April 7, 2025 • 38 mins
In this episode of the Driven Leaders Podcast, host John Patterson sits down with Janine McClintock—leadership coach, CEO of J9 Leading Solutions, and author of Stir It Up! Stay Relevant. Together, they explore what it truly means to be a leader in today’s ever-changing world.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Why self-awareness is the foundation of great leadership
The power of servant leadership and how real leaders lift others
How to lead with curiosity and resilience through disruption and change
The impact of giving back and building community-minded organizations
The importance of continuous improvement (Kaizen) in leadership growth
📘 Learn more about Janine and her work:
Visit the Stir It Up! Stay Relevant website: https://www.stiritupbook.com/
Explore J9 Leading Solutions: https://www.j9leadingsolutions.com/
Buy the book on your favorite platform:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/STIR-UP-Relevant-Self-Coaching-Parable/dp/B0D31NXBBS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.bQ8_rJECkbUOMnkqEM_S2A.2YYRyj5ZofQv8xNL2vPSxz2lzkFmu27bFL1r-qK_m8g&qid=1715631016&sr=8-1
Barnes & Noble: https://tr.ee/6-ADit6Kum
Balboa Press (Publisher): https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/856253-stir-it-up
Whether you're a business owner, manager, or aspiring leader, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you grow as a person of influence—both in your workplace and in your community.
🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for future episodes with internal team members and influential leaders across industries.
#DrivenLeadersPodcast #JanineMcClintock #J9LeadingSolutions #LeadershipDevelopment #ServantLeadership #EmotionalIntelligence #SelfAwareness #Kaizen #BusinessLeadership #PattersonAutoGroup
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
A leader's role is to transform potential, that human
potential.
A leader that shines theirlight so that others can shine
theirs.
We're never done learning.
We're never done growing.
Pull out the mirror, look againand reflect on who it is we are
as a leader and then decide howwe're going to move forward.
What you're aware of you canown.
What you're unaware of owns you.
(00:24):
You don't just get the titleand that makes you a leader, and
tough decisions are requiredand you know their ability to
keep their employees engagedeven when things are challenging
.
Keep their employees knowingthat they're cared about, which
is, I think, a big part of yourculture and your environment.
Here that we're having anychallenges, we're going to help
each other figure out how toovercome those challenges right.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm Jon Patterson and welcome to the Driven Leader
podcast, where we talk to drivenleaders, leaders that are
driven to do more, and each weekwe talk to our teammates
internally and on a monthlybasis, we talk to external
influencers that make a hugeimpact, not just from our team
but for the community at large,and today we are so lucky to
(01:07):
have Janine McClintock, ceo ofJ9 Leadership Solutions and
author of Stir it Up, a greatleadership coach that is here
with us.
That has been a big part ofleadership coaching for our team
, stuff that each one of ourmanagers have taken forward, but
super excited for each of youto hear what is going to be
(01:27):
discussed today.
So, janine, welcome to theDriven Leader Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thank you.
I want to take you with meeverywhere to introduce me.
That was very exciting.
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Thanks, john, I'm the front man, I'm the pump up
music to start things out right.
What I like to do with any ofour guests that come on is get a
good idea as to your background.
You know you and I know eachother real well, but the people
that are listening don't knowyou, and before we get into work
stuff, let's talk about you asa friend, a wife, a family
person where you grew up andthat type of stuff, so we can
(01:58):
all get to know you a little bitbetter.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, I'd love to share that.
So I am a small-town girl fromNorthern California and my
hometown was known as thewrist-wrestling capital of the
world at one point, and for theproduction of eggs which would
be really good right now, giventheir cost For sure.
Business.
My grandfather started a bakery.
We sold sourdough bread in theBay Area and so I grew up seeing
(02:30):
what it meant to lead in thecommunity.
My dad was a great example andhe really felt like the business
provided for those 40 familiesright.
He really felt an obligation,not just to the employees, and I
was thinking about the factthat when he retired and sold
the business, how many peoplethat had worked for him at some
point went on to have otherbusinesses in Petaluma, and so
that was, you know, part of hislegacy.
(02:51):
So, you know, growing up in asmall town was a lot of fun.
And then I migrated here toSouthern California little time
in Santa Barbara, go Gauchos forschool and found my way to
Orange County and I've been herefor decades and love it here
and had a first marriage and ason, connor, in that
relationship, and then now asecond marriage to your friend
(03:12):
John John McClintock.
So we're empty nesters nowWe've got our three kids all out
in the world and working andyou know we love spending time
riding our electric bikes aroundand up in the mountains skiing,
and I do a lot of yoga in myspare time as well, so really
happy to have made my home herein Orange County.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And your husband would even say that you are the
better of the two skiers in thehousehold.
So I've heard from more thanone person Wait a minute, janine
is the real skiing expert inthat house.
So I'm looking forward tospending time, after both your
husband and I have had kneeissues in the past, so excited
to get to know you even betterin this discussion, and it's
been a pleasure getting to knowyou really over the last five or
(03:50):
six years.
So let's kind of transition.
So right, you're here in OrangeCounty.
Let's talk about your education, your career right out of
college, and how did thatexperience morph into where you
are today?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, I really.
There's really two distinctparts to my career trajectory.
I was lucky enough early on inOrange County to land a job, you
know, as a young20-something-year-old at a
company the Merritt Companies atthe time, and I built a career
almost two decades there,working for a female CEO, which
was very formative for me as ayoung working professional, and
(04:28):
it was an environment where youcould take risks, you could try
new things.
You didn't have to be the mostsenior, anything to raise your
hand to say, you know, I'll openan office in Northern
California, or whatever thesituation was.
And it was a really diversesort of business focused on
residential real estatedevelopment and management, and
so I just learned so much inthat career and under a leader
(04:52):
that was a great role model,right, that's so important for
all of us to remember howimportant are how we show up
impacts so many other people,and I had that great example
early on in my early boss,melinda Massone.
And so from there though, youknow, things happen.
Life moves forward.
Recessions kick in, hersuccession plan for divesting of
(05:12):
the business and selling itwent into place, and so, in 2008
, I found myself with thedecision before me about either
staying in the company that wewere acquired or really taking
the chance at that point to leapand go down an entrepreneurial
path.
And I really I chose thatbecause while I was at Merit I
(05:35):
went back to school at ChapmanUniversity and got my master's
in organizational leadership andI really knew that my path was
to help develop other leaders.
I did it internally in thecompany I worked in and I
thought I want to really takethat.
My path was to help developother leaders.
I did it internally in thecompany I worked in and I
thought I want to really takethat and expand my impact.
And being able to work with alot of companies, including a
lot of nonprofits and that wasanother great example that
Melinda provided as well was ourorganization was very
(05:58):
philanthropic minded.
We did tons of communityactivity.
So I almost didn't know thatnot every company did that right
, but now I certainly know thatit was very special early on in
my career.
So I decided to take the leapand start my own consultancy
practice doing leadership,development and training.
And you know, as I say in some,you know the rest is history.
(06:20):
Here we are, almost 17 yearslater.
It's been a really fun ride.
Lots of met a lot of amazingpeople along the way, worked
with a lot of really awesomeorganizations, both big
corporations as well as localnonprofits here in Orange County
, see leaders develop right, tosee people have those aha
(06:47):
moments and to really know thatwe all are capable of change and
transformation and we can guideourselves and we can take a lot
of deliberate, intentionalaction to be better and show up
more for ourselves and thecommunity and our businesses.
And so I absolutely found myplace and plan to do it for all
my years.
That I can you know.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So when you were working there, clearly you were
given some opportunity todevelop people.
Was there an aha moment alongthe way, or did it just kind of
gradually develop into, oh, thisis something I'm good at.
Or did you have one of thosedays, weeks, months, years,
where you said, wait a minute,I'm good at this and people are
responding to my direction?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well, I think it was kind of dual, like initially I
was really early on givenresponsibility of managing a
team and then multiple teams andthen a whole division right,
and I did notice that reallywhere I spent most of my time
was around talent developmentright, and coaching people and
helping them do their job better.
I was further and further awayfrom the customer and doing the
direct work, but my job wasreally to bring out their
(07:45):
potential, and so that's reallywhen it clicked in, when I had
the opportunity to lead really agroup of about 100 people at
the time and really noticed thatreally what I do right is
develop these people, developtheir potential, and that's how
we get the work done, how wemeet our performance metrics and
how we get our results.
And so that kind ofhuman-centric leadership, focus
(08:06):
around developing other leadershas been really my core anchor
in the work that I've continuedto do with other organizations,
because a lot of leaders atfirst don't necessarily see that
as a primary role right, theythink they have other roles, but
I like to really anchor peoplein the fact that talent
(08:33):
management.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Talent development is really one of the most
important things they can do forthe overall success of the
business.
But when it comes out once amonth, I really dive in and
listen and there's so manynuggets I get.
And what he defines a leader asis a person of influence, and
whether that's a person that ismanaging just themselves or
managing hundreds, if notthousands, of people, you're a
(08:57):
person of influence becausepeople look to you.
How do you identify leaders andhow do you pour into those
leaders and what is yourdefinition of a leader?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well, one of the things I like to say when I'm
talking about a definition isyou are a leader if you have
followers.
So that's one thing to keep inmind, and that's one of those
areas where people who sometimesdon't have the role or the
title of leader maybe don't seethemselves as leader when in
fact they are leading right.
And so there's so many peoplethat have the opportunity to
(09:30):
lead others.
Ie, they have followers, sothey really are leading, and so
I think that's one thing forpeople to keep in mind.
And I've really always kind ofagain anchored in this idea of a
leader's role is to transformpotential, that human potential,
into performance for thebusiness right.
And so in doing that and alsodeveloping and transforming
(09:51):
potential, could be having thecreative business idea right.
So there's kind of a dualapplication there, because one
of the gentlemen I studied backin the day his name was Max
Dupree, he was a CEO of HermanMiller Furniture Manufacturers,
right, and you know he said therole of a leader is to, you know
, provide that path of clarity,you know the purpose, the why of
what the work is, and to saythank you to all those people
(10:14):
doing that work right andfulfilling that vision and the
mission of the organization.
And you know, I think thatdefinition, coupled with just
the concept of servantleadership and Robert
Greenleaf's definition right andI love his best test, which is
are those I'm serving morehealthy, wiser, autonomous, more
(10:37):
likely to be a servant leaderthemselves?
Particular definition hasreally what is my guiding kind
of principle around if someoneis being successful at being a
leader, are they raising upother leaders around them that
are willing to serve in that way, and not just the business but
the community and those in need,whatever that might look like
in times of disaster or whathave you?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Let's lean into servant leadership, because that
is something that resonateswith me.
I love watching leaders thatgive others credit, that are
humble, that have a level ofhumility to them.
Walk me through maybe a fewstories in the vast amount of
coaching that you've had whereyou can give an example or two
(11:17):
of servant leaders that have hada massive impact either on you
or the company that they workwith.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Sure.
So one of the to your point,it's often like you almost don't
know they're leading becausethey're so everyone else is out
in front.
Right, they've created theopportunity, they've delegated
the responsibility, they arethere to support and help remove
obstacles, but they're, youknow, really able to allow
others to shine.
(11:44):
Right, you know a leader thatshines their light so that
others can shine theirs Again.
That's that ripple effect.
And so you know an examplethere I have a large healthcare
client and the CEO there verymuch, whether it's the doctors
or the nurses or whomever it is.
He very much goes on these likelistening tours and really
(12:04):
listens to people and thenidentifies opportunities and
ways in which they cancontribute, not even just to the
organization, but like shouldthey speak at a conference and
represent the organizationinstead of him?
Right, like the C-suite leadersget the opportunities and he is
always looking to give those toother people, to give them the
opportunity to expand theirnetwork, develop their skills,
(12:25):
represent the organization.
And in doing that right, theyget to, they are developing and
they get that opportunity toshine themselves.
Right, where he could say, yeah, I'll take that, you know,
panel discussion, or I'll dothat.
Community representation.
You know ribbon cutting,whatever it is.
So it's really that idea of Idon't need to be the face in the
forefront of everything that Iwant to give my people that
(12:45):
opportunity because he trulybelieves in the we of the
organization right, it's notabout him.
And only through all of thosepeople can they serve the
patients in a quality way toprovide the care that they
deserve and they want to provide.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, and in him providing that servant
leadership, there's a sense ofpride with the person that is
being poured into right All of asudden.
Not only do they want to do agood job, but they want to
respect him by being their bestselves at these different
opportunities.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, they feel very representative of the
organization right as a whole.
And so in that environment,with a culture like that, you
know they're really, you achievethe result, the results you're
looking for.
Right, that those, the numberscome right, I love that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
You know, you and I talked a little bit before about
some of the biggest challenges,right, the biggest challenges
associated with leadersdeveloping up, and one of the
things that you had mentioned tome was you know
self-actualization,understanding, you know kind of
who you are and I think that'ssuch an important piece to being
a leader, because not everyleader is the same, right.
(13:52):
I think about some of the bestleaders that I know, some of my
biggest mentors and it doesn'thave to be that person that is
the big, bold personality.
Sometimes they are, butsometimes they're very
methodical, maybe a little bitmore reserved, but what do you
see as that attribute that yousee is essential for individuals
(14:14):
growing as a leader?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, so this idea that.
So I love that.
You mentioned the stylisticdifferences.
There is not one way to lead,right, there are many different
styles and you know, anddifferent situations call for
different styles.
So even if we have a particularstyle, that's our comfort and
default mode.
Sometimes we have to even flexand lead in a different way
based on the situation, right.
(14:36):
But all of us there are commontraits, and one of the core
traits is this idea of beingself-aware, which leads to
emotional intelligence.
And that's back to the JimCollins, you know good, to great
work, a level five leader.
How you get the difference isthat delta in emotional
intelligence that the leaderpossesses.
And so all that means is, youknow, we are always all growing
(14:59):
and changing and learning.
So you know, the leader I wasat 35 is different from the
leader I was at 45, which isdifferent from the leader that I
am now, and regularly checkingin with yourselves and being
reflective and thinking aboutwhat kind of leader am I right
now?
Right, and then projecting whatkind of leader do I need to be
going forward?
Because it might requiresomething different based on
(15:21):
circumstance, or you might wantto be a different type of leader
.
Your position might change andyou know, maybe you have
capacity freeing up and you,because you've got other great
team members running things, andso it gives you more time the
leader to be out doing otherthings, whatever that looks like
.
So we're never done learning,we're never done growing.
And, in turn, in the context ofself awareness, that means, I
think, the most important thingto do is to remain curious,
(15:44):
right, curious about yourselfand curious about others.
And so the concept of the bookStir it Up is around
self-coaching that we all havethe agency and the opportunity
to ask ourselves these questionsthat can be very deep and we
can have to sit with them for awhile.
Right, to really sometimes hearour own truth.
And it's equally as importantyou and I talked about also
(16:07):
soliciting others' perceptionand input as to how they view us
as a leader.
Right, because we actuallyaren't super great at accurately
assessing ourselves.
So it is a….
Speaker 2 (16:18):
By the way, sometimes , on the lower end or the higher
end, you know, you might have ahigher sense of self or not
even the sense of self youshould be depending on your you,
depending on your willingnessto lean into it right, exactly,
exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
So some of those core questions about what are my
strengths, what do I value, whatis my purpose those aren't
gonna have the same answers yearover year necessarily.
And so the idea of pausing,reflecting, asking yourselves
these questions and thenintentionally making choices
about maybe leading in adifferent way or showing up
(16:51):
differently, because maybe yourrole for a long time as a leader
a lot of leaders have thatforward-facing role externally
and they're doing a lot of thetalking, so to speak.
And now as a leader, a leadermight think I want to do more
listening and that might be adeliberate, you know, change
(17:13):
that they come to, and beingself-aware to know that if I'm a
different type of listener, itmight cause me to be a different
type of leader, and I'm goingto experiment and I'm going to
try that right.
So it's iteration, there's nota right and a wrong, and we have
to factor in.
We have our plans, our businessplans, and then life happens
and pandemics happen andrecessions happen and all sorts
of things we can't predict, andwe have to then again pull out
the mirror, look again andreflect on who it is we are as a
(17:36):
leader and then decide howwe're going to move forward.
So I think that self-awarenesspiece and it's not just you can
take.
Let's take an example, becauseI think this is really relevant.
So right now, there's just somuch disruption going on, right,
artificial intelligence isdisrupting a lot of businesses.
You know so many things and so,if you evaluate what your
perspective is and relationshipto changes right, as a leader,
(18:00):
have you done that to know if achange comes at you from an
external force, do you sit itout paralyzed, wait to see what
happens, or do you jump in andtake action, like what's your
answer?
And then, going back to rootcause, where does that come from
?
Pivotal watershed moment inyour life, did you kind of
formulate that attitude towardschange?
And is that attitude servingyou now in this situation?
(18:24):
And because that's the one areathat I think I'm universally
working with all the leaders I'mcoaching and all the teams I'm
working with right now is theirability to better lead their
teams and their organizationsthrough this transition and
change.
And you know, a fairlyuniversal one right now is that,
again, AI is just anothertechnology.
We went through the change whenthe internet came, when cloud
(18:45):
computing came, but this ideathat again, another role of a
leader is to be the one to guideothers through this transition
from where you are now to whereyou're going, and so I think
right now, if I were toencourage people to take a few
minutes is to sit with.
What does change mean to them?
How do they react to it?
What are their triggers?
What might they need to do inorder to lead others better
(19:07):
through change?
Because, back to being a rolemodel.
People are looking at you.
Are you panicking?
Is your hair on fire?
Are you indecisive becauseyou're unsure, or do you involve
the group, collaborate, getideas, figure out what's best,
try something and adjustaccordingly right.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
You said a lot but it was great.
Number one the Japanese is aphrase called Kaizen which I use
over and over again in ourpodcast and with our team at all
of our stores, and growing upin the corporate world of Toyota
that was just ingrained into me.
Kaizen, literally translated inJapanese, means continuous
improvement, right.
And so I just look at myself,the leader when I became a car
(19:48):
dealer in my early thirties.
It was survival, and so theleader at that time was got to
work hard, got to show up, gotto make sure that my 70, 80, 90
hour weeks probably not the mosthealthy for me at the time
personally, but it was essentialto show my team that that was
what was needed at that time tolearn and grow and develop.
(20:10):
That was the person in thethirties, then in the forties.
You know, you mature, you grow,and now the guy today, right In
his fifties, trying to be alittle bit more mature in my
approach on that thing.
That that's part one, kaizen.
I hear that right.
Part of being self-aware ishaving that desire for
continuous improvement.
Number two one other thing Ijust love what you just said was
(20:34):
curiosity, your willingness toapproach a challenge, a problem,
a situation with a curious mindhelps you to be more self-aware
, because if that situation isplaced on your lap and you're
curious about it as opposed tofearful of it, you can use that
inquisitive attitude, thatinquisitive approach, to be more
(20:54):
effective for yourself andthose that you're surrounding
right?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I read a funny thing today.
It was about why have a mind ifyou're never going to change it
, right?
Oh my God, so right so right.
Well, and I also, when I talkabout self-awareness too, I'll
say to people you know whatyou're aware of, you can own
Right what you're unaware ofowns you.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
You are aware of you can own what you're not aware of
owns you so good, yeah, right,if you're, if you're clueless on
it, it's going to.
It could dictate your program.
Yeah, and you're fearing, right.
You know Christians might sayfaith versus fear, you know, do
you have faith that things aregoing to go, or the fear going
to paralyze you?
Right?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
And you know the idea with that is if I own it then I
can change it, you know, if Ineed to.
But much, you know, for peoplemaybe in the audience who
haven't maybe worked with acoach or had that sort of
opportunity, a lot of what we dois really kind of peel back the
layers and talk about what arethe limiting beliefs, what are
(21:59):
the blind spots, because inconversation some of that can be
excavated enough to then havethe person see, oh, wow, this
and sometimes it's even thestrength of mind that I've
leaned on for so long that nowis maybe a little bit overdone
is actually getting in my way asa leader.
So exposing those blind spots,which is those things we're
(22:20):
unaware of, right, you know, canalso.
You know it can be doneinternally, it can be done with
a peer or colleague inconversation, and then you know
that's also what coaches canprovide is that opportunity to
really help dig in and dig under, so that you know it's only
when we see that we can try todo something different.
You know, if we really don'tknow how we're impacting others
(22:43):
and that goes back to part ofthe definition of emotional
intelligence, right, it's.
How does the way I show up myemotion, impact others around me
and, you know, am I able toregulate that in a way that
suits the situation.
You know I've got feedback,maybe 15 years ago now.
So I've always been very highenergy right and that was a
strength of mine that enthusiasmreally could rally people,
(23:05):
inspire all of that.
But, I was in self-developmentcourse where I was a student and
not the teacher, and one day wewalked in and the instructor
gave me a little card and it hadthis word on it and it said
equanimity.
And everybody got a card andeverybody had a different word.
This word on it and it saidequanimity.
And everybody got a card andeverybody had a different word.
And it was her observation ofthat thing that might be a blind
spot for us, a thing that wemight want to do differently,
(23:26):
show up differently.
Is that what the definition ofequanimity is?
So, yeah, no, equanimity isreally about a sense of calm,
and so what she was sharing withme, her perception, was I
needed to maybe temper thatenergy and that enthusiasm, not
in every room I walked into.
I didn't immediately need totake up that air, right, and
could I kind of temper some ofthat in a way that actually
(23:48):
would then allow others to feellike, you know, they could speak
up and that sort of thing.
It was really in the moment Iwas kind of scratching my head
too, like what does that meanand how do I do that?
But I have spent the last 15years with that anchor and a
reminder about, you know, how Ishow up really does impact other
people.
And even showing up as my mostenthusiastic, cheerleading kind
(24:09):
of self isn't always what'snecessary.
And now, quite honestly, in theenvironments I'm in in these
organizations, I do as a coach,I do a lot of listening.
I'm not doing all the talkingas much as when I was training
people in front of groups allthe time in that way, and so
it's just interesting, whensomeone hands you a card with a
word on it, even how that canreally change your own
(24:29):
perception of yourself.
And it gave me something towork on and to think about, and
I continue to think about that.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well, and all that is is somebody helping you with
your own self-assessment, yeah,and whether it's a teacher, a
coach like yourself, or one ofyour friends, peers, what have
you?
Being able to take thatfeedback and have a relationship
where someone will be able toshare that feedback with you,
with it being a safe place toland, you know, the whole, two
(24:58):
ears and one mouth so that youcan do that?
A friend of mine he had losthis son and he's a guy in my
men's group and he said therewas a lot of people that came up
to me and tried to provide mehey, here's what I think you
need to do.
And he said the people thatwere the most impactful for me
were the people that said I'mhere for you.
(25:21):
If you need a listening ear,I'm here for you.
And I think that oftentimes weas leaders want to solve the
problem, but oftentimes part ofsolving the problem is
understanding it and internallyfor ourselves to have that self
understanding of how.
One, what the problem is, beingcurious about it.
And, two, utilizing theresource of trusted people,
(25:43):
mentors, whatever so that youcan improve the situation for
yourself, be a better leader foryour teammates and be a better
participant with those thatyou're working in.
Yeah, absolutely, I like that.
I like that a lot.
Great nuggets, great nuggets.
I want to switch gears a littlebit and that is on the giving
back piece.
So you know, you did a greatjob of outlining different
(26:04):
self-assessment areas and foranybody listening, we'll
definitely provide notesassociated with this so that you
can take several of thosenuggets whether it's curiosity,
kaizen and the like to be a goodperson, of learning your
self-assessment.
But one thing that you sharedwith me, too, is that giving
back piece.
I know that you personally havebeen involved in a number of
(26:27):
charities and I want you to talkabout Make-A-Wish or some of
these other charities thatyou've been involved in and how
you believe that helps you as aleader and how you believe it
helps other leaders look beyondtheir existing workplace.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, love talking about this subject and, as I
mentioned, I really wasfortunate in my 20s to go to
work for an organization thatplaced high value on giving back
to the community and so inthose days we were very actively
involved in the United Way,which helps lots of nonprofit
organizations.
So, again, early modeling forme about the benefit of that to
(27:04):
the community and how that allconnects.
That's part of the socialresponse.
Those were the days beforecorporate social responsibility
term even existed and again, ourleader there, that CEO, really
lived that and we were all ableto live that.
Leader there, that CEO, reallylived that and we were all able
to live that.
And in fact, as part of youknow, I went on to develop a lot
of the leadership programs forthat organization and when
(27:27):
someone was being considered forpromotion from director to vice
president, part of our criteriawas that they had to be
involved at a board of directorslevel in a nonprofit and that
was boards are always lookingfor good professional board
members, right.
But we knew and we saw how muchopportunity that those leaders
(27:47):
had to grow in those rolesbecause they might not have even
had a chance yet in ourorganization to have a P&L or
some financial responsibility oroversight or what have you, or
be responsible for recruitingother members to the
organization.
So there are so many leadershipopportunities to learn when you
serve in a board of directorscapacity or when you volunteer
(28:08):
for any sort of nonprofit right,because you could be a court
appointed special advocate right.
You could be a CASA, you couldwork directly with those
organizations and work with thevolunteers.
So I'll speak to Make-A-Wish,who I've spent many years
directly supporting, and itstarted with me wanting to serve
.
I had been consulting with alot of nonprofits, helping them
(28:28):
with strategic planning, helpingtheir leaders develop, but I
wanted to serve at the level ofthe people receiving whatever
benefit that particularorganization providing.
And so my son was nine at thetime, so he was young, and
Make-A-Wish came into my view asa possibility to be a wish
granter, which meant I got tomeet with the children who were
(28:51):
in need of a wish and theirfamilies, and so getting to that
level of who the organizationis touching really was profound
for me, which then made me askwhat else can I do?
Can you start a women's group?
Sure.
What else can I do?
Can you serve on the board?
Sure.
What else can I do?
Can you serve as the chair ofthe board?
(29:12):
Sure, and so they kept mearound as long as they could and
then the bylaws required me toterm out.
But we're still involved andactually, you know, in my work I
still have a percentage of mytime dedicated to serving
nonprofits and what I do now isI try to select one or two in a
given year to do more focusedwork with like throughout the
(29:34):
year to help their leaders,because, you know, coming in for
one lecture isn't necessarilygoing to help move the needle
for those organizations' leaders.
And so I've done that sort ofthing before.
This year I'm helping a groupcalled Radiant Health with
developing their leaders.
They've got like 15 leaders andwe just spend a couple hours
together every couple months andI provide them some, you know,
things to try in between and wereally talk about what worked
(29:57):
and what didn't work, and it'sreally been great.
But overall, I thinkorganizations that do contribute
to the community, both in notjust kind of the treasure, the
write, the check kind of thing,but in providing people to help,
serve really well.
There's research.
They outperform theircompetitors that do not do that
sort of thing, but, moreimportantly, all of the ones
(30:19):
that I know, like yourorganization, like Patterson's
Auto, they you don't do it tofor that benefit, you're doing
it for the altruistic good ofthe community.
The business comes back around,but that's not the why, like so
and that's a differentiator, Ithink as well.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, I think that the other piece in that scenario
is as a leader.
People look to you and theywant to see what your priority
is.
Is your priority just the P&Lof your existing operation or
are you using any profits orusing any resources to make an
impact in others' lives and inthe process?
(30:54):
Those people that are whetherit's volunteering for the
Make-A-Wish Foundation OrangeCounty Rescue Mission, those
people that are, whether it'svolunteering for the Make-A-Wish
Foundation Orange County RescueMission, whatever the charity
might be, I find that ourteammates, when they do it,
their eyes open and they see acause and effect relationship
and they view the organizationas much larger than whatever it
might be Making household goods,selling cars, a law firm,
(31:17):
whatever the deal is they see itas something much bigger than
that and when what you describeis happening, you see that cause
effect relationship.
I can only imagine having afront row seat to watch a child
involved in Make-A-Wish.
It's got to be just so humblingand so life affirming, I
imagine.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, you know.
You know, when we talk aboutthe kind of activities that fill
people's tank up, right, sowhen we talk about mental
well-being of our employees,which is important as well
another big topic right, this isa way it's like a multiple
benefit, right, it's a benefitto the employee's well-being,
because when you volunteer, whenyou serve others, that actually
(31:57):
positively impacts yourwell-being, right.
So that's a personal win, rightfor them.
I mean, it's this idea.
I know that from early days,like you get so much more from
volunteering, you know, than youfeel like.
You know, sure, you give, butoh man, you know the reciprocal,
that heart swell that comeswith seeing the person.
You know, and one of theearliest projects I managed
(32:19):
actually was for Habitat forHumanities, where they built out
in Rancho, santa Margarita somecondominiums and I helped
manage the.
You know we provided themanagement service for that
organization and that was backin the early 90s.
And so you know, kind oforganization by organization, I,
you know, seen different waysthat you know people are served
in our community and there's somany ways, whether it's Second
(32:40):
Harvest, Food Bank, whether it'sGoodwill.
You know there's so manyawesome organizations that if
you're looking for a way, thisis another great team building
opportunity right Like so, whena team serves together, that so
many great things come out ofthat, you know, in terms of the
relationship building and thetrust building on the team and
people seeing different sides ofeach other.
So it's just another great, youknow.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
I know a lot of organizations use the
opportunity to really helpstrengthen their own teams by
serving so many great thingsthat we touched on today, from
identifying how you can be thebest leader by understanding
what, who you are talking tomentors, talking to coaches,
talking to your teammates, andhaving that great
self-assessment, self-awarenessof where you are talking to
mentors, talking to coaches,talking to your teammates, and
(33:24):
having that greatself-assessment, self-awareness
of where you are and using thatself-awareness to impact others
and impact the community, whichis just great.
Jeannie, my hope from thisdiscussion is we lead to twice,
three, four times a year whereyou can pour into me so that I
can be a better leader for myteam, and pour into our
listeners several times a yearwith great leadership traits
(33:46):
that they can use, they canemulate, because you've got a
laundry list of differentexperiences from coaching large
groups, small groups and that'ssomething that I can benefit
from and I think a lot of ourlisteners can as well, and we
talked about it and hoping thatI can get you to come back time
and time again.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh, it would be my pleasure and in fact maybe your
listeners can help inform whatwe should talk about.
So I don't know if anybody inthe comments wants to, you know,
suggest a topic that would beinterested in.
But you know we've talked a lotabout.
You know there could be wecould spend time on talking
about how do you be moreresilient, how do you build
trust, how do you have yourteams be more cohesive, how do
(34:23):
you build alignment in theorganization?
There's lots of fun topics thatI would love to dive into for
your audience.
So you know we welcome yoursuggestions as we kind of plan
that going forward right.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Love it.
That's great, and we'd love totake your expertise and utilize
that so for you.
You're working on a couple ofdifferent projects, so, as we
close this thing out, anythingthat you're super passionate
about right now that our groupmight be interested in hearing
about.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Sure, yeah, so I am really focused on speaking Now.
I want to again increase myimpact, get in front of more
people to really talk about howdo you lead yourself and others
through disruption and change,whatever that might be, and so
that's really the kind of focusof the work that I'm doing right
now.
I do have a passion aroundwell-being, and so I give talks
(35:12):
on how do we optimize our brainto increase our overall
well-being.
So there's lots of subjects I'minterested in, but where I'm
looking to do more is really onlarge stages in speaking, and so
I've got some great thingslined up this year already and
I'm looking forward to theopportunity to really reach more
people, and which is why I'mreally grateful to be on your
podcast, because this is anotherway to reach those that you
(35:33):
know might need a littlecatalyst or inspiration to you
know work on their leadership,because it is work.
You don't just get the titlethat makes you a leader
Leadership really and you know,the more kind of contentious the
time is in terms of you knowthings going on, the more true
leadership is required.
It's easy kind of to be at thehead of the team when things are
(35:55):
all going fine, you know, withthe economy and everything else,
when real leaders show up iswhen it's tough, right and tough
decisions are required and youknow their ability to.
You know keep their employeesengaged even when things are
challenging, and to keep theiremployees really knowing that
they're cared about, which is, Ithink, a big part of your
culture and your environmenthere, that you know this idea of
(36:17):
we're in it together and it isa we, and the success comes
collectively.
And if we're having anychallenges, we're going to help
each other figure out how toovercome those challenges right,
Without a doubt, and I likeyour comment about leaning into
disruption and change.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
And you don't have to look far.
I mean, if you just think aboutthe last five years between
pandemics and different crises,tariffs, whatever that situation
might be In the last five yearsin our professional career,
some people haven't seen thoselevels of disruption in a 30,
40-year career in a generationand we've seen a lot of that in
(36:53):
the last certainly five years inthe automotive space.
We've seen a lot of it even inthe last three, four years.
So I am excited to hear aboutyour approach on disruption and
change and resilience.
You know John Elder just wrotea book called Resilient and it
was fantastic.
How are you resilient duringturbulent times?
And your guidance for our team,your guidance for any listeners
(37:16):
I know, will be very muchappreciated.
So thank you so much for takingtime out of your busy day.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
It's been a pleasure, been a pleasure talking to you,
listening to you, knowing yourstory even better, and I look
forward to our next chat inperson on the podcast and look
forward to you educating me andeducating our listeners on how
we can be the best version ofourselves, be the best leaders
and drive home, how we can bepersons of influence and impact
(37:45):
for our teammates, our friends,our community.
Thanks so much, you're welcomeThank you.
Thank you so much for listeningto today's episode of Driven
Leaders Podcast, where we talkto Janine McClintock, author of
Stir it Up, head of J9Leadership Solutions and a
wonderful leadership mentor, notjust to me but to all of those
(38:06):
people that she coaches.
She focused on so many greatareas that I'm hoping you got a
good takeaway on.
Number one self-awareness.
How aware are you of yourleadership skills?
Are you talking to others andencouraging them to pour into
you?
Number two Kaizen.
Are you continuously improvingas a leader?
And number three, one of myfavorites is are you curious?
(38:29):
Are you curious to lean into achallenging situation and grow
from it?
And the better leaders alwaysare curious and run to a
challenging situation so theycan absorb it, be aware of it
and be able to own it and tackleit and remember.
If you like what you heardtoday, please remember to like,
share or subscribe to what youheard and make this Driven
(38:51):
Leaders podcast the bestresource for you and your
friends moving forward.
Make it a great day.
A leader's role is to transform potential, that human
potential.
A leader that shines theirlight so that others can shine
theirs.
We're never done learning.
We're never done growing.
Pull out the mirror, look againand reflect on who it is we are
as a leader and then decide howwe're going to move forward.
What you're aware of you canown.
What you're unaware of owns you.
(00:24):
You don't just get the titleand that makes you a leader, and
tough decisions are requiredand you know their ability to
keep their employees engagedeven when things are challenging
.
Keep their employees knowingthat they're cared about, which
is, I think, a big part of yourculture and your environment.
Here that we're having anychallenges, we're going to help
each other figure out how toovercome those challenges right.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm Jon Patterson and welcome to the Driven Leader
podcast, where we talk to drivenleaders, leaders that are
driven to do more, and each weekwe talk to our teammates
internally and on a monthlybasis, we talk to external
influencers that make a hugeimpact, not just from our team
but for the community at large,and today we are so lucky to
(01:07):
have Janine McClintock, ceo ofJ9 Leadership Solutions and
author of Stir it Up, a greatleadership coach that is here
with us.
That has been a big part ofleadership coaching for our team
, stuff that each one of ourmanagers have taken forward, but
super excited for each of youto hear what is going to be
(01:27):
discussed today.
So, janine, welcome to theDriven Leader Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thank you.
I want to take you with meeverywhere to introduce me.
That was very exciting.
I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Thanks, john, I'm the front man, I'm the pump up
music to start things out right.
What I like to do with any ofour guests that come on is get a
good idea as to your background.
You know you and I know eachother real well, but the people
that are listening don't knowyou, and before we get into work
stuff, let's talk about you asa friend, a wife, a family
person where you grew up andthat type of stuff, so we can
(01:58):
all get to know you a little bitbetter.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, I'd love to share that.
So I am a small-town girl fromNorthern California and my
hometown was known as thewrist-wrestling capital of the
world at one point, and for theproduction of eggs which would
be really good right now, giventheir cost For sure.
Business.
My grandfather started a bakery.
We sold sourdough bread in theBay Area and so I grew up seeing
(02:30):
what it meant to lead in thecommunity.
My dad was a great example andhe really felt like the business
provided for those 40 familiesright.
He really felt an obligation,not just to the employees, and I
was thinking about the factthat when he retired and sold
the business, how many peoplethat had worked for him at some
point went on to have otherbusinesses in Petaluma, and so
that was, you know, part of hislegacy.
(02:51):
So, you know, growing up in asmall town was a lot of fun.
And then I migrated here toSouthern California little time
in Santa Barbara, go Gauchos forschool and found my way to
Orange County and I've been herefor decades and love it here
and had a first marriage and ason, connor, in that
relationship, and then now asecond marriage to your friend
(03:12):
John John McClintock.
So we're empty nesters nowWe've got our three kids all out
in the world and working andyou know we love spending time
riding our electric bikes aroundand up in the mountains skiing,
and I do a lot of yoga in myspare time as well, so really
happy to have made my home herein Orange County.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And your husband would even say that you are the
better of the two skiers in thehousehold.
So I've heard from more thanone person Wait a minute, janine
is the real skiing expert inthat house.
So I'm looking forward tospending time, after both your
husband and I have had kneeissues in the past, so excited
to get to know you even betterin this discussion, and it's
been a pleasure getting to knowyou really over the last five or
(03:50):
six years.
So let's kind of transition.
So right, you're here in OrangeCounty.
Let's talk about your education, your career right out of
college, and how did thatexperience morph into where you
are today?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, I really.
There's really two distinctparts to my career trajectory.
I was lucky enough early on inOrange County to land a job, you
know, as a young20-something-year-old at a
company the Merritt Companies atthe time, and I built a career
almost two decades there,working for a female CEO, which
was very formative for me as ayoung working professional, and
(04:28):
it was an environment where youcould take risks, you could try
new things.
You didn't have to be the mostsenior, anything to raise your
hand to say, you know, I'll openan office in Northern
California, or whatever thesituation was.
And it was a really diversesort of business focused on
residential real estatedevelopment and management, and
so I just learned so much inthat career and under a leader
(04:52):
that was a great role model,right, that's so important for
all of us to remember howimportant are how we show up
impacts so many other people,and I had that great example
early on in my early boss,melinda Massone.
And so from there though, youknow, things happen.
Life moves forward.
Recessions kick in, hersuccession plan for divesting of
(05:12):
the business and selling itwent into place, and so, in 2008
, I found myself with thedecision before me about either
staying in the company that wewere acquired or really taking
the chance at that point to leapand go down an entrepreneurial
path.
And I really I chose thatbecause while I was at Merit I
(05:35):
went back to school at ChapmanUniversity and got my master's
in organizational leadership andI really knew that my path was
to help develop other leaders.
I did it internally in thecompany I worked in and I
thought I want to really takethat.
My path was to help developother leaders.
I did it internally in thecompany I worked in and I
thought I want to really takethat and expand my impact.
And being able to work with alot of companies, including a
lot of nonprofits and that wasanother great example that
Melinda provided as well was ourorganization was very
(05:58):
philanthropic minded.
We did tons of communityactivity.
So I almost didn't know thatnot every company did that right
, but now I certainly know thatit was very special early on in
my career.
So I decided to take the leapand start my own consultancy
practice doing leadership,development and training.
And you know, as I say in some,you know the rest is history.
(06:20):
Here we are, almost 17 yearslater.
It's been a really fun ride.
Lots of met a lot of amazingpeople along the way, worked
with a lot of really awesomeorganizations, both big
corporations as well as localnonprofits here in Orange County
, see leaders develop right, tosee people have those aha
(06:47):
moments and to really know thatwe all are capable of change and
transformation and we can guideourselves and we can take a lot
of deliberate, intentionalaction to be better and show up
more for ourselves and thecommunity and our businesses.
And so I absolutely found myplace and plan to do it for all
my years.
That I can you know.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So when you were working there, clearly you were
given some opportunity todevelop people.
Was there an aha moment alongthe way, or did it just kind of
gradually develop into, oh, thisis something I'm good at.
Or did you have one of thosedays, weeks, months, years,
where you said, wait a minute,I'm good at this and people are
responding to my direction?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well, I think it was kind of dual, like initially I
was really early on givenresponsibility of managing a
team and then multiple teams andthen a whole division right,
and I did notice that reallywhere I spent most of my time
was around talent developmentright, and coaching people and
helping them do their job better.
I was further and further awayfrom the customer and doing the
direct work, but my job wasreally to bring out their
(07:45):
potential, and so that's reallywhen it clicked in, when I had
the opportunity to lead really agroup of about 100 people at
the time and really noticed thatreally what I do right is
develop these people, developtheir potential, and that's how
we get the work done, how wemeet our performance metrics and
how we get our results.
And so that kind ofhuman-centric leadership, focus
(08:06):
around developing other leadershas been really my core anchor
in the work that I've continuedto do with other organizations,
because a lot of leaders atfirst don't necessarily see that
as a primary role right, theythink they have other roles, but
I like to really anchor peoplein the fact that talent
(08:33):
management.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Talent development is really one of the most
important things they can do forthe overall success of the
business.
But when it comes out once amonth, I really dive in and
listen and there's so manynuggets I get.
And what he defines a leader asis a person of influence, and
whether that's a person that ismanaging just themselves or
managing hundreds, if notthousands, of people, you're a
(08:57):
person of influence becausepeople look to you.
How do you identify leaders andhow do you pour into those
leaders and what is yourdefinition of a leader?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well, one of the things I like to say when I'm
talking about a definition isyou are a leader if you have
followers.
So that's one thing to keep inmind, and that's one of those
areas where people who sometimesdon't have the role or the
title of leader maybe don't seethemselves as leader when in
fact they are leading right.
And so there's so many peoplethat have the opportunity to
(09:30):
lead others.
Ie, they have followers, sothey really are leading, and so
I think that's one thing forpeople to keep in mind.
And I've really always kind ofagain anchored in this idea of a
leader's role is to transformpotential, that human potential,
into performance for thebusiness right.
And so in doing that and alsodeveloping and transforming
(09:51):
potential, could be having thecreative business idea right.
So there's kind of a dualapplication there, because one
of the gentlemen I studied backin the day his name was Max
Dupree, he was a CEO of HermanMiller Furniture Manufacturers,
right, and you know he said therole of a leader is to, you know
, provide that path of clarity,you know the purpose, the why of
what the work is, and to saythank you to all those people
(10:14):
doing that work right andfulfilling that vision and the
mission of the organization.
And you know, I think thatdefinition, coupled with just
the concept of servantleadership and Robert
Greenleaf's definition right andI love his best test, which is
are those I'm serving morehealthy, wiser, autonomous, more
(10:37):
likely to be a servant leaderthemselves?
Particular definition hasreally what is my guiding kind
of principle around if someoneis being successful at being a
leader, are they raising upother leaders around them that
are willing to serve in that way, and not just the business but
the community and those in need,whatever that might look like
in times of disaster or whathave you?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Let's lean into servant leadership, because that
is something that resonateswith me.
I love watching leaders thatgive others credit, that are
humble, that have a level ofhumility to them.
Walk me through maybe a fewstories in the vast amount of
coaching that you've had whereyou can give an example or two
(11:17):
of servant leaders that have hada massive impact either on you
or the company that they workwith.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Sure.
So one of the to your point,it's often like you almost don't
know they're leading becausethey're so everyone else is out
in front.
Right, they've created theopportunity, they've delegated
the responsibility, they arethere to support and help remove
obstacles, but they're, youknow, really able to allow
others to shine.
(11:44):
Right, you know a leader thatshines their light so that
others can shine theirs Again.
That's that ripple effect.
And so you know an examplethere I have a large healthcare
client and the CEO there verymuch, whether it's the doctors
or the nurses or whomever it is.
He very much goes on these likelistening tours and really
(12:04):
listens to people and thenidentifies opportunities and
ways in which they cancontribute, not even just to the
organization, but like shouldthey speak at a conference and
represent the organizationinstead of him?
Right, like the C-suite leadersget the opportunities and he is
always looking to give those toother people, to give them the
opportunity to expand theirnetwork, develop their skills,
(12:25):
represent the organization.
And in doing that right, theyget to, they are developing and
they get that opportunity toshine themselves.
Right, where he could say, yeah, I'll take that, you know,
panel discussion, or I'll dothat.
Community representation.
You know ribbon cutting,whatever it is.
So it's really that idea of Idon't need to be the face in the
forefront of everything that Iwant to give my people that
(12:45):
opportunity because he trulybelieves in the we of the
organization right, it's notabout him.
And only through all of thosepeople can they serve the
patients in a quality way toprovide the care that they
deserve and they want to provide.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, and in him providing that servant
leadership, there's a sense ofpride with the person that is
being poured into right All of asudden.
Not only do they want to do agood job, but they want to
respect him by being their bestselves at these different
opportunities.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, they feel very representative of the
organization right as a whole.
And so in that environment,with a culture like that, you
know they're really, you achievethe result, the results you're
looking for.
Right, that those, the numberscome right, I love that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
You know, you and I talked a little bit before about
some of the biggest challenges,right, the biggest challenges
associated with leadersdeveloping up, and one of the
things that you had mentioned tome was you know
self-actualization,understanding, you know kind of
who you are and I think that'ssuch an important piece to being
a leader, because not everyleader is the same, right.
(13:52):
I think about some of the bestleaders that I know, some of my
biggest mentors and it doesn'thave to be that person that is
the big, bold personality.
Sometimes they are, butsometimes they're very
methodical, maybe a little bitmore reserved, but what do you
see as that attribute that yousee is essential for individuals
(14:14):
growing as a leader?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, so this idea that.
So I love that.
You mentioned the stylisticdifferences.
There is not one way to lead,right, there are many different
styles and you know, anddifferent situations call for
different styles.
So even if we have a particularstyle, that's our comfort and
default mode.
Sometimes we have to even flexand lead in a different way
based on the situation, right.
(14:36):
But all of us there are commontraits, and one of the core
traits is this idea of beingself-aware, which leads to
emotional intelligence.
And that's back to the JimCollins, you know good, to great
work, a level five leader.
How you get the difference isthat delta in emotional
intelligence that the leaderpossesses.
And so all that means is, youknow, we are always all growing
(14:59):
and changing and learning.
So you know, the leader I wasat 35 is different from the
leader I was at 45, which isdifferent from the leader that I
am now, and regularly checkingin with yourselves and being
reflective and thinking aboutwhat kind of leader am I right
now?
Right, and then projecting whatkind of leader do I need to be
going forward?
Because it might requiresomething different based on
(15:21):
circumstance, or you might wantto be a different type of leader
.
Your position might change andyou know, maybe you have
capacity freeing up and you,because you've got other great
team members running things, andso it gives you more time the
leader to be out doing otherthings, whatever that looks like
.
So we're never done learning,we're never done growing.
And, in turn, in the context ofself awareness, that means, I
think, the most important thingto do is to remain curious,
(15:44):
right, curious about yourselfand curious about others.
And so the concept of the bookStir it Up is around
self-coaching that we all havethe agency and the opportunity
to ask ourselves these questionsthat can be very deep and we
can have to sit with them for awhile.
Right, to really sometimes hearour own truth.
And it's equally as importantyou and I talked about also
(16:07):
soliciting others' perceptionand input as to how they view us
as a leader.
Right, because we actuallyaren't super great at accurately
assessing ourselves.
So it is a….
Speaker 2 (16:18):
By the way, sometimes , on the lower end or the higher
end, you know, you might have ahigher sense of self or not
even the sense of self youshould be depending on your you,
depending on your willingnessto lean into it right, exactly,
exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
So some of those core questions about what are my
strengths, what do I value, whatis my purpose those aren't
gonna have the same answers yearover year necessarily.
And so the idea of pausing,reflecting, asking yourselves
these questions and thenintentionally making choices
about maybe leading in adifferent way or showing up
(16:51):
differently, because maybe yourrole for a long time as a leader
a lot of leaders have thatforward-facing role externally
and they're doing a lot of thetalking, so to speak.
And now as a leader, a leadermight think I want to do more
listening and that might be adeliberate, you know, change
(17:13):
that they come to, and beingself-aware to know that if I'm a
different type of listener, itmight cause me to be a different
type of leader, and I'm goingto experiment and I'm going to
try that right.
So it's iteration, there's nota right and a wrong, and we have
to factor in.
We have our plans, our businessplans, and then life happens
and pandemics happen andrecessions happen and all sorts
of things we can't predict, andwe have to then again pull out
the mirror, look again andreflect on who it is we are as a
(17:36):
leader and then decide howwe're going to move forward.
So I think that self-awarenesspiece and it's not just you can
take.
Let's take an example, becauseI think this is really relevant.
So right now, there's just somuch disruption going on, right,
artificial intelligence isdisrupting a lot of businesses.
You know so many things and so,if you evaluate what your
perspective is and relationshipto changes right, as a leader,
(18:00):
have you done that to know if achange comes at you from an
external force, do you sit itout paralyzed, wait to see what
happens, or do you jump in andtake action, like what's your
answer?
And then, going back to rootcause, where does that come from
?
Pivotal watershed moment inyour life, did you kind of
formulate that attitude towardschange?
And is that attitude servingyou now in this situation?
(18:24):
And because that's the one areathat I think I'm universally
working with all the leaders I'mcoaching and all the teams I'm
working with right now is theirability to better lead their
teams and their organizationsthrough this transition and
change.
And you know, a fairlyuniversal one right now is that,
again, AI is just anothertechnology.
We went through the change whenthe internet came, when cloud
(18:45):
computing came, but this ideathat again, another role of a
leader is to be the one to guideothers through this transition
from where you are now to whereyou're going, and so I think
right now, if I were toencourage people to take a few
minutes is to sit with.
What does change mean to them?
How do they react to it?
What are their triggers?
What might they need to do inorder to lead others better
(19:07):
through change?
Because, back to being a rolemodel.
People are looking at you.
Are you panicking?
Is your hair on fire?
Are you indecisive becauseyou're unsure, or do you involve
the group, collaborate, getideas, figure out what's best,
try something and adjustaccordingly right.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
You said a lot but it was great.
Number one the Japanese is aphrase called Kaizen which I use
over and over again in ourpodcast and with our team at all
of our stores, and growing upin the corporate world of Toyota
that was just ingrained into me.
Kaizen, literally translated inJapanese, means continuous
improvement, right.
And so I just look at myself,the leader when I became a car
(19:48):
dealer in my early thirties.
It was survival, and so theleader at that time was got to
work hard, got to show up, gotto make sure that my 70, 80, 90
hour weeks probably not the mosthealthy for me at the time
personally, but it was essentialto show my team that that was
what was needed at that time tolearn and grow and develop.
(20:10):
That was the person in thethirties, then in the forties.
You know, you mature, you grow,and now the guy today, right In
his fifties, trying to be alittle bit more mature in my
approach on that thing.
That that's part one, kaizen.
I hear that right.
Part of being self-aware ishaving that desire for
continuous improvement.
Number two one other thing Ijust love what you just said was
(20:34):
curiosity, your willingness toapproach a challenge, a problem,
a situation with a curious mindhelps you to be more self-aware
, because if that situation isplaced on your lap and you're
curious about it as opposed tofearful of it, you can use that
inquisitive attitude, thatinquisitive approach, to be more
(20:54):
effective for yourself andthose that you're surrounding
right?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I read a funny thing today.
It was about why have a mind ifyou're never going to change it
, right?
Oh my God, so right so right.
Well, and I also, when I talkabout self-awareness too, I'll
say to people you know whatyou're aware of, you can own
Right what you're unaware ofowns you.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
You are aware of you can own what you're not aware of
owns you so good, yeah, right,if you're, if you're clueless on
it, it's going to.
It could dictate your program.
Yeah, and you're fearing, right.
You know Christians might sayfaith versus fear, you know, do
you have faith that things aregoing to go, or the fear going
to paralyze you?
Right?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
And you know the idea with that is if I own it then I
can change it, you know, if Ineed to.
But much, you know, for peoplemaybe in the audience who
haven't maybe worked with acoach or had that sort of
opportunity, a lot of what we dois really kind of peel back the
layers and talk about what arethe limiting beliefs, what are
(21:59):
the blind spots, because inconversation some of that can be
excavated enough to then havethe person see, oh, wow, this
and sometimes it's even thestrength of mind that I've
leaned on for so long that nowis maybe a little bit overdone
is actually getting in my way asa leader.
So exposing those blind spots,which is those things we're
(22:20):
unaware of, right, you know, canalso.
You know it can be doneinternally, it can be done with
a peer or colleague inconversation, and then you know
that's also what coaches canprovide is that opportunity to
really help dig in and dig under, so that you know it's only
when we see that we can try todo something different.
You know, if we really don'tknow how we're impacting others
(22:43):
and that goes back to part ofthe definition of emotional
intelligence, right, it's.
How does the way I show up myemotion, impact others around me
and, you know, am I able toregulate that in a way that
suits the situation.
You know I've got feedback,maybe 15 years ago now.
So I've always been very highenergy right and that was a
strength of mine that enthusiasmreally could rally people,
(23:05):
inspire all of that.
But, I was in self-developmentcourse where I was a student and
not the teacher, and one day wewalked in and the instructor
gave me a little card and it hadthis word on it and it said
equanimity.
And everybody got a card andeverybody had a different word.
This word on it and it saidequanimity.
And everybody got a card andeverybody had a different word.
And it was her observation ofthat thing that might be a blind
spot for us, a thing that wemight want to do differently,
(23:26):
show up differently.
Is that what the definition ofequanimity is?
So, yeah, no, equanimity isreally about a sense of calm,
and so what she was sharing withme, her perception, was I
needed to maybe temper thatenergy and that enthusiasm, not
in every room I walked into.
I didn't immediately need totake up that air, right, and
could I kind of temper some ofthat in a way that actually
(23:48):
would then allow others to feellike, you know, they could speak
up and that sort of thing.
It was really in the moment Iwas kind of scratching my head
too, like what does that meanand how do I do that?
But I have spent the last 15years with that anchor and a
reminder about, you know, how Ishow up really does impact other
people.
And even showing up as my mostenthusiastic, cheerleading kind
(24:09):
of self isn't always what'snecessary.
And now, quite honestly, in theenvironments I'm in in these
organizations, I do as a coach,I do a lot of listening.
I'm not doing all the talkingas much as when I was training
people in front of groups allthe time in that way, and so
it's just interesting, whensomeone hands you a card with a
word on it, even how that canreally change your own
(24:29):
perception of yourself.
And it gave me something towork on and to think about, and
I continue to think about that.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well, and all that is is somebody helping you with
your own self-assessment, yeah,and whether it's a teacher, a
coach like yourself, or one ofyour friends, peers, what have
you?
Being able to take thatfeedback and have a relationship
where someone will be able toshare that feedback with you,
with it being a safe place toland, you know, the whole, two
(24:58):
ears and one mouth so that youcan do that?
A friend of mine he had losthis son and he's a guy in my
men's group and he said therewas a lot of people that came up
to me and tried to provide mehey, here's what I think you
need to do.
And he said the people thatwere the most impactful for me
were the people that said I'mhere for you.
(25:21):
If you need a listening ear,I'm here for you.
And I think that oftentimes weas leaders want to solve the
problem, but oftentimes part ofsolving the problem is
understanding it and internallyfor ourselves to have that self
understanding of how.
One, what the problem is, beingcurious about it.
And, two, utilizing theresource of trusted people,
(25:43):
mentors, whatever so that youcan improve the situation for
yourself, be a better leader foryour teammates and be a better
participant with those thatyou're working in.
Yeah, absolutely, I like that.
I like that a lot.
Great nuggets, great nuggets.
I want to switch gears a littlebit and that is on the giving
back piece.
So you know, you did a greatjob of outlining different
(26:04):
self-assessment areas and foranybody listening, we'll
definitely provide notesassociated with this so that you
can take several of thosenuggets whether it's curiosity,
kaizen and the like to be a goodperson, of learning your
self-assessment.
But one thing that you sharedwith me, too, is that giving
back piece.
I know that you personally havebeen involved in a number of
(26:27):
charities and I want you to talkabout Make-A-Wish or some of
these other charities thatyou've been involved in and how
you believe that helps you as aleader and how you believe it
helps other leaders look beyondtheir existing workplace.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, love talking about this subject and, as I
mentioned, I really wasfortunate in my 20s to go to
work for an organization thatplaced high value on giving back
to the community and so inthose days we were very actively
involved in the United Way,which helps lots of nonprofit
organizations.
So, again, early modeling forme about the benefit of that to
(27:04):
the community and how that allconnects.
That's part of the socialresponse.
Those were the days beforecorporate social responsibility
term even existed and again, ourleader there, that CEO, really
lived that and we were all ableto live that.
Leader there, that CEO, reallylived that and we were all able
to live that.
And in fact, as part of youknow, I went on to develop a lot
of the leadership programs forthat organization and when
(27:27):
someone was being considered forpromotion from director to vice
president, part of our criteriawas that they had to be
involved at a board of directorslevel in a nonprofit and that
was boards are always lookingfor good professional board
members, right.
But we knew and we saw how muchopportunity that those leaders
(27:47):
had to grow in those rolesbecause they might not have even
had a chance yet in ourorganization to have a P&L or
some financial responsibility oroversight or what have you, or
be responsible for recruitingother members to the
organization.
So there are so many leadershipopportunities to learn when you
serve in a board of directorscapacity or when you volunteer
(28:08):
for any sort of nonprofit right,because you could be a court
appointed special advocate right.
You could be a CASA, you couldwork directly with those
organizations and work with thevolunteers.
So I'll speak to Make-A-Wish,who I've spent many years
directly supporting, and itstarted with me wanting to serve
.
I had been consulting with alot of nonprofits, helping them
(28:28):
with strategic planning, helpingtheir leaders develop, but I
wanted to serve at the level ofthe people receiving whatever
benefit that particularorganization providing.
And so my son was nine at thetime, so he was young, and
Make-A-Wish came into my view asa possibility to be a wish
granter, which meant I got tomeet with the children who were
(28:51):
in need of a wish and theirfamilies, and so getting to that
level of who the organizationis touching really was profound
for me, which then made me askwhat else can I do?
Can you start a women's group?
Sure.
What else can I do?
Can you serve on the board?
Sure.
What else can I do?
Can you serve as the chair ofthe board?
(29:12):
Sure, and so they kept mearound as long as they could and
then the bylaws required me toterm out.
But we're still involved andactually, you know, in my work I
still have a percentage of mytime dedicated to serving
nonprofits and what I do now isI try to select one or two in a
given year to do more focusedwork with like throughout the
(29:34):
year to help their leaders,because, you know, coming in for
one lecture isn't necessarilygoing to help move the needle
for those organizations' leaders.
And so I've done that sort ofthing before.
This year I'm helping a groupcalled Radiant Health with
developing their leaders.
They've got like 15 leaders andwe just spend a couple hours
together every couple months andI provide them some, you know,
things to try in between and wereally talk about what worked
(29:57):
and what didn't work, and it'sreally been great.
But overall, I thinkorganizations that do contribute
to the community, both in notjust kind of the treasure, the
write, the check kind of thing,but in providing people to help,
serve really well.
There's research.
They outperform theircompetitors that do not do that
sort of thing, but, moreimportantly, all of the ones
(30:19):
that I know, like yourorganization, like Patterson's
Auto, they you don't do it tofor that benefit, you're doing
it for the altruistic good ofthe community.
The business comes back around,but that's not the why, like so
and that's a differentiator, Ithink as well.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, I think that the other piece in that scenario
is as a leader.
People look to you and theywant to see what your priority
is.
Is your priority just the P&Lof your existing operation or
are you using any profits orusing any resources to make an
impact in others' lives and inthe process?
(30:54):
Those people that are whetherit's volunteering for the
Make-A-Wish Foundation OrangeCounty Rescue Mission, those
people that are, whether it'svolunteering for the Make-A-Wish
Foundation Orange County RescueMission, whatever the charity
might be, I find that ourteammates, when they do it,
their eyes open and they see acause and effect relationship
and they view the organizationas much larger than whatever it
might be Making household goods,selling cars, a law firm,
(31:17):
whatever the deal is they see itas something much bigger than
that and when what you describeis happening, you see that cause
effect relationship.
I can only imagine having afront row seat to watch a child
involved in Make-A-Wish.
It's got to be just so humblingand so life affirming, I
imagine.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, you know.
You know, when we talk aboutthe kind of activities that fill
people's tank up, right, sowhen we talk about mental
well-being of our employees,which is important as well
another big topic right, this isa way it's like a multiple
benefit, right, it's a benefitto the employee's well-being,
because when you volunteer, whenyou serve others, that actually
(31:57):
positively impacts yourwell-being, right.
So that's a personal win, rightfor them.
I mean, it's this idea.
I know that from early days,like you get so much more from
volunteering, you know, than youfeel like.
You know, sure, you give, butoh man, you know the reciprocal,
that heart swell that comeswith seeing the person.
You know, and one of theearliest projects I managed
(32:19):
actually was for Habitat forHumanities, where they built out
in Rancho, santa Margarita somecondominiums and I helped
manage the.
You know we provided themanagement service for that
organization and that was backin the early 90s.
And so you know, kind oforganization by organization, I,
you know, seen different waysthat you know people are served
in our community and there's somany ways, whether it's Second
(32:40):
Harvest, Food Bank, whether it'sGoodwill.
You know there's so manyawesome organizations that if
you're looking for a way, thisis another great team building
opportunity right Like so, whena team serves together, that so
many great things come out ofthat, you know, in terms of the
relationship building and thetrust building on the team and
people seeing different sides ofeach other.
So it's just another great, youknow.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
I know a lot of organizations use the
opportunity to really helpstrengthen their own teams by
serving so many great thingsthat we touched on today, from
identifying how you can be thebest leader by understanding
what, who you are talking tomentors, talking to coaches,
talking to your teammates, andhaving that great
self-assessment, self-awarenessof where you are talking to
mentors, talking to coaches,talking to your teammates, and
(33:24):
having that greatself-assessment, self-awareness
of where you are and using thatself-awareness to impact others
and impact the community, whichis just great.
Jeannie, my hope from thisdiscussion is we lead to twice,
three, four times a year whereyou can pour into me so that I
can be a better leader for myteam, and pour into our
listeners several times a yearwith great leadership traits
(33:46):
that they can use, they canemulate, because you've got a
laundry list of differentexperiences from coaching large
groups, small groups and that'ssomething that I can benefit
from and I think a lot of ourlisteners can as well, and we
talked about it and hoping thatI can get you to come back time
and time again.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh, it would be my pleasure and in fact maybe your
listeners can help inform whatwe should talk about.
So I don't know if anybody inthe comments wants to, you know,
suggest a topic that would beinterested in.
But you know we've talked a lotabout.
You know there could be wecould spend time on talking
about how do you be moreresilient, how do you build
trust, how do you have yourteams be more cohesive, how do
(34:23):
you build alignment in theorganization?
There's lots of fun topics thatI would love to dive into for
your audience.
So you know we welcome yoursuggestions as we kind of plan
that going forward right.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Love it.
That's great, and we'd love totake your expertise and utilize
that so for you.
You're working on a couple ofdifferent projects, so, as we
close this thing out, anythingthat you're super passionate
about right now that our groupmight be interested in hearing
about.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Sure, yeah, so I am really focused on speaking Now.
I want to again increase myimpact, get in front of more
people to really talk about howdo you lead yourself and others
through disruption and change,whatever that might be, and so
that's really the kind of focusof the work that I'm doing right
now.
I do have a passion aroundwell-being, and so I give talks
(35:12):
on how do we optimize our brainto increase our overall
well-being.
So there's lots of subjects I'minterested in, but where I'm
looking to do more is really onlarge stages in speaking, and so
I've got some great thingslined up this year already and
I'm looking forward to theopportunity to really reach more
people, and which is why I'mreally grateful to be on your
podcast, because this is anotherway to reach those that you
(35:33):
know might need a littlecatalyst or inspiration to you
know work on their leadership,because it is work.
You don't just get the titlethat makes you a leader
Leadership really and you know,the more kind of contentious the
time is in terms of you knowthings going on, the more true
leadership is required.
It's easy kind of to be at thehead of the team when things are
(35:55):
all going fine, you know, withthe economy and everything else,
when real leaders show up iswhen it's tough, right and tough
decisions are required and youknow their ability to.
You know keep their employeesengaged even when things are
challenging, and to keep theiremployees really knowing that
they're cared about, which is, Ithink, a big part of your
culture and your environmenthere, that you know this idea of
(36:17):
we're in it together and it isa we, and the success comes
collectively.
And if we're having anychallenges, we're going to help
each other figure out how toovercome those challenges right,
Without a doubt, and I likeyour comment about leaning into
disruption and change.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
And you don't have to look far.
I mean, if you just think aboutthe last five years between
pandemics and different crises,tariffs, whatever that situation
might be In the last five yearsin our professional career,
some people haven't seen thoselevels of disruption in a 30,
40-year career in a generationand we've seen a lot of that in
(36:53):
the last certainly five years inthe automotive space.
We've seen a lot of it even inthe last three, four years.
So I am excited to hear aboutyour approach on disruption and
change and resilience.
You know John Elder just wrotea book called Resilient and it
was fantastic.
How are you resilient duringturbulent times?
And your guidance for our team,your guidance for any listeners
(37:16):
I know, will be very muchappreciated.
So thank you so much for takingtime out of your busy day.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
It's been a pleasure, been a pleasure talking to you,
listening to you, knowing yourstory even better, and I look
forward to our next chat inperson on the podcast and look
forward to you educating me andeducating our listeners on how
we can be the best version ofourselves, be the best leaders
and drive home, how we can bepersons of influence and impact
(37:45):
for our teammates, our friends,our community.
Thanks so much, you're welcomeThank you.
Thank you so much for listeningto today's episode of Driven
Leaders Podcast, where we talkto Janine McClintock, author of
Stir it Up, head of J9Leadership Solutions and a
wonderful leadership mentor, notjust to me but to all of those
(38:06):
people that she coaches.
She focused on so many greatareas that I'm hoping you got a
good takeaway on.
Number one self-awareness.
How aware are you of yourleadership skills?
Are you talking to others andencouraging them to pour into
you?
Number two Kaizen.
Are you continuously improvingas a leader?
And number three, one of myfavorites is are you curious?
(38:29):
Are you curious to lean into achallenging situation and grow
from it?
And the better leaders alwaysare curious and run to a
challenging situation so theycan absorb it, be aware of it
and be able to own it and tackleit and remember.
If you like what you heardtoday, please remember to like,
share or subscribe to what youheard and make this Driven
(38:51):
Leaders podcast the bestresource for you and your
friends moving forward.
Make it a great day.
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