July 22, 2025 • 31 mins
🎧 Episode 173: How to Build Executive Presence, Resilience, and Real Influence with Whitney Faires (Part 1)
In Part 1 of this conversation, Whitney Faires shares her journey from collegiate athlete to executive leader to globally recognized coach—and the self-doubt, grit, and intentionality that shaped her path along the way.
With two decades of experience leading high-performing teams in healthcare, Whitney opens up about the mindset shifts that transformed her leadership—and how she now helps others do the same through her Courageous Leader Roadmap and Excellence Equation frameworks.
We explore:
- The identity crisis that came with becoming a working mom—and how Whitney redefined what success looked like
- The most overlooked but critical step in her Excellence Equation framework
- How to perform a “readiness reality” check before a big leap
- Whitney’s personal battle with self-doubt—and how mentors and mindset helped her rise
- The truth about managing negative thought spirals (and why mindset mastery is like going to the gym)
- How to separate emotion from action in moments of adversity
- The 5 components of courageous leadership—and why fearless communication is a skill, not a personality trait
🔑 Key takeaways:
- Leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about showing up with courage and conviction
- You don’t need to feel ready to be ready
- Self-doubt doesn’t disqualify you—inaction does
- Resilience isn’t about avoiding emotion, it’s about channeling it into forward motion
đź’ˇ Quotes to remember:
“Courage and belief will ultimately fuel your success.”
 “Sometimes our minds just tell us lies.”
 “Don’t wait for the title. You can lead from wherever you are.”
 “Fearless communication isn’t about saying anything—it’s about saying the right thing in a way that can be heard.”
đź“š Resources mentioned:
✨ Learn more about Whitney’s work and coaching:
 www.whitneyfaires.com
📲 Connect with Whitney:
Instagram – @whitney_faires
LinkedIn – Whitney Faires
A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!
Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com
Follow me on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnie-linebarger-899b9a52/
https://www.instagram.com/evoke.greatness/
https://www.tiktok.com/@evoke.greatness
http://www.youtube.com/@evokegreatness
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Courage and belief will ultimately fuel your
success.
We all learn all these skillsbut at the end of the day, our
ability to lead at a higherlevel comes from our ability to
do some of the hard things withcourage and a deep sense of
belief that we can do this, evenif it doesn't go perfectly.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to Evoke Greatness, the podcast for bold
leaders and big dreamers whorefuse to settle.
I'm your host, sunny.
I started in scrubs over 20years ago doing the gritty,
unseen work and climbed my wayto CEO.
Every rung of that laddertaught me something worth
passing on lessons in leadership, resilience and what it really
(00:46):
takes to rise.
You'll hear raw conversations,unfiltered truths and the kind
of wisdom that ignites somethingdeeper in you your courage,
your conviction, your calling.
This show will help you thinkbigger, lead better and show up
bolder in every part of yourlife.
This is your place to grow.
Let's rise together.
(01:18):
Welcome back to another episodeof Evoke Greatness, the podcast
for game changers, fire startersand legacy builders who refuse
to play small.
I'm excited to introduce myguest, whitney Farris, an
internationally recognizedexecutive coach, speaker and
leadership expert with twodecades of experience leading
high-performing teams acrosssales and finance in the
healthcare industry.
She's made it her life's workto turn adversity into
(01:41):
opportunity.
But Whitney's true genius isn'tjust metrics and management.
It's in people.
She's helped countlessmid-level leaders and corporate
executives break throughbarriers, accelerate their
careers and cultivate resiliencethat sticks far beyond the
workplace.
Her mission To empowerimpact-driven professionals to
lead with intention, own theirvoice and rise with confidence,
(02:04):
even in the face of challenge.
She's also a wife, a mom andliving proof that you can lead
powerfully and personally.
Whitney, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, thank you for having me, Sunny.
I'm excited to have a robustconversation on all things
leadership and career.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I always like to dive in and talk a little bit about
what shaped your path to whereit is today.
So I'd love to almost go backin time a little bit and have
you share some of your story andwhat really did shape you kind
of into the version of you whoyou are today.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, well, I will start with growing up.
I promise I won't take you yearby year through my life story,
but you know I'm from a prettysmall town in Indiana and great
family.
My dad owned a small business,my mom was a teacher and you
know I think I was a bitsheltered.
And when I was growing up Ifound I fell in love with sports
(02:54):
and I played volleyball fromreally third grade through
college, where I went to collegeon a scholarship, and I think
it was when I got to college andI had this first dream, kind of
come true, of becoming acollege athlete.
After having a number ofinjuries that gave me, you know,
(03:15):
some pretty significantsetbacks, my mind was just open
to this whole new world.
You kind of realize, wow, likeI come from a pretty small place
and there's all thisopportunity out there and you
meet all different types ofpeople and different experiences
and it really intrigued me.
I just thought there's thiswhole world out there and I was
(03:35):
just so inspired to learn andgrow and figure out what my path
was in the world and itdefinitely was a place where my
self-doubt hit me head on.
You know, when you go to schoolas an athlete.
Yes, you have to be smartenough to get in.
But at the University ofVirginia, where I went, it was a
(03:55):
lot of really high pedigree,incredibly intelligent kids that
grew up in a very differentenvironment, and so I often
wondered to myself, like whenare they gonna figure out that I
only got in because I was anathlete and thought to myself I
don't know if I can actuallymake it.
I wanted to get into theirbusiness school it's one of the
top in the country and I did.
(04:17):
I did all those things, butevery step of the way I was
plagued by self-doubt and allthis confidence I had had.
Kind of being in my littlebubble of where I grew up, I
realized the world was much morecompetitive and challenging and
bigger than I had ever realized, much bigger than even the
injuries I had faced that I hadto overcome to get to where I
(04:38):
was.
And I think that really kind ofhung with me, that self-doubt,
through, I would say honestly,my 30s, and so it was constantly
something I was working towardsand I felt the pain of always
being your worst critic andwondering if I'm good enough to
do it, am I ready to do it?
But the good news is I had somephenomenal mentors that each
(05:02):
step of the way, I either had agreat leader or I sought out
people who were ahead of me inmy career, that I aspired to be
like, and so I engaged thosepeople and, while my self-doubt
really took a toll on me as aperson, it didn't necessarily
hold me back in significant ways, and I just felt such a deep
(05:23):
sense of gratitude to theleaders who had shaped me in all
of these ways, knowing that Iwouldn't be where I was without
the adversity that got me here,but also the people that
encouraged me to press on.
That made me see the value inmyself in the moments where I
was just filled with doubt, andthat's really what created my
(05:45):
purpose in the work that I do,which is I wanna do that for
other people, and I realize howhard it can be when you're
counting yourself out or whenyou're underestimated, and I
think that we all have so muchmore to give and do and impact
to make, and so my journey as acoach, as a leadership advisor
(06:08):
and someone who runs programsfor people to expand their
skillsets and grow that allcomes from a place of wanting to
help people have the bestexperience in life, personally
and professionally.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It even goes back to probably the high-level
collegiate athlete intoprofessional.
But when you think about movingfrom executive to entrepreneur
and coach, what do you rememberbeing the most unexpected
identity shift that you had tonavigate along the way, that is
one of the best questions I'vebeen asked in a podcast.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Well, let me actually throw a little wrench in that
question.
I'm gonna answer it.
But I think the biggestidentity shift I experienced in
my career in general was a shiftfrom a just being a
professional to being a workingmom, and the reason why I say
that is because I think so oftenwe hit anyone men, women we hit
(07:02):
a career crisis, which is apoint in which things in our
life don't align where thethings that we want in our
career.
Maybe we don't get a job, or weget fired or laid off, maybe we
have some sort of a personalpull, whether it's kids or
relationship changes or familydynamics that are now taking two
things we love, that we deeplycare about and they're clashing.
(07:24):
And for me, I had to learn thatmy identity was going to evolve
, that I didn't have to beashamed, that I wanted to have
my career too and I could havethe confidence to tell people I
can be a great mom and I canhave my career.
But here's the catch is that inthat experience for me it was
(07:47):
pivoting my career to a slightlydifferent path than I had
always envisioned, and that wasso hard because you have this
vision and you have goals andyou've been working towards them
.
And I was standing right at thefootsteps of the next job I
wanted to have, realizing thatit would require me to be gone
(08:08):
two to three days a week, almostevery week, with a little baby,
and one that I knew we wouldtry for a second one soon.
And I said that's just not whatI want right now.
So how do I still have myrobust career, not quit on my
career and do somethingcompletely out of the realm of
what's gonna serve me down theroad?
But how do I pivot and do itstrategically?
(08:30):
So I'm growing, I'm fulfilledand I have the dynamics that I
want so I can balance being awife and a mom.
And so I think identity is sowrapped up in where we're
putting our effort, you know,and too often we wrap it up in
our title, in our job, in ourkids.
You know we focus too much onone or two things, and so when I
(08:55):
think about your question now Igo back to.
I had a little bit of a heads upthat this was going to be
identity shift.
I had a little bit of a headsup that this was going to be
identity shift.
I had to do the deep work foryears to say I'm going to leave
a job, a corporate job that Ilove, a company I had been at
for almost 17 years.
I wasn't unhappy, I had careerrunway, I loved my team, but I
(09:19):
felt this pull to do this workand so I did a lot of the
identity work up front of sayingthis isn't me doing something
lesser because I'm stepping outof leading a big org and into my
own business.
This isn't me, you know, playingit safe.
In fact, it's the opposite.
This is me standing up andserving the people that I feel
(09:40):
most passionate about serving.
And so I was really intentionalabout defining the identity
before it defined me, and it'snot.
It sounds easy, it's not easywork, but I think most things we
do as people, as leaders, it'snot easy, and that's what makes
us great and more prepared forthe next thing.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think even just the sense of self-awareness around
what we have our identitywrapped up in, that can really
help us navigate that path,because it's oftentimes when we
lose something that we then gothrough like this grieving
process of identity, like thiswasn't how I saw it happening,
but I love how you were veryintentional in that path of like
(10:26):
okay, these are the things thatI'm going to need to almost
prepare for along the way sothat you can show up in your
best in this new chapter.
It's not a lesser chapter, it'sjust a next chapter.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, and I think so much of what influences our
feelings around our identity arethe things that are around us.
You know what's the culturalexpectations or what our friends
or family think or do, or howit's always been done.
And there were so many peoplethat were very far in the
periphery that when I said I wasgoing to work towards building
(11:04):
what I built and having my owncompany, thought well, why I
mean?
But you have this big job andyou're going to go do that and
you know, at first it kind oftook me back because in my mind
I thought, well, they surelyunderstand this is a huge risk
and it's it's takes courage andit's it's purpose driven.
(11:26):
Who doesndriven?
Who doesn't respect that?
But we only know what we know.
And so when you have a careerthat looks one way and then
you're going to create one thatlooks differently, there's going
to be multiple opinionsweighing it Like does this make
sense financially?
What are you going to do ifthis happens?
And I think that's where youhave to be really anchored in
your why and your purpose,because anything that we do
(11:49):
that's hard in life, there'sgoing to be unexpected things
thrown at us and when we'reanchored deeply in those things.
It doesn't mean it doesn'taffect us, but we're able to
overcome it and move past it inthe best way possible.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, and I think, even as you, with the
intentionality that you wentinto that next chapter of really
wanting to serve in a differentway, I think and wanting to
help leaders at different levels.
Based on what you had learned,based on the things that really
lit you up, you created a coupleof tools or resources, roadmaps
(12:24):
, if you will, for clients thatyou work with and to be able to
serve that population.
When you think about theexcellence equation as one of
them and, when you have to, ifyou were to distill down the
elements of what that is, whatare two to three, just
non-negotiables that you thinkevery high-performing leader
really needs to masterhigh-performing leader really
(12:49):
needs to master.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, first of all, I would say that there's a step
in the excellence equation which, just at a high level, it's an
eight-part framework that'smeant to give high-achieving,
ambitious people atried-and-true process to go to
envision their biggest goals andgo from ideation to execution.
That's what it's all about,because we get stuck in
uncertainty and doubt in whatnext and all the hiccups that
(13:12):
adversity brings, and so thisgives you a process you can
trust.
That's proven in years of usingthis myself and with my clients
.
But one of the key pieces tothat is what I call the
readiness reality step, and itis the ability for someone to do
a quick analysis.
I mean, you got to haveawareness and you got to be
willing to be honest withyourself as I march towards this
(13:34):
big thing one.
What are the skills and theexperiences and the attributes I
have that make me ready forthis, that tee me up to be
successful?
Because I want to draw uponthose.
I want to use this asconfidence and as momentum.
But then, on the flip side, is,what are the skills that I
don't have?
Maybe I have transferableskills, but they're not exactly
(13:57):
what I need to be successful.
Maybe I have huge gaps that Ihave to close.
That's okay, you can closethose, but being eyes wide open
to those so you can workstrategically to get yourself
more and more prepared for whenyou make that next step.
And the other piece in thereadiness reality is the ability
to know the things that aregoing to confront you along the
(14:17):
way.
So for me, you know, in mystory I gave, where I stepped
into, different experiences thatwere out of my comfort zone
career-wise.
You know personally, and Ioftentimes found myself thinking
I'm not good enough to do this,like what if I fail?
And so I know, every time I dosomething hard, those thoughts
(14:38):
are going to go through my headand I know how to counteract
those with the right mindset andthought process and actions to
quell that negative narrativeand put myself in the driver's
seat of a more positive one.
So I think our ability to dothis quick audit of ourselves is
so empowering because we nowhave perspective over the things
we don't have and we candevelop a plan we can move into
(15:00):
being able to control what wecan control and start closing
those gaps, but we also getreconnected with all the things
that make us ready for it thatfuel us to keep pushing along on
the journey.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Something that you had said.
Really, I think a lot of peoplestruggle with around being able
to control that cycle ofnegative thoughts.
That is a really big issue thatnot everybody can just easily
rein in, and so I'd be curious,I think about.
It used to be something that Ibattled really badly.
I forget where I heard it, butit was like creating something
(15:35):
that interrupted your pattern.
And so I literally startedsaying out loud to myself was
pattern interrupt?
Be in the middle of my brain wasswirling, going down a rabbit
hole that was not going to serveme or anyone around me, and I'm
like all right, patterninterrupt, pattern interrupt.
Be in the middle of my brainwas swirling, going down a
rabbit hole that was not goingto serve me or anyone around me,
and I'm like, all right,pattern interrupt, pattern
interrupt.
And so that's been somethingthat I have used to number one,
make myself aware.
Number two, to remove theemotion out of it, like, okay,
(15:57):
we're just going to hit the stopbutton here for a moment.
It's something that I do withmy family.
If somebody starts going on atangent, I'm like pattern
interrupt, which they don't love.
But again, in the moment, it'slike it's a calling a timeout on
yourself or in your surrounding.
I'd be curious like how haveyou, how have you managed to be
able to kind of call thattimeout with yourself, or how do
(16:19):
you guide your clients in that?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Yeah, well, the strategy that you have is great,
Because the goal is that youwant to interrupt that thought
pattern, as you said, and thenget some space between the
emotions and what's happening tobe able to decide how you move
forward.
One of the things I love to askmyself, or encourage clients to
ask themselves, is whatevidence do I have to make me
(16:42):
believe that this is true?
So if I'm thinking gosh, like Ican't do that job, I'm not
ready, I only have, you know,two years of experience in this
role, Then you know you'llusually feel the emotions.
You'll feel it before you'recognizant of the mental churn
that's going on.
And so I just encourage peopletake two minutes, take a step
(17:03):
back.
What evidence shows I'm notready for it?
Because my last role I was init for two years and got
promoted and was successful, andI've done a lot of things where
I didn't have all the skillsand I've still managed to be a
good performer.
So what's the evidence?
And when you actually look atthe you know, quote, unquote
facts right, they're not exactlyfacts, they're a little bit
(17:26):
more subjective.
But you look at the history,then you can say you know,
there's a little bit of truth tothis.
I'm light here and there, butwhat am I going to do about it?
Because there's a lot of youknow false thoughts in there,
and I tell people all the time.
Sometimes our minds just tellus lies.
And in really mentally resilientpeople have that ability to
(17:49):
have hyper level of awareness towhat's happening in their inner
narrative.
And two, they have developed aset of strategies to be able to
work around it or work throughit.
And whether it's having thatverbal cue, whether it's asking
the questions, whether it's justgiving yourself time to five
minutes to think about plan A,plan B, plan C, Okay, if this is
(18:12):
true, then what?
What if it's not true?
Well, what's the middle of theroad thing?
Like I'm not quite ready, but Igo do it and this is what it
looks like, and that just givesyou some sort of comfort that
you're prepared no matter whatit brings, but you're not going
to let it stop you because youcan do it no matter what.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, I think those are helpful pieces for someone
to, in the moment, be able tosay, okay, even if you're not
good at it, right, nobody startsout good at it, nobody starts
out being able to stopthemselves immediately where
they should, or we'd never havethose automatic negative thought
patterns that happen, but we dohave them.
We know that we have morenegative thoughts than positive
(18:51):
thoughts that impact our psycheon a day-to-day basis, and it's
taking the tools and thenactually implementing them.
I would really really encouragepeople to think about when
you're starting to get flusteredor emotional or when you know
you're going down that rabbithole.
Try some of these things andsee if you can't stop yourself
in the moment.
(19:11):
Remove that emotion, put alittle more logic or facts in
there to be able to temper itand say, ok, now wait a second.
That will serve you much morethan going down and spiraling
down the rabbit hole, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You know the data shows.
This is not my data.
It's out there in multiplesources that the average person
has about 65,000 thoughts perday, which I laugh about because
I feel like I have 60,000,65,000 before 1 pm.
You know, my mind's like goingso fast so I'm like that seems a
little low to me.
But of those, 75% are negativeand 90% are repetitive.
(19:49):
So you are telling yourself astory all the time in different
aspects of your life, and youcan either decide do I wanna
push that down and be like no,I'm good, I said yes, I'm not
gonna listen to that.
It may just makes meuncomfortable to really think
about what's happening in mymind.
Or or do I lean into it?
And you got to lean in and Ithink what stops people is the
(20:12):
tip that you have the ideas Ishare.
They try it once and like thisdoesn't work.
I'm so stressed out I stilldon't think I can do this.
It's not like it's a foolproofconcept, it's actually practice.
It's a discipline that youdevelop over time and so when
you embark on the journey ofreally trying to manage your
inner narrative and come from anempowered mindset, it is like
(20:34):
going to the gym to get in shape.
You start it.
It's painful, some things work,some things don't, but over
time you get stronger, it's notas difficult, you're not as sore
and you see the results.
And you got to get through thatinitial part of it.
And there's a big piece ofmindset management that comes
from choosing how you're goingto think and be, and what I mean
(20:56):
by that is when you have thosenegative thoughts.
Oftentimes I just say to myselfdo I really believe this?
Do I really believe what mymind is telling me?
Do I really think it's true?
And your gut's gonna tell you,yeah, maybe it is, and other
times it's gonna be like no,this is just me being my worst
critic.
You have to commit to movingforward Like I know this isn't
(21:17):
true.
I know this is my fear, I knowthis is the perfectionist in me.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I'm going to move ahead because this is
unproductive.
And I thought, oh, what you'resaying right now, or what you're
feeling right now, I want youto think about, is that the
truth?
Is this true or is thissomething that?
Is this a story that you'restarting to create in your mind
because you're fearful ofsomething?
And it's interesting that firstcouple of times doing that, it's
maybe like a little bit of ashock factor, like, oh, and when
(22:24):
someone can really lean intobeing self-aware and saying, oh,
you know what?
And so now it's kind of becomenot a running joke, but it's
like, oh, no, you know, sonnywill ask us.
No, sonny, you're right, thisis a fear that I'm creating in
my mind.
But I think, as a leader, whenwe set the tone for being able
to call each other up in thatway, to say I'm not going to let
(22:44):
you go down the rabbit hole,like I'm going to call you back
to what this is and let's, let'saddress.
If it's a fear, let's addressthat.
But I think creating anenvironment like that is one of
the kindest things you can do.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Yeah, yeah, because I think in those environments
people they're, they're afraidor they don't know how to ask
for help and it's veryvulnerable to share what goes on
in your mind.
I mean I don't want the worldto know what goes on in my mind.
Just because I do this workdoesn't mean my mind is any
prettier than anyone else's.
It probably means I have morestrategies and so that's so
vulnerable and that's why youknow the executive coaching part
(23:20):
of my practice is all aboutthat.
It was because for so manyyears in corporate America you
know 20 plus years of working inbig corporations I found that
there were all these reallytalented people that are having
great success that arestruggling with either how do I
get to the next thing, how do Ihave more fulfillment in my job?
(23:42):
How do I believe in myself so Igo for the job that I really
want?
And they don't want to go totheir leader.
It's not because they don'ttrust them, but that
vulnerability is hard when theperson is giving you a
performance rating and decidingyour bonus right.
So in coaching you get thatconfidential space for you to
work on the hard stuff and a lotof companies say well, it's the
(24:07):
leader's job to develop theirpeople, and it absolutely is.
It would be great if everyleader gave a solid amount of
time to development.
That's not realistic andcoaching is about the work below
the surface.
A lot of leadership is aboutfixing the things that are
manifesting in our jobs and howwe're showing up.
But there are drivers of thosethings and that's usually where
(24:28):
sustainable change happens.
But it requires what you saidis people really opening up and
talking about the things thatthey don't want necessarily to
be shared broadly.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Which is perfect to lead into another resource that
you have created, which is theCourageous Leader Roadmap Share
a little bit about that and howthat can serve people in teams.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
My fundamental belief, first ofall, for leadership is anybody
can be a leader.
You can be one of the youngestpeople in your organization and
still lead.
Leadership is about a desire toinfluence broadly, to raise the
bar, to be somebody that isdriving meaningful change, and
that change can be small or big.
Now, people leadership is awhole different level of doing
(25:21):
that.
But don't wait for the title.
To be a leader is what I tellpeople, because you can expand
your impact just by stepping upyour game and coming from a
place of leadership versuscontributor.
But the Courageous LeaderRoadmap is really five key
components and it all stems fromthis.
Courage and belief willultimately fuel your success.
(25:45):
We all learn all these skills,but at the end of the day, our
ability to lead at a higherlevel comes from our ability to
do some of the hard things withcourage and a deep sense of
belief that we can do this, evenif it doesn't go perfectly.
And so the first piece is aboutdefining your leadership
identity.
And so the first piece is aboutdefining your leadership
identity.
Now, we all have values I'm, atleast assume so as people,
(26:09):
things that really drive how wemake decisions and how we act
and what we do and what we think, and the reality is those
follow us a lot of times intothe workplace.
But we really need a set ofleadership principles that guide
us in our day-to-day jobs, thatare our commitments to
(26:30):
ourselves and our teams or thepeople that we work with, for
who we're going to be and whatthey can expect from us.
And so part of it is firsthelping people define their
leadership identity and theprinciples that will guide how
they act and integrate in theworkplace.
The second piece is all aboutconnection, and too often in the
professional space connectionis seen as soft, and I disagree
(26:53):
with that, and I can tell you Ionce would have said the same
thing for many, many years of mycareer, but as I got to higher
levels of leadership, I realizedthat connection is a must If
you wanna be transformational inhelping people develop and grow
and driving big results inorganizations or in whatever you
do.
You have to connect, becausepeople want to know that you
(27:16):
care, that you see them for whothey are and that you're in it
for more than the outcome ofwhatever the relationship
dynamic is, and so courage isrequired because, again, you're
kind of opening the door to amore vulnerable side of you and
the people.
When you are trying to connectand get to know them and go that
next layer deeper, then it'sactivate your power zone.
(27:37):
And I love this topic becauseyou know we often talk about
people being in the zone or youknow they're in beast mode and
that's actually a practice.
It doesn't just happen, it mayjust happen.
You know a time or two whenwe're too young to really define
what's happening to us, wherewe flip that mental switch.
But you can actually recreateyour power zone, the place where
(28:00):
you are at your best, whereyou're mentally tough, you're
functioning from your peakperformance I don't mean
physically, I mean mentally andthat practice is so incredibly
powerful if you want to lead atany level, and then adversity is
all around us.
So the next part is all aboutresilience and executing with
(28:21):
the resilience on a daily basis.
And I actually have a wholemodel around adversity that hits
on what you talked about, whichis the ability to separate
emotion from what's happening.
And it's not that we want tosubdue the emotion or push it
aside, but we want to park itjust enough to make sure we can
assess what's happening anddevelop a plan forward, so we're
not sitting in the emotion,paralyzed, unable to get
(28:43):
ourselves in whatever'shappening, in a better spot.
And ultimately, I believe,through all the adversity that
I've experienced, I've seenpeople around me experience that
there's always a silver lining,and so there's a mindset shift
that adversity really isopportunity.
It's just a process of reallyseeing that and looking for how
you've grown and evolved andgotten stronger from whatever
(29:04):
adversity you face.
And then, finally, the lastcomponent is fearless
communication, and this is allabout not letting fear dictate
what gets said.
It is not about saying anythingand everything and not caring,
because that is the furthestthing from fearless.
That's reckless.
It is about knowing yourtendencies as a communicator and
(29:27):
then having strategies to saythe hard thing in a way that it
can be heard.
And so I work a lot withleaders in that segment of the
Courageous Leader Roadmap on howthey do that, and you can see
with any of these they takecourage, they take us really
digging deep and being like I'mgoing to do the hard thing
(29:48):
instead of stepping back andalways doing what's safe.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
This is where we hit the pause button.
I hope you enjoyed part one ofhow to build executive presence,
resilience and real influencewith my guest Whitney Ferris.
Up next in part two, what doesexecutive presence really mean
and how do you cultivate it whenself-doubt, distractions and
imposter syndrome threaten tosteal the spotlight?
In part two, whitney gets evenmore tactical as we dive into
(30:15):
how to decode vague feedbacklike you need more executive
presence.
The hidden downside ofunchecked ambition and how it
might be sabotaging yourleadership, and how to coach
even the most resistant highachievers through ego burnout
and blind spots.
Plus, she shares one daily cutcheck every leader should be
asking and the advice she'd givethe world if she only had one
(30:37):
chance.
Trust me, you're going to wantto hear this.
Check back next week for parttwo.
Check back next week for parttwo.
If today's episode challengedyou, moved you or lit a fire in
your soul, don't keep it toyourself.
Share it with somebody who'sready to rise.
Could I ask you to take 30seconds to leave a review?
(30:58):
It's the best way to say thankyou and help this show reach
more bold leaders like you,because this isn't just a
podcast, it's a movement.
We're not here to play small.
We're here to lead loud, onebold and unapologetic step at a
time.
Until next time, stay bold,stay grounded and make moves
that make mediocre,uncomfortable Music.
Courage and belief will ultimately fuel your
success.
We all learn all these skillsbut at the end of the day, our
ability to lead at a higherlevel comes from our ability to
do some of the hard things withcourage and a deep sense of
belief that we can do this, evenif it doesn't go perfectly.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to Evoke Greatness, the podcast for bold
leaders and big dreamers whorefuse to settle.
I'm your host, sunny.
I started in scrubs over 20years ago doing the gritty,
unseen work and climbed my wayto CEO.
Every rung of that laddertaught me something worth
passing on lessons in leadership, resilience and what it really
(00:46):
takes to rise.
You'll hear raw conversations,unfiltered truths and the kind
of wisdom that ignites somethingdeeper in you your courage,
your conviction, your calling.
This show will help you thinkbigger, lead better and show up
bolder in every part of yourlife.
This is your place to grow.
Let's rise together.
(01:18):
Welcome back to another episodeof Evoke Greatness, the podcast
for game changers, fire startersand legacy builders who refuse
to play small.
I'm excited to introduce myguest, whitney Farris, an
internationally recognizedexecutive coach, speaker and
leadership expert with twodecades of experience leading
high-performing teams acrosssales and finance in the
healthcare industry.
She's made it her life's workto turn adversity into
(01:41):
opportunity.
But Whitney's true genius isn'tjust metrics and management.
It's in people.
She's helped countlessmid-level leaders and corporate
executives break throughbarriers, accelerate their
careers and cultivate resiliencethat sticks far beyond the
workplace.
Her mission To empowerimpact-driven professionals to
lead with intention, own theirvoice and rise with confidence,
(02:04):
even in the face of challenge.
She's also a wife, a mom andliving proof that you can lead
powerfully and personally.
Whitney, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, thank you for having me, Sunny.
I'm excited to have a robustconversation on all things
leadership and career.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I always like to dive in and talk a little bit about
what shaped your path to whereit is today.
So I'd love to almost go backin time a little bit and have
you share some of your story andwhat really did shape you kind
of into the version of you whoyou are today.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, well, I will start with growing up.
I promise I won't take you yearby year through my life story,
but you know I'm from a prettysmall town in Indiana and great
family.
My dad owned a small business,my mom was a teacher and you
know I think I was a bitsheltered.
And when I was growing up Ifound I fell in love with sports
(02:54):
and I played volleyball fromreally third grade through
college, where I went to collegeon a scholarship, and I think
it was when I got to college andI had this first dream, kind of
come true, of becoming acollege athlete.
After having a number ofinjuries that gave me, you know,
(03:15):
some pretty significantsetbacks, my mind was just open
to this whole new world.
You kind of realize, wow, likeI come from a pretty small place
and there's all thisopportunity out there and you
meet all different types ofpeople and different experiences
and it really intrigued me.
I just thought there's thiswhole world out there and I was
(03:35):
just so inspired to learn andgrow and figure out what my path
was in the world and itdefinitely was a place where my
self-doubt hit me head on.
You know, when you go to schoolas an athlete.
Yes, you have to be smartenough to get in.
But at the University ofVirginia, where I went, it was a
(03:55):
lot of really high pedigree,incredibly intelligent kids that
grew up in a very differentenvironment, and so I often
wondered to myself, like whenare they gonna figure out that I
only got in because I was anathlete and thought to myself I
don't know if I can actuallymake it.
I wanted to get into theirbusiness school it's one of the
top in the country and I did.
(04:17):
I did all those things, butevery step of the way I was
plagued by self-doubt and allthis confidence I had had.
Kind of being in my littlebubble of where I grew up, I
realized the world was much morecompetitive and challenging and
bigger than I had ever realized, much bigger than even the
injuries I had faced that I hadto overcome to get to where I
(04:38):
was.
And I think that really kind ofhung with me, that self-doubt,
through, I would say honestly,my 30s, and so it was constantly
something I was working towardsand I felt the pain of always
being your worst critic andwondering if I'm good enough to
do it, am I ready to do it?
But the good news is I had somephenomenal mentors that each
(05:02):
step of the way, I either had agreat leader or I sought out
people who were ahead of me inmy career, that I aspired to be
like, and so I engaged thosepeople and, while my self-doubt
really took a toll on me as aperson, it didn't necessarily
hold me back in significant ways, and I just felt such a deep
(05:23):
sense of gratitude to theleaders who had shaped me in all
of these ways, knowing that Iwouldn't be where I was without
the adversity that got me here,but also the people that
encouraged me to press on.
That made me see the value inmyself in the moments where I
was just filled with doubt, andthat's really what created my
(05:45):
purpose in the work that I do,which is I wanna do that for
other people, and I realize howhard it can be when you're
counting yourself out or whenyou're underestimated, and I
think that we all have so muchmore to give and do and impact
to make, and so my journey as acoach, as a leadership advisor
(06:08):
and someone who runs programsfor people to expand their
skillsets and grow that allcomes from a place of wanting to
help people have the bestexperience in life, personally
and professionally.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It even goes back to probably the high-level
collegiate athlete intoprofessional.
But when you think about movingfrom executive to entrepreneur
and coach, what do you rememberbeing the most unexpected
identity shift that you had tonavigate along the way, that is
one of the best questions I'vebeen asked in a podcast.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Well, let me actually throw a little wrench in that
question.
I'm gonna answer it.
But I think the biggestidentity shift I experienced in
my career in general was a shiftfrom a just being a
professional to being a workingmom, and the reason why I say
that is because I think so oftenwe hit anyone men, women we hit
(07:02):
a career crisis, which is apoint in which things in our
life don't align where thethings that we want in our
career.
Maybe we don't get a job, or weget fired or laid off, maybe we
have some sort of a personalpull, whether it's kids or
relationship changes or familydynamics that are now taking two
things we love, that we deeplycare about and they're clashing.
(07:24):
And for me, I had to learn thatmy identity was going to evolve
, that I didn't have to beashamed, that I wanted to have
my career too and I could havethe confidence to tell people I
can be a great mom and I canhave my career.
But here's the catch is that inthat experience for me it was
(07:47):
pivoting my career to a slightlydifferent path than I had
always envisioned, and that wasso hard because you have this
vision and you have goals andyou've been working towards them
.
And I was standing right at thefootsteps of the next job I
wanted to have, realizing thatit would require me to be gone
(08:08):
two to three days a week, almostevery week, with a little baby,
and one that I knew we wouldtry for a second one soon.
And I said that's just not whatI want right now.
So how do I still have myrobust career, not quit on my
career and do somethingcompletely out of the realm of
what's gonna serve me down theroad?
But how do I pivot and do itstrategically?
(08:30):
So I'm growing, I'm fulfilledand I have the dynamics that I
want so I can balance being awife and a mom.
And so I think identity is sowrapped up in where we're
putting our effort, you know,and too often we wrap it up in
our title, in our job, in ourkids.
You know we focus too much onone or two things, and so when I
(08:55):
think about your question now Igo back to.
I had a little bit of a heads upthat this was going to be
identity shift.
I had a little bit of a headsup that this was going to be
identity shift.
I had to do the deep work foryears to say I'm going to leave
a job, a corporate job that Ilove, a company I had been at
for almost 17 years.
I wasn't unhappy, I had careerrunway, I loved my team, but I
(09:19):
felt this pull to do this workand so I did a lot of the
identity work up front of sayingthis isn't me doing something
lesser because I'm stepping outof leading a big org and into my
own business.
This isn't me, you know, playingit safe.
In fact, it's the opposite.
This is me standing up andserving the people that I feel
(09:40):
most passionate about serving.
And so I was really intentionalabout defining the identity
before it defined me, and it'snot.
It sounds easy, it's not easywork, but I think most things we
do as people, as leaders, it'snot easy, and that's what makes
us great and more prepared forthe next thing.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think even just the sense of self-awareness around
what we have our identitywrapped up in, that can really
help us navigate that path,because it's oftentimes when we
lose something that we then gothrough like this grieving
process of identity, like thiswasn't how I saw it happening,
but I love how you were veryintentional in that path of like
(10:26):
okay, these are the things thatI'm going to need to almost
prepare for along the way sothat you can show up in your
best in this new chapter.
It's not a lesser chapter, it'sjust a next chapter.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, and I think so much of what influences our
feelings around our identity arethe things that are around us.
You know what's the culturalexpectations or what our friends
or family think or do, or howit's always been done.
And there were so many peoplethat were very far in the
periphery that when I said I wasgoing to work towards building
(11:04):
what I built and having my owncompany, thought well, why I
mean?
But you have this big job andyou're going to go do that and
you know, at first it kind oftook me back because in my mind
I thought, well, they surelyunderstand this is a huge risk
and it's it's takes courage andit's it's purpose driven.
(11:26):
Who doesndriven?
Who doesn't respect that?
But we only know what we know.
And so when you have a careerthat looks one way and then
you're going to create one thatlooks differently, there's going
to be multiple opinionsweighing it Like does this make
sense financially?
What are you going to do ifthis happens?
And I think that's where youhave to be really anchored in
your why and your purpose,because anything that we do
(11:49):
that's hard in life, there'sgoing to be unexpected things
thrown at us and when we'reanchored deeply in those things.
It doesn't mean it doesn'taffect us, but we're able to
overcome it and move past it inthe best way possible.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, and I think, even as you, with the
intentionality that you wentinto that next chapter of really
wanting to serve in a differentway, I think and wanting to
help leaders at different levels.
Based on what you had learned,based on the things that really
lit you up, you created a coupleof tools or resources, roadmaps
(12:24):
, if you will, for clients thatyou work with and to be able to
serve that population.
When you think about theexcellence equation as one of
them and, when you have to, ifyou were to distill down the
elements of what that is, whatare two to three, just
non-negotiables that you thinkevery high-performing leader
really needs to masterhigh-performing leader really
(12:49):
needs to master.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, first of all, I would say that there's a step
in the excellence equation which, just at a high level, it's an
eight-part framework that'smeant to give high-achieving,
ambitious people atried-and-true process to go to
envision their biggest goals andgo from ideation to execution.
That's what it's all about,because we get stuck in
uncertainty and doubt in whatnext and all the hiccups that
(13:12):
adversity brings, and so thisgives you a process you can
trust.
That's proven in years of usingthis myself and with my clients
.
But one of the key pieces tothat is what I call the
readiness reality step, and itis the ability for someone to do
a quick analysis.
I mean, you got to haveawareness and you got to be
willing to be honest withyourself as I march towards this
(13:34):
big thing one.
What are the skills and theexperiences and the attributes I
have that make me ready forthis, that tee me up to be
successful?
Because I want to draw uponthose.
I want to use this asconfidence and as momentum.
But then, on the flip side, is,what are the skills that I
don't have?
Maybe I have transferableskills, but they're not exactly
(13:57):
what I need to be successful.
Maybe I have huge gaps that Ihave to close.
That's okay, you can closethose, but being eyes wide open
to those so you can workstrategically to get yourself
more and more prepared for whenyou make that next step.
And the other piece in thereadiness reality is the ability
to know the things that aregoing to confront you along the
(14:17):
way.
So for me, you know, in mystory I gave, where I stepped
into, different experiences thatwere out of my comfort zone
career-wise.
You know personally, and Ioftentimes found myself thinking
I'm not good enough to do this,like what if I fail?
And so I know, every time I dosomething hard, those thoughts
(14:38):
are going to go through my headand I know how to counteract
those with the right mindset andthought process and actions to
quell that negative narrativeand put myself in the driver's
seat of a more positive one.
So I think our ability to dothis quick audit of ourselves is
so empowering because we nowhave perspective over the things
we don't have and we candevelop a plan we can move into
(15:00):
being able to control what wecan control and start closing
those gaps, but we also getreconnected with all the things
that make us ready for it thatfuel us to keep pushing along on
the journey.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Something that you had said.
Really, I think a lot of peoplestruggle with around being able
to control that cycle ofnegative thoughts.
That is a really big issue thatnot everybody can just easily
rein in, and so I'd be curious,I think about.
It used to be something that Ibattled really badly.
I forget where I heard it, butit was like creating something
(15:35):
that interrupted your pattern.
And so I literally startedsaying out loud to myself was
pattern interrupt?
Be in the middle of my brain wasswirling, going down a rabbit
hole that was not going to serveme or anyone around me, and I'm
like all right, patterninterrupt, pattern interrupt.
Be in the middle of my brainwas swirling, going down a
rabbit hole that was not goingto serve me or anyone around me,
and I'm like, all right,pattern interrupt, pattern
interrupt.
And so that's been somethingthat I have used to number one,
make myself aware.
Number two, to remove theemotion out of it, like, okay,
(15:57):
we're just going to hit the stopbutton here for a moment.
It's something that I do withmy family.
If somebody starts going on atangent, I'm like pattern
interrupt, which they don't love.
But again, in the moment, it'slike it's a calling a timeout on
yourself or in your surrounding.
I'd be curious like how haveyou, how have you managed to be
able to kind of call thattimeout with yourself, or how do
(16:19):
you guide your clients in that?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Yeah, well, the strategy that you have is great,
Because the goal is that youwant to interrupt that thought
pattern, as you said, and thenget some space between the
emotions and what's happening tobe able to decide how you move
forward.
One of the things I love to askmyself, or encourage clients to
ask themselves, is whatevidence do I have to make me
(16:42):
believe that this is true?
So if I'm thinking gosh, like Ican't do that job, I'm not
ready, I only have, you know,two years of experience in this
role, Then you know you'llusually feel the emotions.
You'll feel it before you'recognizant of the mental churn
that's going on.
And so I just encourage peopletake two minutes, take a step
(17:03):
back.
What evidence shows I'm notready for it?
Because my last role I was init for two years and got
promoted and was successful, andI've done a lot of things where
I didn't have all the skillsand I've still managed to be a
good performer.
So what's the evidence?
And when you actually look atthe you know, quote, unquote
facts right, they're not exactlyfacts, they're a little bit
(17:26):
more subjective.
But you look at the history,then you can say you know,
there's a little bit of truth tothis.
I'm light here and there, butwhat am I going to do about it?
Because there's a lot of youknow false thoughts in there,
and I tell people all the time.
Sometimes our minds just tellus lies.
And in really mentally resilientpeople have that ability to
(17:49):
have hyper level of awareness towhat's happening in their inner
narrative.
And two, they have developed aset of strategies to be able to
work around it or work throughit.
And whether it's having thatverbal cue, whether it's asking
the questions, whether it's justgiving yourself time to five
minutes to think about plan A,plan B, plan C, Okay, if this is
(18:12):
true, then what?
What if it's not true?
Well, what's the middle of theroad thing?
Like I'm not quite ready, but Igo do it and this is what it
looks like, and that just givesyou some sort of comfort that
you're prepared no matter whatit brings, but you're not going
to let it stop you because youcan do it no matter what.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, I think those are helpful pieces for someone
to, in the moment, be able tosay, okay, even if you're not
good at it, right, nobody startsout good at it, nobody starts
out being able to stopthemselves immediately where
they should, or we'd never havethose automatic negative thought
patterns that happen, but we dohave them.
We know that we have morenegative thoughts than positive
(18:51):
thoughts that impact our psycheon a day-to-day basis, and it's
taking the tools and thenactually implementing them.
I would really really encouragepeople to think about when
you're starting to get flusteredor emotional or when you know
you're going down that rabbithole.
Try some of these things andsee if you can't stop yourself
in the moment.
(19:11):
Remove that emotion, put alittle more logic or facts in
there to be able to temper itand say, ok, now wait a second.
That will serve you much morethan going down and spiraling
down the rabbit hole, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You know the data shows.
This is not my data.
It's out there in multiplesources that the average person
has about 65,000 thoughts perday, which I laugh about because
I feel like I have 60,000,65,000 before 1 pm.
You know, my mind's like goingso fast so I'm like that seems a
little low to me.
But of those, 75% are negativeand 90% are repetitive.
(19:49):
So you are telling yourself astory all the time in different
aspects of your life, and youcan either decide do I wanna
push that down and be like no,I'm good, I said yes, I'm not
gonna listen to that.
It may just makes meuncomfortable to really think
about what's happening in mymind.
Or or do I lean into it?
And you got to lean in and Ithink what stops people is the
(20:12):
tip that you have the ideas Ishare.
They try it once and like thisdoesn't work.
I'm so stressed out I stilldon't think I can do this.
It's not like it's a foolproofconcept, it's actually practice.
It's a discipline that youdevelop over time and so when
you embark on the journey ofreally trying to manage your
inner narrative and come from anempowered mindset, it is like
(20:34):
going to the gym to get in shape.
You start it.
It's painful, some things work,some things don't, but over
time you get stronger, it's notas difficult, you're not as sore
and you see the results.
And you got to get through thatinitial part of it.
And there's a big piece ofmindset management that comes
from choosing how you're goingto think and be, and what I mean
(20:56):
by that is when you have thosenegative thoughts.
Oftentimes I just say to myselfdo I really believe this?
Do I really believe what mymind is telling me?
Do I really think it's true?
And your gut's gonna tell you,yeah, maybe it is, and other
times it's gonna be like no,this is just me being my worst
critic.
You have to commit to movingforward Like I know this isn't
(21:17):
true.
I know this is my fear, I knowthis is the perfectionist in me.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I'm going to move ahead because this is
unproductive.
And I thought, oh, what you'resaying right now, or what you're
feeling right now, I want youto think about, is that the
truth?
Is this true or is thissomething that?
Is this a story that you'restarting to create in your mind
because you're fearful ofsomething?
And it's interesting that firstcouple of times doing that, it's
maybe like a little bit of ashock factor, like, oh, and when
(22:24):
someone can really lean intobeing self-aware and saying, oh,
you know what?
And so now it's kind of becomenot a running joke, but it's
like, oh, no, you know, sonnywill ask us.
No, sonny, you're right, thisis a fear that I'm creating in
my mind.
But I think, as a leader, whenwe set the tone for being able
to call each other up in thatway, to say I'm not going to let
(22:44):
you go down the rabbit hole,like I'm going to call you back
to what this is and let's, let'saddress.
If it's a fear, let's addressthat.
But I think creating anenvironment like that is one of
the kindest things you can do.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Yeah, yeah, because I think in those environments
people they're, they're afraidor they don't know how to ask
for help and it's veryvulnerable to share what goes on
in your mind.
I mean I don't want the worldto know what goes on in my mind.
Just because I do this workdoesn't mean my mind is any
prettier than anyone else's.
It probably means I have morestrategies and so that's so
vulnerable and that's why youknow the executive coaching part
(23:20):
of my practice is all aboutthat.
It was because for so manyyears in corporate America you
know 20 plus years of working inbig corporations I found that
there were all these reallytalented people that are having
great success that arestruggling with either how do I
get to the next thing, how do Ihave more fulfillment in my job?
(23:42):
How do I believe in myself so Igo for the job that I really
want?
And they don't want to go totheir leader.
It's not because they don'ttrust them, but that
vulnerability is hard when theperson is giving you a
performance rating and decidingyour bonus right.
So in coaching you get thatconfidential space for you to
work on the hard stuff and a lotof companies say well, it's the
(24:07):
leader's job to develop theirpeople, and it absolutely is.
It would be great if everyleader gave a solid amount of
time to development.
That's not realistic andcoaching is about the work below
the surface.
A lot of leadership is aboutfixing the things that are
manifesting in our jobs and howwe're showing up.
But there are drivers of thosethings and that's usually where
(24:28):
sustainable change happens.
But it requires what you saidis people really opening up and
talking about the things thatthey don't want necessarily to
be shared broadly.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Which is perfect to lead into another resource that
you have created, which is theCourageous Leader Roadmap Share
a little bit about that and howthat can serve people in teams.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
My fundamental belief, first ofall, for leadership is anybody
can be a leader.
You can be one of the youngestpeople in your organization and
still lead.
Leadership is about a desire toinfluence broadly, to raise the
bar, to be somebody that isdriving meaningful change, and
that change can be small or big.
Now, people leadership is awhole different level of doing
(25:21):
that.
But don't wait for the title.
To be a leader is what I tellpeople, because you can expand
your impact just by stepping upyour game and coming from a
place of leadership versuscontributor.
But the Courageous LeaderRoadmap is really five key
components and it all stems fromthis.
Courage and belief willultimately fuel your success.
(25:45):
We all learn all these skills,but at the end of the day, our
ability to lead at a higherlevel comes from our ability to
do some of the hard things withcourage and a deep sense of
belief that we can do this, evenif it doesn't go perfectly.
And so the first piece is aboutdefining your leadership
identity.
And so the first piece is aboutdefining your leadership
identity.
Now, we all have values I'm, atleast assume so as people,
(26:09):
things that really drive how wemake decisions and how we act
and what we do and what we think, and the reality is those
follow us a lot of times intothe workplace.
But we really need a set ofleadership principles that guide
us in our day-to-day jobs, thatare our commitments to
(26:30):
ourselves and our teams or thepeople that we work with, for
who we're going to be and whatthey can expect from us.
And so part of it is firsthelping people define their
leadership identity and theprinciples that will guide how
they act and integrate in theworkplace.
The second piece is all aboutconnection, and too often in the
professional space connectionis seen as soft, and I disagree
(26:53):
with that, and I can tell you Ionce would have said the same
thing for many, many years of mycareer, but as I got to higher
levels of leadership, I realizedthat connection is a must If
you wanna be transformational inhelping people develop and grow
and driving big results inorganizations or in whatever you
do.
You have to connect, becausepeople want to know that you
(27:16):
care, that you see them for whothey are and that you're in it
for more than the outcome ofwhatever the relationship
dynamic is, and so courage isrequired because, again, you're
kind of opening the door to amore vulnerable side of you and
the people.
When you are trying to connectand get to know them and go that
next layer deeper, then it'sactivate your power zone.
(27:37):
And I love this topic becauseyou know we often talk about
people being in the zone or youknow they're in beast mode and
that's actually a practice.
It doesn't just happen, it mayjust happen.
You know a time or two whenwe're too young to really define
what's happening to us, wherewe flip that mental switch.
But you can actually recreateyour power zone, the place where
(28:00):
you are at your best, whereyou're mentally tough, you're
functioning from your peakperformance I don't mean
physically, I mean mentally andthat practice is so incredibly
powerful if you want to lead atany level, and then adversity is
all around us.
So the next part is all aboutresilience and executing with
(28:21):
the resilience on a daily basis.
And I actually have a wholemodel around adversity that hits
on what you talked about, whichis the ability to separate
emotion from what's happening.
And it's not that we want tosubdue the emotion or push it
aside, but we want to park itjust enough to make sure we can
assess what's happening anddevelop a plan forward, so we're
not sitting in the emotion,paralyzed, unable to get
(28:43):
ourselves in whatever'shappening, in a better spot.
And ultimately, I believe,through all the adversity that
I've experienced, I've seenpeople around me experience that
there's always a silver lining,and so there's a mindset shift
that adversity really isopportunity.
It's just a process of reallyseeing that and looking for how
you've grown and evolved andgotten stronger from whatever
(29:04):
adversity you face.
And then, finally, the lastcomponent is fearless
communication, and this is allabout not letting fear dictate
what gets said.
It is not about saying anythingand everything and not caring,
because that is the furthestthing from fearless.
That's reckless.
It is about knowing yourtendencies as a communicator and
(29:27):
then having strategies to saythe hard thing in a way that it
can be heard.
And so I work a lot withleaders in that segment of the
Courageous Leader Roadmap on howthey do that, and you can see
with any of these they takecourage, they take us really
digging deep and being like I'mgoing to do the hard thing
(29:48):
instead of stepping back andalways doing what's safe.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
This is where we hit the pause button.
I hope you enjoyed part one ofhow to build executive presence,
resilience and real influencewith my guest Whitney Ferris.
Up next in part two, what doesexecutive presence really mean
and how do you cultivate it whenself-doubt, distractions and
imposter syndrome threaten tosteal the spotlight?
In part two, whitney gets evenmore tactical as we dive into
(30:15):
how to decode vague feedbacklike you need more executive
presence.
The hidden downside ofunchecked ambition and how it
might be sabotaging yourleadership, and how to coach
even the most resistant highachievers through ego burnout
and blind spots.
Plus, she shares one daily cutcheck every leader should be
asking and the advice she'd givethe world if she only had one
(30:37):
chance.
Trust me, you're going to wantto hear this.
Check back next week for parttwo.
Check back next week for parttwo.
If today's episode challengedyou, moved you or lit a fire in
your soul, don't keep it toyourself.
Share it with somebody who'sready to rise.
Could I ask you to take 30seconds to leave a review?
(30:58):
It's the best way to say thankyou and help this show reach
more bold leaders like you,because this isn't just a
podcast, it's a movement.
We're not here to play small.
We're here to lead loud, onebold and unapologetic step at a
time.
Until next time, stay bold,stay grounded and make moves
that make mediocre,uncomfortable Music.
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