The Crossover Between Winning in Sports and Sales Execution

Rachel Cossar: Awesome. Alright. Wonderful. Well, welcome everyone to another episode. Of conversations in the future of work. I’m your host Rachel Cossar co-founder and Ceo at Virtual Sapiens. And today is a very special day because we have the amazing coach k on the show, and we’ll be talking about the crossover. Between winning, in sports, winning in sales execution, Ai communication, you name it. We’re gonna chat about it. So. I’m gonna actually pass it over to you, so you can share a little bit about your background. Whenever you feel is most relevant to share with our audience.

AK Ikwuakor: I mean, sometime that’s the hardest question to ever ask is just Tell me your story. Well, a group as a young lad, just joking. No. I grew up. I was actually send you Rachel just appreciate that have been on the show. And, you know, about me is you know, I’m a triplet. So I have a twin brother. I have a twin sister, meaning that I have some that looks exactly like me. And so that kinda of looks like me, except for just longer hair. But the reason why I mentioned that is because oftentimes when we’re you know, people asking who are we. I literally share my Dna with another person on this planet, but we still have different a hobbies used different beliefs, still my best friend. But even though we’re talking about this topic of winning in sales, winning in sports living in this one which we live in. There’s so many things that I can say about myself that’s gonna fit under that one sentence by. But we all have our own story. We have our own journey. Right? From professional athlete, speaker and a coach it. At Google, have my own company, but overall, I’m a guy that you know, has two amazing little girls. I enjoy climbing, and I enjoy just the ability to have these types of conversations with the humans.

Rachel Cossar: Awesome. I had no idea that you were one of three

AK Ikwuakor: Humans

Rachel Cossar: human sharing a room. That is incredible. So I love that we both share this

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah. Mh.

Rachel Cossar: professional athlete backgrounds. I think it’s rare, but I think it’s so relevant to the work that you do and the work that I do. So I would love to to hear like, on a day to day, level as you work with clients and and do your work? Like? How much are you calling upon that experience as

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah. Well, I was lucky. I I mean, I was not the best athlete starting out. I first played soccer American Soccer. And my dad let me know that I was not very good at it. He was he was my coach because he said that it always kept running pat the ball was too fast. So what I ended up doing actually was lucky enough to run track field at the University of Oregon, was blessed to be four ten All American ranked top ten in the world and then four competed on an international scale. And then from my sporting world, I then went into more coaching about instead of me being, hopefully that superstar helping other people become. That superstar. So in terms of a lot of stuff that I do with the leaders and the teams and that I work with is one thing about athletes is the habits that they build. There’s that skill set. Right? Obviously, they have that… Those abilities. Right? And the higher up you go, you need to have more of those skill sets. And two is that mindset. Right? We all know when you’re… That that app either, any type of performer. It’s… Who are you on that day? How do you help control that anxiety that nerves, how do you make sure that you show up the way that you meet to, even in the midst of all this chaos. Then last thing I usually talk about is that execution part. Is at the end of the day as athletes, you can make the best plan. You can have the best mindset, but when that gun goes off, Who are you going to be? So a lot of the work that I do with, a lot of teams and leaders and even my own sports background is how do I focus on the who that I wanna be? How do I take the actions that I need to take? And how do I create the habits to create that longstanding standing behavioral change?

Rachel Cossar: Yeah. That makes a ton of sense. I think the behavioral change piece is huge in athletics of course, but then also in any kind of profession. Right? Because you think about being efficient with our time. And if we can build muscle memory, that’s really supporting us in effective ways, then we’re kind of ahead of ahead of

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: curve there. Right?

AK Ikwuakor: But we all have muscle memory, we all have muscle memory.

Rachel Cossar: Yep. Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: Except some people’s madison memory is I hit snooze when I wake up in the morning. Right? And so.

Rachel Cossar: Right. Right. Well, exactly. It’s like, how do you make do you make that muscle memory aligned with your intention and your goals?

AK Ikwuakor: Exactly one hundred percent. And that’s really what I the biggest focus on is it’s a lot of the work that we wanna do is how do we align the habits and the behaviors

Rachel Cossar: Right.

AK Ikwuakor: to the person that we wanna be.

Rachel Cossar: Right. Beautiful. And so you’ve touched on this a little bit, even just in your previous answer. But when it comes to performing under pressure. Right? Day comes, You gotta walk out on that stage. You gotta join that intense virtual meeting, Like, whatever the case may be performing under pressure is a huge skill that you also have to develop. So what are some of your top strategies when working with clients on how they can actually show up day out and perform.

AK Ikwuakor: Well, a lot of people feel is though the only way to get ready To focus on your mindset is once the gun goes off. But I do a lot of somatic visualization with a lot of my clients. So I say cool. Let’s let’s let’s bring you into that environment. Right? Mentally somatic. Like, I want you to you’re the floor. I want you to smell what’s in this room. I want you to hear what you hear to really drop them into the place. And then I will throw different stimuli. So now We’re imagine you’re walking on that stage. I want you to imagine that you are meeting with this client. And then from there, I then put them into that place. And then I’m able to identify their emotional state. And I’ll ask a simple question. You about to get onto to that stage. How do you feel? And they might say, oh, I have anxiety. What most people don’t realize is that anxiety in excitement are the exact same to similar motions. Except anxiety isn’t it imagining negative outcomes, while excitement is imagining, positive outcomes. So to switch that, I say, okay, Before you even walk into that room, I want you to list five things that you are the most excited about. Or looking forward to as you walk into this situation. Because at that moment, there’s a negative loop happening in their mind. And by switching that within the somatic visualization, the now learning tools and strategies and how to get into the right optimal state when that situation actually comes up. Now the core thing it, with somatic visualization is, you can literally do it right here. You can literally it from anywhere. You can practice and get that repetition long before you actually get on to that starting line.

Rachel Cossar: Mh. Right. I love you bring that up. I used to do that. Actually Yeah, you know, what’s interesting. I still do that. I… Like, as a dancer and a gym, I had this whole ritual, the night before the competition or that performance and I would go through my routine in my head. I would imagine from my perspective like what the audience would look like the light, how it would feel. And I still do that to an… To a certain extent. Before presentations and keynote and and such like, Do you do you Do you also… Like, do you practice what you preach?

AK Ikwuakor: Our products what I, but I’ve done it so much now.

Rachel Cossar: Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: That it becomes a habit. Like, I know right now. What do I need to do?

Rachel Cossar: Mh. Right. Right.

AK Ikwuakor: I just did a breathing in pattern that dropped any type of anxiety that I may have had. And so what you’re not seeing is the internal practicing of the repetition of now I know the mechanisms to put myself in to that optimal state that I’m trying to be in for any moment.

Rachel Cossar: Right. Right. Which brings us back to what you said earlier about building those new habits and that muscle memory to support you so that you can do it.

AK Ikwuakor: Mh. But that’s interesting though that you say this because a lot of people

Rachel Cossar: Right like that. Yeah.

AK Ikwuakor: me, how do you build better habits? Ask well the problem isn’t actually our habits, because the moment we’ve actually been able to get that habit. It’s it’s no longer an issue. We don’t have to think about it. What people are really saying is two questions. One, how do I make sure I’m taking the right actions? And the more important question is how do I stay consistent. Right. Not the biggest challenge. It’s not habits, like, that Nike thing just do it. Well, if it was just do it I’d already be doing it.

Rachel Cossar: Mh. Right. Right.

AK Ikwuakor: So it’s about people are really asking is,

Rachel Cossar: Right.

AK Ikwuakor: how do I stay consistent and how am I gonna take the right action And that’s the question or the answer that, a lot of us are really solving for in this type of

Rachel Cossar: Right. Right. And do you often get

AK Ikwuakor: work.

Rachel Cossar: the question of, like, how do I get rid of nerves.

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah. Yeah. I look at it in two ways. One, you also have to understand where nerves or Atp or that type of adrenaline is helpful. And not helpful. So on an athletic field, on the one hundred meter dash? Cool. Have that nurse. Have that a adrenaline because when the gun goes off, you wanna move. But for speaking, I tell people, nerves doesn’t actually serve you well. In the speaking world. And be honest ask, what do you mean? Don’t… If if if you’re if it’s if it’s important to you shouldn’t you be nervous. And I, yeah, Well, let’s let’s start off. People might say oh that. First five minutes was kinda shaky, and then what happened, It felt easier. Why? Because the nerves went away? So what I usually tell people is that oftentimes the reason we get nervous, is because we’re overly h this situation. So what I tell people to do is d hype the situation. So instead of saying I’m talking to this big audience, say, no. And I’m having a conversation with some friends, or I’m having a conversation with Rachel, about what I feel about coaching. Right. How many times can we d hype this situation and instead of trying to rev ourselves up. That affecting our adrenal glands until we get so overwhelmed that when we get on the stage,

Rachel Cossar: Yeah.

AK Ikwuakor: become a fight or flight response if we don’t do well

Rachel Cossar: Yep

AK Ikwuakor: So indirectly when I’m saying, I got this big presentation, which you’re indirectly saying is I got this big thing. And if it doesn’t work out well,

Rachel Cossar: Okay.

AK Ikwuakor: and is gonna be something negative that happens versus d it, just a conversation.

Rachel Cossar: Right. Yeah. No for sure. I think when I I I I hear people frequently are struggling with this issue with I I get so nervous and then while the ph physiological responses. And I think the other thing that can help is there’s a difference between getting, like, having the the nerds disappear and Not

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: Expecting to ever have them versus learning learning how to acknowledge that you might be nervous. Understand why. And then as you said, pop some of these strategies to d d hype, I think oftentimes people are looking to just never be nervous again. It’s like

AK Ikwuakor: You’re not. Well, but but think about it, if you were to watch Ph physiology,

Rachel Cossar: Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: clue happening to people, when they’re nervous, two things are happening. Either they freeze up and they stop breathing,

Rachel Cossar: Right. Yeah.

AK Ikwuakor: or they start to do panic breathing. Right? So it’s almost imagining yourself in a swimming pool. And you’re trying to have a conversation my joke. I’m trying I’m trying to grab air. Right? And that’s what’s happening.

Rachel Cossar: Yeah. Mh.

AK Ikwuakor: And so what I tell people is if you really wanna calm your nerves, It’s not always about. Because like take a deep breath, But if you’re taking a deep, breath, you’re bringing in more oxygen. It’s actually in the breathing out that actually allows for the relaxation.

Rachel Cossar: Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: So breathe in.

Rachel Cossar: Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: So break this out. And that was like gonna help relax that nervous system.

Rachel Cossar: Right. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I’m curious because a lot of your work involves that somatic experience, people connecting with their bodies, etcetera. How is your work evolved over the past few years. Specifically, with regards to some of the virtual kind of technology changes.

AK Ikwuakor: Is the longer I do this work the more I actually realize how much I need to simplify it. And, you know, even when who talk about a future of work. Yes, there’s gonna be more technology. Yes, there’s gonna be more things out there. But one one thing is gonna be constant. It’s gonna be humans working with

Rachel Cossar: Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: humans. And so understanding what makes humans thrive, What makes humans drive. What makes humans interact in the world in which they do, I think it’s gonna be key. And so as the future of work ago, Actually just got back from a five day darkness who retreat. That’s, you know, sensor deprivation, pitch black for five days. Is that I actually believe the more that we’re bringing in technology or trying to get these solutions that are outside. The more that it’s actually gonna focus to go more intros, and internal to solve that. And we’re already seeing this in no way When we first started, we could say if we wanted to get information, and we had to go to where the library.

Rachel Cossar: Right.

AK Ikwuakor: Then the library went to where the Internet. Then the Internet then went to, our phones. Now it went to, hey, you just type something into chat Or any of some of these other Ai applications or technology app occasions. You get your answers right away. But what’s the next stage? You can’t get any closer other than maybe, like chip in your brain. That’s most likely already happening.

Rachel Cossar: Yep. Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: But I think the next step is really gonna be. People are gonna realize well. It was no longer about knowledge anymore. Who’s gonna help me answer the question about, like, why are we here? What’s important to me? Who am I? And I think the future of work isn’t gonna it cause people to go much more internal intros. And going external.

Rachel Cossar: Mh. I hope so. I hope so. I I think because of the space we’re in, which is you know, Ai focused training and on video specifically, like, we get a ton of requests from people asking. Like, can’t you just, like, fill filter, deep fake? To make me just, like, look better or behave differently. And and, you know, we fundamentally believe that building skills in the human user is what’s important. I don’t know if you follow. Did you follow the meta recent launch of their, like, updated, meta,

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah. You mean we’re it’s it’s the lens, but it actually takes a coded view, so it actually looks like to humans that are talking? Yeah. I saw that.

Rachel Cossar: Yeah. Yeah. So like Friedman was doing a little promo for it. And it what he said was fascinating because he showed up and he’s not the most expressive. Person. Right? He’s, like, pretty mono naught. He doesn’t really involve his facial expressions very much. And so he was, like, wow, this avatar so accurate. Now what I have to do is work on my own communication skills

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: so that my target can actually like, not look like as robotic as I am.

AK Ikwuakor: No.

Rachel Cossar: I was like, that’s like… I was like, that’s our we come in. But you know, it’s it’s just funny. It’s

AK Ikwuakor: Now.

Rachel Cossar: attention there.

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah. Is people are still gonna wanna have a human experience. I mean, the way that I look at Ai it is not that it’s Ai or not. Because… Here’s why I actually do a lot of work on the sales side of things. You know I work at Google and people are trying to figure out, like, how do I communicate Ai in a really human centric way. When you look at it as okay. Imagine that for me, I am a speaker. I’m not necessarily a writer. And so what would happen is if I needed to write something. I would write it. But if like, there’s kind of these grammar mistakes I wish it could be formatted in a better way. And so like, okay, I will do a voice note, put throw it into there, and then would actually formulate the thoughts in a much more coherent way. So it is a tool. It is a resource.

Rachel Cossar: Yeah. Right.

AK Ikwuakor: Right. Or what you can do is you can use it all of these other Ai application out there that makes your life easier, But what I see a lot of people doing, is they’re doing more and doing more and doing more versus now you’ve been able to save a whole bunch of more time. Now what you wanna do at that saved extra time?

Rachel Cossar: Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: I wanna go hang off my little ones. I wanna maybe pick up a new hobby. So I think if we look at Ai as a resources in the tool to allow us to not to be spending on time on the things that are actually

Rachel Cossar: Yep. Mh

AK Ikwuakor: not the best for us and re re orient that time the things that we actually wanna do is humans, I think it’s actually gonna be a really big true once that unlock happens.

Rachel Cossar: Yep. Right. And this actually brings us you started talking about Ai specifically. So I wanted to ask, you know, how in terms of communication, whether that’s communication coaching or just the way we in practice humans Right? Like, where do you think Ai plays the biggest rule?

AK Ikwuakor: Oh he. Where does Ai play the bigger role in communication. You know, I talked about this about think a couple of weeks back ago. And you know, what is allowing people to do is, hey, I have this start. Let’s say you have a blog article like, hey, I want to write a blog article on communication of the future. And what that individual does is they then go out and they post that article. And let’s say well, my goodness a second and responses. And so they ask a whole bunch more questions into this document. I mean, into this chat, and in all of these articles. And now they are seen as the expert, but something’s gonna happen. Someone’s gonna say, hey, you expert, hey, you individual that’s been all of the screen contact, content, we want you to come in and speak in our stage or do this interview. But what’s gonna happen? If you just immediately just wrote it, and posted it, Do you actually understand what you’re actually sane. So with the role of Ai and, I actually believe that communication is gonna be a rare art especially this one to one communication.

Rachel Cossar: Yeah.

AK Ikwuakor: Later on because now they’re having these technologies that are speaking for them, but it’s gonna help them through one on one conversation. Through me and you having this conversation. Because otherwise, they might end up being seen like a fraud.

Rachel Cossar: Right. Right. I mean, communications already. Such kind of an an art and science. So it’s it’s

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: but I I agree there’s a certain amount of atrophy. That can happen if we over rely on these tools to do the the work. Right? To save us from doing the work that’s required to really have an understanding of

AK Ikwuakor: Mh What… Hear this though?

Rachel Cossar: of anything, really?

AK Ikwuakor: So I woke up in the morning. And my alarm went off. And then all of a sudden, they realized that Oh my goodness. It’s seven o one. And I need to get my egg waffles out of the refrigerator. See, the reason I say it that way is we realize is just isn’t about the words that you use.

Rachel Cossar: Yes.

AK Ikwuakor: Right. I’m able to make a story about getting egg echoes out of the waffles some motivational, something intent

Rachel Cossar: Yeah. Yep.

AK Ikwuakor: Right? And that’s what we’re not seeing. That’s what the human is able to have. Is that inflection that way out communication is more than just the words that we use, but it’s really about the connections that we are building.

Rachel Cossar: Yep. Yep. Right. The delivery and the emotion and the the choice that we all have in terms of, like, how are you gonna make this land?

AK Ikwuakor: Exactly. Mh.

Rachel Cossar: Right? Yeah. Totally. Totally. So, you know, this episode by the time this episode is shared. We’re actually gonna be pretty closer to the end of the of the year. And so I’m curious. Like, what are you most excited about? Looking forward. Yesterday year, but I feel like things move too fast now. So it’s

AK Ikwuakor: Victor too fast, y’all move to fast.

Rachel Cossar: Mister Handle, like, next month or so,

AK Ikwuakor: What do you do with next week? So let’s go there? Where do you recall by the time you wake up tomorrow? I

Rachel Cossar: yeah.

AK Ikwuakor: I’m actually really excited. There’s been a lot of changes in in my life that are have but at the same time, I always ask this question of well, who do you wanna be? Right? What what story do you wanna tell? And so In terms of communication, I a lot of content coming out where it is more of me just being real. Me just being honest me talking about the the work that I do, the the the people that I’m working with, the impact lessen all that kind of stuff. I have some companies that are you know, launching up in the next couple of months that are also launching in this area. I just did this five day darkness retreat where I had a hundred and forty three audio recordings I’m just like, what it feels like to be in sensory deprivation. So what I’m most excited about is getting out of this cubicle of home and really being able to connect with a lot of people that I think are gonna be going to a lot of stuff. Over the next year as they’re navigating this game as I call it. Called life. Mh.

Rachel Cossar: Oh, yeah. The great game of life. Yeah. No. That’s… I mean, that sounds great. I love the focus on, you know, together ness, but also, like, in internal work. I think that that’s very needed at this time.

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah. Yeah. So thank you. I mean, just communicated a communicator on a really powerful way.

Rachel Cossar: Yes. Yes. Well, thank you. Also on that note, you know, you have so much to share, and I think anyone would be really lucky to learn more from you and work work with you. So how are the best ways for people to just even follow your work or get in touch with you directly?

AK Ikwuakor: Yeah. I mean, if you just type in c k into Google, there’s a whole bunch of information and leaks that will come up. I’ll say the best ways to connect now Linkedin. Coach a k. If you are looking to, like, kind of take that next right move. I have a a book called the next right move starting strong. But I think overall, it’s like, if you’re just trying to figure out you where your team is trying to figure out how, like, take that next right step. Right? What habits you need to build what distractions you remove from your life, what you know, micro habits can you infuse Or maybe you’re just trying to figure out who am I and what’s important to? Loved out of conversation.

Rachel Cossar: Awesome. Alright. Well, you heard it here first. Coach, k, thank you so much for taking the time to join us and sharing all of your amazing insights.

AK Ikwuakor: Present it. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Rachel Cossar: Alright. Talk soon.