50. Owning the Room with Lydia Fenet

What does it take to command a room, bounce back from failure, and lead with true authenticity? In this episode, I sit down with Lydia Fenet—renowned auctioneer, bestselling author, and founder of her own agency—whose decades at Christie’s taught her powerful lessons in confidence, leadership, and owning your voice.

Lydia shares what she learned from auctioning without a mic, why humor is one of her secret weapons, and how she balances bold career moves with meaningful moments at home. We also dive into her tips for aspiring leaders, the importance of self-care, and what it really means to define success on your own terms.

Whether you're stepping into leadership or looking to reclaim your confidence, Lydia’s insights will leave you inspired to show up fully—exactly as you are.

Let’s keep the conversation going—connect with me on Instagram and LinkedIn, subscribe to my Sunday newsletter, or reach out at sara@leadintoitco.

Excited to be with you!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to episode 50 of the Lead Into it
podcast.
Welcome back to Lead Into it,where we explore the heart of
leadership through realconversations with people who
live it out every day.
I'm your host, sarah Greco, andtoday's guest is someone whose

(00:21):
energy, confidence andauthenticity are truly magnetic.
Today's guest is someone whoseenergy, confidence and
authenticity are truly magnetic.
I'm joined by Lydia Fennett, anacclaimed auctioneer,
best-selling author, podcasthost and former global managing
director at Christie's AuctionHouse.
Lydia's journey from intern tothe top ranks of one of the
world's most prestigiousinstitutions is nothing short of
inspiring, and now, as afounder of her own agency, she's

(00:43):
redefining what it means tolead with power and poise.
In our conversation, lydiashares how auctioneering helped
her build her unshakableconfidence, the leadership
lessons she learned fromnavigating high stakes rooms,
sometimes even without amicrophone, and why authenticity
and humor are her go-tosuperpowers.
We also talk about thebalancing act of being a working

(01:04):
mom, the importance ofself-care and what it means to
define success on your own terms.
Whether you're looking to boostyour confidence, lead more
authentically, or simply hearfrom someone who's mastered the
art of commanding a room, thisepisode's for you.
Let's dive in.
Hi, lydia.
Thank you so much for coming onthe podcast.
I'm so excited to talk with you.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Me too.
Thank you for having me on,Sarah.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
So what is really bringing you energy this week?
What is just making you feellike you're thriving?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, I feel like we are in New York and it is the
cusp of spring, so we've beenhaving this rollercoaster of
weather and I feel like everyday that there's a little bit of
sun.
It gives me hope that we aremoving towards the spring and
summer, so that is reallyhelping me along, although today
it was a whiplash and it'sfully outside, so I think we're
going to climb from here, butthat is.
That is where I'm getting myenergy.
It's just this, day by day.
I think we're almost there.
I'm a warm weather lover, sothat's really what's the energy,

(01:59):
more than anything this week.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
For sure, For sure, and we've been going back and
forth with the crazy.
It's like kind of chilly butthen not chilly, and then it's
like hot eighties in theafternoon.
So you're wearing for coldwinter in the morning and you're
like but I did not dress forthis 80 degree weather this
afternoon.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
I don't need a sweater, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
So I'm so excited to have you on the show.
I loved listening to you duringthe Female Founders Day and I
took so much away from yourconversation and what you shared
with us, and so I'm excited tobring the audience along to
learn from you as well, becauseI love your background, I love
your history and I think yourjourney is incredible.
Incredible, and also I see howapplicable what you have learned

(02:48):
through your journey is forleaders and kind of leaders to
learn along the way and theskills that you have learned.
And now that you share, youhave a very interesting journey.
How would you kind of describeyour journey to where you are
today?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, I really like to say, at the core of
everything, I'm an auctioneer,which is, for me, the sort of
differentiator.
For most people.
It's such a very specific joband something that very few
people actually interact with.
So when I say that people arealways like, wait, so you talk
fast or you sell crazy things,or you sell horses or you sell
art, it just kind of depends onwhere people come from.

(03:19):
So I like to think that the jobitself is, for me, the platform
that's taught me many thingsthat I can teach other people.
So I worked for Christie'sAuction House for over two
decades and in that time I wasnot only an auctioneer, I also
was a corporate executive andhad worked my way up from an
intern to a global managingdirector.
I ran an international team,but the auctioneering, for me,

(03:40):
was always the part that wasexciting.
No-transcript, you know thingsthat you need to learn no one

(04:13):
had told me and I feel like youknow, I have two brothers, I
have tons of guy friends and Ifeel like they do it so well.
You know, it's always like,like, let me grab your hand and
show you the way, and so that'sreally what I want to try to do
for more women out there to sayto them you can live the life
you want and that can lookhowever you want.
This is what I've learned alongthe way and I hope it'll help
you.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Your story is incredible and I would love to
hear a little bit more aboutyour corporate executive
experience and how that rolledinto auctioneering, because if
you're leading a team ofinternational members as well as
US, that's a pretty big dealand then to continue to do
auctioneering and balancing thetwo, you probably have a lot of
lessons learned from both.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that it all startedwhen I was so young in my career
that even at the very end of mycareer people would be like
this is insane, Like you havetwo full-time jobs, but because
I started doing it when I was soyoung, it didn't really seem
crazy to me.
It still doesn't seem crazy tome that I leave my apartment at
eight o'clock to go to work, youknow.

(05:13):
I get up at like 10, 30, 11, andmy entire family is so used to
it no one thinks anything of it.
I mean, my daughters like takeout my dresses as I leave the
apartment.
But you know, when I started atChristie's, I started in the
events department and I was inthe events department for 10
years and I ran it for the lastsix years that I was in it.
I think that this is really athrough line in my story.

(05:33):
I love being a leader.
When I get into a new committeeor a board or whatever it is,
it is a matter of time until Itake it over, because I just
love leading things.
I always have, I've alwayswanted to be the captains of my
team.
I just feel like I love toinspire people.
You know, I've run the marathona number of times and even
during my training runs, whenI'm dying on a really long Hill,

(05:55):
if I see other people who arestruggling, I'm like yelling for
them because I get such, I getsuch a rush from making other
people feel inspired.
And so, you know, when I wasworking in the events department
, I loved that job.
We were working the craziesthours, but the funny thing about
it was, you know I was stillyoung at that point.
My husband was in businessschool in a different state, so

(06:15):
I had sort of evenings to myselfand that just for me meant like
let's fill them with fun thingsto do.
And so I would leave my job, myoffice job, between like 7.30
and 9 most nights and literallywalk out the door and go
straight onto a stage somewherein New York City.
So the back entrance ofChristie's was on 48th Street,
which is really a straight shotpretty much to the Waldorf on

(06:36):
Park Avenue.
So I would be on that stage infront of a thousand people,
having just finished up, youknow like telling people to, you
know, thanks so much for comingto the dinner at Christie's,
and then, like I was off to thedinner backstage, you know,
jumping on the stage an hourlater.
So I kind of got into thisroutine of doing that and
getting it was.
You know I took a lot, but thenit just increased tenfold over

(06:58):
the years.
You know it might've been like20 the first year, 40 the next
year, 60 the next year, andthere was a point that I was
taking a hundred auctions,sometimes taking two or three a
night in New York.
That for me was always the funpart, and then I would have to
be at work at 8.30 in themorning and after I'd been in
the events department for a verylong time, I kind of saw this
white space about the fact thatpeople weren't really doing

(07:21):
partnerships and it's a longerstory, but it was a time when
partnerships weren't really athing.
If you were a company, you werea company, and the idea of
cross-promoting with Christie's,which is the world's leading
auction house, wasn't veryappealing because people were
like, no, we're the best, wedon't need to be with other
people.
But the reality was we neverreally had enough money for
events or marketing or thethings that we wanted to do, and

(07:43):
so it really, to me, was thisuntapped cash that we could
leverage in order to have moreevents, more marketing
possibilities, more campaigns,simply by getting other people
to pay to do events with us.
And so I started strategicpartnerships for Christie's 10
years after I started and then Iended up running that for 12
years and you know, I think, ifyou think year over year, you

(08:06):
know partnerships, strategicpartnerships, like all of those
things were building and growingduring that time and it was
something that we could reallyleverage, because Christie's was
an asset right, we had accessto the wealthiest people in the
world, we had beautiful art,jewelry, any kind of memorabilia
, and all of that can beleveraged, and so that's
essentially what we were doing.
And then on the side, on theother side, I was still running

(08:28):
the charity auctioneering teamplus taking all the auctions,
and so you know all of that.
To say that, now, when peoplesay to me, god, you're so busy,
I just think to myself like noidea.
This this to me feels like avacation.
I only take auctions at night,I have a podcast.
I mean I feel like I have thebest life ever because I was
such a grind for so long andthen also have three children.

(08:48):
So I mean, there are just somany things that I feel like the
lessons learned are everythingfrom.
First of all, I truly believeif you want to do it all, you
define your all and you do it,and that's going to look however
it looks to you and as long asit makes you happy, don't worry
about the white noise.
You know some of the otherlessons that I write about in.

(09:08):
The most powerful woman in theroom is you like, be so
intentional about what you'reasking for from the minute you
start a job, because everydollar you make is based on
where you start and theincrements are not that high.
So you have to ask for what youwant.
And that, for me, was a skill Ilearned on stage, you know,
asking people for money nightafter night and getting really
used to people saying no.

(09:31):
And then I think, finally, morethan anything, there's so many
women who I know and have seenover the course of my life
myself included, especially inthe first decade who are kind of
ambling along.
You know, maybe they didn't haveanyone ahead of them, their mom
was a stay at home mom, or, youknow, their mom volunteered a
lot, but they didn't have ablueprint for what a career
could look like and thereforethey're sort of bumbling their

(09:52):
way through.
That's really how I felt, andwhat I would say to you is like,
in the same way, when you walkinto the office or when you walk
into a job or you're setting acontract for the first time for
any work, just remember thatthis is your career, no one else
is in charge of it.
And even if you work for acompany and they're setting up
all the rules, at the end of theday, that is not your path.

(10:15):
You've got to figure out yourpath because no one is looking
at it the way you will, so justdon't ever forget that.
Don't take your eye off theball.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yes, and it's no matter what company or corporate
or organization you're workingfor.
Ultimately it's your life, it'sthe company organization you
work for.
Isn't your identity?
You are your own identity andyou can kind of cultivate that
path and I I feel like that isbeing heard more and more.
But it's a transition that'shappening right now where people

(10:43):
are realizing and coming from amilitary culture.
I left the air force activeduty and I was like I don't know
what to say when people ask sowhat do you do?
Cause I was so used to sayinglike I'm a public affairs
officer in the air force.
So people say like that's theirfirst question, what do you do?
And kind of built from there.

(11:04):
And so I love hearing yourstory of kind of how you're
cultivating your path, but thatit feels good to you and that's
all that matters.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yes, it's so true, and I think you know so many
people over the course of theircareer look back and are like
wait, what was I doing?
You know, it's like it takes solong to get to a point where
you stop to look around andthink, wait, am I really using
this for what it's being usedfor?
Because at the end of the day,I mean I loved working for
Christie's.
I worked there literally morethan half my life and when I

(11:35):
think back on it, I think theone thing I could have done even
more of is taken advantage ofthe resources they provided for
learning and development.
I think I was good about it.
But I mean, if I were to go backnow, I would treat it like I
was getting my PhD.
I would attend every singleclass I could.
I would take care of everybenefit I got, like all those

(11:56):
things that in my first decadeat Christie's I just didn't even
know about, I wasn't aware ofand became aware of the longer
that I was there, the more Ithink about it.
I'm like there are so manythings that I could have done,
that I could have educatedmyself on that they were
providing that I just didn'tever really think about.
I was like, oh, I'll go out fordrinks with friends.
I'm like I could have literallydone 90 things there that I

(12:16):
didn't do.
And so again I would say toeveryone take it all, because at
the end of the day, as sad asit is, you are a number on a P&L
for a company, and if there isa CEO change or a downturn in
the market or, let's say,tariffs are thrown on everything
and your business goes under intwo days you're gone.
So the only thing you can relyon is yourself, and so make sure

(12:36):
that you're getting everythingyou can.
And it's a reciprocalrelationship, it's not a one-way
relationship, and if you lookat it like that, you will be
surprised the day that they turnoff the faucet and you're gone
right.
So just never forget that.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, and even if you are using those resources to be
a PhD student while you'rebuilding your career, they're
going to gain more from that,from you learning anyways.
So it's not a selfish reason todo any of that growth.
It is actually a very proactiveto build that career for
yourself and that background andgrowth.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, and I also think that, even if it is
selfish, at the end of the day,you kind of have to look at a
job or the company that you workwith as, like, you are getting
paid the least amount that theycan pay you to walk in the door
every day.
Nobody's going to give you morethan you ask for, right?
So that should always be theway that you negotiate there,
not in an ugly way, justsomething to remind yourself of.
And on that other side of thattoo, by educating yourself and

(13:32):
getting all those things donethe minute you decide to leave
or they decide for you to leave.
Whichever comes first, at theend of the day, you already are
setting up yourself for success,whether it be in another
corporation or whether it besomething for yourself, which
ultimately, in my opinion, iswhat everyone should be aiming
to do over the course of theirlife, because you don't want to
be someone else.
Be your boss your whole life.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Lead your own life.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Lead your own life and set your own path, and just
that way it doesn't matter whathappens around you, because
you're in charge.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
I love that.
I'd love to transition intoyour journey into confidence and
kind of hear more about how youcame into confidence or if you
feel like you've kind of builtfrom a good foundation into the
confidence that you have today.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
You know, I think I was a confident kid, Like I've
always had a fair amount ofconfidence and I see that in my
oldest daughter, like shecertainly is a very confident
young woman, and I think a lotof that had to do with my
parents and their parentingstyle.
They were never about, you know, don't try it, you probably
won't get it.
They'd always be like, yeah,try it, you're definitely not
going to get it, but you shouldtry it.
You know they would sit as wejust lost game after game and

(14:38):
I'd be like I think maybe I'lljust go to college for this
sport.
They were like, yeah, like Imean, you haven't won a single
game in four years, but sure youknow off, you go to your
college, your collegescholarship.
But that that ability for themto just let me fail a million
times over made me reallyfearless in doing things.
And it's interesting, I thinkconfidence ebbs and flows over

(14:59):
the course of your life.
Like you come into life with alot of confidence, probably as a
child, and then it's kind ofknocked out of you, especially
if you're a young woman,especially as you're sort of
like working your way throughthe ranks, and so the more you
put yourself out there and themore you try out for things, the
more you raise your hand andput yourself forward, the more
times you're going to hear theword no.
You're going to get used to theword no and then you're going

(15:21):
to stop caring that the answeris no and that, for me, is where
confidence comes from.
You know, I think even on thecharity auctioneering stage I
have an agency now of 13auctioneers who work for me and
I feel like their mom a lot ofthe times, even though I'm the
same age as a lot of them,because they always text me when
they get off stage.
You know I've done 15, 1600auctions over the course of my

(15:42):
life and like there's nothingyou can do to me on stage, and I
told them all the worst storiesof like the things that have
happened over the years thatthey love and they always
compare it when something goeswrong.
And I got this long email froma woman who is one of my
auctioneers this week and shewas sort of going on and on
about this auction and she saidI kept thinking about that
auction that you told me aboutthat hadn't gone well and how

(16:04):
this was similar and all thisstuff.
I was like, yeah, yours was bad, but mine was, I promise you.
And I remember I said in thetext to her I don't think you
understand.
Like if I had taken thatauction in my first decade of
auctioneering, I would neverhave gotten on stage again.
But because I took it twodecades in, I'd been through
enough.
So I knew exactly what wasgoing wrong and I was like this

(16:24):
is beyond my control at thispoint, like I can't take this on
.
Like I gave them all of thethings that I told them that
were going to go wrong and everysingle one of them did.
And like I gave them theblueprint for success and they
did not follow it.
And that's how you end up withone bitter.
So we had a good laugh overthat.
But that, I think, is how yougain confidence.

(16:45):
I think you gain confidence bytrying things that are wildly
outside of your comfort zone andunderstanding that a lot of
times it won't work out, but onthe one chance that it does,
you've gained a lot of intel andyou've also steeled yourself up
and gained sort of a Teflonshield.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, and do you have one of those moments where
you're like oh, I got this.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
No, but I see how it amplified my confidence in that
moment.
You train on a lot of theschool auctions in New York City
because a lot of the privateand public schools have auctions
.
So you go and there are lotsand the parents are very drunk.
So it's kind of like anythinggoes, it's kind of fun.
And I remember arriving in thisgymnasium and this huge
gymnasium everyone's talking andthey're trying to get everyone
to sit down but no one's sittingdown and the bar is in the far

(17:47):
back and everyone's congregatingaround the bar.
It's like 300 people, it's not10 people, and a gym just by
nature is cacophonous, like thesound bounces, not great.
And so I remember saying tothem do you want me to quiet
people, cause they were alreadylike 25 minutes late, do you
want me to get everyone to sitdown?
And they said, yeah, actuallywe have a dad.
He'll just woof whistle.
So he woof whistle People payattention for 10 seconds.

(18:09):
He's like we're going to startthe video and maybe three people
go and sit down.
And I said people are talkingand talking.
And I finally said do you wantme to go up there and try to
make them stop talking and getthis started so I can get home.
And they said, yeah, just hopup on that stage and tell
everyone to be quiet.
And I said, sure, is there amicrophone around here?
And they said, oh, we didn'tget a microphone, we just

(18:32):
thought you were going to like,get on stage and do your thing.
And I was like my thing, 300people in a gymnasium with their
been drinking for three hours,like what's the thing?
I don't think I have the thingand would have been okay if it
were a lot in a paddle raise orlike one item in a paddle raise.
It was like a 15 lot auction,which is a solid hour and a half
.
There wasn't, I mean I thinkthere was like one person seated

(18:54):
, like even in the beginning andat the end I mean it was just
like me in an empty auditorium.
And I mean I didn't even sayanything to the event planners,
I just ran out of the back doorand cried all the way home and
you know it was so awful and Ijust I never wanted to get on
stage again.
And then the next week I got acall for another auction and
finally I was like, all right,the guy was really like, come on
, you just take it.
And so I went and took it andit was fine and it went well and

(19:17):
it was good and it's kind oflike getting back on the horse.
But then the next time that Iwent in and there wasn't a
microphone, first of all I wouldalways ask.
And then there was a time, likeprobably a couple of years
later, when I went in and themicrophone went out in the
middle, and so it was like I'dalready been through it and I
was like using the tricks thatI'd used in the last time to get
them to stop talking, maybeonce or twice.
So I had a couple of tools inmy arsenal but I wasn't like

(19:39):
sobbing at the end of was myperformance as good as it could
have been?
Okay, well, that is that for meis the important part.
If I got on stage and I dideverything I could, and I'm at a
place where I know that thosewho would have worked if the
organization did not upholdtheir end of the bargain, that

(20:02):
for me no longer felt like afailure.
Does that make sense?
So it was kind of like almostseparating those two things.
Like where did I findconfidence?
I found confidence because Iknew what I was doing.
So I think that's part of it.
But then the other side of thatwas sort of taking the onus off
of me being wrong 100% of thetime if something doesn't go
well going well, and saying likethat was beyond my control,
right.
So that's kind of what I wouldthink.

(20:24):
When people are always askingme, like how do you become more
confident, I'm like you have toalmost analyze those moments,
those bad moments, where you'relike what happened?
Like why didn't that work?
Why didn't I get that promotion?
Why did that horrible thinghappen to me?
Like what was that?
And almost look at itobjectively Like it's not even
you, like if it was someone else, and then really understand, is

(20:47):
there anything you could havedone?
Is there anything you couldhave done better?
And then try to improve it,give yourself points to make it
better the next time.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
And how do you cultivate these moments of
confidence in the auctioneersthat you lead, because it sounds
like they encounter momentslike these too.
And so how do you kind ofencourage them, when they have
those moments of everything toseem to go wrong and I don't
know what to do to make itbetter, balancing between what
happened and what they couldhave done to improve it, and

(21:16):
maybe what they can't control?

Speaker 2 (21:18):
I think two things.
First of all, you know, I getfeedback from the organization
too and I think we're a lotharder on ourselves than they
are on us, if that makes sense.
So you know, I feel like I'vealso steeled them up with the
things that used to really sortof ding me, which was the
inevitable comment.
That was a tough crowd.
And I would always take that onas like oh, you didn't think
that I could handle that.

(21:39):
Or you know, it always to meseemed very personal when people
said that and now I just saysomething like yeah, it's a
charity auction, like there'snever an easy one, you know.
Or people will say that was areally loud crowd.
I'm like no, that was not aloud crowd.
You have no idea what a loudcrowd is.
That was a wonderful crowd.
So I sort of say to them youalmost always have to come at a
place where it's not botheringyou and really try to own that

(22:04):
feeling.
It takes time and, as I said,I've taken 1,500 auctions, 1,600
auctions.
It's taken me time to get here,but I feel like they come to me
because they know I'm a safespace, they know I will laugh
with them, they know I will helpthem understand what went wrong
and what could have been better, or ways that I can get out of
things, things that I've learnedof how to quiet a crowd without

(22:26):
annoying them, how to movethrough something when no one
bids at the first level.
There are all these littletricks that I already have in my
toolbox that I can pass alongto them, and I think that makes
them feel more confident.
But it's also nice to just knowthat they can call me, and I'll
probably laugh harder thananyone else.
Oh yeah, that was bad.
Let me tell you about anotherthing.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Well, creating that safe space as a leader is
incredibly important becausethey feel okay to have those
moments of what might be theymight consider failure or
mistakes, and they take those asan opportunity for growth
instead of tearing themselvesdown even further.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And it is such an importantpart, I mean, in this day and
age of like everybody's soperfect online, I mean it's
always the best when you seesomeone who's like beautiful and
perfect post that video wherethey get like knocked down,
skiing, you know, and you'relike, oh good.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
You're cute.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
You know, like thank God you have a sense of humor
and I do think you know, evenwhen you think about social
media, the things that peopleoften respond a lot more to are
the moments of humanity.
You know, it's great whenpeople are doing well.
I always want to see peopledoing well, but it's also fun to
find out that someone didn't dosomething well and have them
laughing about it, because that,to me, is the kind of person I

(23:40):
would want to hang out withExactly.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
It's just more approachable, yeah, tell me the
bad story.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
Tell me this when I really went wrong.
I think, going back toleadership, that's such an
important part of it, because wecan't we can't lead through a
lens of perfection.
You can want perfection,certainly, but I think what will
endear you to people and whatwill make them root for you as a
leader is showing them whenthings don't go well either.

(24:08):
Right, and that can, that canshow up in however you want to
show that.
But I've always felt, and Ifelt like when I ran my team.
You know those moments wherethings were going awry, I would
always say to people like, ifsomething is going terribly
wrong, let me be your first callbecause I will help you
strategize how to get out of it.
Do not let me be your last callwhen everything has gone to

(24:29):
hell in a handbasket.
You're not alone.
You know that's what my job isto lead, so let me help you lead
.
I have that basket of resourcesand and I know how to make
things that may seem like thatmay keep you up for weeks on our
end.
I can.
I can shortcut that for you, solet me help you do that.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
You know, creating that pathway to help bring them
to where you know that they havepotential and you see their
potential and you're like I youwere just talking earlier about
creating those navigationpathways and kind of helping
people along, women along,especially.
Yeah, exactly, we're kind ofveering into a little bit about
authenticity because we'retalking about imperfection and

(25:07):
it bleeds into leading into yourauthentic self.
There's a story that you told afemale founder saying it's also
in your book where you kind offound your authentic self.
There's a story that you toldat Female Founders Day it's also
in your book where you kind offound your authentic self on the
auctioneering stage.
You mentioned something abouthaving the flu and kind of
embraced that situation.
Can you tell that story for theaudience and kind of what you
learned from that?

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, this for me.
When we go back to talkingabout, I always talk about my
first decade of auctioneering,my second decade of
auctioneering.
My first decade for me was, ifyou've read the Tipping Point,
it was me putting in my 10,000hours and I always like to think
that this happened at thatmoment in my 10,000 hours where
I'd completed them and this iswhat kind of came together.

(25:48):
I had been out late the nightbefore and I said in my book
that I had the flu.
But I don't know if it wasreally the flu.
It doesn't make sense.
It was a flu.
It was a self-inflicted flu.
Perhaps it goes to show you too.
Even at that point I felt likeI couldn't say that it worked
because it would have beenfrowned upon when I was writing
the books.
But the reality was that I wasnot feeling well the next

(26:10):
morning at all, like I thought Iwas going to die.
I was very sick and I was sickpretty much all day and I'd been
calling all the otherauctioneers, but because most of
the auctioneers were much older, they all had plans.
It was a Saturday night.
Everyone's like I'm sorry, Ican't take this auction for you.
It never occurred to me that Ishouldn't take the auction.
I've just never been thatperson Like I'll show up dying.
I'm like I've got to go.
I crawled to the Central ParkBoathouse.

(26:31):
It was sort of sitting next tothe stage shakily just trying to
like hold on.
One thing I know fromauctioneering is whenever I'm on
stage I feel fine, like even ifI want to die, and I can say
this I took three, I tookauctions during three
pregnancies with cripplingmorning sickness, and I would
get on that stage like WillyWonka dropping the cane and
doing a somersault, like I wouldbe like oh hello, you know,
it's like you get this bigadrenaline rush.

(26:53):
Up until that point I'd beenbarely alive.
And so this put me to a middleplace.
I had always approachedauctioneering in that first
decade as what I had been taughtto do when I trained at
Christie's, which was really actlike an elegant British man.
It was the sort of goldstandard at Christie's.
The guy who led the whole thingwas probably in his 60s or 70s

(27:15):
and he was a remarkableauctioneer, like a beautiful
auctioneer.
And so we all adopted thislanguage of using words like
shall and you know these sort oflike words that don't really
occur when you're speaking topeople and in art auctioneering
it makes sense.
I mean, you're selling thingsfor $100 million.
You want a certain level ofgravity.
In charity auctioneering you'reselling stuff that nobody wants
on stage late at night and likeyou don't need that.

(27:36):
But no one really had takenthose two styles differently,
and so I got on stage that nightand the first auction item was
a dinner and cocktails at thehome of one of our top clients
and she was seated in front ofme at the auction.
But the other part that was sofunny was that I had been seated
next to her maybe five yearsprior when the guy I thought I

(27:57):
was going to marry dumped meliterally the night before and I
was running the eventsdepartment as we spoke about.
So I showed up and, as oftenhappened, if someone didn't show
up I would sit last minute.
So I was seated next to her andshe was like so how are you
doing?
I started crying likeimmediately.
I mean I'm talking five minutesinto this lunch, which is going
to be two hours and I couldn'tstop.

(28:19):
I'm so devastated.
I had not seen it coming and Iwas just sobbing and she just
couldn't have been nicer.
You know, she's probably like10 years older than me and been
through this and was married andhad a child.
It was like on the other sideof it she's like it's okay,
sweetie, and it was like, youknow, she's like giving me
napkins, like helping with thetablecloth, and it was like wine
, chocolate, like anything shecould give us.

(28:40):
I just couldn't stop crying.
And when I stood up at thatpodium I was talking about the
first auction item and I wouldhave said something like a
cocktail party for 10 people,you know, at the home of blah
blah, blah, blah, and like thisvery elevated voice.
And I said to the crowd likelisten, I have no doubt you're
going to have an amazing time atJennifer's home.
It's cocktails and dinner for10 people.
It's the top chef in New York.

(29:01):
But, more importantly, I satnext to Jennifer when the man I
thought I was going to marrydumped me and she nursed me back
to health over an hour.
So if you are currently seeing atherapist, give it to the
organization.
Go to Jennifer's and you willbe patched up in no time.
I've never felt better in mylife.
You know, something just likecompletely off the cuff.
She was nodding and laughingand I was laughing and the

(29:22):
audience, for the first time in10 years, stopped talking to be
like what on earth is going on,and so I kind of realized in
that moment, like that it wassuch a split second.
I just remember looking andbeing like my God, they're
paying attention.
And they're not just attention,like they're.
They're like wrapped withattention.
And so I realized that what Iwas going to need was humor.

(29:42):
Like I have such a dry sense ofhumor.
My friends and I justcompletely rail on each other
all the time.
It's like my siblings.
I'm like I love making peoplelaugh, I love laughing.
I realized that was going to besomething that I could bring.
That was a tool that I had notyet put in my toolbox to bring
out on stage.
And so that entire auction Ijust leaned into that and by the

(30:04):
end I was like this is like agame changer for me.
It's so fun.
And I say to people all the timewe think that it's supposed to
look a certain way, becausewe've seen it done like that, it
doesn't mean that there isn'tanother way to do it.
That's as good, if not better.
And so you know, even when Ileft Christie's to start the

(30:24):
agency, to start my talentagency, I say to people all the
time like if you want an artauctioneer, call Christie's and
Sotheby's.
If you want the guy who's goingto jump on a table in a blue
bow tie with sequins all overhim, different place, if you're
coming to me or you're coming tome to find an auctioneer, you
are going to get a combinationof those two things the person
on your stage will know how toown that stage, and then they

(30:47):
will also have the technicalskills that I learned at
Christie's, that I can trainthem so they know that this is
an elevated situation.
This is not like someone jumpingon your table screaming in your
face different story, and sothat's been for me.
Like even defining that in thatmoment was really what that
became.
This is a performance.
This isn't just an auctionwhere I'm giving numbers back

(31:07):
and forth.
This is going to make you laugh.
You're going to feel empoweredand inspired and you're going to
give money, and that's reallywhat it's been ever since.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
What would you say to encourage people to kind of
lean into that moment forthemselves of authenticity?

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Well, when I was training auctioneers, and even
with the auctioneers that Ibring on now, I say to people,
like if your best friend said,what is your best part of your
personality, ask them.
Like, ask them what they loveabout you so much and that's the
quality you want to lean into.
You know, not everyone has acrazy sense of humor.
Not everyone has a funny senseof humor.
Some people get really scaredwhen they do certain things.

(31:45):
But there's always somethingthat people love about you, like
there's a reason that peopleare attracted to you and that,
for me, is always the thing thatI want people to hone, to make
them feel more confident becausethey're using their own voice.
But also it's what other peoplelike from you.
So in some of my auctioneersthey're not funny at all, but
they are very earnest and kind.
They have a humbleness aboutthem that people love on stage,

(32:06):
because when you're talkingabout a really serious issue or
pediatric cancer, you don'tnecessarily want some cracking
jokes.
You want somebody who canreally dial into that emotion
and deal with that.
So that's another part of whatI do.
It's like matching people withthat.
So I would say to anyone who'sout there who's listening, it's
like.
What is it about you that drawspeople to you?

(32:28):
And use that to find yourauthenticity in whatever you're
doing.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, and I relate to this a lot because as a
military member, we have thispersona that we're kind of.
We feel like we have to fitthis commanding, super demanding
presence where we take overkind of a room, and create that
presence immediately.
Over the course of my career Idid that for like the first five

(32:52):
to 10 years and then when Iswitched over to being an Air
Force reservist, I was like Iwant to be me, I want to just
kind of embrace quirkiness andyes, I'm wearing the uniform and
yes, I'll be professional, butthere's something about how I
lead that I want to make surethat I feel authentic so that
the airman that I lead, the teamthat I lead, feels like I'm

(33:14):
approachable.
I'm not necessarily acommanding presence, but they
still respect me.
There's not one way to lead.
There's not one way to do yourjob.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Right, absolutely.
And again, one thing my mom hasalways said she's British and
when we'd be like that's soweird, that's bad.
You know about the way shewould say something, or that she
liked something.
She said something.
That's really stuck with me andI use it as a phrase all the
time, especially when it goes itpertains to men and women.
You know, I'm like it's not goodor bad, it's just different.

(33:45):
You know, and that was alwayswhen I approached being an
auctioneer, especially as ayoung woman, in an industry that
was really filled with mucholder men who were incredibly
good at their jobs.
It's not good or bad, I'm justdifferent, and different can be
fun, different can beinteresting and dynamic.
And until you've seen it, a lotof times it feels scary.

(34:06):
And then when you have, you'relike maybe I like that better, I
just can't even.
I just have never seen it donelike that before and I feel like
that for me is to this daystill such a funny thing.
But even I was.
I was side stage this week wherea guy who was holding a
microphone said to me can you goget the auctioneer?
And I said I'm the auctioneer.
And he said can you?

(34:26):
No, can you go get theauctioneer.
And I said I'm the auctioneerand he said oh my God, I'm so
sorry.
And I was like no, it's okay.
I mean, I've dealt with this myentire career, but even at this
point you know, I've been doingit three years now I'm like no,
I am the auctioneer and this ismy 30th time here this year,
but it was really funny yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, and I imagine, unfortunately, those moments
humble you in a way.
But you're like I'm here, I'mgoing to do my job exactly how I
know it, and continue pushingforward and show them like, yes,
I can own this stage and keepgoing forward, even though the
person doesn't think I would bethe auctioneer long that I felt

(35:10):
like, oh, he must be reallyembarrassed to have not to have
made that mistake.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
I actually didn't.
I've gotten past that because Ithink I dealt with it for so
long, like so many years ofbeing like no, no, it's you know
, it's me.
I'm like, no, I'm theauctioneer, Like I'm getting on
that stage I'm going to get allthat money.
Watch, you know, and it wasn't,I didn't even feel like just

(35:36):
about to happen and I feel likethat's where I've gotten
confidence wise, over years ofpractice and, frankly, years of
having to answer that questionover and over again.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
But I was like now you know, and now you'll never
forget.
Yes, that's a very good point.
There's also something youmentioned for the female
founders day and it's also inyour book the strike method.
And I've taken this as my ownhomework to try to figure out my
strike method.
But I love for you to go intoit and kind of tell the folks
how they can embrace theirstrike method.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Absolutely.
When I was first writing myfirst book, my editor said
something that I'll never forget.
She was sort of like listen,you get a gold star, you work
for Christie's.
Tell us the story of how yougot there as a girl from
Louisiana.
Like, tell us the story of agirl who lives in a small town
in Louisiana, like you did, andis like I want a big life.
I don't know what that looks,but I want a big life.

(36:21):
And I was really trying to thinkabout the best way to describe
what it's like to walk out ontoa stage when there are a
thousand people staring at you,you have one piece of paper with
three lines of copy and youhave to make like $15 million.
Like what does that feel like?
Right, and how did I get here?
And to me, when I was sitting,I wrote the first paragraph.

(36:43):
I mean, I wrote the firstchapter on a plane and I
remember I was sitting there andI was like it's really starts
in those 10 seconds before I geton stage.
And you know I started the bookwith Lydia.
You're on in 10 seconds andit's a countdown and I know from
experience of havingexperienced that adrenaline rush
so many times before.
That's the adrenaline rush thatcripples people right.
For me, that's energy I'mbringing to the room.

(37:05):
If you're a novice publicspeaker, it's like the part that
makes you want to die.
You're like, oh my God, I can'tfeel my body.
Public speaker.
It's like the part that makesyou want to die.
You're like, oh my God, I can'tfeel my body.
And for me I'm like here we go.
And so I'm trying to thinkabout how I got to that place
and how did I get to the placewhere I feel comfortable on
stage and excited to get onthere?
And I realized it's really inthat transition point.
But I bring a gavel when I go onstage.

(37:27):
So I walk out on that stage,I'm looking out at this huge
group of people.
There's a spotlight coming down.
Video's just finished.
Everyone's quiet.
I have a gavel and I slam thegavel down three times and I've
had people say things over theyears that kind of stuck with me
.
I remember one guy said youknow you should patent that move
, because even if I'm in thebathroom, like in the middle of
an event and I hear it hadreally become like my thing,

(37:50):
it's like three.
And then right after that I'dlaunch into good evening.
Ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Lydia Fennett.
It used to be I'm here fromChristie's, now it's.
You know, I'm so delighted tobe here and I throw in a joke
and then it's kind of off to theraces.
But that gavel strike for me islike almost the moment where I
transition into this, thisperson who's going to own the
room, this person who's going toown the room.

(38:12):
So I realized that I wasstarting to apply that to other
parts of my life too, becausefor me, once the gavel hits, I
don't turn around.
I never stop from that momenton.
So it's almost like where do Ibegin?
And then off to the races.
And so I say to people thinkabout what in your life you have
that you can grasp onto.
That makes you feel confidentfrom that moment on.
And that could be anything froma mantra you say, it could be

(38:32):
an action that you take.
I think I said that the FemaleFounder Collective, a friend of
mine, when I told her this waslike I started doing underneath
the table, tapping it like herewe go right before I start a
Zoom call or anything like that.
And she's like I even findsometimes I like squeeze my
palms three times to say here wego, coaching a woman for a long
time who found a red stone on abeach and she just started

(38:56):
bringing that.
It was like her Dumbo's featherthat she brought to all of her
meetings.
So I think it can be anythingthat you want and obviously it's
all mental, like what you'redoing is just mentally preparing
yourself.
And then on the other side ofthe strike method I say line up
what you're going to say afterthat first sentence, because if
you really think about publicspeaking, all of your adrenaline
are good.
Everything is leading into thatfirst moment when you start

(39:17):
speaking.
And so if you have alreadylined up that line, the one
that's right after it, you getto the point where the
adrenaline starts to sort ofdissipate a little bit and
you're not as nervous.
So you just have to get overthat hump.
So get your strike method andthen line up the thing you're
going to say afterwards.
And that for me it's really theway you feel, confident, when
you feel when you walk on stage,because you know what's coming.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Right, it's the first step.
It's like the first step oftaking a marathon, opening up
the fitness video.
I remember when you knocked onthe podium and I remember I was
like whoa, that was loud.
And I remember saying to mycolleague right next to me
that's one way to do it.
It caught everyone's attention.

(40:00):
It was very unexpected, eventhough we knew that you were an
auctioneer coming in, and it gotall of our attention.
It was very wrapped very quickand you just rolled right into
it and we knew that there was agood presentation coming up,
because we could just feel theenergy coming off of you for
that and it set the whole tonefor that presentation, for your
speech.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
And I said to you guys that day many times I am
speaking after lunch.
You are tired, I understand Iwill bring the energy you need
and then I need from you, youknow, and I would throw in jokes
so that you guys would react,because warm in that room there
were a lot of people there, youknow.
It was like supposed to beseated.
There were people everywhereand it was it for me.
That was great energy.
But it's also after lunch.

(40:40):
People have eaten, they'retired, and so addressing that
and not being scared of it Ithink is always an important
part of speaking as well.
It's like I get you guys, I'vegot you, I'm going to bring the
energy and you can just sit hereand watch and we're going to
have a great time.
And I'm going to call on you acouple of times so that you guys
have to react.
So I know you're awake or alive, but you know it's all good,
I'm going to have fun regardless.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
And I took away that lesson very clearly, where I
again I'm going to bring in mymilitary experience, because we
love PowerPoint in the militaryand it's like good morning, my
name is Rank Name and I'm goingto present to you blah blah,
blah, blah, blah.
Here is our overview.
Here is slide one.
And it is so draining and youdrone on and when I saw what the

(41:24):
possibility was and I've seenreally good presentations, but I
think what yours took away, orwhat I took away from yours in
particular, was how simple youcould carry somebody's attention
.
It wasn't anything supertransformative, it was just
words, jokes, your energy andvery minimal PowerPoint slides
just to come across with yourmessage.

(41:46):
Like it was just.
It was very intentional.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah, and I you know people say to me they're like I
actually am doing a speakingengagement for Deloitte in a
couple of weeks and they weresort of like can you send over
your slide?
I was like for what they're,like we have to send them to
risk management.
It's like I don't know whatthey're going to get.
I mean, these are literallyfour words on a slide.
And she's like well, can yousend over your speech?
I'm like there is no speech,like I speak from the talking

(42:10):
points and whatever it is thatday, because when you give a
speech, no one knows what you'resaying except for you.
So to me, the scripted speechwhich I used to, I will never
forget.
One of the first ones I diddown in New Orleans.
My friend, jane Scott Hodges,said to me afterwards she's like
that was a great speech, youshould do it without notes.
And I was like what?
And she was like, just try itonce.

(42:30):
Because honestly, you, readingfrom a script is so painful for
everyone and it was such a goodstory that people were zoning
out and I'd never been a speaker, I'd always been a charity
auctioneer and I do nothing fromnotes.
I might read like it's avacation house in Mexico, and
then the rest is like, whateverI see in front of me, whatever
the people are doing and howeverwe're going to get that bidding
up.
But and however we're going toget that bidding up, but it was

(42:53):
the greatest tip of my speakingcareer because she's right, if
you were reading from a speech,it is a very, very different
thing.
So I always think that the bestspeakers are the ones who you
know.
You put your five talkingpoints and then just talk about
those.
You know the story.
That's why you've been chosento be a speaker.
So what are you talking on?
You have those as your reminderand then tell them what you
know.
That's in your voice, in yourauthentic voice.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Yes, and I would be curious if you had any advice
for those that might work forspecific companies I mean
military or very strict directcompanies but they want to add
their own authenticity, tocreate their own script, have
their own strike method.
What advice would you give tothose that are kind of trying to
form their personality in acompany or organization that

(43:39):
might have very strict policy?

Speaker 2 (43:41):
Yeah, listen, I think you can always bring your
authentic self and you work in acompany and that is its own
ecosystem, so you have tounderstand that and you have to
abide by the rules that are setso that there is a corporate
culture.
There may be a dress code, likeall of those things.
I can't tell you what thatlooks like for you individually,
but I can say that if you aregiving a PowerPoint presentation

(44:03):
and you do need to put a coupleof slides up there I mean, even
for Deloitte, I had to sendover a couple of additional
points and I did it.
And it's interesting becausethe more you give someone, the
more they have to react to, andso I gave them the bare bones.
And so I would say like, if youare the person who has to give
a PowerPoint presentation andyou know that there are specific

(44:25):
things that you need to put onthere, think about what you can
take off.
You never want to have more thanthree bullets on a PowerPoint
presentation.
Also, make it light.
It doesn't need to.
You should not be reading fromyour PowerPoint presentation.
It should be like a momentwhere you touch on it and then
you turn back to the crowd.
Because, again, going back toengaging a crowd or leading a
crowd people are.

(44:46):
You don't feel like you'rebeing inspired by somebody who's
reading something that you canread too?
Right Like now, we're bothreading all 90 points from my
PowerPoint presentation and look, it's lunchtime.
You've done literally nothing.
At that point, it's like tellme in your own words why I need
to know this and how you've cometo learn this.

(45:07):
Those are always, in myexperience, like that's the most
interesting way, becausestorytelling is the way that
things are passed down, Likethat's the best way to that's
the best way to learn.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yes, and it carries everyone's attention way better
than reading off a PowerPointslide.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Absolutely so painful .

Speaker 1 (45:26):
I'd love to kind of dig maybe a little bit behind
the curtain of your life and Iwould love to ask a question
about, like what do you wishsomebody would ask you, based on
your experience, that you havenot been asked regularly or
haven't been asked at all.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
You know, I think that a lot of what I've done has
been covered, but I think thequestions that I always like the
most are sort of similar to theone that you asked earlier
about.
You know, tell me somethingthat didn't go well, because I
do truly believe that that'swhere the learning happens.
You know, I do think that weall try to make it look glossy
because it looks better and itfeels better to do that, but the

(46:00):
reality is, it's always thosepain points where we learn, and
those are the questions I'malways happy to be asked.
You know, what was?
What was the time where youfell flat on your face on stage?
Or you know I mean, I couldtell you that story which would
make you howl with laughterwhere I had taken an option for
seven years and it had alwaysbeen at the same place with the
same group, and they had a newCEO and he emailed me and asked

(46:22):
me if I could come take it againand I said yes, and then,
probably a week before, I saidokay, just to make sure it's
still the same.
He's like oh no, no, no, no,we're doing it totally different
.
We're doing it at Tavern on theGreen.
It's a standing tent.
You know it's going to bevertical, so you'll be at one
side of the tent, meaning likeone lengthwise all the way up.
And he's like and there areprobably about like 10 speeches

(46:44):
before you go up and no, there'sno seating.
And so I was like if you were acharity auctioneer and you were
listening to this and youalready know this was not going
to be a success.
And I said to him this is whatI will tell you you need people
to be able to sit during anauction, otherwise they're not
going to pay attention.
You need an auction to be early, otherwise people are not going
to be like everything.

(47:05):
Please, even if there arespeeches, they should be short.
Give them a break to come back.
Like anything you can do, justdon't have it.
After a lot of talking he waslike well, that's just the way
we're going to do it.
I was like well, I have givenyou all of the things.
And so the evening started bythe second speaker.
The CEO had gotten on stage totry to quiet the crowd because

(47:25):
it was so loud.
They were already talking whenhe was up there and he was up
there and he was trying sodesperately to get them to stop
talking for this honor.
He broke a glass with a spoon,like that's how hard he was
hitting it.
That was speaker two.
By speaker eight, I would saythere were probably like eight
people still paying attention.

(47:45):
He dropped a crystal awardbecause he was so frustrated
that nobody would talk Speaker10.
So by the time I got up,speaker 11, there were probably
two people who were payingattention and we had one woman
bid One, and again, I would havefelt really badly about it a
decade prior, but I literallywas like you know what this one

(48:08):
was?
100%.
I told you every single thingthat was going to go wrong.
I could have literally calledthis from the minute it started.
There were also separate roomswhere people could go.
So, frankly, everyone had justmoved into the other room
because they couldn't afford it.
Yeah, so that was, and that wasprobably five years ago.
So I tell that to theauctioneers.
I'm like I promise you youlikely will never have anything

(48:28):
worse than that, but I thinkit's important that they know
that it can be really painfuland bad and there are things
that happen and even despiteeverything and all the years of
experience, there's nothing thatcan be done, and things like
that, for me, are alwaysimportant to talk about.
So to answer your question,like asking about the things
that don't go well is asimportant as asking about the

(48:50):
good things like asking aboutthe things that don't go well is
as important as asking aboutthe good things.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Yeah, and like every time, just the second time, I've
heard these stories and Iappreciate hearing them, just
because it creates a humbleexperience and it makes you, as
a leader, very approachable.
But also I relate to youbecause I'm like well, obviously
I've made mistakes and it'snice to see other people make
mistakes, but it's not.
It's also seeing thosesituations that you cannot
control and you're just likewell, I'm here, I tried and I'm

(49:22):
going to do my due diligence andthat is all I can do.
I did the best I can.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Exactly Like I'm going to try, but there is
legitimately one person herewho's can Exactly Like I'm going
to try, but there islegitimately one person here
who's who can even see thistaking place.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
So you had mentioned that you are a go, go, go type
of person and you thrive and doall that, and you have three
kids and a family and do your.
It sounds like you travel quitea bit, both before and
currently.
How do you recharge and rest toprepare yourself for those
either sprints or marathons?

Speaker 2 (49:55):
You know, there are a lot of different things that
kind of go into my schedule.
Now I feel like what's reallyimportant for me is when I am
not in those what I call sprintswhere I'm about to go into one.
That's basically six straightweeks of travel and auctions and
all those things.
Right now I'm not in one ofthose.
So it's about being home, it'sabout being with my kids, it's

(50:19):
about going to bed on time, andon Saturday I am a go-go-go
person, and even my daughter.
We did a Gilmore Girls marathonbecause it was pouring with rain
and my oldest daughter and Iwere just snuggled in bed
watching Gilmore Girls, which Inever, ever do.
That Like I never watch TVduring the day.
I just find it to be such awaste of time.
And it was funny because shewas like you're so not good at

(50:42):
being lazy.
I'm like, I know, but I'mreally.
I look at I, look at me.
I'm actively trying to be lazy.
You know, I'm really I'm noteven out of my pajamas yet like
super lazy today, you know.
But I don't think that I needthat to recharge.
I mean, if I'm exhausted I willfall asleep.
You know, I can nap, nap on thefloor anywhere.
I'm a great 10, 15, 20 minutenapper, for sure, and I employ
that strategy whenever I need it.

(51:03):
But I don't think that I needto recharge in the way that
people think you know you needto read a book for 10 hours,
like I don't need that and Inever have.
So it's really for me aboutbeing intentional for the people
around me, and recharge for memeans filling up my cup with my
family and being there with mykids Like that's the stuff and

(51:23):
seeing my friends and, you know,having a glass of wine at lunch
with a friend on a Thursdaybecause I don't have to be on
stage for the next five days,and that's that to me feels like
a real luxury, because I in Maylike there's none of that, it
is picking up the kids fromschool, getting on stage,
getting up in the morning,getting ready for the auction
tonight you know it's.
And then I would say that thefinal thing for me is like my
priority is always exercise,because I I function better when

(51:49):
I am exercising.
If I don't exercise, I gettired, I get grumpy, like all of
those things, and that for meis just a discipline, like
anything else.
You know, I, I make sure, evenwhen I land from a flight, the
first thing I do is go for a run, even if it's like 10 minutes,
I'll just get my body moving.
Just that for me, is like anon-negotiable, because I know I
function better if, if my bodyis like in good shape?

Speaker 1 (52:12):
Yeah, is there a moment in your career where you
recognized that this was thetype of recharge that you
preferred or needed, or have youkind of always been this way?

Speaker 2 (52:21):
I've always been like very, very high energy my whole
life, Like I really do pushmyself.
I just I don't even know wherethat comes from.
I mean, I think, I was raisedwith three siblings and we're
all pretty competitive, so Ithink that maybe there's a part
of that.
But I also, as I said earlier,like I've always wanted a big
life and there's also anunderstanding I guess, just

(52:42):
having lived in New York forlong enough and met enough
people successful that to live abig life takes a lot of work.
And when I was at Christie'sdoing, you know, 90,000 things
at the same time and havingbabies and all of that stuff
that for me was, it was justlike a nonstop hamster wheel,
and COVID was the first time Ihadn't been in an office since I

(53:03):
was 21 years old.
You know, I my life revolvedaround running back and forth to
rock center until I was 20,like from the age of 21 until
COVID, and that was really thefirst time that I had to really
learn to be still.
You know, everyone's likesitting with their stillness and
I was sitting with my stillnessand I was like you know, I
really hate being still.

(53:24):
As it turns out, I was actuallyright.
I love being busy.
I don't know what I'm doing.
I'm like, and when this ends,if this thing ever ends, I am
going to be like you've neverseen anyone, and I think that's
right.
You know, I definitely feellike that time for me was just
such a time to really thinkabout what I wanted in this next
chapter of life and and reallyto be able to go after things

(53:47):
with abandon.
So I don't think I actuallyneeded to recharge in my
twenties and thirties.
I think I just had even moreenergy then and now the
recharging for me is really justabout plugging in with my
family and being with them asmuch as possible.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Yeah, and that was very interesting for me because
I think that people eachperson's individual when it
comes to what it takes torecharge, but we hear these
things about self care and youfeel almost guilty for not doing
some of the things that arequote unquote self-care.
And so really understandingwhat fills your cup and like
leaning into whatever that is,and you could tell that for your

(54:21):
daughter over the weekend,refilling her cup was spending
time with her and watchingGilmore Girls and leaning into
that and so, even though thatmight not have been the recharge
for your cup, you knew that itwas for her, so you knew, but in
a way that would fill your cupbecause you're feeling her.
So it's just it's goodawareness.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Yeah, and I also think you know and to your point
about wellness there, there'sbeen a certain amount of
acceptance in my life in thepast, like five or six years,
that there are just certainthings I don't want to do.
You know, my sister is a hugeyoga person and she's always
like come to this yoga classwith me and I'd always be in the
yoga class.
Like this is taking forever,Like all I want to do is go for

(55:03):
a run, or.
But now I found tennis, whichis something I played when I was
little and that for me, feelslike full self-care.
You know, I can't get enough oflike hitting balls into things
just as hard as I can, and thatfeels so great on every level.
And so I'm like you know whatI'm not going to try to do?
Yoga I hate it.
I don't want to do it anymore.
I'm going to do really cool,fun activities that make me feel

(55:24):
exhausted, because I love thatfeeling.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
And that's, I mean, it's good self-awareness, and
you don't have to do yoga andyou can do whatever feels good
to you, exactly, exactly.
Would you be open to a quickrapid fire session of four
questions to do just like quickand we can learn just a little
bit more about you?
Sure, so first question is whatis one word you would use to

(55:49):
describe yourself at 25?
Fearless, fearless, fearless.
I love that.
What is your favorite way tostart the day?

Speaker 2 (55:56):
I love it when I get up early before anyone else in
my house and I get a huge cup ofcoffee and if I'm writing to
sit and write and if I'm notwriting, to turn on like the
local channel one news in NewYork City and just find out
what's going on here.
The most random thing.
I don't think I actuallylearned anything, but it's just.
It feels so indulgent to havethat time in the morning by

(56:16):
myself.
That's great.
I love that you watch the news.
I know I'm like it's like Iliterally turn on channel one
and then I switched the todayshow at seven and watch like the
first five minutes and then, asmy kids, I get them up at seven
and then, as they're getting up, I'm like watching and then
when they come out I turn it off?

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Oh, that's cute.
What is a book that yourecommend often?

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Gosh, I have a lot of books that I recommend.
Often I love any book by Alexavon Tobel on finance.
She writes really, really,really interesting books for
women who need to read a littlebit more about finance and just
to learn in a way that doesn'tfeel scary.
I love Candice Nelson's bookabout how she built the

(56:56):
Sprinkles Cupcakes empire.
I just think it's like a greatfun read and I also think
sometimes business seems scaryand then you find something that
has a passion and has turned itinto something else and I
thought that that was a reallygreat book.
I would read my friend MaryGiuliani's books all day and all
night.
They're amazing.
Her latest one is called theirshort stories how to lose
friends and influence no one,which has to be the great title

(57:19):
of all time about confessions ofa previous people pleaser, I
think it was the way she said it.
Yeah, All of those are reallyfun books.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Oh, that's fun.
And then, who is someone thatmade you feel seen early in your
career?

Speaker 2 (57:34):
I had this wonderful boss named George McNeely who
was almost like a work husbandto me and he was just such a fun
person to be around because hewas up for anything and he
really empowered me to try a lotof different things, like he
never.
He was always kind of a littlebit, I think I don't know what
the word would be, I think hewas.

(57:55):
He liked the fact that I was sofearless and he was kind of
always up for it.
I'd be like I think we shoulddo things in Brazil.
He was like okay, and I wouldplan all these things in Brazil.
He's like I'll come to Brazilwith you.
I'm like great, and so we wouldgo.
So I would say, george, and thenthere was an amazing woman
named Lauren Short who ran theevents department when I worked
at Christie's and she was sokind and really set the tone for

(58:17):
me for the rest of my workingcareer, because when I was an
intern she treated me like I wasthe director of the department.
She always made me feel special.
She always invited me toeverything after work.
I mean, I knew all of herfriends and to this day I'm
still in touch with her andanytime I hear her voice.
It just like always, brings meback.
She would like invite me to herapartment with her friends for

(58:38):
parties and stuff, because Ididn't know anyone, and so
whenever I had interns, I alwayslike tried to make them feel
like they were a hundred percentpart of the team, and have kept
in touch with a lot of themever since.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
If there was one thing that you would love the
audience to leave with today,what would that be?

Speaker 2 (58:53):
You guys just please go live the life you want.
It doesn't last forever and ifyou're not doing that it's such
a waste.
Just go and do what you want todo, don't worry what other
people think.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Just have a great life Well thank you again for
coming on the show.
Where can people find out moreabout you?

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Have a great life, well, thank you again for coming
on the show.
Where can people find out moreabout you?
So I live on Instagram at LydiaFennett, so feel free to follow
along.
You can see all the fun eventsthat I go to and all of the
auctions, and there's alwayssomething interesting on there
and then you can read the MostPowerful Woman in the Room is
you, or Claim your Confidence.
And then I, too, have a podcastcalled Claim your Confidence
that I do with RockefellerCenter, so feel free to listen
to that.
It's basically just talking towomen about their confidence

(59:33):
journeys at the highest levels.
So some really interestingguests over the years.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
Thank you so much for sharing all your stories about
confidence and authenticity andthe story of your journey
through Christie's and to whereyou are today.
It's a joy to listen, a joy totalk to you, and I look forward
to everyone hearing this podcastinterview.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Thank you, sarah, such a pleasure to be on.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
Thanks for listening to another episode of Lead Into
it.
If you enjoyed this episode, itwould mean a lot to me if you
would leave a review on ApplePodcasts or Spotify to help
future listeners.
If you want to learn more aboutthe podcast or me, go to
leadintoitco.
That's leadintoitco.
Thanks again.