Positive Psychology is the key to unlocking your strengths and building a powerful mindset for success. In this episode, Alfredo Borodowski shares how Strengths Based Coaching can transform your Personal Development, improve your confidence, and help you grow through your Character Strengths.

Join Alfredo Borodowski and Jeanne Willson as they explore Executive Coaching, Leadership Coaching, and practical Self Improvement Tips to help you Find Your Strengths and apply them in your daily life and business. This episode is packed with coaching insights designed to help you perform at your best.

If you are ready to elevate your mindset and results, this conversation connects Positive Psychology with Mindset For Success, six figure business coaching, and Blueprints for Brilliance so you can take action and grow with clarity.

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Welcome to Blueprints for Brilliance Coaching Insights, a

podcast by coaches for coaches.

Our guests share their hard one wisdom to help you grow your coaching

business and create a life of success.

So get ready to unlock the blueprints to your success.

Welcome everyone to today's episode.

I'm so grateful that you join me, and I'm also grateful to

have Alfredo Borowski here.

He is an executive coach from New York and I am excited to hear his story.

So welcome to the show, Alfredo.

It's lovely to have you.

Hi Jean.

Happy to be here.

Excellent.

So tell us a little bit about how you became an executive coach, and you told me

also that you work with some nonprofits, so tell us a little bit more about that.

I am executive coach.

I do mostly what is called positive psychology, the science of

Flourishing, and I was the executive director of a major organization

coming from Argentina middle class.

I had my office facing Central Park.

I was on top of the world and didn't have to think about anything positive

because I was living the life of positive until 2013 on June 19th when

I was arrested, I was manic for three months, didn't know it, and I went to

my psychiatrist, I a psychiatrist, and I lied, and I told him that I was depressed.

Then I got an antidepressant because your manic people are super creative,

energized, lose weight, and I la my mania and I wanted more of it.

Then I asked for exactly the wrong medication.

He prescribed it to me and a friend of mine, a police officer, gave me one of

those badges, like friends and family, okay, and told me with this thing, the

little badge will have no problems.

And that's when the problems began because the next day I went through

a traffic sign, I was stopped and when I showed the badge, I was told,

sir, you can go and manic taking the wrong medication and the badge.

I got into the role of being a police officer and I began.

Driving through the highways of New York, showing the badge and

telling people how to drive.

Oh, until I show it to a lady, young lady, she made a phone call and I had

three police cars behind me, and I was arrested and charged with impersonating

a police officer, which is a felony.

It happens to be that I got a restraining order against me by this

lady, and a month later I Googled her.

I see a picture that she was getting married, and I look at

the fiance and who was the fiance?

The police officer who arrested me.

Wow.

And I was basically, I was fired from a job and I was hospitalized, and I

got into front pages on those papers.

I was executive of prestigious is in organization and

impersonated police officer.

I even was on front pages on newspapers from Japan to island, and I never touched

anybody and I went into deep depression.

I lost everything, all my teaching and workshops and consulting.

Everything was canceled and I have four cases against me in four different courts.

Then I went into a sofa.

Into fetal position for eight months of darkness until one morning Jean, I felt

that energy pulling me up on the couch and calling me up, pushing me up to my

office, and it got to my office and on my desk I found thumb something, which I am

not sure how it got there, and I took it.

I open it, and it was a file with.

A test on positive psychology.

I had taken a few years before, and I look at my top five strengths,

creativity, curiosity, love of learning, perseverance and courage.

And an energy came to me.

A switch was turned inside of me.

Alfredo, this is you.

This is you.

And a month later with those strengths.

I had forgotten.

I went back to school in the middle of the court cases, in the middle

of the depression, social work school, and became a social worker.

I had the best grades of old school and I said, I need to go throughout the world

giving people the gift of knowing their top five strengths of positive psychology,

because I learned that 70% of people.

Seven out of 10 people in the United States are not aware of their top

positive psychology strengths and there is an epidemic of strengths blindness

in our country and other countries.

Wow.

You have quite had quite a journey.

Oh yeah.

I'm wiser.

I'm wiser and stronger.

Absolutely.

So tell me a little bit about how you work with your clients during your, helping

them understand their strengths and moving into being using that positive psychology.

Yes.

If you know your strengths, you're going to be able to flourish nine

times more just by knowing them.

If you apply them 18 times more, then.

You walk into your workplace any place and you, okay.

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We have 10 people, likely seven of them are going to be working nine

to 18 times below their potential.

Then the first thing I do at companies, organizations, with individual that

I coach, whatever the problem is, whatever the challenge is, whatever

the dream is, we always begin with the strength workshop clarification,

and I make sure that everybody around the table or the individual

owns the the five top strengths.

That's the first thing I do, no matter the situation, you cannot.

Solve problems, be motivated and be resilient.

You are not using your strengths.

Do you have some kind of like test that you do with them?

Yes.

Or is it a meeting or how do you determine?

I use what is called the BI instrument Values in Action, which is a, an

instrument that maps your strengths.

Is today the most used instrument in the world?

16 million people a year.

Take it.

The most reliable and consistent instrument today on the market,

scientifically proven, it takes half an hour to do online and you get

the 24 strengths, the 24 of positive psychology and your top five, and then

we work on what you do best, not in trying to correct what you don't do.

Great.

I love that because I do think some people spend too much time trying to be better

at something that's not their strength.

And inevitably they never get to the place they wanna get because it, they're

not meant to be there in the first place.

Exactly.

And we don't waste time with the, I'll tell you, there is

now a politically correct.

Let's work on.

Vulnerability.

There is nowhere I go that they not ask me about vulnerability.

Rene Brown, who is the main person, did a good job marketing it.

No.

Why?

Vulnerability.

We are living in the world with the most anxiety, depression, and uncertainty ever.

Okay.

Vulnerability.

Any way you want to define it is about fragility.

No, I have a different take.

We begin with strengths.

We need to make people strong.

We don't have to apologize.

They're called character strengths.

Not only strengths, character, because there is about how

we are at your best, okay?

And it's about the whole person.

It's not a talent or a skill.

It's about who you are.

Then I go a little bit against, not a little bit, a lot against this new

kind of fashion of the vulnerable.

I work with people's strengths.

I love that.

So once you, once someone takes the exam, then do you coach them?

Do you meet with them on a regular basis to help them work on their strengths?

Teams?

They have a workshop.

It takes around two hours.

We go through games.

It's all game based and simulations where everybody gets the strengths.

We have also a team profile strengths outta the individual strengths.

I determine.

How, what are the strengths of the team?

And then it's amazing because, I'll tell you an example.

I was in Chile, I work a lot of South America, and there were 10 people

of a sales team and nine of them had among the top three honesty.

Which is a very good strength to have.

But every Monday morning they had the meeting at the beginning of the week and

they go into a fight into with each other.

Okay.

Bad toxicity.

And I asked them simulate a Monday morning meeting and immediately what

the problem was is that because honesty was so prevalent, they were too honest.

They were overusing the honesty strength.

They had no filter because that's where they felt original, authentic, and

motivated because they were honest.

Then we were laughing like crazy because once we determined that

honesty was the central character strength and they were overusing it,

then we work on communication skills.

How can you be honest and tactful and caring and empathic?

Then.

Then by we adjusted the language, they kept the honesty, which was a strength

of the team, but we managed to have a conversation that was productive.

That's the kind of magic that strength work can do for a team and

an individual who is too honest.

You know, that's a problem with your top strength.

You overuse them.

Okay.

It is not only using them that is productive to, for

you, it's to use it right.

In the right context.

Yeah.

Yeah.

'cause I can see that honesty is, it's important and it's a great

value to have, but sometimes you, you need to hold back a little bit.

Yeah.

But humility, for example, some here, a lot people are very humble.

Then they complain to me that they let other people run over them

all the time and take advantage why they're overusing being.

Humble to a point in which don't assert themselves, then

that's the kind of work I do.

I love that.

So tell us a little bit about, you talked about a sales team that you worked with.

What other kinds of teams, is there anything similar about the

different clients that you work with?

It's very interesting.

The problems are the same problems no matter what are problems of

loyalty, motivation, resilience.

Okay.

And this is a universal tool.

Your strengths can be used for anything.

Look, I am publishing a book, it's coming out in a few months.

It's been published under the John Maxwell label.

For those who know about leadership, then, uh, is in a solid book, and

the name is the Human Upgrade.

The new leadership for the AI revolution, then AI is a blessing,

but it's bringing a lot of problems.

We are seeing on studies that as you introduce new technology, the

level of depression, uncertainty, and anxiety on the people, right?

Right.

Is you know a lot then what the book does, applies all the wisdom.

Positive psychology to introducing technology while upgrading the human.

Yeah.

AI has changed so many things and it can be a positive influence and

it can be a negative influence.

I think it, it has to do a lot with how you're using it and how you want to

use it, and I would think bringing in the positive psychology part of it is

helping use it, I don't wanna say for good, but using it in a positive way.

It's a very simple equation, Jean.

People bring technology companies, bring technology.

People feel weak compared to technology.

Didn't feel as efficient, as strong, as fast as accurate.

Give them strength to uplift them and be able to work with the technology.

Positive psychology gives that strength and purpose also.

Purpose is very important.

I work with purpose a lot.

Okay.

That's another thing that company ask me to do.

What is the purpose?

Because without purpose, people come to work lost and motivated.

Okay.

You need to have purpose clear for best performance.

Yeah, that makes total sense.

We always say clarity is equals velocity.

So people can move forward and progress if they're clear on what they're

doing and how they're doing it and what their goal and motivation is.

And it's amazing because people ask me what purpose is

and I say purpose is clarity.

Yeah.

I love that.

That's brilliant.

You will have to give us the link to your book once it's out and we will make

sure that we put it in the show notes.

Okay?

Sure.

Absolutely.

It sounds fantastic.

So.

If somebody is in a position right now where they're not sure what their

strengths are, aside from coming to you, what's one thing that they could start

with to move them in the right direction?

People listening to the now, how to get them without having to take test.

Then if they take their phone and they text the word positive to 3, 3, 7, 7, 7.

Okay, just the word positive to 3 3 7 7 7.

I will email them the 24 a chart with the 24 strengths of polyps

psychology, a couple of questions by which they can determine the top

five and a couple of exercises to maximize the strengths from nine to 18.

Okay.

At least that will give them the initial step to know the strengths.

Then just text me and we so happy.

Because my goal is a couple of people a day who know the strengths.

That's my purpose.

Then, yes, that's a way then we can work one on one.

I could work with companies to have it scientifically done, TE test,

but this will give you, at least you should know, do 24 to 24 cataract

strengths and a couple of questions.

How to begin thinking and choosing them.

Just text positive two.

Positive 3, 3, 3.

Seven.

Seven, seven.

Easy.

3, 3, 7. Seven, seven.

Yep.

That's so cool.

And what a great gift.

So thank you for, oh no.

It's a commitment I have.

I want everybody.

I had this hundred 80 degrees changing lives through my top strengths.

Okay?

Get sub.

When I learned that seven out of 10 people don't know them and they have

it already, it's not that they have to cultivate them and they use them,

but they use them unintentionally because they are not aware.

Once you bring them to consciousness and you are in control of them, then

you maximize them from nine to 18 times.

It's amazing.

You have them already get them.

Yeah.

I would think that also makes them happier and feel more fulfilled because

they're living in their strengths.

They feel confident and excited.

Yeah.

Positive psychology is called by many, the science of happiness.

It's something that I don't like to use.

I like more the science of wellbeing.

I'm flourishing, but they're all connected.

Yeah.

Yeah, I totally agree.

So do you work in, I know you're in New York, but it sounds

like you also worked in Chile.

So do you work in all the countries?

An airplane takes me.

Excellent.

That's a lot of places.

Yeah.

You did also mention nonprofits.

Tell me a little bit about that work.

Yeah.

I work with a lot of religious institutions actually, and foundations.

Completely different animal.

Then when a work with not-for-profit, they have sometimes it, not that many times

in religious institutions, they have a more, more clear view of their purpose.

The language is more purpose driven, but they have more

dysfunctionality their corporations.

Because corporations have all the red tape and I have to go sometimes through,

through HR and have 20 meetings Before I do it, I give it to our workshop and,

and it's, the process is very slow.

Okay?

But when I get there, they there these hierarchy structures, language.

Okay.

Roles.

When I go for to not-for-profit and religious institutions,

the process is easier.

I just talk with the executive or whoever and come tomorrow.

Okay.

But because they work with a lot of volunteers and their budget is

usually smaller and they need much more work on, at the structural

level, the functioning is not optimal.

Then they are, they work a little bit more on using the strength for process.

Okay.

And how to harmonize the strength in the system.

Yeah.

I feel like that, I love both of them because nonprofits just work on, I wanna

say a shoes string, but they have the least amount of employees because they

wanna, they want the organization to benefit and the people they're helping.

So yeah, I can totally see that and I can totally see that you

make a huge difference for them.

I do make it if look, if people are stressed out, then give them strength

and purpose in some ways, simple, some ways to say, some ways, simple to say,

but not always simple to implement.

What is interesting about positive psychology and purpose is that it's

a science, then you don't waste time.

Sometimes the coaching process and the consulting process take months and months.

Here the results are immediate.

You know your strength, you know your purpose, you begin.

It's incredible how immediate the change is.

Then there is a sustainability process, okay?

But the change is immediate.

That's something very unique to positive psychology.

I love that.

I am so grateful that you joined me today and I'm so grateful

for what you do in the world.

Thank you.

I'm sure you're making a huge positive impact and we all need that right now.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

So if aside from texting you, if other, if people wanna reach out

to you or learn more about what you do, where should they go?

Very simple.

They should know.

We all should know that the first word on my website is positive and positive ab.

Alfredo bosky positive ab.com, my website, you know there my book is

going to be announced, available.

I have my workshops and a way to get in touch.

Perfect.

That sounds fantastic.

And we'll put all that in the show notes so people can just

click on those to get there.

So my last question for you is the same one I asked all my guests.

If you could provide one tip to make the world a better place, what would that be?

Yes.

Shifting from fixing to nourishing, okay.

Since we were children, everything on us, everything outside.

People outside who loved us, school, parents, coaches, is

about fixing what is weak.

And what it did is the reverse of the word intention.

The word intention, not to make us better, actually to be all the time looking.

What we do wrong and then learning to look what other people do wrong.

Okay.

Imagine we can use all that energy to help people do great what they're doing.

Good to maximize the potential.

Okay?

And we, managers I work with on their reviews, they go straight

to what we need to improve.

No.

First you go into what we are doing great and what we can do better, and

when people are giving that chance, then themselves begin actually improving, but

they're not doing great from a point of strength, then from fixing to nourishing,

that's what I would say everybody to do.

That is fantastic, Alfredo, what a lovely way to end our show.

Thank you so much to you.

Thank you to our listeners, and we look forward to reaching out

and we look forward to seeing your book when it comes out.

Thank you, and thank you for great questions.

It's a pleasure being here.

Thanks for joining us today on Blueprints for Brilliance Coaching Insights.

We hope you're leaving this episode with inspiration to take your coaching

business and your life to the next level.

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