April 28, 2025 • 44 mins
Whitney Faires, founder of Whitney Faires Coaching and Development, shares her journey from corporate America to entrepreneurship while unpacking essential leadership lessons learned along the way. She offers practical strategies for developing authentic leadership skills, making challenging career decisions, and finding balance between professional ambitions and personal priorities.
• Leadership is about influencing others to take action that drives positive results
• Women in corporate America should view challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles
• Achieving work-life integration requires "ruthless prioritization" and accepting necessary trade-offs
• Sometimes lateral career moves provide better long-term growth than vertical promotions
• Building a strong support system is critical for both corporate leaders and entrepreneurs
• Regularly seeking specific feedback helps identify and address blind spots
• Authentic connection with team members drives higher performance and loyalty
• "Harness your highlight reel" by keeping reminders of past successes visible
• When seeking mentors, be specific about what you need and never waste their time
• Continuous learning is essential for leadership growth in our rapidly changing world
Find Whitney at whitneyfaires.com or email her directly at whitney@whitneyfaires.com.
Connect with Ron
Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey
“If you don’t have something to measure your growth, you won’t be self-aware or intentional about your growth.”
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The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host
leadership consultant, ronHarvey of GlobalCore Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning.
This is Ron Harvey, the VicePresident, chief Operating
Officer for Global CoreStrategies and Consulting, a
professional services leadershipdevelopment firm based out of
Columbia, south Carolina.
So if you've been following usand you've been with this
podcast for the last 18 months,you know enough about who we are
as a company.
We love helping leaders bebetter connected to their
workforce.
We truly enjoy it, and so Iwon't spend a lot of time on
(00:43):
that today, because we have aphenomenal guest that's going to
come on, introduce herself andwe're going to dive into.
What we always do on the show isunpack whatever shows up.
The beauty of this is I neverknow what questions I'm going to
ask.
Our guests have signed up forit and they're on board with it,
but we promise one thing thatwe're going to add value, make a
difference, and we're going tobe open and transparent and
hopefully leave something withyou that you will actually use
(01:04):
this week.
So let me pause.
I'm going to have Whitney withus and she'll introduce herself
and tell you who she is and whatshe wants us to know about her,
and then we'll dive into thepodcast and have some fun.
Whitney, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Hi Ron, Thanks for having me Excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yes, yes, thank you.
Can you tell us who you are,what you want us to know about?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
you, of course, of course.
So my name is Whitney Ferris.
I am a founder of WhitneyFerris Coaching and Development,
so I do executive coaching.
I also am a leadership expertafter 20 years in corporate
America, and I do some keynotespeaking as well.
My whole focus is helpingpeople really be at their best,
(01:43):
unlocking that untappedpotential, and I'm a big
believer that every singleperson has more potential deep
down inside.
The challenge is how do youaccess that?
And so I help people, whetherit's one-on-one coaching and
corporate development programsor through my keynote think and
reflect, inspire them to takeaction and create that behavior
(02:06):
change.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, yes, I love it.
I mean.
So you're right in mywheelhouse and we'll have a
great conversation and I'll telleverybody that listens here we
have people that do exactly whatwe do, that come on our show,
because I don't believe incompetition.
I know it's out there, but Ijust don't live in that space.
I believe in competition.
Somebody is doing what we'redoing.
That's a good partner and agood resource.
So I always bring people on andI'll tell all of our listeners
(02:28):
don't be intimidated by peoplethat do what you do.
Find a way to have a goodrelationship, and you never know
how they may be able to helpyou.
So, whitney, thank you forcoming on.
I love to have fun with it, solet's dive into it.
I mean, leadership is this?
Now, when I say leadership,people are like, what does that
mean?
Like, what are you talkingabout?
Like, so, what was your bestway that you explained when
people ask okay, so what is thisleadership stuff?
(02:49):
What do you really do?
How do you explain that?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah.
Well, there's a lot ofdifferent ways you could explain
it, but I would say, at itsmost fundamental level,
leadership is about being ableto influence people to take
action that drives positiveresults.
It's whether you know, I'm afirm believer that you can be a
leader and not actually lead ateam.
You can be a leader amongst agroup of peers.
(03:14):
You can be a leader within anorganization that creates a
positive impact, leads byexample, influences a broader
organization to inspire resultsand company culture and all of
those things, or you can be aleader of a team, and so the
question is how can you lead inyour current role, whether it's
(03:34):
work or life, and I think we allhave that opportunity to do
what we're doing, but withbetter quality and in a way that
amplifies our impact in theworld.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yes, yes, thank you for sharing that.
What do you find out?
And you're in corporate America, and so, as you're sitting in
corporate America, there arechallenges for women leaders.
This is Women's History Month.
There are challenges.
So how do you help if you'rethat female and they're
listening and they're incorporate America?
How did you navigate thateffectively and what are some
tips that you give to women thatare in that space right now,
(04:08):
learning how to navigatecorporate America as a female?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, well, I will tell you.
I think one of the mostpowerful things women can do is
view the challenges that theyface as an opportunity.
And I mean that because wecannot control, maybe, how we're
viewed.
We can't control that we'refemales, we can't control how
our bosses or peers or otherleaders see us.
But what we can do is we canwork really hard to be the best
(04:32):
version of us, in the sense thatwe are authentic, we are
showing up consistently.
People know we have a clearbrand on what we're known for
and how we deliver value, and welook at all the other little
things as just obstacles.
And when you view it as anempowered place is owning the
(04:55):
challenges and running towardsthem versus being a victim.
I think it really can inspireyou versus drag you down.
And so I think it starts withreally understanding who am I
today and who do I want to be,and how do I work on closing
that gap so that I can continueto continuously improve who I am
, both personally andprofessionally.
And I think when you stay trueto the things that you can
(05:16):
control, it makes it easier tonavigate the uncontrollables.
And sometimes we hear thosecomments in the workplace or
there are biases that we knowexist and we have to be us and
work on ourselves versus worryabout the noise around us.
That will figure itself out.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yes, yes, and there's a lot of noise.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
We both know there's a lot of noise in the workplace.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
And how do you get focused on it?
How do you do it?
I mean, one of the things thatleaders are having a really
tough time with today.
I don't like to call itwork-life balance, but I do want
to figure out.
How do you have a common way ofbeing a family person, being a
corporate America, being in aleadership role?
How do you learn to make thatlevel of feel where all of it's
(06:03):
important and you can do a goodjob with collaborating or
allowing it to intermingle witheach other?
How did you do well in thatspace?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, well, I'll start by saying how I didn't do
well in that space.
First, because that's the truth, and I will tell you, I had
this crazy vision that I thoughtI've always had a way of being
able to outwork and grind my waythrough what all the, all, the,
the, the big challenges I face.
So I'm going to have a couple ofkids and just like it's going
(06:33):
to be business as usual, likeonce I drop them off at school,
I'm just going to go about myday.
It's like going to be before Ihad kids.
Anyone who has children or is acaretaker for anybody knows
that's completely false.
There's so much more around youthan just you drop them off and
you move on with your day.
And so at first I think Ireally struggled because I had,
(06:55):
in my mind, unrealisticexpectations for what I thought
I was going to be as a mom, as awife, as a high level leader in
an organization.
And then, oh, there's me, justas a person that needs a little
attention too, and so I startedout trying to function at the
same level that I always had inall of those buckets, and it was
(07:18):
exhausting and not successful,right, because even when you did
it, you didn't feel good doingit, because you were just trying
to make sure you got it alldone, versus investing
intentionally and where you werefocusing your energy.
And so for me, I had to reallyzoom out and say, okay, there's
so much time in the day.
What are the things that are mymust haves?
(07:40):
And that is everything fromlike I got to get a workout in
every day.
I want to make sure I can bethere when either my kid wakes
up or they go to bed, because atthe time when I had kids, I was
leading a team of salespeoplethat were in the operating room
and so it's early mornings a lotof times.
So I defined all the differentmust haves and I had to sit down
(08:02):
with my husband and say how dowe make this work and where are
the places that we can maketrade-offs?
And part of that was reallytough because it required me to
face the fact that I wasn'tgoing to maybe always be the mom
who is there every morning andevery evening, but I was really
grounded in the work that I wasdoing.
I felt it was really importantmeaningful work to the patients
(08:23):
that we serve in ourorganization and that I was
doing.
I felt it was really importantmeaningful work to the patients
that we serve in ourorganization, and so I was able
to really come to a place whereI could accept that it's okay to
make trade-offs and it'sunrealistic to function at the
level that I want all aspectswithout making those and over
time I think you find yourstride and you learn that you're
going to be really high inbalance personally at times and
(08:46):
low in balance and other times.
But how do you kind of redirectwhen needed to be able to find
that you know, quote, unquotebalance or that blend once again
?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Oh yeah, I love it and thank you for sharing,
because most leaders we havethis mindset of we got to do it
all.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, most leaders, if you're really, really
effective and if you reallyreally care.
The danger is you think you gotto do it all.
Yeah, you shift from thatbecause you know to get promoted
, you kind of got to show up,you got to get things done, you
got to be dependable, you got toalways be around, you got to be
visible.
I mean, there's so much,there's a load of, if you're
going to chase this corporatecareer or this leadership
(09:26):
journey that you're on.
There's a lot of things that,whether true or untrue, we tell
ourselves how do you manage thatmindset?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
It is.
It is.
It can be a struggle for sure.
So I'm not going to sugarcoatit because I can give you a
super pretty answer and I willtell you.
Then everyone's going to go doit and be like this doesn't work
, but I will.
So I will tell you is I had toget super clear on my priorities
.
I say, like you have to bewilling to ruthlessly prioritize
, and so that means at times Iam going to have to choose.
(09:57):
I need to take this businesstrip, be in person for it
instead of take it over Zoom,because this is what's in the
best interest of the companythat I've committed to my career
, in me feeling like I'vedelivered at the level that I
expect of myself, not even whatthe company expects of me, but
what I expect of myself, whichis core to me, feeling like I'm
(10:19):
doing a great job.
And then there are other timeswhere I had to say, as hard as
it is, I may need to pass onthis trip because I've got
someone on my team that can leadit just fine.
And so it was very much astruggle to get in the habit of
making those decisions becauseyou feel like you're
underperforming in some part ofyour life.
(10:40):
But here's what I'd encouragepeople to think about the more
you do this, the more practiceyou get making these trade-offs,
you realize that in the grandscheme of a quarter or a year,
you're just fine on every level.
Right, your career isn't takinga hit.
People actually oftentimesappreciate the vulnerability
(11:02):
that you show by saying, hey,I've got to make this hard
choice and here's how I've setit up to ensure that the
business doesn't suffer.
Or to say to my my, my, my kidslisten like, mom does work,
that she loves, that helpspeople.
And so I'm not going to say I'msorry that I'm leaving.
I'm going to say when you growup, you should chase your dreams
too.
And here's how I'm still herefor you, even though I might not
(11:26):
be here to put you to bed.
And it doesn't mean therearen't hard moments.
But in time it's the smallsteps of practicing that
behavior that enable you to seeyou can still perform at that
high level.
Here's one more thing I throwin there is oftentimes, you know
, like when I I had two kids,two and under.
I had an infant at home.
I just returned from maternityleave.
I had a newly turned two yearold.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And here.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I was yeah, I was like throwing it all in.
I'm like might as well just fittwo in and just keep keep the
car going.
But I was actually looking andI was being tapped on the
shoulder for a promotion.
I was looking at that next rollup and I did realize that for
(12:10):
me to do that job well, I neededto be on the road three days a
week, virtually every singleweek, and that, to me, was
something that I was not willingto sacrifice at that point of
time, both for my family, formyself, and I just knew that I
could do it, but I wouldn'tenjoy the work and I wouldn't be
at my best.
So I said to myself, when I lookat my five to 10 year plan,
what are the other skills I wantto be at my best?
So I said to myself, what else?
When I look at my five to 10year plan, what are the other
skills I want to build?
I need to build to put myselfwhere I want to be, which was
(12:31):
leading at a high level in acorporate organization, and what
opportunities exist for me tobuild those skills today?
So, instead of going up, I wentlateral and I launched a new
function internally.
So I went from that salesexperience to building that
corporate experience and itenabled me to just feel like now
is the time.
Now's the time to do somethingdifferent that suits my
(12:52):
long-term plan.
It may not be what I thought,but it turned out to be one of
the best decisions of my careerbecause I got a whole new
skillset.
I did something reallyfantastic in an organization
with a great team and in thelong term it set me up better
than if I would have just gonevertically.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I mean, it's phenomenal.
Thank you for not sugarcoatingit, because oftentimes we make
it look easier than it is.
We make it seem like it's aneasy decision.
There's no compromise, there'sno pain, there's no frustration.
But if you have a family,you're also teaching them how to
make sacrifices and how to liveup to commitments as well to
yourself and to them.
So thank you for sharing that.
So, when you start thinkingabout making that move to left
(13:34):
or right and even though you'relooking up here what happened
for you though I mean because itis hard to say, hey, this is in
front of me, but I don't wantto be on the road three times
Can you, can you unpack that andsay what were the difficult
decisions?
And how did you come to theconclusion that, ok, even though
I want it, because there's anego part of it, let's be real.
There's an ego of going higherversus going left or right.
(13:56):
How did you get through that?
Because a lot of peoplestruggle with turning down
something that looks like agreat opportunity, but not the
right opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, if I'm honest, it was probably the hardest 18
months of my career when I madethe transition and it's for
everything that you've said,which is here.
I've been tapped to interviewfor roles, here I've been tapped
to interview for roles,thinking about taking that next
spot and I essentially opted out.
And I think why it was so hardfor me was what I opted into was
a big idea in a corporation, sojust the high level.
(14:34):
I worked for a med devicecompany.
We sold surgical roboticsystems.
They're millions of dollars andwe we had a problem.
We had customers that neededthem faster than they could pay
for them.
So they said, hey, like theytook me.
And then this, this uh guy whowas a VP of a leasing company,
and they said we want you to tocombine your knowledge and
(14:55):
create ways to finance oursystems using our own balance
sheet.
We don't know how well it'llwork.
We think it'll work, but wedon't know.
So here's this idea, build it.
And so what was challenging isI didn't know.
I wasn't stepping intosomething where I knew how it
would work, it wasn'testablished.
(15:16):
And so, as I'm, you know,really working together and I
had the best partner, partner incrime, in this process that I
could have had.
He's now a dear friend of mine.
It was.
It was so uncertain and it waslike, did I make a bad move?
All these people are gettingpromoted.
I would have been one of thosepeople.
You know there's there's a lot.
You get beat up a lot whenyou're starting new functions
(15:37):
and organizations right, becauseyou're disruptive, you're
introducing something that isvery disruptive to the
day-to-day of that org.
And I thought for a while whatdid I do?
Did I completely sidetrack mycareer?
But I stuck with it and I knewI committed for a reason.
I had been deeply thoughtfulbefore making that move and so I
(16:01):
pushed through a lot of themental hurdles where I said I
shouldn't have done this, I madea mistake.
And I always ask myself thequestion when I'm getting that
narrative that's really bringingme down what evidence do I have
to prove that it was the wrongdecision?
What evidence supports thisnegative thought, this
unproductive thoughts?
And sometimes you, you couldfind it You're like, yeah, well,
(16:24):
I didn't do great in thatmeeting.
I got some harsh feedback.
There's evidence, but but whatwas what the reality was?
Every time I asked myself thatquestion, I said it just wasn't
where I thought I would be rightnow, yes, but I made the choice
to take a step sideways.
So it's a lot of work of really.
(16:45):
I think when you're making thesebig decisions, you have to ask
yourself why is this the rightchoice?
How does it serve my five to 10year career plan 10 years is.
You might not have a 10 year,but you should have a five year
at least vision of a couple ofdifferent places you might want
to be in your career.
And then and then, why doesthis work matter to me as a
(17:07):
person?
And I think if you do work thatyou love, if you do work that's
driving you towards a long-termgoal and you have a good why
behind it, you can't really lose.
You may look back and say Iwouldn't have done it again, but
it was something that youlearned from and you grew from.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, I love it.
I love it.
Let me unpack for a second foryou.
What did you learn aboutyourself in that process?
Because when you first do it,you think what am I thinking?
And, yeah, I'll go for it.
But there's something aboutgoing through moments like that
that you are uncertain, unsure,don't know where you're going to
end up at the destination andthe airplane is in the air.
You just don't want to crashyour career.
What'd you learn about yourself?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, I learned.
The number one thing I learnedabout myself is I can learn
anything that I put my mind toand I can be great at it.
And so the next time I want todo something big and I feel that
self-doubt, trust the process.
It's not going to be easy, itwas anything but easy, but it
was transformational for mepersonally and, I believe, for
(18:10):
our organization.
So that was number one.
Number two and this issomething that's really
important it doesn't matter whateveryone else is doing.
It matters what you are doing,what is good for you, and so
what may be good for me and wasgood for me.
There were some people that werebig skeptics.
I mean, for the first two years, people kept saying when are
(18:31):
you going to come back to thesales side?
Why'd you make that jump?
Sure, you don't want to be here.
And it came from a really goodplace and I took it as a
compliment.
It was a compliment, but thatwears on you sometimes where it
creates that doubt, and you gotto go back to those questions.
I told you to ask because whatI learned was this is my life,
my life with my husband and mykids.
(18:51):
That's what matters.
And when I looked at all of mypriorities and how making that
jump enabled me to live morefully the bigger part of my life
.
There was no losing and itactually set me on this path to
where I am today, and that'swhat I'm deeply grateful for.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, I mean phenomenal, I mean the story, I
mean we can talk about that fora while, something you said
that's really, reallyinteresting, as you went through
this journey and getting towhere you are now.
We're in a social mediaplatform world.
Everybody has everything outthere.
How?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
do you not?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
pay attention to what people are saying or not liking
or disagreeing with.
I mean, there's so much noisefrom all angles and I don't even
know all the platforms.
There are a ton of them.
How do you reduce the noiseBecause it's going to come at
you, even though you feel likeyou're going right soon, as
something shows up that feels alittle shaky, you may run back
to cover and get in your comfortzone.
How do you avoid doing that?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Yeah, the easiest answer is you have to be really
solidly grounded in who you areand what matters to you.
I mean deeply rooted in thatwhen you get, you're drawn to
the bright, shiny things in yourcompany that everyone else is
doing, or you're on social mediaand you're thinking that
person's life looks so greatthat's their life, that's not
(20:11):
your life.
And so number one is if youknow that you're heavily
influenced by those things,don't get on them.
I know there's people thatreally get dragged down looking
at social media and everyone'sperfect lives and I just I kind
of take it with a grain of saltso it doesn't influence me that
much.
But yeah, you're on LinkedIn.
You're like look at all thesepeople getting promoted it's
January, like everyone's movingup but me.
And sometimes the answer iswe've chosen that this is the
(20:34):
job that we love, this is a pathwe want to walk.
This is what's right for me.
Right now Doesn't mean it willbe in a year or two years or
five years, and so it's.
You have to have your vital fewfor who you are, what matters
to you, you know what yourlong-term plan is and what you
love to do, and if you anchoryourself around those and your
(20:54):
values.
I think it makes it much easierto just brush it off.
It doesn't mean that you'reuninfluenced, but it does mean
that you can easily kind ofright-size, like, oh, this
person got promoted.
That's such a bummer to me.
I should be here.
No, like I'm over here becauseit was good for me and my career
(21:15):
plan, because it enables me tobe around more.
It prevents me from being onthe road every week.
Okay, like there's value inthat, so let it go.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, thank you for unpackingthat.
So you've transitioned fromcorporate to where you are now.
I mean and I know there's somechallenges in transitioning Can
you unpack, you know, some ofthe things that you had to go
through where you came fromcorporate and now you're an
entrepreneur, and then we'll getinto the lanes of entrepreneurs
.
Go through where you came fromcorporate and now you're an
entrepreneur.
Then we'll get into the lanesof entrepreneurs.
What was it like to have tomake that big shift and go to
(21:43):
this certain guaranteed salary,if you will, to now?
You got to figure it out.
What was the challenges throughthat transition that you can
share with our listeners?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, of course.
So I will say first I had aunique situation where I was not
leaving a company because I wasunhappy, which added a really
unique dynamic.
I was not leaving a companybecause I was unhappy, which
added a really unique dynamic.
I was actually leaving acompany and a job that I loved,
people I loved working for andwith, and I had my most favorite
team ever.
We were just in our stridedoing great work, but I left for
(22:17):
something that I felt I wasreally called and had a purpose
in doing, and so it took me awhile to really do that work
within, to say this is the rightthing to do because I'm leaving
something great behind, but I'mactually going towards
something where I feel I canhave the most impact on the
largest number of people, andthat was really a catalyst for
(22:40):
me.
So doing that work in advancegot me prepared for all the
adversity that comes with makingthe transition.
You go from big corporateAmerica to it's you, so you're
sending emails, you're sendinginvoices, you're building your
website copy, and I will tellyou, the hardest thing was it
was really lonely at first.
(23:01):
You go from leading people andbeing on Zoom calls eight hours
a day or in meetings, and you'resitting in an office and it's
quiet and you don't know how todo half the stuff that you need
to do and you're Googlingeverything and just learning by
yourself and I had to reallyhave that long-term vision in
mind.
That was a key piece for me to.
(23:23):
I have a vision board in myoffice with people that have
businesses like I want to have,and I was surrounded with a
great group of supporters.
I was really thoughtful aboutpeople that I asked like hey,
when I go on this journey ofstarting my own company, I need
you to be an accountabilitypartner.
I need you to be my soundingboard, my person I'm going to
(23:45):
brainstorm and strategize withand creating that support system
.
People mix with knowing where Iwanted to be and where I
believed I could be um, at ayear, at two years, at five
years, was what made me stay thecourse, because it's easy to
like I could shut this thingdown and go back.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
But you know you've got to have a good why and why
you make these big moves.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yes, yes, I want to unpack a couple things here.
You said a lot of stuff.
That's really really great forpeople that are listening.
Regardless whether you're incorporate America, whether
you're an entrepreneur or you'resupporting some other
organization.
You have a vision board in youroffice and on that vision board
you have companies orindividuals or people that's
ahead of you.
How important is it to havepeople in your site that's ahead
(24:31):
of you and how do you connectand leverage that?
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, that is a really critical skill set.
I'm glad you brought that up.
So I think it is importantbecause you don't know what you
don't know, and so you know how,when you go into a job, you
have a leader.
Hopefully, if you're anentrepreneur, you may not, you
don't, you shouldn't You're theleader, but typically, when we
(24:54):
move into the next world, wehave somebody that's mentoring
or leading us, and so we needthat.
Whether we're an entrepreneurand we're really seasoned in
business, there are people thatare years ahead of us that can
tell us all the mistakes thatthey made and some things that
they would say definitely dothis and don't do that.
And so I, for the first time inmy life, I got really
(25:17):
courageous and I would be at aconference and I would see
somebody who was a speaker onthe stage and I'd walk up to him
and say, hey, like do you have10 minutes?
I want to learn this from you.
And by the end of that 10minutes, I'd say, uh, could I
get your email?
Uh, I promise you, if I make anask of you, my two things I
will assure you of is is one Iwill take action on it into.
(25:38):
I will never waste your time.
I will.
I will get on.
If I asked you for 15 minutes,I'll ask my two questions, I'll
be prepared and I'll be off, andyou would be surprised at the
number of people that say yes toyou.
When you, when you have a 30second kind of pitch of what
your vision is for your companyand how you would love to learn
from them, most people will sayyes.
(25:59):
And so I got really three keypeople in my, in my world that
are 10 years ahead of me in thesame business, and they see the
passion, they see the actionthat I've taken to before I got
to them.
It wasn't just a dream, it wasin motion.
And then, of course, I did whatI said I was going to do, and so
(26:21):
I think it's really critical tohave people, and even when
you're in a company and you'removing up in that role, it's
nice to still have a couplementors or advisors, because
there are times where your, yourleader, might not always do it
the way that you do that youwould do it right.
They have a different style,they have a different approach,
so it doesn't mean you disregardtheir guidance, but there are
(26:45):
times when I stepped into rolesin companies where I wanted that
group of mentors around mebecause I wanted to figure out
how to take their guidance anddo it in a way that was organic
to me.
And so, no matter where you areentrepreneur or in a company,
get that support system.
The biggest thing is you got todrive it.
So you've got to have theagenda, the one or two questions
(27:08):
.
Do not over-ask.
Don't ask them for like an hourevery week.
They don't have that.
Ask for small bits of time andthen go do the work and so that
they can see that their effortis paying off and investing in
you.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I love it.
You're dropping really nuggets,so hopefully all the people
that are listening are takingnotes.
I love that you walk throughthe process of making sure you
got to do the work.
You got to be bold and ask thequestion and you got to say
here's what I need Be very, veryspecific and you said some
things that are super importantis make sure that you tell them
you're going to follow through,you'll take action and you'll
never waste their time.
So if you're listening and youhave that mentor, you have that
(27:46):
role model, you have thatadvisor, never waste their time.
I will tell you, leaders lovehelping, but they hate getting
time wasted.
So I love that you said thatparticular piece of it.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Can I add one more thing in there?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Next to my vision board or actually interspersed
in my vision board.
And then, you know, on eachside of it I have things that
remind me of times I was reallyproud of myself.
And so, like, on on one side ofmy vision board, I've got this,
this poster from when I was acollege athlete that you know,
my, my teammates and I were,were on, and I've got, you know,
(28:20):
my diploma from the universityof Virginia.
And I've got a couple otherthings interspersed in my vision
board, just key things, likefrom when I was in my coaching
program or when I, you know,first launched my company.
And I have it there because wehave to be our own hype person.
Here's the truth is, the onlyperson that really needs to
believe in you is you.
(28:42):
But the tough thing about thatis, at times you're not even
going to know why you would everbelieve in yourself.
I mean, you're looking atyourself going like I've never
done this.
This is crazy to leave this jobor to go after that job or to
think I can make all this stuffwork.
But you have to be your ownsource of confidence in belief,
(29:03):
and when you master that abilityto take the self doubt and
really I call it harness, yourhighlight reel.
I look at those boards to theright of me here and I see the
times when I did something Inever thought I could do, when I
beat the odds, when I performedor outperformed people that
were really exceptional, and Ihave to say you know what that
(29:23):
is me.
So I'm going to roll the diceon myself once again.
I'm going to create a good planand I'm going to chase it and
I've proven I can do it and I'mgoing to do it again Doesn't
mean there won't be adversity,but you got to believe you can
get through that and most of thetime you will.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I love it, I love that.
I mean I'm going to use thatphrase too, because I don't
harness a highlight reel.
I mean I haven't but I don'tknow.
So on the board I mean allthese things, and I think that's
important because it gives youmomentum when because life is
going to happen and they'regoing to be when you drop off
that roller coaster.
It's going to be a really fastdip in a long dip, but you need
something to remind you that youcan get back your highlight
(30:01):
reel, and I think we got to beable to do that.
Something you mentioned earlieris accountability partner.
You know the value of that.
Can you tie that to feedbackand unpack that for people that
are listening?
Accountability partner and thevalue of feedback.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Yes, yes, Okay, Well, I might separate them just a
little bit.
The first I will say is I thinkI often challenge people in
leadership development programsto ask themselves the question
how often are they proactivelyseeking feedback?
That's question number one.
Are you seeking it from adiverse group of stakeholders
(30:39):
and how intentional are you withthe ask?
And those are three questionsthat I think we really have to
be honest with ourselves andchances are we're not asking for
feedback enough, and it can befor a variety of reasons.
Feedback is scary when you ask,and if you're asking someone
whose answer you don't know whatit will be which is the point
(31:01):
then you may hear something thatyou don't want to hear, and so
I think a lot of people are likewell, if it was really
necessary, somebody would tellme that's actually not true.
They may not know that you wantto know, they may not think
that you trust their or respecttheir opinion, but the thing is,
the perception of you whetheryou have the feedback or not, is
still there.
(31:21):
So think of it this way you caneither know what people think
of you, both good andconstructive, or you could not
know, but it still exists.
So I don't know about you, butI want to know.
And so part of that means youhave to be really thoughtful
about how you ask for it, soyou're not just you don't want
to go up to everyone and say, doyou have any feedback for me?
(31:41):
How did I do in that meeting?
I mean not that those questionsare bad, but I tell people be
intentional about the ask.
Let's say I'm going into ameeting and I'm presenting to a
group of executives there'sprobably my leader or a peer,
even someone on my team that Imay say.
I am really working on myability to stay succinct and
(32:03):
concise when I get objectionsand questions from executives.
Can you please just pay extraattention to that and give me
any feedback you have after thismeeting?
So they're going in there likewith one focus.
Or I may say, hey, here'ssomething that I've gotten some
feedback on from otherstakeholders.
I can't really.
I don't really see it.
I can't really understand thisfeedback.
(32:24):
Could you just pay attention tothis as we work together and
give me any insights you have?
So that is a much moreintentional ask.
You're giving them direction asto where they can help you and,
believe me, if they have someother thoughts for you.
Once you've opened that door,they will share those, and so
feedback is critical to us beingaccountable, to raising the bar
and growing our skills.
So that is how it ties toaccountability.
(32:53):
For the longest time, I believedthat I did not need anyone to
hold me accountable.
I have very high expectationsfor myself.
To the point, it can beineffective at times, but here's
what I learned there are alwaysa couple areas where I could
really use someone to push meand just ask me some questions.
A great example is and this ishard to mix, I put it out there
but when I started my company, Ihad a lot of hesitation and I
(33:17):
figured this out because I waslike, not excited to go out
there and tell my network what Iwas doing, and, if I'm honest,
it was because what if they saidwhy would you do that?
Or oh yeah, I don't think weneed anything right now, but
I'll keep you in mind where youcan tell that they're thinking
who is?
This person thinks she is right, and so the first thing you
should be out there doing is,once you stand that business up
(33:38):
is getting the word out there.
But the first couple of weeks Ifound myself being like I'll do
that after I do this.
I only have time to call twopeople today.
And then I started doing it andit was the opposite response
than what I was, what I feared Iwould get, and so I started
really thinking to myself whereelse am I not, um, totally
(34:00):
avoiding, but not leaning in tolevel I should be.
And I realized I actually coulduse that accountability partner
.
And you know, it just goes backto how do you want to ask them
for help?
There's, there are a couple ofpeople that keep me accountable.
My husband is one, cause hesees the, you know, the good,
the bad, the ugly.
I've got one of my previousleaders who is a sounding board
(34:22):
for me that I'll say hey, I'vegot two goals over the next
quarter.
Here's what I'm striving to do.
Let's, let's chat, you know,once, once every couple of weeks
, and when we, when we catch up,you ask me about those things
and he does.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yes, yes, I love it.
If you're listening and you'repaying attention to this podcast
, it's, it's saved our businessand oftentimes, when you're
starting something, you don'tthink as much about yourself as
other people do.
I mean, you'll be amazed howmuch you have that, that
self-doubt talk, because you'renervous and new and you're
unsure, you know.
So I would say you know, for me, I had to pay attention to you
(34:56):
know what?
What was the self-limitingbeliefs I was having about
myself that other people said,no, you're really really good at
that, so an accountabilitypartner can can be that person.
No matter how good you are, youcan't see everything about you.
Yeah, I haven't met that personyet that sees everything.
So we all have blind spots andso that's no accountability
partner.
That that helps you see theblind spots.
I mean we covered a lot.
We covered a lot aboutleadership.
(35:18):
We covered a lot aboutcorporate America in the space.
What has been the most valuablelesson that you've learned?
That's serving.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Oh, that's a good question.
I would say the most valuablelesson I learned is connect with
people, and I've hesitatedsharing that for many years.
It's something I've leaned intonow that I feel like I've
proven it time and time again isthat people want to work with
(35:47):
somebody and work for somebodythat is a human being, and that
that a lot of people will hearthat and say that's soft.
This is business and we have anumber to drive and we have
results to hit, and what I wouldencourage you to consider is
the the best way to hit theresults and to drive the number
is by having leaders whogenuinely connect with their
(36:11):
people.
What do I mean by that?
When people start working for meor I start working closely with
somebody, there's a couplequestions I ask them.
I say tell me about whatmotivates you.
I want to learn about you, likenot just at work but in life.
Tell me about you, and I reallywant to genuinely learn about
them and their families, becausethat helps me see a whole
different side of that personand a side that I can connect
(36:35):
with in different ways.
Right, I talk to them about howthey best really like to learn.
You know there's going to bethings that we have to teach
each other.
How can I best support you inthat?
So I want to know how I canflex my style when at all
possible to meet that person inthe middle and I also ask them
(36:56):
listen, like, how do you like toreceive feedback?
And and and those are keyquestions, because that enables
me to be somebody that they wantto work for to the greatest
extent that's possible.
And I always tell them likethere are going to be times
where I can't deliver feedbackthat way, but I will do my best
to flex my approach to meet youwhere you best can learn and
hear that feedback.
(37:17):
And so people want somebodythat is going to connect and be
a partner to them, not justmanage the business or be their
leader, and when you do that,that creates loyalty.
It inspires somebody to want torun through walls to drive the
result and do great work, and Ithink it is just an
(37:38):
underestimated component inleadership, and the importance
of really driving results isinvesting in those people first.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Yes, yes, I mean, and people that follow me on the
podcast will say that, yeah,she's speaking Ron's language
because I'm a relationship guy.
Things get done through peopleat the end of the day.
Can we close?
I love to close.
You know, before we get intoyour contact information, how to
reach you.
How important is it for peoplethat are thinking leadership in
whatever space that they'replaying in?
(38:10):
How important was it for peoplethat are thinking leadership in
whatever space that they'replaying in?
How important was it for you tocontinue to learn professional?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
development.
To be a student all the time,oh, I mean, it's critical.
I try to.
So time is limited becausethose two little kids are still
little, so I'm like spending myweekends at sporting events and
such, but find what works foryou.
So I try to read brief articles, I try to listen to podcasts,
(38:38):
and I think the piece is knowingwhere you need to invest the
most in your development.
So I find that, with the littletime that we all have, is just
being able to be specific about.
Here are the two or three areaswhere I want to learn over the
next few months and how do Ipinpoint just some quick hits of
(38:59):
information to be able tocontinually raise the bar.
It's just that little steps ofimprovement that add up to big
things over time.
So I think it's critical.
I mean, listen, we live in adynamic world.
We're dynamic as people.
The world around us iscertainly changing Companies.
There's always change.
So we have to evolve and ifwe're going to continue to be
(39:22):
operating a high level, inwhatever capacity, then it's
going to call us to step up andevolve our skills and our
approaches over time.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
It's a must.
Yes, yes, I love it.
I mean, you've been phenomenal.
The phrase that I always tellpeople that whatever your best
was today, it has to be bettertomorrow.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, and I think that's an expectation that I put
on myself all the time thateven if it's good today, like
tomorrow, I want to make itbetter.
I want to continue to improveit and enhance it, and the world
is changing fast.
So, if you're that leader,never get complacent, never get
comfortable that because youwere great three years ago, that
you're great today.
You're going to have to work onthat, so I really appreciate it
.
So, whitney, how do peoplereach you?
(40:02):
We'll answer the secondquestion, but the first question
is if I'm sitting and I'mlistening to this podcast and
I'm a leader, what are some ofthe things that show up that
says, hey, give Whitney a call.
What are the top three reasonsor things that you bring to the
table that I could use if I'mthat person listening?
Speaker 3 (40:19):
Yeah, I spend the most of, I invest the most oh, I
can't talk.
The most of my time is investedin leaders, right?
So I focus a lot on people thatare striving to get from, make
that shift from an individualcontributor to a people leader,
so those emerging leaders.
And then I do quite a bit ofexecutive coaching with folks
that are trying to get to thatVP plus level and so wondering
(40:44):
what are the skills that I needto really diagnose and then
develop to continue growing inmy career?
I work a lot with leaders thatare trying to figure out who
they are as a leader.
How do I lead authentically buteffectively, balancing the
demands of my company and who Iwant to be and how do I want to
show up as a leader.
And I also work with a lot offolks that are striving to.
(41:08):
I don't call myself a careercoach, but there's a lot of us
that are looking and going whatam I going to do in five years
and what's that journey going tolook like and how do I approach
that?
So that's on the individualside.
I also work a lot with companies, farmer, individual
(41:31):
contributors into people leaderroles and we think that they're
going to pick it up based onhaving a great leader.
Oh, they're a go-getter,they'll figure it out, and some
of them will.
There's still a cost to that.
Leadership is like any otherskill we have to teach it.
It is learned Very rarely.
I mean, people may be born withthese innate traits of
leadership.
That doesn't make them goodleaders.
You have to figure out how toapply that in the, in the, in
(41:54):
the situation that they're in.
So I work with companies to rundevelopment programs to train
their, their people, leaders howto lead and be most effective
and inspiring people.
Developing people as well asbuilding high-performing teams
that drive results.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Love it, love it.
What's the best way for them toreach out to you?
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Yes, you can always reach out to me on my website.
It's WhitneyFerriscom and myemail is just Whitney at
WhitneyFerriscom.
You could follow me on LinkedInand Instagram as well, so I'm
pretty much every place.
So just check out my websiteand you can always contact me
directly there if you.
If you don't think to email me,Awesome, awesome, whitney,
you've been phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I mean you helped me unpack a lot of stuff.
I mean pretty transparent.
You know, something that yousaid on the podcast is being
vulnerable, and so for theleaders that are listening, you
know being a leadership rolerequires you to be vulnerable.
I mean you'll get taken care of, you know.
So if you're listening, we'dlove for you to reach out to
(42:56):
either one of us.
I mean, we enjoy doing the workthat we do and support each
other, which is why we're onthis podcast.
So again, this is Ron Harvey,with Unpacked and love to be
able to continue to shareinformation with you about your
journey and your goals, whetherit's corporate or
entrepreneurship or nonprofit.
Leadership is leadership, andour goal is to help you be
successful at it.
Until next time, whitney and Iwill sign off and tell you thank
you for joining us, thank youfor being with us, and I know,
or at least I hope, that we leftsomething that you're going to
(43:17):
use to implement, and justhaving an idea is nice, but
implementation is required, sowe hope that you put something
to use that we share with you.
Any parting words, last minutethings, whitney?
Speaker 3 (43:31):
you want to share.
You know my tagline is alwaysdream the dream, build the plan
and bet on yourself in big ways.
So I'd encourage you whateverthat little dream is in there,
put the plan together and gochase it.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Yes, thank you, whitney.
It's been a pleasure.
And to everyone else, we'll seeyou on the next podcast.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked
Podcast with leadershipconsultant consultant Ron Harvey
.
Remember to join us everyMonday as Ron unpacks sound
advice, providing real answersfor real leadership challenges.
Until next time, remember toadd value and make a difference
where you are, for the peopleyou serve, because people always
(44:08):
matter.
Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host
leadership consultant, ronHarvey of GlobalCore Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning.
This is Ron Harvey, the VicePresident, chief Operating
Officer for Global CoreStrategies and Consulting, a
professional services leadershipdevelopment firm based out of
Columbia, south Carolina.
So if you've been following usand you've been with this
podcast for the last 18 months,you know enough about who we are
as a company.
We love helping leaders bebetter connected to their
workforce.
We truly enjoy it, and so Iwon't spend a lot of time on
(00:43):
that today, because we have aphenomenal guest that's going to
come on, introduce herself andwe're going to dive into.
What we always do on the show isunpack whatever shows up.
The beauty of this is I neverknow what questions I'm going to
ask.
Our guests have signed up forit and they're on board with it,
but we promise one thing thatwe're going to add value, make a
difference, and we're going tobe open and transparent and
hopefully leave something withyou that you will actually use
(01:04):
this week.
So let me pause.
I'm going to have Whitney withus and she'll introduce herself
and tell you who she is and whatshe wants us to know about her,
and then we'll dive into thepodcast and have some fun.
Whitney, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Hi Ron, Thanks for having me Excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yes, yes, thank you.
Can you tell us who you are,what you want us to know about?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
you, of course, of course.
So my name is Whitney Ferris.
I am a founder of WhitneyFerris Coaching and Development,
so I do executive coaching.
I also am a leadership expertafter 20 years in corporate
America, and I do some keynotespeaking as well.
My whole focus is helpingpeople really be at their best,
(01:43):
unlocking that untappedpotential, and I'm a big
believer that every singleperson has more potential deep
down inside.
The challenge is how do youaccess that?
And so I help people, whetherit's one-on-one coaching and
corporate development programsor through my keynote think and
reflect, inspire them to takeaction and create that behavior
(02:06):
change.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, yes, I love it.
I mean.
So you're right in mywheelhouse and we'll have a
great conversation and I'll telleverybody that listens here we
have people that do exactly whatwe do, that come on our show,
because I don't believe incompetition.
I know it's out there, but Ijust don't live in that space.
I believe in competition.
Somebody is doing what we'redoing.
That's a good partner and agood resource.
So I always bring people on andI'll tell all of our listeners
(02:28):
don't be intimidated by peoplethat do what you do.
Find a way to have a goodrelationship, and you never know
how they may be able to helpyou.
So, whitney, thank you forcoming on.
I love to have fun with it, solet's dive into it.
I mean, leadership is this?
Now, when I say leadership,people are like, what does that
mean?
Like, what are you talkingabout?
Like, so, what was your bestway that you explained when
people ask okay, so what is thisleadership stuff?
(02:49):
What do you really do?
How do you explain that?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah.
Well, there's a lot ofdifferent ways you could explain
it, but I would say, at itsmost fundamental level,
leadership is about being ableto influence people to take
action that drives positiveresults.
It's whether you know, I'm afirm believer that you can be a
leader and not actually lead ateam.
You can be a leader amongst agroup of peers.
(03:14):
You can be a leader within anorganization that creates a
positive impact, leads byexample, influences a broader
organization to inspire resultsand company culture and all of
those things, or you can be aleader of a team, and so the
question is how can you lead inyour current role, whether it's
(03:34):
work or life, and I think we allhave that opportunity to do
what we're doing, but withbetter quality and in a way that
amplifies our impact in theworld.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yes, yes, thank you for sharing that.
What do you find out?
And you're in corporate America, and so, as you're sitting in
corporate America, there arechallenges for women leaders.
This is Women's History Month.
There are challenges.
So how do you help if you'rethat female and they're
listening and they're incorporate America?
How did you navigate thateffectively and what are some
tips that you give to women thatare in that space right now,
(04:08):
learning how to navigatecorporate America as a female?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, well, I will tell you.
I think one of the mostpowerful things women can do is
view the challenges that theyface as an opportunity.
And I mean that because wecannot control, maybe, how we're
viewed.
We can't control that we'refemales, we can't control how
our bosses or peers or otherleaders see us.
But what we can do is we canwork really hard to be the best
(04:32):
version of us, in the sense thatwe are authentic, we are
showing up consistently.
People know we have a clearbrand on what we're known for
and how we deliver value, and welook at all the other little
things as just obstacles.
And when you view it as anempowered place is owning the
(04:55):
challenges and running towardsthem versus being a victim.
I think it really can inspireyou versus drag you down.
And so I think it starts withreally understanding who am I
today and who do I want to be,and how do I work on closing
that gap so that I can continueto continuously improve who I am
, both personally andprofessionally.
And I think when you stay trueto the things that you can
(05:16):
control, it makes it easier tonavigate the uncontrollables.
And sometimes we hear thosecomments in the workplace or
there are biases that we knowexist and we have to be us and
work on ourselves versus worryabout the noise around us.
That will figure itself out.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yes, yes, and there's a lot of noise.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
We both know there's a lot of noise in the workplace.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
And how do you get focused on it?
How do you do it?
I mean, one of the things thatleaders are having a really
tough time with today.
I don't like to call itwork-life balance, but I do want
to figure out.
How do you have a common way ofbeing a family person, being a
corporate America, being in aleadership role?
How do you learn to make thatlevel of feel where all of it's
(06:03):
important and you can do a goodjob with collaborating or
allowing it to intermingle witheach other?
How did you do well in thatspace?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, well, I'll start by saying how I didn't do
well in that space.
First, because that's the truth, and I will tell you, I had
this crazy vision that I thoughtI've always had a way of being
able to outwork and grind my waythrough what all the, all, the,
the, the big challenges I face.
So I'm going to have a couple ofkids and just like it's going
(06:33):
to be business as usual, likeonce I drop them off at school,
I'm just going to go about myday.
It's like going to be before Ihad kids.
Anyone who has children or is acaretaker for anybody knows
that's completely false.
There's so much more around youthan just you drop them off and
you move on with your day.
And so at first I think Ireally struggled because I had,
(06:55):
in my mind, unrealisticexpectations for what I thought
I was going to be as a mom, as awife, as a high level leader in
an organization.
And then, oh, there's me, justas a person that needs a little
attention too, and so I startedout trying to function at the
same level that I always had inall of those buckets, and it was
(07:18):
exhausting and not successful,right, because even when you did
it, you didn't feel good doingit, because you were just trying
to make sure you got it alldone, versus investing
intentionally and where you werefocusing your energy.
And so for me, I had to reallyzoom out and say, okay, there's
so much time in the day.
What are the things that are mymust haves?
(07:40):
And that is everything fromlike I got to get a workout in
every day.
I want to make sure I can bethere when either my kid wakes
up or they go to bed, because atthe time when I had kids, I was
leading a team of salespeoplethat were in the operating room
and so it's early mornings a lotof times.
So I defined all the differentmust haves and I had to sit down
(08:02):
with my husband and say how dowe make this work and where are
the places that we can maketrade-offs?
And part of that was reallytough because it required me to
face the fact that I wasn'tgoing to maybe always be the mom
who is there every morning andevery evening, but I was really
grounded in the work that I wasdoing.
I felt it was really importantmeaningful work to the patients
(08:23):
that we serve in ourorganization and that I was
doing.
I felt it was really importantmeaningful work to the patients
that we serve in ourorganization, and so I was able
to really come to a place whereI could accept that it's okay to
make trade-offs and it'sunrealistic to function at the
level that I want all aspectswithout making those and over
time I think you find yourstride and you learn that you're
going to be really high inbalance personally at times and
(08:46):
low in balance and other times.
But how do you kind of redirectwhen needed to be able to find
that you know, quote, unquotebalance or that blend once again
?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Oh yeah, I love it and thank you for sharing,
because most leaders we havethis mindset of we got to do it
all.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, most leaders, if you're really, really
effective and if you reallyreally care.
The danger is you think you gotto do it all.
Yeah, you shift from thatbecause you know to get promoted
, you kind of got to show up,you got to get things done, you
got to be dependable, you got toalways be around, you got to be
visible.
I mean, there's so much,there's a load of, if you're
going to chase this corporatecareer or this leadership
(09:26):
journey that you're on.
There's a lot of things that,whether true or untrue, we tell
ourselves how do you manage thatmindset?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
It is.
It is.
It can be a struggle for sure.
So I'm not going to sugarcoatit because I can give you a
super pretty answer and I willtell you.
Then everyone's going to go doit and be like this doesn't work
, but I will.
So I will tell you is I had toget super clear on my priorities
.
I say, like you have to bewilling to ruthlessly prioritize
, and so that means at times Iam going to have to choose.
(09:57):
I need to take this businesstrip, be in person for it
instead of take it over Zoom,because this is what's in the
best interest of the companythat I've committed to my career
, in me feeling like I'vedelivered at the level that I
expect of myself, not even whatthe company expects of me, but
what I expect of myself, whichis core to me, feeling like I'm
(10:19):
doing a great job.
And then there are other timeswhere I had to say, as hard as
it is, I may need to pass onthis trip because I've got
someone on my team that can leadit just fine.
And so it was very much astruggle to get in the habit of
making those decisions becauseyou feel like you're
underperforming in some part ofyour life.
(10:40):
But here's what I'd encouragepeople to think about the more
you do this, the more practiceyou get making these trade-offs,
you realize that in the grandscheme of a quarter or a year,
you're just fine on every level.
Right, your career isn't takinga hit.
People actually oftentimesappreciate the vulnerability
(11:02):
that you show by saying, hey,I've got to make this hard
choice and here's how I've setit up to ensure that the
business doesn't suffer.
Or to say to my my, my, my kidslisten like, mom does work,
that she loves, that helpspeople.
And so I'm not going to say I'msorry that I'm leaving.
I'm going to say when you growup, you should chase your dreams
too.
And here's how I'm still herefor you, even though I might not
(11:26):
be here to put you to bed.
And it doesn't mean therearen't hard moments.
But in time it's the smallsteps of practicing that
behavior that enable you to seeyou can still perform at that
high level.
Here's one more thing I throwin there is oftentimes, you know
, like when I I had two kids,two and under.
I had an infant at home.
I just returned from maternityleave.
I had a newly turned two yearold.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And here.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I was yeah, I was like throwing it all in.
I'm like might as well just fittwo in and just keep keep the
car going.
But I was actually looking andI was being tapped on the
shoulder for a promotion.
I was looking at that next rollup and I did realize that for
(12:10):
me to do that job well, I neededto be on the road three days a
week, virtually every singleweek, and that, to me, was
something that I was not willingto sacrifice at that point of
time, both for my family, formyself, and I just knew that I
could do it, but I wouldn'tenjoy the work and I wouldn't be
at my best.
So I said to myself, when I lookat my five to 10 year plan,
what are the other skills I wantto be at my best?
So I said to myself, what else?
When I look at my five to 10year plan, what are the other
skills I want to build?
I need to build to put myselfwhere I want to be, which was
(12:31):
leading at a high level in acorporate organization, and what
opportunities exist for me tobuild those skills today?
So, instead of going up, I wentlateral and I launched a new
function internally.
So I went from that salesexperience to building that
corporate experience and itenabled me to just feel like now
is the time.
Now's the time to do somethingdifferent that suits my
(12:52):
long-term plan.
It may not be what I thought,but it turned out to be one of
the best decisions of my careerbecause I got a whole new
skillset.
I did something reallyfantastic in an organization
with a great team and in thelong term it set me up better
than if I would have just gonevertically.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I mean, it's phenomenal.
Thank you for not sugarcoatingit, because oftentimes we make
it look easier than it is.
We make it seem like it's aneasy decision.
There's no compromise, there'sno pain, there's no frustration.
But if you have a family,you're also teaching them how to
make sacrifices and how to liveup to commitments as well to
yourself and to them.
So thank you for sharing that.
So, when you start thinkingabout making that move to left
(13:34):
or right and even though you'relooking up here what happened
for you though I mean because itis hard to say, hey, this is in
front of me, but I don't wantto be on the road three times
Can you, can you unpack that andsay what were the difficult
decisions?
And how did you come to theconclusion that, ok, even though
I want it, because there's anego part of it, let's be real.
There's an ego of going higherversus going left or right.
(13:56):
How did you get through that?
Because a lot of peoplestruggle with turning down
something that looks like agreat opportunity, but not the
right opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, if I'm honest, it was probably the hardest 18
months of my career when I madethe transition and it's for
everything that you've said,which is here.
I've been tapped to interviewfor roles, here I've been tapped
to interview for roles,thinking about taking that next
spot and I essentially opted out.
And I think why it was so hardfor me was what I opted into was
a big idea in a corporation, sojust the high level.
(14:34):
I worked for a med devicecompany.
We sold surgical roboticsystems.
They're millions of dollars andwe we had a problem.
We had customers that neededthem faster than they could pay
for them.
So they said, hey, like theytook me.
And then this, this uh guy whowas a VP of a leasing company,
and they said we want you to tocombine your knowledge and
(14:55):
create ways to finance oursystems using our own balance
sheet.
We don't know how well it'llwork.
We think it'll work, but wedon't know.
So here's this idea, build it.
And so what was challenging isI didn't know.
I wasn't stepping intosomething where I knew how it
would work, it wasn'testablished.
(15:16):
And so, as I'm, you know,really working together and I
had the best partner, partner incrime, in this process that I
could have had.
He's now a dear friend of mine.
It was.
It was so uncertain and it waslike, did I make a bad move?
All these people are gettingpromoted.
I would have been one of thosepeople.
You know there's there's a lot.
You get beat up a lot whenyou're starting new functions
(15:37):
and organizations right, becauseyou're disruptive, you're
introducing something that isvery disruptive to the
day-to-day of that org.
And I thought for a while whatdid I do?
Did I completely sidetrack mycareer?
But I stuck with it and I knewI committed for a reason.
I had been deeply thoughtfulbefore making that move and so I
(16:01):
pushed through a lot of themental hurdles where I said I
shouldn't have done this, I madea mistake.
And I always ask myself thequestion when I'm getting that
narrative that's really bringingme down what evidence do I have
to prove that it was the wrongdecision?
What evidence supports thisnegative thought, this
unproductive thoughts?
And sometimes you, you couldfind it You're like, yeah, well,
(16:24):
I didn't do great in thatmeeting.
I got some harsh feedback.
There's evidence, but but whatwas what the reality was?
Every time I asked myself thatquestion, I said it just wasn't
where I thought I would be rightnow, yes, but I made the choice
to take a step sideways.
So it's a lot of work of really.
(16:45):
I think when you're making thesebig decisions, you have to ask
yourself why is this the rightchoice?
How does it serve my five to 10year career plan 10 years is.
You might not have a 10 year,but you should have a five year
at least vision of a couple ofdifferent places you might want
to be in your career.
And then and then, why doesthis work matter to me as a
(17:07):
person?
And I think if you do work thatyou love, if you do work that's
driving you towards a long-termgoal and you have a good why
behind it, you can't really lose.
You may look back and say Iwouldn't have done it again, but
it was something that youlearned from and you grew from.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, I love it.
I love it.
Let me unpack for a second foryou.
What did you learn aboutyourself in that process?
Because when you first do it,you think what am I thinking?
And, yeah, I'll go for it.
But there's something aboutgoing through moments like that
that you are uncertain, unsure,don't know where you're going to
end up at the destination andthe airplane is in the air.
You just don't want to crashyour career.
What'd you learn about yourself?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, I learned.
The number one thing I learnedabout myself is I can learn
anything that I put my mind toand I can be great at it.
And so the next time I want todo something big and I feel that
self-doubt, trust the process.
It's not going to be easy, itwas anything but easy, but it
was transformational for mepersonally and, I believe, for
(18:10):
our organization.
So that was number one.
Number two and this issomething that's really
important it doesn't matter whateveryone else is doing.
It matters what you are doing,what is good for you, and so
what may be good for me and wasgood for me.
There were some people that werebig skeptics.
I mean, for the first two years, people kept saying when are
(18:31):
you going to come back to thesales side?
Why'd you make that jump?
Sure, you don't want to be here.
And it came from a really goodplace and I took it as a
compliment.
It was a compliment, but thatwears on you sometimes where it
creates that doubt, and you gotto go back to those questions.
I told you to ask because whatI learned was this is my life,
my life with my husband and mykids.
(18:51):
That's what matters.
And when I looked at all of mypriorities and how making that
jump enabled me to live morefully the bigger part of my life
.
There was no losing and itactually set me on this path to
where I am today, and that'swhat I'm deeply grateful for.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, I mean phenomenal, I mean the story, I
mean we can talk about that fora while, something you said
that's really, reallyinteresting, as you went through
this journey and getting towhere you are now.
We're in a social mediaplatform world.
Everybody has everything outthere.
How?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
do you not?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
pay attention to what people are saying or not liking
or disagreeing with.
I mean, there's so much noisefrom all angles and I don't even
know all the platforms.
There are a ton of them.
How do you reduce the noiseBecause it's going to come at
you, even though you feel likeyou're going right soon, as
something shows up that feels alittle shaky, you may run back
to cover and get in your comfortzone.
How do you avoid doing that?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Yeah, the easiest answer is you have to be really
solidly grounded in who you areand what matters to you.
I mean deeply rooted in thatwhen you get, you're drawn to
the bright, shiny things in yourcompany that everyone else is
doing, or you're on social mediaand you're thinking that
person's life looks so greatthat's their life, that's not
(20:11):
your life.
And so number one is if youknow that you're heavily
influenced by those things,don't get on them.
I know there's people thatreally get dragged down looking
at social media and everyone'sperfect lives and I just I kind
of take it with a grain of saltso it doesn't influence me that
much.
But yeah, you're on LinkedIn.
You're like look at all thesepeople getting promoted it's
January, like everyone's movingup but me.
And sometimes the answer iswe've chosen that this is the
(20:34):
job that we love, this is a pathwe want to walk.
This is what's right for me.
Right now Doesn't mean it willbe in a year or two years or
five years, and so it's.
You have to have your vital fewfor who you are, what matters
to you, you know what yourlong-term plan is and what you
love to do, and if you anchoryourself around those and your
(20:54):
values.
I think it makes it much easierto just brush it off.
It doesn't mean that you'reuninfluenced, but it does mean
that you can easily kind ofright-size, like, oh, this
person got promoted.
That's such a bummer to me.
I should be here.
No, like I'm over here becauseit was good for me and my career
(21:15):
plan, because it enables me tobe around more.
It prevents me from being onthe road every week.
Okay, like there's value inthat, so let it go.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, thank you for unpackingthat.
So you've transitioned fromcorporate to where you are now.
I mean and I know there's somechallenges in transitioning Can
you unpack, you know, some ofthe things that you had to go
through where you came fromcorporate and now you're an
entrepreneur, and then we'll getinto the lanes of entrepreneurs
.
Go through where you came fromcorporate and now you're an
entrepreneur.
Then we'll get into the lanesof entrepreneurs.
What was it like to have tomake that big shift and go to
(21:43):
this certain guaranteed salary,if you will, to now?
You got to figure it out.
What was the challenges throughthat transition that you can
share with our listeners?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, of course.
So I will say first I had aunique situation where I was not
leaving a company because I wasunhappy, which added a really
unique dynamic.
I was not leaving a companybecause I was unhappy, which
added a really unique dynamic.
I was actually leaving acompany and a job that I loved,
people I loved working for andwith, and I had my most favorite
team ever.
We were just in our stridedoing great work, but I left for
(22:17):
something that I felt I wasreally called and had a purpose
in doing, and so it took me awhile to really do that work
within, to say this is the rightthing to do because I'm leaving
something great behind, but I'mactually going towards
something where I feel I canhave the most impact on the
largest number of people, andthat was really a catalyst for
(22:40):
me.
So doing that work in advancegot me prepared for all the
adversity that comes with makingthe transition.
You go from big corporateAmerica to it's you, so you're
sending emails, you're sendinginvoices, you're building your
website copy, and I will tellyou, the hardest thing was it
was really lonely at first.
(23:01):
You go from leading people andbeing on Zoom calls eight hours
a day or in meetings, and you'resitting in an office and it's
quiet and you don't know how todo half the stuff that you need
to do and you're Googlingeverything and just learning by
yourself and I had to reallyhave that long-term vision in
mind.
That was a key piece for me to.
(23:23):
I have a vision board in myoffice with people that have
businesses like I want to have,and I was surrounded with a
great group of supporters.
I was really thoughtful aboutpeople that I asked like hey,
when I go on this journey ofstarting my own company, I need
you to be an accountabilitypartner.
I need you to be my soundingboard, my person I'm going to
(23:45):
brainstorm and strategize withand creating that support system
.
People mix with knowing where Iwanted to be and where I
believed I could be um, at ayear, at two years, at five
years, was what made me stay thecourse, because it's easy to
like I could shut this thingdown and go back.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
But you know you've got to have a good why and why
you make these big moves.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yes, yes, I want to unpack a couple things here.
You said a lot of stuff.
That's really really great forpeople that are listening.
Regardless whether you're incorporate America, whether
you're an entrepreneur or you'resupporting some other
organization.
You have a vision board in youroffice and on that vision board
you have companies orindividuals or people that's
ahead of you.
How important is it to havepeople in your site that's ahead
(24:31):
of you and how do you connectand leverage that?
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, that is a really critical skill set.
I'm glad you brought that up.
So I think it is importantbecause you don't know what you
don't know, and so you know how,when you go into a job, you
have a leader.
Hopefully, if you're anentrepreneur, you may not, you
don't, you shouldn't You're theleader, but typically, when we
(24:54):
move into the next world, wehave somebody that's mentoring
or leading us, and so we needthat.
Whether we're an entrepreneurand we're really seasoned in
business, there are people thatare years ahead of us that can
tell us all the mistakes thatthey made and some things that
they would say definitely dothis and don't do that.
And so I, for the first time inmy life, I got really
(25:17):
courageous and I would be at aconference and I would see
somebody who was a speaker onthe stage and I'd walk up to him
and say, hey, like do you have10 minutes?
I want to learn this from you.
And by the end of that 10minutes, I'd say, uh, could I
get your email?
Uh, I promise you, if I make anask of you, my two things I
will assure you of is is one Iwill take action on it into.
(25:38):
I will never waste your time.
I will.
I will get on.
If I asked you for 15 minutes,I'll ask my two questions, I'll
be prepared and I'll be off, andyou would be surprised at the
number of people that say yes toyou.
When you, when you have a 30second kind of pitch of what
your vision is for your companyand how you would love to learn
from them, most people will sayyes.
(25:59):
And so I got really three keypeople in my, in my world that
are 10 years ahead of me in thesame business, and they see the
passion, they see the actionthat I've taken to before I got
to them.
It wasn't just a dream, it wasin motion.
And then, of course, I did whatI said I was going to do, and so
(26:21):
I think it's really critical tohave people, and even when
you're in a company and you'removing up in that role, it's
nice to still have a couplementors or advisors, because
there are times where your, yourleader, might not always do it
the way that you do that youwould do it right.
They have a different style,they have a different approach,
so it doesn't mean you disregardtheir guidance, but there are
(26:45):
times when I stepped into rolesin companies where I wanted that
group of mentors around mebecause I wanted to figure out
how to take their guidance anddo it in a way that was organic
to me.
And so, no matter where you areentrepreneur or in a company,
get that support system.
The biggest thing is you got todrive it.
So you've got to have theagenda, the one or two questions
(27:08):
.
Do not over-ask.
Don't ask them for like an hourevery week.
They don't have that.
Ask for small bits of time andthen go do the work and so that
they can see that their effortis paying off and investing in
you.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I love it.
You're dropping really nuggets,so hopefully all the people
that are listening are takingnotes.
I love that you walk throughthe process of making sure you
got to do the work.
You got to be bold and ask thequestion and you got to say
here's what I need Be very, veryspecific and you said some
things that are super importantis make sure that you tell them
you're going to follow through,you'll take action and you'll
never waste their time.
So if you're listening and youhave that mentor, you have that
(27:46):
role model, you have thatadvisor, never waste their time.
I will tell you, leaders lovehelping, but they hate getting
time wasted.
So I love that you said thatparticular piece of it.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Can I add one more thing in there?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Absolutely yes.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Next to my vision board or actually interspersed
in my vision board.
And then, you know, on eachside of it I have things that
remind me of times I was reallyproud of myself.
And so, like, on on one side ofmy vision board, I've got this,
this poster from when I was acollege athlete that you know,
my, my teammates and I were,were on, and I've got, you know,
(28:20):
my diploma from the universityof Virginia.
And I've got a couple otherthings interspersed in my vision
board, just key things, likefrom when I was in my coaching
program or when I, you know,first launched my company.
And I have it there because wehave to be our own hype person.
Here's the truth is, the onlyperson that really needs to
believe in you is you.
(28:42):
But the tough thing about thatis, at times you're not even
going to know why you would everbelieve in yourself.
I mean, you're looking atyourself going like I've never
done this.
This is crazy to leave this jobor to go after that job or to
think I can make all this stuffwork.
But you have to be your ownsource of confidence in belief,
(29:03):
and when you master that abilityto take the self doubt and
really I call it harness, yourhighlight reel.
I look at those boards to theright of me here and I see the
times when I did something Inever thought I could do, when I
beat the odds, when I performedor outperformed people that
were really exceptional, and Ihave to say you know what that
(29:23):
is me.
So I'm going to roll the diceon myself once again.
I'm going to create a good planand I'm going to chase it and
I've proven I can do it and I'mgoing to do it again Doesn't
mean there won't be adversity,but you got to believe you can
get through that and most of thetime you will.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I love it, I love that.
I mean I'm going to use thatphrase too, because I don't
harness a highlight reel.
I mean I haven't but I don'tknow.
So on the board I mean allthese things, and I think that's
important because it gives youmomentum when because life is
going to happen and they'regoing to be when you drop off
that roller coaster.
It's going to be a really fastdip in a long dip, but you need
something to remind you that youcan get back your highlight
(30:01):
reel, and I think we got to beable to do that.
Something you mentioned earlieris accountability partner.
You know the value of that.
Can you tie that to feedbackand unpack that for people that
are listening?
Accountability partner and thevalue of feedback.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Yes, yes, Okay, Well, I might separate them just a
little bit.
The first I will say is I thinkI often challenge people in
leadership development programsto ask themselves the question
how often are they proactivelyseeking feedback?
That's question number one.
Are you seeking it from adiverse group of stakeholders
(30:39):
and how intentional are you withthe ask?
And those are three questionsthat I think we really have to
be honest with ourselves andchances are we're not asking for
feedback enough, and it can befor a variety of reasons.
Feedback is scary when you ask,and if you're asking someone
whose answer you don't know whatit will be which is the point
(31:01):
then you may hear something thatyou don't want to hear, and so
I think a lot of people are likewell, if it was really
necessary, somebody would tellme that's actually not true.
They may not know that you wantto know, they may not think
that you trust their or respecttheir opinion, but the thing is,
the perception of you whetheryou have the feedback or not, is
still there.
(31:21):
So think of it this way you caneither know what people think
of you, both good andconstructive, or you could not
know, but it still exists.
So I don't know about you, butI want to know.
And so part of that means youhave to be really thoughtful
about how you ask for it, soyou're not just you don't want
to go up to everyone and say, doyou have any feedback for me?
(31:41):
How did I do in that meeting?
I mean not that those questionsare bad, but I tell people be
intentional about the ask.
Let's say I'm going into ameeting and I'm presenting to a
group of executives there'sprobably my leader or a peer,
even someone on my team that Imay say.
I am really working on myability to stay succinct and
(32:03):
concise when I get objectionsand questions from executives.
Can you please just pay extraattention to that and give me
any feedback you have after thismeeting?
So they're going in there likewith one focus.
Or I may say, hey, here'ssomething that I've gotten some
feedback on from otherstakeholders.
I can't really.
I don't really see it.
I can't really understand thisfeedback.
(32:24):
Could you just pay attention tothis as we work together and
give me any insights you have?
So that is a much moreintentional ask.
You're giving them direction asto where they can help you and,
believe me, if they have someother thoughts for you.
Once you've opened that door,they will share those, and so
feedback is critical to us beingaccountable, to raising the bar
and growing our skills.
So that is how it ties toaccountability.
(32:53):
For the longest time, I believedthat I did not need anyone to
hold me accountable.
I have very high expectationsfor myself.
To the point, it can beineffective at times, but here's
what I learned there are alwaysa couple areas where I could
really use someone to push meand just ask me some questions.
A great example is and this ishard to mix, I put it out there
but when I started my company, Ihad a lot of hesitation and I
(33:17):
figured this out because I waslike, not excited to go out
there and tell my network what Iwas doing, and, if I'm honest,
it was because what if they saidwhy would you do that?
Or oh yeah, I don't think weneed anything right now, but
I'll keep you in mind where youcan tell that they're thinking
who is?
This person thinks she is right, and so the first thing you
should be out there doing is,once you stand that business up
(33:38):
is getting the word out there.
But the first couple of weeks Ifound myself being like I'll do
that after I do this.
I only have time to call twopeople today.
And then I started doing it andit was the opposite response
than what I was, what I feared Iwould get, and so I started
really thinking to myself whereelse am I not, um, totally
(34:00):
avoiding, but not leaning in tolevel I should be.
And I realized I actually coulduse that accountability partner
.
And you know, it just goes backto how do you want to ask them
for help?
There's, there are a couple ofpeople that keep me accountable.
My husband is one, cause hesees the, you know, the good,
the bad, the ugly.
I've got one of my previousleaders who is a sounding board
(34:22):
for me that I'll say hey, I'vegot two goals over the next
quarter.
Here's what I'm striving to do.
Let's, let's chat, you know,once, once every couple of weeks
, and when we, when we catch up,you ask me about those things
and he does.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yes, yes, I love it.
If you're listening and you'repaying attention to this podcast
, it's, it's saved our businessand oftentimes, when you're
starting something, you don'tthink as much about yourself as
other people do.
I mean, you'll be amazed howmuch you have that, that
self-doubt talk, because you'renervous and new and you're
unsure, you know.
So I would say you know, for me, I had to pay attention to you
(34:56):
know what?
What was the self-limitingbeliefs I was having about
myself that other people said,no, you're really really good at
that, so an accountabilitypartner can can be that person.
No matter how good you are, youcan't see everything about you.
Yeah, I haven't met that personyet that sees everything.
So we all have blind spots andso that's no accountability
partner.
That that helps you see theblind spots.
I mean we covered a lot.
We covered a lot aboutleadership.
(35:18):
We covered a lot aboutcorporate America in the space.
What has been the most valuablelesson that you've learned?
That's serving.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Oh, that's a good question.
I would say the most valuablelesson I learned is connect with
people, and I've hesitatedsharing that for many years.
It's something I've leaned intonow that I feel like I've
proven it time and time again isthat people want to work with
(35:47):
somebody and work for somebodythat is a human being, and that
that a lot of people will hearthat and say that's soft.
This is business and we have anumber to drive and we have
results to hit, and what I wouldencourage you to consider is
the the best way to hit theresults and to drive the number
is by having leaders whogenuinely connect with their
(36:11):
people.
What do I mean by that?
When people start working for meor I start working closely with
somebody, there's a couplequestions I ask them.
I say tell me about whatmotivates you.
I want to learn about you, likenot just at work but in life.
Tell me about you, and I reallywant to genuinely learn about
them and their families, becausethat helps me see a whole
different side of that personand a side that I can connect
(36:35):
with in different ways.
Right, I talk to them about howthey best really like to learn.
You know there's going to bethings that we have to teach
each other.
How can I best support you inthat?
So I want to know how I canflex my style when at all
possible to meet that person inthe middle and I also ask them
(36:56):
listen, like, how do you like toreceive feedback?
And and and those are keyquestions, because that enables
me to be somebody that they wantto work for to the greatest
extent that's possible.
And I always tell them likethere are going to be times
where I can't deliver feedbackthat way, but I will do my best
to flex my approach to meet youwhere you best can learn and
hear that feedback.
(37:17):
And so people want somebodythat is going to connect and be
a partner to them, not justmanage the business or be their
leader, and when you do that,that creates loyalty.
It inspires somebody to want torun through walls to drive the
result and do great work, and Ithink it is just an
(37:38):
underestimated component inleadership, and the importance
of really driving results isinvesting in those people first.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Yes, yes, I mean, and people that follow me on the
podcast will say that, yeah,she's speaking Ron's language
because I'm a relationship guy.
Things get done through peopleat the end of the day.
Can we close?
I love to close.
You know, before we get intoyour contact information, how to
reach you.
How important is it for peoplethat are thinking leadership in
whatever space that they'replaying in?
(38:10):
How important was it for peoplethat are thinking leadership in
whatever space that they'replaying in?
How important was it for you tocontinue to learn professional?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
development.
To be a student all the time,oh, I mean, it's critical.
I try to.
So time is limited becausethose two little kids are still
little, so I'm like spending myweekends at sporting events and
such, but find what works foryou.
So I try to read brief articles, I try to listen to podcasts,
(38:38):
and I think the piece is knowingwhere you need to invest the
most in your development.
So I find that, with the littletime that we all have, is just
being able to be specific about.
Here are the two or three areaswhere I want to learn over the
next few months and how do Ipinpoint just some quick hits of
(38:59):
information to be able tocontinually raise the bar.
It's just that little steps ofimprovement that add up to big
things over time.
So I think it's critical.
I mean, listen, we live in adynamic world.
We're dynamic as people.
The world around us iscertainly changing Companies.
There's always change.
So we have to evolve and ifwe're going to continue to be
(39:22):
operating a high level, inwhatever capacity, then it's
going to call us to step up andevolve our skills and our
approaches over time.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
It's a must.
Yes, yes, I love it.
I mean, you've been phenomenal.
The phrase that I always tellpeople that whatever your best
was today, it has to be bettertomorrow.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, and I think that's an expectation that I put
on myself all the time thateven if it's good today, like
tomorrow, I want to make itbetter.
I want to continue to improveit and enhance it, and the world
is changing fast.
So, if you're that leader,never get complacent, never get
comfortable that because youwere great three years ago, that
you're great today.
You're going to have to work onthat, so I really appreciate it
.
So, whitney, how do peoplereach you?
(40:02):
We'll answer the secondquestion, but the first question
is if I'm sitting and I'mlistening to this podcast and
I'm a leader, what are some ofthe things that show up that
says, hey, give Whitney a call.
What are the top three reasonsor things that you bring to the
table that I could use if I'mthat person listening?
Speaker 3 (40:19):
Yeah, I spend the most of, I invest the most oh, I
can't talk.
The most of my time is investedin leaders, right?
So I focus a lot on people thatare striving to get from, make
that shift from an individualcontributor to a people leader,
so those emerging leaders.
And then I do quite a bit ofexecutive coaching with folks
that are trying to get to thatVP plus level and so wondering
(40:44):
what are the skills that I needto really diagnose and then
develop to continue growing inmy career?
I work a lot with leaders thatare trying to figure out who
they are as a leader.
How do I lead authentically buteffectively, balancing the
demands of my company and who Iwant to be and how do I want to
show up as a leader.
And I also work with a lot offolks that are striving to.
(41:08):
I don't call myself a careercoach, but there's a lot of us
that are looking and going whatam I going to do in five years
and what's that journey going tolook like and how do I approach
that?
So that's on the individualside.
I also work a lot with companies, farmer, individual
(41:31):
contributors into people leaderroles and we think that they're
going to pick it up based onhaving a great leader.
Oh, they're a go-getter,they'll figure it out, and some
of them will.
There's still a cost to that.
Leadership is like any otherskill we have to teach it.
It is learned Very rarely.
I mean, people may be born withthese innate traits of
leadership.
That doesn't make them goodleaders.
You have to figure out how toapply that in the, in the, in
(41:54):
the situation that they're in.
So I work with companies to rundevelopment programs to train
their, their people, leaders howto lead and be most effective
and inspiring people.
Developing people as well asbuilding high-performing teams
that drive results.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Love it, love it.
What's the best way for them toreach out to you?
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Yes, you can always reach out to me on my website.
It's WhitneyFerriscom and myemail is just Whitney at
WhitneyFerriscom.
You could follow me on LinkedInand Instagram as well, so I'm
pretty much every place.
So just check out my websiteand you can always contact me
directly there if you.
If you don't think to email me,Awesome, awesome, whitney,
you've been phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I mean you helped me unpack a lot of stuff.
I mean pretty transparent.
You know, something that yousaid on the podcast is being
vulnerable, and so for theleaders that are listening, you
know being a leadership rolerequires you to be vulnerable.
I mean you'll get taken care of, you know.
So if you're listening, we'dlove for you to reach out to
(42:56):
either one of us.
I mean, we enjoy doing the workthat we do and support each
other, which is why we're onthis podcast.
So again, this is Ron Harvey,with Unpacked and love to be
able to continue to shareinformation with you about your
journey and your goals, whetherit's corporate or
entrepreneurship or nonprofit.
Leadership is leadership, andour goal is to help you be
successful at it.
Until next time, whitney and Iwill sign off and tell you thank
you for joining us, thank youfor being with us, and I know,
or at least I hope, that we leftsomething that you're going to
(43:17):
use to implement, and justhaving an idea is nice, but
implementation is required, sowe hope that you put something
to use that we share with you.
Any parting words, last minutethings, whitney?
Speaker 3 (43:31):
you want to share.
You know my tagline is alwaysdream the dream, build the plan
and bet on yourself in big ways.
So I'd encourage you whateverthat little dream is in there,
put the plan together and gochase it.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Yes, thank you, whitney.
It's been a pleasure.
And to everyone else, we'll seeyou on the next podcast.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked
Podcast with leadershipconsultant consultant Ron Harvey
.
Remember to join us everyMonday as Ron unpacks sound
advice, providing real answersfor real leadership challenges.
Until next time, remember toadd value and make a difference
where you are, for the peopleyou serve, because people always
(44:08):
matter.
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