The Talent Forge: Shaping Workforce Behaviors with Jay Johnson

Finding Your Divine Purpose: Conversations on Authenticity and Alignment with Christian F. Johnson

• Jay Johnson • Season 1 • Episode 56

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What does it mean to bring your authentic self to work, especially when spirituality is central to who you are? Christian F. Johnson tackles this question head-on as he shares his powerful RINSE method for maintaining focus and purpose in leadership.

Christian approaches leadership development as a calling rather than just a career. He positions himself as the "mic stand" for leaders – the essential support structure that enables their voices to be heard clearly while filling the crucial gap between a leader's personal brand and their authentic self. This servant leadership perspective shifts the focus from spotlight-seeking to empowering others.

For those struggling to identify their purpose, Christian offers practical wisdom: examine what naturally energizes you, notice patterns in unsolicited compliments, and identify what others consistently seek from you. These external signals often point to innate gifts that may not be immediately obvious. As he poignantly observes, "What are people going to you for? Chances are you have a gifting, a calling, something that's leading you towards those things."

Connect with Christian on LinkedIn, visit IamChristianFJohnson.com, check out his book "When You're Speaking but Still Silent," or listen to his Presence-Centered Podcast.

Meet the Host
Jay Johnson works with people and organizations to empower teams, grow profits, and elevate leadership. He is a Co-Founder of Behavioral Elements®, a two-time TEDx speaker, and a designated Master Trainer by the Association for Talent Development. With a focus on behavioral intelligence, Jay has delivered transformational workshops to accelerate high-performance teams and cultures in more than 30 countries across four continents. For inquiries, contact jay@behavioralelements.com or connect below!

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayjohnsonccg/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jayjohnsonccg/
Speaker Website - https://jayjohnsonspeaks.com

Jay Johnson:

Welcome to this episode of the Talent Forge, where, together, we are shaping workforce behaviors. Today, I am joined by special guest Christian F Johnson. Welcome to the show, christian.

Christian F. Johnson:

Thank you so much. I feel like I've officially made it. I'm here. I'm here with Jay Johnson, so let's go.

Jay Johnson:

We've got a shared heritage and a last name. Here has got to be a great conversation. I'm looking forward to it. So, all right, christian, tell us you know what got you into the, what got you into the space of leadership development and workforce development. What brought you to this space? Yeah, I'm gonna sell.

Christian F. Johnson:

I feel like to say I'm almost called into it. I know I'm starting off kind of deep like, but like it's, it's just it. You know, you look around and you say like, okay, podcast, let's just go with that. Okay, I'm the person that says, if Jay Johnson has the microphone, who is the microphone? Stand for Jay with the microphone. That perspective is what I've seen. I've seen amazing leaders, spiritually minded leaders, powerful leaders, talking, doing what they need to. Spiritually minded leaders, powerful leaders, talking, doing what they need to do, building brands, leading organizations, so forth and so on. But the support from the brand to the man, it seemed to be a gap and so I kind of wanted to be that gap filler because it's what I needed and what was provided for me. So I'm almost sometimes like I'm the client, but that's the part that it kind of called me into Cause I was like, okay, who's the who's the mic stand and it was like you. So here I am.

Jay Johnson:

I love it, I love it, I love the. So, and this is something that I found so fascinating and part of the reason why I was really looking forward to this conversation. Let's dig right in spirituality. A lot of people are really nervous to talk about that in the space of workspace, and I'm sure that there's a lot of leaders that have anxiety about sharing too much, not sharing enough, not being true to themselves. Can you talk a little bit about that? What's your experience in navigating some of that space?

Christian F. Johnson:

Well, okay, so, first off, I am okay to say this I come from a Christ-centered perspective, all right. But everything I share is transferable, okay. So it doesn't matter what your belief system, so forth, these principles are transferable. But it's just that I think we make it weird and it doesn't have to be. We honor each other. Again, jay, you and I may see different perspectives, but I honor your perspective and you honor my perspective, and I think that if we can remove those things aside, it's not me trying to convince you to believe the exact same way I do. Actually, it's just these principles that you can share and that can help us, as the leader, to do what needs to be done. But I sit from that place of personal development. It's looking within and aligned to God, source beauty, life, whatever name you want to call it right To make sure that we're operating from our higher mind, if that makes sense.

Jay Johnson:

Absolutely. You know, even even if we were to take this straight down to an organizational level, one of the things that is a value proposition is hey, what is the, what is the higher power of your organization, what's the North star, what's leading you to be in that space? And you know, to take that as a spirituality question, as an internalized spirituality question makes a lot of sense. So how does, if I'm a leader, let's, let's, let's take this concept I'm a leader, maybe I've got a strong set of beliefs in, in whatever you know, whatever religion it is, and I'm sitting there and I'm feeling tension, christian, I'm feeling so much tension I'm not sure if my team is going to react negatively if I'm being too much out there or anything else. How do you coach me to maybe live into my own? You know that inner drive, that, that inner sort of security. What does that look like?

Christian F. Johnson:

well, first off, I'll say there's three things that I really really focus on, okay, and one is destroying distractions, aligning with god, higher power source, whatever, like I said you want to name it, and then fortifying the focus. Okay, so that's the reason why you can be coming to me like you fill in the area, like this. You're, you're scattered right, high, achieving spiritually minded, realizing where I am. I'm dealing with some things like so that's the area of the space, but what I do is I walk my clients through something I call is the rinse method, and so, if you allow me to go into there, right, I don't know about you, but growing up for me, my mom would say anytime you have a throat irritation, she would say I want you to take warm water and get some salt, I want you to put that in there, swish it around in your mouth, and she didn't say don't swallow it. She said I want you to rinse this and release it. And that's where I took this acronym from, and it's been helping me out, because I was at that place before I get to that rinse method.

Christian F. Johnson:

On March the 2nd, my life changed, okay, because I'm a coach, but I'm also a speaker, and so I was coming off a platform and this person said to me Christian, and they know who I am, but I'll call them Bobby, okay, to protect their name. They said, christian, it's hard to listen to you because you don't sound like your authentic self. You sound like you have this mimicry going on, so forth and so on. So I looked within to realize that I had an unhealthy reliance on the external validation of other different things, trying to be this leader, successful in this area, but missed my core, trying to follow the patterns of what success was. So I almost lost my voice and this is where this thing came into play.

Christian F. Johnson:

I write the book called when You're Speaking but Still Silent. And this method comes from there because I'm going to make sure that the man and the brand is aligning. So when you're in that organization and you're realizing I'm dealing with these distractions, I'm dealing with these places, I'm dealing with this posture, the Ritz method, first thing is to recognize what is distracting you from your divine purpose, the reason for which you're there. So if we were walking through this, jay, I would ask you a question like what is the reason why you felt like you were sent to earth?

Jay Johnson:

Well, that's a good question, so I'm going to answer that. But I'm going to say I can tell that my mom's approach, which was the whiskey hot toddy approach, maybe I should have went to the rinse, no, listen.

Christian F. Johnson:

I'm going to the rinse as well. Don't get me 100%, 100%, let's go Want to put a lemon in it too.

Jay Johnson:

That's right, you know it.

Christian F. Johnson:

Let's go yeah.

Jay Johnson:

And I like that question, christian, because it's something that I've put a lot of energy into, and really it started for me with trying to discover myself, and I went down a pathway of trying to learn about behavior, to better understand what it was why did I do what I did? Why do I feel the way I do? Why do I think the way that I do? And it was in that self discovery and through a very, very long process of finding my own personal path that I realized that there's a lot of people out there that are asking themselves the same question, and that's really why I got into behavior. Um, so why was I put here? Honestly, yeah, helping, helping people navigate behavior is honestly what I feel called for. Um's what brings me energy. It's what I'm passionate about. I'm doing a podcast on it, you know. So I mean, it's one of those where I've kind of fallen in love with the idea of supporting people wherever they're at in their behavioral journey.

Christian F. Johnson:

Okay, good, I love that. So helping them to support them through their behavioral journey, okay, if I'm hearing you correctly, okay, so we would go from there and say, okay, and again, not everybody that comes to me actually can articulate it that way. So I salute you for that as being a leader who understands the reason why they are here on this earth. Okay, so usually I take them through an area to get to that point. You know it, you got it Great. Now my question is do you feel like you are fully operating in that space?

Jay Johnson:

Yes, I feel like I am. I'm going to say I'm operating in that space about 90%. Okay, and call this by intention a little bit. I have usually pretty good focus, but I am a very curious human being and I can very easily I mean, you might toss out something about polar bear habits and I'm going to start talking about what it looks like on the Antarctic okay, and that has nothing to do with human behavior, but so my brain definitely works in a very curious state at all times. So I would say that 90% I'm focused on that. I leave a little 10% for exploration of other things.

Christian F. Johnson:

Well, that's healthy again. So that's healthy and that's great, healthy and that's great, and that's that's the powerful from there, right? So what we would do is we would take that area, that focus for where you are. But we realized when, with I don't know if you're you're married, or or kids, or whatever the case may be, but there's all these distractions that can take place, that that can challenge us to come out of our, our, our superpower, so to speak. Right, so what you? What I say, that's that's our superpower.

Christian F. Johnson:

But those distractions I love the word right, cause when you take the DIS, right, then you have all those. You know I'm disengaged, right, I'm disconnected. When you remove all those, you have traction, and then from traction you remove the TR, then you have action. So for me, the mindset is let's realize that every distraction is those things that are keeping us away from building that traction to stay aligned in our divine right, that God action, that reason for you dealing with the area of behaviors. So we got to recognize what is distracting us from that purpose, right, that's that R getting back to that place. Then the I is to identify what that assignment is, which we've done, and here's the key right here in the end, the end is neutralizing those distractions, because neutralizing those distractions by starving them, would you believe or would you agree with me if I say, jay, that what you feed lives, but what you starve dies?

Jay Johnson:

Yeah, one of my really good exceptional behavioral elements certified guides always says where your attention goes, energy flows.

Christian F. Johnson:

And it's 100 percent, 100 percent and that's the same principle from here, by neutralizing those attractions.

Christian F. Johnson:

You know how many times we stay focused, just like you said is chasing the squirrel or whatever it is.

Christian F. Johnson:

I'm curious. That's great, but I have to stay from my center because when people are coming in to listen to Jay Johnson and like, look, he's going to bring me something of the help me with the area of the behavior, he's going to bring me a guest, he's going to bring me power and insight and for me, the way that I eat, drink, speak, it all comes from that isness of my inner tugging and I need to neutralize those distractions, start those, but pay attention and feed what it is that I'm called and purpose to, because that's what I'm to release in the earth. So, no matter in corporate or ministry or whatever the case may be, they are the best employees, they are the best leaders, they are the ones that stick around and even when I've done with interviewing I used to be a director of operations I realized that the person who is able to see their purpose and their assignment in the vision, they'll stick around much longer and be much happier.

Jay Johnson:

Alignment's so important. I agree with that. So let me pause here, though, because I know that some of the audience may have this question in their mind like all right, christian, but what about all the other things that I have to do Because I'm on this earth to do this purpose? But I'm also a mom, I'm also a child, I'm also a sibling, a friend, a spouse. I'm also donating my time to charity. I'm doing this, I'm doing this and I'm going to share with you. It was a long journey for me to actually understand how to hold on to my time and then negotiate my time and to avoid some distractions Probably made a lot of really bad choices, so navigating that can be a really big challenge. How do you help somebody say, okay, well, you can be multiple things, but here's your purpose and here's how you get back to it? What does that look like for you?

Christian F. Johnson:

Well, you know what? I'm glad you kind of set me up. I kind of just wanted to answer and say, well, that's the reason why I would invite you to consider hiring a coach, because a coach helps to fast track those things that may have taken you 15, 20 years. You get to do life with somebody like myself or whoever, even if it's not me, to help you to ask the questions. This is what I love about coaching. I'm going to go scripture for a second.

Christian F. Johnson:

Okay, from the spirituality. Right, I look at the area of one of the best coaches is God in Genesis 1. He says to Adam and Eve who told you you were naked? In other words, where did you get your information from? And if that isn't a powerful behavioral question, right there where we're operating and doing different things. And did I do this? Because I heard Jay said it? Did I do this because this is what the coach told me to do this? Because culture is telling me this, because I need this raise. I did this, this is, or this is, from my center and operating from this place, because I always say source knows. And everybody has that God power, that God mind.

Christian F. Johnson:

So when we get rid of the noise right. We're able to identify who we are and where we are. We're able to operate from that place, and that's the true place of success. Yes, I am a father. Yes, I am an entrepreneur, I'm also a musician, I'm a coach, I'm all those things, but guess what? The true of who I am and what I express? It's transferable, like my principles, jay.

Christian F. Johnson:

So if you're in the area of behavior, guess what you got kids. Same thing, it operates in there. You're in business, same thing, it operates in there. You're doing it in the podcast. That's the area where you're not spent. No matter where you are, you take it with you because it's who you are. The thing is the distractions that I talk about. It keeps us from that place of really an houring in on what it is that we have. Sometimes we lust after what somebody else has, and so that's my whole message is just be who you are Like. There's so many duplicates of everything else. There's only you. Being your authentic self is what the earth needs. So be, jay, and then we'll continue to move forward. Am I answering your question?

Jay Johnson:

Yeah, I think so. I, you know, I think about the quote be yourself, everyone else has already taken kind of a concept, you know and let's go. You know when I think about, when I think about the aspect. So all right, I'm looking back to 20 years ago and I still owe you two more.

Christian F. Johnson:

By the way, sorry, I got the N. I'm going to give them the S and the E, so we'll get back to that. I got through the rents, I got the RI and I didn't forget y'all.

Jay Johnson:

We're coming back. Don't worry, I literally will go back in circles, so I think I'm distracted.

Christian F. Johnson:

You're good. I got focus, so we're good.

Jay Johnson:

So you know I'm thinking about that that 20 years ago Jay Johnson did not know what his calling was and you know it was one of those where, at that point in time, maybe I wanted to be a lawyer, maybe I wanted to be a trainer. I was current at that moment, I was a research assistant at Wayne State University. I was getting into politics at one point in time. Thank you, I didn't continue down that road. Yeah, outside of religion being non-denominational, we're going to call it political. I'm just glad I got out. That's all no sides. But with that being said, what about the people? And obviously, with a coach is probably a much faster track. But what about the people that are, like I'm not sure what I want to do, christian, like, how do I, how do I determine what has put me on this place? Yeah, so again.

Christian F. Johnson:

Um, when we started, when I asked you, you know what is your, the reason why you're, you're put on earth, typically, if I had somebody say you know what, I haven't really thought about that Then the next question I would ask is what is your passion? And we would just go through that, like different things in life. So some, a lot of times, people throw out their, their titles, right, and I'm like, okay, let's get past the area of the titles, let's go a little deeper, okay. So another question is good to ask yourself or look at is like the unsolicited advice or not advice, the unsolicited compliments or different things that people say to you, right? So for a while people would say Christian, I just love your energy, it's your energy, I just want to be around you, it's your energy. I'm like what is that?

Jay Johnson:

that like it's those moments I call them.

Christian F. Johnson:

Yeah, thank you, man, I appreciate it. So those are some like god moments where it's like look, universe, god sources. It's like I'm showing you some things, right. The thing is, what are people going to you for? So if they call you all the time with a problem, what is that problem? Chances are you have a gifting, a calling, something that's leading you towards those things. You take all those things together, sit with yourself or chat GPT can even help you out with this and put that in chat GPT and say, hey, I keep hearing this about myself, this is where I am, this is what I'm feeling, so forth and so on.

Christian F. Johnson:

Um, what are, what is this line? What are a couple of phrases that we see, and we start seeing that all along, even from your childhood. Right, I was a person that helped people get focused. I was a person that helped them align with their higher power. I was a person that helped people get away from distractions. It's been my whole life. But, like yourself, I've had different businesses, different things, doing all types of things.

Christian F. Johnson:

But when I took the time to really look within, here we go and be honest with myself. Jay, I was lying to myself. I was lying to myself. I was lying to myself. So what is it for a coach, a therapist anybody if I'm not going to be honest with myself? And once I was honest with myself about my frustrations, my passions, what people come to me for, not what I want to be known as, but even what people are manifesting in the earth that I started paying attention to it. Say you know what. Maybe this is something that I have, a super project, maybe even my frustration. I'm frustrated about this in politics. I'm frustrated about this. Maybe you have a gift and a calling to even help somebody see that different perspective. I would bet that you have a frustration related to behaviors and the way people judge them, or they come from this area and you said well, I'm not just going to talk about it, I'm going to build a life around this and even monetize from that as well, which is a great thing, all right.

Jay Johnson:

I'm going to let you get back to the S&E in a moment, but I mean, you're spot on right. The part of the reason that I wanted to get into law was actually probably related to how I saw particular behaviors within the law and what we could actually shift in there. Same reason I got into politics, same reason I got into everything else. So from bouncing back and forth I learned what I didn't like, which then helped inform what it is I was actually passionate about. So I like what you're saying here.

Jay Johnson:

Let me let me ask one other question before you jump into the S&E, because there's a lot of people out there and you know, in thinking of, like the workforce and everything else, like that, helping people align their passions with the mission of the organization definitely a game changer for getting things going. But I think a lot of people, if they're asked that question, like what are you passionate about, they're going to say something along the lines of my kids or they're going to say something along the lines of my family, which is a great thing to be passionate about. But in many cases it's going to be external facing and towards maybe some other person, some other entity. Some other aspect of that? Is that aligned with that sort of inner aspect that you're speaking to, or is there more to it, or how would you shift that?

Christian F. Johnson:

Yeah, so, even so, if we're sitting down and we're having a conversation, you're saying hey, man, Christian, look, I just love my kids and I love my spouse and I love this and I love that. Okay, well, there's something beyond that, right, I talked to, I did a discovery call the other day and a person was talking about that very thing. He said you know what Just love being a father that's? I couldn't get off of that. He was like I'm just a father. Now, this is a leader of an organization doing really well, ok, top of their class, ok. And he's like I just love being a father and I'm like, ok, well, what is it about the fathering that it is? And he told me a story. And he told me a story about even when his wife was pregnant and he was dealing with these things. And he said you know, one of the joyous things that I was able to do was paint the room. I said, oh, so you like taking the idea, the vision, right from there, and when it's birthed, you want to provide an atmosphere for it to thrive. Because that's all when he started talking.

Christian F. Johnson:

If you listen to people, they share what's behind even the title From the area. It doesn't work. Just being a father, that was a protective side. That was the area of taking newness, taking things that are raw form and putting them together. So, as you listen and ask the deeper questions, why do they?

Christian F. Johnson:

Yes, you love your kids, they're your kids, but what is it? What are some of your favorite moments? It tells you about those things and we try to box things in. That's the part of spirituality. That why I rise up. We don't have to box them in Like it's a life. This is a lifestyle. Spirituality is not something I just do on a Sunday or Saturday. It's a lifestyle, and so, within that, what we are giving by God's source universe, it's for every place. So let's open that and embrace what that looks like. So now we bring that into the work.

Christian F. Johnson:

If the mission is this, how do I connect to the fathering? That may be leadership. If you view a father as a leader of the house, right, that might be a reason why they're going with this, or it might be a pain point. I grew up without a father, so I'm going to make sure that I'm doing this and I'm doing that. So you listen to a person's story, you start to pull out things, or a coach can pull out those things. That helps them to align, and I would say I never saw how being a father also had those same principles and characteristics here in this place, and now we make room for them to be who they are as it aligns with the vision, and move forward from there.

Jay Johnson:

Yeah, no, I like that and I like the questions right, Because these are things that we could be asking in our day-to-day work and listening to people's stories, regardless of what your leadership position is, regardless if you are a trained and certified coach. We're human and we are designed to hear and understand stories, and if you're having trouble with that, then by all means get a coach that's going to help you navigate some of these different things and be listening, because I think that's so important. All right, I'm, I'm done with the detours for now, but I reserve the right to jump back in there. Give me the S and the E and let's talk about it.

Christian F. Johnson:

It's your show, I'm just. It's your house. I take my shoes off. If that's what you asked me to do, okay, but I love it.

Jay Johnson:

We're sharing this together Go for it.

Christian F. Johnson:

I appreciate it, man. One thing if I could say before then look, here we go, I can chase this little squirrel. You made me think about this. Please, if you're in a place of hiring and you have teams and things like that, like, show your people that you care and like, that part is a game changer.

Christian F. Johnson:

Why, for me, a presence-based coach is what I come from, that area Present meaning, present, but also presence by what I carry, spirituality, so forth and so on, that double entendre. But realizing that area of saying, like when a person realizes that you value who they are, they show up differently. Like I get leading, but you don't have to be a jerk, you don't have to be this, you don't have to be a jerk, you don't have to be this, you don't have to be that. And if you do feel like that's your place, then hire somebody else who can care. And then you consult with them and put them in that place, because people are going through so much that they can't talk about, but they're carrying it, they're carrying so much pain and distraction. And if they're at a place where they can be healthy and they wake up and they say, man, I'm going into the office or I get to create them.

Christian F. Johnson:

Do this Now. I got to go to work. I get to. That's a different thing. I get to show up on this podcast and talk about my passion, what I'm aligned with. Look, I'm not getting a paycheck per se for this right now, but looking at this area, it hits my heart and mindset to say I will do this for millions. I will do this just because of my care and my passion. So I'm going to say I will do this for millions. I will do this just because of my care and my passion. So I'm going to say care for the people you are entrusted with because they can tell. They may smile in your face, but they truly know if you really care about who they are and what they have. It helped them to release theirs. It's one body, many parts. Okay, now come off of my preaching soapbox, unless you want to jump in.

Jay Johnson:

No, what you said is so true though, because I remember it was during COVID and two weeks in, everything's canceled All training, all face-to-face, all speaking engagements. You're a speaker too, so I know you know the pain, and, as that happens, I'm sitting there and I'm starting to get depressed, and it was one of those like having to go upstairs. I'm like, oh, I got to go upstairs and work. And it was one of those moments where I said that out loud and I had to. I heard myself say it and I was like wait, I don't have to go upstairs and work, I get to go upstairs and work. And I started to shift that language immediately as, like, I have an opportunity.

Jay Johnson:

It's not that I lost all of these speaking engagements. What I gained was time, and I think what you just spoke to so beautifully was really shifting the mindset away from you know, away from that idea of I have to be doing this into. Hey, this is what is aligned, and this is why it's driving my sense of purpose. So I really liked what you had to say there, christian.

Christian F. Johnson:

All right, thank you, man S and E. All right S. We're going to strengthen our alignment, strengthen your alignment, okay. So now that you've gone through the area, you've realized okay, this is what I feel like my purpose is. This is how I'm expressing it. I've identified what the distractions are. I'm realizing I'm going to neutralize this noise, so forth and so on. I want to strengthen my alignment, okay. So for you, what would that look like? We could talk through what that may look like, but for you, you may do some area reading, right. You may do some meditation. You might do some breath work. You might do some praying. You might do some exercising, right. You want to strengthen whatever allows you. Here's one of my favorite ones walking out in nature, just just just in nature, just just being out there, grounding yourself, centering yourself right, but making sure that you are strengthening the alignment versus focusing on the noise, right, right.

Jay Johnson:

I love it. I love it Right. She likes to join my podcasts every now and then. That's Revna, so yeah.

Christian F. Johnson:

I think Revna likes my energy, but that's but that's cool. You know we pick it up, all right. But that's the part where I'm saying like, instead of focusing on the distractions or all the DISs in our lives, like focusing on that area that builds that traction and that divine action, and fixing your thoughts. There's a scripture that says fix your thoughts on things that are pure, righteous, that good report, right, and then that peace that's going to be. It's beautiful. Take the time you need to make sure that you're good. So for me, I wake up every morning and I choose gratitude, something I can be grateful for, Even if it's like man, I took a breath. Or for me, my hot wife that's laying next to me. I'm like, oh, thank you, I'm so grateful that 17 years later she's still laying next to me, so forth and so on. Then I even come from that very strength in my alignment. I say, okay, I do something difficult For me sometimes, Jay, that's just getting out of bed sometimes, and for me I go down to the bed, I go down to the treadmill, and that's where I call it walking in the spirit for me, because I'm walking on a treadmill but I have some instrumental music in the background and I am just at a place of releasing what no longer serves me.

Christian F. Johnson:

Maybe I woke up heavy, Maybe I woke up frustrated, Maybe this bill is here, Maybe I didn't hit this goal, whatever. And I'm at that place to make sure I'm strengthening my alignment, releasing what no longer serves me, because I don't know who I'm going to experience in that day or what problem may arise. But I need to not be selfish enough not to look within, to align myself to the highest, best version of me, so that when Jay needs me, I'm not giving myself 50% of Jay, I mean 50% of myself to Jay. I'm giving Jay 100% because I've done the inner work to be the best leader that I can be, so that when you eat off of this tree, so to speak, the fruit that you eat is very flavorful and nourishing for yourself. So strengthening your alignment.

Christian F. Johnson:

And then E is executing from that place, from that place, from that focus, that intention, that action. What it is that you're receiving is no longer sitting and just processing it. You have the clarity. It's time to do something with it. We can't just pray and meditate. Let's just come from a place of releasing that expression and executing from our divine center with that focused action. It's that place on a daily basis. I have to revisit those areas to rent and release what no longer serves me. That puts me into that place. So hopefully for your audience, that will help them to get aligned, stay aligned, get rid of those distractions and just be at a place of fortified focus, because that's what's needed in this earth.

Jay Johnson:

Rinse and release. I love it. So I'm actually living that this week. On Thursday I'll be heading into the woods. I like to do survival trips, and what I mean by survival trips is go into the woods, no food, no water. See, you know, five, three, four, five days are the short ones. Seven, eight, nine, 10 days are the long ones.

Jay Johnson:

You are a beast 10 days are the long ones, you know there's there's nothing more humbling than recognizing our place in nature, and I will tell you that is a quick way to do it. So, um, but I love what you said there, because you know, each and every day we have not only distractions, but we've got emotions that come in and that we don't get control over. We have things that are occurring inside of the world that are upsetting us. We have things on social media that we read and immediately turn our attention and become not the person that we want to show up as. And I think it's so important that we do rinse and release some of these things away and say is this really serving me? So I really like this as a model.

Jay Johnson:

Let me ask you one more question in relation to sort of the spirituality at work.

Jay Johnson:

At what level, when you start to work with you know whether it's the leaders, whether it's executives, whoever it is that comes across your plate.

Jay Johnson:

And I don't want to take this from a place of shame, but I think so often we as human beings are so careful and so guarded to not try to offend somebody else, right?

Jay Johnson:

We want to be cautious. So if I walk in and say and I'm going to use maybe my religion is that of the ancient Egyptians and I'm pretty sure that it's a dead religion at this point in time and nobody really follows it and I come in and I start talking about it, I am going to get some looks People are going to look at me funny, right, but at the end of the day, how do you help somebody navigate feeling that confidence or that comfortability to step into some of that space, when maybe they're feeling like, hey, am I on an Island by myself here? Am I okay? Am I safe to share these things? And I use, you know, an ancient Egyptian religion? Because whatever religion somebody is, whatever culture somebody is, whatever that internal dialogue that they may be having, they may not feel safe to bring that out. How do you help them navigate that safety question?

Christian F. Johnson:

Well, here's the funny thing is you, like, gave the answer because it is really about relationship and building a safe place. I mean, that really is where, like you said, this is more like a coffee chat that we're having and we're inviting other people to listen and participate right, but if I came in just off the bat quoting scriptures at you and talking about this and talking about you, you'd be like whoa, whoa, whoa, what's this guy? So I mean, it's my job when I come in to make sure that you feel comfortable and hopefully the audience does. But I also am very clear about where I am. If you look at my LinkedIn, it's going to be very clear that I come from a spiritual, christ-centered perspective. But I also would hope to see that you don't see judgment. You don't see me speaking down. You see me speaking to my ideal person and speaking to love. See, love, I think, goes through no matter what culture and what race and what gender or whatever. It's love, right. And so for me, my personal story is I went through years well, I went through a season, I'll say, of learning God beyond religion, before I came to this place of where I am. So I've had the honor of you know, not only just reading the Bible or the Bible of the Gita, or reading this and reading that, and having all these amazing relationships with people who honor where I am and I honor where they are, and we can do life together. So it's that area where we can learn from each other and it's creating that safe place. But for me, if I go into an organization, I need to talk with the CEO, I need to talk with the executive director, I need to talk with that person and hear what's going on creating that space and as we're able to talk, I can help gauge that and make it a safe place. But that does take skill, that does take a team and it takes a very thought and caring individual or team that's willing to deal with that and do that. But it's once you do that and you create that atmosphere oh, what a powerful place. So I would say it's once you do that and you create that atmosphere oh, what a powerful place. So I would say it's even worth it, if you don't have that, to even consider it.

Christian F. Johnson:

People are nervous because you don't have to be offensive. You heard me say before we recorded how much of this do you want me to lean into, because I honor who you are and I honor who your audience is. So, at the end of it, I'm not taking you through the Roman's road. I can do that on Sunday morning for those in that audience, but in this area of what it is, I'm saying, hey, if you can get these principles of destroying distractions, aligning with your higher power and solidifying focus, I think every religion, culture and creed can come together with that. Let's talk about that Now. My stories may come from talking about Jesus, the Christ, or Yeshua and Joseph, but that's just a part of where I am and you being open to that. But if you're talking and you want to talk about Muhammad or you're talking about that, I can still learn from there and I think that's the part we need to be okay with. It might not be my preference, but the principles can be powerful Absolutely.

Jay Johnson:

And I told you when you had asked that I said bring it Christian, because I really do believe that people in their authentic voice, in their authentic space, everybody, everyone, every human being on this planet has value and has a right to believe and feel how they want to believe and feel, and I'm really glad that you brought this perspective into us today. You know, I'll share with you real quick before we wrap up here one of my very early clients in my, in my training career was the Islamic Association of Greater Detroit. I'm not Muslim, but I was brought in to train their students. This was right just after 2001, just after September 2001. And I was brought in to help their students learn to communicate, learn to be able to essentially defend themselves and deescalate conflicts. As you can imagine and I was. It was really interesting to me and this is now 24, 25 years ago, but at that time I did.

Jay Johnson:

I had people who were asking me like how could you go in there, how can you say As-salamu alaykum wa alaykum as-salam? You're not Muslim, You're not. And I said no, but I have a profound respect for them, for people in general, for people to be able to navigate, whatever their belief systems are, and I think that everybody has a right to be able to communicate that and we should all be respectful. So I am grateful that you brought in your perspective today, that you were able to share with us and the audience some incredible tips and really awesome ways for us to navigate some of these challenges. You know, whether it's distractions, whether it's finding our purpose, whether it's bringing our authentic voice and spirituality. So I just want to say thank you. If the audience wanted to get in touch with you, christian, how would they reach out to you?

Christian F. Johnson:

100%. Thank you so much, first off, for trusting me and my voice to just speak life to this amazing audience, and so I appreciate you for that. If they want to connect with me, I'm on LinkedIn, and so that is Christian F Johnson. You can go to my website, which is IamChristianFJohnsoncom. If you're looking for speaking and coaching. My book when You're Speaking but Still Silent is on Amazon. Yeah, and I also have the President-Centered Podcast, as you can check that out as well, and you can look that on YouTube or any listening platform.

Jay Johnson:

Excellent, and we'll make sure that's in the show notes. So again, christian, I just want to say thank you. I've really enjoyed our conversation and you do have a gift of energy, my friend, so it has been incredible to talk to you. Thank you, yeah, and thank you, audience, for tuning into this episode of the talent forge. We're together. We're shaping workforce behaviors.

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Jay Johnson, CEO and Co-Founder of Behavioral Elements

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