Valeria Torres: Going All In

Are you all in? Our guest, Valeria Torres, wants to know! As Director of Operations & Strategic Consulting at 8 Figure Firm – a fast-growing Atlanta-based provider of professional services for law firms – she is sharing with Host Chris Schembra the key ingredients for leadership success on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. A research maven, Valeria explains the value in personality assessments and has stats to back up her approach to increasing workplace flow (and life flow, too, for that matter!). You’ll learn about the pivotal figures (shout out to her brother, Pablo) and very personal experiences that have shaped Valeria’s dynamic approach to life. She’s also teaching us how to managing through those inevitable “fight-or-flight” moments and highlighting the benefits that accrue to leaders (at law firms and everywhere else) who recognize the good in themselves and extend that gratitude out towards others. As we know, both from science and lived experience, an atmosphere of empathy in which people feel seen, heard and valued is an atmosphere of growth without limitation. Don’t miss this lively conversation with an industry thought leader whose unique perspective and suggestions will leave you clamoring for more!

Whether you’re looking for dedicated consulting, group coaching, marketing management or a mastermind experience, 8 Figure Firm was created by lawyers for lawyers. Founded by Seth Bader and Luis Scott, based on practices developed in their tremendously successful practice, they offer the tools you need to grow the legal team you desire!

In other breaking news, please join us in inaugurating a new phase of 7:47’s quest to help amazing companies build strong, connected client and team relationships. With the launch of ChrisSchembra.com comes an exciting opportunity to explore the power of asking the right questions and framing the important conversations. Founder Chris Schembra, the bestselling author of "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours," offers compelling keynotes on topics such as how to elevate workplace engagement by fostering human connection and why it’s critical to cultivate client relationships that are transformational – not just transactional!

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Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.

KEY TOPICS:

• If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you don’t give enough credit or thanks to – that you’ve never thought to thank – who would that be and why? Her brother, Pablo, whose empowering love has been an “instrumental” part of her life.
• Finding the Words: How Pablo’s acts of service and ability to express love set the stage for Valeria’s drive and commitment to “being there.”
• Making the Climb: Why it’s important to remember that leaders are made – not born – and it’s a process that requires grace along the journey.
• Valeria’s Leadership Learnings:
• Allow yourself to sit back and listen rather than speak.
• Ask – don’t assume.
• Don’t take things personally.
• Find ways to receive constructive feedback.
• Put yourself in a place to embrace the wisdom of others.
• Holding Space: How Valeria learned (through mentors as well as trial and error) to take a step back and open herself to lessons she needed to learn and hear.
• Listening vs. Solution Design: Chris shares a recent client breakthrough – realizing that leaders don’t necessarily have to have all the answers. Not at all!
• Teaching Leaders How to Listen:
• Know who you are talking to and how they can best be reached.
• Tailor your message in a way that your audience can hear it.
• Use the “mirroring technique” to shift motion and tone.
• Ask questions that reframe the communications dynamic.
• Use what, when, where, why and other questions to open conversation.
• Leveraging Your Personality Profile:
• Be self-aware and able to step back, observe.
• Know that there’s no such thing as perfection.
• Leverage personal tendencies to optimize potential.
• Valeria’s Formula for Strong Law Firm Leadership:
• Moving drive into discipline.
• Moving motivation into obsession.
• Having a drive to succeed and accomplish goals.
• Being all in!
• Passing on the Gratitude: Why thanks for things or people in the past can’t always be given, but the chance to pay it forward is always there!
• Getting Into the Flow: How a challenge to her mental health enabled Valeria to know and face fears that were holding her back from claiming an authentic life of self-awareness.
• Know Your Amygdala: How to manage “negative memory bias” by deliberately balancing "fight-or-flight" reflexes with gratitude, which invites positivity.
• Scaling Gratitude: Why Valeria invites participants in leadership trainings to offer something that’s going right! 
• Opening Doors: About recognizing the good in ourselves as a conduit to feeling similarly generous and open-hearted towards others. It creates community!
• Concentric Circles of Gratitude: 
• First: Find gratitude for yourself.
• Second: Find gratitude for your team.
• Third: Find gratitude for your customers.
• Fourth: Find gratitude for your communities and humanity as a whole.
• In Closing: Valeria asks, “Are you all in?” If not, it’s time to commit to locating your truest self and purpose!

QUOTABLE

• “I’ve learned to sit back and listen rather than speak; ask and not assume.” (Valeria)

• “The biggest lesson in asking a question is not asking just to ask it, but asking and waiting to listen to what has to be said.” (Valeria)

• “It’s about creating space for transformation – asking or sharing something that might shift a perspective on life. You need space to process that.” (Chris)

• “You’re going to touch people’s ego when you try to teach them something. You’re going to have doubt, fear, all these emotions that are very human and normal but that people don’t talk about.” (Valeria)

• “Not all successful people know everything. Not all successful people are without fear or doubt. All of us have it. It’s just how well can you manage it and move forward rather than stay stagnant and stuck?” (Valeria)

• “Not all gratitude given is gratitude heard. Gratitude … can sometimes come across as convenient, selfish or lazy.” (Chris)

• “The failures and bad moments can be a privilege to experience … (because) what you don’t know can start eating away at you.” (Valeria)

• “Gratitude is just really good for business and it’s really good for people. Because, at the end of the day, we aren’t profit-making monster machines. We are humans and every human deserves to be loved, heard and valued.” (Chris)

LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:

• More about Dr. Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages can be found here.
• Learn about mirroring and other communication techniques in Chris Voss’s book, "Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It."
• "The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer," by Steven Kotler.
• Learn about how Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works at this link.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Valeria Torres is the Director of Operations and Business Portfolio Consultant for 8 Figure Firm. She provides operations management methods to law entrepreneurs nationwide, helping them streamline their operations and strengthen their businesses’ portfolios. Using a specialized methodology, she fosters new ways of thinking and develops strategic opportunities and managing projects intended to enhance your law firm’s growth.

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ABOUT OUR HOST:

Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.

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