what? I get to do what I love all day, every day, and I can do it with whoever's willing to click on a zoom link and be in conversation with me.
Hakim: So once I had the chance to do that, it was June, June or July, 2022. I went out on my own and haven't looked back.
Dustin: Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And yeah, without, COVID pandemic and all the changes we went through in 2020, I certainly wouldn't be here because that's the whole reason I got on podcasts was because the way I was trying to
market the business I was focused on at that time. Yeah. Was no longer accessible to me, right?
Dustin: You're not sampling meat sticks [00:18:00] toe to toe with people in big rooms in 2020. And so it turned me into podcasts or tribute to podcasting, which, of course, you know, who would have thunk it four years later is a seven
figure, you know, business. And I get to talk to amazing people like the team through zoom or Zen caster or whatever one of these remote platforms.
Dustin: So that's really cool. So, and I wanted that context because, you know, So for two, two plus years now, you've been fully on your own, supporting a family in South Florida in your dream home. So what have you learned about yourself in that time? So we're going to talk from here forward about how our listeners can improve themselves, self leadership, vision, clarity, compassion.
Dustin: Some of the things that you've talked about the three C's, but I'd love to know, because you've experienced this for a couple of years. Now you went from getting a paycheck and I've been through the same thing and leading others in an organization to. Basically the ultimate self mastery, which is entrepreneurship and having to, having to, you know, kill it and drag it home into your cave for yourself and your family.
Dustin: So what are some of the key things you think that you've [00:19:00] developed or learned about yourself in that process?
Hakim: Yeah. It's a great, it's a great question. I think it's the question, honestly, because even as I've shared my story with you, it's evident that I've put in the work. To learn about me and to be, you know, comfortable my own skin and to have that level of, you know, sense of self and confidence and comfort.
Hakim: And I was still was not prepared for how confronting the entrepreneurial journey would be. You know, the, your relationship to outcomes, how you manage your time, how you manage your energy, your relationship to clients, the relationship to yeses and nos, I mean, all of that was foreign to me because I was very much a, you know, dream employee in a lot of ways.
Hakim: I did what I was told. I was entrepreneurial in spirit. You know, if we go back, a little bit, you know, when I was a young kid, I was making lottery ticket earrings with recycled, you know, lottery tickets that full up into a fan with a hot glue gun, put a, [00:20:00] put a earring back on it and sell them at craft fairs.
Hakim: I just, I sold cut co knives while I was in college,
Hakim: you
Dustin: yeah. Okay.
Dustin: We've had a few cutco people on the podcast, so that, that would always makes me
Hakim: There's, there's always that journey, you know, and, and I've always had the desire to be my own boss and to create something of my own. And I thought all I had to do was just say it and that it would happen.
Hakim: I didn't realize how much of my own work, not even on the business, but work on myself would be required to be successful in this and to show up in this way all day, every day. And that I think is the biggest takeaway for me is when I talk to, you know, business owners, I talked to entrepreneurs, I talked to, you know, senior, even senior executives who have risen through the ranks there.
Hakim: The element of self leadership that's required to create and maintain success is so important. And the only way that you can do that is, and I know it's a slightly [00:21:00] overused word, but it's through, through vulnerability. It's through. Through being willing to be open about things you don't know.
Hakim: It's about, you know, this willingness to, to say, you know, what do you see that I'm not seeing? It's a willingness to be in the conversation conversation and to stay in the conversation. And I invested in my own coaches. I had personal coaches and mindset coaches and business coaches. And I still do. I'm, you know, how can I be a coach if I don't have my own coaches?
Hakim: I mean, I, I value those relationships immensely. And it's that work, not the X's and O's as much in the business that has allowed me then to scale my business, grow my business and actually love it while I'm doing it.
Dustin: Yeah, , that's the trick, right? Loving it while you do it and you're in such a meta situation, right? It's like, when I go be a podcast guest and I'm teaching about podcast casting, it's like, okay, like I'm doing the thing and it can be a little awkward sometimes. And you are, [00:22:00] you have been through this process, you know, your whole career for 20 plus years and all these different circumstances, but I'd say intensely in the last couple of years where you took on this identity, new identity as an entrepreneur, realized all that that entailed, and it wasn't just as simple as making the decision.
Dustin: It's actually really hard. And then there's a lot of new, fresh challenges. And your coach and other people going through this and other challenges, I just, I really admire that. Cause it's, I don't know. It's a, it's a special challenge to be
going through it. Like you said, the vulnerability of being like, I think you should be doing this.
Dustin: And also I'm struggling with it, you know, like, because I'm also an entrepreneur. I'm, I'm, I'm actually making the same decision right now. Client. I'm trying to figure out how to hire someone, what I need to change about myself to, to do that well. And so, I think I just. Yeah. Maybe that's a comment more than a question, but I admire that you're going through it while you're also coaching people and that you're willing and eager to see coaching for yourself because you realize it's not that easy,
Hakim: Yeah, no, it's a, a great point. And I think it's akin to the, the rockstar individual contributor that we all know at a company who then gets put into a [00:23:00] leadership role and they're great at the technical tactical stuff, but then all of a sudden leadership is challenging for them. Why?
Hakim: Cause they haven't done that before. So for me, it was sort of the reverse. I mean, leadership and management training is what I did throughout my entire career at the ABA, at Harvard, at Miami law, it was always, there was always a leadership component in anything that I was doing. So leadership I can do with my eyes closed, hands behind my back, Entrepreneurship.
Hakim: That was brand new to me. You know, this sort of eat what you kill, which you were, what you were sort of referring to concept was foreign to me. I was a very comfortable domesticated house cat, you know, my food got put out at the same time every day. And I was, I was a good employee and I liked that paycheck showing up, you know, on time to the penny.
Hakim: I could, I could plan for that. So all of a sudden realize if you're going to build this, then you got to put the work in. And as you put the work in, you start to see things come up. Ooh, I'm resistant to that. Ooh, I'm not very good at that. Where's all the self judgment coming in there? All the self judgment is preventing me from doing more of that, but I really need to do more of that.
Hakim: Well, why do I need to do more of that? And all of [00:24:00] a sudden the questions that we all have all the time. They don't get answered. And if you don't answer them, then you, you, you get stuck. And a lot of people who find themselves stuck are just not answering the questions that come up for all of us every day.
Hakim: And what I always encourage, and that's what I think my coaches have helped, helped me with, and certainly what I help my own clients with is ask the question and then let's work together to answer it.
Dustin: we're gonna, we're gonna spend like our last 5 10 minutes. Letting you kind of give these, okay, audience of these people that are like Hakeem and Dustin, maybe two years ago, and even to an extent still today, you know, like what he's going to help coach you through this sort of self leadership identity work.
Dustin: And I'm sure it's What questions to ask, how to go get those answers before we do that. I don't want to miss the opportunity. Hakeem, just give us a snapshot of your business today. So like, who do you love to work with? What's the format sort of, of your, of your transformation of the coaching that you do?
Dustin: I don't want [00:25:00] people to miss like what you do, how they can work with you. And then we'll transition into a teaching moment and then we'll close out the show and let people, you know, figure out how to contact you and actually uh, go deeper with you in your, in your work.
Hakim: Sure. Yeah. You got it. Thank you. So again, , my leadership coaching you'll find is very different than the quote unquote. Coaching that a lot of people hear about, or they may assume other coaches do. I spent a lot of time seeing people in a room of 20, 30, 40 of their peers and listening to a lot of the theory of leadership. But really what I like to do is how is this relevant to you and your particular challenges and your particular situation, your particular season of life or business? And I really love the one on one coaching that I do. What I found is that I'm more as I'm working with these senior leaders. They've often kept saying to me, Oh, I wish so and so for my team could be in this meeting, or I wish I could bring so and so, you know, to our next session, or that you could have a session with one of my other team [00:26:00] members.
Hakim: And I started saying, well, why, why can't I, why don't we? And little by little, my coaching has evolved from me going out and working with only just the leader, kind of in a vacuum, to be honest, it's actually saying, I'm going to work with the leader, but also your entire team's going to have access to me.
Hakim: So now. Leaders have a partner in, you know, these three things that I sort of identify that leaders struggle with. It's either they don't have the bandwidth to lead their teams effectively or their businesses effectively in the way they want to, they don't have the experience or the skills to do it. Or that element of leadership they just don't like. So what do you, what do you do when
you bring on a partner and I'm that partner, I'm an executive level partner that comes on and now your team has access to me. So, you know, your team is taken care of. And by the way, you're taken care of as well. And I think. When people can let their guard down a little bit, they know that they're not the only one being singled [00:27:00] out to be coached and that this is something that we're doing together.
Hakim: Now we're all using the same language. We're all sort of bought into the same philosophy. We share the same values that ends up being a lot more powerful and that's what's allowed my business to grow. I mean, I. You know, I was, I started, I was coaching 100, 100 for four sessions and thrilled to do it. and now my clients pay me you know, a silly amount of money to really transform their leadership and their lives.
Dustin: That's amazing. So I know you came out of the legal side of the world. You're not a lawyer, but maybe, you know, American bar associations is law and obviously Harvard law and Miami law. And I know that you're kind of industry agnostic at this point, but is there a type of leader or what would, what would make, Someone hear you and want to, and you'd be like, this is exactly who I help in the, in the dream scenario.
Dustin: Right? Who would raise their hand to that call?
Hakim: Yeah. I think it's less about industry, less about the profile of the professional and more about the mindset of the [00:28:00] individual. And it's really people who realize there's always room for growth. There's always something more we can do. And I don't mean that in like a, you know, setting yourself up to never succeed and, you know, pushing the goalposts back on yourself, but more along the lines of.
Hakim: , there's something more to this. , there's something that I'm potentially not seeing, who can I talk to, scale, to level up, to stretch in a way that's going to serve me and my business, serve me and my team, serve me and my health and my, vision for my future.
Hakim: So I think it's, It's sort of a, deflective answer, but I think that, it's really about the individual who realizes you know, potentially what got me here won't get me there. And I was pushed back on a little bit. I'm like, actually, what got you here will absolutely get you there.
Hakim: And there are some other things that when we move some, some things out of the way, there'll be revealed that will help you get to that next level. In addition to all the things that got you here. [00:29:00] Yeah.
Dustin: That's awesome. I love that. And I think it's a great, it's a very, honest answer as far as like who you work with. It's a wide variety of people, but it's really about meeting someone who is. Ready for this change and recognizes the need for it is coachable and it's going to invest because they they know that the ROI is there and they're self aware enough, I guess, to make that to make that call.
Dustin: So I want to. Let you teach us I'm going to give you a specific scenario that many of our listeners might find themselves in and let you coach us through it. So, however, you opened a loop in my mind that I wrote down and I can't close until you tell me. So you've said 3 C's and you gave a very eloquent explanation of compassion, which I totally resonated with.
Dustin: What are the other 2 C's so I can sleep
Hakim: Yeah, clarity and confidence.
Dustin: Okay, awesome. And what are those 3 C's for? I mean, like every good leader needs to work on these 3 things. Yeah.
Hakim: Yeah, I find that when I'm working with my clients, it comes down to one of those three. And the more [00:30:00] fine tune we can get in our clarity of vision, clarity of self clarity of leadership style, our values, all of that. Then it creates confidence and that confidence comes from that knowing of, you know, of who we are and what we want to create and what we want to achieve and what we're capable of and where our shortcomings are.
Hakim: And then the compassion piece is compassion for ourselves and compassion for others. So don't beat yourself up along the way, show yourself some grace, be compassionate with yourself, but also be compassionate with those around you realize that these are husbands and wives and sons and daughters and mothers and fathers.
Hakim: And these are just people. We're showing up every day like you are doing the best they can. If you can show up a little bit of compassion and with clarity and confidence, it's a home run every time.
Dustin: I love that. And so that's, that's another good gauge, I guess, to someone's like, I know I should be doing more. I feel called to do more. I want to be a better leader. And I feel like I'm not clear or I feel like, you know, I have a hard time really relating to my team. And I know I can be more compassionate, but I [00:31:00] don't know how.
Dustin: Right. Or like, I have clarity about what I want, but I'm just, I have these limiting beliefs. I have this something holding me back. Like, those are the reasons to call Hakeem because that's what you help. I'm sure is help unlock one or two or all three of these C's for people who are self aware and I know they need the help.
Dustin: Is that a good way to summarize
Hakim: great. That's a great way. Yeah.
Dustin: Awesome. So yeah, to close out, man, I would love to hear. So as, as you know, there are certainly people listening to this podcast who have teams and there are people in corporate and all that, but most of the people are like you and I, they're entrepreneurs, they're grinding it out, they're, they're successful, but the idea of a leadership kind of goes over their head.
Dustin: I think in some cases they're like, well, you know, I'm a solopreneur or I got this one employee that's kind of my right hand executive assistant, I got a team of contractors. Why do I need to be a leader? And I think where this starts
to cause problems and I can speak from personal experience this is dialing the clock back nine, 12 months, this idea, this key kick on this identity of a solopreneur and you dismiss the idea of needing leadership skills.
Dustin: What you realize is you need leadership [00:32:00] skills to be a solopreneur. So, I mean, if someone's listening and they're like, I'm stuck. Like I'm doing six figures. I know I'm a great coach. I'm a great consultant. I want to grow, but like, I'm just not, I feel stuck. And maybe it's compassion, clarity, or confidence.
Dustin: And they're saying, I don't have a team. So like, why would I need leadership help? Talk to us about like self leadership or what you would talk about for five minutes with this person. And they come to you and they explain that they're feeling stuck as an entrepreneur, maybe a solopreneur wanting to make that first hire or their second hire.
Dustin: And they just don't know where to start. Like where, where do people start and what's the practical plan to be able to take some action from today's episode?
Hakim: Yeah, no, it's a, it's a great question. And hopefully we have another half an hour where we can talk, but no, I think going back to the three C's and I'll use that just to maintain some structure. I'm going to swap out compassion
for a second because let's just assume that that compassion is something that we should all strive for.
Hakim: You know, again, of self and others, and, and I'm going to, I'm going to introduce the word capabilities. And, [00:33:00] and when I talk about clarity, clarity has a lot to do with, yeah, you know, structures and operations and processes within the business, those create consistency and clarity around, you know, what works, what doesn't work.
Hakim: But again, from a self leadership standpoint, clarity around. Who are you,
Hakim: who, what do you love, what, what do you not love? What do you a stand for? What do you a stand against? What are your values? I mean, the number of clients I start working with who don't have any concept of what their personal core values are, mine are compassion, awareness, and joy.
Hakim: Everything that I do personal and professional, if it doesn't get filtered through those three things and touch on one or all of those three things, it's probably not something I'm going to do, or probably not someone I'm going to work with. And I just think that when people can, can get clear on what they value, what's important to them, how do they measure what's of value to them or in service of their business or not?[00:34:00]
Hakim: It's values. So I always encourage people to get very clear on their values. Vision is another one. We hear tons about, you know, goals and tips and hacks and tricks and all of these things and plans. It's not about that vision is close your eyes. Like when you think about. Where you want to be in your business, where you want to be in your life.
Hakim: What does that look like? What does that feel like who's there? And then it's what gets in your way, being clear on what's holding you back, being clear on what you're really good at, that you do naturally. What do you, what do you do that you don't do so naturally or that you struggle with and where's the struggle taking a bit of a self audit.
Hakim: When you can go through that process with yourself, again, from a place of compassion, not beating yourself up, not judging yourself, but just sort of a self audit, what you come out of that with is a level of confidence that's, that's incomparable to any other confidence you've ever felt before. Because it's this.
Hakim: Comfort that you create [00:35:00] around. It's going to be okay. And I think I shared this with you before my wife and I have a mantra. It's okay. We're okay.
Hakim: You know, and it's this feeling of like, when, when things get a little hectic or a little chaotic, it's okay. We're okay. Because we know who we are. We know what our values are.
Hakim: We know what we're working towards. We know what the vision is for our family and for our future. And today's just today. It's okay. We're okay.
Dustin: I love that. And,
Dustin: and so you almost, we have to come up with another V because as I, I love frameworks, right? So you're talking about the three Cs and as you started to translate these into this sort of solopreneur person, who's in this unique moment of starting to grow a team. They sort of transformed into three V's.
Dustin: I guess the self leadership version of these started to kind of be three V's. So there's values and kind of the values is where I think a lot of your clarity and your, and your compassion come from, right? Like if you, if you know yourself and you're getting honest about that and you do some of that deep work which I've shared on this podcast, my own journey.
Dustin: I think those values are [00:36:00] so important. And when, when you have those values, the vision and vision, sort of the the personal version of, Of clarity rally, what's your personal vision? And then you said sort of a self audit about the, the limiting beliefs or the obstacles that are in the way of achieving
that vision.
Dustin: So if we, if we had to start with a V, then that would, you know, that would kind of be the parallel to the confidence. But so values, vision, so. We don't have another half hour or so we could definitely go through each of these. How would someone, if you're coaching someone, cause I think we hear a lot about vivid vision and go do a vision statement.
Dustin: A lot of us have been taught through our coach through limiting beliefs and mindset and, you know, and all that's super. And I'm not saying that in a dismissive tone. It's more like that stuff we hear a lot about the thing we don't hear enough about that has changed my entire life is values. So again, this can be like a dissertation or something, but in a minute, you know, Hakeem, the ultimate challenge here, like if someone's like, I don't even know, like how to figure out my values.
Dustin: Like, I [00:37:00] agree that they're important, but like, How do I figure those out? Like how do you coach someone through identifying their values? Cause it's such a tough thing to answer, but it's so, so important.
Hakim: Yeah. Well, I'll, I'll say I don't give homework. I don't give worksheets to my clients. We are all busy enough. I don't want people feeling that they have to do work in between our sessions and, you know, just for the sake of busy work. But I do have one document and it has 206, I think, values on it.
Hakim: And I encourage them to actually sit down with it in a quiet moment that they can, you know, create for themselves and just circle any, any and every one that resonates with them.
Hakim: So that 200 will probably get whittled down to 75. And then you do it again and then again and then again and again and notice what comes up for you when you read that word, when you think about that word, when you think about a time where someone was dishonest to you and you realize how important honesty is to you.
Hakim: And you're like, wow, honesty is a big one. Okay. That's a big one for me. Integrity. Okay. I remember [00:38:00] someone, positioning themselves in a certain way and it being totally contradictory to what I had expected or me even being out of integrity with myself. Wow. That's a big one. I really didn't like the way I felt there.
Hakim: You know, and that exercise in itself, that's the self audit piece. That's the creating space. And I've done workshops, even on LinkedIn, LinkedIn lives where I'm like, Nope, no presentation, no agenda, just space. the number of people that I work with who say this hour is the most powerful hour I have all week because I don't create time like this for myself.
Hakim: That's where it starts. You got to create space to do this work. And then you can Google values, exercise, probably find it online. And I have. I have the values document that I'm happy to share the link with. You can put it in the
show notes or something. I mean, any, anything that you can do that allows you to learn more about yourself.
Hakim: And then just quickly, that last sea of capabilities, capability is not your capabilities. It's who are you surrounding yourself with?
Dustin: Oh
Hakim: When you want to take things to the next level, we always think that leadership is, you know, [00:39:00] we hear it all the time. It's lonely at the top. Oh, it's so leadership is lonely.
Hakim: You know, it doesn't have to be, who are you surrounding yourself with? Who has complimentary skill sets? That will allow you to leverage what you already do very well and elevate your business because you've got the support around you that, you know, either supplements what you already do well or compliments those areas where, you know, you may fall short.
Dustin: man, this is so good. So, so good. Yeah, I would love the, the values. List the worksheets, people can go through that exercise you just described. We can definitely put that in the show notes. Hakeem doesn't know this, but long time listeners will. Our very first episode of this podcast is basically me talking about how I figured out my values and why it's so important.
Dustin: And my, my coach, Cassie, Was sort of put me in the guest seat and was sort of talking me through this process. So, if you go to seven figure leap. com to our about page, you'll see, I have six values listed, transparency, simplicity, fun, and then the other two are double words. I don't know if that's allowed, but I did it [00:40:00] anyway.
Dustin: Give first income and impact and then relationships rule. All right. And those are my personal values. And it's also how we. Select clients and how we run programs, how I have selected team members of people to help me. And when I hire someone, the literally the very top of the job application here are values and why.
Dustin: And if this doesn't resonate with you, please don't continue because it's not going to work. Right? So that's how important it is to team building and leadership. So I think that's Yeah, it's amazing that I've never had this resource. So I'm excited to go through it myself to see these values and be able to work through them sort of iteratively to get down, boil it down to an essence.
Dustin: So I love that. Hakeem. Thank you so much for sharing that. This is super powerful guys. This might be my favorite guest to date, not to slide any of our other guests, but we don't usually talk about things that are so deep and things I've experienced so. Intensely myself, you know, over the past two years in this, in my own entrepreneurial journey, this is the stuff that I would have saw a title of a podcast and skipped two years ago and now I see it and I'm like, self leadership, [00:41:00] values, vision.
Dustin: I'm like, this is actually the important stuff, right? It's, I love marketing and that's got its role, but like, this is the stuff to keep it PG. So, Hakeem thank you so much, man, for being so generous and sharing so much. This has been super helpful for me. I know the audience will love it. We'll definitely put that resource in the show notes, but if someone's like, I need to know more from Hakeem, I want to, I want to contact him for coaching or to maybe lead a session for my company or something like that, like what's the best way for people to follow you or get ahold of you to take the next step.
Hakim: Yeah. Thank you so much. LinkedIn is an easiest, probably the easiest way to find me. That's how we found each other. and that's a beautiful thing. , if not on LinkedIn, then certainly at my website. Lockdarkcoaching. com and you can email me directly at Hakeem, H A K I M at Lockdarkcoaching.
Hakim: com. I check all my own emails. I respond to all my own emails. I love being able to, you know, maintain that personal touch there. You know, despite the help I have, I like being able to see those come through and respond to them as they [00:42:00] do. And yeah, I'm open to any conversations.
Dustin: Perfect. I love that. Yeah. So, and locked are for people listening and maybe you don't have the show notes in your fingertips is L A K H D A R. So locked our coaching. com. Go check out Hakeem's work there. You can shoot him an email, Hakeem and locked our coaching. com. And we will definitely
put that values worksheet in our show notes.
Dustin: So you guys can grab that as an amazing resource. Yeah, Hakeem, I look forward to continuing conversation on your show. What's the name of your show? So people can go find my episode and start deep diving into, into your work over there with your podcast.
Hakim: I was so into the whole guest mode. I forgot that I have my own podcast. Yeah. Thanks for reminding me. It's access your leadership appropriately. So access your leadership is the podcast you can find on any platform. Spotify or iHeartRadio. You know, Apple podcasts, all of that. yeah,
it's all about people sharing their leadership journey and and what skills and attributes they found to be of most benefit to them throughout these, you know, twists and turns, ups and downs that we all experience in our lives and all through these leadership [00:43:00] journeys.
Hakim: And the stories are just so, you know, fascinating and inspiring. I'm excited to have you on, too.
Dustin: Yeah. I'm excited to get over there and share my wild journey, although it kind of pales in comparison to yours now, but you know, it is what it is. It's my, it's my story. So, all right, Hakeem, this was awesome, man. So access your leadership podcast or go check out lockdarkcoaching. com or find Hakeem up on LinkedIn.
Dustin: We're where we connected. I look forward to continuing the conversation over on your show, Hakeem, thanks so much for being here today and being such a gift to the audience.
Hakim: Thank you so much for having me. [00:44:00] [00:45:00]