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ACTIVATE YOUR NETWORK With Alana Muller
Episode 9031st July 2024 • Shining Brightly • Howard Brown
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Episode Summary – DO YOU REALLY KNOW HOW TO NETWORK AND BUILD MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS IN BUSINESS, LIFE AND REALTIONSHIPS? – In Episode 90 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (links in the comments), titled, ACTIVATE YOUR NETWORK, I have the amazing, high energy and articulate Alana Muller join me live in studio. We start by giving shout outs to @BabsonCollege, Mindy Corporan and Larry Ward. We jumped right in to learn about her master networking program called Coffee Lunch Coffee. We find out Alana does not drink coffee but tea. We discussed how she helps her clients discover one's purpose and it aligns perfectly with Shining Brightly to lift up ourselves and then go lift up others. Come NETWORK with us by listening, downloading, sharing and reviewing this high energy show.

Mentioned Resources –

(visitors to this site will receive my "Tips for Managing a Networking Event.")

About the guest – Alana Muller, an entrepreneurial executive leader whose primary focus is to connect, inspire and empower community - is Founder and CEO of Coffee Lunch Coffee. She is a networking speaker, strategist, workshop facilitator, coach and an internationally bestselling author of Coffee Lunch Coffee: A Practical Field Guide for Master Networking, the anthology Growth – Deconstructing GRIT Collection, and a blog, CoffeeLunchCoffee.com. Her accessible, relevant, immediately actionable approach to professional networking for those interested in connecting with others, getting involved in their communities, seeking to advance their careers or looking to build social relationships, has helped thousands of people formulate a strategic mindset around Networking.  Alana is the host of Enterprise.ing podcast, a weekly columnist for Bizwomen.com, and has been a contributor to Forbes.com, The Huffington Post, CNBC and other publications and, twice, was a featured speaker at TEDxOverlandPark.  She has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago, where she was the recipient of the Mike and Karen Herman Fellowship for Women in Entrepreneurship, and an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Smith College. She is actively engaged in the community and serves on a number of corporate and volunteer boards. She and her husband, Marc Hammer, live in Kansas City and have a son, Ian, who is a student at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and with whom they travel the world.

About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.


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Transcripts

Howard Brown:

Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly

Howard Brown:

Show. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Oh my God. We are going to have

Howard Brown:

coffee. And we are going to shine so brightly today. I've

Howard Brown:

got an amazing guest, Alana Muller. How are you?

Alana Muller:

I'm great. Howard. I'm so happy to see you and talk

Alana Muller:

with you today.

Howard Brown:

I already feel the energy. It's just incredible. I

Howard Brown:

have to tell you that your son goes to Babson College.

Alana Muller:

I signed us to Babson. We are we are Babbo

Alana Muller:

people.

Howard Brown:

We are battle people. Yes. And so being my

Howard Brown:

alma mater, and being a former trustee and president of the

Howard Brown:

Alumni Association, I bleed green, and now you're bleeding

Howard Brown:

green. And also big shout out to

Alana Muller:

Mindy Corcoran, our wonderful mutual friend who

Alana Muller:

I think is the way that we met one another. I

Howard Brown:

believe Mindy said you have to meet and we did. And

Howard Brown:

now we've become we've become friends. And then we found the

Howard Brown:

Babson connection. And it's truly incredible. And the more I

Howard Brown:

learned about your story, I was like, you gotta be on my show.

Howard Brown:

And this is incredible.

Alana Muller:

Honour, it's an honour. Thank ya.

Howard Brown:

So for those that are just listening, a letter has

Howard Brown:

actually coffee, lunch, coffee and checkboxes all behind her on

Howard Brown:

her screen. And she's going to tell us what that is. So why

Howard Brown:

don't you share just a little bit more about you.

Alana Muller:

I would love to thank you so much. And truly,

Alana Muller:

it's such a pleasure to be here you are an inspiration. So I

Alana Muller:

just love talking with you. But my company coffee, lunch coffee,

Alana Muller:

what I primarily do is I train people to build better, more

Alana Muller:

meaningful professional relationships through

Alana Muller:

networking. I think that, you know, in this day and age, we

Alana Muller:

cannot afford not to welcome networking into our lives not to

Alana Muller:

somehow incorporate relationship building authentic, meaningful

Alana Muller:

connections into into our daily lives. And so I get the

Alana Muller:

wonderful privilege to help people do a better job of making

Alana Muller:

those connections. I also do a lot of strategic planning, a lot

Alana Muller:

of facilitation and really what that what that does for me is

Alana Muller:

that allows me to truly live my purpose and everyday connect

Alana Muller:

with wonderful people around the world.

Howard Brown:

And you do a lot of community service.

Alana Muller:

I do. I do. In fact, through Mindy and I who

Alana Muller:

honestly she and I've been friends for many, many years.

Alana Muller:

But as you know from having had her on, you're on the same

Alana Muller:

podcast, Mindy had a tragedy in her life that that drew us even

Alana Muller:

closer, we were always professional friends. But truly

Alana Muller:

now we think of ourselves as a start, she she started an

Alana Muller:

organisation called seven days, which really focuses on

Alana Muller:

overcoming hatred, through education and understanding. And

Alana Muller:

that's that's driven by, by different ways to promote

Alana Muller:

kindness. And so Mindy and I have gotten very close over

Alana Muller:

seven days. And and really, it's it's part of both of our our

Alana Muller:

living purpose. Yeah,

Howard Brown:

for those listening, Mindy lost her dad

Howard Brown:

and her son for domestic terrorism shooting at Kansas

Howard Brown:

City at a Jewish Community Centre. They're not Jewish, they

Howard Brown:

were there for a theatre event. And she's wrote a book and she's

Howard Brown:

been on the podcast to talk about how you can heal from

Howard Brown:

grief and move forward even know how difficult it is. So shout

Howard Brown:

out to Mindy and such a great thing that we're connected this

Howard Brown:

way now. All right, you have to tell us something maybe we you

Howard Brown:

don't share all the time or that we don't know about you?

Alana Muller:

Well, well. Okay, so one of the things that I'll

Alana Muller:

share with you is that the name of my company as as you know,

Alana Muller:

coffee, lunch coffee. Yeah. My little secret, though, is that I

Alana Muller:

don't drink coffee. So as you know very well, I'm very well,

Alana Muller:

caffeine, right? There's no There's no problem with that my

Alana Muller:

caffeination level. But but it's not about the coffee. It's not

Alana Muller:

about the coffee, I get plenty of caffeine intake. But to me

Alana Muller:

what coffee lunch coffee really stands for is is an approach to

Alana Muller:

what I call intentional networking, intentional

Alana Muller:

relationship building. And so when I first began building

Alana Muller:

relationships very intentionally, I thought that if

Alana Muller:

I carved up my day, along the lines of the days of people like

Alana Muller:

you people who I wanted to connect with that eventually

Alana Muller:

you'd say yes to me. And so I structured my days along a

Alana Muller:

morning meeting, time slot, a midday meeting timeslot, and an

Alana Muller:

afternoon meeting time slot. And as a joke, I call that morning,

Alana Muller:

midday and afternoon coffee, lunch, coffee, and it stuck. And

Alana Muller:

so coffee, lunch, coffee is sort of the way that I live my life.

Alana Muller:

It's my days really do look like coffee, lunch, coffee, sometimes

Alana Muller:

it's coffee, coffee, lunch, coffee, coffee, drinks, dinner,

Alana Muller:

and dessert, of course, but but the idea is that this is much

Alana Muller:

more about again, structuring those meaningful opportunities

Alana Muller:

for connection.

Howard Brown:

What do you drink, then?

Alana Muller:

I drink a lot of tea. It used to be a call, I

Alana Muller:

mean, real Coca Cola. But, um, but yeah, in fact, when I wrote

Alana Muller:

my book in the back cover of My blog has me drinking a giant

Alana Muller:

Coca Cola. But, but I gave that up, I gave it up. And so now, a

Alana Muller:

lot of tea,

Howard Brown:

I drink enough coffee for both of us, I make my

Howard Brown:

own my own ice, ice brew cold brew and all that stuff. They

Howard Brown:

say it helps your colon I don't know. But yeah, I love my

Howard Brown:

coffee. So I have to have that. Well, I want to dig in a little

Howard Brown:

bit deeper, because what you're doing, okay, is very similar to

Howard Brown:

what I actually love to talk about, which is mentorship is

Howard Brown:

leadership. But you're giving people and making value over

Howard Brown:

over coffee of people how to actually build trusted

Howard Brown:

relationships, build high quality relationships, take take

Howard Brown:

me more into how you're training people to do that. Well,

Alana Muller:

so one of the things I love that you said is

Alana Muller:

to build trusted relationships, you know, and you and I actually

Alana Muller:

have experienced this, we've actually never been together in

Alana Muller:

person. And yet, I feel like we're close, I feel like we have

Alana Muller:

a trusting relationship. But as you know, that is built as a

Alana Muller:

series of touch points over time, right. So if we have touch

Alana Muller:

points, over time, a series of those, we're able to establish

Alana Muller:

more of a connection, we're able to get to know one another

Alana Muller:

better to know how we can support one another. And

Alana Muller:

something you do very well, that I always think is so critical,

Alana Muller:

when it comes to relationship building is asking the question,

Alana Muller:

What can I do to help you and actually following through on

Alana Muller:

that. And so when I think of building those trusting

Alana Muller:

relationships over time, it's having a touch point, another

Alana Muller:

touch point, and another touch point. And the deal is this,

Alana Muller:

we're all busy people, right? We're very busy people, we all

Alana Muller:

have the same 24 hours in a day, and we are filling up those

Alana Muller:

days, we're filling up that time. And so at least in my

Alana Muller:

life, nobody is sitting by the phone waiting for my phone call.

Alana Muller:

And yet, if our first connection is an authentic one, if we're

Alana Muller:

having a great conversation, if we if we genuinely and

Alana Muller:

authentically want to get to know one another, then the next

Alana Muller:

time we come together, whether that's in two days time, two

Alana Muller:

months time or two years time, what that means is that the next

Alana Muller:

time we connect, it's going to be authentic again, and we can

Alana Muller:

continue to build out those relationships. And so that

Alana Muller:

that's one of the things that I stress is to is to really

Alana Muller:

understand that nurturing your connections is just as important

Alana Muller:

as having them in the first place. So we have to continue to

Alana Muller:

cultivate those relationships that we already have. So when

Alana Muller:

people talk about, you know, is networking, all about new

Alana Muller:

relationships, it's not it's about continuing to cultivate

Alana Muller:

the relationships that we already have, as well as

Alana Muller:

establishing new ones.

Howard Brown:

I actually have to tell you that we've been on

Howard Brown:

about a monthly cadence, okay? We got connected through Babson.

Howard Brown:

And in the green room, you just told me a fascinating story

Howard Brown:

about meeting some other Babson, you know, women that have

Howard Brown:

children there or alum there and things like that. And I have to

Howard Brown:

tell you that every time we talk, it is valuable. We don't

Howard Brown:

mess around, we actually we catch up, we talk family and all

Howard Brown:

that. But we also are pushing it ahead. And we've had already,

Howard Brown:

you know, very high quality introductions that we believe

Howard Brown:

can benefit each other doesn't always work out. But I've

Howard Brown:

noticed that. And so I guess I'm kind of like a little hybrid

Howard Brown:

model, because I've actually didn't realise that since we got

Howard Brown:

introduced in February been touching about every month. And

Howard Brown:

we jump on for a half hour on a zoom. And we've been actually

Howard Brown:

making very good use of that time.

Alana Muller:

We're sort of, we're sort of the rats in our

Alana Muller:

own maze, right. We're experiencing this in real time.

Alana Muller:

And I agree with that. And, and the thing is, we I think what

Alana Muller:

that shows us that we not to overuse the word, but we both

Alana Muller:

show up as our authentic selves, we have these robust

Alana Muller:

conversations. And I mean, in the spirit of leaving, leave it

Alana Muller:

leave them wanting more, as they say, I always feel like we run

Alana Muller:

out of time, before we completed our conversation and in some in

Alana Muller:

sort of an amazing, wonderful way. I love that. And it's not

Alana Muller:

that I don't want to finish the conversation. It's just that we

Alana Muller:

don't have enough time to get it all in. And I think that that's

Alana Muller:

a very special mark of a good relationship, a good friendship,

Howard Brown:

right. And so and then I want you to take it a

Howard Brown:

step deeper, because not only do you actually help people, for

Howard Brown:

their professional lives, you actually help discover their

Howard Brown:

purpose. And that is that is really when you get to know

Howard Brown:

somebody when the trust is there. And you and I have shared

Howard Brown:

you know, of our caring of community and caring of

Howard Brown:

community service. And I love that part about it. Tell me how

Howard Brown:

you're able to do that.

Alana Muller:

So I had a I had the very fortunate opportunity

Alana Muller:

many years ago you and I are both in the entrepreneur,

Alana Muller:

entrepreneurial space entrepreneurship world. And many

Alana Muller:

years ago I was running our company called Kauffman fast

Alana Muller:

track which many many of our listeners today may be familiar

Alana Muller:

with. It's a it's an old programme that has been

Alana Muller:

incredibly successful at training entrepreneurs to start

Alana Muller:

and grow companies. And so when I was running that company, one

Alana Muller:

of my clients an organisation out of Vail, Colorado, invited

Alana Muller:

me to come in experience their approach to entrepreneurial

Alana Muller:

development. And through that experience, I was able to

Alana Muller:

establish and articulate my own life's purpose, which sounds

Alana Muller:

like sort of this big thing that was impossible. And yet they

Alana Muller:

broke it down in a way that made it incredibly doable, and in

Alana Muller:

some ways obvious. So what I tell people is that my mission

Alana Muller:

is to connect, inspire and empower community. And as basic

Alana Muller:

as that might sound for me, it just fills me up, I want to run

Alana Muller:

to the rooftops and shout to connect, inspire and empower

Alana Muller:

community. My family can say that out loud, they can they

Alana Muller:

know exactly who I am when I say that, and I think it really

Alana Muller:

does. It really does illustrate kind of what I feel in my heart,

Alana Muller:

as well as in my head. And so I tried to help other people to

Alana Muller:

identify, sort of tease out, identify and articulate their

Alana Muller:

own purpose statements so they can get started on that. You

Alana Muller:

know what one of the things that I think is interesting, at least

Alana Muller:

in this country, we're on the United States recording this

Alana Muller:

podcast. In this country, we have a tendency to

Alana Muller:

compartmentalise our lives, we have a home life, we have a

Alana Muller:

community life, and we have a work life. And for many people

Alana Muller:

never the twain shall meet, they don't like to overlap those

Alana Muller:

concepts. For me, though, I like to think of those as sort of

Alana Muller:

three bubbles in a Venn diagram, I was a math major, so

Alana Muller:

everything feels better, and some mathematical terms. So I

Alana Muller:

like to put them together like a Venn diagram. And as you know,

Alana Muller:

with a Venn diagram, when you put those bubbles together,

Alana Muller:

something magical happens, there's that thing in the centre

Alana Muller:

that overlaps. And Howard, I think that that is where we play

Alana Muller:

our our most authentically, that is where we are our best selves.

Alana Muller:

And we as individuals get to decide how close those bubbles

Alana Muller:

get to each other. So sort of how big or how small the overall

Alana Muller:

graphic is. But the closer those bubbles get, the smaller the

Alana Muller:

overall graphic gets, magically, the thing in the centre gets

Alana Muller:

bigger and bigger. And I just love that. And the thing is, I

Alana Muller:

don't think we should be just one circle, right. So I think we

Alana Muller:

should save a little bit of ourselves just for home, a

Alana Muller:

little bit of ourselves just for work a little bit of ourselves,

Alana Muller:

just for community. But if we can get those bubbles relatively

Alana Muller:

close together, I think that we can just be the person we are in

Alana Muller:

all venues. So you know, it shouldn't be that when I stepped

Alana Muller:

outside my front door, suddenly I've become a different person,

Alana Muller:

I want to show up for you the way I would show up for the next

Alana Muller:

person I interact with and the person after that. And so by

Alana Muller:

helping other people to identify their purpose, and to create

Alana Muller:

sort of diversion for them of that Venn diagram that is the

Alana Muller:

most meaningful, I think people live happier lives. They're not

Alana Muller:

only happier in business, but they're happier, in general,

Alana Muller:

happier in their lives overall.

Howard Brown:

Wow, the Venn diagram example is incredible.

Howard Brown:

Because I guess you're right, people just want to show their

Howard Brown:

business face. All right, they show their, you know, at home

Howard Brown:

face or anything like that. And that is only looking at a

Howard Brown:

fraction of the person. And so I liked that, that you're coaching

Howard Brown:

and that your ability to do that allows you to explore deeper,

Howard Brown:

and then you actually get to control how big that bubble in

Howard Brown:

the middle goes. Okay, there are certainly times when you want to

Howard Brown:

put on your business hat and stay in business mode. There are

Howard Brown:

other times where, and I crossed the lines, and maybe I'm not the

Howard Brown:

best use case for you. Because I am an open book, right? I wrote

Howard Brown:

a book about my entire life, okay. And I share openly about

Howard Brown:

my experience, and not everyone has to do that. I totally

Howard Brown:

respect privacy. And there are things that you can and maybe

Howard Brown:

should keep private. But I like to know people. Well

Howard Brown:

roundedness, okay, and the we live in a world right now today,

Howard Brown:

where we all don't look the same talk the same, we didn't come

Howard Brown:

from the same countries didn't grow up with the same learnings

Howard Brown:

eat the same foods. And I think we've now kind of it's a very

Howard Brown:

tough place out there. I always say we could choose not to hate,

Howard Brown:

but I do a lot of work in the interfaith world, I know that

Howard Brown:

you do as well. And I just want respect and kindness and healing

Howard Brown:

for other and it also makes you broader. We know these other

Howard Brown:

people it rot into, and I think we've got a little more of a

Howard Brown:

closed loop going on in the world today. And I hope that

Howard Brown:

changes soon.

Alana Muller:

Don't you think that I mean, we do a lot of this

Alana Muller:

work with seven days especially with with young people. Don't

Alana Muller:

you think that by by articulating your own position,

Alana Muller:

listening to somebody else's position, and then being able to

Alana Muller:

process that we understand ourselves better? So it there's

Alana Muller:

this is not about changing minds, but it's about opening

Alana Muller:

minds. And and I think that's what you're describing is that

Alana Muller:

that, you know, by by embracing one another by listening to

Alana Muller:

what's going on with the other individual, we are growing

Alana Muller:

ourselves and so I think it's a really special thing and

Alana Muller:

especially as you describe in the interfaith world where we're

Alana Muller:

so polarised, we don't we don't need to be we don't need to be

Alana Muller:

as polarised we don't have to change one another's minds. But

Alana Muller:

I do think we need to open our minds and our hearts to one

Alana Muller:

another. I

Howard Brown:

agree. So hopefully others will as well.

Howard Brown:

So when, when you look for inspiration, where do you what

Howard Brown:

are you looking to do? How are you actually supporting yourself

Howard Brown:

because one of my main tenants is to use your light. Okay to

Howard Brown:

lift up others, okay? And everybody walks in darkness,

Howard Brown:

life is not an easy, you know, cake. Right? It's a roller

Howard Brown:

coaster. But what do you do for inspiration? How do you support?

Howard Brown:

You know, keeping yourself? Yeah,

Alana Muller:

you know, I really do. I really do agree with this,

Alana Muller:

like my, my own approach, I'm sort of eating, eating my own

Alana Muller:

food, so to speak. So. So you know, connecting with other

Alana Muller:

people is the thing that gives me energy, I just love that I

Alana Muller:

spent, our family is very, very close, as you described, my

Alana Muller:

husband and I have one son and the three of us are, we're

Alana Muller:

tight. And so we love to travel the world together, that is

Alana Muller:

something that sort of fills our buckets and multiple ways. You

Alana Muller:

know, we kind of have this this happy place when we're when here

Alana Muller:

we live in we live in the Kansas City area. And there's a there's

Alana Muller:

an area near our neighbourhood that we call the enchanted

Alana Muller:

forest. And it's just a it's a place where we go walking. And

Alana Muller:

it's just, you know, it's not it's not really a secret place,

Alana Muller:

but it feels like our special place. And it's a it's about a

Alana Muller:

one mile walk round trip from our home. But what it does is it

Alana Muller:

allows us to connect with each other, get outside get a little

Alana Muller:

fresh air. And so those are the kinds of things I do so I would

Alana Muller:

say connecting with other people being with other people. And

Alana Muller:

then especially being with family and and certainly the

Alana Muller:

three of us, but our extended families as well.

Howard Brown:

I love that. I will tell you that because our

Howard Brown:

Emily actually graduated University Michigan now 16

Howard Brown:

months ago, she's in Missoula, Montana. So we get to very

Howard Brown:

luckily watch her on the app. She's a TV reporter, she just

Howard Brown:

won an Emmy for a climate change story on Flathead Lake. She's 23

Howard Brown:

years old and she has it at me with her name on it. It's I'm so

Howard Brown:

I am so gushing. I'm so I'm so so proud. But we get to watch

Howard Brown:

her because we don't get to see her as often she's far away. But

Howard Brown:

we'll see her soon. I hopefully as well. I want you to hold up

Howard Brown:

your book, or your book for those because we'll show the

Howard Brown:

video. Tell us about your book,

Alana Muller:

coffee, lunch coffee. So, you know, it's

Alana Muller:

interesting I was as I described, I was a math person

Alana Muller:

numbers were much more my friend than words. But what happened to

Alana Muller:

me was I had gone off to kind of a professional development

Alana Muller:

retreat and came home a changed woman, I woke up my sleeping

Alana Muller:

husband to announce I was going to quit my job. And he thought

Alana Muller:

that I had lost my mind. But we talked for a very long time, I

Alana Muller:

reminded him that I'd always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

Alana Muller:

But of course, I had no idea for this. And so I thought that the

Alana Muller:

way I would discover myself was to finally finally start

Alana Muller:

networking in the community. Because like so many of us, I

Alana Muller:

was overly and solely focused on the four walls of my job, head

Alana Muller:

down just doing my work. And I really failed to look up to see

Alana Muller:

what was going on around me. So that's when I started this

Alana Muller:

approach of a morning meeting and midday meeting and an

Alana Muller:

afternoon meeting. And what was remarkable is that I went from,

Alana Muller:

at least in my mind, having no real professional network

Alana Muller:

outside of my company, to suddenly connecting with people

Alana Muller:

all over the world. And interestingly, people started

Alana Muller:

reaching out to me to say, well, you get together with me. And I

Alana Muller:

wonder, you know, what could they possibly want from me?

Alana Muller:

Well, they wanted the secret to networking. And I said the

Alana Muller:

secret to networking, there is no secret to networking. But But

Alana Muller:

what was interesting is that I discovered that for me what felt

Alana Muller:

very natural does not usually feel natural to people. So

Alana Muller:

thankfully, that means I'm employable, I can teach people

Alana Muller:

how to network and to network in a way that makes them

Alana Muller:

comfortable, and really does to help them expand and become

Alana Muller:

happier in business and in life. And so coffee, lunch, coffee was

Alana Muller:

born as a blog, it's still going all these years later. That was

Alana Muller:

I started blogging in 2011, if you can believe it, which maybe

Alana Muller:

around the time that you started as well. And, and still going

Alana Muller:

strong to this day. But the book coffee lunch coffee is about the

Alana Muller:

first it's sort of it's a compilation of I would I would

Alana Muller:

say that about the first 50 blog posts, so edited and

Alana Muller:

consolidated and cleaned up. But what it is, it's what I call a

Alana Muller:

field guide for Master networking. And so I would say

Alana Muller:

anybody who utilises the book utilises the exercises that are

Alana Muller:

laid out inside it'll give them a really good jumpstart on how

Alana Muller:

to activate their network, how to activate the relationship

Alana Muller:

base they already have, as well as build it out to something

Alana Muller:

that is useful and meaningful to them. That's awesome.

Howard Brown:

It's incredible. So get a lot as book and start

Howard Brown:

building out your networks and making them more robust and and

Howard Brown:

making them work for you. And also the part of that is you

Howard Brown:

working for them because it's always a two way street. While

Howard Brown:

we're at the time of the show. I'm going to ask you to put on

Howard Brown:

your sun lamps. Yes this is good because we are shining brightly.

Howard Brown:

Yeah you look and shine and brightly. So we are at the

Howard Brown:

shining brightly spotlight. I would like you to tell people

Howard Brown:

how they can get in touch with you. And then I would love for

Howard Brown:

you to leave the show with some inspiration a story a quote and

Howard Brown:

then kick it over back to me for a close Thank you got

Alana Muller:

it. You got it? Well, I would love for people to

Alana Muller:

come visit me at my website coffee lunch coffee.com You can

Alana Muller:

access the blog at blog dot coffee at lunch coffee.com I'm

Alana Muller:

on LinkedIn. And you can find me on Facebook but I would love to

Alana Muller:

hear from people and to see what I can you be helpful to them in

Alana Muller:

terms of a sort of a moment of inspiration. You we had talked

Alana Muller:

about this before. So I've been thinking about it. And I'm gonna

Alana Muller:

I'm gonna take us back to our Babson connection if that works

Alana Muller:

for you. Okay, and another mutual person in our lives is is

Alana Muller:

Dean Larry Ward, who is now no longer with Babson. But at the

Alana Muller:

time that my son Ian started at Babson Larry was was the dean of

Alana Muller:

students. And I remember he gave a talk to all of us parents who

Alana Muller:

were dropping off our children for the first time and feeling a

Alana Muller:

little itchy about that. And he said he asked a question about

Alana Muller:

where's home? You know what he basically said, you know, when

Alana Muller:

you think of home, what would you call home? And he said he

Alana Muller:

was going to encourage the students, and not to just say,

Alana Muller:

you know, kind of name rank and serial number, but to say, you

Alana Muller:

know, tell me your name, and where do you call home. And so,

Alana Muller:

my son heard Larry speak as well. We talked about kind of

Alana Muller:

the the two conversations that are the two presentations that

Alana Muller:

Larry had given to the parents and then to the students. And

Alana Muller:

then my son told me that his the fellow sitting next to him that

Alana Muller:

freshman year, turned to him and said, so where's home? And my

Alana Muller:

son's response was wherever my parents are, which I'm gonna cry

Alana Muller:

sitting here, Howard,

Howard Brown:

might drop Mic drop. Oh, my God. Wow.

Alana Muller:

Okay, so after the tears, and I could process the

Alana Muller:

fact that my son had just said, Wherever mom and dad are. You

Alana Muller:

know, what that tells me is that we did something right. In terms

Alana Muller:

of raising our child, it reminded me that I really am

Alana Muller:

living my own purpose to connect, inspire and empower

Alana Muller:

community and that at least some of that has rubbed off on my

Alana Muller:

child. So I'll leave you with that. That you know, Thank you

Alana Muller:

Larry ward. Thank you Babson College. Thank you, Mindy.

Alana Muller:

Corporon and seven days for connecting you and me, Howard.

Alana Muller:

But but you know, there there are, you know, comments and

Alana Muller:

moments that happen in all of our lives. And that's one of

Alana Muller:

them that allowed me now to shine brightly.

Howard Brown:

And boy, you shining brightly, I'm going to

Howard Brown:

take my glasses off. So thank you for that big shout out to

Howard Brown:

Larry Ward who's left. Babson is now the president of University

Howard Brown:

of Hartford, l dub, we love you. And we wish you only the best

Howard Brown:

and brightest, because that's your new home or one of your

Howard Brown:

homes as well. And incredible inspirational quote. So thank

Howard Brown:

you for that. Well, this has been the shining brightly show.

Howard Brown:

Please find me at shining brightly.com. There, you'll

Howard Brown:

learn and you can find my book, you can find and hire me to

Howard Brown:

speak. I'm a terrific motivational speaker, and also

Howard Brown:

the information of run this podcast and more importantly, my

Howard Brown:

advocacy because that's the thing that I call home where I'm

Howard Brown:

helping cancer patients. I'm helping Babson young

Howard Brown:

entrepreneurs find their way in the world and doing my

Howard Brown:

interfaith work. So that's, that's some of my homes that I'm

Howard Brown:

sharing that to go on the theme there as well. Do you want to

Howard Brown:

give a quick shout out to the people that kind of support me,

Howard Brown:

sponsor me and get me going forward, as well. So the first

Howard Brown:

of all, a brand new sponsor, the diamond beauties magazine,

Howard Brown:

that's produced out of South Africa has come on board. And

Howard Brown:

then my publisher front edge publishing, read the spirit

Howard Brown:

magazine that goes up to over 50,000 Every Monday, and then

Howard Brown:

amplify new your network that makes my podcasts great, and

Howard Brown:

gives me these amazing shows every week. So thank you for

Howard Brown:

that. And I just want to say you are an absolute amazing guest, I

Howard Brown:

will have all of your information, the LinkedIn, the

Howard Brown:

book links and everything in the show notes, as well as all the

Howard Brown:

social media posts as well. And just remember, just like we did

Howard Brown:

today, shine brightly just a little bit each day, maybe doing

Howard Brown:

it during coffee, lunch and coffee, that would be helpful

Howard Brown:

for yourself. Use your own light, okay, and then go lift up

Howard Brown:

others, and then do it in your communities and do it in your

Howard Brown:

neighbourhoods, and the world become a better place. A lot of

Howard Brown:

thank you. Terrific guests. Great high energy show. And I

Howard Brown:

just appreciate you very much.

Alana Muller:

Likewise. Thanks for having me.

Howard Brown:

Keep shining. Thank you

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