Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shoshanna French. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Shoshanna, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
It took until my 30’s to understand that my natural ability to have the people around me feel freedom, love, and acceptance to be themselves no matter who and what they are is my gift and my purpose. My childhood was a bit challenging. I was the only kid I knew who had a divorced mom. It was 1984. I was chubby, strawberry blond, and had a crap ton of freckles plus we were really poor. Let’s just say that I intimately understand feeling a desperate need to be like everyone else and failing at it miserably. On top of that I was super tapped in intuitively. I understood and felt and knew too much too easily. This skill has become what I teach others to cultivate and use, but I didn’t understand it at 8, 10, 12 etc. and it was just another thing that made me a little more than weird.
In Middle School and high school, I found some of my people. The teasing didn’t stop, but I finally had a group of people who understood being “different”. My mom kept encouraging me to just find the people where I felt free to be myself. So I looked for the other weirdos everywhere. Academics. Sports. The Arts (visual and performing). I made myself at home with all kinds of people in all kinds of places. This has continued even today. That sense of wanting to be fully seen is important to every person I meet. Some of us just experience being fully seen less frequently than others.
I remember the moment when I finally understood that “weirdness” was just a point of view versus a truth. I was in a class and we were asking each other questions. One of them was “What is Weird About You?” The group I was in all begin to share what is weird about you. ‘I hate sushi.’ ‘Dogs scare me even the friendly ones.’ ‘I count things. Chairs. Parking spaces. Lights overhead (34 btw overhead right now).’ Each person shared something. What I came to realize was that each of these things that they said were weird were actually a super interesting part of who they were. I couldn’t help but ask each person how this “weird thing” came to be. The stories were fascinating. At the end of the group, each person felt so seen and accepted. It was powerful.
It was a bit after that that I began to see “Embracing Weirdness aka Seeing People” as a key component of my purpose. I was giving a talk at a conference. There was a moment when I got swarmed when I came off stage. I was surrounded by people who finally didn’t feel “other”. My story resonated with them. The unexpected moments of insight about situations, the innate ability to read people, thinking different and deeply about people, and just knowing things they couldn’t explain finally felt normal to them. Feeling at home in yourself is a gift. I am so grateful for the sometimes hard path that led me to embrace it. I am so excited that people know this about me too.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a key note speaker, a coach, and a CEO. Over the last 18 years, I have developed a method of teaching how to practically applying intuition to any area of life. I call it Intuitive Decision Making. Learning Intuitive Decision Making gives people access to the parts of themselves that have gone quiet in their journey to success. They apply the new tools I teach them like observation, asking the right questions, recognizing old patterns of thinking and rewriting them, and restoring a deep level of trust in themselves. They become more intuitive and their life shifts in unexpected ways. While I am a deeply spiritual person, spirituality is not a requirement for being intuitive. Intuition is a natural ability that everyone has and can develop. While I have met other coaches and consultants who help leaders trust themselves and other coaches who include intuition in their work, I have not found someone who as practical in their approach. It is one of my favorite parts about the work I do. The visionary leaders I work with have big impact in their world. When they feel confident and free to pursue their visions and purposes, the whole world benefits. My newest offering I launched a year ago. Authentic Communication for Powerful Leaders and Powerful Teams is a workshop for small organizations or smaller teams within larger organizations (20 people or less is optimal). It helps diverse teams create workplace cultures of respect, integrity, and collaboration in all levels of staff and leadership. When individuals are able to find the source of misunderstandings and create new relationship with their team members, organizations win.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Creating meaningful and connected relationships is one of my top values in my life. It is essential whether I am interviewing a potential contractor for my business or meeting my neighbors. The three skills that are essential to real connection: Intuition, Being Interested Vs Interesting, and Vulnerability.
Learning to trust your Intuition helps you be able to recognize and trust who you feel at home with and where you don’t. Part of intuitive development is having a deeper self awareness. Being able to tell when the discomfort you feel is just your monkey mind or when it is your intuition giving you a heads up to head out, will save you a lot of time and help guide you to your people.
Being Interested versus Interested is something my grandfather taught me. He was a remarkable listener. When he passed there were 100s of people who shared stories of how his listening was transformative. Some of those people had been professional acquaintance for 4 decades. Being a good listener is a skill that is sorely lacking in my recent experience. Specifically asking questions and listening is a small way to let people know that you genuinely want to connect with them. When it is sincere and you truly listen, it blows people away.
Finally being vulnerable is key to building real connection. Sometimes it is as simple as asking for support OR allowing someone else to support us. It can be vulnerable to accept support from someone new. I have been the recipient of generous people who made introductions, shared their experience, and even their expertise with me. It was a huge gift and when we do share our support and someone accepts it, doesn’t it feel so good.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
My mom has been one of my biggest teachers over the years. She was the first person who told me to go for it. All my wild ideas and listened to my crazy stories. The biggest lesson she gave was to be kind. For her, kindness is about bringing compassion, love, and honesty to every person and everywhere I go.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://simplespirit.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shoshannafrenchstokes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplespirittips
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shoshannafrench
