linkedin.com/in/lilasmith

saythingsbetter.com

instagram.com/lilalasagna/

​Russ Johns 0:29
And it's a great day for a pirate broadcast.

Lila Smith 0:32
Don't isn't a good day for a pirate broadcast.

Russ Johns 0:36
And today is no different. We have Lila Smith in the room and I thank you so much for being here. Lila, I know you've been busy. And all kinds of adventures on the way to this point in the existence of being a pirate. So tell us what's happening in the world today. What is going on?

Lila Smith 0:55
The world has rough seas right now. The world is walking the plank and diving over? And crocodiles are there with their jaws wide open and clocks tickin and everybody is freaking out. For good reason, right? I mean, the ones who are not freaking out are the ones putting everybody else at risk.

Russ Johns 1:17
Well, it absolutely. I know that there's a lot of circumstances here. We can't control though. And I think our reactions to those circumstances have to be measured.

Lila Smith 1:29
Yes responsible.

Russ Johns 1:31
And probably a little bit, cautious at the same time.

Lila Smith 1:36
Well, don't you think that there's something kind of piratey about the word quarantine? Like I've been quarantine,

Russ Johns 1:44
I've been quarantine. Down the hatches I've been quarantine.

Lila Smith 1:49
Yeah. Yeah

Russ Johns 1:50
Being on a ship is kind of like being on a you know, quarantine. I mean, you're isolated and you're, you know, you're out there in the sea and you're doing your thing so yeah. I don't know what the right answer is all I know is that we can limit our exposure.

Lila Smith 2:07
Yes.

Russ Johns 2:08
And we don't know what the the journey ahead is going to take. So resiliency, and the ability to adapt, I think is the most valuable skill we can adopt.

Lila Smith 2:19
You know, who has applicability in his top five strengths? Doug Thompson, who's also been a guest on pirate broadcast.

Russ Johns 2:26
Yeah. Doug was a guest.

Lila Smith 2:28
He has adaptability and his top five strengths and it makes sense that he's been a leader of change, and an advocate knology and guy, because he can go with the flow, he can change, he can move second to second. He's so agile, and that kind of Agile mind, where we are able to say, here's what's going on right now. Guess I'll deal with this. And have a smile on your face about it. That is priceless. Those are the people that I want on my team right now.

Russ Johns 2:59
Absolutely. Absolutely. I woke up this morning and I was out in the kitchen making coffee. And I failed to realize that the coffee pot still had coffee in it. It's like, Oh, I made a full pot of coffee on top of a full pot of coffee.

Lila Smith 3:21
That sounds like a mess.

Russ Johns 3:23
So just before and I was thinking about the same thing. It's like adapability, flexibility. Okay, I can either get upset or I can just laugh at it and say okay, Russ. Mr. Dumas. What are you doing?

Lila Smith 3:37
This is where we need like a full staff of people. Right. So that me like, I messed up someone.

Russ Johns 3:46
Prepare. And I think what I like is this. The kindness is cool. Yeah. So we can also adapt a little bit of kindness and a little empathy. Well, So what else is happening in lightless world? I mean, you oh

Lila Smith 4:05
my goodness where to start. I have a lot of inquiries for communication mapping for companies that are right now adjusting to having people working at home. And I was one of the original work from homers, because I was an actress and I was on the road. I was on tour for years while also doing work on the side, anything that I could do to supplement my income, I was working remotely doing things by phone, I would do anything, down to helping actors learn their lines over the phone. I had the first smart phones and a T Mobile sidekick and addition to the games I was playing on it was taking emails and stuff so I've been doing work for a long long time now are completely remotely I used to manage teams, that would would report to me from all over the world, so that I could work in global talent pool for DNA footwear where, and so now I'm helping companies to adjust and adapt to. Okay, how should we be communicating with each other? If someone's not right there? What do we do? Do we just send 100 emails and like, No, don't do that.

Russ Johns 5:18
No dont do that.

Lila Smith 5:21
They're like, well, then what do I do? And I'm like, I'll tell you, but you'll pay first. So yeah, that's, that's a lot of my focus right now is just helping companies to prepare their communication plans for adapting in this time. Also leading virtual workshops, for intentional communication, which is my thing. And also co writing a children's book with my best friend Kristen Sherry. Who we also know as a former guests on the Piratebroadcast.

Russ Johns 5:51
Yes shes a pirate.

Lila Smith 5:53
Yeah. So, you know a few things here and there.

Russ Johns 5:58
Well, it's an Because I don't think about it because I've been remote for so long. I've been doing remote work for so long that you don't think about it. I guess I hadn't really thought about it too deeply. However I do. I've had a couple of webinars recently, and I'm going to be doing a series of webinars on this subject

Lila Smith 6:19
How to work remotely, effectively. Thats good.

Russ Johns 6:21
Well, how some technology can use to stay in contact, stay connected, and stay, open to opportunities in in the changing environment we're living in, because it's really important for it to run. And I'm a fan of video. I dont know if you have noticed that or not. Now, and it works. I mean, I've built a fairly decent revenue stream from using video, building relationships. It's all to me, it's all about relationships, you know? Social media, just the front door. The relationship is really where it happens.

Lila Smith 7:05
So you and I met in person.

Russ Johns 7:07
Yeah, we've met awile ago.

Lila Smith 7:10
And we had been connected on LinkedIn, you know, some before that, but we have been live in person together. And then because we have LinkedIn and because we have video, it's fun to see your face your neighbor, even though you don't live by me. Yeah, and it might be a while before any of us can actually travel. So it's like I get to zip myself over to where you are.

Russ Johns 7:38
And I jump on zoom calls all the time. I use zoom a lot I use, obviously stream yard and live streaming is a little different environment. However, there are tools available that even five years ago, were not very useful, not very productive for the average individual to work from home and so things in technology have really adopted we have to be grateful for that opportunity to be able to have tools in place that allow us to work from home.

Lila Smith 8:09
Yeah, that's important.

Russ Johns 8:10
So, hey, I want to give a shout out made. Gabriel's Joining us this morning made from scratch. Yeah,

Lila Smith 8:19
Gabriel, Good Morning Gabriel

Russ Johns 8:23
Carroll Campus. Hey, how are you?

Lila Smith 8:26
Hi, Carroll Campus. I love Carroll Campus.

Russ Johns 8:27
Thank you. Welcome both. Yes. And Gabriel says Good morning everyone. How wonderful to see two of my favorite people together. Love it. Laila Smith is always fun to watch and connect with. So thank you. There you go. And also and Angie's in the in the house.

Lila Smith 8:46
Hi Angie

Russ Johns 8:46
Good morning. She's from Periscope. So all the way from Periscope.

Lila Smith 8:53
Wow, Periscope.

Russ Johns 8:55
Well, we're actually broadcasting to Facebook. YouTube, LinkedIn, and Periscope as well. So

Lila Smith 9:03
we are internet world famous.

Russ Johns 9:05
Yes, we are all bring all the virtual ground all over the interwebs. And I just want to I just want to give a shout out to everybody that's joining us here. Lyle is a wonderful soul if you're not connected to a lot, Lila. Please do so because and just tell her that Russ said she okay.

Lila Smith 9:24
If you say that Russ sent to you, I will delete connections if I have to. I'll dump people who don't say anything to me ever. And I'll bring you in.

Russ Johns 9:36
Well, you can always saythingsbetter.com in there and attend one of our events or some of our activities. But

Lila Smith 9:44
Yeah, if you guys follow me on LinkedIn, I can follow back. You can message and I'll message back from an email if it says more than Hi.

Russ Johns 9:52
Yeah. Yeah I just want to make sure that people know and understand that we are connected in this virtual world. and building relationships even virtually are important. You know, we met in person. And so some of the things that we talk about are from a personal stage, but also I've met so many people virtually that I've never met in person, and I have a wonderful time with them.

Lila Smith 10:23
Yeah.

Russ Johns 10:23
So I'm sure you're the same way.

Lila Smith 10:25
Yeah, I've been thinking about this story. I mean, it's 20 years old now. And that's how old I am. But this is a friend of mine. In high school, Jessica worked at El Greco diner in Brooklyn as a hostess. I have tried four times over the last two days to try and get this story out on video without crying. And then I tried live with Kristin Sherry, and I couldn't do it. So I'm gonna power through it today. I'm going to summon my inner pirate and just share this story.

Russ Johns 11:02
Please do.

Lila Smith 11:04
Okay. Oh, okay, I can't Alright, I'm gonna do this. It's gonna happen. When I was in high school, my friend Jessica, who was a hostess at El Greco diner in Brooklyn, was telling me about this one night that she was taking phone calls left and right. And it was super busy. And she got this call about getting a reservation for a table at the diner for the next day, which happened to be Thanksgiving. And this will tell you something about South Brooklyn. A lot of those tables were full weeks in advance for the diner Thanksgiving, where no one would have to do the cooking or the cleaning up and could just bring their family and leave with them. So they were full. And she had to say I'm so sorry, sir. We don't have a table available tomorrow. And he said, Are you sure? It's just me. I can't Oh my God. He said It's just me. And Jessica said, Please come in, I'll find a seat for you. And if there's any time at all, maybe we can just talk about some things that we're thankful for. So, I'm such a mess. I'm so emotional.

Russ Johns 12:23
You're Okay.

Lila Smith 12:24
And then he went to El Greco diner the next day on Thanksgiving. And Jessica found him a seat at the bar in front of the muffins and a diner bar. And he had Thanksgiving dinner there. And she did talk to him a little bit about some things that they were thankful for. She was kids, 16/17 years old, and she really made this magical special moments of connection with him. And I think about people like that who are alone who feel uncared for or feel that they have no one, but still want to be out there and are so brave and with leave their house, just to go to the grocery store just to see other human beings. And those people now are staying home. I'm so worried that people are lonely and feeling isolated. And I want to put an end for all of them. And I don't have for all people are feeling that way if they could find each other. And, find other lonely people, put yourself out there. Please write a post and say Hey, I'm all alone, too. And if anybody wants to talk, I've got a calendly link you can follow and just get on a call with me. Think about the other people in the world who are feeling the way that many of metar No, I did it alone. I in those people and made them less alone and in doing so you'll build your own close connections as well.

Russ Johns 13:57
Well, thanks for sharing that wow and it really.

Lila Smith 14:00
Got through it, didn't it? Yeah

Russ Johns 14:02
No, no. That's the thing about life in this journey we call life is the idea that we're either going to do it alone or we're going to do it together. And we're all connected regardless of where we choose to spend our time.

Lila Smith 14:17
Yeah.

Russ Johns 14:21
Well, we are connected. We're the same sunshine lands on all of us this air we breathe is the same. And I just I see it here where I live is retirement community. There's lots of individuals that are isolated, that do live alone, that seldom see people in it's really difficult at times to see people in need and you don't know how to help them or if they want help, or they need help.

And there's so many changes coming up in the world today. That is hard. It's gonna be challenging and if anything we can do to create outreach programs,

Lila Smith 14:56
Right.

Yeah.

Russ Johns 15:08
I think it's gonna be important in.

Lila Smith 15:12
For the retirement communities to create virtual communities online for the people that they serve, because often those are the people who are the least online, the adaptability curve has.

Russ Johns 15:28
Yeah.

Lila Smith 15:29
It's slow to catch when you've lived so long without being virtual.

Russ Johns 15:34
Yeah.

Lila Smith 15:35
So they're gonna have one of the biggest challenges. I would invite them to join me and Anna Katherine live of Iowa on Monday. We're doing this. I think it's 5pm Central, and it's called cudi free community cultivation. We can talk about it and we'll have members of hospitality community and the club industry, any gyms anybody who has a membership base that would normally be the source of their business, for coming together in person. So we're going to talk to them about some different tech tools and approaches for what to share when you're online and how to do that for people to give them that value of in person connection remotely.

Russ Johns 16:19
Yeah. We're gonna see a lot of global changes. I know,

Lila Smith 16:24
For sure.

Russ Johns 16:25
resolve this and having been in tech for so long. For someone like myself, it's much more comfortable than someone that's not.

Lila Smith 16:37
Right. It's a language you speak Pirate you speak English you speak tech.

Russ Johns 16:42
Yeah,

Lila Smith 16:43
Like any other language.

Russ Johns 16:45
And there's a lot

Lila Smith 16:45
That are very fluant

Russ Johns 16:46
Are not willing, or have not had exposure to the kind of technology that we're going to be adapting in the future to stay connected.

Lila Smith 16:57
Right.

Russ Johns 16:58
So that's on Monday nights. At five central time

Unknown Speaker 17:01
just this one coming Monday night. Yeah. Which will be if people are watching the replay that'll be on the 23rd. So all of my LinkedIn profile people go to Lila Smith on LinkedIn and if you see multiple Lila Smith just kill the other ones. I'm Just kidding. You can find the one that says say things better creator and that's me. And you can see in my about section on my profile I have up next so you can always see what's the next program that I have coming up. And the times should be listed in there for Cudi, free community cultivation.

Russ Johns 17:35
That's fantastic. I love that. And I want to give a shout out to some of the other people in the community here that are on on LinkedIn. Now.

Lila Smith 17:42
Yeah.

Russ Johns 17:42
As you probably have guessed, LinkedIn doesn't allow me to share my comments. So I have to, go on my phone and

Lila Smith 17:50
you're forgiven. You can have your phone at the dinner table. breakfast table

Russ Johns 17:56
but it's for the purpose of the Pirate Broadcast.

Lila Smith 17:58
Your ok it's a different screen. I'll make eye contact with the camera, sir.

Russ Johns 18:02
Thank you so much. You pay attention to the audience here, Laila. So Vicki O'Neill thank you so much for being here. You're always such a wonderful, Jeff young Thank you so much.

Lila Smith 18:13
Jeff Young is here.

Russ Johns 18:15
Jeff Young is here

Lila Smith 18:15
Oh I love Jeff young, he is legit.

Russ Johns 18:20
Yes, Derek Monroe from Atlanta is in

Lila Smith 18:23
No way. Hi everyone!

Russ Johns 18:25
Yeah absolutley Way! So Marcus from Chicago,

Lila Smith 18:32
So cool!

Russ Johns 18:33
Thank you so much for being here. Kenyatta Turner, you know Kenyatta.

Lila Smith 18:37
Oh Kenyatta! Do I ever

Russ Johns 18:39
Yeah,

Lila Smith 18:39
We had one of the best nights out together with Clifton Johnson when she was visiting Dallas last and if she gets here again, I'm gonna see her. So that makes me happy.

Russ Johns 18:51
It's very happy and Sherry Lolly if you know, Sherry Lolly.

Lila Smith 18:54
Of course I know Sherry! Yeah.

Russ Johns 18:57
Then Fred Costas is in the room as well.

Lila Smith 18:59
Awesome!

Russ Johns 19:01
I just wanted to highlight the fact that the reason I started the pirate broadcast was long before this started.

Lila Smith 19:09
Yeah.

Russ Johns 19:10
And I was always passionate about how people got to where they are and what they're doing. Because like, you drive down the road, like an industrial district of any city, and you see these names on buildings, and you think, I wonder what they do? Linkedin is theat kind of thing, it's like, Okay, I see what their profile says. But who are they? What are they doing? And to dive in a little bit, kind of be a little bit of a pirate, and dive in and say, Okay, well, what do you do? How did you get there?

Lila Smith 19:43
Excavate.

Russ Johns 19:44
Yeah,

Buried treasure from my past.

Exactly. Exactly. So what jewels can we pull from Lila today?

Wow!

It's things that you've been an actress and musician, so traveling and Turing and things like that are very common in this thread that we pull that there's always a common thread.

Lila Smith 20:06
Right.

Russ Johns 20:08
Now you're doing some different things, and you're in Dallas. What's the big project that you're working on right now? Because I know you're saying things better is primary.

Lila Smith 20:19
I'm doing virtual communication workshops now and all of the stuff that I do use my experience of leadership in the corporate world, leading e commerce team and ending in marketing. I use all of the theater experience to inform how well I connect as I do those things. Now I'm teaching people all over the world to better connect with their communication. Using the same tools that I used when I was in school,

Russ Johns 20:48
The same exact tools?

Lila Smith 20:48
The same exact tools, script analysis, being present, listening, be active, communicating, being ready to pivot, being spontaneous and really doing the analysis work to determine who you are as you speak, and who the other people are, who you're speaking to, and how can you be a value of service to the people that you're connecting with?

Russ Johns 21:14
I think it's important Lila that I wanted to bring this up again and highlight the fact that you do and say things better. Because all of us have, what I would consider transferable skills.

Lila Smith 21:28
Yes absolutely

Russ Johns 21:28
Skills you've used in one industry or in a corporate environment that are still necessary and viable.

Lila Smith 21:36
Yeah.

Russ Johns 21:36
And I think there's a lot of people threatened by their connection to what they are.

Lila Smith 21:42
Oh, I used to be one of those people. I used to never talk about my theater experience. When I first came on LinkedIn, and I was thinking, oh, maybe Ecommerce recruiters will see my profile. Wouldn't that be the dream? You know? And all due respect to Ecommerce, recruiting I'm not interested any longer. Right now I'm changing the way the entire world communicates. So I'm busy. But that was the goal was, being in the community more of people who worked in my industry, see if I could learn from them. See if I could find things that would make me feel. I don't know better about my every day when you're in a job. Even if it's a 60% fit for you, there's still gonna be at least that pull of this is not really all that there is for me is there? I was feeling that. I was feeling like I was desperate for so many more. And just looking at Well, I did this for a different kind of company. Would I feel better? Yeah, if I did this for money, would I feel better if I did this in a different part of the world, but I feel better and the answer was no, I needed to find who I was and what my value really could be. And then knowing that it took a while for it to come out, but I was hiding the fact that I had theater experience. I wouldn't even talk about it on Linkedin.

Russ Johns 23:02
It was your first love,I'm sure.

Lila Smith 23:04
it was. It still is my first love. Absolutely. I studied and trained for 20 years

Russ Johns 23:10
Yeah.

Lila Smith 23:10
To be an actress, including the 10 years that I did it professionally.

Russ Johns 23:14
Yeah.

Lila Smith 23:14
Something about actors that we are continually training no matter what.

Russ Johns 23:21
You're still in an acting role right now. And you're applying those skills to a new environment. That's

Lila Smith 23:28
Yeah. Im performing, I'm speaking now, so I'm still on stage, but the words are my own. They're not scripted. Or if they are there, at least words of my own from my own story.

Russ Johns 23:40
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's important for us to share because we all need to find our own voice. We all need to find our own message and our gifts and everybody has a gift. Sometimes we bury it. Sometimes we hide it. Sometimes we avoid it. And we all have it.

Lila Smith 24:00
Yeah.

Russ Johns 24:00
So I just encourage you and applaud anyone that is willing and able to, find it during these times right now.

Lila Smith 24:08
Yeah.

Russ Johns 24:10
So what's up next?

Lila Smith 24:12
I'm writing the same things better book. And it turns out that I don't have like one book in me, I have, I don't know, a dozen more 100, 1000 it's just a matter of being disciplined and like getting the writing done. So the first book that I'm actually going to be coming out with probably is the one with Christian which is you got values.

Russ Johns 24:37
children's book, with Christian in it sounds like a fun, exciting book.

Lila Smith 24:41
It's going to be so magical. I mean, I want to tell everybody, everything about it, but that's gonna have to come a little later, and maybe we'll come back together.

Russ Johns 24:50
We'll come back for another day.

Lila Smith 24:52
So first of the children's books is called you've got gifts, which is about the strengths that people Have inherently even you know, since they're children, some things about ourselves that have always been true things we're naturally gifted at things you cannot learn.

Russ Johns 25:09
Yeah.

Lila Smith 25:10
So that book about helping children find and discover their own inherent gifts is her first one. And then the second one is you've got values, which I'm writing with her. Because I have verb your values as part of the same things better method, which is an acting tool, using verbs to guide our communication, like the way that you would aim and arrow, our verbs and help us to do that to determine how we're going to make our communication deliver. We're aiming it with our intentions. So my values inform what verbs I choose. And she knew this and reached out and said, Would you like to Co-author one of these books with me the one about values so we're doing that and then I'm writing the say things better book, which is going to have you know, stories from theater and from my corporate world, and people I know from LinkedIn, all kinds of stories about real life and real business examples of intentional communication, and what happens when you don't have it and then practical tips.

Russ Johns 25:10
Yeah. What is that called experience comes from bad decisions, and which created good experiences?

Lila Smith 26:27
Yes. There's that loop right. So I'm trying to give people some tools equip them with a framework to use for different kinds of communication situations. Do you want to see like a sneak preview?

Russ Johns 26:40
I would love to see a sneak preview.

Lila Smith 26:42
Let me see if I can share my screen. This is just in Canva. Just something that I'm nobody has seen this. Nobody has seen this

Russ Johns 26:51
Live on the pirate broadcast.

Lila Smith 26:54
Yeah. Okay, share my screen. Don't judge all my tabs. Oh, I can choose just one tab. Oh, this is awesome. Okay. So here this is in Canva. And this is do you take feedback well, so this one, this section is called take feedback better. And it'll walk you through taking feedback without getting your feelings hurt. And then doing something with it.

Russ Johns 27:22
After take some action on it?

Lila Smith 27:24
Yeah, actually taking action somatically in the conversation, what to actually do steps. So I'll share this on the say things better company page too, which is also kind of a secret that

Russ Johns 27:37
World exclusive premire.

Lila Smith 27:39
I sing out some of the Yeah, I'm testing out some of the stuff from my Linkedin.

Russ Johns 27:48
Well, thank you for sharing that.

Lila Smith 27:49
Man.

Russ Johns 27:50
I know. We're both incredibly busy Lila. And I just want to take a moment and thank you for the opportunity to reconnect and in catch up

Lila Smith 27:59
Oh back at you!

Russ Johns 28:00
It's been way too long. And I know that it's funny how LinkedIn works its like, I see the same people for a while and then I'll see a group of different people for a while and depending on

Yeah, yeah.

Lila Smith 28:12
Its like high school!

Russ Johns 28:12
communication.

Yeah, it's like high school Exactly.

Lila Smith 28:16
Like the hallways that people hang out in our i don't know, myHigh School was like that.

Russ Johns 28:20
Yeah, same here. Same here.

Lila Smith 28:22
Yeah.

Russ Johns 28:24
When these things come out I'd love to have you and Kristin on it as well together.

Lila Smith 28:32
That would be sofun.

Russ Johns 28:33
That would be wonderful. And I know there's a lot of other people doing some amazing work and I just want to open this up. And the opportunity. In fact, I have a workshop tonight that I'm going to be essentially laying out the entire framework for how I produce the pirate broadcast because I have the pirates.

Unknown Speaker 28:51
Wow, really?!

Russ Johns 28:52
Yeah, I had the pirate syndicate that produces this. So I have a team of people like my sister, you know that we talked about

Lila Smith 29:00
I need a syndicate, a mermaid syndicate

Russ Johns 29:04
a mermaid syndicate I love that

Lila Smith 29:05
If you get a pirates syndicate I for sure get a mermaid yet.

Russ Johns 29:09
Absolutely, absolutely. You could do that. Solet's reconnect reconverge and follow and track each other's progress because I think

Lila Smith 29:21
Absolutely.

Russ Johns 29:22
Right now we're at the tip of the iceberg on change and I just want to make sure that everybody understands that you have value, you have gifts right now is the time to

Yeah. Stay connected and help each other and reach out.

Stay connected and help each other out. So what's the life lesson that you would like to leave with everyone today?

Unknown Speaker 29:47
Well, you should just think about the things that are important to you, and intentionally go about planting more of those things in the world. However you do that, not everybody is going to be a speaker. But you do have a voice, you could share some things that are important to you with even one other person. If you find somebody to talk to that connection, is what amplifies your mission, those things that you want to see out there in the world. If you leave it alone inside your own head, then it kind of withers and eventually dies with your physical body. But when you pass along, through reading through content, through a text message through, I don't know, that is something that was most code, get on the old school, you know, am radio and

Russ Johns 30:33
use a telephone,

Lila Smith 30:34
telephone. Pick up the phone and call somebody, but think about what's important to you in this world. And say it to someone, just go Say something, say something first and then say something better later.

Russ Johns 30:49
say things better.

Lila Smith 30:51
Yeah.

Russ Johns 30:51
Thank you, Lila. I Appreciate you and thank you for being here. And congratulations on your pirate graduation.

Yes! Thank you.

Thank you everyone, and as always, kindness is cool smiles are free and you enjoy the day.

​


Historically, pirate broadcasting is a term used for any type of broadcasting without a broadcast license. With the internet, creating your own way of connecting has evolved.  

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