Episode Transcript
Alara Sage (00:01.609)
Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Wealth Embodied, where we activate and inspire you in wealth consciousness, visionary impact, and creative genius. I'm your host, Alara Sage, and I think many people are already feeling just how much innovation is taking off. And as we enter a new age astrologically, this is going to really take off even faster. It is going to just quantifiably
increase. And I think it's really important to have these conversations of how do we balance this innovation, this technology in our lives, in the workplace and our personal lives, our work-life balance. And today we have a wonderful guest that's going to help us talk about this exact topic, Victoria Mensch. She's a CEO and founder of the Silicon Valley Executive Academy.
She specializes in helping leaders navigate the demands of rapid technological change while balancing business success and personal well-being. Victoria, my love, welcome, welcome.
Victoria Mensch (01:09.442)
Thank you very much. I'm so happy to be here.
Alara Sage (01:12.456)
So let's talk a little bit first about what are you seeing with this innovation, this technological change? What are you seeing that, how is that affecting people and business?
Victoria Mensch (01:25.71)
Absolutely. Innovation is a big category, right? And the big category within innovation is really technological innovation. And they've been seeing that for quite some time now, the rapid pace of change, all new technologies coming in. One of the things that everybody is interested in right now, and I think it dramatically changes, really shifts a lot of processes within the society and societies and the mindsets and...
so on and so forth is really artificial intelligence. So one of the reasons that I like to talk about leadership in the context of artificial intelligence is because this phenomena, this technology brings those fundamental shifts within our society. Yes, we can talk about applications and how we can use, know, try GPT or what have you, any other tool for our work. But if we step up a little and look from a...
kind of a higher level what it means. It means that we are going to see fundamental changes in how people work and how people lead and how people manage. Right? So what does it mean for us when so many tasks will be automated, when that intelligence really makes it so much easy to do the analysis and the research? Where is the humanity in that? And my fundamental thesis is that
the priviligation of artificial intelligence that really gives us a chance to embrace our humanity. And that places a tremendous pressure on the current leaders because we actually need to embrace that.
Alara Sage (03:06.012)
Yes, I love that so much. It's such a beautiful kind of irony, but it's very true. It's creating spaciousness, right? For humans to really be more connected to each other, be more intimate, really bring out our humaneness as those tasks that we don't necessarily need to be doing are taken care of through AI. How do you see this really shifting leadership?
in itself? How is this making leaders show up differently for their teams?
Victoria Mensch (03:39.744)
about it, you are going to have so many tasks automated. So before in our, well, in our current world, not just before, before it's like currently a lot of times when we go in the corporate environment in any kind of management employee environment, the first role that you see in the person is that one role that you hired that person for. So it's a lot of this very transactional and our communication, our relationships are kind of transactional.
So the premise here is that lots of those transactions are going to be automated. Then what do you want to see from people who work for you? What are those qualities that you want to see? You want to see creativity, want to see entrepreneurship, you want to see proactivity. And those people, have choices, right? So they have choices. They can choose to work for this company, work for themselves. There are lots of flexibility in that. And the way you manage them cannot be just command and control.
So that's actually what the pressure is on leaders. So now you actually have to build those relationships to make sure that people are happy in that work environment and they can bring the best of themselves into that work environment to contribute to you as a leader, to your company as, you know, entrepreneur, because otherwise they would go off and do something else. So the workforce fundamental layer is becoming the workforce that you want.
is becoming much more autonomous and much more entrepreneurial and require different leadership styles. What are those tiles? Those tiles really are based on the recognition that you work with people, that it's a holistic person that you're dealing with. It's not just one function. I want my marketing manager that writes, I don't know, product briefs or something. Or I'm a software engineer that codes, right? So you're starting to, to, to really work with the
person holistically as a multi-dimensional, multi-functional, multi-passionate human being. So, and it requires different styles, styles based on emotional intelligence, on empathy, on respect, on gratitude, so on and so forth.
Alara Sage (05:55.837)
Yeah, this is incredible. And I've always said that, you know, this is really coming into this era where everybody's geniuses are really going to get to shine, right? And this is what you're speaking to. It's a human and we are multidimensional and multi-passionate. And it's, you know, used to be this place where the person was fitting into a job role. And this was kind of this box that you're fitting into. And I really feel like it's going to.
come into this more dynamic structure of a team where people are coming on, is that person a fit for this team energetically in what they bring to the table and those puzzle pieces coming together that create this really beautiful team that really takes a business, a company to the next level and how they work together as a team. And I think for leaders, it's going to be really about being able to recognize
does this person jive with our team? Does the team jive with itself? And what are we really looking for? What is that piece that we're looking for that completes that puzzle? And that might not just be in something that's written down on a piece of paper. That's a lot about really meeting people and feeling their presence and really communicating, like you said, connecting to them on a deeper level, an intimate level of emotion in a sense.
of what they really bring to the table and whether they can complete that puzzle. Is that already what you're seeing in in business?
Victoria Mensch (07:23.758)
Well, I think that the most effective leaders who actually will be able to grow in that new environment and embrace that technology and embrace all the benefits that this technology brings, these are the leaders that are starting to embrace that change. On the other hand, if you think of it, well, I was an employee, I was an employer, but I was an employee as well.
What is the environment that you like to work with? This is not an environment that drives you down. This is not an environment when you are burnt out. This is not the environment when you're treated as kind of like a little piece of a bigger puzzle, right? So this is the environment when you can actually want to feel respected, you want to feel forced. And now we have an opportunity to build that and not change stars, I believe with the person like a leadership really starts with the self leadership.
You don't need to be a big manager and an executive. You can start that change with you and, know, um, sooner rather than later, you see people around you who are the same or driven by the same values and kind of create that environment for you and them to lose, to thrive in, to thrive in. Yes.
Alara Sage (08:31.933)
Yes, yes. And I also really feel these new generations are going to be helping with that, aren't they? Because they have different priorities than the past generations have, where they are really requiring that those values be in the companies that they are signing up to work for. And so I really see everything shifting in that direction. How do you feel with the technology rise and the AI rise?
How do you feel like this is freeing up the human genius, I like to call it, to create more revenue in companies?
Victoria Mensch (09:10.68)
Well, quite frankly, there are two ways to look at this as always. So one way to look at artificial intelligence and be afraid. Be afraid that it's going to do better than I am. So it's definitely better in terms of analyzes, you know, big volume of data, right? So this is something that is going to do better in terms of, you know, writing, for example, this is going to be much faster writing. So a lot of tasks that are
really kind of intelligent tasks will be automated and what people used to do, probably they won't be able to do this anymore. And you can fear that or you can embrace it and really look at this as an opportunity to up level, to upskill and say, okay, now all those things that I might not be, probably was not enjoying that much anyway, right? So I can really use that as an assistant.
and bring what I really wanted to bring into this job, the creativity, all the expertise that I had. Right now, I can be much more effective. What used to take me a couple of weeks now takes a few days, right? So you could really approach that with that curiosity. What's next? How can I grow into that? How can I take full advantage of the skills that are out there?
while understanding that my human judgment, nobody's going to dismiss my human judgment. And at end of the day, the world we're in right now, we're going to make those decisions. And this is really supporting tools for us so far.
Alara Sage (10:44.542)
Absolutely. And how do you feel like this frees up the human employees to benefit the companies directly with regards to increased revenue?
Victoria Mensch (10:55.102)
Well, in terms of time, absolutely. the product CVT grows up significantly. in the work, let's say even in the work that would probably be somewhat creative, like content creation, for example, marketing roles, software development roles. So a lot of those tasks that were intense, that time intense, they shrink. So now we can really use those tools to help you with that.
analysis, everything that supports decision making, what used to take a long time to go through all the charts and build all the charts and compare those charts, that actually takes much less time now. So you have much more information and you have that information quicker and the end result is quicker as well. that just time, know, just, just, you know, dramatic change, dramatic change and shrinkage in time required to
form those tasks, that brings up productivity and definitely drives the revenue. Now, in terms of the analytical tools, it was quite challenging to put the analysis together and compare different options to have really data-driven decisions, no matter what. You would miss some of the details. Now, I really bring that up. you finally, for the first time,
almost ever, you could actually make those data driven decisions. At the end of the day, I know we're all excited about this technology and tools and everything. At the end of the day, I think we should understand that from the corporate point of view and really bringing that results in revenue, yes, you need to find right tools and you need to have skills and everything. But at the end of the day, where it makes or breaks that revenue gain is the technology adoption within the company.
So that's a big element that people tend to kind of just put in the back burner. So I'll bring those great tools and I give it to people and that's how we're going to increase revenue. No, the work is going to be in really helping people to adopt those changes and those tools to really bring kind of the maximum benefit from them.
Alara Sage (13:18.334)
Mm. I love that. And so for increasing time and increasing productivity, how do you see that balancing with personal well-being?
Victoria Mensch (13:28.248)
So the flexibility of this, right? So first of all, you have more confidence in the data that you're receiving because you know that kind of research is actually better quality and the more data is getting into that research. So there is a confidence in the data that you're receiving in a sense. And then the other part of it is, again, is that lots of kind of routine tasks, time-intense tasks, they're automated.
And you're kind of, you know, up leveling yourself into more of a supervision role, right? Supervisory role of the work results that you're getting from those tools.
Alara Sage (14:06.204)
And so what do you see as far as that extra time? Do you envision that people are going to be working less work hours in a week or do you feel that simply that extra time will further be used in the workplace?
Victoria Mensch (14:23.51)
Right. So from a leadership point of view, so the way that what we talk about at Silicon Valley Executive Academy is how you actually manage that. So the way to manage this is not to control how much time people are putting in delivering the task. The way to control is really put the goals and the performance indicator that are smart performance indicators.
So you could actually control the output, not necessarily how much time those people spend doing the tasks. Now, there is a balance there, right? So if you did not put the goals, the right milestones, and now you're afraid that maybe people actually don't spend that much time on those milestones.
then that's something to look inside and see. So what is it that I'm requiring instead of going and looking how much time people are spending or where they're spending that time, whether they're at home or in the office, really, you know, the requirement now is be much more smarter in terms of putting those processes in place, the milestones and the performance indicators so that you actually put those
Victoria Mensch (15:45.674)
you know, kind of guiding, right? So guiding principles for people to deliver. So I think that, you know, from a leadership point of view, right? So if you set the goals, you want to see the results. And then how much time people spend receiving the, you know, getting through those goals and delivering those results, that's almost like unnecessary control that you don't want to spend your energy on. Is that answering your question?
Alara Sage (16:11.26)
Yeah, absolutely.
Victoria Mensch (16:12.994)
So from that perspective, the employees would have more flexibility to see how they kind of rule their time. Some of them may decide that, now I see there are other goals and there are other processes that I want to help with in the company. And they would be much more proactive in bringing that up. Some of those might have some different
different situation and said, well, maybe I can spend more time developing myself through personal growth or spending more time with the family from you as a leader, your point of view, as long as your goals that you set out there are delivered, as long as you're staying on point for those, it shouldn't be an area of your concern, basically.
Alara Sage (17:07.614)
Yeah, so I mean, what I'm hearing from it is it's going to grant people a little bit, you know, the employees more of their own personal power, right? How are you managing your own time? And if they're able to implement the AI and the tools that they're given and they can streamline their own processes and increase their productivity, then they can really bring in projects and
you know, the goals that the manager is placing and free up more of their own personal time and or, you know, work on those things when they really desire that in their schedule of again, because this, you know, we're bringing it back to this well-being, right? And I feel what I see in the future is that there's going to be a lot more of that personal power of how I use my time, not me personally, but the employees and
being able to say, this is what I'm working on, this is the project, let me allocate this much time, this is what I need throughout my day. And then them spending time in between, right? Doing the things that they love. Like you said, that self care, spending time on themselves, spending time on their family. And so that balance of their work and their home really starts to come in because there is actually both rather than just going to work, so to speak, know, working eight hours.
coming home, know, having a little bit of time at home and that's your day. I feel it'll be more of a combined energy throughout the day. Combined schedule is probably a better way to put it.
Victoria Mensch (18:41.87)
Right, more of a value-based exchange, right? So what's that value that you contribute and what's that value that you're getting back from it? instead of, this is how much time I spent on this. means that now I'm a really good employee, contributing employee. If I'm a hard worker, I'm working 24-7, I'm accessible at any point, any time, right? So it's more of a...
value based on both sides. Again, from an executive and a leadership perspective, what is that value that I'm getting in exchange for the salary and compensation, right? And from the employee perspective, what is that value that I like to contribute? What is that value that only I uniquely can contribute in communicating that?
Alara Sage (19:27.782)
Yes. And it feels, you know, it feels really like a win-win because I think if people are balancing their time more, they feel more empowered in their time and still feel like they're delivering that value is still for like they're bringing purpose through to their career. You know, they're going to feel better physically, emotionally, mentally, right? And that's going to help them show up even better within their positions. And the leaders are going to have that reciprocity there of that.
work balance that we're speaking to.
Victoria Mensch (19:59.052)
Right, absolutely, absolutely. So one of the phenomena that we are all experiencing, we all know about this, is burnout, right? And we also know that burnout in play is really damaging for the companies. So we actually know the numbers now in terms of dollars, what it means to have a burnout, you know, workforce, it impacts productivity, it impacts...
know, talent retention and so on and so forth. So it's actually the damage is real, right? So we have to change and what is that change? And that change is really to recognize that, that we are those holistic human beings. And when we come to work, we interact as people, as humans, so realizing all those other needs that we have as humans and taking care of those needs really bring up your kind of values and plays a contributor in the work environments.
You have more energy, right? So you have more motivation, you have more enthusiasm, and so on and so forth. That really helps to up-level the organization productivity and the revenue and all those things that we just talked about.
Alara Sage (21:14.066)
Yes, wonderful. And so what would you say are the top three things that leaders need to be aware of when they're supporting their employees to manage and balance the innovation, the AI, technology coming in, and again, their personal wellbeing? What would be those top three points?
Victoria Mensch (21:33.378)
Yeah, so what I really like to start again with that self leadership, so becoming a role model of those things that you want to see in other people, what you want to see for yourself, what you see in other people, becoming a role model for them. I think that's very important. And that's how you trigger the changes that you want to see. So we touched a little bit on that control element. So there is a lot of unnecessary control that we installed in our environment.
when we want to control where people are throughout the day, whether they're at home or they're in the office, right? So we want to control how exactly they are delivering, how exactly they're building their work products, how exactly they're performing their work. And a lot of times it's really unnecessary. So one of the things that you work on is really releasing, relinquishing that unnecessary control.
Right? So one of the questions that you want to ask, if you really want to know how this person is delivering, I don't know, building a specific spreadsheet, what have you, right? So the question that you would want to ask yourself is, is it going to matter a week from now? Is it going to matter six months from now? Is it going to matter two years from now? If the answer is no, you really shouldn't spend an ounce of your energy
on controlling how this is being done. What really matters is what quality of those product, you know, a work product that you're getting back and the quantity of them, right? So that all that matters for you. And you might be surprised that people would actually, maybe they will not do this work the same way you would do this work, but you would be surprised at the creativity that, you know, really gets a rise from there.
the quantity and the quality and the motivation and enthusiasm in people who work with you.
Alara Sage (23:30.28)
That's such a valid point, because when we are over controlling micromanaging, you know, it's very tiring for the nervous system, right? Because there's a lot of stress to get every single detail and then double check, you know, triple check all of that detail. That's a lot for the nervous system, and that can absolutely lead to burnout. Whereas if you're relinquishing that control, I don't know if a lot of people recognize that or not, but when we relinquish that control, that's where we find
more inner freedom within ourself. That's where we find more of that inner peace within ourself. And just as you said, it can be a beautiful like exchange because when you relinquish that control as a leader, as you mentioned, you could be surprised the beautiful creativity that people can bring through that if you had been under that control.
You know, they may not have been able to feel like they could bring that creativity through. So by relinquishing that control, we allow more of that humanness, right? More of that human intelligence, that human creativity to really shine through.
Victoria Mensch (24:36.598)
Right, exactly. On both sides, you would be surprised on how productive your people are and how a lot of times they would actually deliver better results than you would have delivered. But you are absolutely right on the personal level. This is a huge energy drain. We're talking about energy. This control, if you think of it, is really based on fear and fear is very draining. And you are always in that state of fear that really pushes you to control. So one of the other
know, elements of the exercise that we're talking about, like is it going to matter, you know, a week from now? And then when you say no and you let it go, you can actually see whether it's the right decision or not. It feels like...
It's something snaps and something releases and releases that energy that you can now redirect somewhere else.
Alara Sage (25:29.06)
Absolutely. And again, that feeling of peace, that relief, right? It's literally like the stress relieving, the sigh of relief. That's so very important for our bodies and for our nervous system. Those are incredible points, Victoria. So how can people reach out to you and learn a little bit more about what you do?
Victoria Mensch (25:49.144)
The best way is to find me on LinkedIn. I'm always there. You can reach out. There's a way to reach out directly. So I'm happy to chat about any of those topics. And of course I have a website, Valley Executive Academy, where we're kind of posting information on more of the corporate level programs and trainings.
Alara Sage (26:07.934)
Such important work that you do. Thank you so much for being here with us today.
Victoria Mensch (26:13.068)
Thank you very much, Elira.
Alara Sage (26:15.354)
and to the audience. These are important conversations because as we mentioned, innovation is just going to keep increasing and it's going to become more more exponential. And we want that because it creates that spaciousness in our lives to begin to find that inner balance and harmony that we've been speaking about for a couple of years now. So this is exciting. And as Victoria so wonderfully put, you can bring this through as an invitation, not as a fear that you're going to lose your job or something negative is going to happen. This is going to
could, right, if you accept the invitation greatly impact your life in a positive way. absolutely consider this. And if you know of anybody that this episode could resonate with, absolutely share that with them. As always, I'm so grateful for you as the audience for being a part of the show. And until next time, I love you so much.
