Social and Emotional Resilience at Work With Allan Howard
angela_r_howard (00:00.15)
excited. Hey, Alan, welcome to the podcast. I'm here with Alan Howard. I am so excited. This is finally happening, Alan.
allan_howard_ii (00:03.31)
Hey, what's up?
allan_howard_ii (00:11.99)
It's already been about a year, you know, so you're so busy.
angela_r_howard (00:14.47)
I mean, we've been trying for a while. No, you're so busy. Well, we're both Howard's, so we got things to do. We got things to do. Well, I'm excited to introduce you to the audience. I mean, I know you well. Ellen and I are not related, but we are like family. So I met Ellen when I was in Seattle, which was, gosh, four or five years ago at this. Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (00:23.806)
I love it.
allan_howard_ii (00:41.373)
about five five-six years ago yeah
angela_r_howard (00:45.23)
And besides the fact that we both share the same last name, we've connected on many different levels. Alan is originally from Chicago. He and his wife and family are just absolutely amazing human beings and are doing some great work in the areas of community and small business building. So I will not do any of your introduction justice. I'm going to bounce to you, Alan. Tell us who you are, what you do, and what impact you're looking to make on that.
allan_howard_ii (01:14.47)
Oh my goodness. First of all, thank you for just being you. Like honestly, I guess an honor a privilege, and a pleasure to be here. Like you said at the top of the show here we've been trying to get this together for a while and just a pleasure and honor and um so yeah, I mean my name is Alan Howard II and I think you kind of summed it there. We've known each other for almost six years and when we first met it was just like
angela_r_howard (01:16.05)
Thank you.
angela_r_howard (01:44.633)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (01:44.89)
First of all, the last name, I'm like, I don't know too many howards. You know, we tried to figure out, are we related in any way? And we found out that that's not the case. And so, you know, that was, first of all, that was an epic beginning to our friendship there. And now here we are. But no, I mean, my journey started back in Chicago in the 80s. And so some of the work that I'm doing now is I'm working with clients, I'm a certified life coach. And so my wife and I, have an in-home
angela_r_howard (01:53.422)
Mm.
allan_howard_ii (02:14.47)
and Bite-sized Academy. And so we work together in these rounds. I do a little bit of coaching. She does social-emotional learning, just for simplification. I don't wanna downplay her, but she does a lot more than that. But we started just not knowing kind of what, the direction we wanted to go down. And I've always had this passion for really helping people and wanting to just understand kind of what makes people tick
How can they win with the right mindset? And so my journey started back in Chicago. And I don't know if I know how deep we want to get just yet, but I'll talk more about my story there, but started there. And then I came out to Seattle, I worked for a couple of companies for about 15 plus years and did some work there, engineering work, electrical engineering work. And then I also did some corporate kind of coaching, which I fell in love with. And I think that's when I started to go down this path
Well, what else is there besides engineering widgets building aircraft, or just being in the tech space? And so, started down this road of self-discovery and got certified last year as a J. Shetty certified life coach. And I'm sure we'll get into more of the story, but that's kind of where I think culture and mindset started for me. And that's kind of what I'm on now, this journey of really trying to help people win,
We don't have all the tools when we're born to understand kind of the psychology of what we're born into, maybe our parents. There are so many things that happen when you're born into an environment that you're not familiar with and so had to learn some of those skills as I kind of made my way out of Chicago. But to ask you a question about the work that I'm doing, the impact that I'm trying to create
angela_r_howard (03:48.771)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (04:14.89)
I'm realizing that a lot of people grow up without just the understanding of where they wanna go, directions, or just the tools to cope with some of the life situations that they might be born into. And as I've gone through my journey and my path, I realized, okay, I need to, first of all, be an example of what's possible. I can't expect somebody to just give me things. I have to go out and try to understand, you know, what the needs are of not only myself,
And so I went down this path of self-discovery and just realized there's a lot of black and brown people that don't have access to just mindfulness principles, mindfulness practices, just healthier ways of living. And so that intrigued me and I got interested in, okay, how do I get this information? How do I learn about the things that I didn't know? And then how do I package that in a way? And how do I give it back to my community in a way?
that's fun, that's practical, that's not...
like a personal aggrandizement of who I am, right? It's just more of a, I'm giving it back in an organic way. And so using some of the 15 plus years of corporate experience, now paired with my certified coaching, I try to come with a holistic view and we help our community in that way and our families the best way we can with all the information that we have now. And, you know, just trying to be an example of what's possible, honestly, because once again, everybody's not born with,
angela_r_howard (05:24.433)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (05:50.55)
the same amount of resources or the same amount of understanding. So that's what's intriguing, the mind and how people operate and make decisions. So just really want to get deeper into that work and understand so I can, you know, just help people in those areas.
angela_r_howard (05:55.292)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (06:07.07)
Yeah, no, that's wonderful. And, you know, I know the the business that you all have, the Academy, I'd love to hear just more about that and how that's connected. Because I think you and your family, you and your wife in particular, who are running the business, but also you have your coaching practice. So you're kind of hitting different systems with your work collectively. So tell us more about the Academy. Because I think that is
allan_howard_ii (06:27.301)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (06:37.091)
a really important, important piece to the story.
allan_howard_ii (06:40.41)
Absolutely. I can't start this story without giving my wife just the most credit. She deserves her roses and flowers. Because it all culminated from her internal idea we wanted to start a reading center. I think that's where it started. When we first met, I knew that she was the one. I would give her flowers right on this platform.
angela_r_howard (06:58.333)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (07:05.25)
Hehehe. Mm-hmm. Bye.
allan_howard_ii (07:10.41)
right now if I didn't if we didn't go down this journey of okay we see some gaps we see some things that just our community is struggling with and my wife and we had I want to say it was 2000 2010 really and we sat down and we had dinner and she was like you know babe I'm just seeing you know our black and brown kids struggle you know with reading and I'm like you know because that's something that we don't talk about unfortunately as a society of how
angela_r_howard (07:18.95)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (07:40.19)
at a third-grade level, by third grade, it's really hard to even be successful. And I don't have the stats in front of me, but it's pretty staggering, especially when it comes to our black and brown children. It's like, how do we set them up for success? And so when she told me that, it intrigued me. I said, oh, I didn't even think about that. And she said, I just really wanna help our young kids succeed. As for me, I'm on this journey of trying to help in general, but I'm in corporate at the time.
angela_r_howard (07:49.439)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (08:09.797)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (08:10.21)
in all these big companies, you know, they just, throwing money, you know, at these causes, which I don't judge, I get it, but I'm like, well, why are we not talking about reading? Why are we not talking about literacy, whether it be financial literacy, or just reading and writing in general, right? Like how do we get to that level, everybody has the same privilege to be able to learn or be taught this stuff, right? And so when she said that to me initially,
like, okay, you know, you can go to these other reading centers, what's going to be different, right? And as we started to play with the idea over the, you know, the next, I would say, five or six years, you know, we started to realize, okay, I'm doing things that, you know, people are asking for more coaching, they're asking for more of our advice. You know, I like this more than I like my nine-to-five, right? I love to help is a direct impact. And so we just over dinner one night, we just said, what, wouldn't it be crazy?
angela_r_howard (09:04.856)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (09:11.196)
Ha ha ha!
allan_howard_ii (09:11.253)
Hmm, wouldn't it be crazy if we just started our own thing again?
allan_howard_ii (09:17.79)
I'm gonna look into that. And so literally that night she went and got, she's a licensed childcare professional as well. So she started in that realm when we started to go down this realm of childcare. And, as we're putting this business plan together, which shout out, you need a good team. I'm just gonna be real, you need a good team because it's really hard to start something on your own, but the idea has to come from somewhere, and the vision has to come from somewhere. But we've had a good,
angela_r_howard (09:25.5)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (09:29.875)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (09:37.432)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (09:45.594)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (09:48.23)
of people around us, you know, obviously, Lady Howard here. And I'm saying that we were able to see that need over and over and over. And we just said, you know what, let's just do it. Like, let's just start it. And 2017, 2018, she got her professional certification there and that was the culmination of that. But it started of a need, right? That we kept seeing that our kids
angela_r_howard (09:51.35)
XD Uh-oh. XD
angela_r_howard (10:15.112)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (10:17.79)
and not being taught the science of reading, like really how to sound out words, how to phonetically understand it, and phonics, things like that, where I was just like, oh, I know how to read. I remember being taught how to read, but I didn't understand the journey until I reflected on how I was taught. And from that, we said, okay, well, how would it look?
angela_r_howard (10:39.37)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (10:48.23)
We're using some of these techniques that I've learned before I learned about coaching Visualizing what would it look like if we Started this up together Maybe I bring some of the skills that I love to the table and you bring some of your skills to the table and that was kind of how it started but To bring it together We didn't understand what we didn't understand as far as how do you build it? like Your vision But how do you build it in a way?
angela_r_howard (10:52.856)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (11:11.291)
Ha ha ha
allan_howard_ii (11:17.79)
going to be sustainable, that's going to be representative, representative, or representation of the culture that you want to see, right? And how do you model that? And so that is something that we had to learn and have some hard lessons from just corporate. And that's not the way to model it, right? After a corporation. Model it after your ideas and principles. And that's kind of, this has been this five-year journey of discovery.
angela_r_howard (11:24.886)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (11:42.833)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (11:47.79)
rediscovery tried again, right? And it's been this beautiful mixture of her spirit, her perspective, my spirit, my perspective, and this constant learning curve that we have. And once again, I'm thankful for you being here and giving us these tools to learn about culture and learn about, you know, how do we set ourselves up from the start to be successful, right? And not try to change as you, you know, five or six years down the line,
angela_r_howard (12:12.15)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (12:17.79)
You know, you're already setting your ways at that point. So how do you intentionally say, I want this culture to be about this or about that and do that? That's where I appreciate this opportunity to share this story with you and your audience because it's, I don't think we have a lot of these Genesis stories where, you know, companies are being built or people have ideas of how they wanna come, you know, show up in the world. And it does start with a mindset
angela_r_howard (12:25.903)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (12:39.133)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (12:48.23)
It's not just about me. It's about how I set Not only myself now my future self my future family my future community How do we do that? And I think if that's at the forefront of your mind then I think the the quality of your decisions will be that much crisper and Yeah That's where we are
angela_r_howard (12:54.579)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (13:04.281)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (13:09.43)
Yeah, and I think, I mean, what you're talking about, which is really, it's really kind of hit me here as we're talking about this together is we're kind of redefining the playbook. You know, I think many of the businesses, many of the large businesses, even small businesses, tech startups are built on, I would just say, maybe traditional paradigm around how a business is supposed to be built. It's not focused on community and culture. It might be focused more on profits.
allan_howard_ii (13:20.805)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (13:38.93)
and shareholders. And so there's all these models of business. I'm sure people who've gotten their MBAs have learned about these different models. But are these models incorporating things like equity, community, and sustainability of an organizational culture? I think that's where people like you, who are building businesses with those things in mind and kind of redefining the playbook, which I'm very excited about because now
allan_howard_ii (13:59.401)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (14:09.11)
certification, you could scale that and you could talk to other social, socially conscious business owners who want to do something similar to create kind of this new wave of business and values around business.
allan_howard_ii (14:11.312)
Yeah.
allan_howard_ii (14:24.13)
No, absolutely, absolutely. And I mean, I thank you for that segue to how I was seeing these things as I was working in corporate. And I'm like, why are we saying these things? But I don't see the consistent action. And I'm not blaming anybody, right? I'm just like, okay, I see these initiatives get rolled out and it's just my journey. But I didn't see a lot of the continuous action behind it.
angela_r_howard (14:46.658)
Mm-hmm
allan_howard_ii (14:54.09)
It was just, it wasn't like it was a kick in the face. It was just like, okay, well, if this is really where the priority is, how do we honor that? How do we show that and model that, right? Because you have to lift from the top down, I believe. Like I can't, as a leader, right? I can't just say you need to be able to do this, this, and this, and then I'm out here wilding out. And I'm not living the values that I'm asking my, you know, the people that I work with. I don't even like to say people that work for me. We work together.
angela_r_howard (15:14.876)
Right? Yeah.
allan_howard_ii (15:24.13)
a team, right? I just might have this quote-unquote title of leader, but we're all leaders, right? And I just didn't see that type of consistency. And I was just like, man, is it me? And so I think that right there, as you said it, it was, I was longing for something, for acceptance in a place where maybe that wasn't ingratiated into the culture. It was just more of, do this, go home.
angela_r_howard (15:24.498)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (15:37.012)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (15:54.09)
go home and for me, I wanted to build something not only for the particular businesses I was working for at the time, but I wanted to build something for my family, right? So if half of me is feeling great about what I'm doing, I go home and I'm feeling excited about being able to bring a revenue home, right? Resources, but then I go to the place where I'm getting these resources from or I'm spending, you know, 10-hour days, 11-hour days, I would just, I wasn't as fulfilled as I was talking to my clients, talking to my, to
angela_r_howard (16:03.098)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (16:24.45)
to my community members and ask them directly, hey, what are you seeing? And the main thing was, I don't feel seen. I don't feel that where I'm working, and these are my clients I'm talking to, just, you know, they're asking me for advice. Like, you seem happy, you seem like you got it all together. And I'm like, you know, don't, no, this is daily work, man. Like, I get up like, okay, I know I'm gonna go into this place, I'm gonna be met with some resistance. Now, I can show up how I need to show up,
angela_r_howard (16:28.998)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (16:37.15)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (16:54.17)
I can show up how I want to show up, which is I'm there to make sure that I bring the best energy I can and that I'm representing my family in the best way. And so I took that and I said, okay, if I can't get this in this particular place, then we have to create that. And that is scary. That is super scary. But five years later, here we are, right? Like, I mean, we were talking about this, what, four or five years ago, right?
angela_r_howard (17:10.955)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (17:23.92)
Mm-hmm
allan_howard_ii (17:24.33)
on the pier there and having a conversation with your lovely husband who's one of my best friends, right? Like, it's just, like, you can't make that up. Like, that genuineness of people trying to help, like, you gravitate to each other. Like, that gravitas is there. And I wasn't getting that, honestly, in some of the culture that I was lending my skills to. And it just didn't work.
angela_r_howard (17:28.67)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (17:53.142)
Mm.
allan_howard_ii (17:54.09)
didn't seem right to sit there and put energy down a pit that you weren't getting any return on investment in. And I'm just enjoying being here with you now to see the fruits of your labor as well as your stick-to-fitness and your journey of trying to understand how we impact culture. I have a question if you don't mind, I know this is your show.
angela_r_howard (18:02.055)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (18:10.154)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (18:18.25)
Yeah, please. No. Throw the question my way. I love it.
allan_howard_ii (18:24.09)
know, like you were in the right, so you were moving into the right space for you. Because I know your journey was very interesting and it continues to have this super amazing arc, which I'm proud to have seemed like I said the genesis of this, like how did you know like you were moving in that direction for you?
angela_r_howard (18:44.37)
Yeah, well, I mean, it kind of goes back, you know, you talk about a sitting sitting on the the pier in Seattle. So, you know, Alan, myself, his wife, my husband, were the great duo, I think, in Seattle, we'd hang out. We didn't we didn't hang out enough because we ended up moving. But, you know, we would just kind of sit at the pier and talk and visualize. And I think, you know, taking myself back to that place. You know,
where, similar to what you mentioned, which was, I was hearing all of this talk in beautiful language about change, but I wasn't seeing the action. And it was very clear to me what the path was. I know how humans work. I have a background in psychology. You know, I use concepts from things like anthropology from neuroscience, like all these very, like specific human conditions that tell us how humans behave, you know, I'm no mind reading
allan_howard_ii (19:25.232)
Yeah.
allan_howard_ii (19:43.29)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (19:44.63)
like I'm not saying that I am, but I know about human behavior and I know how people feel recognized or dignified or All those things can drive action So I felt like I had the formula and I was just being buffered over and over again You know, my voice wasn't being amplified. I was in positions where I didn't have a seat at the table You know, I was saying things that were challenging and scary for executives to hear
allan_howard_ii (20:02.602)
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
angela_r_howard (20:14.97)
again, because they built their business in a very specific structural way. And I'm telling them to break that shit you know, and it's like, that's scary. That's scary. So, yeah, I kind of felt like I had the formula. And, you know, when we moved back to Chicago, COVID hit right afterward, and it was scary for all of us. And I just, you know, I asked myself, like, if I'm not going to do this, when, when am I going to do it? Like. I
allan_howard_ii (20:23.482)
Right, absolutely.
allan_howard_ii (20:35.911)
Yeah.
allan_howard_ii (20:41.774)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (20:44.39)
not be kind of in this place of stagnation anymore. You know, we are at this pivot point. You can feel the tectonic shift happening under us. So do I want to be a part of that change, or do I just want to continue to operate in a system that's not aligned to what I'm looking to build? So that was the epiphany. You know, Norris, my husband was a huge proponent of that.
allan_howard_ii (20:55.266)
Absolutely.
allan_howard_ii (21:06.085)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (21:14.25)
of him props here because having a member of a partnership say, I'm going to quit my job. I'm going to leave my job and do this thing that is like, there's no guarantee that it will be successful. It takes a lot of trust, as you know. So I would love to hear more about that from your perspective, too. Sounds like you all had that conversation together, and it came together really beautifully. But oh, no.
allan_howard_ii (21:32.987)
Yeah, absolutely.
allan_howard_ii (21:42.65)
No, we didn't. That's what I thought. No, we didn't. So that's a cool caveat. I think it just, because of the way my wife is wired, like she's just, like if she has an idea like she's just gonna go do it. And I admire that so much about her. And I think where I bring the extra layer of accountability, is I'm just gonna ask a question of, okay, have we considered this, right? Like that it.
angela_r_howard (22:11.871)
Mm.
allan_howard_ii (22:12.69)
That's it. Like I'm not trying to tell her like you don't need to do that. Like why are you doing this? It sounds crazy No, that's not I've learned that lesson No, but but but in jazz though No, but I've learned that lesson like I've realized that she's she has her way. She's gonna and that's great That's a beautiful quality. I know for me like I'm more I'm not reserved. I'm impromptu right I love extemporaneous
angela_r_howard (22:23.57)
Smart man, smart man.
allan_howard_ii (22:43.03)
like I like to know okay to the 11 we're gonna sit out and chat like whatever happens after that is You know, it's all good, but I like to I like to kind of know and she was just like you know what? I'm just starting. I was like, oh Okay, the wind like in a couple weeks. She's like no I just made a few calls and I'm getting ready to be certified as a child care specialist because that's where it started and then it morphed into the Academy where you know I came in with Linda my skills, but she's like no no I'm just gonna
angela_r_howard (22:46.994)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (22:53.098)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (23:06.391)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (23:12.49)
I was like, oh, okay, how can I support you? You know, and so it was, but the conversations though, I think, because this is so new to both of us, right? Like I had started the business before, oh God, back in 2005, it was a data entry business. I did some freelance work before it was cool, right? Like, but it wasn't, but the freedom that I got from that, never left me because I was able to do my schedule, my hours, which is of course beautiful. What people don't see is the other side of that
angela_r_howard (23:28.191)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (23:31.639)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (23:42.51)
behind the scenes stuff that happened, you got to get up and you know, pardon me if you hear that noise in the back, you got to get up and you know, at odd hours maybe to feel called or you have to support your clients or your community differently. And I was like, okay, I noticed it's going to be difficult. We've never done it before. Nobody in our family has done this before. Not that they couldn't is just they chose different choices. And so that in itself caused a little bit of anxiety as you can imagine.
angela_r_howard (23:48.911)
You're good.
angela_r_howard (24:02.598)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (24:06.676)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (24:12.65)
Like this is something new. She left what she knew and said, okay, I trust that you're at this time I'm still working. I'm bringing home the bacon if you will. And so she's like, all right, I trust that you're gonna get up and go do this job that maybe you don't have your full heart in it, but the benefits of going to work and doing the work, bringing back the resources. Now it's gonna allow us
angela_r_howard (24:23.344)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (24:34.892)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (24:43.13)
start this business and then allow us to break free from that. As you said, that old paradigm of you have to work a 95 to be successful or you must work for this big company to be successful. You know, no. And I can say there was some tension. I think a lot of people don't want to talk about some of that stuff that happens when you're, especially when you're a partner with a partner, right? Like you're, this is a family business, right? Or you know, we're, we're leaning towards it being a family business.
angela_r_howard (24:49.081)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (24:59.613)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (25:06.352)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (25:12.49)
But it also means that there are personalities and conflicts that come up that maybe once again you don't have all the tools to be able to manage some of these conflicts or some of the imposter syndrome that comes with, oh, I'm doing this, you know, the way society wants me to do it or am I doing it the way that I really want to do it and in a way that's indicative of who I am and that and that stuff. Nobody teaches you that stuff, right? And I'm saying for me.
angela_r_howard (25:38.634)
Mm.
allan_howard_ii (25:42.75)
on my journey, when I said, okay, I want to go back and become a life coach, I want to understand not only for myself, like some of these tools that I didn't, you know, I wasn't afforded, not because people didn't try to help, but we weren't talking about mindfulness, you know, in the 80s, 90s, you know, at least in the black community, in the brown communities, we weren't talking about, unfortunately, these taboo things, you know, we're talking about culture, right? Like, what does that look like? Setting people up for success and taking ego,
angela_r_howard (25:58.62)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (26:07.815)
Hmm.
allan_howard_ii (26:12.77)
out of all of those decisions, right? Because it's like, oh, I'm gonna do it because I think it's the right thing, but I'm also gonna do it because it's gonna prop me up. And that's never the way to give something, right? And I promise you, I didn't have this awareness when we first started on this journey. It was like, we just wanna do something. And it was like, okay, go. Resources be damned, right? We didn't have any social media at the time. We didn't have...
angela_r_howard (26:37.744)
Hmm. Heheheheh.
allan_howard_ii (26:42.65)
any idea which is like we know we don't want to be stagnant like you said right we don't want to sit here and squander the gifts you know that God has given us and in his daily work like you work in with your partner every day like you said that trust you know that you had in notice right that trusts that you have in you know yourself that he has in you right that that comes with a daily dose of hey I'm just I'm a scared man are you further scared yes okay huh it's not just me
angela_r_howard (26:55.591)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (27:07.462)
Mm.
angela_r_howard (27:10.812)
Hehehe
allan_howard_ii (27:12.85)
conversation of how we go forward together, right? And that attitude gave me that idea, honestly. I want to bring it back full circle to what just in general corporate culture and just business culture, if we're not thinking about long-term things, we're going to get short-term gains. And that's it, right? But long-term gains are how do you sustain this ideal, this principle of,
angela_r_howard (27:16.058)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (27:36.12)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (27:43.01)
do not harm, right? Like that has to be, I think for us, that's the first part. When we serve our clients in our community, we're looking at it from how we serve them, right? We're not, how do we serve ourselves first? That's the ancillary benefit. We're gonna get the revenue, whatever that is, right? The reputation, whatever. It's coming in, how can I serve you, right? How can I serve them? How can we serve each other? And then, I think that is the paradigm shift
angela_r_howard (27:55.014)
great.
angela_r_howard (28:01.3)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (28:07.453)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (28:12.49)
that we're seeing out here, and I hope that it's becoming a lot more prevalent if I can't give you what I don't have. If I don't have that piece of land, or that vision of a better life for myself, a better life for my family, a better life for the people that I serve, then there's no way that I can exude that in my day-to-day life, right, or my day-to-day dealings. And that is the, I think, that's the nuance that we're missing, unfortunately.
angela_r_howard (28:41.181)
Mm.
allan_howard_ii (28:42.65)
businesses or companies are starting to shift, they realize that you've got to be a little bit more nuanced than just general and cookie-cutters or canned. There's no can type of social responsibility other than not harm. Just go out there and try to bring value versus take the value. I think that's what I'm seeing people are realizing that I can't just be out here just taking and expecting to receive as well. So yeah.
angela_r_howard (28:53.439)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (28:59.07)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (29:03.632)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (29:13.07)
Yeah, yeah, I think it's a whole different, again, whole different view of what it means to build a business and a platform. And so if folks wanted to work with you because I think there's a lot of different fronts that I'm hearing around your expertise, you know, you've, you've built a business that's centered around social impact. I think your definition of leadership and how that's a responsibility and how we can instill some of those values. Or even, you know,
allan_howard_ii (29:19.811)
Yeah.
angela_r_howard (29:42.45)
about family-owned businesses. That is something that I think, that generational handing down businesses, wealth, all of that I think is a really important factor to start to think about for our communities because we, nothing was handed down to me or you, right? We're starting here. We're starting here and trying to create the future. So how can people work with you?
allan_howard_ii (29:45.174)
Yeah.
allan_howard_ii (30:00.732)
Yeah.
allan_howard_ii (30:05.49)
Ik wakle.
angela_r_howard (30:14.938)
Where can people reach out to you? Give us all the details. Ha ha ha.
allan_howard_ii (30:17.09)
Well, that's fair, that's fair. And I'm trying to be super transparent because somebody's on their journey right now starting or trying to start with maybe just an idea, right?
I just have my IG, I've had that for six years, but I never used it. I was just like, ah, technology, technology, right? I'm a big tech proponent, which is weird. It's such an IT moron I love tech, but I know that you can get sucked into it if you're not diligent about it. And so I have just revamped my social media. So if people wanna reach out to me, honestly, I'll, we can talk Cali, I'll leave my Cali link in the show notes and things of that nature,
angela_r_howard (30:50.181)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (31:00.676)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (31:03.39)
IG you can check me out at seance SAY AHNCE and That's a whole other podcast if you want to talk about where that name came from that's back when I was doing some of my MC work and Yeah, I used to dabble a little bit. I think I Would love to tell the listeners a little bit more of my background because I think people get to this notion that you
angela_r_howard (31:15.15)
Hehehe
angela_r_howard (31:19.27)
Nice.
angela_r_howard (31:28.655)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (31:33.19)
just started here. And I'm like, there's a whole slew of jobs, a whole slew of, I guess, certification that we can talk about. But I think I like to practice that by saying, I have an electrical engineering degree from, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and ended up getting the master's certification in project management, from Stevens Institute. I ended up having my international, excuse me, integrated business acquisition
angela_r_howard (31:35.233)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (31:51.737)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (32:03.53)
I'm certified in that. I'm also a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified life coach through the Jay Shetty certification school. And I'm working on it now, I'm getting ready to go back and get my MBA. I'm looking at that in the next fall. I wanna go back to psychology. Actually, and do, yeah, like critical thinking and decision-making. I've been very interested in how people make decisions the quality of decisions, and how that affects your lives. And so bringing all of this,
angela_r_howard (32:07.934)
Mm.
angela_r_howard (32:11.974)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (32:20.93)
Oh, nice. Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (32:33.256)
Mm-hmm.
allan_howard_ii (32:33.59)
all of this together, that is what has happened over these last four years is taking all these skills and putting them into my coaching practice, putting it to our academy, and taking a holistic approach to how we solve problems not just a corporate America or business but life problems. So taking all of this literally 20 years of experience and bringing it to my clients, to my community, to my family, that is the work right and that is what we do
at Bite Size Academy, at Bite Size Coaching and Consulting is our subsidiary of that. So yeah, I mean, I like people to know who they're dealing with, right? It's not, because we can laugh and joke. We love to be as professional as we are, you know, fun. So I think that's the caveat for those that don't know us or see us when we have our banter and our behind-the-scenes stuff, but it's always been a spirit
angela_r_howard (33:20.77)
Mm-hmm.
angela_r_howard (33:27.097)
Mm-hmm
allan_howard_ii (33:33.27)
being each other a spirit of just being there for each other. I think that's what first of all inspired me to even do my podcast. I think you were a really big proponent in that seeing you were not just talking about it. You were like, look, I'm going to do it. And that is inspirational. So I want to at least let you know you inspired me to continue down this journey of you know, self-discovery and and you know, just being an example of what's possible. So
angela_r_howard (33:47.111)
Thank you.
Mm.
allan_howard_ii (34:03.19)
I'm just honored, honestly, to be able to have this conversation with you and do it this way. Because we have, I know we have a lot of conversations and some of those are happy conversations. I was like, man, this was, yeah, we might have done that, honestly. They go like, man, we can get tired of seeing this guy on the street, you know. But yeah.
angela_r_howard (34:06.273)
Thank you.
angela_r_howard (34:13.257)
We should just click record every time we talk.
angela_r_howard (34:22.67)
every other week. You can just become a co-host. I love it.
allan_howard_ii (34:26.99)
Don't tell me what a good time I'm there like you know, just let me know will I will do it. So hey I'm down
angela_r_howard (34:32.05)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (34:36.29)
love it. I love it. Well, I mean, I just, Alan, you've been a great just support system, hype man, friend, family, all the things. Thank you so much for your time. There's never enough time to get through all the things we want to get through. But I feel like we've covered a lot of ground. If you all want to work with Alan, we'll be make we'll be sure to include some information in the show notes so
angela_r_howard (35:06.27)
and the coaching and consulting practice. And we'll see you soon, Ellen.
allan_howard_ii (35:11.47)
Absolutely. Thank you so much. You are just a light of the world. I'm gonna tell you like literally You are I'm just gonna tell you the fact like that's my claim to fame like I'm I'm not out here just Blowing smoke like it's every time we we get to hang out together like It's literally like just a beautiful experience. Like we never walked away feeling like Okay, like it's always like man
angela_r_howard (35:16.15)
Oh my gosh, stop. I'm gonna have you on every podcast episode just to heighten me up. Oh.
allan_howard_ii (35:42.39)
That's something to think about. Like literally it's always inspirational. I think that's the nuance, right? When you walk in your gifts and you accept who you are and who you're becoming and you don't resist that, right? I think that's what's happening and companies and cultures are there just putting things out to make money. It's like, no, you gotta know your personnel in and out. Like, and then that's when you get the maximum value, not only for you but for your business and your culture.
angela_r_howard (35:53.412)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (36:04.971)
Hmm.
angela_r_howard (36:11.295)
Mmm.
allan_howard_ii (36:11.39)
You know, it's, so I'm excited because I know that there's, there's always going to be work to do here. And I think people are starting to get it and just not take themselves so seriously. I think we get so uptight, like when things don't go right or they're not going the way that they should. So if I can leave with one thing, just, hey, just don't take yourself so seriously and it's okay to make mistakes. Like that's part of the process of learning and growing. So yeah.
angela_r_howard (36:17.756)
Mm-hmm
angela_r_howard (36:33.55)
MMM
angela_r_howard (36:38.43)
I appreciate you, Ellen. I'm sure we'll have you back on the podcast again, but thank you, thank you, thank you.
