[00:00:00] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

[00:00:15] Rita Burke: Today we are having our second SpeakUP! International conversation for 2025! Our community builder today is Michelle Anne Johnson. Michelle, at one point in her life, juggled being an actress and being a VP for a huge insurance company. And then at some juncture in her life, Michelle decided it was time to change.

And so, change she did. She reinvented. She curated a new life for Michelle Johnson. She's currently an executive coach and leadership consultant. But as we say on SpeakUP! International, we prefer for guests to tell their own stories. And so, Michelle Johnson, welcome to SpeakUP! International to tell your story!

[00:01:12] Michelle Anne Johnson: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited for this conversation. 

[00:01:17] Ellington Brown: That makes two of us. I want to dive right in at the acting part and I want to know what sparked your interest in acting and then how did that journey lead to where you are today? 

[00:01:35] Michelle Anne Johnson: I think I came out of the womb as an actor.

I came out with the jazz hands. I, my first impersonation was George Jefferson, do you remember the show? The, the Jeffersons in the seventies, I did a perfect George Jefferson impersonation with the walk and everything at two and a half years old. So I think that's just my personality, but I started doing it seriously in high school.

I started doing plays in theater in high school. I got really involved with that. That was where I really discovered, oh, wait, there's an actual skill set here that I have a natural affinity for and luckily the school that I went to, it was not a, an official performing arts school, but we had just a fantastic theater director teacher.

He was really a professor. He had been teaching in, at USC before he came over to our high school. So he was a very, very knowledgeable and educated theater teacher and professor. And so I learned a lot about acting from him. Like the real kind of acting. We had an amazingly talented set of kids at our high school.

And so we, we made some incredible plays there. We did some incredible theater. And then from there, after I graduated high school, many of the alumni. of that theater program got together, we all got together and created a theater company in Los Angeles that became pretty popular. And from there, the agents, the managers would come to our shows and they found me and suddenly I'm on TV shows and movie sets and it just kind of happened and snowballed.

I really didn't put much thought into it. Once it became, you know, once it started happening to me but I had a lot of fun and at the same time, because I'm one of those people who I like some sense of, of stability, I was also a corporate manager in, as you said, in one of the largest insurance brokerages in the world at the same time as being a professional actor.

So I would go to my job in the morning, go to auditions on my lunch break. go back to my job, leave work, drive to the theater, do plays until about 11 o'clock at night, go home, go to sleep, wake up and do the whole thing over again. And so it was, I was leading a double life in a, in a lot of ways, but you know, they were complimentary at the same time because I, although I'm a very creative person and I enjoy performing, I also am very logical and strategic.

And so I enjoyed being in corporate environments and a lot of the skills that I had developed as an actor translated into the corporate environment. As well, you know, being able to be self directed, being able to really have strong opinions and stand on them. You know, as an actor, you have to, you know, they'll send you a scene for an audition and say, you know, you got this audition tomorrow at 12 PM and all you have is the scene.

You don't have a whole lot of information, so you have to make very quick decisions. You have to stand on those decisions and then walk into that casting office like. You know, it's totally normal and you have to stand on your opinions. And so having to do that as an actor really translated into me being, you know, working in the corporate environment and it allowed me to ascend pretty rapidly.

I started as a data entry clerk. And in seven years, I was an assistant vice president leading two teams. 

[00:05:34] Rita Burke: Truly amazing. Truly. That's an ascension! There's no question about that. And so, Michelle, you spoke about coming out of the womb as an actor. So I get the sense that acting, performing is in your DNA and I like what I hear.

I hear the passion about that. But I want you to tell our audience, please, which was your favorite role? 

[00:06:03] Michelle Anne Johnson: My favorite role was probably when I did Friends. You know, when you do three camera comedies, they call them three camera comedies where they're filmed in front of a live audience. It's very similar to theater and I'm a theater kid.

I love that electricity that's created when you're in front of a live audience and the immediate feedback that you get. And so I found that doing shows like Friends, that were comedies I love comedies. I love to laugh. I love to make people laugh. Where you've got a live audience there that that was probably my favorite show to do.

[00:06:41] Ellington Brown: You talked about immediate feedback. I want to know how did that interaction help you become a better speaker presenter?

[00:06:53] Michelle Anne Johnson: You know, when the audience is is giving you that. You know, the feedback of laughter, or just the nonverbal cues of interest, you can tell when people are genuinely interested in what you're saying, and the audience is constantly giving you information, whether they're bored, whether they're distracted, they're interested, their curiosity has been peaked, they're having that aha moment.

They're sending you all of these signals. as a performer and as a speaker. And so our job is to read the cues, and ride, ride the cues that the audience is giving you. And so it's incredibly important as speakers that we are attuned to what the audience is giving us. And in fact, the research has shown that when you are attuned to the audience, when you're looking in people's eyes, when you, when you are really taking in their nonverbal cues, it actually relaxes you because you're in listening mode.

Even though you're the only one speaking, you're still listening to what the audience is giving you. So, for all of those speakers out there who struggle with nerves or anxiety, one, one trick is to talk to one person at a time, and that will start to calm your parasympathetic nerve system because you're going into listening mode and just communicate one idea with one person at a time 

[00:08:31] Rita Burke: it's interesting that you talk about talking to your audience and and engaging with them and hearing from them and feeling with them the last play that I attended I think it might have been in November.

It was a local author who wrote the place something to do with with Canada And I didn't know she was in the audience. She was sitting just behind me and I was sitting and I was so fascinated by what was going on on the stage that I had my notepad out. Would you believe it that? I'm that kind of person!

And I was making notes. So when it was done, we came outside, I got an opportunity to chat with this woman who said, I saw you sitting there and I got scared because you had pen and paper in your hand, but it's my own curiosity because I like the language that they were using and I was making some notes because of that.

So that's interesting. So they were certainly engaging with me. And I was fortunate in that I was able to sit right in the front row. So they were talking. and playing and engaging. It was so organic. It was fascinating. And so here's my next question to you. How were you able to juggle being a vice president of a large company and your acting?

[00:09:48] Michelle Anne Johnson: You know, I think you get into a rhythm with anything. You just get into a rhythm. Like I outlined my day waking up, going to work. If I had an audition, go, you know, you just do the thing. And so I think at that point in my life, it wasn't conscious juggling. I just thought that was my life. I got to make it work.

I enjoy acting. I need to pay the bills. I got to have a job. So we're just going to make it work. And you know, and it, and it did work for a while. You know, it did work. I, I somehow managed to you know, continue on in my corporate job and, and like I said, you know, rise through the ranks. I continued building my acting career and it worked for a while until it didn't.

And that change that that fork in the road really was more of an internal shift than an external shift. I got to a place in my life where I really think I had a midlife crisis in my thirties. I know most people have their midlife crises and their, you know, late forties, fifties. I think I had mine in my thirties and it was a perfect storm of, just certain situations and circumstances that were happening in my life. I had these two successful careers, but neither one of them was really fulfilling me. And I could see where the corporate job was headed. You know, if I stayed on this path, I would probably, you know, keep going up and up and up, but does that is that really what I want to do?

I don't I don't know. I could see what the acting, you know, if I keep on this, probably get a series regular and do all that kind of thing. But is that what I really want to do? I don't know! I had some relationship challenges. My family was in disarray. I just had a lot of chaos and uncertainty in my personal life, and I got to a point where I was doing all these things on the outside, but I was very, very unhappy on the inside.

And so that's when I decided I need to make a change, and I quit my job, I quit my corporate gig, I walked away from acting, and I had saved up enough money. I'm going to take a one year sabbatical. It's like I'm going to take a one year sabbatical, figure myself out, and then I'll, you know, go from there.

And that one year turned into five years. Turned into five years of me sitting, meditating, self reflecting, doing introspection really getting in touch with who I am, my, what I believe, why I believe it, coming to terms with some trauma from my childhood and you know, integrating all of that stuff, I was doing a lot of seeking spiritually, reading, you know, lots of spiritual books and finding my own spiritual practice and also during that time, reimagining what my life would look like, what would actually make me happy.

And so I just spent a lot of time. Doing vision boards and, you know, really thinking like, what would make my life the kind of life that would bring me joy, bring me happiness. 

[00:13:11] Ellington Brown: Is this, what you call My big time out? 

[00:13:16] Michelle Anne Johnson: Yes! 

[00:13:16] Ellington Brown: And you did things like meditation and you , roll over all of the things that you had done and trying to figure out what you wanted to do in the, future.

How did you come up with the title? My big time out? It sound like a, like a movie like that. But my. 

[00:13:36] Michelle Anne Johnson: Big Fat Greek Wedding, or, yeah, My Big Time Out, you know, I put myself in a corner. You know, like you do with kids, you, you put them in the corner and say, you're going to stay there until, you know, you figure out why, why, what you did, you know, was bad.

You know, for me, it was, I, I literally had to just put myself in a corner. I'm a high achiever. I you know, love to do things. And I needed to just sit down. I needed to just disconnect and think. And it was very difficult for a personality type like myself because I like to achieve. I like to accomplish.

I was so used to measuring my success from all of my achievements and accomplishments that I was racking up and it was a completely different type of existence to be totally focused on your inner experience. And so I had to begin to measure success and growth in a different way. 

[00:14:40] Ellington Brown: So you weren't putting yourself you, you were saying time out.

It's almost like a kid when they're misbehaving you send them to this corner. I'm hoping that you weren't thinking of yourself as, okay, I've done something wrong. And, or I, you know, I, I can't, I don't know what I'm doing. So I'm going to punish myself by staying in the corner. 

[00:15:02] Michelle Anne Johnson: It was not punitive.

[00:15:04] Ellington Brown: Okay. 

[00:15:04] Michelle Anne Johnson: But, but it was you know, a very definite time out. It was a very definite period of time where I was not engaging in the world in the same way that I had been. And, you know, I think the COVID did that for a lot of people. Where you literally sometimes life has to say, sit down. Sometimes people experience illnesses or other circumstances.

Maybe they lose their jobs. You know, it looks like life is conspiring to, to make you sit down so that you can start to turn your gaze inward. Right? And so I had done that. 10 years before COVID. So when COVID came around, I was like, this is great. This is fantastic. You mean I can just focus on my business and I, I really used COVID to you know, launch my launch my, my practice as a consultant and executive coach. And so, but yeah, it was not punitive, Elton, and you're absolutely right. But it really was because there were times when I was like, you know what, I've done enough of this whole meditation introspection thing. I want to get back out there and do my thing.

And my guidance, I call it my guidance, my guidance said, no, you're not done yet. There's still more to do. There's still more to figure out. There's still more to learn. 

[00:16:32] Rita Burke: Am I hearing, Michelle, that you were in the corner? Now that we've got that metaphor, that was, first of all, intentional, and you were in the corner for five years.

Now, who came into that corner to help you? Was, was there support? Were there people that you consulted? Did you chat a bit about how you were feeling, what you were thinking, and those kinds of things? Talk to us about that. 

[00:16:57] Michelle Anne Johnson: Yes, I did have my sister. My sister was a very, very important person to have during that time.

She was my champion and encourager. She's a fantastic encourager. Those times when I was like, I'm, I'm, I'm, am I crazy? Am I crazy for doing this? Have I made a horrible mistake? She'd say, no, Michelle, you know, it's going to lead somewhere. Keep going. Right? I had teachers that I was learning from at that point as well.

Who were, you know, introducing me to different ideas and different spiritual practices. And that was an important part of my, my growth journey as well. I'm a big proponent of learning from other people, even today. I'm a coach, but I have other coaches who I just love learning and, you know, we don't know everything.

So learn from other people. So absolutely. I had friends. I had teachers who were, you know, helping me to move through that through that process. aNd I still use all of those things that I learned from those folks today.

[00:18:04] Ellington Brown: Can you explain the principles behind your ACP present model and what inspired its development. And could you tell us what that acronym stands for, for our audience? 

[00:18:19] Michelle Anne Johnson: Absolutely! ACP stands for Authenticity, Confidence, and Purpose. I believe that these are the building blocks of what we call presence.

You know, when I, after my big time out and I came out on the other side, I began working as a corporate trainer on leadership communication, teaching corporate audiences, professionals, executives, presentation skills, and public speaking. And so in those environments, we were teaching presentation skills.

But people kept asking for presence. I want to work on my presence. We were using presentation skills to build presence, but I began to see that presence is something different. And through my work as an actor, being around people who were extremely charismatic and had that X factor and had presence, and then being in the corporate environment and seeing people who had presence and people who didn't, I began to get really curious about what is this thing called presence?

Because that's really what people want. And Intuitively, I came up with, you know, when I, when I see people who have presence, they're authentic, you know, they, they, they, you can get a sense that they, they're comfortable in their own skin. They know who they are. They're confident in their abilities. And they have a sense of purpose.

They have a sense of mission, a sense of I'm contributing to something meaningful and something larger than myself. And so I grabbed on to those three principles, authenticity, confidence and purpose as really the secret to building presence on the outside. And then I took it a step further that I really believe.

That authenticity, confidence and purpose. The reason why they're the building blocks of presence is because they're the building blocks of personal power and that presence on the outside is really a reflection of your sense and connection to your own personal power. Do you believe that you have agency?

Do you believe that you have the ability to influence other people, to enroll them in your agenda. And so that's what ACP is all about. So the ACP presence model says that if you cultivate the principles of Authenticity, Confidence, and Purpose on the inside, which are the building blocks of personal power, then you will naturally begin to express more presence on the outside.

[00:20:49] Rita Burke: Thank you. I'll pay attention to that because I guess I need to do that more presence on the outside. I'd like that model! It makes a lot of sense to be authentic, to be confident, and then you get your presence. So tell us what you do in your role as a leadership consultant. 

[00:21:10] Michelle Anne Johnson: Yeah. So my specialty is helping leaders prepare for high stakes engagements.

That can be presentations. It can be keynotes. It can be meetings. You know, Hey, I've got this really important meeting coming up. What do I need to, how do I need to think about this meeting? You know, what, what should the objective be? How should I have this difficult conversation with a colleague or, you know, a leader?

So it's any kind of high stakes, I guess engagement where you really need to show up as your best self. That's really my specialty. And so I'm lucky enough to have really talented clients that I work with as an executive coach, helping them on those things. And it's interesting, you know, my, I started working with people on this idea of presence, but I really have turned into kind of a holistic.

Executive coach that helps them with a lot of different things. You know, it's almost like being a life coach in a lot of ways and all of the things that I worked on and learned during my big time out around spirituality, living a better life, living a more authentic life. All of the work that I did around Authenticity, Confidence and Purpose, and really putting together that framework and doing that research.

That all goes into helping people prepare for high stakes engagements, because again, how you're showing up, how you're interacting with people in your relationships is a reflection of what's going on on the inside. It's a reflection of the stories. that we tell ourselves. And so luckily, you know, communication is this big umbrella where I get to do all of this other soul work that I really enjoy doing.

[00:22:56] Ellington Brown: You talk about reflection and how individuals presence can be used as a way of telling their audience who they are. So how do you help an individual who, maybe they are really a good, good person on the inside. They're really jolly. They keep you laughing. But for whatever reason, when you look at the outside, they're flatlining it.

So how do you help this individual become a little more authentic? 

[00:23:36] Michelle Anne Johnson: Hmm. Yeah. That, and that happens a lot where there's a disconnect between how we see ourselves on the inside, or how we experience ourselves on the inside and what is actually coming across to other people, right? And getting people to, to start to break down that wall.

So that's where the ACP model can really come in handy. You know, authenticity, I define as knowing yourself. And showing yourself, you need to do both of those to be authentic. And I think for a lot of people, we feel like we know ourselves pretty well. You know, we know our values. We know our personality types and preferences.

Am I an introvert? I'm in my, am I an extrovert? Am I creative? Am I analytical? We, you know, we know our lived experience. Although after I start working with people, you know, it becomes clear that they need a little bit more of the knowing themselves piece, but I think for most people it's the showing themselves that is a little more challenging and I think it's because over time, you know, in our childhoods and in life in general, we have experienced rejection and so the idea of showing people are authentic selves becomes scary to us. 

We've got some fear around that. And then we build up a wall to make us feel more protected. And so part of the process of helping people to be more expressive is also looking at what were those experiences. That caused you to shut down that caused you to put up that wall, right? And working through that and inviting them to show themselves more right to find opportunities to start to be more expressive.

It could also be, in that knowing themselves piece, you know, I talked to a lot of people and, you know, people have got, they have insecurities, they've got limiting beliefs about themselves, you know, they've got some insecurities about how they look, or I'm not very interesting, or, you know, I don't have a sense of humor, all of that stuff can also cause you to put up a wall as well, and helping people to see that they're actually really cool.

They're actually really interesting that also gets them to go. Wait a minute. I actually I deserve to be seen and heard. You know, and that gets them out of their shell as well. So it's real. The work that of getting people to be more expressive is really about identifying where's the breakdown. Is it around your authenticity?

Is it around your confidence? Is it around your purpose? And just doing that work,

[00:26:18] Rita Burke: You know, that is a truly amazing story. And as you talked about that, the ACP model, I was wondering if there was any point in the person's life. That we should begin to teach them about these principles or values so that they could grow and actualize. What are your thoughts about that? 

[00:26:40] Michelle Anne Johnson: Oh, if we could teach kids to be more authentic, confident and purposeful, just imagine the world we would live in, right?

Unfortunately, we don't, you know, we don't teach kids these things. You know, luckily we live in a time where I think ideas like authenticity is becoming more popular, it's becoming more mainstream, you know, we're encouraging people to just be yourself, just be yourself, but we're not teaching them what that really means, what that really looks like.

And so I think you can teach kids, you know, from any age to be more authentic, to know themselves more, right, to really get in touch with, what are you thinking and feeling in the moment? honoring their internal experience, right? What are you thinking? How do you articulate and share to other people what you're thinking and feeling?

What your opinions are? What are your values? What's important to you? What are your personality traits and characteristics? What is your lived experience, you know, your personal history and your personal narrative and how do you start sharing that with people, you know, the research shows that the more authentic you are, the higher your self esteem becomes.

And so if we could teach, you know, especially as we live in this epidemic of people who I think have low self esteem or don't feel good about themselves, there's bullying, there's all of this stuff going on. If we could teach people to be more in touch with who they are and then also feel more trusting and confident enough to start to share themselves, their authentic selves in their relationships.

I think we would see people who are more resilient, who have deeper connection, who aren't as lonely and isolated. bUt that all comes back to, again, your relationship with yourself and the stories you are telling yourself about yourself.

[00:28:42] Ellington Brown: It's so funny that you, you know, you phrased it in that way. I remember seeing a saying or maybe it was a book I read and I think the title of the book was It's it's none of my business what you think of me and having that mindset I think elevates you to a point where you can be a little more authentic Children, I think for the most part, they are authentic, especially when they're around two or three, because if you ask them something, you better be ready for the before the answer, because it could be kind of brutal.

But is it, but is it authentic? Yeah, probably. So you're right. I think if we could just grab kids and cultivate what's already there before layers of guilt and shame and thinking about what other individuals are going to say about their behavior gets in the way of their authenticity. I need to say the word now authenticity is, it would be a better world because we wouldn't have to sit and guess. Does this person like me? Did I do a good speech today? You don't have, you know, you don't think about those things because you're authentic and you're being you and, you know, take it or leave it. I want to know about some of the transformations that you've witnessed due to the ACP model.

[00:30:25] Michelle Anne Johnson: Mm. That's a great question. There have been so many I've been, I've been so fortunate to witness the transformation from being, having like a real fear of public speaking, you know, like shaking voice. You know, you talked about that flat affect where you're. You know, people are standing in front of the audience and it's good morning.

Everybody. How are you doing? You know, it's just nothing happening to slowly getting them comfortable with being seen, right? That's another aspect of authenticity is being comfortable. With being seen and being witnessed by people. And you know, I've been fortunate to work with people over years because of, you know, being a part of certain programs that just can, you know, continue to recur.

And seeing that growth and seeing that transformation of, you know, wow, this person is, you know, feeling themselves now they're really confident in front of an audience. . It's, it's really, it's really great. But for me it's more about the aha moments that happen. You know, we're, we are ostensibly working on a keynote, right?

There's a, a result. We've got to get you prepared to stand in front of that audience and deliver that keynote. But it's the aha moments that happen on the way during that process of. Wait, I don't have to have this wall up. I can actually be more warm. I can actually be more vulnerable. I can actually allow people to see me and that that actually deepens the response that I get from the audience.

My vulnerability. makes people like me even more, right? It's those aha moments that happened that for me are so so fulfilling. 

[00:32:15] Rita Burke: We are speaking with Michelle Johnson. And as you know, on SpeakUP! International, we seek to inform, to educate, and to inspire. And I have no doubt that her story right now is helping us to, to meet those objectives.

And my question to you now, Michelle, is, you know, as we go through life, people give us advice . Could you think about a piece of advice that you have received that you want to share with us? 

[00:32:46] Michelle Anne Johnson: You know, I think the great Maya Angelou gave us such a gift when she said when people show you who they are, believe them.

That is something that, especially over the last couple of years, I just keep coming back to. When people show you who they are, believe them. And, you know, in our relationships, our relationships give us an opportunity to practice personal power. To practice being authentic, sharing who we are which includes getting our needs met, getting our wants met.

includes putting up boundaries if we need to. It includes being confident enough as you were talking about Elton to, you know, when people don't like you, you can go, okay, that's your right. I'm going to go find people who do like me. You know, having a sense of purpose, what kind of relationships do I want to bring into my life?

Being more intentional, about how you're showing up in your relationships and the people that you invite into your life you know, when people show you who they are, it's an opportunity for you to make choice for you to choose, you know, what do I instead of going on default, right? Going on those habitual patterns that we all have gotten into because of conditioning and programming.

Around our relationships, it's about putting in that pause and going, okay, they're showing me who they are. What do I choose to do with that? And again, I think it really is an opportunity for us to exercise more authenticity, confidence and purpose in our relationships.

[00:34:27] Ellington Brown: You have experiences. The entertainment side, the corporate side, what are the key differences and similarities between the two fields?

[00:34:40] Michelle Anne Johnson: Interesting question. You know, the difference I think is, you know, the entertainment industry is focused on entertainment. It's very driven, you know, it's, it's just a very creative environment to be in.

From the writers to the actors, to the costume people the lighting people, like everyone is, you know, We're all working together to create this one unified project. And we're using, we're all using our creativity to do that. So I, because I come from that world, I approach everything in my life as a creative project.

Everything, whether it's an email whether it's a conversation as you can see, you know, my apartment everything is creative for me. It's an opportunity to. You know, really think about what do I want to add to this? How do I put my personality into this thing? How do I show myself more in whatever I'm doing?

How do I put my spin on this? And the corporate environment is focused more on results, driving results, but there also is a lot of creativity within that as well. And I found that a, you know, a big part of my job is reminding people of just how much creativity they have at their disposal in the corporate world.

You know, I think, you know, jobs can feel you can start to get on that treadmill. You can start to lose your sense of purpose and engagement, and you're only doing it because people told you to do it. And that's being that's externally driven, right? That's that's extrinsic rewards and motivations. And I think the opportunity in corporate environments is to start to shift your mindset so that it's more about how do I make meaning out of this for me, how do I connect what I'm doing what I have to do, I call it the goddass, I got to do this because I, you know, it's just something I got to do, how can I reframe this situation so that I'm connecting it more to my values, my interests, what's important to me so that it feels more meaningful and I think a big way to do that is to make it more creative.

Right? Bring in some of that creativity. I think just is it's a transformational reframe mentally and emotionally to what it is that you have to do maybe every single day. But if you can be creative about how you're approaching it, then that transforms the entire experience.

[00:37:16] Rita Burke: You, you've been using some amazing language. And I'm very happy and impressed with some of the things, most of the things that you're saying. You talked about personal power and about agency. And I often wonder if people who bully other people, it's because they claim that personal power and that agency, do they do that?

What are your thoughts? 

[00:37:44] Michelle Anne Johnson: I believe that people who bully others are doing so because they really don't feel very empowered to themselves. If you have to make other people smaller or less than in order to feel powerful, then that means that you don't feel powerful inside, right? Because personal power is about cultivating your sense of empowerment from the inside.

It really has nothing to do with the outside. So if you are relying on the title, getting the money, getting the property, making other people feel bad about themselves, that is all externally driven and I'm sure, you know, we can think about many, many experiences and examples of those external things being taken away.

And then what are you left with? Right? If you haven't started that process of making yourself feel empowered on the inside, then when those external things go away, you're going to be left very, very empty and very angry and feel very, very powerless. And so the work then is, you know what? It's not about the X, the outside.

It's not about other people. It's not other people's responsibility to make me feel empowered. That's great! It's great if you do! All right! It's great if you have that support system and people cheering you on and making you feel great about yourself! But you know, life throws you people who are going to invalidate you and your experience and it's your job to make yourself feel empowered.

And again, that's why Authenticity, Confidence, and Purpose are so important. These are things that we do for ourselves. These are things we do for ourselves, and it's very interesting, once you start to work on your own sense of empowerment, our external world starts to shift. It's very interesting. Those people that are no longer a fit for you, those people that are toxic, they start to kind of weed themselves out.

And new people start to come in that are more in alignment and more of a match of the new person that you are becoming. So I have just found in my own life and in other people's lives as well, when you start, this is also my tagline, Rita, do the work within to do your work in the world. When you start doing the work on the inside, it starts to get reflected on the outside.

It's just got a strange way of working out that, that way.

[00:40:22] Ellington Brown: Kind of like a ripple effect, because you're starting from inward, and then the energy is released to the world, so it has this ripple effect where it actually does affect other individuals, things that maybe you had no idea you had such power! 

[00:40:45] Michelle Anne Johnson: And, and here's the other thing. Elton bullies know who to bully.

Bullies. Don't bully people who have personal power. , at least in my experience. Just a quick anecdote. I, I used to work at a company where the, the leader of that company was a bully. He rule, he, he ruled and led by fear, right? By bullying people. He did not bully me.

He knew better and so I, I really do believe, you know yes, that we're always going to be you know, in contact with people who are unpleasant and they're going to try, but I've just found that, that, you know, bullies tend to bully people that they know are going to respond to their tactics. And so it's another reason to work on your personal power.

[00:41:36] Ellington Brown: So in other words, it's kind of like they're looking for the weakest link and once they find that they know, okay, this is the person that I can, I can bully. Now you, if I, if I got this right, you, you had workshops or you've held workshops at Lowe's and Cisco now, okay. These are two different company, different mindsets.

And y'all had their own, you know, mission statements that they follow to the letter. So what areas of leadership and development were kind of like the same? I'm looking for this common denominator between the two and maybe that common denominator rolls across maybe hundreds companies. Do you have an idea of what that common denominator may be? 

[00:42:34] Michelle Anne Johnson: Yes. People! People are people, people, people, people are people wherever you go. You know, I I've been fortunate enough to travel the world. Speak to different people and different cultures and guess what people are people cultures are different. Languages are different, but I found that almost everyone has the same insecurities, the same wants, the same desires, the same experiences that may have gotten in the way of them knowing themselves and showing themselves and feeling confident and feeling purposeful.

And, and I think. You know, of course, there are cultural nuances and differences. But for the most part, when it comes to communication and relationships, most people want to be treated with respect. Most people want to be treated with compassion and empathy. And so those are, those are universal. Which is another reason why I love the work that I do.

I really play in the universal. Yes, there's some customization and tailoring that I have to do according to the organization and what their particular outcomes are or objectives are, but for the most part. People are people. And and I really feel like I've been able to create a curriculum and frameworks that work for 99. 9 percent of people,

[00:44:03] Rita Burke: You know, as you talk with us this morning, I think of something that Tony Morrison said that if you can only be tall because somebody is on their knees, then you have a deep, deep problem. And she's so correct in that statement, wasn't she, when she said that. So who would you say, who or what would you say is responsible for the person that you are today Michelle Johnson?

[00:44:34] Michelle Anne Johnson: Well, certainly all of the people that I have interacted in my life in positive ways and negative ways, right? I truly do believe we learn from all of our experiences and all of our experiences inform who we are you know, relationships that were extremely painful or, you know, didn't give me what I needed.

Guess what? They taught me a lot. They taught me resilience. They taught me persistence. They taught me perseverance. They taught me what not to do. They taught me who the person that I want to be and the kind of people that I want to have in my life. All those people who taught me positive things, I learned from them as well.

So, you know, every, I, I believe that every experience is an opportunity. To learn something to heal something and to practice something and if we can use our life and life experiences and all the relationships and circumstances as opportunities to grow to evolve to to use them as mirrors to see ourselves more clearly to have more compassion for ourselves and for others.

I mean, what, what more could you ask for? Right? That all it's, it's using. It's being voracious about using life to grow and to evolve and to become a to become a better person. And so, you know, that life has made me who I am today.

[00:46:05] Ellington Brown: Michelle, I want to thank you so much for stopping by and visiting us on SpeakUP! International!

We covered some hot topics. Starting with just your background in general, and then balancing these two careers there for a while until finally you decided that you were going to get, you gave yourself the big I'm out, I'm going to be stuck on that. 

[00:46:35] Michelle Anne Johnson: You like that Elton? 

[00:46:36] Ellington Brown: I'm going to be stuck on that for a while because all I can see is this little girl being naughty and asked to stand in the corner facing.

You know, facing the wall. The ACP, presence model I thought was very, very dynamic. And I found that to be quite interesting. And we talked a little bit about the impact and transformation through coaching. Which is that's what it's all about, right? And how to build confidence and being authentic and developing your personal power, which is extremely important because without it, it's very difficult to succeed.

I'm hoping that we have an opportunity to see. with you again. I really enjoyed this conversation. I'm sure Rita has as well. And we want you to come back. We want you to see us again when you turn that chapter and you start anew again, because that it sounds like every A couple of years or so you go back into the corner and you re evaluate and you come back out a new and better person.

So we're looking forward to seeing you again and please keep in touch. Rita, do you have anything you want to add to that? 

[00:47:59] Rita Burke: Well, I want to say thank you Michelle Johnson for pouring so much into us for enriching my life and I want to say Elton's life with your story. And with your creativity, I'm sure I have no doubt that our audience will benefit tremendously from listening to your conversation with us today. And so I thank you! I thank you! I thank you! 

[00:48:25] Michelle Anne Johnson: It's been such a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much for inviting me on, and I would be happy to come back and continue the conversation. 

[00:48:33] Ellington Brown: Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International! If you wish to contact Ms. Michelle Anne Johnson, please be prepared to submit your name, your email address, and the reason why you wish to contact Ms. Johnson at www.michelleannejohnson.com. Ms. Johnson has other social media platform accounts you can use to connect to her that will be listed in the description section on Spotify and other social media platforms. 

Are you interested in the opportunity to be interviewed and have your cause promoted by SpeakUP! International? We invite you to connect to us, sending a message that includes your name, company and or organization name, the valuable service you offer to your community and your email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca. 

Worried about your confidence as an interviewee? Don't fret! SpeakUP! International can provide you with the necessary training. So you shine doing an interview. To receive training information and a 10% discount about the SpeakUP! International's Podcast Interviewee Trainee Program, email us at info at www.speakuppodcast.ca. 

You can also reach us using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blue. 

You can connect to our podcast using Spotify or your favorite podcast platform and search for SpeakUP! International. You can also find our podcasts using our web address, www.speakuppodcast.ca I logo has the woman with her finger pointing up, mouth open speaking UP! 

By joining Patreon , we can offer you an exclusive opportunity to become an integral part of the continued success of our podcast. Your financial support will enable us to cover the costs associated with producing high quality content, such as equipment upgrades, hosting fees, and professional editing services. 

As a member of our Patreon group, you will gain access to a range of exciting benefits. We are working on providing you early access to new episodes and the opportunity to suggest topics or guests for future episodes. Your contribution will not only help the continuity of the podcast. But also allow us to enhance the overall listening experience for all of our dedicated followers. 

Help us help you! https://www.patreon.com/speakupinternational. 

At SpeakUP! International, we reserve the right to inspire, to inform and to educate!