Adler University

The second book is Rules of Engag- Engagement, and until recently, you also had your own podcast, Evolve: A New Era of Leadership.

And as if this wasn't enough yet, you are currently also completing a doctorate in organizational leadership at Adler University in Chicago.

What have I missed? What else would you like to add?

[laughs] I mean, those are a lot of the accomplishments on paper.

Just like you said, what do these words mean? What are the influences from the family you were raised in, your gender identity, your sexual orientation, culture of origin, country of origin? Are you religious? What are all these things that gave you the messaging and the social permission, or lack thereof, to have these conversations and you're bringing those into work, whether it's a brick and mortar building or through a screen? And so I think that a lot of organizations unintentionally miss the mark about understanding that, yes, medically we all have mental health, but that doesn't mean that the systems in which those conversations exist are the same.

So my undergrad was in sociology, and my master's degree was at the Adler School of Professional Psychology, and the joke I always make is that Adler was around the same time as Freud, he just didn't get the press.

Most people don't know who he is.

This is the guy-

When I went back to college, I drove a cab to put myself through Roosevelt.

I'm a proud summa cum laude graduate of Roosevelt University, and I have a master's in bilingual bicultural curriculum and instructions from National Lewis, and a second master's, a clinical master's in couple and family therapy from what is now known as Adler University.

And my kids went to CPS.

My granddaughter is in CPS.

So I began this journey of asking questions of myself, and through that and then, uh, begging God for wisdom and having him put people in my life to give me that wisdom in true James 1:5 fashion, um, I began this transformational journey of myself to turn my own potential into kinetic energy and how it started manifesting.

And then went and got the education, my master's in leadership from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and then a year of evidence-based coaching at Fielding University, and then PhD psychology Adler University to create the education to create these spaces where other people could flip that switch themselves.

And what we learn has developed into this framework that's the basis of the SageHill Project, which is the Integration Transformation Blueprint, and how whether ...

It's not, it's not narrow, which is the challenge, it's believing that everyone really, uh, can, can lead themselves well and that leadership is, is role-based, title-based, but that's not all it is.

And so even when it's uncomfortable, you have greater buy-in for what you're trying to implement based on the way people feel in the team you've created.

Yeah, absolutely.

And Melissa, as you imagined, you're nearing the conclusion of your PhD in psychology at Adler University, which also adds another layered dimension to your work, my friend, as a leadership practitioner.

So I'm wondering, how does your academic journey influence the way you think about human behavior, connection, dignity, and evidence-based, based approaches to, you know, culti- cultivating consensus and creating connected leaders? What are your thoughts there, my friend?