Speaking and Communicating Podcast

Know yourself, your strengths, your gifts and talents, and find a way to apply those things so that it won't just make room for you.

You will have peace and joy in what you do every single day, to the point that it doesn't feel like work.

You eliminate a lot of the stress.

Know yourself and find a way to share your gifts and talents with the world, and it will make room for you.

Welcome back to the Speaking and Communicating Podcast.

I am your host, Roberta Angela.

If you are looking to improve your communication skills both professionally and personally, this is the podcast you should be tuning in to.

Communication and soft skills are crucial for your career growth and leadership development.

And by the end of this episode, please log on to Apple and Spotify and leave us a reading and a review.

Now let's get communicating.

With Dr.

Tywanna Smith, who is focused on soft skills for athletes.

She is a retired professional athlete herself, who not only played in the United States, but in other continents as well.

She is a professional speaker, bestselling author, award-winning filmmaker.

She is an internal sports manager, who used to financially advise professional athletes.

And then she added the other skills we will talk about today that she felt that they needed.

And before I go any further, please welcome her to the show.

Hi, Dr.

Tywanna.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

I'm so glad that you're here.

Welcome.

As I said, this is the first that we talk about soft skills in the professional athlete arena, because we always talk about them in the workplace and in our personal lives.

But before we get started, please introduce yourself to our listeners.

I wear so many hats, but I am very excited to be what I call a sports advisor.

And I try to help athletes develop confidence as they go through the identity and other transitions in and out of sport.

Oftentimes we don't consider their experience.

We expect them to be just as successful and excellent in everything that they do in the way that they are in sport.

And that just doesn't happen without the proper training.

So I'm grateful to have found a way to support them through books, through my presentations, my programming, but more importantly, the things that I teach around effective communication.

So I'm just grateful to share my gift.

Absolutely.

And I'm sure that they are grateful to you as well for the work that you do to support them.

It's funny that you say that we expect the excellence they display in the sport to their personal lives.

And that's why we get shocked.

And we're like, you lost all his money, but he was so good at shooting hoops.

Why didn't he take that excellence in his sport and apply it to his finances or his personal life?

Why is that?

Part of it is time and timing at the same time.

We don't oftentimes realize how much time is devoted to being a great athlete.

If you have made it to the collegiate level and then to the professional level, you have likely played the game for a very long time.

You've put in hours of practice daily for months and years at a time.

So it's no wonder that you have achieved such a high level of success just based on the amount of time that you have invested in that particular skill, right?

And when it comes to these other broad life and soft skills, they just don't have the time.

It's either an afterthought that you may spend an hour a weekend, and it takes a little bit more focused time to develop this skill just like any other.

So I think it really boils down to the amount of time and practice that they have in their sport versus these other soft transferable skills.

When you were their financial advisor, Merrill Lynch, what did you find was the common thread or the common problem that they had, which might then explain why eventually if somebody doesn't come to somebody like you, that they may lose all the millions they made professionally?

Yeah, the first thing is they don't realize that sports and wealth is a different dynamic than any other occupation or profession, right?

Artists can continue to perform or excel in their craft.

80, 90 years old, they can, you know, there are people who still perform.

Actors and actresses can do the same, but sports is a little different because you have a very limited window that biologically, you won't be able to exceed in the same way.

And so when you're earning a large sum of money in this short period of time that you may not be able to duplicate, it becomes even more important and it's a lot of pressure for you to handle it wisely.

One of the things that I find that really impacts that experience with money for professional athletes and now collegiate athletes even who are earning NIL money is this whole idea of being impulsive, your emotion.

The things that make us great athletes, that passion being able to make decisions quickly and impulsively, work against us when it comes to money and we are impulsive and we're making these decisions based on emotion.

We typically don't take the time even as a financial advisor, I had to broaden the scope of my model because the typical financial advisor does not understand this, right?

There is a psychological retraining that has got to happen so that athletes are aware of this and they understand the processes and things that they need to have in place to protect themselves from themselves, just their natural human inclination to be impulsive.

And so I would think psychologically that is probably one of the things I face most often that typically works against an athlete and their success with money.

And so how did you move from just financially advising to let me add more of these services because you need this right now?

Yeah, filling gaps, right?

Filling gaps.

When you consider the human experience, and we don't typically do that when you're dealing with wildly successful people, when you consider the human experience, you're able to identify gaps in the support that they need, right?

It's very easy to point the finger and say, hey, you guys made horrible decisions with money or you young ladies didn't do the right things and it's your fault.

When in actuality, we've got to look down the chain of command to see how we've prepared them, how we've coached them even.

What I typically do, two things, I did begin to approach this and I basically had to learn on the job, because these things don't often exist.

I created programmatic solutions where they are able to learn bite-sized information over time and implement certain processes to help them streamline their experience with money.

A lot of decisions are already made before you get it.

Counting your paycheck before you get it, it's already earmarked.

Your budget is already in place and it helps.

The other thing is I created a reward system.

Everybody has a vice, right?

There's something you like or something that you spend more money on than other things.

Some people like to go out or eat out.

Some like cars, some like to travel, some like jewelry.

And what I did was I tried to create this reward system with them that would allow them to partake in that to an extent, but to tie it to their performance in a way.

For example, if you are able to score so many points, if you're able to earn a certain accolade by the end of this season, some type of improvement that will keep you focused on your craft, but also give you an opportunity to earn the right to indulge in some of those things.

And that's typically worked well psychologically for them, because I'm not telling them you can't have those things.

I'm helping you put some guardrails around your ability to indulge or spend in certain areas so that you don't overspend or put yourself in a dire financial situation.

And that typically worked well.

It does sound like a great plan indeed.

You are a professional athlete yourself.

Which skills did you feel that you would have been better off, had you been equipped with them during your career?

And looking back, you felt, hey, wait a minute.

The next time somebody is an athlete, this is what they need to do in order to not only be successful on the court, but off as well.

Yeah, I wish I would have considered starting my entrepreneurial journey as an active player.

We do see a little bit more of that now, particularly at the collegiate level with NIL, the Name, Image, and Likeness Bills that allow student athletes to capitalize off of their brand as a student athlete.

While I did engage in entrepreneurial activities during my off seasons, I had a lot of time overseas that I could have invested in building my brand, putting business plans together and that sort of thing.

I always suggest that athletes, because there are so many parallels between the skill sets we use as athletes and those that you need as an entrepreneur to try your hand.

Everyone doesn't have the entrepreneurial gene, although you do possess the ability to learn.

But for many athletes, they find that getting a head start on those things, maximizing their relationships while they're traveling and they're active and at the height of their careers, it usually serves them well in the present from a financial perspective, because there's not so much pressure on them to keep playing, because they now have an exit strategy that they've been able to fine tune while they're playing.

So, I would have spent a little bit more time pushing and really exploring my entrepreneurial talents as an active player.

Relationship building, which you mentioned, very, very key.

No matter the aspect of life, relationship building is always number one.

So when playing, because you manage athletes who play overseas, right?

China, Europe, et cetera.

What are some of the adaptations that they've had to learn in order to thrive in that environment as well, even though it's unfamiliar territory?

Yeah.

You know, you have to have the right expectation going into that situation, right?

You have to do some research, do diligence, to understand big picture, this opportunity, but then also how to properly immerse yourself in another culture.

You have to understand how people see Americans, because that's what they see you as.

And that will impact your experience.

If you go over there expecting to be this superstar, and you will have some of that, but then you also have the other side of things.

Being away from home, language barriers, depending on where you are stationed to play, culture shock, the food, just a different way of life.

Being away from your family.

If you're not properly prepared there and have the expectation that, you know what, this is going to be new, there are going to be some things I've never tried before, or seen before.

With an open mind, you can be a lot more receptive to those differences rather than being let down because you have an improper expectation of what to expect.

It can be a beautiful experience if you set your mind to see it as such a learning experience.

But some players do not have that type of mentorship or they haven't done the research to understand how to enter those situations and they typically don't have a good experience and many of them end up coming home.

Yes, I did experience some of that.

So when I was in South Korea, every teaching contract is 12 months.

So initially everybody thinks I'm going to be there for 12 months.

It depends, right?

So you have those who like me thought I'll be there a year or two, but then I stayed up for 10 because I loved it and I was open to new experiences.

I'm going to be there for a year, pay off my student loans and go back home.

And they cannot last for two weeks and they do what they call a midnight run.

Yes, because the expectations again, like you said, where either they do this the way they do it in America or I'm out.

Or you have people who would go there for a day, be pleasantly surprised at being open to learning new experiences and they stay longer.

So like you said, the mentorship, being able to have the mindset that this is going to be different, but I'm going to learn, I'm going to see who I can become.

Yes, embrace the experience.

One thing we used to pick up because there were seven different English-speaking countries with teachers.

Some of the American teachers did have the expectation that okay, I come from the best country in the world.

So I expect things outside of my country to work the same way as well and that was the challenge in adapting.

Yeah.

What we have to understand, particularly now in this always highly polarizing political environment that we find ourselves in in the US, a lot of the perceptions about Americans are shaped through politics, constraints on the media, what they allow their citizens to see, and it's not always favorable.

You may go into a situation while sports has its own place in society, the general public, the citizens may not think fondly of Americans.

Some believe that we are very arrogant, this classism of sorts, and so they'll come in with their preconceptions of you, and if you're not prepared for that or open-minded enough to understand that you know what, this can be an opportunity to destroy any stereotype, any negative stereotype that they have about Americans, and even Americans about other citizens from other countries.

If you embrace the leadership in that, it can really be a beautiful experience.

It certainly can be.

So what would you say when you learn those skills in other countries, other continents, when you finally retire as an athlete, and can you take those transferable skills back to, like you went to a back to corporate, can you take those skills?

So if you're an athlete, don't just play ball, but be open to growing in other areas of your life as well.

Yeah, it's important.

Everyone does not make the connection though, right?

And so this whole idea of being aware, being aware, exploring, examining yourself, that is where the confidence originates.

There are some things that we take for granted, that we think, oh, you know, I'm a good communicator.

Oh, I'm this, I'm that.

But you haven't really explored to know why, what makes you such a great communicator?

Why is this skill important?

How can you use it in other ways?

And it seems very simplistic.

And even when I conduct some of my trainings in the beginning, you know, some of my clients or some of the individuals that I work with, they, you know, sort of want to rush through this initial process of identifying certain things about themselves, not realizing later on that it is very important for you to be able to articulate those things very clearly because that goes into your belief system.

And that is what is the foundation of your, you knowing full well what you bring to the table, how your gifts and talents are different from another, but then more importantly, how you can use those things in other arenas.

And that is important for athletes to understand.

In the same way that you had to learn and grow and build certain skills as athletes, you almost have to start over.

And again, this is mindset that we talk about a lot in your expectation for that transition.

You will have to start and build in the exact same way when you're doing something that you've never done before in that way.

So, you know, it's important to understand it's a process to developing those skills, but you definitely need to be able to identify them and be very aware of your strengths and your weaknesses so that you know how you will succeed.

You're a parent of two beautiful ones.

Do you as a parent teach that at home?

Is this something parents can actively on a daily basis just make the kids aware?

Oh, okay, go ahead.

Absolutely.

The exposure.

I do a lot of work with high school students as well as collegiate students.

And the sooner that they are exposed to these entrepreneurial things, effective communication, my children and I, we sit down and I have them, I walk them through a SWOT analysis.

Like I teach them how to analyze things and my daughter is 7 and my son will be 10.

They're business owners and so they're launching businesses.

And it's not about it being successful.

The end result, sometimes we don't separate the end result from the process.

But if we look at all of the things that we can learn along the way and implement in our daily lives from a young age, it becomes a lot easier to recognize when and how to use those skills later in life when we're in those different situations versus never being exposed to this concept of effective communication.

When you think, you know, I go perform, that's my form of communication.

And that could be true in that arena.

But you still have to stand and introduce yourself.

You have to know what you're trying to do so that you can reach out to people who can be helpful to you along your journey.

You've got to be confident and choose the direction you want to go instead of just going with the flow and then you are unhappy.

And then we have all these mental health illnesses that come along because of the stress of you not being in your proper position to use your gifts and talents properly.

And so this idea of being aware of myself, suddenly it makes a lot of sense because it dictates your success along the journey.

We talk about self-awareness a lot and I'm glad that you actually have a program for everybody to just dig deeper into that.

One last thing, so you're a best-selling author of Surviving the Lights A Professional Athlete's Playbook.

Can you just give us a synopsis on what it is about?

Yes, that book was written to basically expose younger athletes to the business side of being a pro athlete.

And when I say pro, it's not just an athlete who plays for money at the highest level.

It is an athlete who is truly a professional when it comes to all of the business that comes with the sport, even that business outside the lines.

And so Surviving the Lights is a compilation of topics that athletes should be proficient in from the way they choose the people around them, the people to represent them, how to take care of their bodies, how to be proactive about their mental health, how to create a legacy.

And I try to put very easy topics and very conversational format in place for these young people to start thinking like businessmen and businesswomen sooner.

After I wrote the book, NIL became a thing.

And so I'm very grateful to help spearhead those conversations to help more athletes, what I call, Survive the Lights.

And that is to find success even outside and after the game.

Here's the thing, speaking of management, do you surround yourself with your family or professional people, but sometimes professional strangers, maybe, you know, like Rihanna, be the ones to take your money.

How do you choose the right team for yourself?

I remember growing up MC Hammer, the one moment he was here at this big house, he was on magazines because there was no intent at the time.

And then the next thing, he was filing bankruptcy and he had 80 people he hired who he didn't even know what they were doing in his house.

How do you pick the right team to surround you when you're a professional athlete?

Yeah, it's a mix of individuals in your orbit.

I do suggest finding ways to involve your family if they're qualified to be in those positions.

The thing we don't always talk about is when a player goes pro, their families go pro too.

Typically, if they don't have the proper insight or training, it will eventually affect the athlete because they're in their circle of trust, and they can lead them astray.

If you have family members qualified in a certain area, they could definitely be a part of your professional team.

But as you are hiring other individuals that may have come to you highly recommended, or who have won their way into your circle, I am an advocate for having some sort of manager, advisor to help the athlete monitor.

This person has to have some working knowledge of how certain things work legally, tax-wise, in an accounting space, and otherwise.

There's a difference between an assistant and an advisor.

Oftentimes, we confuse the two thinking, oh, I've got someone to do this for me and that.

But as an athlete, if you don't know the questions to ask, in this perfect world, you don't have all the answers.

You don't know or understand certain things.

You need someone that can assist you in a professional manner, and not just follow instructions that you hand out and complete tasks.

Those are two very different individuals.

I essentially have been in the business almost 18 years as a business manager in that role.

Agent, if they're doing what they're supposed to do, or if they are signing deals, does the deal look right and legit?

Is the player actually getting what they're supposed to get in a timely manner?

CPAs, making sure paperwork is where it should be.

Legally, reviewing contracts with the attorneys, fees that they're charged to the athlete, and just making sure that those are reasonable.

Oftentimes, when you make a lot of money, you may not look at the bottom line like that.

You're just writing checks.

If people say, athlete, CEO, but again, earlier in our conversation today, we talked about time.

Where would they have the time to sit down and monitor a team of five to ten folks who have specialty in different areas that they're not proficient in?

Right?

And so you do need that person or those people, mentors even, who can help you with the oversight of the individuals on your team.

Any last words of wisdom?

Anything you think I should have asked you that you were hoping to share today regarding this topic and the work that you do for athletes?

Yeah, no, I would just reiterate, know yourself, know yourself, your strengths, your gifts and talents, and find a way to apply those things so that it won't just make room for you, right?

You will have peace and joy in what you do every single day to the point that it doesn't feel like work.

You eliminate a lot of the stress that is affecting millions of people around the world because they are in positions that don't allow them to thrive and they're miserable, but they've got to make living, right?

Know yourself and find a way to share your gifts and talents with the world and it will make room for you.

Words of wisdom from Dr.

Tywanna Smith, who has worked with over 50 NBA, NFL, WNBA, Euroleague and Chinese leagues, a retired professional athlete herself, bestselling author and speaker who helps athletes win on and off the court.

This has been such a pleasure.

Thank you so much for being on our show today, Dr.

Smith.

Thank you.

I appreciate you.

Keep up this great work.

I appreciate you as well.

Thank you for your kind words.

Before you go, where can we find you online and on the socials?

Yes.

Our website is www.tywannasmith.com, and I am also on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, Dr.

Tywanna Smith.

Dr.

Tywanna Smith on all the socials, and drtywannasmith.com, and the book details as well before you go.

Yes.

I have two books.

They're both available on Amazon, Surviving the Lights, A Professional Athlete's Playbook to Avoiding the Curse, and Plan TOO, Guiding Your Athlete to Wealth and the Best Mental Health.

They are both available on Amazon or through my website.

Excellent stuff.

Thank you so much, Dr.

Tywanna Smith.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

Thank you for joining us on the Speaking and Communicating Podcast once again.

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