Alicia Bazook's clients call her everything from Olivia Pope to Yoda, which means something when you advise individuals and teams and how to be better, more effective leaders.

Alicia's work with the Toronto Raptors, a special advisor to the president, GM, and head coach

earned her an NBA championship ring. She then went on to add a WNBA championship ring with

Chicago Sky. Elisa is here to share how she coaches her clients, some of whom are operating

at the top of their fields to quote, beast it out, how understanding management as information gathering can change the way you manage and why leading others requires you to first know and lead yourself. Alicia, this is my first other Alicia interview. Thank you for doing it.

Yeah, I'm so happy and I'm so curious. Who were you named after?

I am not named after anyone. My mother wanted to

name me Alison Jane and my Cuban father was like, no. And so Alicia was their compromise name.

Got it. I was named after my mom's best friend in Buenos Aires, Alicia. And then they had a massive falling out. And then they

became besties again, fortunately. So I only met her very late at my life. Alicia, you to me are a

person who is naturally curious. You are curious about people. You are curious about systems and how they operate.

What was it about the way you grew up that cultivated that sense of curiosity?

I think that it's probably something that happens to a lot of people who have parents who are immigrants. In my

case, my parents came to this country when my mom was 18. My dad was 23. And my mom spoke high school

English and had her high school degree. My father was the first in his family to go to school, past middle school, and he did not speak

a word of English.

And I just had to figure life out.

And I was observing that through my whole childhood, trying to see what was going to happen

next and what were they going to do, and how could I help them to do it.

This in a way shaped me to have these very keen observational skills and to be a very interested

person. And what I mean is I'm interested in so many little details of the way things work.

One imagines that someone who is a leadership,

...