FLM: Describe the process from hosting your own Emmy award winning TV show to becoming a best-selling author.
GN: I have always been passionate about interviewing, reporting and featuring people who made it against the odds. So, after decades of interviewing super achievers, successful underdogs and pioneers from all walks of life, one day I asked myself a very simple question: what do all my guests have in common? And that was the beginning of the idea for the book.
That process was parallel with my first steps as a motivational speaker. I realized the more I shared with audiences about the things I learned, the more tools they gained to improve their own lives. Out of this mix of personal experiences, actionable tips and wisdom from super achievers, The Virtuous Circle was born. I have now spoken all across the US and the Americas for different Fortune 500 corporations and organizations including PEPSI CO., Dell, LinkedIn, Century 21 and the Laura Bush Foundation among others.
FLM: You have interviewed many high-profile figures throughout your career, compare the qualities or personas of the people that had the most significant impact on you compared to those that didn’t.
GN: After spending ten years doing interviews with people at the top of their fields — from the arts to science to sports- I noticed that these super achievers had many things in common from their ability to be self-aware of their potential to their daily habits and need to give back.
I summarized these patterns in my book The Virtuous Circle. By the way, I am very proud to share that I am the first Latina signed by HarperCollins Leadership, so I am thrilled to open the doors to many more minority authors. I’ve included a summary below of how people can use The Virtuous Circle in their own lives:
The Virtuous Circle is made up of seven archetypes that live within us. Each one constitutes a phase and corresponds to a particular action. The seven archetypes and their respective actions are the dreamer (visualize), the architect (plan), the maker (execute), the apprentice (perfect), the warrior (persevere), the champion (achieve) and the leader (inspire).
1. The Dreamer: The dreamer’s stage is one of thought and visualization. It begins with the possibility of imagining something that is not yet present in reality. It represents the spark that starts The Virtuous Circle. This is the time to connect with the essence of our inner child, the one who danced happily and carelessly, without wondering how the dance steps came out or if their toddler companions had better rhythm than they did. It is an opportunity to begin to unlearn external conditioning and self-limiting thoughts in order to let our minds fly and see beyond the apparent.
2. The Architect: In this phase, an action map is created with the ideas and concepts that were born in the dreamer’s stage. It is time to make plans, evaluate options, and analyze what the best ways to bring our visions into action may be.
3. The Creator: This is where theory and reality meet. The architect’s plan is put into practice. It represents the moment in which the world returns to us a sometimes-unexpected reflection: The challenges may be greater or different from those we anticipated, the skills we have may not be sufficient, or we may underestimate the time it takes to achieve our dream. We may realize that sometimes even the most “perfect” plans end up being far from that and we need to reassess the next steps.
4. The Apprentice: It is time for improvement. The apprentice stage represents the moment of listening to the internal GPS that asks us to recalculate some aspect of our path to continue moving forward. Now that we’ve seen our ideas in action, it’s time to make adjustments. In the creator stage, we saw what happened when we began to put all of the plans and ideas of the architect and the dreamer into practice. Now, the apprentice has to undertake the search for excellence along the path that makes them a teacher. What talents need to continue being polished? What skills have to be learned to keep moving forward? What strategies worked, and what strategies need to be changed?