460-SYB-Laila-Marouf.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
How can we navigate this age of constant change? My guest is Doctor Laila Marouf and we talk about her thought leadership message around knowledge mindfulness. In this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office, and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast, Laila.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Thank you. Carol, thank you so much for having me today on your podcast.
Carol Cox:
I’m excited to chat with you because we were together last fall. You were developing your keynote message, which we’ll get into in a little bit. And so we’ve had lots of very interesting conversations. And during one of our last coaching sessions, I was like, well, I, you know, we kind of came to this realization that maybe this these conversations would be helpful to have on the podcast so that other people could listen to them as well. You have a background as an academic, but you left, left academia a few years ago. And you I remember when we were chatting and this is in your book as well, that you had this kind of aha moment, this realization at towards the start of the Covid pandemic about what you had been studying and researching and had devoted your academic life to versus what you were feeling at the moment. And I think this is a nice contrast between what a lot of us have heard of as knowledge management. So how do we kind of corral all these different things that we need to know versus what you call knowledge, mindfulness? Can you share with us that story and what and then what knowledge mindfulness means.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Sure. Definitely. I mean, you’re taking me kind of, like, six years back. Wow. Time flies. Carol. Time really flies. So let me go back in time. Not six years, maybe 23 years back. And that’s the start of my journey into my interest in knowledge management and how I decided to leave my hometown and travel to the US, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to pursue a doctorate in information science with a focus on knowledge management at that time. And I think my passion for knowledge and understanding knowledge and the dynamics of knowledge just came from the realization that knowledge is so much embedded with a human being. And that was the real contrast between knowledge and information for me at that time, because my undergrad was in computer science and that was all about data. I kind of then studied. I did my master’s in information studies. So a lot of focus on information information system. So in those years in mid 90s, because of the information overload, the competitive edge that came out at that time was what we call the field of knowledge management, because that was kind of the competitive edge then. So fast forward to 2020. That was the year that I started a sabbatical and I decided, you know, I’m going to do the six month sabbatical at MIT exploring, you know, what, what new learnings are out there and all that. Of course, the the pause, the global pause just really kind of gave me the space to reflect on everything that I have been teaching, researching, consulting, I mean, for 20 years. That was my life. And what really triggered that is that those many questions of what if? And I think, what if things don’t go back to normal? What if I lose my job? What if you know this and that and all this kind of created so many questions in my mind that I felt that all my old learnings could not answer.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
And this was kind of the tipping point for me to start being more curious about the field of knowledge management and how much this field was more suitable for stable times, more suitable for structured times, and when times of disruption hit, when times of uncertainty came around fast change of things around us. I just felt we can’t access the field, of course, because it has so much to give. But I felt it’s time to expand and stretch that field, to include other parts that can help us navigate those unconventional times that we were heading. And that was the start of coining this concept, because the word management has always kind of made me uncomfortable because of the realization that information and knowledge are very different. And what we, when we talk about knowledge management, is really talking about information management. And that’s the only thing we can manage. We can create systems to manage it. And the technology is the tool to manage it when it comes to knowledge, and it’s so much embedded with human beings. I think the third wave of knowledge management realized somewhat that and created more communities of practice for people to share their knowledge. I think what makes knowledge mindfulness and the word mindfulness, I thought was kind of more suitable to these unconventional times and the uncertainties, because it really emphasizes awareness.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
It emphasizes knowing the full spectrum and the full dimension of our knowing. And this is something that felt very much closer to my heart, and it made more sense to me than the word management, because knowledge is so much like we said, it’s tacit. It’s so much to do with the human being. So I felt the main difference is really that knowledge. Mindfulness is about leadership taking agency, taking agency of your own knowing. And what shapes that knowing. And how does your knowing shape your being and doing, which means your life. So in many ways, I kind of put that self-understanding into the equation more profoundly in knowledge mindfulness, where the focus in knowledge management was more about the knowledge flow in organizations, in knowledge mindfulness. It’s really to do with integration, with really putting the pieces together between your understanding of yourself and understanding of the world, and how do they come together in ways that can serve you better in these unconventional times? So that’s kind of the main difference between the two and how I came to coin the concept of knowledge mindfulness, which is really it stems from knowledge management. The foundation is that science and field of knowledge management. And that I’m so proud of. And I’ve taught and researched and published. I publish around 35 peer reviewed articles in journals, and all my attention then was on the dynamics of knowledge sharing between humans. But I think where knowledge mindfulness comes is more focused on the internal dynamics of the human beings themselves and how this is connected with their context. And that’s kind of in a nutshell, the story of mindfulness.
Carol Cox:
Well, that was beautifully described. Thank you Laila. And it seems to me like knowledge management is very out there, like it’s very disconnected and distinct from us. Right? It just sits in a database or it sits on a computer somewhere versus it sounds like knowledge. Mindfulness is very much integrated into also who we are. Like you said, as human beings, it’s it’s our minds and our bodies, right? And our hearts and our whys and what it is that we want to do with our lives and the meaning that we’re looking to find.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Very true. But within the context that you’re living in. So we’re not knowledge. Mindfulness does not only explore your holistic or multidimensional knowing, but also your knowing within the context that you’re living in. Because this is the dynamic, uh, you know, uh, let’s say integration between the multi-dimensions of yourself, but within the world that you’re living in, because they kind of affect each other. This is the dynamic that we kind of touch upon in between not self alone, not the organization or the teams alone or your contacts alone. We do look at the relationship, the quality of relationships between the two. And this is the main difference.
Carol Cox:
So, Laila, you had this realization during the the first months of the pandemic, and then you ended up writing and publishing a book, which I read in preparation for working together, which was so beautifully written, I really enjoyed it. It’s called knowledge mindfulness, the inner connections that help leaders transform their business and life. And I’ll make sure to include a link in the show notes for listeners who want to check that out. So what prompted you to take these ideas that were forming and decide to put it into a book? And then how did that process of writing the book, you know, editing the book, getting it to publication, help you to refine the ideas and to find your voice in, in this new angle that you were discovering.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
I think the book was kind of, for me, the first point in this long lifelong journey of knowledge, mindfulness, why I say that? Because I think within the principles of this concept, we really advocate that your ideas need to come to life. And a lot of people have these great, great, great ideas and they, you know, kind of talk to themselves or their colleagues for sometimes months, years without bringing those ideas into a form, into formation. And I think I wanted to, like we always say walk the talk. So I couldn’t first of all, I couldn’t keep this idea in my head because I felt it was ripe enough to start in a book. So that was one way of putting it out there for me, even to start this journey, realizing that this is a dynamic journey and whatever started in a book is just a starting point. It won’t end with what the book says, because I already now, right now I can tell you I have like knowledge, mindfulness, 2.0 in my mind, and which is coming out there in the form of a cohort, a workshop that I’m teaching in the form of a podcast that’s out there. And I think all these spaces that, you know, this idea is being formed into also is a space to grow is a space to keep questioning all this idea what works, what doesn’t work, what is growing, in what dimension and how. And I think this is the main principle of knowledge mindfulness. Because again, a big difference between knowledge management and knowledge mindfulness is our relationship to knowledge itself. In knowledge management we kind of looked at knowledge as an asset. You know, assets that, you know, we called it, you know, intellectual capital, human capital.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
It’s always capital. It’s always like an asset that you want to hoard, you want to keep because it’s so much related to your identity. It’s so much related to your competitive edge. But in knowledge mindfulness, it’s more a detachment of knowledge as an asset and more focus on knowledge as a living system that needs to be nurtured, needs to be questioned, needs to be renewed and refreshed all the time. So there is that kind of, um, a lot of humility that comes into the equation when we talk about knowledge mindfulness. Because as much as we think we know, we still don’t know so much in this life. And I think this is what we emphasize so much in knowledge. Mindfulness is always start with the question of what do I know and don’t know about this challenge? So this is kind of what the book has really kind of helped me to be, this starting point, this small baby step that to bring all this tacit knowledge that I had in my mind into a codified form, into a form that can be challenged, can people could be curious about questioning, forming. And that’s where I think I always feel that knowledge is the really only form, that we have a primary source that grows the more you share. And it’s not the opposite. You know, it’s really kind of shrinks the more you hoard and the more you share. You think, oh my God, you know, my understanding is growing, my comprehension how I see things. And it’s exciting. It’s so exciting when you feel that way because it makes also a space for connection. And this is also a big, big point that, you know, we touch upon in knowledge mindfulness.
Carol Cox:
Well, Laila, I love that you have taken your thought leadership message, this idea of knowledge, mindfulness, and you have now had these different outlets for it. You have your book, you have your website, you have, you know, with your email newsletter, you have your podcast now, you have the workshops you’re doing, the keynote speaking and other speaking engagements you’re doing. And I feel like like you said, there’s different ways for people to to learn about knowledge, mindfulness and to generate, generate new understanding of it and to take it and for them to then do with it what they want from these different media that you’re creating. So speaking of your keynote, I remember when we were working together last fall that we had we had mapped out your keynote and then you had an opportunity just kind of come into your email inbox to do a virtual keynote for a knowledge management knowledge management conference that was happening around the same time. So you did that keynote, and I remember you came back to our coaching session afterwards, and you had this another realization about the field of knowledge management that probably I think it surprised you a little bit, but it also reaffirmed the importance of the work that you were doing about knowledge, mindfulness. So can you tell us a little bit about that experience and what you saw and what you learned?
Dr. Laila Marouf:
I think I remember what you’re talking about, because I remember coming back with an aha moment and a realization that I think a big part of me leaving academia, I remember, was this notion that as experts, we kind of always tend to, uh, just cling to what we know in many ways, defend what we know in many ways, become static, become hardened of what we know. And I felt again, with this dynamic world that we’re living in, the new reality that’s coming out there, emerging in our lives. I just felt we need a more dynamic movement, a more flexible, a more humble way of opening up to different views and different perspectives. And I think this was the aha moment that you’re talking about, that when I attended this virtual conference, in many ways they were speaking about knowledge management systems. And for me, again, that hit, you know, somewhere in my memory, I recalled a study actually, that I have done in 2004, and I published a paper where I interviewed six information specialists that worked in six companies in the US Microsoft, Ford, Boeing three, and I can’t remember Iglehart six companies. And we talked, I talked, I interviewed those six professional information professionals and knowledge management experts that were kind of coming and emerging in these companies and asked them a couple of questions, but I recall that were they aware of the difference between information systems and knowledge systems.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
And how were they dealing with this concept of knowledge? And I published a paper, and I remember when I came back home, I did a comparison study, and I interviewed also two big organizations here in Kuwait and try to make a comparison study because I felt why I’m recalling this 2004 study, because I just felt that moment in that virtual conference when they talked about knowledge management systems. And I felt that in a way, they or many of the knowledge management professionals are kind of stuck in the old models of doing things, of the old models of thinking of, you know, how do we organize knowledge, how do you put knowledge in portals? How do we bring knowledge to the right person in the right time, you know, to access for the right decision making and all that sounded great, like I said, for 20 years. But now we live in what we call augmented knowledge age AI, where AI is here already. Ai is the performative, uh, you know, dimension that all these called knowledge management systems and what they were trying to do. Now AI does so in many ways. That was the aha moment.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
If that’s the case, then what is left for human beings? What is our competitive edge? And that’s what brought, again, the importance of navigating these unconventional times with a concept like knowledge, mindfulness that can help out, not in giving you answers. It’s just a space maybe to start with, with giving you principles, but you can kind of maneuver your way according to your context and your challenges. And that’s the nice part about it. It never tells you what to do. It never tells you. Oh, you know what, Carol? You have these three points. If you do them, you’re the best. You’re the most successful tomorrow. And you know, and we are challenged so much with these concepts. Five things, three things, seven things. Tomorrow you’ll be this and that. And I think we need more integrity in our offerings. And I feel that knowledge management, mindfulness kind of creates that space where it’s more about giving you a flexible, organic place to start with, to question so much of maybe your doings and beings and knowings at this time, and maybe embark on your own lifelong journey of knowing, being and doing in ways that can bring you the success and wellness that you aspire for in your own context again. And that’s a very important distinction, I think.
Carol Cox:
Well, Laila, speaking of this idea of, of one’s own context, when and and to your point about not just saying, okay, here, here are the three, three tips or three things to do because it can’t apply to everyone. The three things that work for me may not be the three things that work for you. The three things that work for the woman who’s listening to this podcast right now, and whatever the topic may be. And I feel like for so long, like you said, for the, you know, the 20 years now since you had published that, that original paper that so many people are stuck in the I have the answer like I have the one or they’re looking for that one answer, that one solution that’s going to give them everything. But to your point, in these unconventional times where things are advancing so quickly there, there’s never going to be any one answer.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Yeah. And that is very true, by the way, even for one person in one context. So even if the situation changes in your context for you personally, I think this is where knowledge mindfulness comes into play, because it’s not about really being right. It’s about doing the right thing in the context that is aligned with who you are. So this is kind of the dynamics we’re looking for. This synchronization between your knowing and your being means how do you show up in this world. That’s why when we talk about being it’s like the new leadership that we are tackling here. And that’s so much infused with the level of knowledge maturity that you have. And that kind of manifests in how you show up in your relationship, in your communication, in your behavior, and how it shows in your doing. And you’re doing is your choices. You make the responsible choices that you think about. Now that can impact generations to come. You know, we tackle all these cyclical dimensions because we kind of focus on the quality of relationships between the knowing, being doing. We we don’t look at the parts alone. We look at how every part is interconnected with the other part and how it affects the other part. And I think this is the teachings, and we’re trying to put this out there, because this is not our usual way of learning. Again, we call it the new learning knowing it’s the new learning in knowledge mindfulness. Because again, we were trained for a different life, a more stable, linear way of thinking, the industrial age, where there’s a, you know, cookie cutter for everyone, every, you know, standardized tests, you know, you are great and intelligent because you brought this kind of grades. We don’t look at that anymore. Right now. We value everyone’s own unique intelligence, all unique value, because we believe that each one of us holds part of the equation and part of the picture, part of the puzzle, and putting the pieces together. That’s what brings the whole out there in a much, much more profound, valuable, effective way in these unstable times than we ever before.
Carol Cox:
Laila, I what popped into my mind as I was listening to you is that clearly there’s been around the world this hunger for the a prior age, this nostalgia for, you know, say mid 20th century America. Definitely true here in our politics in the US, this nostalgia for what people think is as a simpler time like this industrial age, the cookie cutter, you know, you had a job. You did the same job every day. You knew what was expected of you. You learned it and you did it. Now, of course, that is not really the reality of how most people work back then, but I feel like because of how fast the world feels and how much uncertainty there is and, and whether it’s, um, technology, you know, AI, just politics and everything that’s going on. The people are, are hungry for this certainty. Yet how do we how can we find that certainty within ourselves as the world is uncertain? I’m going to ask a global question, Laila, but then I want to come back to, uh, how do we slow down ourselves in our own lives so that we’re not on this hamster wheel? Okay, so let’s talk about the global first. Like, how do we feel certain and uncertain times? Is it possible and how do we find ways to slow down?
Dr. Laila Marouf:
I think I just want to go back to what you mentioned about sometimes. It always feels that, you know, older times are better, simpler. And I just believe that at those times they thought the same thing of 20 or 50 years back. So it’s always the way it is, right? It’s just that. But I think I agree with you. We are in times now that I feel is much more challenging, just because we are really entering a stage in human history where there is an intelligence that is much, much, much more higher intelligence than human beings and never before in history. And I feel this is really the biggest challenge that we’re facing. And I think because of that, we’re talking about the importance of wisdom and unity as much as the importance of information and knowledge. It’s just the the knowledge. Mindfulness comes from this realization that because of these unconventional times, right now, we need to value wisdom and unity as much as we value information and knowledge. Not seeing anything and not focusing on one thing or not the other. And that is the difference, I think. In knowledge mindfulness we talk about evolving your knowledge maturity. And that means really your abilities, your competencies to recognize and utilize the interconnection between information, knowledge, wisdom and unity. And how do you go from this to this? And this is where I go back to the word certainty.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
So again, the word certainty is all about control. We feel certain when we feel in control. And I think we feel in control when we have enough comprehension about the situation we’re in. And in unconventional times like these, it feels more like we’re entering more a fog. Let’s just explain it like too much fog. So when there’s too much fog, you’re kind of you cannot make sense of where am I going to walk? How am I going to put my next step? So that fog leads to, uh, you don’t have enough comprehension to give you that sense of control that you need and the ability to predict your next step. So that’s why it creates a feeling of fear, anxiety, a loss of control. And this is where I think I can answer part of your question, which is how can then we gain some certainty? I can’t say certainty because that’s very difficult, I think in the coming years. Very difficult. Why? Because again, there’s there’s a lot of fog. There’s a lot of unknowns and the unknowns, they’re coming because we cannot predict what’s going to happen in our lives, in our being and doing okay. As a conclusion or as a consequence of this technology that came into our lives right now. It’s such a complex technology that not even us, you know, normal human beings, we’re talking about the people who created it.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
You know, you hear interviews talking about it’s more like a black box. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know. And that is, I think, where our, you know, settled feeling that we feel a bit of, you know, this anxiety, where are we heading. We don’t know. But again, how do we get that certainty? Part of it is we need to push for deeper understanding of how to connect the dots of events that are happening around us. That is one part of the story. So there’s so many things that are happening, but they seem like so much fragmented. You know, a thing here happens an interview. You could hear somebody talking about II or this or that. So how do you build your ability to start connecting the dots between everything that you’re hearing, reading, uh, you know, talking to people about and how that can give you a bit of comprehension, a bit that comprehension would give you that kind of a bit of certainty that, okay, that’s a bit of certainty. It’s more like you can take now a risk, small, calculated risk of where you’re going to put your next step, your small baby step because it’s called calculated risk. Calculated risk means you are willing to, uh, you know, the price. If it didn’t go well, you know, you’re not putting your whole self into this because, again, it’s so foggy.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
So you’re going to go slowly, cautiously, with a small baby steps that is going to come out of your realization of a bit of comprehension of what’s going on. Accordingly, you can predict your next action accordingly. That kind of, uh, prediction can give you that slight, you know, self-control that you need to assure yourself that you know what? I can put my foot now in this direction or that direction. That’s kind of, you know, but again, this is this is I know it seems complicated, complex, but again, we are not going to confront today’s complexity with a simpler way of understanding, because you will never, ever reach your outcomes if that’s what you’re looking for. So part of it is that but another part of it is, I think about faith. It’s about just letting go. That’s what’s faith. It’s really letting go. Sometimes when you know you have no control, you have no. That’s it. Then I have to let go. I have to have that faith. Whatever is going to be will be. You know, in many ways. So it’s a combination of really this, you know, having that bit of certainty by your vigilance, by your understanding, by you connecting the dots and knowing when to let go and when I can just put my, you know, foot forward with a total, you know, letting go of the situation. Yeah.
Carol Cox:
That’s really helpful. Laila and I like the metaphor of of the fog being in the fog. It reminds me that here in Central Florida, where I live during the winter, because humidity is much lower, driving at night through kind of like swampy areas or areas without a lot of people and especially like on, on the highway is there’s dense fog. And I it really helps my anxiety and my fear a lot because, you know, you’re driving at 60 miles an hour plus right down the interstate. You know, there’s other cars around. You can’t see hardly anything because of this dense fog. And I have to kind of talk to myself, much like you just explained, like like one, like 1 or 10ft at the time or whatever the, you know, slow the car down. Like, just basically remember, don’t be distracted for sure. Like eyes on the road, pay attention, be focused and just have faith. Like you said, have faith that it’s going to be all right. Just keep control. What you can control. Do the best you can and just know that you’re going to get through. And luckily, that has worked all of the time. So I like the metaphor of the fog. And the other thing that I tell myself when I get super busy and we were laughing before we hit record, you asked me how things have been since the new year. I’m like very busy, like it has been unbelievable. But what I tell myself is that, okay, Carol, you have handled this before. You’ve had really busy times before where you look at your week and you think, how am I going to get all this done? And you’ve always gotten it done. And the same thing will happen this week or the next week. So I try to like chunk it down to like, what do I what do I need to do in the next few days instead of trying to like, get my mind squirrely, like, oh my gosh, this is going to be like this forever?
Dr. Laila Marouf:
I’d like just to touch on the metaphor of your car in the fog in Florida, because that really is something also that we touch upon in the book in knowledge mindfulness, which is the importance of unity. And why is that? Because as again, imagine if that fog is so thick and you have a long journey and you’re just traveling alone on that journey. And this is where I think in today’s unconventional times, we need our trusted others around us. And this is where I think this whole wisdom, unity, the value of wisdom and unity comes into play. Because as much as we think we are intelligent, as much as we think we have the competencies, as much as we think we know as much not in today’s and tomorrow’s much, much more complex world that we are entering. I don’t think our narrow perspective would help us in any way, because as human beings we have blind spots. So in your car, in your journey, as much as you think you’re the best driver, you know you still have those blind spots. Imagine in that car you have two and three of your best friends, trusted colleagues around you that in times of tension they can guide you. You know what, Carol? Don’t go left. You know, I could see this, or I could sense that. Or so now your view is not as narrow. You kind of widened that view into a much wider perspective that can help you through the journey, through the fog and through the hardships that, you know, these unconventional times could carry.
Carol Cox:
Oh that’s beautiful, I love that. Yes, I usually my husband is driving and I’m the one in the passenger seat flipping out.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
So that’s easier. I don’t know, I don’t.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Know if it’s easy. No, if it’s easier.
Carol Cox:
Because I don’t feel like I have any control. Right.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
So yes, I know, I know, it’s.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Very hard because there you need the wisdom. I’ll tell you how you need the good judgment to even tell your husband when to slow down, when to do this and when, because otherwise it really can make him more anxious. If you’re just telling him what to do. And I’ve encountered that personally.
Carol Cox:
Yes, I have learned that too, over the years. Oh, all right, that’s all. I’ll definitely remember this fog metaphor I like this. So then tell tell me a bit. What are what are you working on now? What is next for you? You’ve, you’ve you’ve relaunched your podcast Knowledge Mindfulness Porch. Listeners should definitely go check that out. What else is on the horizon?
Dr. Laila Marouf:
I think there’s so many ideas. But again, as we said, baby steps. You know, we have kind of I always remind myself, uh, you know, I’m, I’m working on this as one dimension of my life as of course, many women in this world, professional women, we kind of juggle so many dimensions being the family, the husband, the partner, the kids, you know, our social and our work. And I came to realize it is very, very important to really try to harmonize, try to synchronize between these different dimensions. Why? Because I just feel these are experiences that really is so important for us to live and to live more profoundly. And for many, many years, we kind of always separated between work and personal life. Work has always been, you know what? This you know, I don’t want to do this, but I have to do it. I need to earn money. You know, I’m just doing it this for a while, and then I’m going to focus on this and that. And you realize time flies and years pass and this is your life, whether it’s work or personal, you’re just living your life. And I came to realize that really, we kind of human beings fragment between work and life, personal and professional. And if we really can try to put this together as our being and doing in this life, then maybe we can enjoy what we’re doing and have this profound experience. If we can align what we feel is important in our life, what we feel the energy is coming out of us in those moments of aha, of, you know, serving others, helping others realize something, or helping others in whatever capacity I feel that gives us in return that fulfillment, that intangible feeling that I think we kind of strive for.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
But we never realize that it’s important in our lives. So going back to what I’m doing. So I am really trying to put these pieces together where I can enjoy a podcast like this talking to you, Carol. I can have, you know, close this interview with a lot of energy, a lot of learnings, a lot of realizations that I can take back into my context and share with others around me. So the same thing applies when I’m hosting a podcast. That Knowledge Mindfulness Porch, which now is what I call season two because it comes out in a video for the first time. It was launched last week. The first episode because for a whole, I think last year it was around 24 episodes. This was only audio recorded and they’re all on the website, Spotify, Apple, they’re all there. But I think I’m excited because this time it’s a very different experience having this recording, you know, in a video. And I think what I’m excited about is having different guests, different age groups, different backgrounds, different industries, just to have that space where we kind of see everyone here, everyone and value everyone because we feel that everyone has something valuable to say. Even if someone took one word out of that podcast. We’ve done our jobs in many ways, so that gives us that excitement and fulfillment.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Uh, another thing I’m working on is, uh, master workshop that I’m conducting. This is cohort two, and I’m very excited because the last session is going to be conducted in two days. And I feel I have learned a lot, a lot, a lot from, you know, my participants, because, again, it’s a cyclical movement of how do you, you know, teach and learn and how this kind of cyclical movement always makes you evolve. So every cohort, I just take everything that I’ve learned and how can I make the second cohort much better? How can I give them an experience of knowledge mindfulness not only in, you know, lecture wise, know in how they see things, how they change their mindset. Have they really came with a ha moment? What are and how are they going to change one habit maybe that, you know, they’re going to continue this lifelong journey of knowledge, mindfulness, integrating it into their life practices and so on. So that’s also an exciting, very exciting, you know, project that I’m working on just now. And I think there’s so much that hopefully will happen in the next year. Uh, I’m building a great team around me and I’m so proud of them because, again, it’s not a team of only I’m not looking for only competencies and knowledge in this team I’m looking for really quality relationships where minds, hearts and souls connect. We have kind of shared values. Shared purpose. Younger. Too young to retire, as I call. We have these kind of dynamics, so we’re kind of walking the talk as a team before we bring things out there. We’re kind of experiencing it firsthand in our green group dynamics in our lives. We’re sharing our experiences. So I’m really, really enjoying that part also. And I’m looking forward to really more, uh, ideas, creative ideas out there to bring knowledge, mindfulness to, you know, the global audience, hopefully out there.
Carol Cox:
Wonderful. Laila. Well, it was a pleasure to get to know you and to work with you. I’m so glad that we connected. I know that you have definitely planted seeds in my mind as far as how to think about knowledge, mindfulness, but even bigger than that, like the life that I want to lead. How? How I lead. Speaking your brand and the clients that we get to work with and how much I learn from them. Just as much as, like you said, uh, they learn from me. So thank you so much for the work that you do and for coming on the Speaking Your Brand podcast.
Dr. Laila Marouf:
Thank you for having me today, Carol. I mean, that’s really something I value, too, that you really thought of me for today. And I really hope that we can work together in the future. Also, on bringing knowledge, mindfulness to people out there.
Carol Cox:
I would love that. And for those of you listening, make sure to check out Laila’s website at Knowledge mindfulness.com. I’ll have links in the show, notes to her website, her book, and also connect with Laila on LinkedIn. Until next time, thanks for listening.
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