Meet Braden Daniels: Leadership Strategist & Mentor @ Lead Like a Magician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Braden Daniels and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Braden, how do you think about risk?
In my Lead Like a Magician Leadership and Creativity workshops I talk extensively about The Three Sirens of Fear. In Greek mythology, a siren’s enchanting ballad would lure sailors toward their peril by crashing their boats into the rocks or by compelling them to leap into the ocean. Symbolically, these three Sirens represent Temptation, Desire, and Risk. The siren of risk sings the verses of self-criticism. It is a disempowering habit of expressing adverse, disapproving comments, or judgments against oneself. This inner voice focuses your attention on the risk that you aren’t good enough, you don’t know enough, your competition is better than you, and no one cares what you have to say anyway. This siren song enters your ears and goes deep into your being, attacking your credibility and eroding your confidence. The siren of risk wants you to destroy yourself well before you make it ashore. The third siren you hear is Risk. Risk comes to you as the voice inside your head that wants to make you feel afraid and that putting your ideas out there is risky, and other people are bound to judge you, and then they will realize you aren’t perfect. Your inner critic must be dealt with head-on because it intends to attack your credibility so that you never take a risk. The inner critic is the voice of your self-doubt waging war on your confidence and assurances. As you grow, your inner critic grows, and the more you fight through it the more it comes back again, there is no end to its criticisms. For every act of creation, your inner critic wants to balance it out with an equal amount of destruction. This increasing imbalance in your mind between security and insecurity is where your inner critic gains its power. Here are some strategies to help you gain back your security: Identify the critic. Ask, who is this critic? Is it truly you, or is it someone else? Describe this critic so you know exactly what the critic looks like when it decides to show up. Seek and acknowledge the truth in any underlying points your critic is making. See if you can address those points. For example, if your critic tells you that you don’t have enough experience, and it may be true, ask what you can do to gain the experience? Seek and acknowledge the false in any underlying points your critic is making. If your inner critic says you don’t have enough experience, go back and review the experience that you do have in this area to regain your confidence. Create a ritual and sacred space to work freely. Push your critic out of this space, make it very clear that they aren’t allowed to enter here. This approach of identifying your inner critic allows you to recognize it as a separate mechanism inside you that is polar opposite to your creative and generative side. Left unchecked, the melodies of your inner critic will rustle up a fear in you that can paralyze your creative efforts. As creatives, we must do what Odysseus and his men did. Taking a large block of beeswax, a gift from Circe, he breaks it into small pieces and gives one to each of his men. He tells them to soften it and put it into their ears. In this way, they will not hear the song of the Sirens. He has his sailors tie him firmly to the ship’s mast and they row the ship alongside the island. When Odysseus hears the words and the music, the song enchants his heart. He longs to plunge into the waves and to swim to the island. He wants to embrace the Sirens. He strains against the bonds which hold him to the ship’s mast. He strains so hard that the bonds cut deeply into the flesh of his back and arms. Nodding and scowling at his ear-plugged men, he urges them to free him. Expecting this reaction, the men row harder and harder with their oars. To Odysseus, who is bewitched by the song, the Sirens look as beautiful as Helen of Troy. To his crew, made deaf with beeswax, the Sirens seem like hungry monsters with vicious, crooked claws. The ship speeds forward, and soon the song of the Sirens is an echo of an echo. Only then do the crew members stop rowing, unplug their ears, and unbind their grateful captain. When Odysseus passed the sirens unharmed, the sirens hurled themselves into the sea and were drowned. In order to keep ourselves from the fate of the sirens we must know they exist inside of us, and we must also know how to block their songs from reaching our psyche. In Odysseus’s case, he forced himself to hear the sirens’ songs of Temptation, Desire, and Risk, which confirmed to him, their existence, and he was able to experience the great power they have over anyone who is unaware and unskilled at defending themselves against them. This helpful Greek myth reminds us that there are three sirens of fear to be wary of and that we should not listen to them sing. Fear impacts our overall ability to be free and to create. Listening to the sirens calls forth procrastination, perfectionism, and our inner critic which leads to the destruction of our ideas and the ruin of our creative productivity. 

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Who – My name is Braden Daniels and I have over 20 years experience in Leadership, Training, and Coaching and most recently by helping Blue Buffalo transform itself from a small start up to a Billion-dollar brand within the pet food industry. What – I engage and empower leaders with the secret leadership skills necessary for them to transform themselves, their team, division, and organization. How – I have direct business experience developing leaders from small business to large corporations. I offer the refreshingly unique “Lead Like a Magician” training workshop and coaching program which initiates and teaches secret leadership skills to leaders using the edutaining and transformative power of magic. Benefit – Your leaders will be more engaged and immersed in their leadership skill set so they can start using their new skills to attract, retain and inspire their teams and grow their business in this unique environment. Future- Plentiful, ever evolving, and revolving. Braden is a leadership strategist and professional magician who coaches and mentors business leaders and entrepreneurs through private sessions. Braden also uses his unique skills to edutain teams seeking leadership development through his Lead Like a Magician workshop. Send inquiries to Braden@bradendaniels.com.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
https://dallas.museumofillusions.us/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA48j9BRC-ARIsAMQu3WRRQLCkDdWNawhhPeWnlUzgpKUSlYSo-QFoZaD8YPKQLJq9ANlMBNEaAkI6EALw_wcB Place: The Dallas Museum of Illusions Place: Deep Ellum Restaurant: Fuzzy’s Tacos

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Jeff McBride at The McBride Magic and Mystery School. Author Julia Cameron book The Artists Way.

Website: www.bradendaniels.com
Instagram: @bradendanielsmagic
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradendaniels/
Facebook: facebook.com/bradendanielsmagic

Image Credits
Mauricio Rojas