Liz Nolley and Kere Thomas kick off Season 2 of Just Us by reflecting on the joy (and work!) of Season 1—and shouting out the growing community of listeners and YouTube subscribers. Liz opens with a “Teachable Moment” that’s perfect for a new year and a new season: “Pause as an action” and “silence speaks volumes.” Together, they unpack how Black women—often expected to do the most—can reclaim power by practicing discernment: knowing when to speak, when to listen, and when silence is the strongest move in the room.

Then the episode shifts into a fun, culture-forward “Top 10” segment: Top 10 Business Lessons from The Book of Eddie Murphy—with chapters from Coming to America and Trading Places. From protecting your intellectual property to asking for what you want, learning the unspoken rules, building the right team, and not resting on privilege, Liz and Kere translate classic movie moments into real workplace strategy—without losing the laughs.

They wrap with a special listener perk: a limited-time merch discount (20% off) tied to Divine Nine Founders’ Day season, plus an invitation to join the Inner Circle community for future tools, discounts, and bonus resources.

Hey everybody, I'm Liz Nolley. I'm Kere Thomas, and welcome to the Just Us Podcast— a place for Black women navigating corporate spaces.

So Liz.

Hey, Keri. We made it through season one. Welcome to season two. Yes.

Before we get into things, do you have any reflections on our first six episodes?

Oh wow.

There's so many, but it's just been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of fun. It's a lot of work to do the show, but it's a lot of fun. And I have so many, like, favorite episodes. or favorite moments. Oh, definitely. Favorite moments from the episodes. But the best are like the comments on YouTube, on the YouTube channel. Yes. I gotta give a shout out to all of our subscribers— we are north of 2,500 subscribers— so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And we're, you know, we're doing so many exciting things. And my favorite part is just interacting with our subscribers on YouTube or on. We get a lot of feedback on our shorts, on TikTok and stuff like that. And people comment and everything. Or just in my travels, I'm amazed at how many of my friends and family tune into the show. So that's got to be the favorite part of it. Or somebody will say that they saw something on the show and it resonated with them or they used it or they thought it was funny or, you know, what have you. So I think, how about you?

Same thing. I think it's been so much fun. I think we touched on some really good topics that from the comments, a lot of people resonated with. So and thank you to all of our subscribers, listeners for tuning in and commenting and telling us what you think. So I just think it's been great. And I'm glad we're back for season two. Me too. Me too. So let's kick it off with.

A teachable moment.

Okay. I'm down.

tend to get into because we're multi-passionate, we can multitask, and the world expects a lot of us as Black women.

But my teachable moment is kind of counterintuitive to that energy. And that is. That.

Pause as an action.

And silence speaks volumes.

So sometimes it's not about what we are doing and what we can do, but sometimes it's really all about what we don't do and what we don't say and how there's power in that.

You hear my silence?

Oh, good.

Yo, that's the Black conversation. That was me. Thank you. Thank you. We do a lot of Black conversation on this show that way. We definitely do.

The unspoken remains unspoken. Yeah.

And I just think. You know, it's just a helpful reminder. And, you know, that number one, like I had a mentor tell me years ago, she was like, 'Liz.' Not all conversations are worth having with all people. And that stuck with me because I'm I'm a I.

I get into my defensive energy sometimes and I want to explain myself and make myself clear and explain and talk and da, da, da, da, da, da, you know, and everything. And when she said that to me, I was like.

Like Eddie Murphy said, 'Aha. Aha.'

We'll revisit that later. But, you know, it was just one of those kinds of 'aha' moments. And I was like, 'Yeah, sometimes you don't have to have that conversation with that annoying co-worker or that customer that you couldn't come to terms with. Or, you know, as PR professionals, you know, the stories that you kill and the headlines that never make it to print. Are sometimes your biggest wins and more important than the press that you do get. Like if you can keep a bad story out of the headlines, that's more valuable sometimes than making the headline. Right. So. So that's sort of the first kind of point into this whole pause is an action and silence speaks volumes.

I do think, because, you know, I think about some of the stuff, sometimes we see, like, videos on TikTok where people just, if they would have just said, you know what?

Like the guy, it's above me now. We've all seen that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we need to be more like. It's above me now. And just.

When it comes to co-workers, sometimes.

Like Teddy Pendergrass said, you gotta let it go. Yes.

I don't know if the next line applies, but okay. Or for the younger set, let it go. Right. Maybe that's not. Maybe that's more. That might be more appropriate.

Maybe that's for them. That's more G-rated conversation. But, you know, and part and parcel to that is, you know, too often we listen to respond. Instead of listening to understand.

And part of listening to understand is you gotta be quiet.

And, you know, and take it in, right?

That allows you. Not to take what's being said personally.

Because we get caught up in our emotions and get all the feels and stuff like that. And a lot of times we think we have to do the most to get ahead in our job. And our careers or whatever we're doing, but often the most powerful moments and insights and moments of clarity that I've had in my journey is when I've actually taken a pause. To reflect and lean into my mindfulness practice and meditate, rest, reset. And often that's the most powerful thing we can do for ourselves as professionals.

So.

I understand, like, taking a pause is kind of for me.

To figure out my path. But a lot of times in the corporate setting, you know, you're told to be seen, to have an opinion, to have a voice. So how do we—how do we balance that?

For me, I think that's where the power of discernment comes in. And you have to know yourself, right? If you're one of these people who your natural inclination. and every meeting is to like spar verbally with your colleagues and counterparts, then practice not saying something in the meeting. Practice listening. And if you're the wallflower in the meeting, practice saying one thing in the meeting because there's a happy medium.

In my sorority life, one of the most powerful experiences that I had that helped me really develop as a leader, quite frankly, was being parliamentarian. Because in parliamentarian and in our world, you don't speak at meetings. Right. Like you're there to advise the presiding officer and stuff like that. So if she needs you, then, you know, you two have like one of those lawyer conferences like they have on TV.

And then you come back. But I was one of these people that had to question everything, had to know everything, had to do everything. And it was who's doing the most in meetings until I became parliamentarian. Maybe they put me there to shut me up. I don't know.

But I'm thankful. I'm thankful for that because it is.

showed me that I could still add value by being an active listener in the conversation. So when I came out of the role as parliamentarian, I got better at discerning when I felt the need to do the most and say the most versus when I really needed to talk. Because, you know, when you talk all the time, it's like white noise.

Yeah. People start to tune out. And if you even do have a point, who heard it?

Because you said so much. Not you, but you know what I mean.

No, yeah me.

That's why you got the bars on the show.

Because I speak so much and then you'll come in with one line and it's a mic drop moment and it's all over.

Not true. These teachable moments are very valuable.

So sometimes, you know, taking that pause and take the act of pausing is an action. So I think we have to give ourselves permission to act in a still way and communicate in a silent way.

Mm hmm.

Like. And we don't always remember to do that as black women who. Tend to do the most just because it's what we do.

So the other part to that is when we are silent, sometimes people take that as an offense.

How so? Oh, you have nothing to say, which must mean you have a lot to say.

Well, I think that's where authenticity comes into play, right? Because you can be silent.

And we have to ask ourselves, am I reacting that way to Kere's silence because of what Kere's giving me or what I'm giving? Me in my storytelling. Like, is that about me or is that about Kere, number one? And number two, you know, it's about discerning. Like, if your silence impacts me or is giving me energy, then I have agency to say, 'Kere, you're being awfully quiet Is there something, you know, what's the unspoken thing that needs to be said?

Right.

And we can have that conversation. You have to have the managerial courage to go there and make sure every voice is heard. Because as a leader, that's your job. You need to make sure every voice is heard. And Kere could just be like, 'Oh, no, I'm just having a bad day. I'm preoccupied.'

Or I'm totally okay with what we're talking about.

Right. It doesn't always mean that. Yeah. It doesn't always mean that. And sometimes other people's silence and how we react to it says more about us than it does about them.

Yeah.

And then the last thing that I would say is: you don't always have to speak or act to hold the place of power. Sometimes you just being— is enough.

Mhm.

Like, you know, like I look at.

Barack Obama. He's not the president. He's not making decisions. He's not doing everything. But he still holds a place of power in this country, in our collective psyche.

And when he speaks, because he doesn't speak all the time, when he speaks, the whole world is going to tune in and listen. That's the power of the pause in action, the power of the silence.

Right. And not to stay in the political lane, but even with Kamala Harris, there was a point there where people didn't hear from her. And they're like, 'Why aren't we hearing from her? Where is she? What's she doing? And she's just being silent. She's just letting it happen how it has to happen and when the time is right. She will say something.

And it'll be so impactful because she took the pause, because she leaned into the power of silence speaking volumes and her silence was speaking volumes at that time. And again, that wasn't a reflection of anything about her. It said more about the people that were bothered by her silence than it said about her. So. That's the teachable moment. My reminder is that you don't have to always be doing the most and saying the most. Sometimes you just have to remember pause is an action and your silence can speak volumes.

It's beneficial to do the least. Sometimes.

Sometimes it is. The things you say no to are just as important, if not more so, than the stuff you say yes to. And that's where your purpose comes in, to help you discern that. Good stuff. Thank you, Liz. Yeah, no, thank you, Kere. We'll be doing a short and sweet one today. I know, that was good, though.

It was really because I wanted to get into today's top 10.

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Oh, this is gonna be a good one.

I think so.

I hope the people out there enjoy it.

It is definitely tapping into one of my favorite people of all time. Mine too, mine too.

And this is classic. Classic. So today's top 10 are the top 10 business lessons coming from the book Of One Edward Reagan Murphy.

Known to the people out there as Eddie Murphy and two of his best.

Chapter, texts.

Coming to America. The book of Coming to America. Aha.

And.

The book. of Trading Places. And my shirt today is an homage to Eddie's bosses and the villains in that Duke and Duke Commodities. Randall.

And. Mortimer? Randolph and Mortimer Duke, founded by them in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is where the movie was based. So, you know.

Do these youngins know about trading places? Maybe we should. Give them a little synopsis.

Okay, wait, y'all know about coming to America, right? Okay, so that's Prince Akeem looking for his queen in Queens and things like that. But Trading Places is this amazing story where Eddie Murphy.

It's like.

hustle man, basically. And the Dukes, who run this commodities exchange brokerage, very wealthy, powerful. Man on basically a Wall Street type of an environment in the movie, they they have a dollar bet that they could take someone like a street. hustler kind of person. A lot of passive racism undertones with them in the movie. Appropriate for the times, though.

But they could take somebody like Eddie Murphy's character, Billy Ray Valentine, Capricorn, and take him and swap places with Dan Aykroyd, who's the golden child of their brokerage house. Lewis. Lewis Winthorpe II, III, IV, XV, something like that.

So like hilarity ensues and they and they— they because they're having this argument. Is it nature or is it nurture that makes somebody successful? And they bet a dollar and.

So that's trading places. I mean, by the way.

Christmas movie.

It is a Christmas movie since we're right out of the holidays. Please add that to your Christmas viewing.

For the future, yes.

You could get mad. and powerful, and diehard, and then just laugh your tail off in trading places. Okay? And it's also got a great Happy New Year scene. It does. for reference Die Hard is also a it's a Christmas movie I'm saying like you can put we're not getting into that you can put both of those on your Christmas blank period yeah exactly no no there's no need to debate that in this space in this space Maybe out there. So these are my top 10 lessons from coming to America. and trading places. Okay. All right. So lesson number one is to protect your intellectual property or your IP. What is IP?

It's like your.

Your intellectual property are things that you create and own. Your brand, your music, your poetry, this podcast, your products, anything that you create and that is uniquely yours. This is like in the music business, owning your masters, right?

Because people will come and co-opt your creativity. And there's this amazing scene in Coming to America when Cleo McDowell is basically running.

When you first see those. The golden arcs. They're not the golden arches.

They don't have the Big Mac. They have the Big Mick. Yes. Yo, knock it off. Like, yo, there's no— I don't know what people are talking about. Like, that's the John Amos character, Cleo McDowell. And through the whole thing, he's acting like. You know they're not infringing on somebody else's IP, you know, and but you have to protect your IP if you're an author, if you write poetry, music, whatever, you know, handle your business. Make sure that your paperwork is straight. If you work for a company, there are a lot of like inventors, and scientists, and people out there doing like amazing creative things for companies and stuff like that, especially as consultants. You got to make sure that your contract language has what you own versus what the company is commissioning.

There is an unwritten rule that is actually written in the papers that you very often sign when you agree to join a company— anything you produce on that company's equipment, time belongs to the company. That they own it. And a lot of people don't even realize that. Exactly.

Oh, I got the job. I got the job. Then, you go like to take your thing somewhere else and you're like, 'Or your friends and family were like, 'Oh man, you must be paid because you you invented this Nope. So make sure you protect your IP.

That's why there are copyrights, trademarks, all those things. And read those contracts. And read those contracts.

So. Lesson number two is one of my favorite lines from 'Coming to America' where she says, 'Lisa McDowell is at the fundraiser where Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate are performing.' Check out the world tour.

And she says, 'Money that jingles is good, but folds is better. Way better.' OK, so, you know, we talk a lot about securing the bag. Right. For real. Right. And but, you know, let's not dismiss the money that jingles.

I mean, all of it.

We'll take it all. We even take the crypto. You know what I'm saying? It's good.

But I like.

I like to roll it up.

But that scene, when she says, you know, we appreciate the kind that jingles, but we'd rather have the kind that folds if she says something to that effect. What I love about— The lesson there is one, secure the bag, but more importantly, ask for the order. That's a sales technique, right? You've got to ask for what you want to close the deal. What you want—right? You're not gonna... if you're interviewing for a job, if you're an entrepreneur trying to navigate a contract and stuff like that, know your worth and ask for it.

Yeah. One of my business partners always says, all they could say is 'no.' And then what have you lost? Nothing. Because you didn't have it anyway.

Nothing.

So.

Because the worst thing that you want to do is be underpaid coming into a situation you get to working and then you find out, or you get a sense of what your co-workers are making versus what you're making, and you're like, 'Yeah.

WTF.' I mean, that has happened to me before. Not around the coworkers, but I have taken a role for what I thought was a good salary. And then I get into the role and I'm like, 'Oh, I'm way underpaid for now all that you're asking me for.' Like.

So you have to, yeah. So be lightly.

Be like Lisa McDowell and ask for more of that money that falls. Ask for what you want. Ask for the order.

Or the project or whatever it is.

Ask for what you want. And.

So.

Number three on the list, and we talk about this on the podcast a lot, is that branding matters.

You know, memorable marketing is so important, whether you're marketing yourself, a product at work, a service in your job, or marketing your own business. But one of the most slamming is jingles in the history of marketing.

And jingles it should have been an actual jingle. Okay, they should have marketed the heck out of this.

They should have created a product just to go with the jingle in real life.

We still sing this jingle to this day, and it was not a real jingle.

And that is, so let your soul.

I can't hit that note. I can't either.

But the guy that sang Soul Glow did a tiny desk or did one of those.

Yeah, and he was still killing it.

Google it. It's on TikTok.

Wait, one of the best lines is he pulls up to the house and he's getting his soul glow and the music is on and then he gets out the car.

Yes! Or his whole family gets up at the couch.

But that Soul Glow commercial, that Soul Glow commercial and the jingle were so popping. Prince Akeem cut off his natural ponytail that he had been growing since birth.

Because he thought he wanted that soul glow. So, and so, you know, again, we cannot underestimate the. The power of personal branding and marketing yourself the correct way, managing the conversation. We talk about all these things on the podcast, but that's why we created this platform to help people do that. So you got to find your own.

personal soul glow. Yeah. You know, like in terms of how you manage your reputation and manage the conversation about you at work.

I think we need to talk about branding on, you know, like go deeper into branding on another episode because I don't think a lot of people understand the value of figuring out your personal brand as a professional. How you want to show up and how that impacts where you want to go. But then, even outside of corporate, your brand— as if you're an entrepreneur, not just your business brand, but you as the leader of the company—absolutely. And I work with people. Often trying to figure that part out and it's beneficial. So I think a lot of people could benefit from hearing more about that.

So we'll have a teachable moment on how to get in touch with your inner soul glow jingle.

I love it. Okay.

All right. So that's number three. Number four, and I'll try to pick these up.

Move purpose. Move with purpose. And stay focused on the mission. We talk a lot about purpose and mission because things either align with the purpose and the mission and you say yes to them or they don't. So in coming to America, Prince Akeem was very focused on the mission.

And we know what his mission was. To find himself a queen.

And where else to find his queen? But in Queens. In Queens. He literally flew all the way from Zamunda to Queens to find his queen.

You would think there was an abundance of them there. It's in the title.

I agree.

Exactly.

Exactly. So I just, you know, Prince Akeem is a great example of nothing was going to deter him. Even Samuel L. Jackson trying to shoot up the restaurant. Right. You know, like the crazy apartment, you know, where they live and everything. Or the soul glow. Or the soul glow. Yeah. You know, like. Nothing was going to stop him from his mission. Even Simi, who was kind of like hating sometimes, like who reluctantly went along and stuff like he was like, 'no, no, no.'

Shout out to Arsenio Hall. Shout out to Arsenio. My favorite Arsenio Hall role.

So.

But so the mission is important. So Prince Akeem shows us a very determined person who is determined to fulfill the mission. Yeah. And number five comes back to my T-shirt and the Duke brothers and trading places. And that is. Diversity matters.

So Billy Ray Valentine brought diversity to Duke and Duke because of their little dollar bet. Right. And in doing so, he disrupted their entire corporate culture.

And that is the key. That is what.

In this film, spoiler alert, they think that they're going to get one thing. And they get something. They get something totally different that completely changes how they operate and their own success.

Absolutely. And it happens because Billy Ray Valentine, even though he's a fish out of water at first, he's authentically himself through the whole thing. And the same skills that allowed him to thrive and survive on the street. Helped him to thrive and survive at the commodities exchange. Despite how they try to make him. Exactly.

But then the other side of it is that his experience there broadened his mindset and his profession and his perspective, like his view of people who had money and things like that totally changed. And, you know, and it just broadened his mindset because he was there. He had access. Is in the room, which is what, you know, this podcast and my coaching practice and other things that we do is about. Because when you're not in the room, you don't know how these people think and how they move. And you think it's so like certain things are for other people and not for you. But then, when you get in the room, you're like.

It's interesting because, in— I think you and I can relate to this and hopefully we're opening up.

What other people can see and understand.

You know, you see these executives from afar and you think. Oh, no. Like.

The CEO of the company got on the elevator with me and I froze up. No— they're human beings and they um have flaws and have aspirations just like you and I do. And it's easier to have a conversation with them if you remember that. And if you're authentic.

Then. Usually they're more approachable than you think. No, I'm not saying, there are some people who are just, you know. Assholes.

You can say that because Amir's out of the room.

But most often, understanding.

That people have different perspectives and being willing to accept that and just be like, 'Oh, you know, that's somebody who.

Aspired to be CEO, but it's still. An average person just like me. Exactly. And I can have a conversation with them.

Exactly. Exactly. I mean, Billy Ray Valentine's Journey is a great example of that. And then the other piece of diversity, it's not just about like race and culture and things like that. If you look at the team that they assembled, you had Eddie Murphy as Billy Ray Valentine, Dan Aykroyd as Louis Winthorpe.

This is definitely diverse perspective we're talking about.

They joined forces. And Jamie Lee Curtis as Ophelia. And then you had Coleman. And I can't recall the actor, the guys. I can't either. But he's like a Hollywood old-school legend, like the four of them— he was the butler, you know. So you have a butler, like a a streetwalker, a hustler, and a pampered golden boy. And none of them could have taken down the Dukes by themselves. But together. But together.

With all of their knowledge, all of their skills.

Their skills, their perspectives, their background, their intel. Because Coleman knew all about the— Exactly.

That insight is important when you're planning a scheme.

Exactly. Exactly. So diversity matters.

No, please don't be out there planning schemes, though. No.

Yeah, we got to put that disclaimer so we don't get sued.

So number six is kind of dovetails into that. You got to be careful how you treat people on your way up.

Yeah.

Because in corporate settings in particular, anybody can go from being your subordinate to your peer to your boss in record time. Absolutely. So the same people, you know, somebody could climb past you or whatever or the same. Well, they say it like. The same people you meet on the way up are going to be the ones you meet on the way down. So you've got to be nice to everybody. And you just have to be careful how you treat people.

Places and coming to America are both are great examples of that. Like Cleo McDowell had no words, no time, no nothing for Eddie Murphy until he found out that the boy got his money. When I say the boy got his own money, the boy got his own money.

I always loved that kid.

That part, you know, and in trading places, that was the whole point of the whole movie. Right. Was that like Winthorpe was the golden boy until he wasn't. And his friends is he lost his fiancé, all of his friends and everything like that. And then, when he and Billy Ray came out on top at the end, everybody was checking for him again. Of course. It's like, dude, really?

Yeah.

You know, so.

Do you want to give away the Easter egg?

Between the two movies? You do it. You do it. You do it.

Because that's another great example of 'be careful how you treat people on your way up.'

So it's the end of the movie, right? It's towards the end.

It's towards the end of Coming to America\*.

It's after the reveal of Coming to America\*. It's after the reveal and everybody knows that Prince Akeem is Prince Akeem. No, no.

It's him and Lisa when they fall in love. Oh, okay.

Well, he gives money to these two homeless guys on the street, and they turn out to be The Duke. The Duke brothers.

And one looks at the other. Randolph looks at Mortimer. Mortimer looks at Randolph and says, 'We're back.' Right.

Right? So that's the Easter egg, the nod from coming to America to training places.

That was awesome.

But it's a great moment because old Mortimer and Randolph. Yeah. Would have looked down on— Absolutely.

They would have seen the homeless person in the street and kept moving. Exactly. But the— the point is that he sees them, we know who they are, he doesn't— but yeah.

And Lisa's blown away by that. She's like, 'You're so kind. You're so, you know, and everything.' So be careful how you treat people on your way out. Number seven is.

There are no shortcuts to success.

Girl.

This is an important one for me, not me personally, but I see people all the time trying to do the get there quick.

How can I skip seven, eight steps? No dues paying at all.

Yeah.

It does not work that way. The best way to get there is to do the work.

Yeah, so in Trading Places, Billy Ray Valentine had to study the commodities game. Now they tried to teach him like orange juice and, you know, and there's a very condescending scene where Eddie Murphy breaks the third wall for the fourth wall or whatever it's called. And it's like. So.

But he did have to study. He had to study the reports. He had to study the financials. He had to study how the markets work and the business that he was in. because he wanted to thrive and do well. So he put in the work to learn the commodities game. And similarly in trading, I mean, in coming to America, Prince Akeem and Semi.

This is one of the funniest scenes in the movie where they're at the club meeting all the different girls who are like.

Yeah.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Another classic part of the movie. This is what makes it so good. There's so many moments in the movie, but this is really good.

But like they they sit there and they basically have these like little mini speed dates with all these different women. And they had to go through that work because. Like Mr. Clarence said, you can't meet. They had to learn by doing the work that, quote unquote, like Mr. Clarence said, you can't meet good, clean girls at the club. You know, you got to find that out. They had to find that out. Exactly. They had to do the work to get from point A to point B. And our corporate. Journeys are the same thing— you're not going to love every job, every coworker, every assignment, every everything that you know you're not going to love. Sometimes you have to work through that stuff to get to the prize that you're after, to reach your goal. And so you got to do, and it takes a lot of work and commitment to live the dream.

Yep.

So be like Prince Akeem. Um, And number eight is you got to learn how to play the game. That's why we're here. For real, for real. For real, for real. So in trading places, you know, it's all about the game. Like the Dukes were playing a game when they made their little dollar bet in terms of. Could they ruin this person's life or whatever the case may be? But Billy Ray and Lewis both learned the game. They learned the game that the Dukes were playing and they learned the commodities game and they learned how to beat the Dukes at their own game, right? And our journeys as corporate professionals are the same. We have to learn the game. We have to learn to put it in a more professional way. The dynamics and the unspoken rules of the corporate environments that we're navigating, which is what this podcast and pretty much everything I do. And my coaching journey is about to shine light on that so that you could be successful.

And what I love about training places is that both Billy Ray and Lewis learned to play the game together and they learned to do it without compromising who they were. They were authentic to themselves the whole time they were playing the game to take down the Dukes.

To use their individual skills that complemented each other. To get the job done.

Exactly.

And the job was to take down the Dukes.

Exactly. And like any Murphy's character didn't stop, you know, that kind of slick talking, you know, kind of like. And Lewis was still that kind of pampered, you know, like hoity-toity guy, but.

Although, spoiler alert, he falls in love with Ophelia.

He does. But they were still themselves while they were doing it. And I know there's a racket or a limited belief that a lot of us— us as black women navigating corporate spaces— believe that playing the game means that we have to lose part of ourselves in the process. And I think that the book of trading places teaches us that that's not the case. No.

So. And number nine is teamwork matters. You know, like you got to, I say it all the time. I had a coaching client earlier today and I was telling. You got to make your problem somebody else's. And we talked about this in previous episodes. You got to, you can't suffer in silence.

You know, we said earlier, neither Billy Ray Valentine nor Lewis Winthorpe could have fixed this problem that they finally found themselves in, especially Lewis. No way he could have put his life together back by himself. And Eddie Murphy's character, when you learn he was being kind of used and played out by the Dukes, you know, they couldn't have beaten the Dukes by themselves. But by assembling the right team and working as a team, they were able to do what they do, how they did it.

And the teamwork part. is important because, as we've said, The mission could not have been accomplished if everybody, and this goes back to something we talked about in season one, if everybody didn't play their role.

As a team. Absolutely. It's like, I don't know, Wonder Twin Powers, Voltron, all of them come together. All of that, right. Exactly. Like, yeah.

Exactly. No, exactly. And there's so much power to that. And I just, so that's another lesson.

It can never be said enough.

It can never be said enough because, you know, success is a team sport.

Yeah.

I got bars. You do. That was a bar. Yeah. Okay. So, um, and so, finally, number 10, and then I have a bonus one after number 10 which I'll get to. But um, don't rest on your privilege. And I know you're like, Liz, as Black women, do we have privilege? Yeah, we do. Some of us are, you know, are in privileged positions. Yeah, I think it's a different kind of, but yeah. But that's what I mean.

We have.

If we reach a certain point, we have the ability to say we have some privilege, right? Right. Like. If you're the boss, you have some privilege. It's not that political privilege that people talk about.

Exactly.

You still can sit in a space that very few other people are sitting in. Exactly. And you have to realize what that. There's some level of.

Um.

responsibility that comes with that.

Absolutely. I think all of us live and move in spaces where not everybody can move.

Like, like. Our good director, Amir. I learned that. I learned that he did, you know, like before today he was sharing that he was a he's a preacher. He preaches at his church.

I did not know that. But yeah, I heard him share that.

That is a that is a privileged position. Right. Right. Because people aren't called and chosen to to minister and help save souls that way and bring people, you know, help people in their spiritual walk. That's a privileged position. And so a lot of us or you may have gotten a raise or a promotion or a bonus or something like that at work. That's a position of privilege, too, because you're blessed financially and not everybody is blessed. So I think, you know, we might not have— one kind of privilege, but a lot of us do have— a different kind of privilege, I think we, you know, in our lives. And we just have to be careful not to rest on our privilege or our laurels if we, if we succeed or if we earn our way into those spaces. And both the book of Coming to America and the book of Trading Places teaches us that. But like Lewis and the Duke learned this the hard way.

You know, they were very privileged in the classical sense of what we talk about that word today. And they lost their privilege.

In a big way. In a big way. And, you know, in coming to America, Eddie Murphy was very privileged in Zamunda. Right. You know, but when he came. You know.

If you haven't seen the movie, you gotta see it and you'll know what that's about.

K-Bark like a dog.

You know, like he was very he was very privileged. And he to the chagrin of his his dad in particular. Shout out to the late great James Earl Jones and his mom, the late great Madison Clare. You know, like.

Like they.

He had to let that go in order to find his queen, right? Because he didn't want anybody to marry him for his money and all of the things. So, you know, how you manage your privilege is really important and you have to be mindful about that. And so. Agreed. That's number 10, but— I would be remiss. If I didn't leave you with this bonus.

What is it? Thank you. The bonus is from the book of Coming to America.

And it's one of my favorite scenes in the entire movie. It actually happens after the movie. Where Eddie Murphy teaches us that sometimes you have to lead people by letting them get there themselves instead of spelling it all out for them.

Waiter, there's a fly in my soup. Aha!

Taste. The soup. Sometimes you gotta let them taste the soup.

Sometimes you gotta let it taste the soup. Where's the spoon?

Ah. Ha.

That is one of the best moments. Peace. But it's so true. In itself, extremely teachable moment. X.

I mean, it's funny as all get out. And it's even funnier that a lot of people don't even realize that Saul is played by Eddie Murphy.

I mean, how could you not? They played like 77 characters.

But.

You know, I mean, it's like the corniest of the corniest dad joke. It's so corny that it's funny. And it's funny that it's Eddie Murphy. But the reason why I put it on the list— is as leaders, I mean, we're always told you got to learn how to delegate. You can't do all the things yourself. You got to empower your people. You got to bring people along. You got to coach them. You got to develop them and everything. Saul could have been like, 'Waiter.

Bring me my spoon.'

Right.

But he didn't. He led the waiter to that realization to figure it out himself. Right. And sometimes we got to let the people that we're leading taste the soup. I agree. Right. Absolutely.

Because once they do that, then they're on board with your vision, right? That lets them come to.

Then they're like, 'Oh, I see it. And I have a solution to your problem.' It's empowering to them. Right.

And they buy into your vision because you led them there. Yeah.

Important.

Aha!

Taste the soup. That's my top 10 plus bonus.

That was good. I liked it. Anytime you bring up The Book of Trading Places or the Book of Coming to America.

Or the Book of Boomerang. There's so many to this little Bible that we're building out.

Hey, you know, it's, you know, the Book of Eddie Murphy holds a lot of life lessons for all of us. I was just happy to give you a few from, you know, the chapters from Coming to America and Trading Places. Thank you.

You're welcome. All right, well, I think that's all we got for today. Anything you want to say to the people before we wrap up Episode One of Season Two?

I do. Tell me. I do, because we are dropping this in February.

Mm-hmm.

In honor of, We're taping in January, right?

A special discount on the store. Oh. Around the merch. You mean where you can get You can get 20% off. The merch.

And the store. And it's an honor of.

Founders Day. There's a lot of January babies in the Divine Nine. Ah, yes. And so a lot of us are having Amongst them.

The first and finest. The first and finest.

Okay, you could get it two ways. One, listening to the end of this episode because you're here. Okay. Right? And it is, let me get it. Hold on.

And Amir, can you put it on the screen?

So shop the store.

Because it's one of the ways. Yeah, please. And it's one of the ways to help support. The podcast and our ability to bring this to everybody a couple of times a month like we do.

I love it.

Sounds good.

And everybody else, if you missed the discount, you can join our inner circle. To get future discount codes and things of that nature. So you can bookmark the page, LizThePurposeCoach. com slash invite and all the details. For joining our inner circle. It's our community. It's our own private community of our show listeners. And to continue the conversation over there, we're going to put discount codes and sales and you'll be the first. To hear the latest and greatest, like when we're dropping new merchandise or have different tools and things that we reference on the show. We're going to put it all up there. And it's a curated library of content that I use with some of my coaching clients that I want to share with others or that I have shared from my books and workshops and stuff like that.

So.

Join us over there at the Inner Circle. Join the Inner Circle and get the discounts. In this day and age.

You honestly cannot have too many tools.

You can't have too many. options where you are trying to navigate.

this environment, especially for us today. That's the whole reason we started this. So I definitely want people to take advantage of it. So come join us in the inner circle.

And that's it. And come join us for the next episode. Yeah, do that too. We'll see you next time.