Maika Leibbrandt, Maika Leibbrandt Consulting: The Coaches Table Special Edition
Never make a decision when you're Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired (HALT). Those amazing words come from our very special guest today Maika Leibbrandt. How did a 6th grade teacher set a long term direction for Maika? How does Maika promote "take stock in where you are and be the best of it"? What does the term "Pandemic Classroom" mean and how did it shape the future of one of the amazing voices of Gallup?
All of these questions are answered in this episode and as a bonus, you also find out how intrapaneaurs and entraupaners work differently and how do the two things that strengths aware people happen:
Have their strengths identified
Find a difference maker who knows what those strengths and is challenging them to be better
Step on in, Maika is holding court.
To contact Maika:
https://www.hellomaika.com/
Main Takeaways:
1. Strengths Should Be Integrated into Everyday Life – Strengths aren’t just for work; they should be part of how we talk about our kids, hobbies, weekends, and personal growth. The more we embed them into daily conversations, the more they impact our lives.
2. Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs Can Both Thrive Using Strengths – Maika shared how she naturally took an entrepreneurial approach within Gallup before transitioning to running her own business. Whether inside an organization or leading your own, leaning into your strengths can fuel success and innovation.
3. Getting Things Done Isn’t Just for Executors – With only one executing theme in her top 10, Maika proved that productivity comes from leveraging strategic thinking, influencing, and relationship-building themes. She emphasized time blocking, structured defaults, and using strengths-driven motivation to stay effective.
4. Burnout and Strengths Blind Spots Are Real – Maika opened up about how her top strengths contributed to burnout and how she had to step back and recover. She emphasized that our greatest strengths can lead to vulnerabilities when overused or misapplied.
5. Strengths Coaching is About Fueling Possibilities, Not Fixing Weaknesses – Instead of forcing people into a mold, strengths-based development should focus on expanding what’s possible for each individual. Strengths should be lit on fire rather than watered down to fit a norm.
6. CliftonStrengths is a Research-Backed, Human-Created Tool – Unlike many personality tests, CliftonStrengths is backed by 70+ years of research and built from real human insights, not AI-generated content. The 34 themes were distilled from over 500 patterns of behavior, making it one of the most scientifically grounded personal development tools available.
7. Self-Awareness is Key to Strengths Mastery – Recognizing how and when our strengths help or hurt us is critical. Maika described how woo can shift from a powerful connector to an unhealthy need for approval and how strategic can blindside her when she assumes she has all the answers. The key to mastery? Using strengths intentionally, with awareness and accountability.
Maikas Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Strategic
2) Positivity
3) Woo
4) Communication
5) Ideation
6) Connectedness
7) Developer
8) Activator
9) Adaptability
10) Belief
Bill's Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Individualization
2) Developer
3) Activator
4) Woo
5) Restorative
6) Empathy
7) Harmony
8) Connectedness
9) Relator
10) Learner
Sarah's Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Positivity
2) Woo
3) Communication
4) Harmony
5) Activator
6) Developer
7) Input
8) Individualization
9) Responsibility
10) Arranger
Official Strengths On Fire Website: https://strengthsonfire.transistor.fm
GET MORE FROM BILL AND SARAH:
Bill's info:
https://billdippel.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamdippel/
https://www.instagram.com/billdippelcoach/
Sarah's info:
https://www.wearecollinsco.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcoachcollins/
https://www.instagram.com/sarahcoachcollins/
Transcript
Transcript:
Bill Dippel (00:02.716)
Sarah, and here we are!
Sarah Collins (00:04.523)
I am feeling great. Mr. Dippel how are you?
Bill Dippel (00:08.801)
I am absolutely fantastic. I've had a great preview to today. Last night I did some really fun stuff. Last night I think you did some pretty cool stuff. So what were you doing last night?
Sarah Collins (00:20.081)
Yes, I was at a local women in business event talking to 250 of Lincoln's best women in business. Not the best. I mean, I'm sure there's others that are good out there, but the ones that came out for it. were kicking off our rise season. do local programming through the Chamber of Commerce for
Women in business, just highlighting different education opportunities, networking. So I do a coaching community called Strong as a Mother, where we talk about CliftonStrengths and motherhood. I always do that for free for local women in our community over the summer. So I got to tell everybody about that and get them excited for it. So it was really fun. That sort of stuff gives me so much energy. And it sounds like you also had an exciting night with one of our past podcast guests.
Bill Dippel (00:59.683)
Yes. Yes.
No.
Bill Dippel (01:10.475)
I did, I'm not super fueled by 250 people, a little more intimate than that, but fantastic evening. do, I want those deep relationships, right? So one of our past episodes, Matt MacGyver, one of our really good episode, one we've got a lot of good download and feedback on, Matt and I, Matt being a professional photographer in town, we have been...
Sarah Collins (01:16.915)
Yeah, good thing you have that relator. Mm-hmm. That's right.
Bill Dippel (01:35.735)
threatening to go out and do photography together. I'm a so-so photographer at best. Pretty good. I have more money than since at times in my life. So I bought all the gear and now I got to figure out how to use it. And Matt and I went out after hours last night, late night, not late, but after the sun went down and did a lot of night and motion photography in the middle of downtown Reno and a lot of the neon and cars blazing through some beautiful structures and just a beautiful.
Sarah Collins (01:44.158)
Yeah
Sarah Collins (01:47.967)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (02:05.017)
Beautiful night. It stayed out for like five hours and just had a blast. And. I gotta I gotta up my photography game, you know, as I'm as I keep moving and doing stuff, because I love I love the art expression part. I have some photography in my house that I did that I love it when I can say I actually can tell you everything about that photo and that I took it so and then tonight tonight I'm going.
Sarah Collins (02:06.603)
Look at that.
A man with a hobby. Gotta love it.
Sarah Collins (02:25.973)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Bill Dippel (02:34.041)
This is another client of mine. He hasn't been on the podcast yet, but as we as we build out his team, we'll bring him on. He has a side hustle out of his main job where he groomed snow up at Lake Tahoe on the ski resort. And he was like, hey, I'd love to have people ride along. Come on up. And I said, well, I'd love to do it. That's amazing. And he's like tomorrow. I was meeting him Thursday. So today I'm heading up. So.
Sarah Collins (02:47.421)
Ugh.
Sarah Collins (02:57.161)
Wow. Look at you. Honestly, the things that a person can do when they don't have small children, I mean, it's really quite incredible.
Bill Dippel (03:08.2)
my. my.
Sarah Collins (03:09.867)
I had to be home by 7 p.m. last night to help put the kitties to bed, you know, and tonight, more of the same, more of the same.
Bill Dippel (03:13.675)
that's a great point. It's a great point. Well, I feel like I feel like for me, these are kind of like like dream days where I'm having a having a great man I get to do and I get to build this. So I've got a question for you, Sarah. You ready? Bizarre dream. Do you have you ever had? What's the most bizarre dream you've ever had?
Sarah Collins (03:23.519)
Yeah. Aww.
Sarah Collins (03:30.697)
Okay?
Sarah Collins (03:37.706)
man, I really can't get into it.
Bill Dippel (03:40.281)
hahahaha
Sarah Collins (03:43.701)
The funny thing is I was just thinking this morning as I was taking a shower about how vivid my dreams have been, but I can't tell you about them on the podcast because you know, I like to read romantic books, which are like romance and fantasy. So there's a lot of dragons and phase and things happening. And it is written in a way where you're like, wow, this is
Bill Dippel (03:45.152)
Yes.
Bill Dippel (03:53.422)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (04:00.366)
yes. Wow.
Sarah Collins (04:13.087)
very descriptive and then it penetrates my dream. So that is as much as you all get to hear about my massage.
Bill Dippel (04:22.347)
I am so glad I asked this question today. my... I... I can't... Welcome! Come on in!
Maika Leibbrandt (04:25.576)
What podcast did I just join?
Sarah Collins (04:28.043)
Welcome! This really took a left turn, didn't it?
Bill Dippel (04:34.697)
Wow, I'm, I'm, I've actually made Sarah completely blush on this,
Maika Leibbrandt (04:36.049)
Ideation.
Sarah Collins (04:37.105)
I'm sweating!
Bill Dippel (04:48.527)
Interesting. Well, I don't, in a weird, weird world, I am not, I don't remember my dreams often. I would say almost, almost ever. The only time I remember my dreams is if something dramatic happens and it wakes me up fast and something happened and I'm, and and.
Sarah Collins (05:00.603)
Ooh, that's too bad.
Sarah Collins (05:09.515)
Mmm. Like bad.
Bill Dippel (05:13.313)
I think I can echo your sentiment. Sometimes what is happening is I'm like, what? And yeah, and I'm like, I don't want to, but sometimes it's that, you know, it's that falling feeling or it's the, know, sometimes I have that. I do know that one of the recurring dreams I have had because it happened enough that I think it stuck with me is, and I don't, I know there's that dream therapy where you're, know, what does that mean?
Sarah Collins (05:40.287)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (05:42.903)
I have this recurring dream where I'm back in high school. I can't find my locker and if I get there I don't know the combination.
Sarah Collins (05:48.499)
Yes, ooh yeah.
Bill Dippel (05:51.083)
And I'm thinking, well, what class am I supposed to be at? Like, I know nothing. And I just think that's part of that. I'm not, I don't know, I'm not ready for something or there's something in my life where I don't know the answers. yeah.
Sarah Collins (05:55.083)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (06:06.591)
Yeah. Well, you just reminded me that I do sometimes have a reoccurring dream and I can't believe I'm going to say this out loud. really, I really sometimes need to stop talking, but here we are on a place where we're supposed to talk. have a reoccurring dream sometime that I have killed someone, but I in the dream, I can't remember killing the person like in the, didn't kill the person in the dream, but I'm walking around in my normal life knowing that I have killed someone and I put their body somewhere.
Bill Dippel (06:13.708)
I am so excited. Yes.
Sarah Collins (06:33.577)
and I can't remember how I killed them or where their body is. So I am walking around in pure fear and agony that someone is gonna find out that I did this. And I'm like trying to hide it, but I also don't know how to hide it because I don't, I can't remember what any of it is. And so I'm just constantly afraid. So if anyone would like to give me a little insight of what that's about.
Bill Dippel (06:56.935)
I'm gonna start Googling fast on this one. This is gonna, hidden dead body and dream. That's good. I do think, yeah, suddenly people are gonna be like, police will be knocking on my door. I think they're a little, we don't have the answer and we're in jeopardy because we don't know the answer. So I think there's a little similarity there, right? We're both, yeah, we're.
Sarah Collins (07:00.099)
Ooh.
Yeah, don't put that in your Google search.
Sarah Collins (07:16.895)
Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. Now the interesting thing is we have a guest today who is not a podcast novice, but I have to believe that this sort of stuff has never been talked about on a podcast with her before.
Bill Dippel (07:23.694)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (07:30.895)
No, no. And I'm also going to say, I mentioned dream. Can we say dream guest today? I am super excited today. Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (07:36.951)
you
Sarah Collins (07:39.283)
Dream guest, dream guest, so excited, a voice that I think will be familiar to all of the strengths enthusiasts who are here listening today. Someone that we have all learned from, someone that we have all grown to love, even the people who have never met her, including myself. This is my first time meeting her, but I feel like she's an old friend, a expert, a mentor, a teacher, a trainer. We are just so excited. Micah, welcome.
Maika Leibbrandt (07:39.935)
Bill Dippel (08:06.264)
I am Micah Welcome.
Maika Leibbrandt (08:08.056)
Wow. Thank you. You guys, the feeling is mutual. mean, I feel like in the pre-show, I did say out loud, did we all just become best friends? And I think that's the abundance of being among coaches and teachers is I've already learned so much from you. Thank you for having me.
Sarah Collins (08:16.447)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bill Dippel (08:16.45)
We did.
Bill Dippel (08:20.781)
Yes. Yeah. And in the pre-show, I showed Micah a picture of 2019 when we first met and I, we've been friends for that, at least in my mind. For me, we've been friends that long. And now Micah and I have been bouncing and talking to each other over a couple of years now. So I am just, I consider myself fortunate that every now and then when I hear is the word zillion real or, you know, what we're talking, you know, in my things. Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (08:45.72)
it's, hold on, ahem, it's, is Zillion a real number? I didn't write that, I just got to say it.
Sarah Collins (08:46.032)
my god
Bill Dippel (08:53.102)
There it is. There it is.
Sarah Collins (08:57.971)
Well, it is. It lives rent-free in my mind. So thank you so much.
Bill Dippel (09:02.159)
And I've written on your voice for a while by saying to people, by the way, that's a good friend of mine who does that voice overlay when I'm in presentations. just love to have you with us today. Love to talk about your trajectory, how you got here, what's going on, and what's going on now for you. So super excited and welcome to the show.
Sarah Collins (09:12.104)
Sarah Collins (09:20.853)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (09:23.62)
Thank you. Thanks for doing what you're doing. I got to listen to a couple of your episodes before coming on and it's just, I feel like you've, you've leveled up the conversation and really broken strengths into a space where why wouldn't we drop this into everyday conversation about dreams and dragons.
Sarah Collins (09:40.011)
Well, I feel like that is a badge of honor that we will wear. Thank you so much for saying it. So, Micah, I'm just... go ahead, Bill.
Bill Dippel (09:40.333)
NAH!
Maika Leibbrandt (09:47.225)
Please do.
Bill Dippel (09:48.341)
And, and I was going to say, and we are designing a shirt for our arsonists. You know, it now has a dragon on it. I'm just some way there's a dragon on that. So, you know, just saying yes. So are because they light fires in right spots. So, Micah, you're now guilty by association. You are an arsonist just letting you know. So, all right.
Sarah Collins (09:56.248)
it does fit in. You're right. We do call our fans the arsonists.
Maika Leibbrandt (10:02.772)
Count me in.
Sarah Collins (10:09.055)
Yes. Don't worry. We've already had a lawyer talk to us about how it's probably wrong, but we're here.
Maika Leibbrandt (10:09.324)
Okay.
Bill Dippel (10:15.794)
on our on on an episode. we're yeah, yeah, we're waiting to see how that goes. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (10:17.777)
on an episode, HR people. I actually think the lawyer said it was okay and the HR person said it maybe wasn't okay. So, you know, we're just trying, we're just out here.
Maika Leibbrandt (10:25.179)
I the environmentalist in me might have a little bit of a problem wearing the shirt, but I'll fully support you.
Sarah Collins (10:31.871)
Honestly, honestly, yes. Okay. To get us on track though, Micah, tell us your story. We here at Strengths on Fire, we are so interested in people's stories of how did they come to know their strengths, use their strengths, sort of that career trajectory. How did you get where you are? I mean, we all know you from Gallup, right? Like we, we know you there. You now have your own business, Micah, Libra, Libra?
Bill Dippel (10:34.05)
I love it.
Maika Leibbrandt (10:34.106)
Hmm
Maika Leibbrandt (10:53.627)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (10:59.738)
Libra rhymes with vibrant. There you go.
Sarah Collins (11:01.991)
Libra consulting, that's your business, right? At HelloMica.com. I want to make sure everybody gets it right if they want to go find you.
Maika Leibbrandt (11:06.093)
Yes, real creative name. Thank you, Sarah.
Bill Dippel (11:10.435)
Hey, hey, got, I got Bill Dippel strings coaching, right? My, I get it, guess. So yeah.
Sarah Collins (11:15.956)
Collins Collective, I mean, you know, what is it if it's not your name? But HelloMica.com, M-A-I-K-A. So tell us, how did you get here?
Maika Leibbrandt (11:26.365)
Thank you. The short and long answer is I've had a tremendous community of difference makers around me my whole life. I grew up in a small town in Western Nebraska. And I think the real crux of how did I get here probably starts with a really great sixth grade teacher who at a parent teacher conference, I remember my mom coming home and saying, you'll never guess what Mrs. Persley asked me. She said, how can we challenge Micah? And my mom, Maximizer,
it was just so switched on by that question. And as a child, I remember noticing like what gets adults attention is something that tends to grow, right. And, something you tend to be drawn towards. So that maximizer idea, is a through line of the difference makers in my life, cut to a great high school teacher who got me to join, FFA used to be future farmers of America.
Sarah Collins (12:19.915)
Mmm.
Bill Dippel (12:20.441)
future farmers, yeah, yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (12:22.834)
does not, you know, interesting trick does not actually stand for Future Farmers of America. It is just the national FFA organization. Agricultural education is bigger than farming. So anyway, this is a very side rabbit hole. But the statement that I remember this teacher made as he was recruiting FFA members when I was in high school was, you really wouldn't have pancakes without the syrup.
Sarah Collins (12:28.255)
What does it stand for?
Bill Dippel (12:37.047)
Love it. Go.
Sarah Collins (12:38.635)
I'm learning though.
Maika Leibbrandt (12:48.728)
And being in a place without taking full advantage of what's great about that place is a mistake. So what was great about my high school when I was there was we had a really strong FFA. We also had great music and wonderful other things, but that was something I recognized early as a learning was take stock of wherever you are and be part of the best part of it. And that has that statement I think has led me to some really
beneficial and loving connection with Difference Makers in my life. So in college, I thought about, you know, where do I go to college and how is it going to be a place that's going to surround me with the best pieces of it or access to something that's really going to maximize my talent. And I had great mentors in college and then I spent almost 15 years at Gallup really learning from the best of the best. I mean, I was
learning my first strengths course was taught by Sherry Ehrlich in Omaha. So the Gallup Omaha building was still newish when I was there, they had moved from Lincoln to Omaha. And I'm here learning from and with people who had been the guinea pigs when Don Clifton was first running the assessment to really learn what it meant. So I remember an early conversation I was working at Gallup and I first started working Gallup as an analyst. So
really in-depth interviews using the science of talent, but not necessarily strengths finder. So I think that that has a huge impact on how I understand strengths and how I maybe believe in them. It's a strange thing to say believe when I know that it's such a scientific piece of personality that we're using. So I got taught early on how to listen incredibly deeply and how to
identify different patterns of behavior as enduring and positive. And having that outside of a development tool, having that sort of background of curiosity and almost the intellectual pursuit of how do I add value by spotting patterns of talent, definitely, I think has translated to my relationship with strengths today. I spent almost 15 years at Gallup working in five different global offices.
Maika Leibbrandt (15:08.354)
I got married while I was at Gallup and I think I had just as many Gallup friends as I had family, which says a lot because I'm from a big family. But like was, it was a place where I learned to adult. And my husband was in the Air Force and we moved overseas and Gallup spotted something in me and they were like, Hey, we'll hire you out of our London office. But again, that was thanks to some behind the scenes work of a few very incredible specific individuals who were investing in me.
I've known or learned and believed from a very young age that people really need two things. They need to have their strengths identified. And I would put together strengths and abilities, know, identified and called out. And then they need difference makers who know what they are and are challenging them to, to polish them and doing better. And I've had both of those formally and informally through great teachers, great mentors, great family members, and, and great bosses.
And then I'm in my third year of going solo as a business owner, which is something I never thought I was, which is really funny now. And it's been funny in conversations with, you know, other entrepreneurs because they'll look at me and go like, what do you mean you're not an entrepreneur? Gallup is a beautiful incubator of talent and some of the, you know, greatest discoveries of my life happened because I worked there. It's also set up as a network of sort of powerful intrapreneurs.
as most firm style organizations I think are. So it was not that much of a leap for me to figure out how do I run a consulting firm on my own. I never thought I wanted to. There was nothing, I know people tend to tune in and want like juicy details of like, what exploded that made you leave? Nothing. The day that I left Gallup, it was a very anticlimactic moment. I got an email.
Bill Dippel (17:00.526)
Nothing.
Maika Leibbrandt (17:06.148)
asking me to go be resourced on a project that would have previously been my dream project. And I recognized that my energy just wasn't matching it at the level it should. And I thought, wow, if I'm not excited about this in the way that I really should be, I need to find a new playground. So I created my own playground. And I've had a fantastic time really focusing on, I would say my sweet spot right now is coaching high potential leaders as they tip into that.
Sarah Collins (17:24.203)
Hmm.
Bill Dippel (17:24.696)
Hmm. Hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (17:34.707)
space of executive leadership. And sometimes I'll do that with groups and sometimes I'll do it with individuals. But I love helping really talented leaders figure out how they're going to build communities around them and how they're going to succeed.
Bill Dippel (17:49.251)
So, so good. I, I know now, yeah, she's just, she's just starting and I'm, and I'm in so.
Sarah Collins (17:51.487)
I'm seriously taking notes, learning from your introduction. I'm like, that's so good. I should remember that. You're just introducing yourself, but you're just such a wealth of knowledge and your experience and the way you talk about it and the way you frame it. It's so interesting. mean, I need you to say your top 10 for everyone listening, but I'm just going to call out that your communication is superb.
Maika Leibbrandt (17:55.493)
Well good, because I think it was long.
Bill Dippel (18:08.91)
Yeah. Well, I was.
Maika Leibbrandt (18:15.823)
Well, you asked one of my favorite questions, which I've learned from other speakers is one of the two best questions you can ask, which is how did you get here? I mean, in any context, even if it's like, what were the roads like outside? It always leaves a powerful space for people to share. Top 10.
Sarah Collins (18:23.328)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (18:28.354)
Right.
Bill Dippel (18:32.483)
Yeah. And I was, I was leaning into this to say, and I've coached on this, for other clients and other people we've worked with. Sometimes entrepreneurs don't make good entrepreneurs, right? They are, there is a difference in the skillset you brought up, you know, surrounded by a lot of really good entrepreneurs that, that at Gallup, can you hit us with your top 10 so that our listeners have a good base to build on that? And of course those are in our show notes too, if somebody wants to
see those really quickly, but also hit us with that and then talk about going from entrepreneur to entrepreneur. What was it that did that and maybe how you stepped into that role?
Maika Leibbrandt (19:13.767)
I have to look up my top 10 because I do not know them in order. And that has freaked some people out in the past. like, I think at one point a friend was like, are you kidding? The Micah doesn't know the order of her top 10, but I don't. So one second.
Sarah Collins (19:30.871)
You just made so many people feel better about themselves, so kudos to you.
Bill Dippel (19:33.674)
Myself myself included by the way,
Maika Leibbrandt (19:36.843)
You guys, it's not about the order or the list. Okay, strategic, positivity, woo, communication, ideation, connectedness. I can always get those six, but after that we have developer, activator, adaptability, and belief. So if you're color coding as you're answering, I have, let's see, two strategic thinking strengths. One, two, three, four of my top 10 are blue or relationship building.
Bill Dippel (19:39.438)
Exactly.
Maika Leibbrandt (20:05.456)
Three of them are influencing and one is executing. And I lead with influencing themes.
Sarah Collins (20:14.132)
go.
Bill Dippel (20:14.911)
Perfect. Now, go on to the entrepreneur part of that. What are you bringing to make that transition and how did that work for you?
Maika Leibbrandt (20:21.062)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (20:28.884)
that's such a cool question, which is usually what people say to like buy their time and say, well, how am going to answer this? I'm trying to think first bill about what is really different, entrepreneur versus entrepreneur. And I almost think that I had always. Approached being within an organization with a very entrepreneurial lens. and I don't know that I would have called it necessarily. It wasn't like, me build or something.
Sarah Collins (20:36.043)
What am I going to say?
Bill Dippel (20:37.582)
It's okay, you know.
Sarah Collins (20:41.749)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (20:52.309)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (20:58.332)
but it was always let me develop people around me and engage the people on my team around me. And I worked in a consulting firm, so most of my work was project-based. it's tons of, it's like having a giant pool of friends that you can pick from at any time. And some of them you've met before and some of them you haven't, and some of them are on the client side and some of them are a vendor and some of them are internal to where you are. So it already...
there was not a lot of clean lines in my org chart or my idea of how I sort of make my way through an organization. And I've always just looked for where am I going to be around people who are going to grow me and who I want to grow and who I genuinely want to hang out with and invite to my wedding and go on vacations with. so, I mean, even early on in my career at Gallup, I noticed
Bill Dippel (21:30.562)
Perfect.
Sarah Collins (21:30.751)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (21:54.494)
that there's a lot of freedom to move within the organization. And I had done some crafting of my job based on what sort of work am I drawn to, who's a great boss that I can have a wonderful relationship with, and how do I take ownership from the get-go of what my career's gonna look like. So I attribute that to growing up in a small town, being scrappy and resourceful.
Bill Dippel (22:21.366)
Aha. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (22:21.803)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (22:24.33)
If you want, it's not so much a, if I want something, I had to go do it myself as much as it is. No, I feel very empowered and autonomous to make great things happen. So going from being within an organization to being on my own, I really was just following great relationships. You know, where, where do I see a space where I know that I can add value with people I want to add it with and lead with that first lead with great coaching.
discoveries first lead with great results first and then say, how can we just keep doing more great work together? It just so happens that I'm now in charge of invoicing.
Sarah Collins (23:02.826)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (23:05.103)
Well, you bring up the invoicing thing, that is part of that transition, entrepreneur, entrepreneur. A lot of the coaching clients we have, the entrepreneur people, they love, hey, I don't have to worry about that and that and that and that. I fulfill the role in excellence without worrying about that. And I'm collecting these things versus the, I get to worry about every aspect of the business.
Maika Leibbrandt (23:05.64)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (23:31.084)
Some people are fueled by that and clearly you are. I'm listening to that strategic, that positivity of you where you're, man, you know, yeah, I'm small town, I'm scrappy. Let's go with it. I wanna do that.
Maika Leibbrandt (23:44.204)
Yeah, I think you're right, Bill, in calling out that strategic piece. And I think it's probably, I mean, if I'm to go back to my strengths, it's strategic connectedness, developer activator, probably of the way that I've always shown up to any project was I want to know what's happening at a global scale. I want to see 40,000 feet. I'm not only curious or worried about, but I'm energized by knowing the ins and outs and the details of how
Sarah Collins (23:55.019)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (24:11.277)
you know, any solution comes to be. I think about strategic as like, I'm the worst to watch a TV show with because the best moment is when I spoil it for everybody. And then I go backwards and tell them how I spoiled it. I hate surprises, not because I don't like the being surprised. I just feel like I've got such FOMO for the like clues that I should have seen. So all of the pieces of running a business, I was already like,
Sarah Collins (24:23.883)
Ehh
Sarah Collins (24:33.556)
Right?
Maika Leibbrandt (24:40.14)
probably up in everyone's business a little bit too much. I was already set up to continue to own that.
Bill Dippel (24:42.126)
Sarah Collins (24:43.219)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (24:46.606)
That's so good.
Sarah Collins (24:46.751)
Well, and one of the things I just want to point out, because I think it is cool because of Gallup being more of a consultant firm, they are able to be project based. But many of the clients, as you know, like they work in like typical corporate America where it's here's my boss, you know, and it's a typical reporting hierarchy. And so they don't have the the opportunities to seek out the best people and that they want to do. And so
Maika Leibbrandt (24:54.028)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (25:13.932)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (25:16.457)
It's really cool that you were able to work in an environment. In that way, Gallup practices what they preach, right? Like find people, find their talent, put them in positions to do it, let them, know, because correct me if I'm wrong, but at Gallup, there's really no like boss-boss. You have, depending on your project, you're kind of reporting to different people depending on what you're working on.
And so that gives you lot of flexibility and autonomy, which some people thrive in, clearly you did, and some people don't like that and they need a little bit more structure and a little bit more of that regular system that we see.
Maika Leibbrandt (25:46.349)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (25:52.875)
Absolutely, I would say Gallup did a great job of adhering to that belief in talent, hire tremendous people and then give them as much as you can about clarity of expectations. How far to the finish line can you go and what can you measure while you're there and then get out of their way. And that is going to really energize, I think, people with certain talents, certain natural talents, probably that comes from how they were raised plus what they value plus
Sarah Collins (25:57.365)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (26:07.017)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (26:20.749)
all of the other differences that we bring to the table. We don't need everyone to thrive in that situation. As a world, we need all different kinds. But when you can, then I think it's on you too. When you have the strengths, you gotta light them on fire.
Bill Dippel (26:26.03)
Absolutely.
Sarah Collins (26:26.133)
Mm-hmm.
That's right.
Sarah Collins (26:34.602)
Yeah.
Yeah, okay, so I have a question. That's right.
Bill Dippel (26:38.156)
Yeah, hence our arsonist, right? Hence being an arsonist. We want him to light an empire. Yeah, go ahead, sir.
Sarah Collins (26:45.291)
Well, I have to ask you this question and I feel like it's it's like the wrong question that a strengths coaches hat This is supposed to ask but I have to ask you it Okay as an entrepreneur Even an intrapreneur there's so much you have to do now I look at your top ten. I see you've got that one executing theme now I know you're executing through your other themes, but you've got 30 through 34 are executing themes for you so tell me
Maika Leibbrandt (26:53.516)
There's no wrong question, Sarah.
Sarah Collins (27:14.743)
What is the motivation for you to get things done? Like how are you in executing? I want the audience to hear from someone who clearly does a lot, but only has that one executing theme. Cause I think people get locked in like, I only have one executing theme in my top 10 and I've got five in my bottom. How am I going to do stuff that feels limiting? So show us, tell us the story of how do you get things done through the other themes that you have.
Maika Leibbrandt (27:43.312)
Cool question, not the wrong question. Also, maybe this is a part of it. Until you said that right now, I didn't know that my bottom strengths were all executing. Like, I also didn't know what my top 10 were in order. I think we get so hungry to be in strength. Like the fins, I think, say be in sauna instead of in the sauna. We get so pulled toward it. And if we don't have ways to talk about it beyond just what number is what strength,
Sarah Collins (27:51.295)
I love that.
Sarah Collins (28:03.477)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (28:12.73)
I can forgive a hyper focus on like what order do they have, but I didn't know what my bottom five were. I'm not, I don't dwell in it. not because I'm like super healthy, but because it's just not, it's like, I don't have a relationship with them. So I'm not worried ever about how am going to get things done? Because I've always gotten things done. I'm an oldest child. I'm like a type a high performer. I was a gifted kid back when we did that to kids. Like.
Sarah Collins (28:26.826)
Right.
Bill Dippel (28:26.915)
Right.
Maika Leibbrandt (28:42.085)
I brush my teeth, I have a master's degree. It has only ever been a question when we look at the four domains. Nobody's ever questioned, including myself, how do you get things done until we color coded it and called those domains something different. So that's my first piece.
Sarah Collins (28:49.907)
Yes!
Sarah Collins (28:56.427)
And also I love everything that you're saying and I just want to say like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Now continue.
Bill Dippel (29:00.27)
Perfect, perfect, yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (29:04.049)
Right. yeah, maybe like point B on that one is let's remember we're looking for those domains. We're looking for what are you pulled toward? I am not pulled toward a task list. I can write things down and I do write things down, but it's not so that I can check them off. I, if you give me a complex problem, I have to work really, really hard to force myself to think about what are the moving pieces of this and what could I delegate?
Sarah Collins (29:12.533)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (29:30.795)
Mmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (29:30.834)
Like I think if I led with executing strength, that would be what I would see. That's the lens that I would see a problem with. What I see really quickly and without even trying is I see the patterns between consequences. So connectedness ideation strategic, I can see that if I do this, it's going to have this reaction, which is why I actually really love monthly invoicing instead of like quarterly or biannually or anything, because I love seeing the reaction of, wow, I had this many.
Bill Dippel (29:47.694)
you
Maika Leibbrandt (30:00.118)
solutions that I delivered and it made a huge difference to people and I get that trigger every month to look back on the consequences that I created and the ripples that I made in the world. So that's a piece of it. Also, I'm hugely driven by ideation. I really do a bad job. Again, if I had executing strength, I would be less awful at this, but I do a horrible job at guessing how much time something's going to take. Like, I'm real bad.
Sarah Collins (30:10.101)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (30:26.239)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (30:30.124)
so early on, a good friend gave me some advice. said, just don't take any client meetings on Fridays, and know that no matter what you're going to fill that day with getting things done. Like, so just make it sacred and there it's like, okay, I don't have to engage in decision fatigue in areas that I know I'm going to have to work really hard to have a smart choice. So I have some, some just don't even think about it. Some rules or cues or defaults, I guess is what we could call them around executing.
Sarah Collins (30:35.349)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (30:50.485)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (30:59.355)
So I know that I don't take, you know, calls on Friday so that I can do podcasts or so that I can write an entire workshop. also know that when I have to really produce something, it has to be adaptability and ideation only really turn on if there's some time pressure. So I do ahead of time block out like an entire day for writing that.
Sarah Collins (31:18.101)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (31:25.142)
presentation or creating that workshop or doing something really fun and creative. And as long as I know that I'm not being pulled somewhere else, then it's ideation that propels me forward. But I mean, part of that too is being a working mom. have a, my kids are nine and seven. And I know that like, it's, not up to me to work between five and seven PM. And I don't do well if I work after that for this chapter of my life. So it's creating some defaults that
Sarah Collins (31:37.227)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (31:54.407)
almost make the boundaries for me because I know where I can thrive. And it doesn't do me any good to question whether I can stretch those defaults because I won't do well.
Bill Dippel (32:05.688)
So good. Right?
Sarah Collins (32:05.739)
a masterclass, seriously, a masterclass in how to apply your strengths in a realistic way and how you do your life and the way that you just described the way you get things done and how you're so good at it. And I love it because I'm assuming people listening who maybe sometimes feel those limitations when they look at this, they don't see the positives, but they see the potential negative consequences. I think you just shattered a lot of glass ceilings about that.
Bill Dippel (32:34.018)
now.
Sarah Collins (32:34.417)
And on a personal note, I feel so seen and validated because I also have learned that I have to have pressure to do anything. And so I block off like three days before I have to do something, a time slot to just like crank out that presentation. I do it through different strengths than you, but the way you described it was exactly how it motivates me. And I just learned I don't need to block out three weeks from now. I don't have anything. If I do that, nothing gets done in that time.
I have to have the time constraint pressure and I've been learning like it's okay. I'm just going to work in that way. I have my own business. I can do it. But to hear the Micah do it, I now feel like totally justified and validated. I am going to be fine folks.
Maika Leibbrandt (33:13.482)
haha
Maika Leibbrandt (33:17.238)
You are!
Bill Dippel (33:18.605)
Yeah, and I keyed up completely on that same component with High Activator. For me, I procrastinated everything to the end. And in school, I thought, well, this is a major problem. But I always got it done. did fine in school. And at work, when looking at projects, I tended to push them until I felt that pressure. And I completely resonate when you say that. I need that little time.
to perform at my best. And like you, Sarah, I agree. It took me time to get there and realize that's what I do need instead of feeling bad that, I pushed this to the very end, but I'm producing a great output or whatever it is I'm working on has worked great. So why beat myself up over it?
Sarah Collins (33:49.269)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (33:59.305)
Yeah. Right.
Maika Leibbrandt (34:06.423)
And I think the strengths approach then Bill is not to say, I need to write a book where I tell everybody how to use pressure or like because you can't whole scale say, this works for me. So procrastinating is great for everybody. The, the strengths angle is having the courage to identify how you're different from the norm or from the most popular book or from the podcast host and use that difference, not to say different is great, but to say, okay, what are you learning about that?
Bill Dippel (34:18.765)
Right.
Sarah Collins (34:28.127)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (34:36.234)
Right.
Maika Leibbrandt (34:36.48)
And how are you going to honor it? Because there's a lot of responsibility that comes once you identify that maybe you're not, you know, there's a reason that achiever and responsibility get all the quotes when you go on Goodreads or like good quotes. sounds like, you know, work at your own pace or the, you know, be the turtle, not the rabbit. Like it's because more people in the world have those strengths, you know, specifically to procrastinating.
Bill Dippel (34:59.491)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (35:02.892)
But I'm not gonna sit here and say that works for everybody. I'm gonna challenge us to level up and say, how picky are you being about the specificity of what works for you? And how brave are you being about having to hold yourself responsible for those things?
Bill Dippel (35:14.253)
Yeah. Yeah. Very, very good. And I, I also want to take a quick breath in a moment and have you peel the curtain back for a second. You mentioned the hierarchy and that you'll work with a wide variety of people at Gallup and you cross pollinate on projects, less so direct reports. I just want to fanboy for just a moment and say, I find Mike McDonald to be one of the most amazing human beings I have ever listened to and met. So I just wanted to.
Maika Leibbrandt (35:26.401)
Hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (35:38.02)
He truly is.
Bill Dippel (35:40.812)
bounce that off you and say anything you want to. I'm just a shout out to Mike, but on top of that, how amazing is he to work with? I mean, in real life. So, yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (35:49.21)
It's phenomenal. Truly Mike is up there with like my favorite teachers and like when the Venn diagram crosses over and you've got teacher and friend, like, I just feel so blessed. The hardest part about leaving Gallup has been, and I know it's cliche and said all the time, like leaving the people, but being in that just incubator of tremendous human beings who are focused on growth and focused on engagement and focused on how do you
Sarah Collins (36:11.36)
Uh-huh.
Maika Leibbrandt (36:14.876)
You know, meet at the intersection of science and art and make the world better. Like I didn't, I knew that it was great while I was there, but in hindsight, like, gosh, I miss that like daily osmosis of other amazing humans. Thankfully I'm not alone. Although I did spend my summer working in my grandma's garage. She's 96. I don't know if she's okay with me saying that. And she could not quite understand that I wasn't alone all day.
Bill Dippel (36:36.766)
congrats.
Maika Leibbrandt (36:43.803)
She has met several of my virtual courses where there's 15 or 16 people on live on Zoom, but she was so worried that she was failing to be hospitable because it looks like I'm by myself. I'm not. I'm still surrounded by tremendous humans all day long.
Sarah Collins (36:54.782)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (36:58.687)
Yeah. Well, and I mean, we're just talking over each other today. We're so excited. We're just like pandering.
Bill Dippel (36:58.872)
So good. Yeah. you go ahead. Go ahead, sir. I know. Well, I know it's the Micah, as you said. So how good is that? I was going to ask Micah about your virtual classes. You touched on what you're doing post-gallup. Can you touch on that for a minute? Can you fill us in on what that offering is? I know my wife has attended some of your post-gallup coaching and how does that look for you? What are you doing?
Maika Leibbrandt (37:22.651)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (37:28.915)
I, well, I was still, okay, so the pandemic bootcamp for me was how do you help entire worlds and communities of people connect meaningfully virtually? March of 2020, I got this note come across my desk. I was still at Gallup. I was working on our learning team and it was, do you think it is possible for our largest learning initiative, which was the Gallup Great Work, sorry, the,
ASC or DGSE global strengths coach course, which at the time was only taught in person and we had one coming up in Shanghai and It was hey things are looking a little like they might shut down What could we if anything do to deliver this virtually and it was such a like? my gosh What a line in the sand moment for our world that we wouldn't have just done it virtually, but it was a really carefully considered
question that we did not know the answer to, can you teach effectively coaching, complexity in, without breathing the same oxygen as the other people. So I got to jump into that because of my work in podcasting. And at the time Jim calls and I think probably had the most exposure to how do you show up real virtually. And so we went from hosting a little podcast to trying to help.
name, what are our tenets for what works virtually and how do we help the entire company and then every company that we served figure this out. And a lot of what we learned early on was the same stuff that works in podcasting. It's camera on mute off. Don't skip the pre show. Be real. Right. And so I helped with I didn't do this alone. Right. Absolutely. And it's talk over each other. And it's yes, it's exactly what you're doing here.
Sarah Collins (39:08.904)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (39:11.896)
Yeah. Wait, we're doing this right? Hold on, hold on. What? Now I got my validation, Sarah. I'm sorry. All right. Go on.
Maika Leibbrandt (39:23.574)
so I had a good runway of practicing what does great virtual learning look like and testing it with some of the best in the business. You really know just about not just what's a good presentation or a good story, but what's great learning and education. so when I left Gallup, I couldn't sleep for a couple of days because I had this course that just wanted to come out of my brain. and it at the time was really about, how do you do strengths, but for real, like
Don't water down the idea of, you can get there in a different way. I don't care if there's a different way that you can execute. I don't want you to miss out on how good your influencing strengths are. Like I felt like we were having too many conversations that were about using strengths to bring people back to a norm. And I just had these ideas. I would wake up at two in the morning and be like, what if it was extreme strengths? Are we missing talking about the possibility of what could happen if you truly doubled down on
Sarah Collins (40:08.171)
Hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (40:21.863)
who you are and could release the fact that there's 34 different ways that you could lead. And there's, you 5,000 different ways you could lead or 5 billion, 9 billion, however many people are in the world. But is Zillion a real number, Sarah? Well played. Well played. I was just, and I don't even know if I was right that people were missing out on the extreme power of potential.
Sarah Collins (40:33.971)
A zillion.
Bill Dippel (40:36.974)
Maika Leibbrandt (40:49.653)
I'm not even to say that I was, but it led to me doing a lot of great writing around strengths. So I took every strength and thought, okay, what is this capacity? So if it, and I thought about myself, like at times in my life, when I have really been expected to show up for something that I have the strength for and given the, the expectation, the permission, the resources to just do what I needed to do to light that strength on fire and how it's been moments of like lost track of time.
moments of accolades that made big positive consequences for other people. And it's not every day that I have that. It's not even every year that I can look back on that and say that, yes, that was one of those moments. And then I also was going through quite a bit of burnout personally, not Gallup's fault. It was a lot of things and coaching and strengths didn't bring me back from that. Therapy and pharmaceuticals brought me back from that and time.
Bill Dippel (41:43.939)
Haha
Sarah Collins (41:44.715)
Preach, preach, tell the people the truth.
Bill Dippel (41:47.224)
Preach it, preach it, I love it.
Maika Leibbrandt (41:48.352)
Yeah, and time. But I was at this point where I was like, man, what's going on with a lot of my vulnerabilities that are driving me to types of behavior that I'm not proud of and that are kind of destructive to me and people around me? It was all tied to my top strengths. And so I wanted to play with this idea of sometimes we talk about blind spots as being too much of a strength, as if you have access to 29 others.
that you should be using more of, which didn't make sense to me because if we're really saying that the studies of strength come from focusing on how people behave, not how they fail to behave, I kind of wanted to play with something a little more sophisticated around blind spots. So that was where I looked at red flag moments. And I used myself as my own guinea pig by saying, yeah, there is something worse than too much woo. And that is when woo leads the way
without, without mature values behind it. And you know that you're in a red flag situation when you fail at something that your strengths should have succeeded in. It hurts a lot more than failing at something you didn't have the strength to succeed in. So that probably answers a bit of, or it's a preview to a bit of your questions, but this has since become a way that I've always looked at strengths that way and I always coach that way when I prepare
Bill Dippel (43:03.864)
Wow.
No. Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (43:15.958)
To coach a client, I look at their strengths and I think about where's their power, which is a lot of what you can read in the CliftonStrengths34 report, you know, that great, it's not AI. And I think people need to know that. It was human beings who wrote over a million possible sentences to describe how your strengths come together. That describes power, but that's also how I get their profile into my head is I'll think, okay, what are some things that they're gonna be tremendous at and what are they fueled by? So fuel tends to be the...
Sarah Collins (43:27.627)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (43:43.705)
bulk of what we, what I ask people about, especially in a first coaching conversation, like, gosh, I see that you're capable of this, this and this. you getting these sort of circumstances that would, that would make that happen? And I learned that from Andrew Green at Gallup. I had one coaching call with him before I had to coach a mega high profile client. And I said, how do you do this?
And he did it without calling it what I just called it. He was like, I see this person has maximizer strategic and they're high up in people leadership. How are they getting connected to the pipeline of the, you know, the rising stars in their company? I was like, that's power and fuel. Let's talk about that. and then I'll also look at just sort of red flags. So you asked about virtual courses and I have talked for a very long time, but
Bill Dippel (44:32.686)
No, are you? Yeah, Micah, if you want to you want to talk about what you did last night, we're all in. I cannot.
Sarah Collins (44:34.123)
I just can't stop taking notes. Please don't stop. Keep talking.
Maika Leibbrandt (44:41.764)
Last night, I created a workshop until about 10pm because I had procrastinated like with a capital P. Not because it was cute for my strengths, but because it was just bad behavior.
Bill Dippel (44:47.19)
Nice.
Bill Dippel (44:51.307)
I f-
Bill Dippel (44:54.75)
I feel guilty. Sarah and I talked about what we did last night. We should have just started it and said, Micah, go. That would have been the beginning of the, and just go. So yeah, just go. Right. Well, what we did.
Sarah Collins (45:00.511)
Just talk on this microphone for one hour. I cannot stop taking notes. When's your next course? Can I sign up?
Maika Leibbrandt (45:03.631)
Stop. So...
Maika Leibbrandt (45:10.105)
Yeah, so I started and Bill, your wife and I took the course for individuals and it's called Strengths and Resilience. It's taking the idea of, know, some stress actually does benefit us. So how do you note positive pressure within each of your strengths? There should be reach moments that if you're great at communication, how many times are you on a stage? You know, what is your stage and how are you practicing more of it?
So reach is you really need to be challenging yourself to be even better at what you're good at. Recovery is the idea that rest and recharge are different things, but you might recover in a way that's fueled by your strengths, which probably describes why when I was burned out and people were like, you just need to take a vacation, I'd be like, that's not working. Really, yes, vacation's good and rest is good, but recharging and recovery, it's...
I think rest is like leaving your phone alone, but recovery is plugging it in to the charger and leaving it alone. So I looked at all 34 and I was like, how does every single one of these really feel like they're rested and refueled? And we use that concept in a course called Strengths and Resilience. There's an individual contributor version coming up in May.
Bill Dippel (46:13.474)
Hmm. Hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (46:30.576)
But I also am now certified by ICF to offer a coaching strengths and resilience course, which we have sold out for January, but there's one coming up in May as well.
Sarah Collins (46:37.151)
Hmm.
Sarah Collins (46:42.985)
I'm writing it down now. Yes!
Bill Dippel (46:43.513)
How great is that? that is so good. So I think you touched on this early on and you even alluded that this question was coming. So kudos to you. And you said some, yeah, man, we love it when our guests come on and they are in the know and as well versed and as spoken as you are on everything you're doing and where you're going. So thank you for that. But you mentioned sometimes just
Maika Leibbrandt (46:44.612)
Thank you for asking!
Maika Leibbrandt (46:54.854)
I did my homework.
Bill Dippel (47:11.864)
Too much woo isn't the problem. It's there's other components around where we might trip up. So a regular question we ask on this and something I'll lead you through or into is talk about when, when there's a dumpster fire, right? What is, is it a strength? Is it something else in your coaching acumen that you think trips you up? We, we, we talked earlier today about activator and I need the pressure and I need.
Maika Leibbrandt (47:28.424)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (47:40.058)
I need these things to survive and do the right things. Sometimes we get in the wrong things. What do you think leads you into that fray?
Maika Leibbrandt (47:49.516)
I see it a lot with my own strategic, it where, man, it hurts like in my gut if something happens and I didn't see it coming. And it's usually because I was too strung out and I, your strengths don't go away when you're hungry, angry, lonely, tired, right? They just tend to like drive with their foot to the gas pedal to the floor and they leave you out in the backseat. And to me that's like.
Sarah Collins (47:59.531)
you
Bill Dippel (48:17.998)
home.
Maika Leibbrandt (48:18.943)
That's not a blind spot where it's like, you might miss this. That's a responsibility of using your strengths wisely spot. So it happens to me with strategic when I maybe have gotten so confident that I know exactly how something's going to be solved that I fail to ask for, okay, what are the sacred elements here that I really shouldn't discard? Because for me, strategic is like that ability to just see how something's going to end and then
Sarah Collins (48:27.177)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (48:42.069)
Hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (48:47.238)
instantly I can identify what's not gonna fit. Well, if I do that and I put myself as the lens without doing some of my homework that I know from just being a good adult, which is interview the stakeholders first, get clarity on what you're measuring. I do run the risk of eliminating things that might be more detrimental than I realized. In my unhealthiest.
Bill Dippel (49:09.336)
Hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (49:13.386)
it's woo that got me into trouble where it just became more important for me to be liked than for me to be healthy and So I can I can give myself up till there's not a lot left of me
Sarah Collins (49:18.987)
Mmm.
Bill Dippel (49:20.814)
What a comment. What a comment. Wow. So honest, Micah. Me too. As high wus, right? As high wus, we feel that. I'm little teary right now. Wow. So good, Micah.
Sarah Collins (49:27.563)
Mmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (49:30.024)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (49:30.485)
That one touched me in my gut. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (49:32.766)
Right? Right?
Sarah Collins (49:41.769)
And I love the clarity around your strategic of like, you're so good at being able to see what's going to happen in that moment when you didn't and how that hits you. Right? I mean, I think that's like, that's powerful because, and just talking about when we're, you said it's so great. Like you always say it, tired, hungry. What did you say?
Maika Leibbrandt (49:52.98)
Yeah. Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (50:05.306)
you know what? I, this is gonna be funny. I don't know where that actually came from originally, but I heard it in high school at a talk about making rash decisions.
Sarah Collins (50:15.162)
I love this.
Maika Leibbrandt (50:16.365)
It was an assembly. And I think it was either rat drugs or sex. I don't know. But it was that you shouldn't make a key decision when you're hungry, angry, lonely, tired. Halt is what it spells.
Bill Dippel (50:17.964)
And she just adapted it towards, that's so good.
Sarah Collins (50:32.852)
okay. You I love it. You rattled it off. I was like, this is not the first time this woman has said these words. And, but they're right. I mean, like that point.
Maika Leibbrandt (50:39.244)
I am but a product of people who've told me great things.
Sarah Collins (50:45.163)
Mm hmm. But isn't that what I mean, that high communication, I feel like loves to do that. You just are pulling things you hear and you're like, and you probably don't even realize you just squirreled it away in your brain. And then there's like a moment you're like, that comes in perfect here. And I heard it from you. And I'm like, what were what were those words that she said? Because, yes, we have to consider those things when we're thinking about how we show up in the world, especially when we think about how our strengths then show up for better or for worse.
Bill Dippel (50:47.054)
was so good.
Maika Leibbrandt (51:14.508)
especially when we have Activator, huh? To all three of us.
Bill Dippel (51:16.846)
No, no, yeah.
Sarah Collins (51:18.357)
That's why when you got on this podcast, I was like, Hey, so if there's something you don't want us to talk about, you should tell me now because my activator is able to say anything, especially as we get closer to lunchtime.
Maika Leibbrandt (51:30.796)
you
Bill Dippel (51:31.212)
She's ready. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's in the top five for both Sarah and I. So we're both high, high activators and it's partially how this podcast gets done and the pressure of getting through it and asking the right people to be on. And that echoes back to you and having an absolutely amazing guest, somebody that we were like, well, if we could get anyone, who might it be? And it's, and you were right at the top of that. So
Maika Leibbrandt (51:56.524)
That was number seven.
Bill Dippel (51:58.978)
Hmm. Hmm. You were not. were, I guarantee you not.
Sarah Collins (51:59.977)
No you were not.
Maika Leibbrandt (52:02.134)
But how cool to the, you use, okay, so all three of us have Activator on our top 10. Right now, none of us are saying, who else do we need to slow us down? We're saying, no, what can that enable? And how do we do it safely? Now let's go.
Bill Dippel (52:07.479)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (52:12.287)
Mm-hmm.
Bill Dippel (52:14.563)
Yeah. How do we push? Yeah. Let's keep going. I love it. So, all right. Well, we're going to, we're going to jump into the, the silly question for today. So we've, you have masterclassed your way around all of the great stuff we've thrown. You've thrown so much great goodness at us. Can we just, can we go to a silly question for a moment and just laugh about it? So
Sarah Collins (52:14.816)
Yeah.
Exactly, exactly.
Maika Leibbrandt (52:26.047)
Okay.
Maika Leibbrandt (52:39.215)
Please bring it on.
Bill Dippel (52:41.166)
Your strengths are the new characters in a video game. What are their special powers and how do they conquer the game's challenges?
Maika Leibbrandt (52:50.765)
Okay, the video game that's most popular at my house right now is Minecraft.
Sarah Collins (52:55.412)
Mmm, same, also.
Maika Leibbrandt (52:57.039)
So it seems like there's just always, you can find a new character all the time. Yesterday as it was buffering, it told me that there's 3,587 types of fish in the Minecraft universe. So totally believable that all of a sudden my top strengths are also characters here. But when I saw this, I thought about Captain Planet when our powers combine. So like if all 10 of my strengths came together, they would be some kind of a,
fantasy based shape shifter, but like of others. I think my strengths can make something out of other things that other people didn't know was a thing. So like, it's that ideation piece of I can see what's similar between things that nobody thinks are similar. So I could see if all of my strengths came together in a video game, they'd be the magic button you'd push and be like, you thought that was a house? no, sir. It's a hamburger.
Sarah Collins (53:33.515)
Hello?
Bill Dippel (53:34.862)
Hmm.
Bill Dippel (53:40.597)
that's...
Sarah Collins (53:47.764)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (53:57.775)
But also, you need a hamburger, right? I'm not gonna do it randomly or for evil. It's just gonna be exactly, it's some sort of a shape-shifter of other things.
Bill Dippel (54:02.124)
Right now.
Sarah Collins (54:02.269)
Right?
Bill Dippel (54:11.522)
Right? You need a hamburger. You need a hamburger because you're in the halt, right? The hungry stage. We don't, we can't have you there, right?
Sarah Collins (54:11.525)
I would love if-
Right.
Maika Leibbrandt (54:17.495)
Yes! Sarah's activator's getting real hungry right now. She's like, hamburger.
Sarah Collins (54:19.371)
That's That's right. That's right. Hamburger. Here we are. And I would love if your, your shape shifting video game superpower could even, I I'm curious. You have to do this where you can see a person and imagine them in their best version of themselves. Like you can probably see the possibility for other people. mean, you have
Maika Leibbrandt (54:39.099)
Yeah. yes.
Sarah Collins (54:43.477)
four relationship building themes, three influencing themes. These are so people's based with your strategic and your ideation. I imagine as a coach, you see someone and you know what is possible. Like in your world, I can imagine you're like, no, I see the path. My strategic and my ideation has laid out the path of what you can do because your strengths are only going to get stronger and make you better. And I know what it looks like. Let me help you make the road.
Maika Leibbrandt (55:11.697)
That's the greatest compliment I think I've ever received. I feel so seen, Sarah. Yes, it's also belief. So I don't really understand when belief becomes an executing theme. It's kind of like, it's kind of like the belief is like blue jeans. Like it goes with whatever outfit you've already created. And for me, it doesn't look super executing until I think about like, no, that is where I will take up whatever cause and I will march right out the door.
Sarah Collins (55:17.76)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (55:24.351)
Thank you for saying that.
Bill Dippel (55:25.186)
Sarah Collins (55:41.319)
Mmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (55:41.391)
And that is probably doing something. And I'm so grateful to how I learned about talent first and then about CliftonStrengths from Gallup and from great teachers at Gallup, because it is exactly what you just said, Sarah, of I see only what's possible and improved and healthier and safer and more connected to your community. like, that is what I see all day, every day in people. And my belief makes it kind of aggressive.
Sarah Collins (56:06.155)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (56:11.249)
It is not cute that I can see the positivity. It is, I truly know that this is possible and I will fight you on there being a better alternative than you've already considered.
Bill Dippel (56:24.945)
so good. Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (56:25.641)
Yes, which is like probably why you're such a phenomenal coach, because if you didn't have that belief, there's a chance you could see it and you could talk about it, but you couldn't empower people to move on it. And I imagine it's that belief that is the passion that you, I can just tell from this interaction that you say to people like, no, we will find a way.
Bill Dippel (56:48.14)
And I hear so much, both Sarah and I have this very high as well. I hear developer all through that. I hear, you know, my shapeshifter can turn into things and help other people, but I can see it. want to, I will force and be passionate about what I see in you and what I know the positive is. There's so much developer in that. And we talked in the pre-show that, that one of your early podcasts in the Gallup sphere,
was so motivational to me and it was developer in a season of called the coach. And I shared it with people in my life saying, if you want to know about me, listen to this. If you want to know how that happens and developer is so high for me. keep hearing it in you when you say this. I want to push. I want to make sure you know it. I want to make us better. I want to, I want to bring other coaches up so that they know this philosophy and understand how to, how to make those people better.
Maika Leibbrandt (57:30.408)
Mmm.
Bill Dippel (57:43.47)
And I want to either help direct or empower other coaches to do that. Such a developer mindset in the way I hear it.
Maika Leibbrandt (57:51.615)
thank you.
Sarah Collins (57:52.459)
And I just want to, for the audience listening, because it's been a while since you obviously were at Gallup. You've been in your own business for three years, but I think some of those podcasts that you were on were seriously so transformative. And I know the way podcasts stack up, they get pushed to the bottom. Do you remember like the seasons that you were on called a coach and where is it? Theme Thursday too? Can you tell the audience if they want to go back and hear you do a deep dive? Where can they find your voice on other podcasts?
Maika Leibbrandt (58:13.435)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I...
Maika Leibbrandt (58:17.989)
Sure.
Sarah Collins (58:22.219)
talking about these strengths the way you are today.
Maika Leibbrandt (58:25.529)
thank you. Yeah, so this is, gosh, it's not even me. We need just like 30 seconds of why this happened and what it was, because it was. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (58:32.841)
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, pull back the curtain. This is like a big pull back the curtain episode and I'm loving every moment of it.
Maika Leibbrandt (58:39.382)
Podcasting, mean, like the Kelseys weren't doing it when we were doing it. And it started, my good friend Kurt Liesfeld actually had this idea and it started as a ReadyTalk conference call. And his idea was how do we help this language that we say is common, meaning the 34 strengths within the Strengths Coach community, how do we really make sure that we're speaking the same language when we're talking about strengths?
Sarah Collins (58:42.699)
So true!
Sarah Collins (58:55.868)
Mmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (59:08.276)
So his idea was let's, he was working at Gallup. He was a tremendous writer and thinker and learning development consultant at Gallup. He, his idea was, okay, I have a leadership challenge this year, which again, nod to Gallup and great ideas of like, let's give all these smart people a challenge to have a leadership project that they can just go off and do. And so his challenge was let's have a conference call and let's talk about all 34 strengths once. Like that, I mean, that is how.
new and lovely the podcast work that you're doing is. I think it's worth looking back, even though I know Bellia said context is like 30 something for you. Like it's, it's worth recognizing this is still a new medium. And Kurt made it through, I think 24 episodes and then sadly passed away. And the rest of our team gathered around them and each took a turn to finish all 34. And at that time I thought I had to quit my job because I was having our first kid.
Sarah Collins (59:43.967)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (59:46.254)
34, very bottom. I got nothing.
Sarah Collins (01:00:06.314)
and
Maika Leibbrandt (01:00:06.346)
And my husband was in the military and it would have literally been like desertion for him to stay home as much as he needed to. I had a great boss who was like, Hey, if you can only give us 75%, let's take 75%. And by the way, what if we did more of what Kurt had started as a way to have an educational outreach? So it became a tremendous marketing benefit to Gallup, but it really was born out of this desire to say,
let's educate, let's further follow coaches and individuals to really build a common understanding of what these strengths are. So I got the benefit of a lot of creative people in a creative space saying, wait, there's a better way to do this and we can find it. So I got to host, so I wrote and hosted five seasons, maybe six, I don't remember. Six, thank you. I think season one was mostly Kurt.
Bill Dippel (01:00:57.912)
Six. I think six. Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:00:57.963)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:01:03.499)
Anyway, there's a lot of seasons where my best friend in the world, Jim Collison and I, was, he was doing podcasting when no one was doing podcasting. We went through all 34 strengths, one strength at a time to dive deep into each one. And some of my favorites today to go back to our season three, because that's where we talked about strengths-based leadership and we had the complexity of having a guest, which as a guest right now, I feel like I need to kiss your feet because it is hard to deal with guests.
Bill Dippel (01:01:29.965)
Haha
Maika Leibbrandt (01:01:32.313)
It makes your podcast so much more complicated. Man, it's hard. I have funny stories about guests. They're all lovely. They're all lovely, but adding a wild card every week for sure. So that was some of my favorite and I still go back to those. still remember the one where I interviewed Jane Miller about self. I think I interviewed her about
Bill Dippel (01:01:33.022)
Boy, wow, yeah. Whew, so tough right now having to guess this good. Yeah, it's hard, so go on, yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:02:02.157)
belief or something, but she ended up making a comment about self assurance that to this day is how I teach people about what self assurance is. I'm like, it's so cool. So I mean, I remember some of those season. she talked about self assurance is the certainty in the people around you and what they can do. And the way that she talked about it from like a manager angle was like, it's, it's a little bit, and now I'm interpreting this based on what I remember, but
Bill Dippel (01:02:13.324)
What was the comment?
Maika Leibbrandt (01:02:31.279)
It's a little bit like being the director of a jazz band and knowing for sure who's going to rock the riff. And sometimes you need a bass player and sometimes you need, you know, saxophone, but somebody with self-assurance isn't just showing up being confident. They're showing up, placing their confidence well in other people, but go back to listen to her season three. You can check them all out. Look up theme Thursday, Gallup theme Thursday. I think the.
The most fun was season five and six because we added talent mindfulness at the end, which was like a meditation around your strengths. And then we released just that. I still can't believe that I got away with that. But again, going back to the good stuff that is at the heart of what Gallup is as an organization, it's hire talented people and let them do their thing. Now we were held accountable for it. I wasn't paid for most of that.
Sarah Collins (01:03:07.572)
Hmm?
Bill Dippel (01:03:11.096)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (01:03:15.137)
Ha ha!
Sarah Collins (01:03:23.946)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:03:28.764)
It was not on like a, until it became really popular, there wasn't even a project number we tracking. Like it was more like, okay, you want to try this? Go try it. We'll give you the resources. And I think sometimes we get that so twisted in how we manage people is we think you have to have the job title first. We get that twisted as entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs too. think, I'm unhappy. I need to, you know, go update my resume. Actually, you need to start behaving first in the
Sarah Collins (01:03:40.352)
Right.
Bill Dippel (01:03:40.418)
Wow.
Sarah Collins (01:03:49.536)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:03:57.924)
what it is you think you need and the rest will shake out.
Sarah Collins (01:04:01.291)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (01:04:01.334)
Yeah. Wow. So good. So brilliant. And I also want to shout out, I love season five. I loved all the seasons when I tapped into them, but season five, listening to you at the end attempt to bring the mindfulness component in relation to the theme you were carrying that day. So today's mindfulness moment sponsored by woo. And as a woo, I want you to calm, breathe, think of you, you know, and, and then there was some sort of woo. So, so
Maika Leibbrandt (01:04:23.248)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:04:28.472)
Close your
Bill Dippel (01:04:31.286)
listening to that, I, I was always really, looking forward to how are you going to, how are we going to throw some mindfulness around, competitors competition, right? How, where's that one going to come in? And every now and then there was a, we're just doing mindfulness today. And I always thought perfect. Yep. You jumped right in. So I love it. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:04:48.863)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:04:49.073)
Yeah.
Thank you. And that really was just that desire again, to say people are hungry to be in strength. How do we help them practice it? And let's give them something more than just reading the report again. let's, let's you're here. I've got your attention. Let me hold it right here and hold space for you to really focus on. Cause again, people need two things. They need to know their strengths and they need somebody else to expect them to be good at it. Knowing it is a practice. It's not a, like, it's not a game that you finish.
Sarah Collins (01:04:58.463)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:05:03.626)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:05:20.142)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And one of the things I just want to key in that you said a while back, but I think is so important because we have AI, chat GPT, and I love it as a business owner. It helps me so much. But I think so much content that we read now is generated through that. And the fact that so much of the content that we read from the Gallup report and that we talk about and that you talk about and in theme Thursday that you're talking about,
Bill Dippel (01:05:21.186)
Right, absolutely.
Sarah Collins (01:05:47.461)
you did that. a lot of that, of course, there's lots of people at Gallup who did it, but there's so much of that that is just human generated. Right. And I think that that makes it even more special because it is not just a computer is regurgitating some ideas, but this is humans have thought about these talents so much. You're thinking about it when you're going to bed at night, you're thinking about how do I talk about this? And you're hearing people describe it and you're saying,
I love that definition of that that resonates with the way I've seen people use it. And now I, you know, I heard Jane describe self-assurance this way. I'm going to take that and let that help other people. And I just think it makes it, I don't know, like almost more wholesome or real, more approachable to know that like, this is, this is content that people have been putting their heart and soul into for the betterment of humanity.
and for people to get the best out of themselves, which I just think is so cool.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:06:47.455)
Yeah. And I think as coaches, we can lay back. can, we can rest assured really strong on the fact that we're not just using somebody's idea or pop psychology around what might be good about people. Because I mean, I wrote pieces of it, but I was around hundreds of people who wrote original research. This goes back 70 years of not just writers or influencers.
Sarah Collins (01:06:59.819)
Mm-hmm.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:07:12.615)
talking about strength, but really staying incredibly curious with a scientific method around how do we study at the time at the, early time, things that haven't been quantified or things that haven't been studied before. And there's really great, I think, still moments happening around research. was just at a anniversary at the University of Nebraska Lincoln where they're studying generativity among highly talented people. What do they create? And there's
Sarah Collins (01:07:17.407)
Yeah.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:07:40.791)
There is a difference when you're using CliftonStrengths versus several other tools that I think are just, they were built from the inside out versus I think CliftonStrengths, we talk about it being a research-based tool. It really was built by learning first and then translating it into a tool, not saying how many ways could we think of that somebody could behave. There's 34 because it was the smallest number that Gallup could get it down to from over 500.
So I was at a dinner party the other night when everyone was like, oh, you know, all of those tools are all the same. And thankfully by dinner party, I mean book club. These are my girls. They know me. They all just kind of looked at me and they were like, we're going to wait and see what she says. I was like, you know what? The pursuit of self-awareness is generally good. And some tools have a lot more behind them than others. And this happens to be one that does.
Sarah Collins (01:08:19.051)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:08:29.749)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (01:08:34.09)
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, I think all of us, whether we're strengths coaches, we are clients who use strengths or we're just strengths enthusiasts who love this, can walk away from this episode knowing that we have learned something. We have heard from the Micah herself and feel really confident in the work that we do around this, right? We're working on ourselves. We're working on the people around us, but we can, I feel even stronger in my conviction.
Bill Dippel (01:08:37.186)
Wow.
Bill Dippel (01:08:52.684)
The Micah.
Sarah Collins (01:09:05.077)
that this is an assessment that I can really wholeheartedly teach people about because I do know that it is backed by research and tons of people who deeply care about the talent and success of other people out there.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:09:21.068)
Thank you for doing what you do. think it's also a really cool reminder that nothing about strengths has to be exclusive. There's plenty of work to be done and plenty of smart people to do the work. And your podcast is a great example of, think, leading into a new space of let's talk about strengths all the time. Let's drop it into our conversations about our kids and our weekend and our photography. And that's where it has to get to, to truly become, I think, something that changes us as a community.
Bill Dippel (01:09:43.374)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (01:09:49.705)
Yeah, I think so.
Bill Dippel (01:09:49.934)
Well, just only perfectly said. I don't know. I mean, if we're going to go out on a note, we might as well go out on another perfect note from Micah. So Micah, thank you absolutely for being here with us today. We've taken up a lot of your time and we've scheduled this and we cannot thank you enough for the time effort and the amazing grace, but also the wisdom you brought today. So thank you for that.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:10:00.616)
you're too kind.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:10:17.346)
Thank you.
Sarah Collins (01:10:17.993)
Yeah, they say never meet your heroes, but in this time, honestly, you're one of my heroes and it worked. I feel like I love you even more now than I did before. So thank you for not being garbage. Thank you for being beautiful and insightful and honest and true and authentic. Yes, now officially in the Micah fan club, Science You'll Deliver.
Bill Dippel (01:10:22.543)
I know. I want my heroes. I want to meet all my heroes now.
Maika Leibbrandt (01:10:27.212)
Hey!
Maika Leibbrandt (01:10:31.461)
Yes!
Maika Leibbrandt (01:10:43.575)
thank you.
Bill Dippel (01:10:44.856)
Perfect. All right. And on that, yeah, arsonists go arson and we will talk to a, yeah, don't, yeah, don't do it for real. And, and if you do, don't contact our legal team. We didn't, we,
Sarah Collins (01:10:45.649)
All right, little arsonists, go out there.
Sarah Collins (01:10:51.847)
Only figuratively though, okay? Like fires are actually bad, so.
Sarah Collins (01:11:00.811)
We only want you to light strengths on fire, nothing else, just as an ammendment, ammendment.
Bill Dippel (01:11:04.994)
nothing else, just strengths, strengths, strengths. So other than that, thank again, Micah, thank you so much. Sarah Collins, Bill Dippel, we will talk to our arsonists on the next episode. Thanks for listening. We'll talk soon.
Sarah Collins (01:11:19.221)
Bye.