100% Backed by Science with Catherine Barton, Ph.D.(c)
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:20:14]
Right.
Catherine Barton [00:20:14]
And so that’s what I like to bring my clients. The mastermind was packed full of it. Now it’s a 12 month program and they’re exhausted. They when you get it in, I guarantee you there’s going to be some dark circles. But the things we do together and there’s an awesome camaraderie with people that are in a group struggling with each other, it’s not it’s not sometimes I’ve had people say, oh, I did poorly in business, so this would work. It’s not a mastermind is just thinking, thinking bigger and better and stronger. And then you just have to have a group that we’re all doing the same thing. But yes, we made ah, they made money and I was proud of that. And it was this group was a whole group of women and they were spectacular business people.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:21:14]
You know, that’s something that. I started with a mastermind for my business because I’m like my doctoral students, right, I don’t know anybody I don’t see anybody around me who does what I do. I work out of my office, in my house and wherever else. And I happen to be given time and I’m not typical in my experience. But I joined the mastermind group where that’s kind of what everybody’s doing and everybody’s having the same problems and everybody’s working on the same things. And then when you have certain success, everybody knows what that means and they can actually really celebrate that. Know, if I go tell someone that I know something that I did in my business, something I got to work or whatever it might be like, oh, that sounds interesting. And someone else is like, oh, cool. How did you get back to work? OK, so having a group of people that’s going through the same sort of thing that you are is so important in any kind of challenging endeavor. That’s we do this on on occasion with our dissertation students. We definitely done it with our Expand Your Authority group. The folks in the writing their books, they’ve developed a sense of family and they they they talk about each other that way. So it’s really been cool to see how that dynamic has worked and helped create this additional level of accountability where people just can’t stand to show up to a meeting and have and have to say, oh, I didn’t get something done right. You know, they got everything done because other people are calling out for it if they did.
Catherine Barton [00:22:48]
And that’s a good thing.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:22:49]
Yeah, well, I mean, when you when you sign on for it. Right. That’s a good thing. And if you’ve just got somebody nagging you saying, why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that? You tell them to shut up. But when you’re not dealt with and you want that accountability, it’s a good thing.
Catherine Barton [00:23:04]
Right. You said you were going to do something. Now 15 people are on your back. Yeah, that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:23:12]
So in our mastermind, when we were meeting regularly together where we would come together, one of the things we had to do towards the end is you had to had come up with what’s your big goal? What are you going get done before we meet again in like 90 days or something? So and everybody would like look at you about your goals like, nope, that’s not good enough. You need a bigger goal than that. Or if it was too big like that, let’s let’s make sure it’s something we can get done. But but then what you had to do is come up with a punishment and a reward. And if you didn’t get it done, there was some serious punishment that would come about. And then if you did, there should be you should reward yourself. And so that was kind of the way they set that up. And then you should have heard some of the punishments that people would come up with. There was a there was a guy who was who really liked his cars, a really nice Corvette, classic Corvette, takes care of it, waxes it with baby diapers, whatever, this kind of thing. And there’s another guy that was into shooting. And so the punishment was, if you don’t get this done, this guy is going to use your Corvette as target practice. That was the punishment. So these were like things that you just it wasn’t going to happen. Like we were not going to do the definitely going to get it done. But that kind of as as kind of audacious as that might sound and just weird. Crazy, like you said before, these people are crazy. It it helps to to motivate people to say that, listen, there is no alternative to me getting this done. This is getting done because I’m not letting the other thing happen. Right. Which has been really an interesting dynamic.
Catherine Barton [00:25:00]
And and, you know, it’s a good thing to do for yourself. You said you’re going to do it. That’s awesome.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:25:09]
Well, that’s what some some of the younger folks these days still need to learn, that there’s this big push in developing self-esteem, which is different than self-confidence, self-esteem. You can just tell yourself that how great you are and all this. Self-confidence is like, you know what? I went out there. I did this. I got it done. I probably fell down a couple of times along the way and I got back up and kept going and I got it done because when you have a history of getting things done, then you know that the next time you’re confronted with a challenge, you’ve overcome challenges before you got what it takes and you can get this one done. And that’s what self-confidence is about. And so you have to. You have to do that, you have to challenge yourself, you have to work towards things, and that’s something that remind all of our doctoral students like wait. How old are you? You have done things, you’ve accomplished things, it’s stop telling you it’s done with your dissertation. You absolutely can go back and think about all the times that you’ve had struggles. I don’t care if it wasn’t in school because that’s where people will kind of seize up a little bit. I have never had trouble in school before. OK, fine. I didn’t have trouble in school until I got pretty far up there either. But I’ve had trouble with other things. You’ve had trouble with other things. And when you overcome, you use that as fuel for the next challenge. And again, when you have other people who can call you out on that stuff and help you with yourself talk and all that, that’s that’s really, really valuable as well. Yeah.
Catherine Barton [00:26:50]
For every client or every client, especially especially my entrepreneurs who are maybe starting at zero and trying to get to a billion dollars later. I keep I keep a journal on them without them knowing. Now, you know, everybody out there, guess what might be a pretty big gap, but I keep a journal on their successes because they will six months say to me, I’ve done nothing, nothing’s happened. And I’ll say, remember when you ask for 20 bucks and now you’re asking for a thousand? Yeah. You’ve done something.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:27:33]
That’s something. That’s right. I tell our students in the dissertation, students all the time. Make sure every time, like every time you open up your dissertation to write something into it, save it as a new draft, save it is like a new year. Put the date on the file name, save it as a new draft. And then when you got in a couple of months into this thing, at some point, go back and indulge, go back and read what you wrote two months ago, three months ago, four months ago. And remember how like, absolutely incensed you were that your committee thought that that wasn’t good enough, you look at it and say that was garbage, was I doing because you know so much during that period of time, what you’re doing today is so different than what you were doing just two or three months ago in this, you know, this dissertation process that it’s really helpful to go back and be able to see that. And luckily for me, because I’m lazy, I don’t have to keep journals. The they’re doing it themselves as long as they say those those drafts, like I tell them to and they don’t keep overwriting them, then then you got it there and you can see that growth. It’s like marking the side of the doorway as a as the kids growing up or something like that. It’s right there. So it’s a really good point. Tell me a little bit more about some of these opportunities that you’ve had now since you’ve gotten to this point in your doctoral degree program. First of all, how have you let people know about it? Like, what have you done to cause those opportunities to come your way and then tell us more of those opportunities?
Catherine Barton [00:29:11]
Well, I’ll tell you, first off, I’m daring. There’s not a shy bone in this body. So if I need to talk to someone, I’m going to figure out how to talk to someone. And and honestly, it could be at the gym and there’s a manager or leader complaining about their staff. I will hear that. And I’m right next to them on the treadmill and telling them how I can help their situation. I solve the problem, too, just like, you know, what was the second part of the question?
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:29:46]
Well, so it was it was number one. How do folks know that you’re at this point in your doctoral degree process to causes opportunities to start coming to you and then tell us about some of those opportunities, some things that have happened to you because of where you are in this doctoral process?
Catherine Barton [00:30:03]
Well, you know, we talked about being brave. I’m not shy about saying Catherine Barton, Ph.D.c. And, you know, a lot of people will say, “C? What’s that? “And then I get to talk about my dissertation and I can I can speak on those kinds of things. The different opportunities I’ve had is it opens the door. Yeah. They may not care that I have a PhD, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, after I’m in the building. Matter of fact, it rarely comes up, but it opens the door. And when I write a proposal and sign my name, it gets looked at. So those kinds of things are important to people. Maybe writing a dissertation is for you, too. The different opportunities… The mastermind. No one’s going to listen to a person that has nothing extra. There’s tons of mastermind’s out there, but mine has the science background. So if that’s what you’re into, if you want real meaty stuff, then that’s what you’re going to go to. I have a group of entrepreneurs that is for business women. It’s free on Facebook. The reason I’m getting people to sign up is because they have heard of me and then those people that trust me are inviting people. So again, the Ph.D. has helped that. Coaching and consulting… People are not going to listen to me just because I’m a nice lady. They they trust me because of that Ph.D.c.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:31:42]
And and what so many of our students have found, particularly after they graduate, is a PhD or the the Dr. For the first name. It opens the door and you open your mouth, right? Yes. You got to back it up. You got to know what you’re talking about. You got to be able to help people, which is why so many of our students are in this in the first place is to serve people at a higher level.
Catherine Barton [00:32:07]
Yes, I have. I have often said that if I won some lottery, I don’t play a bit. If I won some lottery and became multibillionaires, I would have to do what I’m doing right now because it’s a blast to me. So, yes.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:32:23]
My wife asks me, “What are your plans for retirement?” and, I’m like this or whatever the next thing is. I mean, if I get bored of this at some point, then I’ll be the next thing. But right when people solve problems somehow or the other is probably what it’s going to be, because that’s that’s that’s what I like to do.
Catherine Barton [00:32:41]
Every single thing I do, all these things that that I do. If you look at my website, every bit of it stems from leadership development. I get a high off of developing the people because then they do these amazing things that often surprises them.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:33:04]
So, you’re talking about leadership development. You were talking we were talking earlier about how when you get into a situation, sometimes it’s funny to see how quickly the dirty laundry comes out. You were telling me a story a little earlier and I’ll if you want to tell everybody that one or something else. But tell me about a time where you walk in to an organization and you were just like, yes, they need my help.
Catherine Barton [00:33:27]
So I had a hour long phone call with a gentleman that was in charge of a. No, well, no company that dealt with diversity and inclusion, so I was excited, I said, this is gonna be awesome. I’m going to experience some things that I probably haven’t. So had the conversation with the guy. I walk into his office and begin the conversation.
Catherine Barton [00:33:52]
This is a phone conversation that I’m hearing you talking to you using your name. Catherine. OK, Catherine. Pretty OK. Female, pretty female name. I walk into his office and the first thing he says to me is, I thought you were going to be a man. So that was the first time that’s ever happened. I’ve never had anyone confused, but I’m not a man, so I had to explain to them, no, you were talking to me. We talked. He did hire me. I don’t know if he hired me because he was embarrassed that he reacted that way. But eventually where you get them.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:34:37]
Right, particularly when someone needs your help.
Catherine Barton [00:34:42]
He definitely needed my help. When I looked around his office, there was no diversity. There was only one looking type of female and a certain age. So it was an experience that I laugh at it because I laugh at just about everything. Right? Yeah, but he was surprised that was a female, so. Yeah.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:35:04]
And it’s like we were talking about before is like there are some times where things catch you a little bit off guard. You were expecting this to be one way. They turned out to be another. Yeah, but there’s this thing that we develop at some point, this filter between the the brain in the mouth, usually, particularly someone who is chief diversity officer or chief, boss, anything you think would have gotten to that point.
Catherine Barton [00:35:30]
How did he get there?
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:35:31]
Right. How did you get there? This was the thing for you.
Catherine Barton [00:35:36]
But it did get me a client, so which I turned into three other clients. So it all worked out.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:35:44]
Yeah. And that and that’s good. And presumably then we’re able to help them in some way, shape or form along the way. Any other kind of opportunities like that that struck you as being weird or or maybe you just said, I can’t imagine I would have gotten this if it wasn’t for that, that the fact that I was as far into the doctoral process.
Catherine Barton [00:36:06]
I’m sorry. I have a blank right now. I know we were talking about some things that I, I bring up.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:36:14]
Well, I mean, OK, let me let me switch gears, because this is something that’s a little bit unique for me. I don’t get to do this so often, so I want to indulge. Hopefully you guys will who are listening will will appreciate this as well. So business scientist is how do you identify yourself in in your bio? All right. I have a scientific background, I was like physics and math, and in college I went to graduate school in astronomy and astrophysics. I mean, I was going to be like that, guys. I was going to be an astrophysics professor. Folks who listen to a podcast kind to know the story. My advisor died not long before I was set to graduate and the department said, OK, you got to kind of start over. And I said, well, no. Instead of doing that, I’m going to go. I was in Chicago and go downtown and make some money at a bank doing all my number crunching stuff there instead of doing it in astrophysics. But I still have an affinity for that sort of thing. I appreciate science. I think science is the reason why we are where we are today as a society. So tell me a little bit about what it means to you to be a business scientist.
Catherine Barton [00:37:27]
Well, it’s the first title that I’ve ever felt completely comfortable with for eight years. And I’m great at, like, finding my client’s title, you know, being an outsider, looking in. But it was the first thing that I’ve said, a business scientist, that when it when I say it, it rolls off your tongue, so sweet. First of all, I love business like I love the conversation of business, the good, bad and the ugly. As a business. I enjoy every piece of it. I enjoyed science, too, and every sentence that I suggest or write or whatever for a client is backed by science and it makes me feel like I’m contributing a little bit extra because I throw that in there when I work with a company, the business part and the science part worked perfectly like large companies, large corporations, because I work with their people and there are certain rules that need to be followed in large companies that maybe an entrepreneur can get away with, but a large company can. You know, the business science part fits that better than me just being a consultant. Right. Like I have something to give them. I have a report that I can write like nobody’s business. And so the business scientist is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever been in my life. So I stick with that.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:38:58]
So do you have a background in science, per se, that helped you come to that business scientist title when you grow up sort of thing.
Catherine Barton [00:39:07]
Yeah, I started off in psychology and went on from there and then the science part that I love, first of all, I like to read that kind of stuff. I don’t want to be the nerdiest person you’ve ever had on this panel because maybe you want to get rid of some of the things said.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:39:27]
This is number one. So we had not long ago. A guy who was born blind and got his PhD in organic chemistry, and I don’t want to paint with brush that he’s the guy, but he’s got the creds at least. And yeah, and we had a blast talking some of the stuff. If I dialed back, I’m sure we got others we had. OK, so my publisher that that I work with on our on our book writing programs and then that work with personally, she got her PhD in flute performance and she did her dissertation on like fully cataloging master-student relationships of all notable flute players. Wow. That was how she did. So we’ve had geeks on this thing and those of us listening to this, whether we want to fly the flag or not, we need to own the fact that that you probably dive deeper into a lot of things you’re interested in than most people that you know, that’s what it’s about. Yes. And interested in things. And and when you are passionate about when you enjoy it, there’s always a good conversation we had around it.
