The Way, the Truth, and the Life

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Open your free I Heart Radio app, search "Serving Pancakes" and listen now. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. Welcome to my show. I'm Richa McDonnell, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass. When we encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now you don't want to miss an episode. So please take a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on I Heart Radio app, Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you on alert because my guests provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now let's get this podcast started. My guest is the founder of No Sealing Consulting. They have individuals, organizations, unlike potential, elevate performers and lead with purpose. As they start up consultancy, they specialize in STEM leadership, diversity, and inclusion, and strategy. Professional development and agile project management. Please welcome the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Bummedelli for RIN RE. Thank you, Rishoye. How you doing, Bummedelli? I'm doing fine. Thank you. So I was in the couple of times because you're out of practice in the room. Bummedelli, Bummedelli, Bummedelli. Beautiful name. Thank you. Where are you originally from? Nigeria. Nigeria. And what got you over to America? Well, see what you call when parents are looking for a better future for the children. So, are they younger? Very young age. I'm my great-tid with my family, my parents, to United Kingdom. Now here in little English, by way of Nigeria, about here right or wrong. Oh, yeah, I'm going to keep it a secret. I hate that accent. Let me go over with that. I'm not, he's not my ex. I'm not letting it out. Now, STEM, STEM is my degree is a mathematics. Let me just let you know. So, when you start talking STEM, it hits close to home with me. Talk about your background in STEM and before we get into your agency, your consultant agency. So, my background in STEM, I'm a biomedical scientist. So, I studied biomedical science degree. And I mean, the pathology in diagnostics. So, if I was to break in now, my background, I work behind the scenes in the hospital labs to test patient samples, helping doctors to treat our patients. Now, when a world of AI, people are afraid of AI. Do you have these people who are going, "Man, AI is the thing to beat." Now, in the STEM world, it's a technical world where AI lives and breathes. Talk about the AI components, our components that will be able to uplift STEM professions, but also navigate them in different directions. Funny enough, that's a very good topic area to actually speak on. Because I remember very few years ago when I started out, we were having this conversation that automation is going to take our jobs. Right. And it was a right conversation because once everything is automated, "Well, we're going to be doing a scientist in the lab." But automation helps. I'll give you a scenario. So, without automation, when we used to do the manual methods, it takes us weeks, sometimes like months, to get results. And imagine working in a very large hospital where you need results in a timely manner, where you have thousands of patients that you're testing on a daily basis. You cannot do that on a manual method. So, automation makes life easier. So, that is where AI is, to some extent, is coming in for us in the automation of the work process that we do. Which means we get faster results, we're able to get to our patients in a timely manner, and we're able to present prevent infections as you would want. Right. I would tell you that. I can respond to that, but I'm a daily. For instance, my blood test. I go in, and I'm with Emory, we're based in Atlanta, and they go to the lab test. And I get those results back in our course. I mean, with accurate details, I'll be going like, wow. And the word, "Wow" comes out of my mouth, I go, wow, this is quick turnaround. And so, is that an AI-related concept that's being implemented in the blood testing? You could say that. You could say that because automation, your programming is programming. So you tell a machine what you want it to do. So it based on data, what you've been doing. So it's based on evidence, what we've done manually, and then your automation, your making it like a bigger, how would you say scaling? That is the word. So you could potentially say AI. But if you're thinking about outside of the lab going into leadership, we're talking about generative AI. Now where a lot of people are utilizing, some people are still resistant to it, because they're like, what is the point we've been doing really good without it? Well, if you think about it, it's making you work smarter. Basically, what you would have done, that would have taken you, I don't know, hours or days to do your doing it within minutes. Right. And I think that's important because for my, you know, as you get older, you don't, you do want the news live faster. Okay. You know, days mean something to you. Okay. And plus, when you're dealing with uncertainty, and so, but something you say about AI, there's AI also can create new jobs. Talk to me. They can certainly create new jobs. And that is why you got to get on with it. You got to, that's what we call about professional development. You have to be in it. In the sense of, you're thinking AI is taking my job. No, I cannot leverage AI so that I'm not left out. That is the way it is. If you're thinking about our job project management, now everything is AI. Like, talk from coding, talk from, you know, architectural, name it, everything that is being done. So you need to be best positioned to like, you get to take certification, take whatever, just upskill to make sure that you're not left behind. So what they say is, AI is not taking your jobs, but those that are in order, the AI will be left behind. That's the way. Yeah. My guess is the founder of no ceiling consultant. They have organizations and individuals, unlock potential, elevate performance, and lead with purpose. Now, let's talk about unlocking potential. What do you mean when you say that, Bama Delhi? When I say unlocking potential, a lot of us, we have so much in us. But you're thinking, where do I start? You like, I'll give an example, where you've reached a place in your career, where you're like, what's next? You've got all the certification, you've got the expertise, you've got the skillset, and you're like, well, I'm not moving forward. So how do you unlock your potential? That is where you come to do what we call reflection. And you think, what am I good at? What can I do? So you're helping. It's more or less like you put it like coaching, where you're letting people to see what their strength is, what's their vision, what's their aspiration, then you're teasing it up. Because many, they have the skills, but they don't know how to position themselves to get the opportunities. And so that is what we do at no ceiling consultant. Helping individuals, helping organizations, helping communities. And the way it started off is like, for example, mentorship. So we have one to one to understand what their issues are. Where is a stumping block? Where is the issue? How can we help? Is it leveraging your skills? Is it like, you need to obscure what it is the issue? So what I call it is the root cause. Because if you don't know the root cause of why somebody may feel like stagnated, for example, you would don't know how to actually help them. Right. And then you understand the process, because let's talk about moving over to, you know, that ceiling, you know, my, they said my degrees of math, that we're five, four, two and a half, you're undergraduate and two and a half professional. And it's a competition. And sometimes the color of your skin can also make you feel there is a ceiling out there. But you do see people, despite the color of the skin, achieve high level success and the change of renewals in a corporate environment. What ceiling are you talking about, Tom McElly? Oh boy, should we start? There's a lot of ceilings. Some are personal, some are professional. So much. Talk about the personal. The personal. Yes. The personal I feel is more internal. Like way we have. the mind is the mind. Because despite having all the how you say how well equipped you are, you've got the credentials, you've got the result evidence to show, but you're still thinking I'm not enough. That's a personal ceiling because you're thinking to yourself, I can't do it. Whereas you have there's some things internally that is letting you know that it's because you've got to show up more. You've got to prove something. And there's a reason why that may be the case. You mentioned about biases, you mentioned about systemic barriers. That could potentially lead to one having that ceiling mindset as individually. It's because of things that has happened. For example, maybe somebody looking for promotion and they keep hitting the world, hitting the world. If eventually they will feel like maybe it's not for me, maybe I'm not doing the right thing. And that is where mentorship comes in. Yeah. And so now let's talk about professional. You know, because like I said, you could be working in the job get hired, but you may not feel that you can be given the opportunity to achieve the ultimate levels of opportunities at that company. That's professional, correct? It is. Talk to us. The professional one is a very, it's one that is very dear to my heart because I think at one point in our professional life, we've all hit that ceiling. Yes, we have. We have it. Where you feel like I'm ready for the next level. But I think one of the things that restrict us or stagnate us when it comes to professional development is access. You may have access, but you don't have access to access. So let me explain that. There's resources available to you. But accessing that resources is another thing. And there are many things that is our play when it comes to you being able to, you know, access the resources that is available to you. So when it comes to professional, you know, ceilings, there's so many things. Then we talk about when you're being overlooked from promotion, what opportunities are there and they're like, you're not ready yet. Tells you I'm not ready. That's the reason why I'm here. I'm ready, you know, to progress. But you have this systemic barriers in place which, you know, we can't go into to what details about that, you know, just stops you. Like I said, whether you do whether you feel they are real or not, it does go back to personal, you know, in some ways because of the fact that it's going to let me know how are you willing to challenge? How are whatever, because I worked at IBM. Okay. And when I got there, I'm just sharing this quick story and I was hired with two other white dudes. And when I went into the office with my supervisor, he asked me what I wanted to do and I told him I get back with him. In the meantime, the two other white guys who were hiring, it was just moving and doing things I was not doing. And I was just circling with my other black co-workers complaining on the water cooler, talking, you know, instigate, just ain't right. Just ain't right. Finally, I went in and talked to my supervisor and I said, well, in a very professional manner, I wasn't a hot star. I was saying, something doesn't seem right. They seem to be getting opportunities that I'm not getting. He said, well, we're sure he pulled out my file. And he said, I asked you what you wanted to do at IBM. And you told me you're going to get back with me. Well, you have yet to come back in here other than right now to complain about what they're doing, but not what you could be doing. When I told him what I wanted to do, my opportunities started happening. Now, that's just one side of the story, but eventually I realized that IBM wasn't for me and I resigned. Not because it wasn't a great place, it wasn't for me. Again, that's a ceiling that I had for me personally. The other ceiling was that I went in there with no plan and there has to be a plan in anything you do in life. And a lot of people don't understand that. I don't care if you were going to check for late. I don't care if you're working as a mechanic. What is your plan? Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than add supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, I heart twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus only I heart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business think I heart streaming, radio and podcasting call 844 844 I heart to get started. That's 844 844 I heart. Today we have a little best friend compatibility test. How long have we been best friends for? This is the day we met as the league one volleyball season heads towards its final stretch. There's no better time to tune in. We really are like Ian and Yang, vodka and tequila. Today we have Logan, my neck. I feel like our fan base in general is very connected, just like a comforting feeling getting to play at home. Jordan Thompson had that microphone on. We make mistakes or cussed at our coach. Like my time. Open your free iHeart radio app, search serving pancakes and listen now. This has been serving pancakes and we'll catch you on the flip side. Okay. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Other than getting a check, talk to me. I'm so glad you actually touched on that story because that it resonates. It resonates because I remember my first approach when I said I wanted to be a mentor. I didn't know anything about mentorship or the definition of it, but I decided I wasn't going to complain. I could easily have complained. And the reason was because I saw a gap. Remember that's the saying that says, if you want to see a change, you start, you'll be the change. You'll be the change. So what I did, I'm using your example. I don't wait for opportunities. I always go for it. Even when they say to me, no, I always say, what's the scenario you're going to say to me? No, I'm going to go and knock on another door. I always do that. There's some positions in my lifetime, like within my professional space that I will go for it. And I'll be laughing at myself because I'll be a man, you ain't go, but I still go for them because sometimes it just lands me in interviews. And I learned from the interviews because even though I may not be ready for that position, but he puts me at an advantage where I'm thinking, okay, this is what I need, you know, to improve myself. So you are right. Some people, it might be that and that's what I said, you need access. If you're in a place where you can grow, where you can develop yourself professionally, it's up to you. The responsibility is you. The accountability is on you. You're responsible for your own success. Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more money making conversations, masterclass. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now, to follow or subscribe to money making conversation, it's free. And you can find it on the iHardRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor. Follow or subscribe money making conversations. Welcome back to money making conversation, masterclass with me, Rishan McDonald. Now, this is a great conversation because what we're talking about now is what I say in my intro, when I say it, don't let your friends, family or co-workers stop you from planning or living your dream. Now, you can say you want to be an astronaut and somebody around a corner will tell you, really, astronaut you, or you can say, I want to be a scientist just because they don't know what the scientist, I always tell people, if you want to be a doctor, don't go to a mechanic for advice. And that's where mentorship comes in. Mentorship allows you to communicate with people who can share you with quality advice about your dreams and opportunities. What we do a lot of times is we, nowadays, we just Google and everything, or YouTube and everything, YouTube you. And but it still goes back to the fact that we can be dreamers and dreamers dreams can become real if you have the access to the right people who can guide you because mentorship still is very powerful. Correct. It is. Mentorship is powerful. And I'll tell you why, right from an early age, I think I've been wearing that umbrella of mentorship without knowing. And and when I think about mentorship, I'm thinking somebody does work the journey. They don't have all the answers, but they've been there done that. They're able to give you a blueprint to work your own unique journey. It doesn't mean you need to do exactly what you're doing. what they've done, they just give you a starting point. And when it comes to mentorship, which is lacking in our community, even though there's a lot of bars about it now, I mean, amazingly, we're doing well now with mentorship, organization level, individual level, community level, mentorship now, it's more known about it, speaking about it, but the issue is, again, access, knowing when you need a mentor. - Right, let's talk about setbacks. Now, you said setbacks can't become strategy. Now, there's a lot of people who don't hear that go, setback, setback. I gave my call to, let's setback. I said something that's strategy, but I would tell you this, when I told my car, I rode the bus. I didn't let that setback. I just said, and that was strategy is. Now, man, I'm gonna let you speak. I'm gonna just say this about strategy. Strategy doesn't mean it's convenient. Strategy is that what is your alternate reason to be successful at the task you're trying to accomplish? Now, talk about setback. I just shared that because I remember that. I remember my car told me, "I still have a job to go to. I had to catch two buses to get to my job." But I had to get up there early and when I got to my job, the job wasn't open. So I had to wait outside until it opened. But that's me. That's what I had to do to continue my dreams. So I teach you about a setback, becoming what is that strategy associated with. But it's important that people should know that if your house burned down, that's a setback. But they're alternate reasons, but what people fail so a lot of time, bummed out early, is that they're trying to get equal results from that setback. And you can. - You can. - You can. And when you think about setback, I think is a mindset. You know what I said down. When you have a setback, you're thinking, "What can I do?" Because this can't stop me. I'll tell you about the first setback that I had as an individual. This was when I was in high school. I wanted to initially, actually, I wanted to study pharmacy. But I didn't get the grades that I wanted. So my first year high school, it was, I mean, high school in the UK. So then we called it A levels. I felt like all the science objects, including computer science, I felt, and the lecturer told me, "You don't have the atmosphere science." The lecturer told me, "You need to rethink your career options." That was the first setback for teenager. And here in that, what did I do with it? Funny enough, many could have taken that and be like, "Yeah, it's true, actually, failed." This is it. But they didn't do that. So I tried again, I re-enrolled. Oh, okay. I did. I mean, don't, you say, when it comes to setback, you're not denying it. That's what we're talking about. You're not denying it. That setback is there. In other times, in other words, just hearing it, there are paths. The path you see may not be the path for you. And I'm a thoroughly enjoying this conversation, because it's thought-provoking. And because of the fact that we make so many excuses as in why we're not where we are at, because we're looking at only one way to get there. It's true. Come on now, I'm a deli. Why people think like that? You know why? I think sometimes it's cultural. It's upbringing. It's environment. And then, but like I said, as an individual, you need to make that decision to come out of that thing that is limiting you. Because when we think about, it's easy to complain. It's so easy, but in your complaining, I mean, you can actually complain, but in your complain, are you looking for solutions? You have to look for solutions. There has to be another way. Yes, since my not-go-the-way you wanted, maybe it's the university directing you. Because life is all about risk. You take risks. Everything we do, even coming out of your hours, getting into your car is a risk, because you don't know whether you're going to get on set. So it's about that calculated risk. And it is true. I can understand sometimes why many, we may say that they're making excuses. It's easier for some people than other. It's about the support system that you have. It's really key. It really is key. Now, how do we get in touch with you, Boba Deli? So I'm on LinkedIn. By my name, by my Deli, right? Now, you know you both spell that name, that. I'm going to spell that out. I'm going to use phonics. So, Boba Deli is spelled B-A-M-I-D-E-L-E. And my last name is spelled F-A-R-I-E-R-E-F-R-E-R-E. Stem, stem, stem. Like I told you earlier, my degrees are mathematics. I never-- like you, I started out in the civil engineering, chemical engineering. You know, I was in a field physics, a real alien. I failed other than me. And I got my degree in mathematics, and my minor was in sociology. And so-- but like I said, that was a setback, but it didn't stop me because I wasn't-- I would-- and I would tell you about engineering. I thought that was the degree I should go into to make the most money. Not the degree that was going to make me happy, because now when I graduate, graduate with my math degree, I realize how much respect people have for math degree. Every time I tell somebody, I got math degree, go math degree. And I go, oh, OK, I didn't know. But when I-- it was interesting. When I was-- when doing my engineering courses in college, I wasn't having fun. I was just going to them and trying to compete, trying to understand. I did math. I did care. I won two and three without a book. OK. And that wasn't even what I was supposed to be doing, because I thought I was going to be an engineer. So that goes back what we were saying. That F was a setback in physics. It caused me to have a new strategy that maybe that wasn't my course. I slide over to math, one, two, three, boom. I don't even have a book. And eventually, you know, graduate with degree in mathematics. So that's what this conversation really is centering on. Not only does you as a brand, but you as a person that understands it, there are no ceilings. Now, faith plays a role in your life. Talk to us about that. I can categorically say to you, grace carried me to where I am today. There comes times where even the noise, your family, they can't really understand, especially when you have momentum rejections, momentum setbacks. There's something in you you can put it to words. That is when I go into my closet. I speak to my God. I have a conversation. Look, things are not going the way I planned. And you already told me everything works together for my good. But oh my God, yes, I have conversation. I love it. I'm firmly in love. It talks back because it's just laughing. It's thinking, look at this one. Only if you know what I have planned for you. And you know, well, I can say my life is a living testimony because for every setback, I've come back like, you know, when you come back, stronger. I would tell people, you know, because a lot of people use faith to make a lot of decisions on. And I respect that. But when you can't tie faith in business, you better have that business plan. Then you can tie it all together. But just throw a jump out there on faith. Then it's going to be a lot of consequences that you didn't anticipate. Now you put on that pressure on God. And God was saying, hey, I was just listening. I was just listening. What a hard work come at. If I ate that part of the conversation, what a hard work come at. But again, you know, in our conversation, you have another call, bam, as you found that, bam's, B-A-M-S, please explain to us and then this association with no ceiling. You see the bam's really, it's about me. The bam's is many say, but me, she has, you know, whatever they want to call it, bam's is as an individual, you know, is personal. But when it comes to the no ceiling, the no ceiling is because in conversations I've been having over the years, you keep hearing, especially within the professional space, oh, we're breaking ceilings. And I'm like, why, which ceilings are we breaking? Even then, it didn't click in my mind because we speak about breaking barriers. But barriers is the same. You could say the same as a ceiling because ceiling, like we're looking up now, you can't go behind that, right? Right, right. You can go. And then consistently breaking ceiling is, as it is tiring. Right. Yes it is. So I was thinking, why do we even have a ceiling in the first place? So what we, what we consider as a ceiling, can we do without it? Right. So well, and you know ceiling is resistance. Sealing is like an opposition. Sealing is like stagnancy, you know, something like an obstacle that is stopping you from, so we're saying no ceiling. Let's operate in a world where we don't see the ceiling. We see like possibilities, but in our opportunities. You know, I love that. I love that because of the fact that, you know, we do live, you know, you know, I grew up in the Black neighborhood And you are. watch television, their stereotype, those are ceilings. - Thanks. - You know, I always consider welfare, that's a ceiling. You know, living a lifestyle, growing up in a black neighborhood, it's a ceiling. And so it's how you look at that. And I look at my life, you know, I dealt with all the ceiling, I wasn't a welfare with my family. My father worked, he was a truck driver, and my mom raised us, we had six sisters, two brothers. But I do know that my number one goal was, the neighborhood I live in, wasn't the neighborhood I was going to die in. Okay. And with that being said, it was important for people to understand that the values that I got, were all from people that saw something that in me, that I didn't see in myself, mentorship. Okay. So let's start putting this together. So I said I wasn't going to die in the neighborhood that I grew up in. That's a ceiling that I removed. We talked about mentorship. Two ladies in high school, Linda Trailer, my biology teacher, Georgian Nelson, my math teacher, were the two people that saw things in me, I didn't see. And by the way, Georgian Nelson, math teacher. Okay. I got a degree in math and didn't like her class at all. But she was always saying you are special, you're unique. And so it took me seven years to graduate. That's a setback. Okay. But the strategy is, I eventually got my degree. And so when I look at you and I think about you being a certified agile project manager, how do agile principles apply beyond technology and how do you use it in leadership? Ajah, the word says it itself. Speed, you're thinking on your feet, you're thinking possibility, you're thinking opportunities, like you said, how do I use it in leadership? You don't see barriers. You see, what can we make of this barrier? Uh-huh. In leadership, when you think about agile, you're thinking about self-managing, accountability, collaboration, when we're speaking about agile principles, that is what it's all about. And when it and servant leadership, servant leadership is key. Because as a leader, you need to serve in your serving, your building leaders, in your serving your team, they see what is possible. So when you're thinking, um, agile again, you're thinking self-managing, you know, you make people to be able to believe in themselves. You don't, so that's when like, when it comes to delegation, you don't micromanage when it comes to, you know, your team and individuals within your team. The transition for me, because remember, I'm a scientist, yeah, then transition into tech, agile project management. I found that the way similar, uh, how do you say it? Uh, um, how, what is the word? Is I'm looking for terminologies? We, we speak the same language, but we use different, um, oh, what is the word I'm looking for? Like, you know, doing the same thing differently. Yeah, because when we, when we speak about agile, you're thinking about something that is done, you, you have a minimum viable product, like they will say. So you're not waiting until you get you, you plan everything, you're consistently, um, reflecting your consistently thinking, how can we improve that is, that is what we call when, when we speak about agile. So I mean, this world is in need, it is needed. If something feels you're thinking, okay, what do we do? Ness, how do we move from here? You know, what is the next, what is the next, um, things for us to work on? So yeah, she's created. No ceilings, a philosophy that when I look back on, that's what I live my entire life. And, um, I want to thank you for coming on Monday, making counsels and master's. Thank you for having me. For every thank you for having me. Now, gee, if I were a UK, ah, yeah, we are. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this episode. Now, I need for you to do me a favor right now to follow or subscribe to money making conversation. It's free. And you can find it on the I heart radio app, Spotify, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor, follow or subscribe money making conversations. Keep winning. On the serving pancakes podcast conversations about volleyball, go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend, compatibility. Okay. Is it a day we met as the league won volleyball season heads towards its final stretch? Open your free I heart radio app, search serving pancakes and listen now. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I heart women sports.