May 27, 2025 • 62 mins
From the moment our conversation began, I knew this episode would be something special. Meghan Potter brings the kind of energy that lights a fire in your soul. If you’ve ever felt called to do more, lead with purpose, or rise to your potential but weren’t sure how to take that first step, this is the wake-up call you’ve been waiting for.
Meghan Potter is a leadership development coach and founder of Lead Like a Lady Coaching, where she helps new and aspiring managers build the skills and confidence to lead thriving teams. With over a decade of experience in the tourism industry and a background in middle management, Meghan specializes in teaching foundational leadership skills like giving and receiving feedback, navigating difficult conversations, and supporting employee growth. She’s passionate about making leadership less overwhelming and more human, offering practical, bite-sized tools through her social platforms, digital templates, and eBooks. Her mission? To empower more women to step into leadership and enjoy the work they do.
In this episode of The Ripple Effect Podcast, we conversed about what it really means to be a woman in leadership today: the challenges, the pressure, and yes, the superpower of staying calm when things get chaotic. We also discussed career growth, leading with empathy, and why you don't need a title to lead.
This conversation is about more than just professional development. It’s about building momentum, creating positive Ripples in your community, and leading from the heart. Meghan proves that empowering women is more than a mission. It’s a movement.
If you’re here for leadership coaching tips, inspiration for your career, or just need a reminder that you can absolutely do hard things with grace, go ahead and hit play. You’re going to fall in love with Meghan’s energy!
Oh, and don’t forget to follow for more powerful content on women in leadership, personal growth, and the Ripple Effect of being unapologetically you.
You can also watch Meghan’s video interview here: https://youtu.be/HTpJWw7W9Aw
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
There are people who make yousmile, and then there are people
that really make you laugh andwarm your heart in such a
positive way. My next guest,Meghan Potter, is that person. I
have actually followed Meghan fora while because her handle on
Instagram is @leadlikealady_, and I was like, "What
(00:25):
is this?" Right? So obviously,for my community, the ripplecentral.com
forward slash pond,P, o, n, d, that's our
community. We have, we have adesire to bring great content to
our women Ripplers, because wehave this W.O.W. space in the
community called WomenOptimizing Women. So, I initially
(00:45):
thought I'd reach out to her tojust be an interview for there,
but then the more that Ifollowed her, and the more I,
you know, dove into her content,the more I realized that the
podcast was the best place tostart, because she is just such
a phenomenal young woman. Shehas such a amazing and such an
attractive spirit, one that justreally I can see why she's such
(01:07):
a great coach, because she is soeasy to talk to, and she talks
about a little pillow that shehas in her office as a good
reminder of what her superpoweris. I love that you're going to
love that and you're just goingto love her energy, her
enthusiasm, sense of humor andjust the overall vibe. She's
just such a kind person. And Ihave a sneaking suspicion that
(01:30):
we are going to find avenues towork in support one another, in
more projects. And I can'twait, but I can't wait for you
to experience this conversation,because it was that good. She's
just such a rock star that I amjust so grateful she made the
time. We did this on a Saturday,because her schedule was super
busy. She's got, you know, twovery active teenagers and a
(01:53):
two-year-old at home and a growingvery successful coaching
practice. And so, scheduling timeto get this interview had to
be in between school activitiesand naps, and Saturday ended up
being the best day for and I wasso grateful that she made the
time. Think you will be as well.So let's dive into this
interview with Meghan Potter.
(02:20):
Meghan, welcome to the show.How are you doing today?
Thanks for having me. I amgreat. I am great today.
Beautiful day. Just got backfrom the park with my toddler
who did not want to leave thepark, but you know, it is what
(02:41):
it is.
I apologize. I'm sorry. We'redoing this on a Saturday,
because I know you have a busyschedule, and this was about the
only time that you could work itin. Yeah. How many kids do you
have?
I got two step daughters and onebiological son. So, one of the
girls is at a volleyballtournaments day. The other one
(03:03):
is out terrorizing theneighborhood with her gang of
friends, and the other one isnapping.
Well, there you go. I mean,everybody's accounted for, it's,
you know, hopefully it remains achill Saturday for you, and good
luck in the volleyballtournament to your daughter.
That's a big one, I know.So they
won their first game thismorning.
(03:24):
That's great. Fantastic.
Well, I always, I considermyself very fortunate. I get to
meet so many amazing people, andI've actually followed you for a
while on Instagram before Iactually reached out. I just
love your vibe. I love whatyou're doing. One of the things
that we'll talk about maybe, youknow, after we, you know, get
this podcast out, is having youcome back to our community.
(03:45):
Because one of the things thatwe do for my Ripplers is we
actually have a space dedicatedto women. It's called W.O.W or
Women Optimizing Women. And that is actually why I sort of started
following you, because I lovedyour handle so much. Lead Like a
Lady. Tell us about that.
It kind of just came to me oneafternoon. So, I started doing
(04:05):
this because I have just workedfor way too many senior
management who were never taughthow to lead people. They're
great at their jobs. They can,you know, they can run a
business really well, butmanaging the people, they really
seem to struggle. And so I waslike, I really want to snag
people right at the beginning,um, and show them just basics,
(04:27):
like the fundamentals forleading people. And then I
thought about it some more, andI was like, and the biggest
Upswing we're seeing in thecorporate world is women
entering into these executiveroles. And I was like, Okay, I
really like to focus on what itis like to be a woman going
through this process, becausethere are extra challenges,
(04:50):
especially from like, anemotional we're just a little
extra compassionate, a littlebit extra empathetic, and that
can kind of sometimes cloud us alittle bit Sure. Yeah. Yeah, and
so, I was like sitting therethinking, and the alliteration
kind of came to me. And I lovethe idea of a lady like she
holds herself with grace andwith poise, and you know, she
(05:13):
shows respect to the peoplearound her. You know she's not,
she's not putting her emotionsfirst. You know she's, she's a
steady representation out insociety kind of thing. I don't,
I don't want people to thinkthat like to be a lady, you have
(05:33):
to be all like... That's not whatit is. I think probably
came from I had just finished rewatching at the time. I just
finished rewatching Bridgerton,and I was just like, some of
those ladies man, they're justsuch badass ladies. And you
know, if they give them thechance, they would have ruled
the world at the time, right?Yep, they would have, you know.
(05:56):
And if you think about it, theykind of do from the background,
like they're in all theirsitting rooms, and they're like
to their men, and then their mengo out in public, and they're
like, and they just play a game.I was just like, "You know what?"
the grace and one of the nicestcompliments I have ever received
was from someone I used to workwith. It was a colleague of huge
(06:19):
respect for her. But she waslike, "You just seem to lead with
grace and apparent ease," andlike, that was in the back of my
mind. And I was like, "How do Iencompass that?" And it was just
something. I was like, you know,it's very ladylike. Just be
very ladylike. And so, yeah,and then the alliteration, and I
just, I like that.
(06:40):
And so it's a winningcombination. I love that you
focused on that. I love that youtied that. And there's a
why behind it, I think,which is really, really
inspiring. I think that'sfantastic. What do you what do
you sense, obviously, from yourwork will look kind of macro,
and then we can look micro, butlike, what is the problem today
(07:01):
with modern day leadership doyou feel or some of the
challenges that you seecompanies you know, dealing
with?
From my experience, I think thebiggest thing is that we see
these people with greatpotential, and they're really
great at their jobs. They'refantastic at their jobs, yeah,
(07:22):
knocking it out of the park, youknow? And then we go, "We want
you to move up the ladder,because we think you can take on
more responsibility, and wethink that you can handle this,
and whatever." And then we justthrow people into the
neighborhood, and we're like,here's a team of people, however
many people figure it out, andlike, there doesn't seem to be
(07:42):
any unless you take it uponyourself and take the initiative
to find a coach or a mentor, orto read the books or to listen
to the podcasts or whatever, toto grow yourself and learn how
to handle all of these peopleand their lives. Because, like,
there's no such thing it. Idon't think you can leave life
at the door. Yeah, you know,it's always coming with you. And
(08:06):
so we don't teach anyone how tolike, lead a successful team,
and you know how to delegate andhow to provide feedback, so that
our retention rate is, you know,is high, and our people want to
come to work, and what I feellike so many people are missing,
is that if, if we took the timeto invest in our people, our
(08:29):
businesses would just boom, yes.Because if people care about
their work and they want to goto work and they like their jobs
and they like who they work withand who they work for, they're
going to put in extra effortwithout even thinking about it.
That's right, right? And so Ithink that's where we like,
right off the hop. You just wefail our new leaders and make it
(08:52):
really hard for them to becomegreat leaders.
That's that's a valid, reallyvalid point, and I agree
wholeheartedly, kind of makes methink of what I talk about when
I have the opportunity to eithertrain at a company or do a
keynote. I always tell whateveraudience I'm presenting to that
very few of us actually had theluxury of coming out of school
(09:12):
and into that first job andsomebody taking us by the hand
and saying, "Come on, kid, let meshow you how to get along with
the other kids in the sandbox,"Right? And one of the challenges
there is that if you're notsuper good at it at the lower
levels or in those early days ofyour career there, you know, the
companies miss out on a wholelot of potential. But then, like
you say, you find somebodythat's really good at the job,
(09:34):
the tax you know, the blockingand tackling, the day to day
execution in organizations, youknow, they're looking for that
next leader. So like you said,they promote them a little too
quickly, and they don't givethem the resources or
the necessary training todeal with it. And if they come
from that perspective of, "Hey, I'm not
(09:55):
necessarily a people person, orI'm not necessarily a good
communicator, or I'm not reallysuper empathetic." Now, elevating
that into a role where nowyou've got even more power, but
the pressure is on you todeliver on the results. It's
like, you know, it's kind of acrashing of crisis at that
point, and that's why you see alot of burnout in terms of
(10:15):
leadership, speakingspecifically to women. The thing
that I see is, and I'm a hugesupporter of, you know, women in
leadership positions. In fact, Ithink they make better leaders
in a lot of cases than men. AndI think one of the challenges
that they have is they have somuch responsibility that they
(10:36):
carry in before they ever walkin the corporate door, right? I
mean, they tend to just by thenature of all the pressures and
challenges outside of the job,so then you combine that now
into a working role, I have justmad respect for women that do
can live both of those lives. Mywife has been our CFO for a
(10:58):
couple of my companies for theentire time we've been married,
and I'm just blown away by, youknow, to use your word,
the grace and elegancethat she can show up, do her job
and then still manage to keep all the other plates
outside of the company spinning.I feel like I'm a doer,
(11:18):
but I'm just not that big.
I'm like, "How do you guys do it?"I just It blows me away.
I don't even know. Some days,honestly, I think it's a it's a
game of give and take. Like,some days, the home life has to
slip through the cracks so thatthe work life can excel, and
vice versa. And again, in myexperience, and I've seen this a
(11:41):
lot in the social media world,but for women who wish to excel
in a leadership position, youeither have no partner or an
incredibly supportive partner,and that is the only way you can
make it work, because without asupportive partner helping pick
up what falls through the cracksat home, right? There's no way.
(12:05):
There's absolutely no way. Andmy hat goes off to all the
single moms out there. Oh, youare doing it because that is a
new that is an extra level ofchallenge. Well,
like you said, I think one ofthe things that is really
helpful is to have somebodythat's there on the side that
can pick up the slack. But also,I think I actually just heard
(12:27):
this on a podcast this morningwhen I was on a bike ride about
people that get in in the mud,in the the muck, right? Get, you
know, struggle with something insome capacity. A lot of times,
you know, they were actuallytalking about the dynamics
between men and women, which iskind of ironic. I was listening
to this just sort of as a randomepisode, and wasn't in
(12:49):
preparation for today'sconversation. But it's funny how
it actually sort of informs my,my school of thought here in
that they were talking about howwomen tend to sit with a
problem, and they'll sit in themud. They don't tend to complain
a ton. They might complain toother women, close
friends, colleagues, but theygenerally don't unburden any of
(13:10):
the challenges, even to you knowtheir partners, right, or
sometimes you know, even justyou know, family. But men, when
they see their partnerstruggling, they have a tendency
to want to like, let's get itdone. Let's get it fixed, right?
And that's what women need whenthey're going through it or
where they're struggling.Sometimes they don't need you to
(13:32):
say a thing. They just need youto listen and to hear and I
think about my, you know, thework I do in communication and
the dynamics there, I thoughtthat was really important,
because it's not even justlimited to say a romantic
relationship or a familyrelationship, but that also
extends to teens as well, andhaving the ability to have
someone that you can just counton to hear what's going on, you
(13:56):
know, listen to the problem orthe challenge that might be
going there. But there's not animmediate tendency to jump in
and try to get that quick fixand solve it, move
on. I think for men, because weso not trying to generalize for
a lot of men, but most of us areemotionally dumb, right? So we
just kind of want to, like,"Okay, what's the problem? How do
we dive in and fix it so we canmove on?" And that's not the best
(14:19):
approach. And so, I just thoughtit was really interesting as
they were talking about both thehome dynamic and then
ultimately, how it kind of sortof pervades back into the
working environment and thechallenges. And it was
interesting because this subjectmatter expert was talking about,
normally, when women advance upthe ranks into leadership roles,
their circle gets even smaller.They don't have those people
(14:41):
that can they can depend on. Asthose go to resources,
relationships change and alter,especially if, now you've been
promoted within this company andyou've left colleagues behind
that you considered really goodwork or business friends, right?
There's some dynamic there thatbecomes challenging. What do you
see in your work about the issues and how to deal with
(15:02):
that from within thecorporate wall, but then
how to unpackage that at homelater, right? Just to be able
to deal with some ofthe stresses and challenges.
Well, to your point about sometimes it doesn't need
to need an answer. I have hadhuge success when people come to
(15:25):
me and they're like, "Meghan, Ihave a problem," and I go, "Okay,
what do you need from me? Do youneed me to fix it? Or do you
need me to just listen? Like, doyou just need to vent this out
of your system so that you canclear your head and move on?
Because you know how to solvethe problem, or do you need me
to solve it?" And most often,people just need to vent it out.
(15:49):
And usually, through theirventing it out, the solution
comes to them. They're like, "Oh,I can do that."
And you get all the credit forwith and you didn't say
anything, right? I didn't knowanything.
I do. I try really hard not tosolve my people's problems for
them. Most of my backgroundcomes from the hotel and
(16:09):
hospitality industry, verycustomer facing, and most often
they don't need me to solveproblem. They might need me to
give them this stamp of approvalthat, yes, you can do that. They
can figure out what needs to bedone to make the customer happy,
right? So, yeah, usually it'sjust a "What do you need from
(16:29):
me?" And you know, I'll admit I'mnot great at that. At home, I
come home and I vent myself,vent away. And my partner, you
know, he's getting better. Hedefinitely gets better. And he's
starting to ask, "Doyou need me to fix this, or are
we just talking?" And sometimesI'm like, "Would you
(16:54):
do? Yeah, what would you do in thissituation?" just for a different
perspective, like, how would yousolve this problem? And you
know, he and I have verydifferent approaches.
He's very direct, whereas Iwould be like, okay, so I know
that this person's going throughthis and, you know, they're
(17:14):
having this challenge over here,and so I want to approach it so
that, like, they'll be receptiveto what I'm saying, whereas he's
just like, No, no, this is ourproblem. We need to find a
solution. What do you think?Yeah, and sometimes that works.
Sometimes, that works reallywell. But no, for me, it's more,
Okay. Let's look at this personas a whole person. Okay. I know
(17:38):
that their cat just died andthey're moving and they got in a
huge fight with their boyfriend,
and now they've come towork, and I know they
can solve this, I know they cansolve this problem, but, like,
the way that they want to solveit is not how I want to solve it
(17:58):
and it, you know, it's just, Itry and come at it from like, a
holistic perspective, yeah. Andthen when I get home, all bets
are off. All bets are off. Imay, like my partner set does
say, like, I lead the household,but sometimes I just throw my
answer there. I'm like, someoneelse's turn today. I'm gonna sit
(18:21):
right here. I'm gonna doomscroll on Instagram. Let me know
when dinner's ready.
I love it. Well, we talked to wetalked about it from a kind of a
macro perspective, but let'slook micro for a second. And
what do you say to women thatyou're working with, clients
that you're engaged with aboutmaybe even when they haven't yet
(18:42):
achieved a leadership role, howto exude that leadership and
what they do and how they showup. What advice would you give
where by the time this comesout, we'll have a lot of folks
that are graduating in startingto take on that first big
professional job. So how do youdistinguish yourself in those
early days and still feel reallygood about what you're
(19:04):
contributing?
How do you start to exude that leadership quality?
You don't need atitle to be a leader, for sure.
I know a lot of people feel thatway, but you can be a leader
right from the hop, I think backto my early days, and a lot of
it is just taking theinitiative, you know, showing
(19:25):
that you want to help yourcolleagues, you want to help
train the new person. You wantto assist with a project you
know, you want to you might notnecessarily be allowed at the
decision making table, but likeyou would love to hear what's
happening and give your twocents to your leader in your one
on one or whatever. You know, Ifind a lot of it, though, is
(19:49):
just relationships with yourcoworkers. You know, are you
helpful? Are you a problemsolver? Are you taking the
initiative to get something donewithout someone standing over
you being like this? This, andthis needs to be done, because
that's exactly like, that waswhat caught my boss's
attention at the time. We hada whole whack of new students
(20:09):
coming in for their summer jobs,kind of thing, and I just took
them all under my wing. And Iwas like, "Okay, guys, this is
how this works here." And made sure that I had kind
of like one-on-one check inswith them once a week-ish, just
to see how they were kind offitting in. And I felt at the
time that it coming from acolleague was a little less
(20:33):
intimidating than coming fromtheir boss, especially so
because so many of these kids,like, you know, 18 to 19-year-olds
were coming in andyour boss isn't your teacher.
And so, I don't know what it is,but there's a little bit much
more intimidation. And so I was just like,
(20:53):
"Are you strugglingwith something? Can I help
you get through something?" Standing up like I
said I was in the hotelindustry, like, when someone
starts screaming, because theyalways do. There's always that
one person that starts screamingat the front desk agent,
because it's the front desk.
(21:15):
Works flawlessly every time,right?
And so, it's just like steppingin, being like, "I understand
that you're upset, butwe do not tolerate being spoken
to that way, so we are more thanhappy to work with you as soon
as you have calmed down," kind of being a defense
between them, and that's really,that's what caught my boss's
(21:37):
attention. Was like, "Hmm, maybewe should give her her first
supervisor promotion" Andthen just keep doing that. Yeah,
yeah. Like, don't stop, right?Leadership is a journey.
It's momentum. You gottakeep going, keep doing it. And
so it's not just like, I'm goingto go in today and I am going
(22:00):
to, you know, show so and so,how to do whatever. No, no,
every day. What are you going todo today that's going to help
somebody else? Yep, what are yougoing to do today that's going
to help somebody else, makesomebody else better? Because,
whether you know it or not, inturn, you're making yourself
better, right? Yeah, by doingthat. So, I always call
that the Ripple. My approach to that
(22:22):
is, every action that you haveor you take on behalf of someone
gives you the opportunity toreally make a positive
difference or a negativedifference, right? You can make
good or bad Ripples, but ifyou're intentional about making
that impact on a daily basis,and that's the goal, like you
said, and I love how you phrasedit is the act of doing it
(22:43):
certainly is huge for the personthat you're doing it for, and
they will remember that, becauseI still remember a lot of people
taking a lot of extra time tohelp and guide me throughout
those early days of my career.But it feels amazing when you
also know that you made adifference and you made an
impact. And I think one of thethings that I always encourage
(23:04):
leaders to do is you've got tofind those leadership reward
moments that every day of of youknow, every single day, strive
to make a couple of impacts, andthen go back through your day.
Maybe you know, as you lay yourhead on the pillow that at night
and you say, "How'd Ido?" Right? How's my self
assessment? Just
(23:25):
gotta get more excited for theirsuccesses than your own. Right,
you gotta get really excited Ido, like when someone else does
something. So for instance, Iwas coaching this one guy. He
was a Front Desk Agent. He'dbeen promoted into a supervisor
role, and at a different hotel,a manager's role had come up,
(23:45):
and he's like, do you think Ihave what it takes? And I was
like, it's going to be alearning curve. But yeah, I do
think you've got the potentialto crush the drill, to crush the
crush the role, but it is goingto be a huge learning curve. And
so I coached him through theinterview process. He ended up
getting the job. I coached himthrough the first three months
(24:06):
of his job. And I was like,every time I talked to him, I
was like, yeah, yes, you did it.I'm so proud of you. Like,
right? Like, and I know that Idid good work too, but I don't
really even care that I didn'twork just so stinking proud of
what he accomplished. I lovethat. Yeah,
(24:27):
yeah. But you know, when youwhen you're a leader, and you
have that pride of ownership andwhat your their outcome is,
which I think is really whatleadership is all about. It's
making your people better. Itell people I own a software
company in addition to what I dofor Ripple, but I'm always tell
people, I might be the CEO, butI really consider myself the
CDG. I'm the Chief Dumb Guy,right? So I bring in the most
(24:48):
brilliant, amazing people to dostuff, and they make me look
good because of it. So there isthat ancillary benefit, but I'm
really, really particular aboutwho I want on my team and how
they are going to represent thecompany, and of course, me
and everything that we do, thefact that you're in hospitality
certainly tracks and aligns withwhy you're a really good coach,
(25:09):
because you see the best andworst of people, right? You
know, in those environments. AndI, I grew up sort of fancying
myself as is a really kind of acustomer service geek, because I
love delighting people,and I love turning really
negative situations intopositives, where you have
somebody who, like you said,might be screaming or yelling or
just very unhappy, and by theend, they're like, "I'm so darn
(25:32):
glad that I'm stilldoing business with you," or that
"I showed up," and those things I
tell everybody, we're not in thesoftware business. We're in the
customer service business. We'rein the relationship business.
And I think that when you lookat organizations across the
board, they certainly need moreof what you're training on.
Because, you know, there's,there is a serious lack of it
(25:56):
for a lot of companies. And itreally, I think, comes down to,
you know, leaders, not knowinghow to do that themselves, not
knowing how to navigate, youknow, those conversations and
really, truly train those peoplewhen you start from because your
experience really sort offostered how you look at the
world and how you go about, sortof doing what you do. And does
(26:18):
the same for me, being able toapply it and then seeing those
wins or the payoffs, whetherit's a turning a bad customer
situation into a good one, orseeing like, you know, that
individual you were justspeaking of, just blossom and
take off in their career.
It's addictive. It's so good.
It's so awesome. Yeah,
(26:42):
go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Iwas gonna say I have a pillow
that I keep in my office atwork, and it says "Calm is a
Superpower." And the guy thatI was coaching, he was the
(27:04):
first one. He was my first. Thereason I really wanted to help
him so bad is because he lovedthat saying so much. And I was
like, I have that pillow,honestly, to remind me to just
cool my jets. Yeah, Cool yourjets. You know, take a breath.
Calm is a superpower. Calm is asuperpower. Do not match the
(27:24):
energy that is coming at you.
I love that. That should be thetitle of your book.
That was great. I hope it's nottrademarked. Yeah, I hope nobody
else has that yet. You
just call it, "TheMeghan Potter system of
Calm is a superpower." You'regood,
you're covered, perfect. How didyou make
(27:47):
the change from being in thehospitality space to saying,
"Hey, look, I want to take thesesuperpowers and apply them for
the good in all these otherarenas." How did you get into
coaching?
I was on maternity leaveactually. And as much as I love
being in the hotel world, it isnot conducive timing wise and
(28:09):
time commitment wise, with atiny, you know, manageable with
older kids that can be indaycare after school care or in
school during the days, youknow, all of that kind of stuff.
But with a little it's, it's alittle harder. And so I was
really struggling with, Okay, doI go back to my hotel job, or do
(28:32):
I do something else? And it'slike, if I do something else,
what's that going to be? Yeah,that's not going to be like, you
know, world's expensive. Stillneed to make money.
Baby needs diapers. I mean,
we diapers are expensive. Yes,they are and so, you know, I
(28:52):
really thought about it. I usedto, like, one of my hobby
passions is photography. Lovephotography. Was like, "Hey, do I
want to, like, pursue thatpassion and turn that passion
into money, like, into a job?"And I was like, "You know what?
No, not really." Like, I likedoing it. Like, I really like
doing it, and I like the processof taking the photo and
(29:13):
processing the photo and thenhaving a beautiful photo at the
end. But no, I don't want thatto be my job. I feel like it'll
take away the joy. Did
it just becomes a job, and it'snot something exactly.
And so, I was thinking about andI was like, you know, what I
really should be doing is Ireally should be helping people
figure out how to be that firsttime manager. Yeah, because when
(29:38):
I look back at my career, thatwas the hardest struggle that I
went through. It wasn't enteringthe workforce and
navigating that. It wasn'tgetting the next management job.
It was that first job where itwas like, "Okay, I gotta deal
with these people, but I've alsogot to learn how to deal
with myself, and I need to learnsome emotional
(30:00):
intelligence, and I need tolearn how to put my
problems aside to help otherpeople." And that was the hardest
part. And I was like, and Icannot be the only one that
struggled. Yeah, I cannot be theonly one. And then, you know,
thought about it some more, andI was like, there. There are no
programs, you know, and theprograms that I have found and
(30:23):
have done, they're all the same,yeah, you know, they all kind
of do an umbrella/eyebrow, overview of what
leadership means. But they don'tactually get into, like, okay,
how am I supposed to givesomebody some negative feedback
and have them receive it, yeah?Like, how am I supposed to have
this conversation that I'mshaking nervous about having to
(30:45):
begin with? Like, how do I tellthem that what they did is not
what we're looking for withoutthem being like, I am the worst
person in the world, becausethey're not, right? Like, just
the product of this one task isnot what we were looking for,
right? Like that is not who youare. Like, I need to nobody
(31:05):
teaches you that, no, right?Like, I was just like, "You know
what? That's what I want to do."That's awesome. Talk to talk to
some family. My brother is mybest friend. He is in a director
level position of his own, andhe was like, "Yo, Meghan. If
someone would have done that forme, I would have had a few more
(31:30):
nights of sleep, you know, like,I wouldn't have gone home and
stayed awake all night going, Icannot believe that's how I
handled that situation. I cannotbelieve it." And, you know, talk
my parents both have great jobs,and talk to them, they're like,
"No, Meghan, you'd be really goodat it." And then I just expanded
out into some friends and somecolleagues, and I was like,
(31:52):
"Do you think this issomething like, Am I qualified?
Am I qualified to be doing this?"And, you know, I don't know if
it was people were like, didn'twant to say no and be
unsupportive, but everyone waslike, No. That would be a really
good thing for you to do,especially since you do come at
the leadership approach just socalmly and like, okay,
(32:15):
let's take a breath. Let's lookat the big picture. How
are we going to navigate throughthis. I'm not saying I'm
perfect, and I know everythingstill learning, but I forget
what the question was. I startedrolling off,
yeah, just how you got intocoaching? I mean, yeah,
(32:37):
yeah, maternity leave and justdecided not to go back to
my job, and started doing thisand slow go at first, but it has
allowed for it has allowed forme to be more present in my
(32:58):
family life actually took on apart time job just so that
I could talk to people. But Ican, I can do that right, like I
can work four hours a day andtalk to other people and, you
know, get out of my house andstill do this and still balance
(33:24):
the family and it, it just seemsto work really well for us, at
least right now. That's
good. I mean, yeah, I often seepeople you know that you just
have this gut feeling they'reeither misaligned with the work
that they're doing or theyhaven't quite figured it out.
That was something I love thefact that you just communicated
that, because that's exactly howis feeling. Not only just
(33:45):
following you on Instagram, butjust in this conversation, there
are certain people that aredestined to do great things.
You, without question, aredestined to do great things. You
have such a calming nature. Imean, I'm like, hell. I need, I
need you to coach me. I mean,
I love the pillowsaying, because you bring that
(34:06):
into the conversation. And Iwant our audience to know we
actually have never met prior totoday. We, you know, interacted
back and forth. And you know,this was, you know, sort of a
leap of faith on your part tocome on this show from this guy
you didn't even know, and yetyou were cordial and you were
kind and very responsive andfollow up. But then to get in
(34:26):
this conversation, I feel likeI've known you for 20 years, and
that's a qualitythat I think not everybody,
especially a lot of coaches, donot, have. So I can see why
you're successful and why it's,you know, starting to really gin
up for you, because you deserveit in you, you, you are destined
to, you know, continue to growthis business, because I think
(34:49):
more and more people need toknow about your approach and the
work that you do. But at the endof the day, I think if they
spent five minutes with you,they'll be like, I found it. I
found my coach. This is who Ineed to be talking to. So, yeah.
I had a
lady yesterday reach out to meon Instagram. She's like, "Where
have you been? My entirecorporate life?"
I was like, "I've been here, girl,right here. It's just been
(35:12):
waiting for you to find me. Imean, how are you? What can I do
for you?
The algorithm finallybrought us together." It's great,
right? Exactly. Well, speakingof Instagram, that's how
you firstlanded on my radar. You do a
really, really good job withyour videos. They're
interesting, they're impactful,they're eye catching. The topics
(35:32):
that you do about how to give orreceive feedback, how to show up
and lead. But you know, let yourpeople figure out
what they need to be doing tolead. I love all of your
approaches. How did you getgoing in that sort of that
space, and what's been theexperience thus far? Is it, you
know, are, are people beating apath to your door because of
(35:53):
these posts? Or what you know,what's your experience been thus
far on social media?
Bit of a roller coaster, tobe honest. Kind of up and
down. It was really slow tostart. I just started, honestly.
There was no I was like, I canthink about this as much as I
(36:13):
want, but thinking that it's notgoing to do anything. So I just
started. And you know, if you goall the way back to the
beginning. They're awkward.They're awkward posts, the
awkward captions, you know,trying to figure out what
my voice was gonna be, you know,my style was gonna be, what I
(36:34):
wanted to talk about, like,because when I went into it, I
had like, 1000 ideas, yeah, thatwas like, You know what? Over
the course of time, we'll figureit out. We'll figure it out. We
just got to start. So we juststarted. And so, yeah, we've,
we've gone through some ebbs andflows. We were really slow for a
(36:54):
while, but we have recently hadan upswing, which is really
nice. I went into it with verylow expectations that I would
get anywhere. I'm just like, Youknow what? I'm gonna try. I'm on
maternity leave, so why not?Right? And I'm just gonna give
it a shot and see what happens.And look what happened. Look
(37:17):
what happened.
Over 16,000 people following youon Instagram. I mean, it's just
insane. I love it, though. I andI know exactly why they follow
you, because it's the samereason I followed you. I'm like,
Okay, I love the content, I lovethe energy, the vibe, but I
really love you. I mean, I likeit, like what you bring into the
world, and I think that theworld is responding and showing
(37:38):
up in kind because you're doing,what you're supposed to be
doing.
Thank you. It does feel good. Itdoes feel good to be doing this
like there doesn't feel likethere's any resistance. Yeah,
right, and that is, that's huge,you know? I feel like most
people feel resistance untilthey something clicks and they
(38:00):
find their sweet spot. Yeah, Iagree. You know, I just at the
beginning, I was the resistance.But, yeah, no, I think now that
we're kind of into a swing andwe've got a little bit of a
system happening, and, you know,a pattern and a rhythm that we
can, that we can create thiscontent, and then, you know, be
(38:25):
building more things on the backend for in the future. And, you
know, my hope is to be able tohelp as many people, even if you
can't afford a coach, right?Like, how can I help you if you
can't afford a coach? Well, Ican write down all of my ideas
and give them to you. You knowwhen? Well, I read books and
(38:49):
started to figure it out. So youcan read books and start to me,
yeah, um, yeah, yeah. Just itfeels good to be aligned with
with what we're doing. I
love it. And I did look back atsome of your earlier, you know,
videos. I don't, I don't see theawkwardness I but I was there. I
know exactly I'm don't go lookat any of my stuff, please,
(39:11):
because all the freaking time.But you, you just, you could
tell, like, something shifted alittle bit in your content. And
I could see that the topics thatyou started to or over the
course of, you know, let's saythe last few months, really,
really hone in on areas that youyou're casting a wide net in
(39:32):
certain capacities. But it, itis actually really, really
beautiful in terms of astrategy, because almost every
one of your posts applies tojust about anybody out there.
And I love the fact that, youknow, there's a strong
concentration for women inhelping them figure out what
they need to do to become theleaders that they are destined
(39:52):
to become. But at the same time,your content is benefiting, you
know, both men and women, and Ithink that's just. A real credit
for you, credit to yourcreativity and the approach that
you take for doing the post isInstagram the only area that
you're putting your time andenergy in. And if so, why is
that? The only one is as opposedto the other platforms?
(40:14):
At the moment, yes, contemplatedTikTok for a while, but at the
time, it was like, "Is TikTokgonna be here or not?" Like that.
We're back to that could go awayin June, right? And I was just
like, "You know what? I'm notgonna put the effort into
something that might not exist in a couple months." So, I
(40:36):
avoided TikTok. We are onthe backend, starting to build
out what will eventually be aYouTube channel, some longer
form content and whatnot. To behonest, I just have to get more
comfortable being in front of acamera. I get in front of a
(40:57):
camera and I'm like, myscripts right in front of me.
You can just read your scriptthat you wrote, but I go, so,
right, we are going to getthere. We will get there, but
the goal is to have a YouTubechannel soon, and then I think
(41:20):
that will probably be it for thesocial media point. You know,
YouTube is a huge undertakingthat longer form content, just
from the editing side of things,if I can get through the if I
can stumble through my scripts,the editing is what's going to
take the longest time. So
(41:41):
well, you know, think about too,because you're doing such a
great job on Instagram reels,that shorts maybe is a good way
to get that, you know, thatfollowing started. It blows me
away. How many people actuallyreach out to me off my shorts,
but they, they never watch orpay attention to the long form
content, so they YouTube's donea pretty good job of trying to
implement, you know, you know,an alternative to reels. And
(42:06):
once that algorithm figures outwhat you're really into, and
especially in professional orpersonal improvement, or, you
know, figuring out developmentof the skill sets to be a better
human, better worker, whatever,it's really good at serving that
up, once that content that thatyou create is out there, because
I have a have a friend, thatsays that YouTube pays really
(42:27):
close attention to whatInstagram is trending and how
it's working, and so the factthat you're doing and killing it
over there, I think that's anatural for YouTube. I think
not only will they follow you toyou know, to you know, to that
platform as well, but that youknow when you're ready for the
long form content, you know theaudience is already built in and
ready for you. So, yeah, I think
(42:48):
same thing to me last week.Yeah, exact same thing. He's
like, "Meghan, why aren't you?" Andit just feels like it's another
like thing. I have to do anotherinterview. He's like, "Use the
same videos. Use same videos,the same caption. Just
start posting them over theretoo, for the people who refuse
to have Instagram." And I waslike, "Oh, I guess you could do
(43:10):
that." Yeah. He's like, I wastalking to him last night, and
he's like, so he started. I waslike, "No,
well now I'll hold youaccountable too. So now you got
two people
there. Now I got two people."
What's the best thing aboutbeing a coach? In your opinion,
watching other people succeed? Ilove that. Honestly, watching
(43:33):
other people go after theirdreams and get what they want.
It. I just love it. I absolutelylove it. I think it is so cool
to watch someone put in theirwork and then be rewarded for
it.
I love it. I love it. I can talkto you all day. I love I love
(43:58):
everything about what you'redoing out there in the world.
And we're definitely going tohave to do a follow up episode
at some point. But I want to berespectful of your weekend and
in time with your family. So Iwant to wrap up, if you're okay
with it, I always ask a fewRipple Connection Questions here
at the end, just to kind of givepeople a sense of kind of who
you are as an individual. Okay,are you good with that? Yeah,
that's great. All right, cool.There's no gotcha questions, I
(44:19):
promise. So I should do thatsometimes, just to make it a
little bit interesting, but Iwill do that today. But what did
the seven-year-old version ofMeghan want to be when she grew
up?
Oh, okay, seven, so grade three.I think I wanted to be a
teacher. Okay, I think I wantedto reach I really liked my grade
(44:42):
three teacher. To this day. Istill know his name. I still
remember some of like, thelessons and the classes that we
did. I think I wanted to be ateacher. Got a vet. Oh, those
are good. I can't and look
what you're doing now.Technically, through your
coaching, you are teachingpeople, yeah, what's. Skills and
how to how to show up, you know,as their authentic selves in the
(45:04):
workplace. You're, you sort of,you know, tick that box,
probably unknowingly, but, youknow, well done. So thank you.
What do you like to do? Youknow, coaching when you're
absorbing so many individualsituations can be super
stressful and can wear on you asa coach. So how do you
decompress? What do you do tojust, you know, focus on
(45:27):
Meghan's, you know, mental andphysical health,
family time, a lot of it, andgoing for walks, especially once
the weather turns nice again,like when it's not minus 40
degrees outside,
I do walks at minus 40 degrees.
No, I don't usually do walkslike and I usually don't do
(45:52):
walks below zero. It's
probably a good rule. Yeah, Idon't
know. You know, I used to livein the Canadian Rockies, and
winter didn't bother me livingthere. I think it was probably
because there's so many thingsto do outside, and so you just
kind of bundled up and dealtwith the cold. But now that I
live in a city, there's not asmuch to do. I really don't like
(46:15):
going outside in the cold, yeah.Why? Why put myself through
that? If I like being warm andcozy. Let's stay warm and cozy.
So, yeah, so going for walkswhen I can, especially solo
walks, those are really nicewith just music, like not
learning anything, notlistening, you know, just be
(46:38):
kind of thing. And then familytime. I love playing with my
kids. I love just hanging outwith my man
just being.
I love that. When you're on yourwalks, what kind of music
really does it for you whenyou're listening?
Okay, don't, don't judge me.Okay. I love country music, all
(47:00):
right, I love country I'm
in Texas. I tell people
that that was one of the things.When I first met my partner, he
was like, country music, really.And I'm like, love me or leave
me. Yeah.
(47:20):
Who's your favorite countryartist?
Oh, probably Thomas Rhett, yeah,yeah. Long time fan, yeah. Long
time fan. He came to town liketwo weeks before my son was
born, so I missed his concert.Oh, sad. I don't know when he'll
be back.
Well, I'm not going to say theseis a show of the you know, a fan
(47:42):
of the show, but if he is, youknow, Thomas, you need to get
back up there. Let's go.
Can just ask too, please comeon. Oh, I love that. When
was there someonethat actually played a
significant role in helping youbecome the awesome person you
are today?
A lot of people, honestly, youknow, the obvious of my parents,
(48:06):
my mom and dad were amazing rolemodels. I'm the first daughter,
first granddaughter, firsteverything on both sides of the
family. And so and my parentswere they were young. They
weren't super young, early 20s,but they were young. And so, you
know, I watched my parents buildtheir careers, and I watched
(48:30):
them juggle. I was a competitiveSpringboard diver, so I was in
the pool 36 hours a week. Mybrother was hockey player. He
was on the ice 30 hours a week,and somehow they managed to
build their careers and supportus in our in our passions and
our sports. They were there forall the games and all the
competitions and all the schoolevents and, you know, so I
(48:54):
watched them be able to juggleit all. You know, they had their
bad days. We all have our baddays, but the good days, like
far outshine right, like he, Iremember those way more. I had a
couple really awesome teachers,couple really awesome university
professors, who, you know, letme tag along. Yeah, please. Let
(49:21):
me take a long went to a teeny,tiny school, which was amazing.
You know, my classes were like20 to 30 kids. And you know,
when you didn't understandsomething, you went to the
professor's house and got extrahelp in their living room,
right? Like, not their officehours. And I had a couple
professors that were doing bigthings within the school, and I
(49:45):
was like, "Hey, can I come can Ido everything?" And they were
like, "Sure, come along," and Igot to watch them be leaders in
their own way. And that's cool.And then on. And then I think,
you know, I don't think a lot ofpeople do. Have too much credit,
but I think my kids, honestly,have played a huge role, yeah,
(50:07):
have played a huge role inhelping shape who I am.
You know, I always consideredmyself a patient person. I
really consider myself a patientperson now, you know, like I've
got an almost 16-year-old, an 11-year-old and a two-year-old
Yeah, we juggle a lot aroundhere. I you know, they have made
(50:34):
me a better person through allof our challenges and all of our fun.
I love that. I love that. So,speaking of your kids, if you
were to think about the legacythat you would leave behind when
they think of you, what do youwant them to think and
communicate to othersabout what they learned from you?
(50:58):
I hope what they learned from meis how to be kind to everyone
around them, and how to keep anopen mind that, yes, you can
have your opinions and yourperspectives, but be open and
willing for those to change.Yeah, I, if you'd asked me 10
(51:24):
years ago, I never would havetold you that I'd be a Stephen,
yeah. You know, it is one of thebest decisions I've ever made in
my life. Is great is to jointhis family. See how. You know,
just keep an open mind that onebe willing to pivot. Be willing
(51:44):
to you know, failure isn'tnecessarily failure. It might
just be the universe taking yourpath in its hands and
redirecting you because you arecomfortable. Yeah, you know, you
are comfortable, and the greaterplan for you was not to be
staying this path. You know, youare meant to be over here.
(52:08):
You're not going there yourself,all right, you know, we're gonna
throw a hurdle in your way thatmight suck. You know, that
hurdle might suck. It might be agut punch, yeah, but it's
usually a blessing in disguise.Embrace that pivot, just kind of
go with it, open mind and then,and then, yeah, be kind. I think
(52:30):
I'm doing well with that one. Ithink my kids are kind,
yeah, I love that. I love that.And such great wisdom. What
would you like people who havenever thought about hiring a
coach, specifically the womenthat follow this show that might
think, "Hey, I like what Meghanhas to say." You know, what is it
that you could tell them thatmight say, "Hey, let me reach out
and learn a little bit more, ormaybe explore coaching and what
(52:53):
it could do for mylife and my career"
Hmm, with
my clients, everythingis tailored to their journey, to
their goals, to theiraspirations. And I want you to
(53:16):
show up uniquely yourself,right? Like I don't want you to
show up trying to check all ofthese boxes you think you're
supposed to check. Like, who areyou? Yeah, let's make, let's
make that. Let's, let's make whoyou are grander, you know. Like,
(53:37):
you know, I'm unapologeticallyweird. It's the weird people.
It's the weird people who gofar, the people who try and like
people please and stay in thebox and do the things they're
supposed to do, are the onesthat stay stuck. Yep,
unapologetically you. I lovethat, and we will tailor your
(54:00):
coaching and your journey tothat weirdness
that's awesome, that is really,really powerful. All right, last
two questions,
when you hear the words The Ripple Effect, what does thatconjure up for you?
Every time you say it, Ipicture a pebble in the water
(54:21):
just out it goes, you know, one,one small act can have such a
huge impact. Yeah, huge impact.You go into work in a
bad mood, and you snap at thefirst person you see your entire
(54:43):
team is having a bad day. Yeah,you go into work in a bad mood.
You go, "Hey guys, I didn't sleeplast night. The cat puked on the
carpet. I witnessed a caraccident. Stubbed my toe coming
into the building. Just it's notgoing my way," and people are
going to be like, "Okay. So,how can we help you?" You know,
(55:05):
just like, yeah, simply stating,okay, guys have a really crappy
day today, can really saveeverybody having a crappy day,
yeah? But in the same token, youknow, simply say you did a
really great job, really greatjob on that task. Thank you so
(55:25):
much. That made my life easier,so and so's life easier, or
whatever, that person's going tofeel good, and so they are more
likely to go on to make someoneelse feel good. And then now
you've got two people makingpeople feel good, making and so
on and so on, and suddenly youhave a happy work environment or
a happy home or whatever. It
(55:47):
is amazing how those thingswork, right, both positive and
also negative. And it's reallyempower, powerful for folks to
learn that you know everythingyou do has an impact on the
people you work with the peopleyou lead, people that you're
meeting for the first time, orpeople that might just see you
having the meltdown in front ofthe desk at the hotel.
(56:12):
People will pay attention. Youmight actually become like a
TikTok video if you do thelatter. But
favorite is when you think youknow the one person's losing it
at the desk, yeah, desk, andthen someone else comes up to
you later after that person'sleft, and they're like, "So, I
have the tea. What justhappened? So, like, that's
(56:32):
really dramatic. Are you guys okay?" Yeah, that's awesome. You
know, we know it wasn't you,yeah, yeah, yeah, that's so true. I can think of so many different
scenarios that has played out,and then having that
conversation and walking up tohim and saying, you know, you
handled that like a champ. Andreally it's why, why I fly this
(56:54):
airline, or why I stay at thishotel, or why I go to this, you
know, organization. Because, youknow, not everybody is a jerk,
like,
No, and I feel like more peopleneed to get into the habit and
more comfortable with sayingthings to like, yes, to
employers, and like, let's getmore comfortable saying, Hey,
can I speak to your manager togive a compliment, right? Like,
speak to your manager, and thenwhen the manager comes out, be
(57:16):
like, I just wanted to tell you,I think your staff is
phenomenal. Yeah, they've beenso helpful and so kind. And you
know, even if something's goingwrong, you know, they've kept me
in the loop. They've kept me upto date on the changes. You
know, they're checking in tomake sure I'm okay. Like, let's
get more comfortable withtelling people they're doing a
(57:37):
good job. Yep,
I agree 100% I think that's theultimate ripple for sure. Okay,
last question,
What Ripple can Ibe looking to create for you?
Goodness, I think just being onthis podcast, goodness,
yeah, I think we
have a much bigger audience thanwe do. I just don't want to,
like,
(57:58):
Oh no, but you have, you mighthave a different audience. So I
get to, I get to showcase mythoughts to new people, which
could honestly have a greatbenefit for them and for me and
for you. Yeah, yeah. This is myfirst podcast recording.
(58:22):
No way, really?
So, I have a goal.I haven't put a timeline on it,
but I have a goal of being on100 podcasts. So, when your
request came in, I nearly felloff my couch. I was so excited.
I was so excited.
Oh, that makes me feel sogood.
(58:43):
That's awesome. I will help youfind those other podcasts,
because I know lots of peoplethat need to know you, because
you are freaking awesome.
Thank you so much. You would
never know that this was yourfirst podcast. You were like a
seasoned pro. It's perfect. Ah,
good. Just before
we wrap up, how would you likepeople to follow you? We talked
about Instagram, and I'massuming that's the direction
(59:05):
you might want to push people,but I'll let you share. Yeah,
you can follow me on Instagram,and then if you want a little
bit more from me, I do have anemail subscription list that you
can sign up through my Instagrambio, and I send out an email
once week. I choose a topicevery week, and kind of just go
further in depth than what myInstagram posts go into, get a
(59:28):
little bit more detailed intothem, hoping to provide a
little bit more guidanceand support through situations
not just when you're having a feedback
conversation, make sure thateverybody's calm and in a good
head space. It's like, okay, butthis is actually what that means
and how we're
(59:50):
gonna be. I love that. I lovethat.
And that handle is @leadlikealady_Right?
Correct.
Okay, perfect. Yeah, I just want to personally say thank you so muchfor being here, being on the
show. You are a veryinspirational person. You are
doing great work, creatingreally, really positive Ripples
(01:00:13):
out there in the world. You'restuck with me as a friend. So,
we're definitely gonna have todo a follow-up episode, and I
I'm gonna go get a hat printed up that
says I was number one for yourpodcast hundreds.
I've never
been anybody's number one onanything. So, celebrate. This is
(01:00:35):
awesome. So um, but no. In allseriousness, I really appreciate
all the positivity andeverything you're doing and just
how great you've made thisexperience. Not just today, but
even leading up to it. So if Ican help you in any way, don't
hesitate. I know my Ripplers areabsolutely, absolutely going to
fall in love with you and wantto learn more, and so we will
definitely try and create asmany positive Ripples for your
(01:00:57):
coaching business as we can. Ijust want to say thank you, and
you know, I'm just reallyhonored that you agreed to do
this.
Well, thank you for asking me tocome on. I felt very special as
well. That's awesome. It's beensuper awesome. It's been a great
conversation. This has beensuper fun. And I will take the
friendship, all right?
Deal, all right, done, and we'llkeep it going. We'll keep it
(01:01:19):
going. So we'll come back againwith another episode very soon.
But guys, we'll be back withanother episode of The Ripple
Effect Podcast very soon, butuntil then, Meghan, Ripple On!!!
You too.
There are people who make yousmile, and then there are people
that really make you laugh andwarm your heart in such a
positive way. My next guest,Meghan Potter, is that person. I
have actually followed Meghan fora while because her handle on
Instagram is @leadlikealady_, and I was like, "What
(00:25):
is this?" Right? So obviously,for my community, the ripplecentral.com
forward slash pond,P, o, n, d, that's our
community. We have, we have adesire to bring great content to
our women Ripplers, because wehave this W.O.W. space in the
community called WomenOptimizing Women. So, I initially
(00:45):
thought I'd reach out to her tojust be an interview for there,
but then the more that Ifollowed her, and the more I,
you know, dove into her content,the more I realized that the
podcast was the best place tostart, because she is just such
a phenomenal young woman. Shehas such a amazing and such an
attractive spirit, one that justreally I can see why she's such
(01:07):
a great coach, because she is soeasy to talk to, and she talks
about a little pillow that shehas in her office as a good
reminder of what her superpoweris. I love that you're going to
love that and you're just goingto love her energy, her
enthusiasm, sense of humor andjust the overall vibe. She's
just such a kind person. And Ihave a sneaking suspicion that
(01:30):
we are going to find avenues towork in support one another, in
more projects. And I can'twait, but I can't wait for you
to experience this conversation,because it was that good. She's
just such a rock star that I amjust so grateful she made the
time. We did this on a Saturday,because her schedule was super
busy. She's got, you know, twovery active teenagers and a
(01:53):
two-year-old at home and a growingvery successful coaching
practice. And so, scheduling timeto get this interview had to
be in between school activitiesand naps, and Saturday ended up
being the best day for and I wasso grateful that she made the
time. Think you will be as well.So let's dive into this
interview with Meghan Potter.
(02:20):
Meghan, welcome to the show.How are you doing today?
Thanks for having me. I amgreat. I am great today.
Beautiful day. Just got backfrom the park with my toddler
who did not want to leave thepark, but you know, it is what
(02:41):
it is.
I apologize. I'm sorry. We'redoing this on a Saturday,
because I know you have a busyschedule, and this was about the
only time that you could work itin. Yeah. How many kids do you
have?
I got two step daughters and onebiological son. So, one of the
girls is at a volleyballtournaments day. The other one
(03:03):
is out terrorizing theneighborhood with her gang of
friends, and the other one isnapping.
Well, there you go. I mean,everybody's accounted for, it's,
you know, hopefully it remains achill Saturday for you, and good
luck in the volleyballtournament to your daughter.
That's a big one, I know.So they
won their first game thismorning.
(03:24):
That's great. Fantastic.
Well, I always, I considermyself very fortunate. I get to
meet so many amazing people, andI've actually followed you for a
while on Instagram before Iactually reached out. I just
love your vibe. I love whatyou're doing. One of the things
that we'll talk about maybe, youknow, after we, you know, get
this podcast out, is having youcome back to our community.
(03:45):
Because one of the things thatwe do for my Ripplers is we
actually have a space dedicatedto women. It's called W.O.W or
Women Optimizing Women. And that is actually why I sort of started
following you, because I lovedyour handle so much. Lead Like a
Lady. Tell us about that.
It kind of just came to me oneafternoon. So, I started doing
(04:05):
this because I have just workedfor way too many senior
management who were never taughthow to lead people. They're
great at their jobs. They can,you know, they can run a
business really well, butmanaging the people, they really
seem to struggle. And so I waslike, I really want to snag
people right at the beginning,um, and show them just basics,
(04:27):
like the fundamentals forleading people. And then I
thought about it some more, andI was like, and the biggest
Upswing we're seeing in thecorporate world is women
entering into these executiveroles. And I was like, Okay, I
really like to focus on what itis like to be a woman going
through this process, becausethere are extra challenges,
(04:50):
especially from like, anemotional we're just a little
extra compassionate, a littlebit extra empathetic, and that
can kind of sometimes cloud us alittle bit Sure. Yeah. Yeah, and
so, I was like sitting therethinking, and the alliteration
kind of came to me. And I lovethe idea of a lady like she
holds herself with grace andwith poise, and you know, she
(05:13):
shows respect to the peoplearound her. You know she's not,
she's not putting her emotionsfirst. You know she's, she's a
steady representation out insociety kind of thing. I don't,
I don't want people to thinkthat like to be a lady, you have
(05:33):
to be all like... That's not whatit is. I think probably
came from I had just finished rewatching at the time. I just
finished rewatching Bridgerton,and I was just like, some of
those ladies man, they're justsuch badass ladies. And you
know, if they give them thechance, they would have ruled
the world at the time, right?Yep, they would have, you know.
(05:56):
And if you think about it, theykind of do from the background,
like they're in all theirsitting rooms, and they're like
to their men, and then their mengo out in public, and they're
like, and they just play a game.I was just like, "You know what?"
the grace and one of the nicestcompliments I have ever received
was from someone I used to workwith. It was a colleague of huge
(06:19):
respect for her. But she waslike, "You just seem to lead with
grace and apparent ease," andlike, that was in the back of my
mind. And I was like, "How do Iencompass that?" And it was just
something. I was like, you know,it's very ladylike. Just be
very ladylike. And so, yeah,and then the alliteration, and I
just, I like that.
(06:40):
And so it's a winningcombination. I love that you
focused on that. I love that youtied that. And there's a
why behind it, I think,which is really, really
inspiring. I think that'sfantastic. What do you what do
you sense, obviously, from yourwork will look kind of macro,
and then we can look micro, butlike, what is the problem today
(07:01):
with modern day leadership doyou feel or some of the
challenges that you seecompanies you know, dealing
with?
From my experience, I think thebiggest thing is that we see
these people with greatpotential, and they're really
great at their jobs. They'refantastic at their jobs, yeah,
(07:22):
knocking it out of the park, youknow? And then we go, "We want
you to move up the ladder,because we think you can take on
more responsibility, and wethink that you can handle this,
and whatever." And then we justthrow people into the
neighborhood, and we're like,here's a team of people, however
many people figure it out, andlike, there doesn't seem to be
(07:42):
any unless you take it uponyourself and take the initiative
to find a coach or a mentor, orto read the books or to listen
to the podcasts or whatever, toto grow yourself and learn how
to handle all of these peopleand their lives. Because, like,
there's no such thing it. Idon't think you can leave life
at the door. Yeah, you know,it's always coming with you. And
(08:06):
so we don't teach anyone how tolike, lead a successful team,
and you know how to delegate andhow to provide feedback, so that
our retention rate is, you know,is high, and our people want to
come to work, and what I feellike so many people are missing,
is that if, if we took the timeto invest in our people, our
(08:29):
businesses would just boom, yes.Because if people care about
their work and they want to goto work and they like their jobs
and they like who they work withand who they work for, they're
going to put in extra effortwithout even thinking about it.
That's right, right? And so Ithink that's where we like,
right off the hop. You just wefail our new leaders and make it
(08:52):
really hard for them to becomegreat leaders.
That's that's a valid, reallyvalid point, and I agree
wholeheartedly, kind of makes methink of what I talk about when
I have the opportunity to eithertrain at a company or do a
keynote. I always tell whateveraudience I'm presenting to that
very few of us actually had theluxury of coming out of school
(09:12):
and into that first job andsomebody taking us by the hand
and saying, "Come on, kid, let meshow you how to get along with
the other kids in the sandbox,"Right? And one of the challenges
there is that if you're notsuper good at it at the lower
levels or in those early days ofyour career there, you know, the
companies miss out on a wholelot of potential. But then, like
you say, you find somebodythat's really good at the job,
(09:34):
the tax you know, the blockingand tackling, the day to day
execution in organizations, youknow, they're looking for that
next leader. So like you said,they promote them a little too
quickly, and they don't givethem the resources or
the necessary training todeal with it. And if they come
from that perspective of, "Hey, I'm not
(09:55):
necessarily a people person, orI'm not necessarily a good
communicator, or I'm not reallysuper empathetic." Now, elevating
that into a role where nowyou've got even more power, but
the pressure is on you todeliver on the results. It's
like, you know, it's kind of acrashing of crisis at that
point, and that's why you see alot of burnout in terms of
(10:15):
leadership, speakingspecifically to women. The thing
that I see is, and I'm a hugesupporter of, you know, women in
leadership positions. In fact, Ithink they make better leaders
in a lot of cases than men. AndI think one of the challenges
that they have is they have somuch responsibility that they
(10:36):
carry in before they ever walkin the corporate door, right? I
mean, they tend to just by thenature of all the pressures and
challenges outside of the job,so then you combine that now
into a working role, I have justmad respect for women that do
can live both of those lives. Mywife has been our CFO for a
(10:58):
couple of my companies for theentire time we've been married,
and I'm just blown away by, youknow, to use your word,
the grace and elegancethat she can show up, do her job
and then still manage to keep all the other plates
outside of the company spinning.I feel like I'm a doer,
(11:18):
but I'm just not that big.
I'm like, "How do you guys do it?"I just It blows me away.
I don't even know. Some days,honestly, I think it's a it's a
game of give and take. Like,some days, the home life has to
slip through the cracks so thatthe work life can excel, and
vice versa. And again, in myexperience, and I've seen this a
(11:41):
lot in the social media world,but for women who wish to excel
in a leadership position, youeither have no partner or an
incredibly supportive partner,and that is the only way you can
make it work, because without asupportive partner helping pick
up what falls through the cracksat home, right? There's no way.
(12:05):
There's absolutely no way. Andmy hat goes off to all the
single moms out there. Oh, youare doing it because that is a
new that is an extra level ofchallenge. Well,
like you said, I think one ofthe things that is really
helpful is to have somebodythat's there on the side that
can pick up the slack. But also,I think I actually just heard
(12:27):
this on a podcast this morningwhen I was on a bike ride about
people that get in in the mud,in the the muck, right? Get, you
know, struggle with something insome capacity. A lot of times,
you know, they were actuallytalking about the dynamics
between men and women, which iskind of ironic. I was listening
to this just sort of as a randomepisode, and wasn't in
(12:49):
preparation for today'sconversation. But it's funny how
it actually sort of informs my,my school of thought here in
that they were talking about howwomen tend to sit with a
problem, and they'll sit in themud. They don't tend to complain
a ton. They might complain toother women, close
friends, colleagues, but theygenerally don't unburden any of
(13:10):
the challenges, even to you knowtheir partners, right, or
sometimes you know, even justyou know, family. But men, when
they see their partnerstruggling, they have a tendency
to want to like, let's get itdone. Let's get it fixed, right?
And that's what women need whenthey're going through it or
where they're struggling.Sometimes they don't need you to
(13:32):
say a thing. They just need youto listen and to hear and I
think about my, you know, thework I do in communication and
the dynamics there, I thoughtthat was really important,
because it's not even justlimited to say a romantic
relationship or a familyrelationship, but that also
extends to teens as well, andhaving the ability to have
someone that you can just counton to hear what's going on, you
(13:56):
know, listen to the problem orthe challenge that might be
going there. But there's not animmediate tendency to jump in
and try to get that quick fixand solve it, move
on. I think for men, because weso not trying to generalize for
a lot of men, but most of us areemotionally dumb, right? So we
just kind of want to, like,"Okay, what's the problem? How do
we dive in and fix it so we canmove on?" And that's not the best
(14:19):
approach. And so, I just thoughtit was really interesting as
they were talking about both thehome dynamic and then
ultimately, how it kind of sortof pervades back into the
working environment and thechallenges. And it was
interesting because this subjectmatter expert was talking about,
normally, when women advance upthe ranks into leadership roles,
their circle gets even smaller.They don't have those people
(14:41):
that can they can depend on. Asthose go to resources,
relationships change and alter,especially if, now you've been
promoted within this company andyou've left colleagues behind
that you considered really goodwork or business friends, right?
There's some dynamic there thatbecomes challenging. What do you
see in your work about the issues and how to deal with
(15:02):
that from within thecorporate wall, but then
how to unpackage that at homelater, right? Just to be able
to deal with some ofthe stresses and challenges.
Well, to your point about sometimes it doesn't need
to need an answer. I have hadhuge success when people come to
(15:25):
me and they're like, "Meghan, Ihave a problem," and I go, "Okay,
what do you need from me? Do youneed me to fix it? Or do you
need me to just listen? Like, doyou just need to vent this out
of your system so that you canclear your head and move on?
Because you know how to solvethe problem, or do you need me
to solve it?" And most often,people just need to vent it out.
(15:49):
And usually, through theirventing it out, the solution
comes to them. They're like, "Oh,I can do that."
And you get all the credit forwith and you didn't say
anything, right? I didn't knowanything.
I do. I try really hard not tosolve my people's problems for
them. Most of my backgroundcomes from the hotel and
(16:09):
hospitality industry, verycustomer facing, and most often
they don't need me to solveproblem. They might need me to
give them this stamp of approvalthat, yes, you can do that. They
can figure out what needs to bedone to make the customer happy,
right? So, yeah, usually it'sjust a "What do you need from
(16:29):
me?" And you know, I'll admit I'mnot great at that. At home, I
come home and I vent myself,vent away. And my partner, you
know, he's getting better. Hedefinitely gets better. And he's
starting to ask, "Doyou need me to fix this, or are
we just talking?" And sometimesI'm like, "Would you
(16:54):
do? Yeah, what would you do in thissituation?" just for a different
perspective, like, how would yousolve this problem? And you
know, he and I have verydifferent approaches.
He's very direct, whereas Iwould be like, okay, so I know
that this person's going throughthis and, you know, they're
(17:14):
having this challenge over here,and so I want to approach it so
that, like, they'll be receptiveto what I'm saying, whereas he's
just like, No, no, this is ourproblem. We need to find a
solution. What do you think?Yeah, and sometimes that works.
Sometimes, that works reallywell. But no, for me, it's more,
Okay. Let's look at this personas a whole person. Okay. I know
(17:38):
that their cat just died andthey're moving and they got in a
huge fight with their boyfriend,
and now they've come towork, and I know they
can solve this, I know they cansolve this problem, but, like,
the way that they want to solveit is not how I want to solve it
(17:58):
and it, you know, it's just, Itry and come at it from like, a
holistic perspective, yeah. Andthen when I get home, all bets
are off. All bets are off. Imay, like my partner set does
say, like, I lead the household,but sometimes I just throw my
answer there. I'm like, someoneelse's turn today. I'm gonna sit
(18:21):
right here. I'm gonna doomscroll on Instagram. Let me know
when dinner's ready.
I love it. Well, we talked to wetalked about it from a kind of a
macro perspective, but let'slook micro for a second. And
what do you say to women thatyou're working with, clients
that you're engaged with aboutmaybe even when they haven't yet
(18:42):
achieved a leadership role, howto exude that leadership and
what they do and how they showup. What advice would you give
where by the time this comesout, we'll have a lot of folks
that are graduating in startingto take on that first big
professional job. So how do youdistinguish yourself in those
early days and still feel reallygood about what you're
(19:04):
contributing?
How do you start to exude that leadership quality?
You don't need atitle to be a leader, for sure.
I know a lot of people feel thatway, but you can be a leader
right from the hop, I think backto my early days, and a lot of
it is just taking theinitiative, you know, showing
(19:25):
that you want to help yourcolleagues, you want to help
train the new person. You wantto assist with a project you
know, you want to you might notnecessarily be allowed at the
decision making table, but likeyou would love to hear what's
happening and give your twocents to your leader in your one
on one or whatever. You know, Ifind a lot of it, though, is
(19:49):
just relationships with yourcoworkers. You know, are you
helpful? Are you a problemsolver? Are you taking the
initiative to get something donewithout someone standing over
you being like this? This, andthis needs to be done, because
that's exactly like, that waswhat caught my boss's
attention at the time. We hada whole whack of new students
(20:09):
coming in for their summer jobs,kind of thing, and I just took
them all under my wing. And Iwas like, "Okay, guys, this is
how this works here." And made sure that I had kind
of like one-on-one check inswith them once a week-ish, just
to see how they were kind offitting in. And I felt at the
time that it coming from acolleague was a little less
(20:33):
intimidating than coming fromtheir boss, especially so
because so many of these kids,like, you know, 18 to 19-year-olds
were coming in andyour boss isn't your teacher.
And so, I don't know what it is,but there's a little bit much
more intimidation. And so I was just like,
(20:53):
"Are you strugglingwith something? Can I help
you get through something?" Standing up like I
said I was in the hotelindustry, like, when someone
starts screaming, because theyalways do. There's always that
one person that starts screamingat the front desk agent,
because it's the front desk.
(21:15):
Works flawlessly every time,right?
And so, it's just like steppingin, being like, "I understand
that you're upset, butwe do not tolerate being spoken
to that way, so we are more thanhappy to work with you as soon
as you have calmed down," kind of being a defense
between them, and that's really,that's what caught my boss's
(21:37):
attention. Was like, "Hmm, maybewe should give her her first
supervisor promotion" Andthen just keep doing that. Yeah,
yeah. Like, don't stop, right?Leadership is a journey.
It's momentum. You gottakeep going, keep doing it. And
so it's not just like, I'm goingto go in today and I am going
(22:00):
to, you know, show so and so,how to do whatever. No, no,
every day. What are you going todo today that's going to help
somebody else? Yep, what are yougoing to do today that's going
to help somebody else, makesomebody else better? Because,
whether you know it or not, inturn, you're making yourself
better, right? Yeah, by doingthat. So, I always call
that the Ripple. My approach to that
(22:22):
is, every action that you haveor you take on behalf of someone
gives you the opportunity toreally make a positive
difference or a negativedifference, right? You can make
good or bad Ripples, but ifyou're intentional about making
that impact on a daily basis,and that's the goal, like you
said, and I love how you phrasedit is the act of doing it
(22:43):
certainly is huge for the personthat you're doing it for, and
they will remember that, becauseI still remember a lot of people
taking a lot of extra time tohelp and guide me throughout
those early days of my career.But it feels amazing when you
also know that you made adifference and you made an
impact. And I think one of thethings that I always encourage
(23:04):
leaders to do is you've got tofind those leadership reward
moments that every day of of youknow, every single day, strive
to make a couple of impacts, andthen go back through your day.
Maybe you know, as you lay yourhead on the pillow that at night
and you say, "How'd Ido?" Right? How's my self
assessment? Just
(23:25):
gotta get more excited for theirsuccesses than your own. Right,
you gotta get really excited Ido, like when someone else does
something. So for instance, Iwas coaching this one guy. He
was a Front Desk Agent. He'dbeen promoted into a supervisor
role, and at a different hotel,a manager's role had come up,
(23:45):
and he's like, do you think Ihave what it takes? And I was
like, it's going to be alearning curve. But yeah, I do
think you've got the potentialto crush the drill, to crush the
crush the role, but it is goingto be a huge learning curve. And
so I coached him through theinterview process. He ended up
getting the job. I coached himthrough the first three months
(24:06):
of his job. And I was like,every time I talked to him, I
was like, yeah, yes, you did it.I'm so proud of you. Like,
right? Like, and I know that Idid good work too, but I don't
really even care that I didn'twork just so stinking proud of
what he accomplished. I lovethat. Yeah,
(24:27):
yeah. But you know, when youwhen you're a leader, and you
have that pride of ownership andwhat your their outcome is,
which I think is really whatleadership is all about. It's
making your people better. Itell people I own a software
company in addition to what I dofor Ripple, but I'm always tell
people, I might be the CEO, butI really consider myself the
CDG. I'm the Chief Dumb Guy,right? So I bring in the most
(24:48):
brilliant, amazing people to dostuff, and they make me look
good because of it. So there isthat ancillary benefit, but I'm
really, really particular aboutwho I want on my team and how
they are going to represent thecompany, and of course, me
and everything that we do, thefact that you're in hospitality
certainly tracks and aligns withwhy you're a really good coach,
(25:09):
because you see the best andworst of people, right? You
know, in those environments. AndI, I grew up sort of fancying
myself as is a really kind of acustomer service geek, because I
love delighting people,and I love turning really
negative situations intopositives, where you have
somebody who, like you said,might be screaming or yelling or
just very unhappy, and by theend, they're like, "I'm so darn
(25:32):
glad that I'm stilldoing business with you," or that
"I showed up," and those things I
tell everybody, we're not in thesoftware business. We're in the
customer service business. We'rein the relationship business.
And I think that when you lookat organizations across the
board, they certainly need moreof what you're training on.
Because, you know, there's,there is a serious lack of it
(25:56):
for a lot of companies. And itreally, I think, comes down to,
you know, leaders, not knowinghow to do that themselves, not
knowing how to navigate, youknow, those conversations and
really, truly train those peoplewhen you start from because your
experience really sort offostered how you look at the
world and how you go about, sortof doing what you do. And does
(26:18):
the same for me, being able toapply it and then seeing those
wins or the payoffs, whetherit's a turning a bad customer
situation into a good one, orseeing like, you know, that
individual you were justspeaking of, just blossom and
take off in their career.
It's addictive. It's so good.
It's so awesome. Yeah,
(26:42):
go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Iwas gonna say I have a pillow
that I keep in my office atwork, and it says "Calm is a
Superpower." And the guy thatI was coaching, he was the
(27:04):
first one. He was my first. Thereason I really wanted to help
him so bad is because he lovedthat saying so much. And I was
like, I have that pillow,honestly, to remind me to just
cool my jets. Yeah, Cool yourjets. You know, take a breath.
Calm is a superpower. Calm is asuperpower. Do not match the
(27:24):
energy that is coming at you.
I love that. That should be thetitle of your book.
That was great. I hope it's nottrademarked. Yeah, I hope nobody
else has that yet. You
just call it, "TheMeghan Potter system of
Calm is a superpower." You'regood,
you're covered, perfect. How didyou make
(27:47):
the change from being in thehospitality space to saying,
"Hey, look, I want to take thesesuperpowers and apply them for
the good in all these otherarenas." How did you get into
coaching?
I was on maternity leaveactually. And as much as I love
being in the hotel world, it isnot conducive timing wise and
(28:09):
time commitment wise, with atiny, you know, manageable with
older kids that can be indaycare after school care or in
school during the days, youknow, all of that kind of stuff.
But with a little it's, it's alittle harder. And so I was
really struggling with, Okay, doI go back to my hotel job, or do
(28:32):
I do something else? And it'slike, if I do something else,
what's that going to be? Yeah,that's not going to be like, you
know, world's expensive. Stillneed to make money.
Baby needs diapers. I mean,
we diapers are expensive. Yes,they are and so, you know, I
(28:52):
really thought about it. I usedto, like, one of my hobby
passions is photography. Lovephotography. Was like, "Hey, do I
want to, like, pursue thatpassion and turn that passion
into money, like, into a job?"And I was like, "You know what?
No, not really." Like, I likedoing it. Like, I really like
doing it, and I like the processof taking the photo and
(29:13):
processing the photo and thenhaving a beautiful photo at the
end. But no, I don't want thatto be my job. I feel like it'll
take away the joy. Did
it just becomes a job, and it'snot something exactly.
And so, I was thinking about andI was like, you know, what I
really should be doing is Ireally should be helping people
figure out how to be that firsttime manager. Yeah, because when
(29:38):
I look back at my career, thatwas the hardest struggle that I
went through. It wasn't enteringthe workforce and
navigating that. It wasn'tgetting the next management job.
It was that first job where itwas like, "Okay, I gotta deal
with these people, but I've alsogot to learn how to deal
with myself, and I need to learnsome emotional
(30:00):
intelligence, and I need tolearn how to put my
problems aside to help otherpeople." And that was the hardest
part. And I was like, and Icannot be the only one that
struggled. Yeah, I cannot be theonly one. And then, you know,
thought about it some more, andI was like, there. There are no
programs, you know, and theprograms that I have found and
(30:23):
have done, they're all the same,yeah, you know, they all kind
of do an umbrella/eyebrow, overview of what
leadership means. But they don'tactually get into, like, okay,
how am I supposed to givesomebody some negative feedback
and have them receive it, yeah?Like, how am I supposed to have
this conversation that I'mshaking nervous about having to
(30:45):
begin with? Like, how do I tellthem that what they did is not
what we're looking for withoutthem being like, I am the worst
person in the world, becausethey're not, right? Like, just
the product of this one task isnot what we were looking for,
right? Like that is not who youare. Like, I need to nobody
(31:05):
teaches you that, no, right?Like, I was just like, "You know
what? That's what I want to do."That's awesome. Talk to talk to
some family. My brother is mybest friend. He is in a director
level position of his own, andhe was like, "Yo, Meghan. If
someone would have done that forme, I would have had a few more
(31:30):
nights of sleep, you know, like,I wouldn't have gone home and
stayed awake all night going, Icannot believe that's how I
handled that situation. I cannotbelieve it." And, you know, talk
my parents both have great jobs,and talk to them, they're like,
"No, Meghan, you'd be really goodat it." And then I just expanded
out into some friends and somecolleagues, and I was like,
(31:52):
"Do you think this issomething like, Am I qualified?
Am I qualified to be doing this?"And, you know, I don't know if
it was people were like, didn'twant to say no and be
unsupportive, but everyone waslike, No. That would be a really
good thing for you to do,especially since you do come at
the leadership approach just socalmly and like, okay,
(32:15):
let's take a breath. Let's lookat the big picture. How
are we going to navigate throughthis. I'm not saying I'm
perfect, and I know everythingstill learning, but I forget
what the question was. I startedrolling off,
yeah, just how you got intocoaching? I mean, yeah,
(32:37):
yeah, maternity leave and justdecided not to go back to
my job, and started doing thisand slow go at first, but it has
allowed for it has allowed forme to be more present in my
(32:58):
family life actually took on apart time job just so that
I could talk to people. But Ican, I can do that right, like I
can work four hours a day andtalk to other people and, you
know, get out of my house andstill do this and still balance
(33:24):
the family and it, it just seemsto work really well for us, at
least right now. That's
good. I mean, yeah, I often seepeople you know that you just
have this gut feeling they'reeither misaligned with the work
that they're doing or theyhaven't quite figured it out.
That was something I love thefact that you just communicated
that, because that's exactly howis feeling. Not only just
(33:45):
following you on Instagram, butjust in this conversation, there
are certain people that aredestined to do great things.
You, without question, aredestined to do great things. You
have such a calming nature. Imean, I'm like, hell. I need, I
need you to coach me. I mean,
I love the pillowsaying, because you bring that
(34:06):
into the conversation. And Iwant our audience to know we
actually have never met prior totoday. We, you know, interacted
back and forth. And you know,this was, you know, sort of a
leap of faith on your part tocome on this show from this guy
you didn't even know, and yetyou were cordial and you were
kind and very responsive andfollow up. But then to get in
(34:26):
this conversation, I feel likeI've known you for 20 years, and
that's a qualitythat I think not everybody,
especially a lot of coaches, donot, have. So I can see why
you're successful and why it's,you know, starting to really gin
up for you, because you deserveit in you, you, you are destined
to, you know, continue to growthis business, because I think
(34:49):
more and more people need toknow about your approach and the
work that you do. But at the endof the day, I think if they
spent five minutes with you,they'll be like, I found it. I
found my coach. This is who Ineed to be talking to. So, yeah.
I had a
lady yesterday reach out to meon Instagram. She's like, "Where
have you been? My entirecorporate life?"
I was like, "I've been here, girl,right here. It's just been
(35:12):
waiting for you to find me. Imean, how are you? What can I do
for you?
The algorithm finallybrought us together." It's great,
right? Exactly. Well, speakingof Instagram, that's how
you firstlanded on my radar. You do a
really, really good job withyour videos. They're
interesting, they're impactful,they're eye catching. The topics
(35:32):
that you do about how to give orreceive feedback, how to show up
and lead. But you know, let yourpeople figure out
what they need to be doing tolead. I love all of your
approaches. How did you getgoing in that sort of that
space, and what's been theexperience thus far? Is it, you
know, are, are people beating apath to your door because of
(35:53):
these posts? Or what you know,what's your experience been thus
far on social media?
Bit of a roller coaster, tobe honest. Kind of up and
down. It was really slow tostart. I just started, honestly.
There was no I was like, I canthink about this as much as I
(36:13):
want, but thinking that it's notgoing to do anything. So I just
started. And you know, if you goall the way back to the
beginning. They're awkward.They're awkward posts, the
awkward captions, you know,trying to figure out what
my voice was gonna be, you know,my style was gonna be, what I
(36:34):
wanted to talk about, like,because when I went into it, I
had like, 1000 ideas, yeah, thatwas like, You know what? Over
the course of time, we'll figureit out. We'll figure it out. We
just got to start. So we juststarted. And so, yeah, we've,
we've gone through some ebbs andflows. We were really slow for a
(36:54):
while, but we have recently hadan upswing, which is really
nice. I went into it with verylow expectations that I would
get anywhere. I'm just like, Youknow what? I'm gonna try. I'm on
maternity leave, so why not?Right? And I'm just gonna give
it a shot and see what happens.And look what happened. Look
(37:17):
what happened.
Over 16,000 people following youon Instagram. I mean, it's just
insane. I love it, though. I andI know exactly why they follow
you, because it's the samereason I followed you. I'm like,
Okay, I love the content, I lovethe energy, the vibe, but I
really love you. I mean, I likeit, like what you bring into the
world, and I think that theworld is responding and showing
(37:38):
up in kind because you're doing,what you're supposed to be
doing.
Thank you. It does feel good. Itdoes feel good to be doing this
like there doesn't feel likethere's any resistance. Yeah,
right, and that is, that's huge,you know? I feel like most
people feel resistance untilthey something clicks and they
(38:00):
find their sweet spot. Yeah, Iagree. You know, I just at the
beginning, I was the resistance.But, yeah, no, I think now that
we're kind of into a swing andwe've got a little bit of a
system happening, and, you know,a pattern and a rhythm that we
can, that we can create thiscontent, and then, you know, be
(38:25):
building more things on the backend for in the future. And, you
know, my hope is to be able tohelp as many people, even if you
can't afford a coach, right?Like, how can I help you if you
can't afford a coach? Well, Ican write down all of my ideas
and give them to you. You knowwhen? Well, I read books and
(38:49):
started to figure it out. So youcan read books and start to me,
yeah, um, yeah, yeah. Just itfeels good to be aligned with
with what we're doing. I
love it. And I did look back atsome of your earlier, you know,
videos. I don't, I don't see theawkwardness I but I was there. I
know exactly I'm don't go lookat any of my stuff, please,
(39:11):
because all the freaking time.But you, you just, you could
tell, like, something shifted alittle bit in your content. And
I could see that the topics thatyou started to or over the
course of, you know, let's saythe last few months, really,
really hone in on areas that youyou're casting a wide net in
(39:32):
certain capacities. But it, itis actually really, really
beautiful in terms of astrategy, because almost every
one of your posts applies tojust about anybody out there.
And I love the fact that, youknow, there's a strong
concentration for women inhelping them figure out what
they need to do to become theleaders that they are destined
(39:52):
to become. But at the same time,your content is benefiting, you
know, both men and women, and Ithink that's just. A real credit
for you, credit to yourcreativity and the approach that
you take for doing the post isInstagram the only area that
you're putting your time andenergy in. And if so, why is
that? The only one is as opposedto the other platforms?
(40:14):
At the moment, yes, contemplatedTikTok for a while, but at the
time, it was like, "Is TikTokgonna be here or not?" Like that.
We're back to that could go awayin June, right? And I was just
like, "You know what? I'm notgonna put the effort into
something that might not exist in a couple months." So, I
(40:36):
avoided TikTok. We are onthe backend, starting to build
out what will eventually be aYouTube channel, some longer
form content and whatnot. To behonest, I just have to get more
comfortable being in front of acamera. I get in front of a
(40:57):
camera and I'm like, myscripts right in front of me.
You can just read your scriptthat you wrote, but I go, so,
right, we are going to getthere. We will get there, but
the goal is to have a YouTubechannel soon, and then I think
(41:20):
that will probably be it for thesocial media point. You know,
YouTube is a huge undertakingthat longer form content, just
from the editing side of things,if I can get through the if I
can stumble through my scripts,the editing is what's going to
take the longest time. So
(41:41):
well, you know, think about too,because you're doing such a
great job on Instagram reels,that shorts maybe is a good way
to get that, you know, thatfollowing started. It blows me
away. How many people actuallyreach out to me off my shorts,
but they, they never watch orpay attention to the long form
content, so they YouTube's donea pretty good job of trying to
implement, you know, you know,an alternative to reels. And
(42:06):
once that algorithm figures outwhat you're really into, and
especially in professional orpersonal improvement, or, you
know, figuring out developmentof the skill sets to be a better
human, better worker, whatever,it's really good at serving that
up, once that content that thatyou create is out there, because
I have a have a friend, thatsays that YouTube pays really
(42:27):
close attention to whatInstagram is trending and how
it's working, and so the factthat you're doing and killing it
over there, I think that's anatural for YouTube. I think
not only will they follow you toyou know, to you know, to that
platform as well, but that youknow when you're ready for the
long form content, you know theaudience is already built in and
ready for you. So, yeah, I think
(42:48):
same thing to me last week.Yeah, exact same thing. He's
like, "Meghan, why aren't you?" Andit just feels like it's another
like thing. I have to do anotherinterview. He's like, "Use the
same videos. Use same videos,the same caption. Just
start posting them over theretoo, for the people who refuse
to have Instagram." And I waslike, "Oh, I guess you could do
(43:10):
that." Yeah. He's like, I wastalking to him last night, and
he's like, so he started. I waslike, "No,
well now I'll hold youaccountable too. So now you got
two people
there. Now I got two people."
What's the best thing aboutbeing a coach? In your opinion,
watching other people succeed? Ilove that. Honestly, watching
(43:33):
other people go after theirdreams and get what they want.
It. I just love it. I absolutelylove it. I think it is so cool
to watch someone put in theirwork and then be rewarded for
it.
I love it. I love it. I can talkto you all day. I love I love
(43:58):
everything about what you'redoing out there in the world.
And we're definitely going tohave to do a follow up episode
at some point. But I want to berespectful of your weekend and
in time with your family. So Iwant to wrap up, if you're okay
with it, I always ask a fewRipple Connection Questions here
at the end, just to kind of givepeople a sense of kind of who
you are as an individual. Okay,are you good with that? Yeah,
that's great. All right, cool.There's no gotcha questions, I
(44:19):
promise. So I should do thatsometimes, just to make it a
little bit interesting, but Iwill do that today. But what did
the seven-year-old version ofMeghan want to be when she grew
up?
Oh, okay, seven, so grade three.I think I wanted to be a
teacher. Okay, I think I wantedto reach I really liked my grade
(44:42):
three teacher. To this day. Istill know his name. I still
remember some of like, thelessons and the classes that we
did. I think I wanted to be ateacher. Got a vet. Oh, those
are good. I can't and look
what you're doing now.Technically, through your
coaching, you are teachingpeople, yeah, what's. Skills and
how to how to show up, you know,as their authentic selves in the
(45:04):
workplace. You're, you sort of,you know, tick that box,
probably unknowingly, but, youknow, well done. So thank you.
What do you like to do? Youknow, coaching when you're
absorbing so many individualsituations can be super
stressful and can wear on you asa coach. So how do you
decompress? What do you do tojust, you know, focus on
(45:27):
Meghan's, you know, mental andphysical health,
family time, a lot of it, andgoing for walks, especially once
the weather turns nice again,like when it's not minus 40
degrees outside,
I do walks at minus 40 degrees.
No, I don't usually do walkslike and I usually don't do
(45:52):
walks below zero. It's
probably a good rule. Yeah, Idon't
know. You know, I used to livein the Canadian Rockies, and
winter didn't bother me livingthere. I think it was probably
because there's so many thingsto do outside, and so you just
kind of bundled up and dealtwith the cold. But now that I
live in a city, there's not asmuch to do. I really don't like
(46:15):
going outside in the cold, yeah.Why? Why put myself through
that? If I like being warm andcozy. Let's stay warm and cozy.
So, yeah, so going for walkswhen I can, especially solo
walks, those are really nicewith just music, like not
learning anything, notlistening, you know, just be
(46:38):
kind of thing. And then familytime. I love playing with my
kids. I love just hanging outwith my man
just being.
I love that. When you're on yourwalks, what kind of music
really does it for you whenyou're listening?
Okay, don't, don't judge me.Okay. I love country music, all
(47:00):
right, I love country I'm
in Texas. I tell people
that that was one of the things.When I first met my partner, he
was like, country music, really.And I'm like, love me or leave
me. Yeah.
(47:20):
Who's your favorite countryartist?
Oh, probably Thomas Rhett, yeah,yeah. Long time fan, yeah. Long
time fan. He came to town liketwo weeks before my son was
born, so I missed his concert.Oh, sad. I don't know when he'll
be back.
Well, I'm not going to say theseis a show of the you know, a fan
(47:42):
of the show, but if he is, youknow, Thomas, you need to get
back up there. Let's go.
Can just ask too, please comeon. Oh, I love that. When
was there someonethat actually played a
significant role in helping youbecome the awesome person you
are today?
A lot of people, honestly, youknow, the obvious of my parents,
(48:06):
my mom and dad were amazing rolemodels. I'm the first daughter,
first granddaughter, firsteverything on both sides of the
family. And so and my parentswere they were young. They
weren't super young, early 20s,but they were young. And so, you
know, I watched my parents buildtheir careers, and I watched
(48:30):
them juggle. I was a competitiveSpringboard diver, so I was in
the pool 36 hours a week. Mybrother was hockey player. He
was on the ice 30 hours a week,and somehow they managed to
build their careers and supportus in our in our passions and
our sports. They were there forall the games and all the
competitions and all the schoolevents and, you know, so I
(48:54):
watched them be able to juggleit all. You know, they had their
bad days. We all have our baddays, but the good days, like
far outshine right, like he, Iremember those way more. I had a
couple really awesome teachers,couple really awesome university
professors, who, you know, letme tag along. Yeah, please. Let
(49:21):
me take a long went to a teeny,tiny school, which was amazing.
You know, my classes were like20 to 30 kids. And you know,
when you didn't understandsomething, you went to the
professor's house and got extrahelp in their living room,
right? Like, not their officehours. And I had a couple
professors that were doing bigthings within the school, and I
(49:45):
was like, "Hey, can I come can Ido everything?" And they were
like, "Sure, come along," and Igot to watch them be leaders in
their own way. And that's cool.And then on. And then I think,
you know, I don't think a lot ofpeople do. Have too much credit,
but I think my kids, honestly,have played a huge role, yeah,
(50:07):
have played a huge role inhelping shape who I am.
You know, I always consideredmyself a patient person. I
really consider myself a patientperson now, you know, like I've
got an almost 16-year-old, an 11-year-old and a two-year-old
Yeah, we juggle a lot aroundhere. I you know, they have made
(50:34):
me a better person through allof our challenges and all of our fun.
I love that. I love that. So,speaking of your kids, if you
were to think about the legacythat you would leave behind when
they think of you, what do youwant them to think and
communicate to othersabout what they learned from you?
(50:58):
I hope what they learned from meis how to be kind to everyone
around them, and how to keep anopen mind that, yes, you can
have your opinions and yourperspectives, but be open and
willing for those to change.Yeah, I, if you'd asked me 10
(51:24):
years ago, I never would havetold you that I'd be a Stephen,
yeah. You know, it is one of thebest decisions I've ever made in
my life. Is great is to jointhis family. See how. You know,
just keep an open mind that onebe willing to pivot. Be willing
(51:44):
to you know, failure isn'tnecessarily failure. It might
just be the universe taking yourpath in its hands and
redirecting you because you arecomfortable. Yeah, you know, you
are comfortable, and the greaterplan for you was not to be
staying this path. You know, youare meant to be over here.
(52:08):
You're not going there yourself,all right, you know, we're gonna
throw a hurdle in your way thatmight suck. You know, that
hurdle might suck. It might be agut punch, yeah, but it's
usually a blessing in disguise.Embrace that pivot, just kind of
go with it, open mind and then,and then, yeah, be kind. I think
(52:30):
I'm doing well with that one. Ithink my kids are kind,
yeah, I love that. I love that.And such great wisdom. What
would you like people who havenever thought about hiring a
coach, specifically the womenthat follow this show that might
think, "Hey, I like what Meghanhas to say." You know, what is it
that you could tell them thatmight say, "Hey, let me reach out
and learn a little bit more, ormaybe explore coaching and what
(52:53):
it could do for mylife and my career"
Hmm, with
my clients, everythingis tailored to their journey, to
their goals, to theiraspirations. And I want you to
(53:16):
show up uniquely yourself,right? Like I don't want you to
show up trying to check all ofthese boxes you think you're
supposed to check. Like, who areyou? Yeah, let's make, let's
make that. Let's, let's make whoyou are grander, you know. Like,
(53:37):
you know, I'm unapologeticallyweird. It's the weird people.
It's the weird people who gofar, the people who try and like
people please and stay in thebox and do the things they're
supposed to do, are the onesthat stay stuck. Yep,
unapologetically you. I lovethat, and we will tailor your
(54:00):
coaching and your journey tothat weirdness
that's awesome, that is really,really powerful. All right, last
two questions,
when you hear the words The Ripple Effect, what does thatconjure up for you?
Every time you say it, Ipicture a pebble in the water
(54:21):
just out it goes, you know, one,one small act can have such a
huge impact. Yeah, huge impact.You go into work in a
bad mood, and you snap at thefirst person you see your entire
(54:43):
team is having a bad day. Yeah,you go into work in a bad mood.
You go, "Hey guys, I didn't sleeplast night. The cat puked on the
carpet. I witnessed a caraccident. Stubbed my toe coming
into the building. Just it's notgoing my way," and people are
going to be like, "Okay. So,how can we help you?" You know,
(55:05):
just like, yeah, simply stating,okay, guys have a really crappy
day today, can really saveeverybody having a crappy day,
yeah? But in the same token, youknow, simply say you did a
really great job, really greatjob on that task. Thank you so
(55:25):
much. That made my life easier,so and so's life easier, or
whatever, that person's going tofeel good, and so they are more
likely to go on to make someoneelse feel good. And then now
you've got two people makingpeople feel good, making and so
on and so on, and suddenly youhave a happy work environment or
a happy home or whatever. It
(55:47):
is amazing how those thingswork, right, both positive and
also negative. And it's reallyempower, powerful for folks to
learn that you know everythingyou do has an impact on the
people you work with the peopleyou lead, people that you're
meeting for the first time, orpeople that might just see you
having the meltdown in front ofthe desk at the hotel.
(56:12):
People will pay attention. Youmight actually become like a
TikTok video if you do thelatter. But
favorite is when you think youknow the one person's losing it
at the desk, yeah, desk, andthen someone else comes up to
you later after that person'sleft, and they're like, "So, I
have the tea. What justhappened? So, like, that's
(56:32):
really dramatic. Are you guys okay?" Yeah, that's awesome. You
know, we know it wasn't you,yeah, yeah, yeah, that's so true. I can think of so many different
scenarios that has played out,and then having that
conversation and walking up tohim and saying, you know, you
handled that like a champ. Andreally it's why, why I fly this
(56:54):
airline, or why I stay at thishotel, or why I go to this, you
know, organization. Because, youknow, not everybody is a jerk,
like,
No, and I feel like more peopleneed to get into the habit and
more comfortable with sayingthings to like, yes, to
employers, and like, let's getmore comfortable saying, Hey,
can I speak to your manager togive a compliment, right? Like,
speak to your manager, and thenwhen the manager comes out, be
(57:16):
like, I just wanted to tell you,I think your staff is
phenomenal. Yeah, they've beenso helpful and so kind. And you
know, even if something's goingwrong, you know, they've kept me
in the loop. They've kept me upto date on the changes. You
know, they're checking in tomake sure I'm okay. Like, let's
get more comfortable withtelling people they're doing a
(57:37):
good job. Yep,
I agree 100% I think that's theultimate ripple for sure. Okay,
last question,
What Ripple can Ibe looking to create for you?
Goodness, I think just being onthis podcast, goodness,
yeah, I think we
have a much bigger audience thanwe do. I just don't want to,
like,
(57:58):
Oh no, but you have, you mighthave a different audience. So I
get to, I get to showcase mythoughts to new people, which
could honestly have a greatbenefit for them and for me and
for you. Yeah, yeah. This is myfirst podcast recording.
(58:22):
No way, really?
So, I have a goal.I haven't put a timeline on it,
but I have a goal of being on100 podcasts. So, when your
request came in, I nearly felloff my couch. I was so excited.
I was so excited.
Oh, that makes me feel sogood.
(58:43):
That's awesome. I will help youfind those other podcasts,
because I know lots of peoplethat need to know you, because
you are freaking awesome.
Thank you so much. You would
never know that this was yourfirst podcast. You were like a
seasoned pro. It's perfect. Ah,
good. Just before
we wrap up, how would you likepeople to follow you? We talked
about Instagram, and I'massuming that's the direction
(59:05):
you might want to push people,but I'll let you share. Yeah,
you can follow me on Instagram,and then if you want a little
bit more from me, I do have anemail subscription list that you
can sign up through my Instagrambio, and I send out an email
once week. I choose a topicevery week, and kind of just go
further in depth than what myInstagram posts go into, get a
(59:28):
little bit more detailed intothem, hoping to provide a
little bit more guidanceand support through situations
not just when you're having a feedback
conversation, make sure thateverybody's calm and in a good
head space. It's like, okay, butthis is actually what that means
and how we're
(59:50):
gonna be. I love that. I lovethat.
And that handle is @leadlikealady_Right?
Correct.
Okay, perfect. Yeah, I just want to personally say thank you so muchfor being here, being on the
show. You are a veryinspirational person. You are
doing great work, creatingreally, really positive Ripples
(01:00:13):
out there in the world. You'restuck with me as a friend. So,
we're definitely gonna have todo a follow-up episode, and I
I'm gonna go get a hat printed up that
says I was number one for yourpodcast hundreds.
I've never
been anybody's number one onanything. So, celebrate. This is
(01:00:35):
awesome. So um, but no. In allseriousness, I really appreciate
all the positivity andeverything you're doing and just
how great you've made thisexperience. Not just today, but
even leading up to it. So if Ican help you in any way, don't
hesitate. I know my Ripplers areabsolutely, absolutely going to
fall in love with you and wantto learn more, and so we will
definitely try and create asmany positive Ripples for your
(01:00:57):
coaching business as we can. Ijust want to say thank you, and
you know, I'm just reallyhonored that you agreed to do
this.
Well, thank you for asking me tocome on. I felt very special as
well. That's awesome. It's beensuper awesome. It's been a great
conversation. This has beensuper fun. And I will take the
friendship, all right?
Deal, all right, done, and we'llkeep it going. We'll keep it
(01:01:19):
going. So we'll come back againwith another episode very soon.
But guys, we'll be back withanother episode of The Ripple
Effect Podcast very soon, butuntil then, Meghan, Ripple On!!!
You too.
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