Author Interview-Doug Lawrence

Doug Lawrence is an International Certified Mentor and holds two Mentor Certifications; Certificate of Competence – Mentor and the Certificate of Competence – Journey Mentor from the International Mentoring Community. Doug is the only one to hold the Certificate of Competence – Journey Mentor in the world today.

Doug served in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for 25 years retiring in February of 1999 at the rank of Staff Sargent. 

Doug has been involved in the certification of mentors since 2009 when he first partnered with an organization to provide mentor certification based on knowledge. Doug has now partnered with an expert in certification to provide a certification for mentors based on competence. 

Doug is a volunteer mentor with the Sir Richard Branson Entrepreneur Program in the Caribbean and with the American Corporate Partners in the United States working with military personnel in their transition from military life to civilian life. He also works with Futurpreneur in Canada to provide mentorship to entrepreneurs. His approach in all of these situations is to be mindful of their mental well-being and to work with them to find solutions that best suit their needs.

Doug’s Practice of Mentoring continues to grow and has resulted in his accumulation of 2,200 hours of mentoring (in person and virtual), 235 hours of speaking opportunities and 672 hours teaching others how to effectively mentor. He is recognized as a thought leader in the mentoring space.

He has been working with researchers to examine the role of mentoring as a support for those struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His experience in law enforcement coupled with working with people as a mentor who are suffering from PTSD has afforded him a unique view of mentoring and PTSD. His personal story is one that is compelling and it fuels his passion about wanting to help others.

Doug is a firm believer that mentoring begins with a person’s personal growth thereby helping to remove any obstacles or barriers to their professional growth and career development. As Doug has found, some of those barriers can be mental health and mental well-being challenges.

“You are Not Alone” came from the all too often stigma of people being afraid to ask for help, afraid to step out of the closet and say, “I need help”.  Afraid to extend a hand to say, “it’s okay I will go with you on this journey.”

“You are Not Alone” came from cry for help and increased anxiety and depression from having to wait far to long for treatment and to begin a healing journey.

 This book provides a solution to that problem.

Marina Raydun: What inspired you to write You Are Not Alone?

Doug Lawrence: The book came from conversations with many people over their mental health and the mental health of close family and friends. There was a lot of discussion surrounding the loss of a loved one who had taken their own life and what could have been done to prevent that. We collectively recognized that there was a gap and the work that I was doing in the mentoring space was seen as something that could be a part of the support structure for mental health and mental well-being.

MR: How is mentoring different from therapy?

DL: One of the significant differences between mentoring and counseling/therapy is the relationship that is established. A mentoring relationship is informal, meetings are in various settings, and the duration is typically long term. A counseling/therapy relationship is formal, sessions are typically in a therapist/counselor’s office, and the duration is usually not as long term as a mentoring relationship.

Another difference is the value of the advice provided. A mentor’s advice is well received on a personal and holistic level because of personal familiarity and professional admiration. A therapist/counselor’s input is respected due to training and how their expertise has helped other patients.

Mentoring is a two-way trusted relationship where the mentor and mentee learn and grow together on a personal and professional basis.

MR: In the everyday world, what role do you see mentoring taking?

DL: It plays a huge role in the development of current and future leaders in organizations and in communities. It plays a role in the support structure for mental health and mental well-being. Mentoring can create a positive work culture resulting in engaged employees, lower attrition/higher retention, and higher productivity.

MR: What is the first book that made you cry?

DL: Butterfly Kisses & Bittersweet Tears by Bob Carlisle.

MR: What does literary success look like to you?

DL: Success for me is when a reader comes up and says thank you. Your stories made me realize that I need to do things differently. I had some readers say to me with my first book that when they read it, it was like me sitting on a park bench and I was reading the book to them. I had built a relationship with them through the book. That is success to me.

MR: What is the most difficult part about your writing process?

DL: Dedicating time to write when I am in my most creative time slot. I definitely need time away from day-to-day stuff in order to properly concentrate on writing.

MR: What is your favorite genre to read?

DL: I remember taking a couple of books by Ken Blanchard on a holiday and finishing them in the first week that I was away. It was Raving Fans and Gung Ho both of which were leadership books but were done by delivering a story.

MR: What are you currently reading?

DL: Relax, Dammit by Timothy Caulfield

MR: If you could have drinks with any person, living or dead, who would it be? Why?

DL: Barack Obama. He is an inspiring speaker and draws you into the story that he is telling. He is a great story teller. He is a great leader as well.

MR: What did you edit out of your book?

DL: It was more modifying than editing material out of the book. I wanted to make sure that the lived experiences were relevant to my readers.

For more on Doug, please visit the following:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/douglawrence-mentor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doug.lawrence.1610

Twitter: @TalentCDoug

Author Interview Series--Tricia Silverman

Tricia Silverman, RD, LDN, MBA

Tricia has been a fitness and nutrition enthusiast, since she was a child. She is a registered dietitian, certified wellness coach, and fitness instructor (certified as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor), and International Amazon Bestselling Author. She has her MBA and teaches Nutrition Entrepreneurship and Healthy Aging for Northeastern University. She creates captivating nutrition programs for conferences, employee wellness, senior centers, businesses, and more. Through her coaching practice, she has helped people lose weight, eat better, move more, and get more out of life! Tricia leads nutrition, weight management, and coaching certifications across the US for SCW Fitness Education Company, and teaches the nutrition component of Christine Conti’s Let’s Face it Together Facial Exercise Certification Program.

Marina Raydun: You are a registered and licensed dietitian, certified wellness coach, and fitness instructor. Why did you decide to pick up a pen and write your own nutrition book?

Tricia Silverman: I wanted to create a resource that would capture the most helpful nutrition tips I’ve gathered and used in my over 20 years as a dietitian. I do a lot of presentations for employee wellness and at conferences, and I found that people were interested in learning much more than the time allotted for the programs, so I thought a book would be a helpful way of giving people more depth and breadth than what I can fit in a 60 minute seminar.

MR: What is the most difficult part about your writing process?

TS: The editing process was the hardest for me. I am a perfectionist, and kept wanting to change things until the very last moment. I think the next book will be easier, because I now have a better understanding of the process and the time it takes to do a good job.

MR: How did publishing your first book change your process?

TS: I need to edit more before it goes to the editor. I cite a lot of research, and I will edit the citations, as I go along, rather than waiting to the end. Also, I now understand all the different pieces or “jobs” involved in writing a book, such as outlining and writing the book, cover and backmatter design, interior design, formatting, designing of graphics and cartoons, editing, proofreading, marketing, and publicity. Now that I had the first “book baby,” the second should hopefully be an easier delivery!

MR: Is there a book you wish you’d written?

TS: In my early years as a dietitian, I read the book “Thin for Life,” by a dietitian named Anne Fletcher. It was and still is one of my favorite nutrition books. After reading that book, I was under the impression for years that there was no more room for similar books. I learned over time that there is a book in everyone, and I am always encouraging people to write books. Everyone has their own story, plus all of the information and stories about people they’ve met and worked with, so there is room for all of us to become authors, and share our wisdom, gifts, and creativity. 

MR: How do you select topics for your blog?

TS: I like to share information about products and foods that inspire me. I feel very strongly about limiting processed foods and eating and using foods in recipes that have a very short ingredient list. My blog is evolving, and I am looking forward to spending more time on it. People seem to enjoy my supermarket videos on Facebook where I discuss ingredients, so I plan on spotlighting more tasty healthy foods that have simple ingredient lists in my blog. 

MR: Being an in-demand speaker, you must travel a fair deal. What is your favorite genre to read on the road?

TS: I read nutrition books and business books on the road. I like to read books that directly relate to the presentations I will be giving. For instance, one of my favorite books to review before I give my presentation on “The Fascinating Connections between Nutrition and Sleep,” is The Sleepdoctor’s Diet Plan by Michael Breus. When I do my “Food Deconstructed” presentation which discusses unsavory ingredients in popular foods, I like to review Food Forensics by Mike Adams. When I speak about longevity, I like to review The Blue Zones Solution by Dan Buettner, and Healthy at 100 by John Robbins. One helpful business book I picked up at an airport on one of my trips is Successful Women Speak Differently by Valorie Burton.

MR: What are you currently reading?

TS: I am a serial reader, and often have several books going at one time: These are a sampling of the different books I am currently reading:

Crush it, by Gary Vaynerchuk (I love his no-nonsense way of giving super helpful advice)

Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition (a textbook), by Heather Hedrick Fink Alan E. Mikesky 

Funny You Don’t Look Autistic, A Comedian’s Guide to Life on the Spectrum (I love to read books written by comedians)

Face It, by Debbie Harry (I feel like I am missing something if I don’t have an autobiography on my night table!)

In an Unspoken Voice, How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness by Peter Levine (part of my studies as I work toward my 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher Certification)

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey (reading this as a family with my kids)

MR: Is there a book that people might be surprised to learn you love?

TS: I like Romance novels and find the Jill Shalvis series a lot of fun to read. 

MR: What’s the best and worst book review you’ve ever received? 

TS: People have been so kind, so it’s so hard to pick a best review. This is one on Amazon that particularly stands out:

“This is a great little treasure of a book for anybody looking to make and keep lasting changes to their lifestyle. With all the information out there (sometimes contradictory), this book puts it all in perspective and synthesizes it for you. It's written in an easy and super-engaging style with a ton of really useful information. For its size its quite comprehensive and fully covers everything YOU need to know about everyday nutrition and fitness to take control of your lifestyle. A great set of tools to make sense of food labels, nutrition, and exercise, and most important of all, how it all fits together. If you read nothing else, please read the sections on how companies take advantage of lax regulations and labeling laws to sneak 'junky' ingredients into our food without us ever suspecting it. The author has done an amazing job of providing actionable information that empowers you to understand what's going on and how you can apply it in your daily food choices. What I love about it too, is the cool little quick math tools and hacks to help you instantly convert food label info into a decision to buy or not buy. There's a ton of very easy to implement strategies to incorporate good nutrition, exercise and stress management into your daily schedule without fancy memberships and equipment. This book is 100% relatable and implementable and filled with real-life examples of everything she's talking about. I would recommend getting two copies, because you are almost guaranteed to want to gift a copy to a loved one!”

So far, I have been lucky, and people have been really nice with their reviews.

MR: Do you think you’d ever attempt to write fiction?

TS: Yes, I think it would be fun to write a romance novel at some point. I feel I have a few more nonfiction “book babies” to deliver first. 

To learn more about Tricia, please follow the links below.

Website: www.triciasilverman.com/book

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tricia.silverman

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/triciasilverman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TriciaSilverman?lang=en

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tricia-silverman-rd-ldn-mba-b8757811

Author Interview Series-Lew Bayer

Lew believes that “Civility is its own reward”. She suggests

that “In choosing civility, people find their best self, and in

doing so, they experience the grace, courage, generosity,

humanity, and humility that civility engenders.”

For almost 20 years Dr. Lew Bayer has been internationally

recognized as the leading expert on civility at work. With a focus on social intelligence

and culturally-competent communication, the team at Civility Experts – which includes

367 affiliates in 43 countries has supported 100s of organizations in building better

workplaces. In addition to her role as CEO of international civility training group Civility

Experts Inc. www.CivilityExperts.com which includes The Civility Speakers Bureau and

Propriety Publishing. Lew is Chair of the International Civility Trainers’ Consortium,

President of The Center for Organizational Cultural Competence

www.culturalcompetence.ca, and Founder of the In Good Company Etiquette Academy

Franchise Group www.ingoodcompanyetiquette.com. Most recently, Lew was selected

as the Champions of Humanity Global Advocate- Champions of Humanity is an arm of

Aegis Trust, a UK based organization focused on peace education and the prevention of

genocide.

Including 2-time, international bestseller, The 30% Solution, and the pending December

release of Golden Rule Peace and Civility Lew is a 16-time published author. Lew

donates her time as Director of the National Civility Center, www.civilitycenter.org and

co-founder of the Golden Rule Civility Global Initiative. She is also a proud mentor for

The Etiquette House, a member of the Advisory Board for A Civil Tongue, was a national

magazine columnist for 10 years, and has contributed expert commentary to many

online, print, and television publications. Lew is one of only 14 Master Civility Trainers in

the world, a distance faculty member at Georgetown University Center for Cultural

Competence, a long-term facilitator at the Canadian Management Center in Toronto

Canada, Instructor – Social Justice at MITT, a Master trainer for the Canadian School of

Service, a certified High Style Impression Management Professional and a certified

Culture Coach® who also holds credentials in Intercultural Communications, Essential

Skills, and Occupational Language Assessment. Most recently Lew has completed the

Champions of Humanity Master Peace Educator Certificate Program at the Kigali Peace

School in Rwanda.

Lew has been recognized at World Civility Day three consecutive years for her

contributions in the field of civility with a Community Civility Counts Award, and she was

recently nominated for Women of Distinction, Woman of Influence, and the RBC

Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the year. She was previously awarded Manitoba

Woman Entrepreneur in International Business and she was the first Canadian to

receive the prestigious AICI International Civility Star Award. In 2018 Lew was

acknowledged for her work as co-founder of Golden Rule Civility Global Initiative

www.goldenrulecivility.com and presented with the International Person of the Year

Award by iChange Nations. In May 2018 she was presented with a US Congressional

Educator Award. She has been recommended for a position in the Canadian Senate and

also under consideration as Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.

In addition to regularly consulting on corporate impression management, building

relationships with media and creating civil communication, Lew was a national columnist

for over 10 years, and is Lew is a sought-after expert who frequently writes, interviews

and speaks with media all around the world.

Civility Experts Inc. manages The Civility Speakers Bureau www.civilityspeakers.com

offers online certification, www.civilityexpertsonline.com and offers a large array of civility

training tools and materials via www.civilitystore.com. It is a combination of the collective

experience of the world-wide affiliate team, the leading-edge training solutions and the

team's ability to customize to their client's need that leads to the sometimes

immeasurable benefits that choosing civility brings. These outputs include increased

social capital, trust, social intelligence and culturally competent communication - and

together these impacts result in efficiency, competency, retention and bottom line

results.

Marina Raydun: In our day and age, civility tends to be underappreciated. What made you become so passionate about the concept that you chose to make a career out of it?

Lew Bayer: You know, I’ve been lucky in my life in that I have experienced civility my whole life. My parents were very conscious of manners and social graces- I can recall toiling over thank you cards after my 5th birthday, for example. I had the benefit of an amazing support network of neighbours and aunties and uncles who spoke kindly and cared for me, as well as the privilege of working with a professional civil manager at my first job. As I got older and experienced all kinds of incivility, I came to realize that not everyone had the same experiences as I did. I think it was Wayne Dyer that said, “you can’t get orange juice from lemons”…or something like that. As such, I came to understand that you need to teach people how to be kind, how to speak nicely, how to behave in public, how to be nonjudgmental etc. And so I started teaching etiquette and civility as a business.

MR: Word choice is certainly a substantial part of what it means to be civil. What is the first experience you had when you learned that language had power?

LB: This is a great question. When I was young: I was often introduced by my mother (who meant no harm doing so but caused harm nonetheless) as “our adopted daughter.” I could see the pity and judgment on people’s faces, and I knew that the word “adopted” changed how people saw me (and to me, how my mother valued me). I lived with this label my whole life-it shaped my relationships with my siblings, my mother, relatives and it also impacted my self-worth.

MR: You travel quite a bit in your line of work, which must mean lots of plane time. My favorite part of any airport is the bookshop. What do you like to read when you’re up in the air?

LB: Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I read anything nonfiction. I am an information junkie and constantly reading whitepapers and research, textbooks, and often the dictionary, because communication, writing, tone-these are important aspects of civility. As an aside, if you don’t feel like chatting on the plane, pull out the dictionary and start reading. No one bothers you when you’re reading the dictionary.

MR: Is there a book that changed your life?

LB: Left to Tell-story of Imaculée Ilibagiza, a Tutzi woman who survived the Rwandan Genocide by hiding in a 3x4 foot bathroom with 7 other women for 90 days. This story of grace and gratitude and forgiveness, changed how I live and think, and make decisions.

MR: Is there a book that people might be surprised to learn you love?

LB: Ummmm, the dictionary. I know, nerdy, right?! There is such power in words and I like learning the history and nuances of language because it ties to people and culture.

MR: You have over two-dozen titles to your name. How did publishing your first book change your writing process?

LB: My process hasn’t really changed much. I’ve always been a prolific writer. I just can’t write enough. I have the luxury and privilege of traveling and teaching amazing people in amazing places- I do about 220 lectures and presentations a year, so there is always a new perspective, a new story, a new insight, and I have to write it down. I guess if I had to pinpoint one change it’s that now I trust myself more and so I just write how I feel, and as though I were having a conversation. I don’t need to shock or inspire or impress anyone. I just see writing as sharing.

MR: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

LB: I’d say, don’t worry about who is going to read what you write, or buy it, or talk about it etc. Just see the fact that you can write in a reasonably sensible way as a gift you’ve been given. And give that gift away with no expectation of return.

MR: Is there a thing you’ve written that makes you cringe now?

LB: Oh my goodness, yes! Not so much the content itself but the grammar and logics of it all…yish! I think I’ve taken 40-50 grammar and writing courses since 1999 when I started – there is always room for improvement.

MR: What is your biggest failure?

LB: I really see failing as opportunity to grow and learn so I can’t say I’ve completely failed at writing. But I have failed to make good choices  related to writing, e.g., giving people I trusted “co-author” status when they didn’t really contribute at all. In hindsight, I wouldn’t do that again.

MR: What do you think about when you’re alone in your car?

LB: I travel a lot, so when I’m in my car, I think about how nice it is to be home, how lucky I am to live where I live and how I can’t wait to see my beautiful daughter or have my dog Cooper lick my face.

Get your copy of Dr. Bayer’s The 30% Solution here: https://www.amazon.com/30-Solution-Lewena-Bayer-ebook/dp/B074K7MNSZ/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540663801&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=30%25+solution%2C+low+bayer#reader_B074K7MNSZ