We recently had the chance to connect with Alicia Moore and have shared our conversation below.
Alicia, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I lose track of time when I’m working on a project for a client, when I’m engaged in an interesting conversation, and when I’m thinking.
I find myself again when I’ve arrived at a solution, completed a project, and at any time after taking an ‘imagination vacation’. I carve out time each day (at least 15 minutes, and sometime up to an hour) to let my mind wander–from navel gazing through star-gazing and everything in between—silly things, important things, just letting my imagination and creativity flow. It’s refreshing, rejuvenating, and enough to elevate my perspective, take me out of daily stresses, reconfirm my path, and find myself again.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a Business Success Coach, Speaker, Bestselling Author, and CEO of Strategic Impact Solutions. With degrees and certificates from Stanford, UCLA School of Law, and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, among others, I’ve helped hundreds of people, teams and companies set strategic goals and achieve notable success. I offer highly curated 1 on 1 and group coaching to select CEOs, Entrepreneur Leaders and Teams to amplify their performance and accelerate their results.
When I’m not working, I enjoy travelling (one last continent to go!); going to sports events; musical, theater and comedy shows; having new experiences; learning new things; and getting into mischief with my husband, two sons and friends.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I was the first grandchild of a family of five siblings, and my parents were married right out of high school (so young!). They continued the final years of their college degrees after I was born, and I was raised by my grandparents when my parents were in college. As a result, I was doted on, pampered, played with and LOVED by my grandparents, aunts and uncles. They taught me that I was special (and that everyone is in their own way), and that I could be and become whatever I wanted to be. Each of my relatives and their friends shared their wisdom and adventures with me. It wasn’t until much later that I could fully appreciate how much I owe to them for the solid foundation of self-confidence, love of learning, and laughter that they gave me.
The first time I remember feeling powerful was when I was almost 3. My uncle had been teasing me about something and I didn’t like it, so I told Santa at the mall that he was not nice. He got a lump of coal in his stocking to my great delight, and amusement of his siblings. I felt very powerful that my voice had been heard, and it reinforced my lesson to speak up when there is an ‘injustice’.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I crashed the Partner’s boat.
And not just any Partner, but the NAMED partner, Arnie, of the law firm that I was clerking for that summer. Whose particular specialty was litigation. At which he was, and I put this lightly, SCARILY good. Opposing counsel hated going up against him.
It was the first weekend, and first social outing of the summer season. A small group of interns were invited for a day sail and picnic excursion on Arnie’s boat. We met at his private club in the marina where the boat was docked. You know the type, where there is a decades long waiting list to join, and all the members are high society and wealthy? Heady stuff for a first year law student. And a huge opportunity to make a great first impression. An offer to join the firm was on the line.
The day was perfect for a sail: the sun shining, the sky blue, relatively calm waters beyond the breaking waves, and a steady not-too-strong breeze. Our group was impressed and a little intimidated, but thrilled to have the opportunity to get to know the man who started the firm and had become such a luminary in his field. As the day passed, and the combination of sun, sea, lunch and beer had mellowed our anxiety, and had us talking and laughing and really enjoying the day. It was the perfect start to what I just knew would be a great summer.
And then, disaster! We were coming back into the harbor area, tacking back and forth through the channel leading back to the sailboat’s berth, when Arnie decided that he needed something from below. He looked at me, pointed to the wheel and said “Steer the boat”. Steer the boat? What? I had barely ever been on a sailboat, much less steered one. But he dove down into the cabin, and I had no choice.
All of the rest of the interns scattered to the front of the boat, and I was alone at the wheel. Suddenly the channel, which had seemed reasonably empty before, was filled with boats. Boats of all types: speed boats and cruisers and jet skis and…wait—there was a cruiser barreling towards us at a pretty fast clip! And we had the wind, so we were moving briskly as well.
I could tell that we were on a trajectory for a crash, but aside from trying to turn the wheel, I had no idea what to do.
As you can imagine, and as I learned first hand, steering wheels on sailboats don’t work the same way as on cars. Nor are there any instant breaks, or even immediate ways to slow down quickly. I yelled out to my peers, and to Arnie, but by the time he had scrambled back up to the deck to see what was happening, the collision was inevitable. We were yelling, the folks on the other boat were yelling, but in the end there was nothing to do but brace ourselves. And crash!
There was damage to both the sailboat and the cruiser, and some threats and creative curses exchanged between Arnie and the cruiser’s owner, who, it turns out, belonged to the yacht club too, and there was a history between them. The rest of the day was filled with filing reports—with the club, with the harbor master (at the other owner’s insistence), with the police (at Arnie’s insistence)—and escalating antagonism. Through it all, I’m mortified. Re-living the horrible event in slow motion, regretting each action (and non-action) and my very existence, certain beyond doubt that there was no hope for a job offer that summer and wondering how I could possibly show up for work on Monday. Worrying that I might summarily be fired…
After agonizing the balance of the weekend, I summoned up what remained of my courage, and skulked into the office. As I crept towards my office, Arnie’s administrator came rushing up and told me that Arnie was in his office waiting for me and wanted to see me straight away. I quickly contemplated whether I should just leave right then.
I chose to take my lumps, and went to Arnie’s office. There was a pile of papers and files on his desk. Well, he said, let’s get to work! He put me on the case against the speedboat we hit (who, it turned out, had not yielded right of way). My disaster turned into a unique opportunity to work with Arnie much more closely than I might otherwise have had, and my infamous, apparently humorous, blunder made other partners aware of me, and they put me on their projects too.
I had been so embarrassed I almost quit. I was so certain that I had lost the chance for a job offer I almost gave up. But it would have cost me the experience of a lifetime, working at a level that otherwise might not have been possible. And in the end, I did receive the job offer.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
That we each have the unique ability to direct our lives: to dream it, see it, believe it and work to achieve it; and if we persist, we can make it happen. Many people may have heard similar creeds, but don’t believe it can happen for them. I know that it can, and that’s why I do what I do.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Every day you have the chance to choose what to make of the time you have.
About thirty years ago, two policemen knocked on my door. They couldn’t reach my parents, so they told me that my beloved baby sister had been in a car accident–and died.
Just like that I was flattened with the brutal reminder that time is short. We are all going to die, we just don’t know when. Every day we spend is one we don’t get back.
At the time, I was caught in the grind — buried in work, chasing the “next step,”… And I noticed I wasn’t alone — so many people were living on autopilot while their life passed by. It’s easy to fall into the numbing patterns of daily life.
I realized that it doesn’t have to be that way! And although it would be difficult to chronically live like every day will be your last, you can choose to emphasize those things that matter most to you throughout the journey.
That’s why I do what I do: I help leaders get clear, focused, and make the most of their time and personal talents. To get the biggest return on what they’re spending their life on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aliciajmoore.com
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/aliciajmoore
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strategicimpacts/
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