Transformative Leadership: Insights from Scott Lapin
The captivating exchange between Jaclyn Strominger and Scott Lapin presents a profound exploration of the intricate relationship between movement and trust in leadership. Scott, an accomplished movement coach and former professional ballroom dancer, articulates the essence of his work, which revolves around instilling a sense of trust and connection among team members through conscious movement workshops. He elucidates that the act of moving together serves as a conduit for deeper relationships, transcending traditional barriers that often inhibit authentic communication in corporate settings. The conversation underscores the pivotal role that trust plays in fostering an effective workplace environment, as Scott emphasizes that genuine connections are foundational to successful leadership.
The dialogue delves into the contemporary challenges faced by leaders, particularly in navigating the complexities of interpersonal interactions in a professional sphere increasingly defined by caution and apprehension regarding physical touch. Scott's insights shed light on the natural human desire for connection and the importance of cultivating an environment where such interactions are not only encouraged but celebrated. Through engaging anecdotes from his workshops, he illustrates the immediate impact that movement can have on individuals, enabling them to shed mental constraints and embrace a more collaborative spirit. The episode also highlights the significance of vulnerability in leadership, as Scott advocates for leaders to model authentic behaviors that invite trust and openness within their teams.
As the episode concludes, the implications of Scott's teachings resonate profoundly, serving as a clarion call for leaders to integrate movement and connection into their organizational practices. Jaclyn and Scott's conversation inspires listeners to reflect on their own leadership styles and consider the transformative potential of fostering trust through conscious movement. By embracing these principles, organizations can cultivate a more cohesive and resilient workplace culture, ultimately enhancing team dynamics and driving success. The episode offers a wealth of insights for leaders seeking to navigate the complexities of modern organizational life while prioritizing authentic connection and collaboration.
Takeaways:
- The essence of trust is paramount in fostering meaningful connections within any workplace environment.
- Conscious movement enables individuals to reconnect with their innate wisdom, enhancing personal and professional interactions.
- Engaging in guided movement exercises promotes a sense of synergy and trust among team members, breaking through mental barriers.
- Leadership necessitates the cultivation of deep connections among team members to enhance overall productivity and collaboration.
- Physical presence and engagement in movement activities can significantly improve interpersonal dynamics within corporate settings.
- The practice of conscious connection through movement can lead to more effective teamwork and collaborative success.
Links referenced in this episode:
Mentioned in this episode:
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Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight - Welcome
Welcome to the podcast
Transcript
Well, hello everybody and welcome to another amazing episode of the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast. I am your host, Jaclyn Strominger. And on this podcast we hear from amazing leaders and their game changing insights.
And as you know, if we can influence and change and have great leaders, we can change the world. And today I have an amazing guest. I cannot wait for you to meet him. And I'm just gonna say, Scott, is it lapin? I should have said this. Should have.
Scott Lapin:It's Lapin. Yes.
Jaclyn Strominger:Okay, great. So I said it right gay for me. Pat myself on the back there. Okay, so I want you guys to understand what Scott is doing.
First of all, as you know, in business, people do business with people they know like and trust. And trust is such a huge key component to the workplace.
And so if I can have you leave with anything from this podcast, understanding how important trust is. So just to give you background on where Scott comes from, he is a movement coach. He is a veteran professional ballroom dancer.
He created the Moving Edge workshop. His passion is conscious movement and helping people reconnect to their inherent wisdom present in their bodies.
And movement is revealing and understanding how we move and how you move will understand how you present yourself in the world. And so Scott, I want to welcome you to the podcast.
As we were talking before, we as human beings are meant to connect and touch and so much of that has gone away in our world.
Scott Lapin:This is true. Yes. As you said, you know, we're born moving right with the need to, with the need to connect.
And we're social creatures and what the, the, the corporate world has been over the last number of years, number of years just tightening their grip on how you can actually interact. What's, what's appropriate, appropriate touch and the whiplash of like, oh my God, you touched me wrong. I'm suing you for a million dollars.
You know, that type of thing, it's, it's, it's kind of gone over overboard. And I love, I, I, the message I, I bring is this is simple, is simple and clear. Through the workshops there, it's all about finding posture.
I work with posture, I work with breath. I work with awareness of your own body grounding. And we just kind of wake up our bodies and then we start to connect with each other.
We start to simply find a conscious connection. And this conscious connection I talk about is just like hands together creating this conscious connection like this.
And the workshop is guided so, you know, it's not people are in any level, of, any level of group can come together age wise, gender Wise, mixed, mixed between levels in the corporations if you want to do that. But this connection brings us to an awareness of like we have a, of a, an awareness of connecting. Not grabbing, but just being connected.
And then from there I take people through guided exercises and movements and balances and challenges in challenges in trust, trust with each other. So people have your back maybe, or people are, are or they, they, they're helping create this synergy and it's fun.
What, what's really, what's really cool is that movement and connection breaks through mental blocks because it bypasses overthinking and it brings teams into a present moment where real connection happens. I mean there's actual science behind this which the body and this body connection that receives information faster than the brain can process.
It's, it's amazing. The body is amazing and it's trusting our bodies. Embodied, you know, embodied is a great thing.
Embodied leadership, let's put it, I mean when you're not, when you're networking, you walk into a room and you're embodied in yourself and you walk into a room and you present an aura, you present an energy. And this is what I bring awareness of. There's takeaway, you know, takeaway information.
When groups work with me for, you know, just, just like my first workshop is maybe about three hours long to, to get a bunch of stuff together, you know, lots of fun, lots of laughing, lots of awareness.
But if they work with me even more, they begin to, you know, start to really practice because you know, practice makes permanent by the way, not perfect.
Jaclyn Strominger:So it's so important, you know, I think I, and I think what you're doing is so really important when it comes to, even to leadership and helping people get that deeper connection. So as a leader, you know, it's almost like one of those great things that you could do to bring your team together.
Not just by going out and like, you know, doing, going to F1 racing or whatever because this is actually making people truly connect. And a simple, it's amazing what a simple touch could do. I mean I'm a huge hugger now.
I go to, you know, I'm, I'm a co founder of a networking company and so when people come in to our networking group, or as we call them hubs, for the first time I shake their hand if I know I'm giving you a hug. And now granted, you will probably not not do that every time you walk into. See a colleague at your office.
But it's so true that we have, we have forgotten to give like the high fives or even, you know, the, you know, are giving somebody that hug that they need, like if they're having a bad day. It's, you know, we've read into so many things.
Scott Lapin:It's. It's so natural. I mean, well, it's natural. Some people, of course, it's not normal for them.
Jaclyn Strominger:Right.
Scott Lapin:But it's natural to, if, if someone is having a bad day that we somehow we empathize and we want to, you know, give them a sense of betterment. You know, it's. And there's the, so there's the touch on the shoulder. There's the, you know, there's the, the pat on the hand.
There's whatever, you know, And I mean, I just laugh because if I went into the corporate world right now, I mean, they, they probably, like, I'd be called. I'd have pink slips all over the place because I would be inappropriate. It would. That would just be it.
And so that, by the way, that's been one of my challenges here is, like, is speaking to that. I, I speaking. Getting myself into the corporate world with the correct languaging vernacular. Doesn't scare them.
Jaclyn Strominger:Yeah.
Scott Lapin:Because, I mean, I was working with Glamazon, you know, Glamazon.
Jaclyn Strominger:I don't know. Glamazon.
Scott Lapin:Glamazon is the LGBTQ faction of Amazon.
Jaclyn Strominger:Okay.
Scott Lapin:Yeah.
It's been around for not quite a number of years, and I was get ready to, like, you know, really talking to the people who wanted me, but they went to their higher ups and they were sharing what it was, and they had to back off because they, The. The higher ups were, like, afraid of the touch.
Jaclyn Strominger:Right?
Scott Lapin:That's it. The touch. Excuse me. I'm gonna close my blind here. The sun just changed angle here. Can you see this? Lovely Florida.
Jaclyn Strominger:Right? You did, you just got. You did get a little bit brighter there.
Scott Lapin:Wait a minute.
Jaclyn Strominger:Oh.
Scott Lapin:Hang on just a second here. I think this might do it. That did it.
Jaclyn Strominger:Yeah, there you go. So, you know, it's interesting. So when you're thinking about, you know, so building trust.
Scott Lapin:Yeah.
Jaclyn Strominger:As a dancer. Right. I mean, that's huge. Right. So in order. In. In order to know.
I mean, it's, it is all about, you know, the placement of your hand on somebody's back or whatever, like where you're going to do. And so, so how do, how does that, you know, when you've had a workshop and people are.
They've gone through it, what do you see as the difference, like, from before and after?
Scott Lapin:I mean, That's a great question. And there's a number, there's a couple things that come to my mind. Well, first I'll share.
First I'll share this situation and then I'll share another situation. First situation is in this, this is cool. My work, my workshops.
Immediately the first thing I tell people is, okay, this is a situation where you have a choice. If you're uncomfortable with this exercise, you have the opportunity to not involve yourself or to not participate.
However, you will be an active observer of the, of the exercise. So that's happened before.
And let's say I've got four people and I've got them together, I got them hooking or connecting and we're doing these balancing exercises, we're doing these body weight exercises where people, they can't do this on their own. It's a synergy. So they're creating this. But maybe Joe over here is a little tense and he's tightening and he's holding.
And I said, joe, can you feel that? And everybody. And people around the group are, are going like, yeah, it feels a little things feels a little odd.
So I come and I said, joe, how about this? How about you relax, relax your a little bit here?
How about you just relax, put your feet in the floor, take a nice breath and just drop your shoulders. And he relaxes into the group. Now there's people, couple people watching. And immediately I saw, I, I asked the group, group, how does that feel now?
Oh, it feels so different. The people, the people next to him and the people across from him can feel the difference in that connection.
And I say, people watching, what did you see? And they go, we saw the whole thing happen. So it's the result of this. The results of exercises like this are immediate.
They're visceral, they're, they're, they're my mind, body, they're visceral.
And when, when you have that experience with a group of people, when you're in trust situations and as little or as large as they are and you have those visceral experiences, they don't, they don't disappear. You have them, right? And so, you know, it's up to you to then, you know, grow that.
Now that's, so that's a little bit before and after another one is just, just that. I got some great testimonials lately from the International Coaching Federation.
I, I was working with a group of about 12 executive coaches from around the world and they, half of them had never met each other. And so I was the first activity on their three day event down here in Fort Lauderdale.
And I would, 9 o' clock in the morning, boom to 12 right before they went to lunch. We had so much fun with each other.
And I, at the end of the workshop, the president of the coaching of that division of the coaching federation who had okayed this for me to do this, he had, was not really, wasn't 100% sold. But my, my champion, my, my dear friend, she said, you got to have this guy.
So he said, you know, Scott, I wasn't really, really sure about this at first, but I have to tell you, this was great. I, this was absolutely amazing. I love what you. I'll give you a testimonial whenever.
I'll refer you to whatever I said, well, will you write me a testimonial? He wrote me the best testimonial that I have ever received. I mean, awesome, awesome.
He basically said Scott's workshop kick started our resort, our retreat. It was a retreat at a resort. We said. He said our meetings were immediately more effective than I could have imagined, than I could have wished for.
He said they just were so great. We got better guidance, better focus and more done because people were just so much more comfortable with each other.
Jaclyn Strominger:Right. How that ends up happening, right.
Like you go to a conference and like the first day, people are like a little skittish and then by the end you're like, you know, there's that deeper connection. So it's really nice to have that in the beginning. Right. I mean it's, and it's really great for teams.
And I really see, you know, you know, I've been to. When I was in the corporate world, I had, I did a whole day actually was a couple of days of learning to be basically helping people be a brain.
Helping people brainstorm, right?
Scott Lapin:Oh yeah, yeah.
Jaclyn Strominger:And you know, it was a, it was really great about. It was, it was, it was a fun exercise and we got to know each other better in that timeframe. Right.
But that's one thing I am loving about what you're doing because, because, you know, in the corporate world we need to know our people and our teams better so that we can thrive better together.
Scott Lapin:Yeah. Yeah. And did I, I forgot to mention that this, this president that would, had, would wrote me that he participated in the workshop.
Jaclyn Strominger:Well, good. That was really good.
Scott Lapin:Yeah. And he was, and he was really uptight and he relaxed and so everybody got us. They. And I, I applauded him.
I said, you know, man, good, good on you for coming in here and, and and being vulnerable like this and letting people see you, you'll kind of struggle through some of these exercises. I mean, you know, there's. It's. Yeah. Anyway, it was very cool.
Jaclyn Strominger:So, I mean, as I was saying, you know, ballroom dancing, obviously you have to. You're touching people and, And. And whatnot. So when you thought about creating this workshop, like, where. What was the genesis behind it?
Like, you know, how did you think, oh, I want to go from here to bring this into the corporate world or to help other people.
Scott Lapin:Wow. The genesis. It's. It's kind of a. It's kind of a long. A kind of a story that goes over years.
Jaclyn Strominger:I need a glass of wine. Just kidding.
Scott Lapin:Actually, a couple cocktails, actually. Yeah, you're. Listen, you have the same. You and me, we. We need. I need to come out to, To. To. Okay, I'm. Here's the. Here's the genesis.
And in the transition, okay, this. The simple answer is that it was for me to condense all this information that I start. Had been gathering.
And, and to that point, it was only, you know, 20, 25 years in the business right above there. That was. That was kind of why. Why I kind of sat down and started putting pen to paper. But my, My.
My whole start in this journey was when I was 8 years old and I was an avid reader, and I was in the. The library of a new school. We had just moved to Chicago, and I was in the library of a new school.
I joined the library club, and I had this book in my hand that I'd never had a book like this before. It was a pretty robin's egg blue. I can see it now. And it had a picture of a classical pas de deux ballet couple on it with the word ballet.
I'd never seen a picture like that. And I'd never seen that word. But in my. Holding that in my hands, every cell in my body vibrated. And I knew I was going to do that.
So I went to my parents. I know I still get chills myself.
I went to my parents and I said, hey, somehow, years ago, years after that, I said, mom, did I bring a book home to show you? She said, no, but you let us know. But anyway, being the cool parents that they were, we lived in Hyde Park, University of Chicago.
There's a ballet school literally three blocks away. A real deal ballet school. Not the jazz tap, you know, hip hop. And so I studied ballet for two years, only little boy in class.
And then my parents joined the ymca and I started doing gymnastics, and we Started swimming, and then we started doing music and music lessons. And so I had this. And then I had this physical movement and coordination and musical. Musical training. I graduated high school, started.
I was studying voice, went to college, graduated with a vocal degree and understood music. I really understood music. But during that time, guess what?
I guess when I was going to go to school at the end of the 70s, I was out disco dancing all the time. So I was out dancing, and so I was just natural dancer and. Huh. Yeah.
Jaclyn Strominger:Hustle.
Scott Lapin: lege and here I am. It's like:And so I. I do what all people do, that graduate from liberal. Liberal arts colleges. I got a job as a waiter. So I. So one of my. And I was. I was going out dancing every night.
And one of my gal pals, who I hung out with all the time, she said, scott, I was looking in the newspaper today and I saw an article. The Arthur Marie Ballroom Dance Studio is starting a training class for new dance teachers. I think you would be a great dance instructor.
And I'm like, I'm like, who the hell is Arthur Murray and what the hell is ballroom dance? I mean, I knew who Fred and Ginger were ballroom dance was.
So I went, I called up, made an appointment, and for like two days later, I went out to the club that night, and I. I was telling a friend, hey, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go to this ball, you know, Arthur Murray thing. He goes, oh, I know the manager of that studio. He's here tonight at the club.
You want me to introduce you? So I got introduced, and that was April 11, 44 years ago. I've never turned around, I've never looked back. I mean, my whole life has been teaching.
And it was, it was maybe about two years into this, this world, this industry of dance that I connected to my purpose in life, which was being a teacher. And I. So, yeah, so that it was like, well, this aligns, collect. I mean, I'm supposed to teach movement.
I've got music, I've got these skills that I'm. That's it.
So 20 years, you know, later, I'm down here and I start to go like, well, what is, what are all these essences of connection that I've been learning, you know, because with ballroom dance, it's. It's a, it's a. It's a poetry in motion, but it's More like a duet. It's a duet of movement. And people. People understand.
Say they'll understand a duet as a piece of music or a piece of singers. Singers are singing a duet and they understand how difficult that could be because people will say, oh, I'm not a good singer, and blah, blah, blah.
Or they're. They're a good singer and they understand it. It's easier for them to understand the.
The skills that are needed and the difficulty that are needed for singers to actually sound well together.
Jaclyn Strominger:Yeah.
Scott Lapin:But because everybody moves and everybody connects, people think that just because they're moving and I'm doing this part here, the guy's going, well, I led that. Why didn't you follow that? Well, because maybe your lead wasn't so cool. Maybe your lead wasn't so clear, you know, so they. But people get like this.
I. I took 10 lessons. I know how to cha cha. You know, a guy thing. So, you know, so it's that. It's very, very interesting that, that because of our physical. What we.
Because we do move and we do think we know something, that we think it's. Dancing is an easy thing to do. It's not. It's not.
Jaclyn Strominger:No. And. And I think what's really. What's really key is, like, it. It's the same thing, you know, when.
And I love that you're bringing this to companies because I think it's really important for leaders to understand that the way people mesh together, you and. And the way a team works together, you can have some really great cohesive relationships or you could not have them. And when they're not.
When they don't. When the team doesn't really gel together, it doesn't work well together. It's the same thing. And you've.
You probably see it with dancing and I'm probably. And I. I don't watch Dancing with the Stars ever. I just. Not my. I love dancing, but I'd rather watch. Okay. So I'm.
I am a child who used to watch Solid Gold.
Scott Lapin:Oh, yeah.
Jaclyn Strominger:Like, all the time. Like, you know, probably one of my days, I wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer. But.
But the point though is, is that when you see two people dancing and as you just said, as, like whether it's a duet or it's. But they're telling a story with movement, with their. With dancing, and you look at them and, and you.
And you can tell two people who are truly connected. Well, because their movement is beautiful. It's seamless. It's there. They're Floating. And then you have the.
The pairs or the teams or whatever, and they're. There's something not gelling and it's not as fluid, and it's a. Ooh. That dance seems more manipulated versus a flow.
Scott Lapin:Right. Right. Yeah, man. More manufactured.
Jaclyn Strominger:Yes.
Scott Lapin:Yeah. And that's it. This is. This is where. Where the differentiation is. Those people aren't it. It. It's not easy.
The people you are watching make it look easy. They make it look easy because of the years of study that they've done and the years of development.
Because those two people have to bring what they bring to the table.
Jaclyn Strominger:Yeah.
Scott Lapin:To create the synergy. And it's the synergy that we're looking to. To create in teams. Very much so. Very much so. The. I'm kind of going back and forth into the ballroom.
Everybody does. Everybody would love to have the benefits of being a really good dancer. I mean, a really good dancer, a skilled dancer.
I mean, and I'm, you know, no one is born. We're born with some ability, maybe some more than others, but no one is born with skill. No one is born with skill.
And so, I mean, in everything, I mean, skill and networking, maybe I have the ability to, like, connect with people, but I still need skills and like, what the heck to say and how to follow up and. And other things. So.
Jaclyn Strominger:Right.
Scott Lapin:So the idea is that. That within this workshop, it's about bringing. Giving people some practical. Practical skills in. You know, in. In maybe the first workshop, I love to.
I love to work, like, you know, know, getting. Getting. Working with people every couple months or something like that. Haven't. Haven't really had any opportunity to do that yet.
But I can see that rolling this out over periods of time can really lock in to help people massage these skills and practice them and follow up with. How is this working for you? Yeah.
Jaclyn Strominger:And so, listeners, I want you to really take note to this as a leader.
The key thing, and I want the takeaway is building trust among your team and also helping to create a fluid pattern that people can work well together with.
And sometimes in creating that fluidity, you may have to change your partner, meaning maybe the person, there's somebody on your team or that you're working with that either is not for your team or maybe doesn't fit. Maybe it's a cultural or values issue.
But to create that fluidity in the team where people are working well together is it is creating that trust and helping them connect at a deeper level so that they know each other. Scott, I could talk to you about this forever and a day because I love what you are doing.
But I want our listeners to know how can they reach out and connect with you and learn more about Moving Edge workshops and bringing you to their company?
Scott Lapin:Absolutely. Here right on the screen here is the Moving Edge workshop dot com. Wait over here. Yeah, wait, wait. The movingedge workshop dot com.
That's my email or no, excuse me, that's the website, but I'm at movingedge Workshop Gmail.
Jaclyn Strominger:Okay. Moving Edge Workshop Gmail is your email address and you're on LinkedIn.
Scott Lapin:I am on LinkedIn and so you.
Jaclyn Strominger:Can find Scott on LinkedIn. Please, listeners, go to connect with Scott, go check out his workshops.
And I truly believe that if you can bring him in and create a deeper connection with the people on your team, you're. You're going to see your company soar because you're going to have deeper relationships. So I truly appreciate it.
If you have gotten some great tips out of this, which I'm sure you have, please do me a favor, listeners, hit subscribe and please share the episode with your friends and colleagues. And of course, please give us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you, Scott, for being an amazing guest and thank you for listening.
Scott Lapin:You're wonderful. Thank you.
