Fostering Lasting Change in Business and Beyond with Dr G

I have trans people in the space that have transitioned to a different role or their position has been eliminated altogether. Do you see this type of thing happening? Well, it's a regional situation in terms of the time horizon that DDI is going to be important or valued Excuses are tools of the incompetent.

They built monuments of nothingness, and those who dwell upon them sell them out to anything. So from that I remove all the excuse.

Oh, dr G is bringing the fire and if you don't know, dr Giovanna Brosfield, she don't play. She has recently been selected by the Los Angeles Times as the 2024 inspirational women and also the Los Angeles business journals leaders of influence, and something tells me she's probably been nominated and awarded several other accolades since the last time we talked, because she don't mess around man. Luckily we worked things out so that we could spend some time get to interview and I'm super excited to release her message to the world. I get to learn a lot about, like her expertise in DEIB and she shares some of the real challenges to these DEI programs that people out there in the industry are dealing with and she also kind of gives the secret code or the early indicators that signal to her that this program has got legs Like it's really going to happen. I'll give you a hint it's all about transparency behind the closed door, so you're going to love it. I anticipate that you're going to get a lot of value and some enlightenment. And we don't just talk about DEI stuff. We also talk about her journey, her path in terms of personal growth, the resources that she tapped into to help her develop into the amazing gangster OG that she is today, and those things are something that all of us can put into practice, put into play in our lives to achieve and serve in the manner that we wish to. Before we go on, I'm going to give a shout out to LNM family member Angela. Angela left this note and she says your story is a beacon of hope for many. You light up the room in so many ways. Your stories inspire and create a path for people to discover a better version of themselves. What you are doing for construction and helping companies truly see their people is incredible. Keep it up, angela. Yes, ma'am, I will absolutely keep it up. And folks she's referring to the stories in the book Becoming the Promise You're Intended to Be that are about transparency, about vulnerability, about sharing the dirty details of my life, because I'm not the only one that's lived them. Anyhow, here we go To Miss Dr G. Oh man, you know me, I got to cut it off right when it starts getting juicy. We'll be back on the next episode for the second half. And oh man, what did you think about that poem? You got it twice and it's like damn reality check. I promise the next half of the conversation has got all kinds of wisdom, lots of laughs because we had a good time sharing back and forth and kind of. You know me, I can't help but goof around and I want to give a shout out to this episode's sponsor, which is Becoming the Promise You're Intended to Be. If you or somebody you know is in the grips of addiction or in the grips of self-destructive behavior, that book is intended to help give you hope and give the individual that's struggling with the issues some hope. It's a. My buddy Lee pointed out that the life that I've lived, my buddy Lee pointed out that my life, my stories that I kept hidden for so long, are living proof that can inspire others to take a step outside of the thing that they've been stuck in. There's a lot of stuff in there that even my mom says Miho, you shouldn't have shared all that. People aren't going to like you, people are going to disconnect from you and so far that has been incorrect. Most of the people have embraced me and appreciated what it is I have to share and the whole point is to just help one person. If one of the stories in there, if you can connect to one of the stories in there and decide to take significant action in your life and shift your thinking, then it was totally worth it. Remember be kind to yourself, be cool, and we'll talk at you next time, peace. Oh, it's Monday, it's a Monday, and Mondays are my favorite. You know I was doing research on you. I'm like holy and holy, like man. I can't believe you squeeze me into your.

Out there. Likewise, I'm glad our both of our schedules alumni didn't seem. The stars alive, so cool.

Well, you know. So here's another thing. I know like you own operate Brass shields and associates correct. Maybe you get the same thing. I get a lot of people kind of assume that I hang out at home making brownies all day long, which is.

So not the case. It seems like I've never had an opportunity to work so, so hard, especially as a small business entrepreneur, and just making things happen for clients, for self or Just the brand, and it's really just overcoming. I call it the leadership hurdles. Right, they're into space.

So I know you. You were in construction with flat iron for a while. Oh, we understand, like your, pat, your career path, because I'll just say right now In my head it's just loud, amazing at the top, pemical, and has it always been like that for you. What was that the path and what were the learnings and lessons you had along the way?

Man. I think this question is such a Great question because so many people always asked me. I think it was one of my last interviews. She stopped and she says how does it feel to be the woman that has it all? The woman that has an amazing career, the woman that has all of these Accolades and recognitions and awards, the woman that has now Transition from corporate America into now small business and still killing it, the woman that has an amazing relationship, the woman that has a mom and the hats, and the list went on and on and as I sat there I was like she's talking about me and it blew me away to be the classified as the woman that has it all. But what happens is so far behind the smile I call it, which is the aha moment, is people don't know I have a huge tribe, a board of directors that helped me show up in my present state, helps me stay strong in the face of adversity, helps me think about perspective and really come into the, my whole, authentic, transparent self and it's truly that smile. But it's these shoulders that I'm able to stand on and lean on and reach forward. That's so far. So often people just see me, but I'm representing so many people that have helped carve the me, the dr G, out, and Oftentimes, when sitting down and thinking about it or even talking to people, they don't see the past of dr G. There's a gilvanner, there's a Giovanna Brassfield who has all these flaws, who has a story very much like Challenges and like like I love that you share your journey with others so they can see the whole picture. They see you today and they're like, wow, he's fabulous. But you're like, hey, I've had face with all kind of challenges that I've overcome, that I'm working on, that, I'm still improving, and that same journey goes for me too, and it's okay. It's a beautiful thing to have so many people holding you up your tribe. That allows you to be uniquely made and beautifully shown up.

Oh, I love it. Okay, so the woman that has it all, I Love it. Did that always have your attention if you go back to a university? Before you entered the workforce? Was it like okay, I'm gonna be the woman that has it all, and right now I'm the young woman that has it all and I'm just gonna stay on that path?

Man. Oh, it actually started from adversity. How I ended up in construction was just by raising my hand. I was really good at policy. I was focusing on my dissertation. I I end up having to that. That was not my objective at all but I had yeah, yeah, yeah. So one was very challenging and I end up starting another program at the same University of Laverne and From there got released from one chair circle back, end up adding on to the body of knowledge in Educational policy and decided to to get approval to finish both of them at the same time, same academic year. Wow, and I thought because of that journey I would really focus on looking at high school X exams for black and brown students and from from that effort they're saying hey, you're good at policy, I want you to really look at DBE certifications and Help our smaller businesses get certified so they can do business with the state of California. From there did well, did exceptionally well, got hired on it with the contractor. After I was consulting in 2004 in this space, brought on with the contractor, manage a couple, their technical assistance programs or outreach strategy, their inclusion and then Contaming to progress towards the higher ranks of compliance, mitigation of risk, looking at overall strategy when it came to inclusion from workforce, small business, youth engagement, charitable giving, social impact. The list goes on and on. Yeah, but more so, how are those dollars being allocated to the bottom line, which would be the stakeholders at the community level? And it was interesting enough as it faced our country was at a such a pivotal point in 2020. Unfortunately, what was going on in our community? People were calling out for more, calling up for belonging, inclusion, and I kept getting calls from many different Executives and we're talking about CEOs, senior VP's, executive V. He's About what are we gonna do about inclusion? How does this really work? How long is this going to be around? What are we gonna do for our people on our teams and different companies? So, from there, I started to raise heart and mind, first to jump out there and really help Multiple companies when it comes to inclusion, and that's where I started revisiting the jumping back out as a small business owner to help a magnitude of companies in this space of inclusion, belonging, and also now it's employee resource groups. So I do speeches, keynotes, employee resource group trainings and, of course, my favorite baby is I've been tapped on the shoulder by the billion dollar projects, to really think about strategy for these large infrastructure projects and bringing teams and people together.

So you mentioned how long is this going to last? Yeah, it's interesting because I have here local in Texas, because we're our own universe, right, I have friends that were in the space that have transitioned to a different role or their position has been eliminated altogether. Do you see this type of thing happening, a regional situation in terms of the time horizon that DDI is going to be important or valued?

There definitely is a huge political push to dissolve efforts. This has been around since the 60s. It has not been something new. I think that's where the hard part of the conversation starts. Is most people think, oh, since George Floyd, here we are and this is what it is, and it's more this one situation. I'm like no, these policies and practices and theories and methodology that's the bigger part. The theories and methodology have been around since the 60s, if not before. In our now, these programs are not going to dissolve their transorming of what they look like, because now we came to a point where everyone was all in, everyone wanted to do it, everyone wanted to have an ERG, everyone wanted to have a DDI program, inclusion. But how are they sustaining that? What does that really look like? Do they have someone that they've brought on as a practitioner, like myself, to really help them elevate the conversation? Think about long term strategy, linking into their KPIs or even their strategic plan for whatever year, but having it something that changes the organizational culture. That's where the huge problem is. So you have these political attacks. Going back to your question, there's so many different political attacks that are happening right now on inclusion. There's policy, but there's also the other side, where there's new organizations, these public agencies, saying we can do more. The federal level. There's programs that are being rolled out to have an X percent of dollars that are from infrastructure, being inclusive for neighborhoods, for programs for small businesses. So there's the offset of that too. Where will we end up? I think that we're going to continue to have this momentum behind DEI B programs, because employees are calling out. They're calling out to be included. We have a younger generation that is coming in who want to see these programs in order to stay at these organizations. They want to see these type of programs and how committed organizations and organization leaders are to DEI B.

So, in terms of commitment, what are the ingredients that you recognize, or maybe even look for in leaders or organizations that indicate to you that this is going to be a sustainable effort with minimal friction?

I look for the honesty and transparency, so I love my closed-door conversations. Those closed-door conversations get to the real root. Where really are they on the totem pole? How inclusive do they want to be? And I think that honest, truthful, transparent conversations allows me to do a better job at what I'm doing. Rather than come up with this amazing program and I'm excited about it. And they're like Dr G and I can't figure out why there's resistance right, because I've done that one before too where I'm like I have this amazing program that's going to cost a very minimal. This is your budget. It aligns with all these things. The stars align over here. We have people to roll it out, but yet I can't figure out why we're not moving forward. Ah, because you're not all in, you're not bought in. So again, closed-door conversations, first and foremost because everyone's at a different starting point. I think one of my clients came to me and they're like Dr G, we want that program. They had to ask for my reference list. You know different projects I've worked on, so I had to show that for the particular consideration of what I was working on. They were like okay, great, you work with them on this. And they said you did an amazing job. We want that program here. Just do it cookie cutter. It should be cost savings, Cookie cutter, cost savings. And I'm like one. That client is 10 years with their DEI B program. You are rolling out your DEI B program. So the type of strategy and the conversations and the branding and marketing and the buy-in is night and day experience and they're like I need you to do it fast. Dr G and I'm like either we're looking for a check mark or we're looking for a sustainable long-term impact. Because, yeah, I wish I was like, yeah, I'll take that money, but I was like, no, you can't Take your money, you want a check mark? No, but I ended up not working with Beck.

That's the appropriate thing to do because it's better for you and them in the long run. You know, I've heard one guy say you know, the thing about consultants is they don't have skin in the game. And I'm like bro, if you don't experience the value that we've made the deal on right, not only are you going to be frustrated, but you're going to tell everybody you know about me not delivering the value that I promised. So I absolutely have skin in the game and it's we are better served and saying thank you, I've got the right person for you.

So what does it feel like to say that Well, I think about the good old days when every two weeks my check was in the bank and if I'm voted, so it's interesting conversations, but I have to be very real with clients, knowing that I want them to grow. That's my ultimate desire is I want them to grow, get strong, be I'm truly changing their organizational culture and being more so. Use that real conversation, but also the part that they're talking about, that skin in the game for consultants. It often happens because they're not transparent, right, they're not honest. They don't tell us the whole big picture when they're doing business with this. They're like you only get to see this little, small window piece. You don't get to see the whole square in the zoom. It's a small, little piece.

I have one rule usually when I'm working with people and it's no bobbleheads. When I beam by that, you think the bobblehead, they just not their head to say yes and their polite yes, yes, but then they go around the corner and start undermining all the efforts that were made in the room. Yep, so for me that's like the most dangerous thing. I would rather have somebody in the room that says this is crap and I think it's a total waste of time. Right, awesome, I know where you at, you know where I'm at, and if you hear that, how do we close that gap or come to and walk away? But Keeping it a secret is the worst thing that can happen. You agree, I agree, absolutely agree. So if you ever had a situation where you're supporting a team or an organization that has been kind of plain, soft and and Filled with bobbleheads and then all of a sudden they decided to come to play, that is a consultant.

People are working with project teams, right where you have this amazing program you have to roll out and then you can't get the traction and momentum behind it and it's just not having. The information is there and the data is there. You're showing the numbers and the different NAICS codes that you have the small businesses certified in, you have the zip codes of the Economics of the community to bring in workforce. You have all this data and it's just not getting momentum behind it. But they're like trying to move the project further along to say we can't find them, we can't find them, we can't find them. We can't make a and documenting every time the documentation process and they get halfway through. You you're like we have this, we have that or even anyone you recommend it's not a fit. I've had that too. And you're like we're contractually obligated to meet these criteria. So why are we still struggling in here In that with that one? I don't know, I still haven't. Luckily, I don't have to deal with that anymore.

Funny cuz we lot of folks in construction. We want the metrics prove the value, blah, blah, blah. As long as it serves me, yeah, if it surfaced is a gap in what I need to be doing where I should be, it's not that important anymore. It's biased data. Are you ever hear that?

Yeah, cuz the data is what the data is and you can pull what you want to pull from the existing data. To show your case yeah, just like we can pro pull for data, we can pull opposition data 100% so you got how many PhD?

six, I.

Just like I'm paying for sick.

I mean William to only she oh my god, we gotta cut this off.

Yeah, both earned.

Both earned hard work and defended earned right, that's yeah from the ver so when you were an undergrad, had you already decided I am gonna get a PhD you know, my undergrad was from Mount St Mary's University Business Administration and Business and Marketing.

I thought at that time I would again. I was still interested in education. I never imagined really pushing my education to this Magnitude, and I think it was at the point where I was like I'm not ready to pay for the student loans, I rather invest in property. So in 21, 20, 21 years old, I'm investing in property. I'm like I don't want to pay my loans and I just kept enrolling. And then, as I continued my education, I found my joy. I found something that brought me absolute joy, which is policy and, interesting enough, anything I wanted to look at in that, before the educational dissertation, I was looking at interest group influence over your quality regulations and I was studying particulate matters. And then I decided I was working at Nissan. When they were here in Los Angeles and Gardena area I Decided I wouldn't do that. When they moved I was like my anchor for that drive for particulate matter and carbon emissions. I thought that led well and left with me and I guess so I just transitioned to education policy and then construction, now policy.

Okay, but you were dabbling in real, not dabbling, you were invested in real estate, yeah, and now you have your own business. I heard you mentioned the word brand, which I definitely want to get into, but this entrepreneurial, invested, investment mindset, where does that come from? Oh?

I think it's just I'm pushing myself in a uncomfortable zone that discomfort brings comfort, because that's where the growth happens Far too often. I was just advocating for small businesses, making sure that I had a voice in the room when we were talking about large billions and millions of dollars being allocated to the smaller firms and those often overlooked or not included in some of the procurement opportunity. So the best way to learn and experience what they go through is to be in the driver's seat of the car. Got it so in this space now, oh my gosh, I had to apologize to a few of the small businesses that I've helped over the years, because I'm like whoa, the things that I was telling you to do, the textbook stuff. If it feels right, do this to live it. Oh man, wait on your. Your invoice will be processed 4590 paid. When paid. Oh sorry, we messed up on your ACH numbers and key in it in. We'll get back to you in a week or so. Really, is that what it is? That's happened to me, oh my gosh. Or even this one helping out a team member, a small business owner. You have your scope identified as a consultant. You had your scope identified, which you're supposed to do, contractively obligated. Then I saw someone else doing something else that didn't wasn't up to par. So me thinking I was corporate, I'm like I'll help him, I'll get this to help him with his work. I just did it. So when my operations manager looks at my numbers, she's like hey, you exceeded a couple of hours here. What is this, that thing? Well, you see, um, she's like you have a overrun. I do what do you mean? You know you don't get paid for that. What Third Small businesses do that? This is great, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The experience, the journey, the growth, even I've been priceless. I mean, I have learned so much about myself in this uncomfortable state of growth and this is just year two and I've had amazing clients oh my gosh, amazing clients from when the first day I cleaned up my office. I remember I'm like one in the right direction, did I? I love the company I'm working with, I love the project I was with at the time and I'm like I don't know about this, but I remember calling my first client and I was telling them which is actually Procore. And I called and I talked to someone and I was like hey, you just I'm doing a transition. And he's like what, you're free? I said yeah, he's like Monday you will have a contract and you're in helping with this executive leadership program. I need you to head to the DEI section and go. And I was like done, I don't even have an email address. Let me get my stuff together over the weekend. No, no. And I knew at that point it was confirmation I was going in the right direction.

Yeah, yeah, because people recognize the value which takes us to brand. I want to share a relay to store, very similar when I made my transition to start my own business. Yeah, I had breakfast with the guys I was working with previously and they're talking about they need a facilitator for a leadership retreat. And I'm like man, I don't really know anybody that does that. They're like no stupid, we're talking about you. Oh, then he says, send me an invoice and I'll have a check for you the day of the event. I said, bro, I don't even know how to send an invoice, right? Oh, dang it, man, I just quit my job. But, like, again, tie that back to brand, and you mentioned it. There's something deeper than in this idea of brand that most people overlook or miss. And so what is your brand, dr G?

and how did you craft? It's basically simple delivery, joy of delivery, just making sure that each and every person that I work with is excited about the outcome. So I just remove all excuses and why I'm biggest thing that remove all excuses and I try to have the positive outcome. So you think about everything that has to do in our industry. There are so many obstacles or so many hurdles. You have to think about things on the spot to come up with solutions to problems really fast. So rather than think about the excuses one of my favorite poems is referred to excuses, like excuses, are tools of the incompetent. They built monuments of nothingness and those who dwell upon them seldom amount to anything. So from that I remove all the excuses and I'm like what could I do to solve this problem? And I really think intentionally. Think about teens, think about people, the resources that I have available and accessible to me, and leave on them.

Wow, okay. So I heard like resourceful perseverance, gritty execution, delivery. How many of those are false?

They're all true.

Okay. Now, on that same line of thinking, though, how much effort like conscious effort do you have to put into maintaining that credibility? Or maybe another way to think about it is how fragile is that in terms of other aspiring leaders coming through down the pipeline? Oh man, you know me, I got to cut it off right when it starts getting juicy. We'll be back on the next episode for the second half. What did you think about that poem? You got it twice. It is like damn reality check. I promise the next half of the conversation has got all kinds of wisdom, lots of laughs, because we had a good time sharing back and forth and kind of you know me, I can't help but goof around, and I want to give a shout out to this episode sponsor, which is becoming the promise you're intended to be. If you or somebody you know is in the grips of addiction or in the grips of self-destructive behavior, that book is intended to help give you hope and give the individual that struggles, to the individual that's struggling with the issues, some hope. My buddy Lee pointed out that my life, my stories that I kept hidden for so long are living proof that can inspire others to take a step outside of the thing that they've been stuck in. There's a lot of stuff in there that even my mom says me oh, you shouldn't have shared all that. People aren't going to like you, people are going to disconnect from you, and so far that has been incorrect. Most of the people have embraced me and appreciated what it is I have to share, and the whole point is to just help one person. If you can connect to one of the stories in there and decide to take significant action in your life and shift your thinking, then all the risk was totally worth it. Remember be kind to yourself, be cool, and we'll talk at you next time. Peace.