Leadership isn’t just about having the answers—it’s about asking the right questions and empowering your team. In this episode, Kim Harr, a consultant, facilitator, and former Intel executive, shares her journey from the semiconductor industry to entrepreneurship and leadership coaching. Kim dives deep into what makes great leaders effective, how to build and manage high-performing teams, and the mindset shifts that entrepreneurs must make when scaling their businesses.
If you’re a business owner, startup founder, or aspiring leader, this episode is packed with insights on team dynamics, leadership styles, and avoiding burnout. Kim’s story proves that leadership isn’t about doing it all—it’s about guiding others to success.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 Why great leadership isn’t about knowing all the answers—it’s about asking the right questions
🤝 The secret to building a high-performing team that actually works well together
🏀 How leadership is like coaching a sports team (and why your role changes as you scale)
⚖️ The balance between leading from the front vs. leading from behind
🔍 How to find and create shared commitment among your team
⏳ The BIGGEST leadership mistake that slows down business growth
💡 Why entrepreneurs must shift from "doing" to "enabling" for long-term success
📝 About Kim Harr
Kim Harr is a consultant, facilitator, and speaker who demystifies what great leaders do to bring forth more value, listening, teamwork, trust, and extraordinary results from the people around them. After 26 years in the semiconductor industry, including more than two decades in leadership and executive positions at Intel. Kim now works with seasoned executives, leadership teams, boards, and rising leaders as they face challenges and opportunity in masterful and generative new ways.
🎯 Kim’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Balance asking for help with taking action. Your network wants you to succeed, but at some point, you need to stop planning and start moving."
💡 Key Takeaways from Kim's Advice:
✔ Your network is your biggest asset—don’t be afraid to ask for support
✔ Overplanning kills momentum—start with a minimum viable product and adjust as you go
✔ Momentum builds success—take action and course-correct along the way
📢 Memorable Quotes
🗣️ "A leader’s job isn’t to have all the answers. It’s to ask the right questions." – Kim Harr
🗣️ "If your leadership style is centered on yourself, your team won’t be effective." – Kim Harr
🗣️ "The best leaders shift from knowing everything to enabling everyone." – Kim Harr
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Shift your leadership approach—stop doing and start enabling your team
✅ Find shared commitment—alignment is key to team success
✅ Embrace fallibility—admit mistakes, adjust, and lead with humility
✅ Prioritize leadership in daily actions—leadership happens in every email, meeting, and conversation
✅ Avoid burnout—set boundaries, manage energy, and focus on long-term sustainability
🔗 Links & Resources
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what is up?
Welcome to this episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
As always, I'm your host, brianLoFermento, and if there's one
thing that I've learned in 16plus years of being an
entrepreneur, it is that we areso much more equipped to go far
if we do it with a team, andthat's why I personally am so
(00:21):
very excited about today's guest, because this is someone that
you give her a team, she's goingto get extraordinary results
with them.
This is someone who not onlyhas had an incredible
professional career, but she'sone of us, she's a fellow
entrepreneur that we're allgoing to learn a lot from.
So let me tell you all abouttoday's guest.
Her name is Kim Haar.
Kim is a consultant,facilitator and speaker who
demystifies what great leadersdo to bring forth more value,
(00:45):
listening, teamwork, trust andextraordinary results from the
people around them.
After 26 years in thesemiconductor industry,
including more than two decadesin leadership and executive
positions at Intel, kim nowworks with seasoned executives,
leadership teams, boards andrising leaders as they face
challenges and opportunity inmasterful and generative new
(01:06):
ways.
So if you're listening to thisepisode, kim is speaking to you.
You are one of those eitherexisting leaders or rising
leaders.
This episode has to do withevery single one of us in our
entrepreneurial journey, so I'mexcited about it.
I'm not going to say anythingelse.
Let's dive straight into myinterview with Kim Haar.
All right, kim, I am so veryexcited that you're here with us
(01:30):
today.
First things first, welcome tothe show.
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Heck, yes, you've got a lot tolive up to today.
I'm going to toot your hornquite a bit and your ability to
get results out of teams.
But before we get there, takeus beyond the bio.
Who's Kim?
How did you start doing allthese cool things?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Oh, wow, that's such a great question.
First I'll just say I'm theyoungest, so I've been feisty
kind of since I came out of thewomb, I'll say.
And then after that I just Istruggled with what to be in
life, stumbled into engineeringby learning about it at a frat
party, to be honest with you andhave been practicing
(02:09):
engineering since the 90s.
And you know nerds if you're afellow nerd like me, nerds we
study inanimate objects and thenwe get in the workplace and it
turns out we have to work withpeople.
And I was very late to the workwith people game and have been
studying it and learning aboutit and realizing it that it,
(02:30):
together with engineering, iswhat makes technical leaders
great.
And so I did that for almost 30years in tech.
And now I started my owncoaching and consulting company
to kind of play on a biggerstage and impact more people,
and I love it yeah, I love Kim.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
We are for sure going to talk about all those key
things about the peoplecomponent of it, but talk to us
about that transition.
I'm always so fascinated bypeople who had incredible
careers, like you did, and thensaid you know what?
I want?
To start from zero.
I'm going to start a businesscompletely from scratch.
What did that transition looklike?
I'm going to start a businesscompletely from scratch.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
What did that transition look like?
It was very long.
To be honest with you, Istarted dreaming of starting my
own company probably 15 yearsago.
I really struggle when I workfor people I don't respect.
I had some amazing managers andleaders and some not so great.
So I, as any good engineer does, I started a spreadsheet.
(03:25):
I started interviewingentrepreneurs, interviewing
coaches and consultants.
I wrote a business plan andthen I just did some financial
work and it took probably fiveor six years to build up to the
courage.
And what ultimately led me tomake the switch was stepping
back and looking at my life.
(03:46):
I wasn't healthy.
I was working too many hours.
It wasn't.
I was surviving, but I wasn'tthriving.
So made a deal with my partnerGive me three years.
We have some business goals.
If I don't hit them, I'll goback and into the job market,
but if I do, then the businesswas successful.
But if I do, then the businesswas successful.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So a little bit of planning and mentorship and
thoughtfulness and a whole lotof dive in and let's see where
it goes yeah, kim, I'm gonnapick on something right away
that you just shared with us,because it's obviously such a
core part of your journey, whichis you've had bosses you
enjoyed working for and with,and you've had bosses that you
haven't.
What's the difference?
Because obviously we're talkingabout leaders here today, so
let's start getting into that.
(04:28):
What is that difference betweenleaders that we all enjoy
working with and those thatdon't get the best out of us?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Oh, that's such a great question.
In my opinion, it comes down tofundamentally do they care?
A leader who cares and realizesthat they're leading from
behind or servant leadership youmay have heard it called where
they care about the team morethan themselves is a leader.
That's going to get a lot outof the team.
If the leader is in theposition for themselves, for
(04:57):
their title, for their growth,you just can't hide that and
that comes out and the team isnot nearly as effective.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah for sure.
Talk to us more about that,because I feel like it's
something that we all face asentrepreneurs is that when we
start our businesses, we believethat we are the ones with the
answers, and when clients ask usquestions, we want to have the
answers and we view ourselves,or we tend to view ourselves, as
those answer machines asopposed to the enablers.
And that's something that Ithink comes with maturity,
(05:30):
regardless of age.
I think it comes with justexperience, and so I'd love to
hear your perspectives on thatstyle of leadership, because it
really to me it sounds more likeuplifting others.
Who cares about ourselves,because a rising tide lifts all
boats and we're inevitably goingto go with it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Right, I love what you're saying there, because we
get rewarded for knowing theanswers.
Right.
You start your career,particularly if you start in
corporate America or whereveryou know answers, you get
rewarded, you get promoted, youget all of those things.
And at some point you lookaround and either your role is
so big or your organization isso big it's impossible to know
(06:03):
all the answers.
And that humility when you allthe answers, and that humility
when you make that switch andthat humility becomes I need to
surround myself with greatpeople and shift from knowing
the answer to asking greatquestions.
So if you look at reallyeffective and amazing leaders,
they shift to asking greatquestions as opposed to spouting
(06:23):
answers.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Yeah, kim, I want to talk about the role, because I
think that's such an importantthing that you've already called
out, because I think about whatleaders did before they were
leading, and whether we'retalking about a nine to five job
or us as business owners, likewhen I started my business,
guess what?
I was doing everything and, kim, you can relate to this as
entrepreneurs, that's what wehad to do when we first started
our businesses.
But when you grow and when youstart to scale, you then get to
(06:47):
hire and now, all of a sudden,instead of doing all the things,
we're managing the people thatwe have hired to do those things
.
Obviously our role changes.
It's funny because we clearlywere good at doing those things
and that's what got us to grow,but now, all of a sudden, we're
(07:09):
no longer doing those things.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
How's that role change?
What the heck are we supposedto do with ourselves once we
achieve that leadership position?
Another great question.
I think that one is payingattention to your surroundings
and really paying attention tothe environment.
One thing I remember when Ifirst launched my business, I
was horrified and mortified atbeing a beginner.
It had been years since I'dbeen a beginner and I didn't
(07:29):
know how to run a CRM.
I didn't know how to post onsocial media.
Every day I was doing that soloentrepreneur thing.
I was humbled with something Ididn't know.
And then to your point as yourbusiness grows and scales and
you start hiring.
As your business grows andscales and you start hiring, I
think it shifts the.
The analogy I like to use isthe universe shifts and the
(07:50):
leader goes from being thecenter of the universe to being
more of orbiting their team, andso their job is to uplift,
support, remove roadblocks forthe team.
But the team is the center ofthe universe, no longer is the
leader.
And so you're out paving theway, removing roadblocks, maybe
(08:11):
getting capital, maybe building,you know, maybe you're doing
business development while yourteam is delivering all of the
core things that you're askingthem to do?
Does that resonate?
Does that make any sense?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, it absolutely resonates especially.
I mean, you and I talked aboutanalogies and we're definitely
going to get there in today'sconversation.
I'm a big sports fan, so I loveteam analogies and when I think
about that, we've got the headcoach, we've got the captain,
we've got the players.
Using those analogies, let'skeep rolling with.
That is, how do we structureand shape the team in a way that
(08:43):
everybody's going to succeed?
Because in any team environment, we've got the star players,
we've got the role players,we've got the ones who love
attention, we've got the oneswho don't love being in the
headlines.
Talk to us about formulatingthe correct team so that they
can flourish.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Oh, you know, I love the sports analogy because you
look at, there's such a varietyof coaches in any sport,
whatever pick your sport, buteven all sports, there's such a
variety of coaches who havetheir unique style and you'll
watch.
There are players that will gowherever the coach goes.
Even now in NCAA sports inAmerica with the transfer portal
(09:18):
, you'll see coaches or teamplayers following their coach
right and what?
At the end of the day, thecoach actually can't play the
game.
They're not, they can't,they're not allowed to touch the
ball or the racket or whateverit is of your sport.
So what is that coach doing?
And some coaches are really goodat scouting.
Some are more good at tacticsof the team, more developing the
(09:43):
players.
So, knowing what you're good at, and then hiring or augmenting
your coaching staff with maybewhat you're not so great at in
order to build your best team.
And the other thing I'll sayabout this coaching analogy is,
if you look at some sportparticular teams, what you'll
find is that you can get a tonof superstars, maybe four let's
(10:06):
take basketball, for examplefour or five superstars on a
team and maybe they'll gel andmaybe they won't.
And in my opinion, it comesdown to in that locker room.
What is the coach supporting,what culture are they allowing
and what culture are they sortof amplifying and building?
And when you see the teams,that gel.
(10:28):
Maybe they don't have amazingtalent or maybe they do.
There's a whole lot in thebackground going on.
If you've ever seen Ted Lasso,certainly that's a great example
of this.
Where in that locker room, whatis the culture and specifically
what's allowed and what isn'tallowed in that team culture?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, I think that's so important.
I love the fact that youshouted out Ted Lasso one of the
best TV shows of all time, forsure, and when I think about
that, there's obviously so manypersonalities within that locker
room, and you're right, I'veactually never thought about the
fact that some coaches playerswill follow them.
You use the NCAA transfermarket as an example.
John Calipari when he famouslywent from Kentucky to where is
(11:09):
he these days?
Alabama, arkansas, not sure,arkansas yeah, all of his
recruits went with him, becausehe knows how to get the best out
of them.
It's not a coincidence thatthey ended up at Kentucky, and I
think that's so important forus to realize that there's
different styles.
You called it out.
I never thought about the factthat there's been 20 legendary
NBA coaches.
(11:29):
It's not one trait, and I think,in business terms, we have a
tendency of asking what are thetraits of good leaders?
Well, there's different leaders.
With that said, though, thereseems to be some sort of formula
in getting people to work welltogether, because, using the Ted
Lasso example, they all havedifferent personalities, yet the
personalities fit together.
(11:50):
They avoid those clashes.
How much of what we do asleaders is understanding
personality types, understandinglove languages.
I'll interject that into theconversation.
How much of it is understandingthe different human dynamics in
order to have the work succeed?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
uh, you know, I think you'll get varied opinions
depending on who you ask.
From my perspective, the higherup you go, either in corporate
america or scope, or the biggeryour company if you're an
entrepreneur the more importantit is.
If you're just managing a smallteam, you know you don't have
that many personalities.
If you're not in a highlymatrixed organization, maybe
(12:32):
it's not such a big deal.
But as you climb and as you goup the ladder or as you grow in
your company's size or scope, Ithink it becomes a bigger and
bigger deal.
And to me it doesn't matterwhat your you know, whether it's
crucial conversations, lovelanguages, like you measure
mentioned.
I'm a big fan of a book calledextraordinary teams it doesn't
(12:54):
really matter.
It's what they all have incommon is shared commitment.
So if you're, if you can findshared commitment, like you and
I are having this conversation,we have some shared commitment.
Once we have that are havingthis conversation, we have some
shared commitment.
Once we have that, theopportunities for us are endless
.
We could do all kinds ofamazing things, and so whenever
(13:20):
I see conflict or breakdowns ortension, I step back and look at
where can I get sharedcommitment with someone?
And in this world right nowthat's so divisive and so
divided that shared commitmentpiece.
If you can just start there andlook for that, you're already
off to a good start to be ableto get the best out of your team
.
Whatever your team looks likemaybe it's your family, maybe
it's your neighbor, maybe it's ateam in your company- yeah, all
(13:40):
right, kim.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, that's a big challenge that you're issuing to
all of us here in today'sepisode.
Find that shared commitment.
Walk us down that path.
I know that you're issuing toall of us here in today's
episode.
Find that shared commitment.
Walk us down that path.
I know that you ask greatquestions for a living and you
really extract a lot of goodstuff from people.
What the heck is a sharedcommitment?
How do we build that within ourteams?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, so think about it.
Bear with me for just a second.
So think about the last timeyou were in a disagreement with
someone.
Maybe it's a partner, a familymember, a child.
One of the easiest analogies isyou have a teenager.
They're not cleaning their room, they're playing video games.
So the framework that I like touse so remember I'm a nerd, so
I'm engineering the framework Ilike to use is there's some
(14:17):
result, like this tension andthis issue you're having.
There's some result you don'tlike.
So say, for example, you're ateenager, they're in the room
playing video games for hours onend.
You don't like that result.
Well, results are the outcome ofaction, and so most of us will
(14:38):
then go talk about the action.
Kid, get off your video games.
I'm going to unplug the screen,I'm going to unplug the game.
But action is the outcome ofcommitment.
So every action you do is theoutcome of a commitment,
including inaction, which isalso an action.
So you got dressed today, brian, you put those clothes on.
You're committed to something.
And so if we back up beyondaction to asking the questions
(15:00):
around what's driving this, notin a snarky why do you play
video games all day?
But in a truly what are youcommitted to?
What's going on for you here?
Now you're in that commitmentspace and so by conversing you
can actually get to sharedcommitment.
You might have to dig a while,you might have to peel the onion
(15:20):
, but you can get to sharedcommitment.
And in the workplace, whetheryou're you know, assuming you're
an entrepreneur with a fewemployees or you're working with
your clients or you're in a bigcompany, whenever you have
conflict on teams there'ssystemic conflict all the time.
Maybe somebody is motivated bycost and someone else is
(15:42):
motivated by quality.
So you got to find that sharedcommitment, and usually it's we
want the company to do well.
But you got to find that sharedcommitment, and usually it's we
want the company to do well,but you got to peel the onion
further from that of like, whatis it that you really want?
And a good leader will sitthere and ask those questions to
find that shared commitment andthen build up from there.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, kim, I love hearing you talk about this
stuff.
It makes me think about aquestion.
I'm sorry this is not asfleshed out as my typical
questions, but I trust you tomake sense of it because hearing
you talk about this, obviouslyleadership happens in the
conversations, it happens in thequestions that we ask.
It, of course, happens inlistening.
We need to understand thepeople that we're engaging with.
(16:22):
So my question to you justbecause I'm someone who loves
action and if you tell me to dosomething, I'll go do it, kim
and so, with that in mind,really here's the question is
where does leadership happen?
Does it happen in weeklycheck-ins?
Does it happen in every singleemail we send?
Obviously, it happens all overthe place, but how would you
answer that question?
Where does leadership happen?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
leadership happen.
Well, I think you answered it.
It happens everywhere and aastute leader will realize that
and will realize that everyopportunity that they're, you
know, kind of like you're on airbut signed bus hot behind you,
every time they're on air,whether that's through chat,
email, one-on-ones, groupsetting, group meetings,
business, business development,networking events, any sort of
(17:11):
team meeting they're on air.
That's where leadership happens.
But the beauty of leadership isit's not a title.
Anybody can be a leader.
Anyone, from any seat, can showleadership tendencies.
And if you start, I call itputting on you know, I call it
putting on.
In my practice I call itputting on leadership glasses
where you put those glasses onand you look for shared
(17:34):
commitment, you look for whatare the missing conversations
that aren't happening, that needto be, and you start asking
those questions is this theproblem we should be solving?
Or one of my favorite questionsis what problem are we trying
to solve?
And people will look at youlike, of course we know what
problem we're trying to solve,and then they'll argue about
(17:56):
what problem we're trying tosolve.
So clearly we didn't know.
So that I love the questionyou're asking, brian, because I
would love to see, particularlyfor rising folks, or even solo
entrepreneurs or newentrepreneurs.
Anybody can be a leader fromanywhere, at any time.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, I love that.
I really.
It strikes me as a podcaster,obviously, that on-air sign.
That's what puts me in the moodIn the morning on recording
days.
When I flip that sign on, it'sa reminder for me of that's the
mode that I'm in and I need togive my best self in every
single conversation.
However, kim, I will say thedownside of the on air sign is
(18:36):
it also is a reminder that I'mbeing recorded today.
Every single thing that I sayis happening behind a microphone
is going to and is going to goout to listeners in over 150
countries.
Everyone's going to hear usright now, which, of course,
reminds us about the fact thatwe're fallible, and I think that
when it comes to leadership, weforget about that fallibility
and we forget about how wemanage that within ourselves and
(18:58):
we want to put this pictureperfect self on for other people
around us.
Talk to us about the fallibleleader.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Oh, I love this.
Three things come to mind, soI'm going to hopefully remember
all three.
The first one is humility Atthe core of us.
We all know that we makemistakes, as a leader or as a
person standing up andapologizing.
The number of times like mylast role in corporate America.
(19:26):
I managed a R&D or research anddevelopment manufacturing
facility during the pandemic.
It was insane and sleeplessnights, crazy meetings, it was
insane.
And then I would have to comeback and say I apologize.
I was really snarky in thatemail.
I apologize.
I didn't get back to you.
I apologize Like I'm doing thebest I can.
(19:48):
There's no handbook on managinga manufacturing facility in a
pandemic, turns out.
So I think humility is onewhere we, just people, will give
you grace if you apologize.
When you dig in and deny, deny,deny, that's when your
credibility and yourauthenticity goes out the window
.
So just one being humble andadmitting hey, I didn't show up
(20:12):
at my Two.
I have found and I coach myclients.
When you are in a leadershipposition and I think all
entrepreneurs fall into this youhave to take care of yourself.
There's, there's a book likeit's called.
It's called the corporateathlete.
There's like consultingcompanies that will sell you all
sorts of things, butrecognizing that they're the
(20:35):
food that you eat, the liquidsthat you drink, the sleep that
you get, mindfulness, exercise.
All of that plays into howyou're going to show up.
So, for example, for this calltoday, brian, I really looked at
my diet to go very brain foodheavy so that I show up at my
(20:56):
best here for our conversationtoday.
Any public speaking event, I'lldo the same thing, starting the
morning with drink, you know,water, lots of water, maybe 24
or 32 ounces of water.
I've implemented a mindfulnessroutine where I meditate every
day, routine where I meditateevery day.
(21:19):
So really realizing that being.
Bob Dunham, who is a leadershipguru, said leadership is a
performing art, and when he saidthat to me back in like 2015,
2016, was the first time I heardhim say that, I thought, oh my
gosh, what do artists do?
What do musicians do?
What do athletes do do?
And that's what we have to doas leaders, maybe not as overtly
, but realizing it all comestogether.
(21:40):
Uh, and the third thing which Itotally forgot I forgot the
third thing.
So whatever, kim, I was gonnasay it's.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's always so difficult.
I do that on the air all thetime too, or I'm just like, okay
, there's three things that Iwant to bring up.
The good stuff always rises tothe top, though.
With that in mind, I want totalk about communication,
because that's something thatstrikes me about you, even in
the small details of you and Iexchanging emails even before
you and I got together today,and then here on the air, the
analogies that you weave in.
(22:09):
I know that's such a core partof your zone of genius and the
way that you interact withothers.
I really appreciate that,because what I feel about
analogies is that it gives me adifferent lens through which I
can make sure we're both kind ofseeing that, the way that it
equates in those.
Talk to me about analogies,because I have found in my life
I talk to people for a living.
Some people are amazing atanalogies, kim, and finding them
(22:32):
and knowing how to use them,and some people don't have that
because they haven't practicedjust yet.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Talk to us about the importance of analogies yeah,
you know, I didn't even realizethis was like a superpower or a
thing till my employees startedpointing it out to me.
And I've actually had someemployees that say you should
write a book and I'm like, whydo I have to remember them?
But I think it really startedfor me, um gosh, maybe probably
(22:59):
close to 20 years ago now.
I'm old, uh, I was a lean sixsigma practitioner at a big
company and if you don't knowwhat lean six sigma, it's an
improvement efficiency frameworkthat takes lean from, like the
Toyota, lean Japanese style, andthen Six Sigma, which is kind
of Deming and quality andwhatnot.
(23:20):
And I taught lean Six Sigmaclasses and in my classes were
HR, finance, research anddevelopment PhDs that could
school me on statistics.
You know every day chipdesigners, so chemical engineers
sorry computer engineers,electrical engineers, this broad
(23:42):
base, and so how do I make thiscontent land when I have
everything from HR to PhDengineering?
And that's where the analogiescame in is.
I'd start with things that werecommon sports, home life,
cooking, food, etc.
Because also the company wasinternational.
So I'm teaching Lean Six Sigmain Asia, in South America, in
(24:06):
Mexico, in Europe, and soanalogies are kind of the back
to that shared commitment.
They're shared care, they'reshared ground that we can start
from and build up from there andthen later on in my career, I
found that sometimes an analogycan break down the bias or the
(24:26):
story that someone is tellingthemselves about maybe a
leadership skill or a soft skillor something they don't
understand.
Especially when it comes tofeedback, like giving employees
feedback that's meaningful.
An analogy can just take theemotion away and something can
land better than it would if youdidn't have an analogy.
(24:48):
So now I use them all the timeand I don't like they come to me
very quickly, but I found in mycoaching practice and my
consulting practice there's alot of analogies that land
really well and it seems toapply to everyone.
So yeah, I'm a big fan.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, I love that, Kim.
I'll say, as a podcaster, I seecontent everywhere, I see
podcast topics everywhere, andit's, of course, because you and
I have chosen those lensesthrough which we see the world.
We find those opportunities.
Why?
Because we're looking for them.
So I love hearing yourperspective on that.
I want to ask you about burnout, because everything that I've
looked at with regards to yourwork and your business, it's
(25:26):
very clear to me that you loveextraordinary results and you
help others get extraordinaryresults and you are driven by
extraordinary results yourself.
Now I, having been anentrepreneur for 16 years, I
know how much work goes intogetting extraordinary results
and I know that sometimes thatwork can rear its ugly head in
the form of burnout.
Talk to us about avoidingburnout, both for ourselves
(25:47):
you're also a fellowentrepreneur but especially in
our leadership roles.
How do we make sure that thosepeople around us don't go down
that path of burnout?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Oh, can I, if I may, I'm going to tell a very brief
story.
So I left.
I worked at Intel for 26 yearsand I left because for many
reasons, but one of the mainreasons that I left was I.
I I felt like my marriage wasthreatened, and what I mean by
(26:17):
that is the work, theexpectations.
The story I told myself wasthat the company was requiring
more from me than I could giveand I didn't like how I was
showing up for my family, and soI left.
And I went to another company,also in the tech industry, much
(26:38):
smaller though and, yes, I didthat right before the pandemic.
And then I worked as anexecutive in the pandemic.
But, brian, within six months,at that second company, I had
replicated the same, I'll say,leaky priorities, the same
environment that was causing theburnout from my first company.
(26:59):
And that's really when I said,okay, I think it's corporate
America's the problem, and soI'm going to start working on my
business plan and become anentrepreneur.
And, brian, within six monthsof starting my own company, I
had replicated the samebehaviors.
The common denominator was me.
I can blame the company, I canblame whatever I want, but at
(27:23):
the end of the day.
I look at those five or sixyears and the common denominator
is me.
And so, to get back to yourquestion about burnout, is I
personally think the mostimportant thing is to take
responsibility and really thatlooks different for different
people but realize we are activeparticipants in burnout.
(27:47):
Now there are some extraordinarycircumstances that,
notwithstanding, every clientI've worked with so far has had
an active participation in theirburnout.
When they come to me like Kim,I need a career change, I need
help, I need coaching, I needwhatever.
They're actively participatingin their own burnout, and so one
we have to recognize that it's.
What role do we play?
(28:09):
How are we enabling it?
Oftentimes it's a lack ofability to say no, maybe we
don't have clear priorities.
Again, stories we're tellingourselves about what we have to
do to get ahead or get whatever.
Entrepreneurs I see it a lot.
I'm in a couple entrepreneurmasterminds where and I fall
(28:29):
victim to this as well I have toemail my clients right now or
they'll think I'm, you know, I'mnot paying, paying attention,
or I'm not there.
So breaking down and this iswhere coaching can really help
like an executive coach canreally help break down those
stories and those paradigms andsay is that really working for
you?
What's the evidence that that'sactually true?
(28:50):
And B, is it serving you?
And just actively monitoringyour environment for where's
burnout creeping in?
What are the habits that youwant?
What is the lifestyle that youwant?
Like I don't work on Wednesdaysand I it's ski season right now
, so I'm skiing most Wednesdays,then I'll be cycling, hiking
(29:12):
etc.
And so I've built habits in tostem the burnout.
But man, I pay attention to it.
It's such a great question.
It's such a great topic.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, thanks, kim.
I really appreciate thoseinsights in that real life story
because I know, just knowingour audience as well as I do,
that's really going to resonatemaybe a little too close to home
for a lot of listeners.
I've experienced that myself.
You're absolutely correct inthat we think that it's the
environment, and then we startour own business and we realize
it's actually only amplified.
I think when we start our ownbusiness, everything is
(29:43):
amplified.
So I love the fact that, kim,you and I, we couldn't hide from
that anymore in our ownbusinesses and we've had to
address it, and I'm superappreciative of you sharing
those insights.
I'm very excited to ask you thisfinal question.
I promise you time would fly bybefore we even hit record today
.
I don't know how it's gone asfast as it has, but I love
squeezing this in because Ialways remind listeners you're
(30:03):
one of us, you are a fellowentrepreneur.
You're not just a subjectmatter expert when it comes to
leadership.
So, with your entrepreneurialhat on, what's your one best
piece of advice Knowing thatwe're being listened to by both
entrepreneurs and entrepreneursat all different stages of their
own business growth journeyswhat's that one thing that you
wanna leave them with today?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
You know such a good question.
I would say imagine yourself ona tightrope and you're walking
on that tightrope and you'rebalancing the ask for help.
What I found is that my network, everyone wants to support an
(30:44):
entrepreneur like they want youto be successful.
So on one end of that thattightrope you're walking with
that sort of balance bar acrossfrom this Canyon to that can't,
from this edge to that edge, isask for help.
And also, don't over plan atsome point.
Just go out and do it andadjust as you go, this concept
of inertia or momentum that onceyou start going it's so much
(31:08):
easier to adjust once you startgoing that if you just sit back
and you don't get on the playingfield and you plan, plan, plan,
plan, plan and never start.
So I would say balancing,asking for help because your
network wants you to besuccessful, and also plan, but
don't over plan At some point.
Go out with a minimal, viableproduct and adjust as you go.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Boom, that's the real stuff right there.
I love that advice, kim.
I'll say in over 1100 episodes,it's the first time we've heard
that balanced of advice thatyou just shared with us.
And it's like I said, it's thereal stuff.
It's something we all have toface and the truth is behind the
scenes is that whatever it isthat we are planning, it's
probably not going to happenanyways.
Things change so fast, so Ilove that perspective.
(31:55):
Kim, you are honestly doingsuch incredibly important and
meaningful work and impactfulwork.
I so respect the way that youoperate and how it is that
you're serving so many morepeople through your business.
So I know that listeners willbe keen to check out all the
great work that you're doing.
So drop those links on us.
Where should listeners go fromhere?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, so my website is.
It's terrible.
I'm just going to tell youright now.
It needs work, so I'm workingon it.
So have some grace with me.
There's my humility.
It's wwwstar with two R's, soS-T-A-R-R.
Leadershipcom.
That's a combination of mymarried name and my maiden name.
You can also find me onLinkedIn at Kimberly S Har, with
(32:37):
a bunch of letters industrialengineer, lean, six Sigma.
There's only one Kimberly S Harout there, and those are the
two places that you can find methe most.
I'm still, you know I'm, I'mover 50, brian, so I'm still
trying to master the socialmedia, but my website and
LinkedIn are where you can findme.
I have a newsletter.
You can subscribe to that and Iwould love to hear I can't wait
(33:00):
to hear how this resonates withpeople, what questions they
have and just yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yes, I love it.
Well, kim, I'm in my midthirties and I'm still trying to
figure out social media as well, so you're not alone there.
Listeners, you already know thedrill.
We're making it as easy aspossible for you to find all of
Kim's links down below in theshow notes, no matter where it
is that you're tuning intotoday's episode.
Her business website isstarleadershipcom.
Star has two R'sStarleadershipcom.
You can click right on throughfrom the show notes.
(33:27):
We're also linking to Kim'spersonal LinkedIn.
So if you want to reach out toher, continue the conversation,
have her advice and perspectiveon your business and the way
that you are operating.
This is a huge leg up that youcan get in your growth journey.
So, listeners, check out thoseshow notes and, kim, on behalf
of myself and all the listenersworldwide, thanks so much for
coming on the show today.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Thank you, it was a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet
another episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
If you haven't checked us outonline, there's so much good
stuff there.
Check out the show's websiteand all the show notes that we
talked about in today's episodeat thewantrepreneurshowcom, and
I just want to give a shout outto our amazing guests.
There's a reason why we are adfree and have produced so many
(34:13):
incredible episodes five days aweek for you, and it's because
our guests step up to the plate.
These are not sponsored episodes.
These are not infomercials.
Our guests help us cover thecosts of our productions.
They so deeply believe in thepower of getting their message
out in front of you, awesomeentrepreneurs and entrepreneurs,
that they contribute to help usmake these productions possible
(34:36):
.
So thank you to not onlytoday's guests, but all of our
guests in general, and I justwant to invite you check out our
website because you can send usa voicemail there.
We also have live chat.
If you want to interactdirectly with me, go to
thewantrepreneurshowcom.
Initiate a live chat.
It's for real me, and I'mexcited because I'll see you, as
always every monday, wednesday,friday, saturday and sunday
(34:59):
here on the entrepreneur toentrepreneur podcast.
Hey, what is up?
Welcome to this episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
As always, I'm your host, brianLoFermento, and if there's one
thing that I've learned in 16plus years of being an
entrepreneur, it is that we areso much more equipped to go far
if we do it with a team, andthat's why I personally am so
(00:21):
very excited about today's guest, because this is someone that
you give her a team, she's goingto get extraordinary results
with them.
This is someone who not onlyhas had an incredible
professional career, but she'sone of us, she's a fellow
entrepreneur that we're allgoing to learn a lot from.
So let me tell you all abouttoday's guest.
Her name is Kim Haar.
Kim is a consultant,facilitator and speaker who
demystifies what great leadersdo to bring forth more value,
(00:45):
listening, teamwork, trust andextraordinary results from the
people around them.
After 26 years in thesemiconductor industry,
including more than two decadesin leadership and executive
positions at Intel, kim nowworks with seasoned executives,
leadership teams, boards andrising leaders as they face
challenges and opportunity inmasterful and generative new
(01:06):
ways.
So if you're listening to thisepisode, kim is speaking to you.
You are one of those eitherexisting leaders or rising
leaders.
This episode has to do withevery single one of us in our
entrepreneurial journey, so I'mexcited about it.
I'm not going to say anythingelse.
Let's dive straight into myinterview with Kim Haar.
All right, kim, I am so veryexcited that you're here with us
(01:30):
today.
First things first, welcome tothe show.
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Heck, yes, you've got a lot tolive up to today.
I'm going to toot your hornquite a bit and your ability to
get results out of teams.
But before we get there, takeus beyond the bio.
Who's Kim?
How did you start doing allthese cool things?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Oh, wow, that's such a great question.
First I'll just say I'm theyoungest, so I've been feisty
kind of since I came out of thewomb, I'll say.
And then after that I just Istruggled with what to be in
life, stumbled into engineeringby learning about it at a frat
party, to be honest with you andhave been practicing
(02:09):
engineering since the 90s.
And you know nerds if you're afellow nerd like me, nerds we
study inanimate objects and thenwe get in the workplace and it
turns out we have to work withpeople.
And I was very late to the workwith people game and have been
studying it and learning aboutit and realizing it that it,
(02:30):
together with engineering, iswhat makes technical leaders
great.
And so I did that for almost 30years in tech.
And now I started my owncoaching and consulting company
to kind of play on a biggerstage and impact more people,
and I love it yeah, I love Kim.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
We are for sure going to talk about all those key
things about the peoplecomponent of it, but talk to us
about that transition.
I'm always so fascinated bypeople who had incredible
careers, like you did, and thensaid you know what?
I want?
To start from zero.
I'm going to start a businesscompletely from scratch.
What did that transition looklike?
I'm going to start a businesscompletely from scratch.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
What did that transition look like?
It was very long.
To be honest with you, Istarted dreaming of starting my
own company probably 15 yearsago.
I really struggle when I workfor people I don't respect.
I had some amazing managers andleaders and some not so great.
So I, as any good engineer does, I started a spreadsheet.
(03:25):
I started interviewingentrepreneurs, interviewing
coaches and consultants.
I wrote a business plan andthen I just did some financial
work and it took probably fiveor six years to build up to the
courage.
And what ultimately led me tomake the switch was stepping
back and looking at my life.
(03:46):
I wasn't healthy.
I was working too many hours.
It wasn't.
I was surviving, but I wasn'tthriving.
So made a deal with my partnerGive me three years.
We have some business goals.
If I don't hit them, I'll goback and into the job market,
but if I do, then the businesswas successful.
But if I do, then the businesswas successful.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So a little bit of planning and mentorship and
thoughtfulness and a whole lotof dive in and let's see where
it goes yeah, kim, I'm gonnapick on something right away
that you just shared with us,because it's obviously such a
core part of your journey, whichis you've had bosses you
enjoyed working for and with,and you've had bosses that you
haven't.
What's the difference?
Because obviously we're talkingabout leaders here today, so
let's start getting into that.
(04:28):
What is that difference betweenleaders that we all enjoy
working with and those thatdon't get the best out of us?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Oh, that's such a great question.
In my opinion, it comes down tofundamentally do they care?
A leader who cares and realizesthat they're leading from
behind or servant leadership youmay have heard it called where
they care about the team morethan themselves is a leader.
That's going to get a lot outof the team.
If the leader is in theposition for themselves, for
(04:57):
their title, for their growth,you just can't hide that and
that comes out and the team isnot nearly as effective.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah for sure.
Talk to us more about that,because I feel like it's
something that we all face asentrepreneurs is that when we
start our businesses, we believethat we are the ones with the
answers, and when clients ask usquestions, we want to have the
answers and we view ourselves,or we tend to view ourselves, as
those answer machines asopposed to the enablers.
And that's something that Ithink comes with maturity,
(05:30):
regardless of age.
I think it comes with justexperience, and so I'd love to
hear your perspectives on thatstyle of leadership, because it
really to me it sounds more likeuplifting others.
Who cares about ourselves,because a rising tide lifts all
boats and we're inevitably goingto go with it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Right, I love what you're saying there, because we
get rewarded for knowing theanswers.
Right.
You start your career,particularly if you start in
corporate America or whereveryou know answers, you get
rewarded, you get promoted, youget all of those things.
And at some point you lookaround and either your role is
so big or your organization isso big it's impossible to know
(06:03):
all the answers.
And that humility when you allthe answers, and that humility
when you make that switch andthat humility becomes I need to
surround myself with greatpeople and shift from knowing
the answer to asking greatquestions.
So if you look at reallyeffective and amazing leaders,
they shift to asking greatquestions as opposed to spouting
(06:23):
answers.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Yeah, kim, I want to talk about the role, because I
think that's such an importantthing that you've already called
out, because I think about whatleaders did before they were
leading, and whether we'retalking about a nine to five job
or us as business owners, likewhen I started my business,
guess what?
I was doing everything and, kim, you can relate to this as
entrepreneurs, that's what wehad to do when we first started
our businesses.
But when you grow and when youstart to scale, you then get to
(06:47):
hire and now, all of a sudden,instead of doing all the things,
we're managing the people thatwe have hired to do those things
.
Obviously our role changes.
It's funny because we clearlywere good at doing those things
and that's what got us to grow,but now, all of a sudden, we're
(07:09):
no longer doing those things.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
How's that role change?
What the heck are we supposedto do with ourselves once we
achieve that leadership position?
Another great question.
I think that one is payingattention to your surroundings
and really paying attention tothe environment.
One thing I remember when Ifirst launched my business, I
was horrified and mortified atbeing a beginner.
It had been years since I'dbeen a beginner and I didn't
(07:29):
know how to run a CRM.
I didn't know how to post onsocial media.
Every day I was doing that soloentrepreneur thing.
I was humbled with something Ididn't know.
And then to your point as yourbusiness grows and scales and
you start hiring.
As your business grows andscales and you start hiring, I
think it shifts the.
The analogy I like to use isthe universe shifts and the
(07:50):
leader goes from being thecenter of the universe to being
more of orbiting their team, andso their job is to uplift,
support, remove roadblocks forthe team.
But the team is the center ofthe universe, no longer is the
leader.
And so you're out paving theway, removing roadblocks, maybe
(08:11):
getting capital, maybe building,you know, maybe you're doing
business development while yourteam is delivering all of the
core things that you're askingthem to do?
Does that resonate?
Does that make any sense?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, it absolutely resonates especially.
I mean, you and I talked aboutanalogies and we're definitely
going to get there in today'sconversation.
I'm a big sports fan, so I loveteam analogies and when I think
about that, we've got the headcoach, we've got the captain,
we've got the players.
Using those analogies, let'skeep rolling with.
That is, how do we structureand shape the team in a way that
(08:43):
everybody's going to succeed?
Because in any team environment, we've got the star players,
we've got the role players,we've got the ones who love
attention, we've got the oneswho don't love being in the
headlines.
Talk to us about formulatingthe correct team so that they
can flourish.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Oh, you know, I love the sports analogy because you
look at, there's such a varietyof coaches in any sport,
whatever pick your sport, buteven all sports, there's such a
variety of coaches who havetheir unique style and you'll
watch.
There are players that will gowherever the coach goes.
Even now in NCAA sports inAmerica with the transfer portal
(09:18):
, you'll see coaches or teamplayers following their coach
right and what?
At the end of the day, thecoach actually can't play the
game.
They're not, they can't,they're not allowed to touch the
ball or the racket or whateverit is of your sport.
So what is that coach doing?
And some coaches are really goodat scouting.
Some are more good at tacticsof the team, more developing the
(09:43):
players.
So, knowing what you're good at, and then hiring or augmenting
your coaching staff with maybewhat you're not so great at in
order to build your best team.
And the other thing I'll sayabout this coaching analogy is,
if you look at some sportparticular teams, what you'll
find is that you can get a tonof superstars, maybe four let's
(10:06):
take basketball, for examplefour or five superstars on a
team and maybe they'll gel andmaybe they won't.
And in my opinion, it comesdown to in that locker room.
What is the coach supporting,what culture are they allowing
and what culture are they sortof amplifying and building?
And when you see the teams,that gel.
(10:28):
Maybe they don't have amazingtalent or maybe they do.
There's a whole lot in thebackground going on.
If you've ever seen Ted Lasso,certainly that's a great example
of this.
Where in that locker room, whatis the culture and specifically
what's allowed and what isn'tallowed in that team culture?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, I think that's so important.
I love the fact that youshouted out Ted Lasso one of the
best TV shows of all time, forsure, and when I think about
that, there's obviously so manypersonalities within that locker
room, and you're right, I'veactually never thought about the
fact that some coaches playerswill follow them.
You use the NCAA transfermarket as an example.
John Calipari when he famouslywent from Kentucky to where is
(11:09):
he these days?
Alabama, arkansas, not sure,arkansas yeah, all of his
recruits went with him, becausehe knows how to get the best out
of them.
It's not a coincidence thatthey ended up at Kentucky, and I
think that's so important forus to realize that there's
different styles.
You called it out.
I never thought about the factthat there's been 20 legendary
NBA coaches.
(11:29):
It's not one trait, and I think,in business terms, we have a
tendency of asking what are thetraits of good leaders?
Well, there's different leaders.
With that said, though, thereseems to be some sort of formula
in getting people to work welltogether, because, using the Ted
Lasso example, they all havedifferent personalities, yet the
personalities fit together.
(11:50):
They avoid those clashes.
How much of what we do asleaders is understanding
personality types, understandinglove languages.
I'll interject that into theconversation.
How much of it is understandingthe different human dynamics in
order to have the work succeed?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
uh, you know, I think you'll get varied opinions
depending on who you ask.
From my perspective, the higherup you go, either in corporate
america or scope, or the biggeryour company if you're an
entrepreneur the more importantit is.
If you're just managing a smallteam, you know you don't have
that many personalities.
If you're not in a highlymatrixed organization, maybe
(12:32):
it's not such a big deal.
But as you climb and as you goup the ladder or as you grow in
your company's size or scope, Ithink it becomes a bigger and
bigger deal.
And to me it doesn't matterwhat your you know, whether it's
crucial conversations, lovelanguages, like you measure
mentioned.
I'm a big fan of a book calledextraordinary teams it doesn't
(12:54):
really matter.
It's what they all have incommon is shared commitment.
So if you're, if you can findshared commitment, like you and
I are having this conversation,we have some shared commitment.
Once we have that are havingthis conversation, we have some
shared commitment.
Once we have that, theopportunities for us are endless
.
We could do all kinds ofamazing things, and so whenever
(13:20):
I see conflict or breakdowns ortension, I step back and look at
where can I get sharedcommitment with someone?
And in this world right nowthat's so divisive and so
divided that shared commitmentpiece.
If you can just start there andlook for that, you're already
off to a good start to be ableto get the best out of your team
.
Whatever your team looks likemaybe it's your family, maybe
it's your neighbor, maybe it's ateam in your company- yeah, all
(13:40):
right, kim.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, that's a big challenge that you're issuing to
all of us here in today'sepisode.
Find that shared commitment.
Walk us down that path.
I know that you're issuing toall of us here in today's
episode.
Find that shared commitment.
Walk us down that path.
I know that you ask greatquestions for a living and you
really extract a lot of goodstuff from people.
What the heck is a sharedcommitment?
How do we build that within ourteams?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, so think about it.
Bear with me for just a second.
So think about the last timeyou were in a disagreement with
someone.
Maybe it's a partner, a familymember, a child.
One of the easiest analogies isyou have a teenager.
They're not cleaning their room, they're playing video games.
So the framework that I like touse so remember I'm a nerd, so
I'm engineering the framework Ilike to use is there's some
(14:17):
result, like this tension andthis issue you're having.
There's some result you don'tlike.
So say, for example, you're ateenager, they're in the room
playing video games for hours onend.
You don't like that result.
Well, results are the outcome ofaction, and so most of us will
(14:38):
then go talk about the action.
Kid, get off your video games.
I'm going to unplug the screen,I'm going to unplug the game.
But action is the outcome ofcommitment.
So every action you do is theoutcome of a commitment,
including inaction, which isalso an action.
So you got dressed today, brian, you put those clothes on.
You're committed to something.
And so if we back up beyondaction to asking the questions
(15:00):
around what's driving this, notin a snarky why do you play
video games all day?
But in a truly what are youcommitted to?
What's going on for you here?
Now you're in that commitmentspace and so by conversing you
can actually get to sharedcommitment.
You might have to dig a while,you might have to peel the onion
(15:20):
, but you can get to sharedcommitment.
And in the workplace, whetheryou're you know, assuming you're
an entrepreneur with a fewemployees or you're working with
your clients or you're in a bigcompany, whenever you have
conflict on teams there'ssystemic conflict all the time.
Maybe somebody is motivated bycost and someone else is
(15:42):
motivated by quality.
So you got to find that sharedcommitment, and usually it's we
want the company to do well.
But you got to find that sharedcommitment, and usually it's we
want the company to do well,but you got to peel the onion
further from that of like, whatis it that you really want?
And a good leader will sitthere and ask those questions to
find that shared commitment andthen build up from there.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, kim, I love hearing you talk about this
stuff.
It makes me think about aquestion.
I'm sorry this is not asfleshed out as my typical
questions, but I trust you tomake sense of it because hearing
you talk about this, obviouslyleadership happens in the
conversations, it happens in thequestions that we ask.
It, of course, happens inlistening.
We need to understand thepeople that we're engaging with.
(16:22):
So my question to you justbecause I'm someone who loves
action and if you tell me to dosomething, I'll go do it, kim
and so, with that in mind,really here's the question is
where does leadership happen?
Does it happen in weeklycheck-ins?
Does it happen in every singleemail we send?
Obviously, it happens all overthe place, but how would you
answer that question?
Where does leadership happen?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
leadership happen.
Well, I think you answered it.
It happens everywhere and aastute leader will realize that
and will realize that everyopportunity that they're, you
know, kind of like you're on airbut signed bus hot behind you,
every time they're on air,whether that's through chat,
email, one-on-ones, groupsetting, group meetings,
business, business development,networking events, any sort of
(17:11):
team meeting they're on air.
That's where leadership happens.
But the beauty of leadership isit's not a title.
Anybody can be a leader.
Anyone, from any seat, can showleadership tendencies.
And if you start, I call itputting on you know, I call it
putting on.
In my practice I call itputting on leadership glasses
where you put those glasses onand you look for shared
(17:34):
commitment, you look for whatare the missing conversations
that aren't happening, that needto be, and you start asking
those questions is this theproblem we should be solving?
Or one of my favorite questionsis what problem are we trying
to solve?
And people will look at youlike, of course we know what
problem we're trying to solve,and then they'll argue about
(17:56):
what problem we're trying tosolve.
So clearly we didn't know.
So that I love the questionyou're asking, brian, because I
would love to see, particularlyfor rising folks, or even solo
entrepreneurs or newentrepreneurs.
Anybody can be a leader fromanywhere, at any time.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, I love that.
I really.
It strikes me as a podcaster,obviously, that on-air sign.
That's what puts me in the moodIn the morning on recording
days.
When I flip that sign on, it'sa reminder for me of that's the
mode that I'm in and I need togive my best self in every
single conversation.
However, kim, I will say thedownside of the on air sign is
(18:36):
it also is a reminder that I'mbeing recorded today.
Every single thing that I sayis happening behind a microphone
is going to and is going to goout to listeners in over 150
countries.
Everyone's going to hear usright now, which, of course,
reminds us about the fact thatwe're fallible, and I think that
when it comes to leadership, weforget about that fallibility
and we forget about how wemanage that within ourselves and
(18:58):
we want to put this pictureperfect self on for other people
around us.
Talk to us about the fallibleleader.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Oh, I love this.
Three things come to mind, soI'm going to hopefully remember
all three.
The first one is humility Atthe core of us.
We all know that we makemistakes, as a leader or as a
person standing up andapologizing.
The number of times like mylast role in corporate America.
(19:26):
I managed a R&D or research anddevelopment manufacturing
facility during the pandemic.
It was insane and sleeplessnights, crazy meetings, it was
insane.
And then I would have to comeback and say I apologize.
I was really snarky in thatemail.
I apologize.
I didn't get back to you.
I apologize Like I'm doing thebest I can.
(19:48):
There's no handbook on managinga manufacturing facility in a
pandemic, turns out.
So I think humility is onewhere we, just people, will give
you grace if you apologize.
When you dig in and deny, deny,deny, that's when your
credibility and yourauthenticity goes out the window
.
So just one being humble andadmitting hey, I didn't show up
(20:12):
at my Two.
I have found and I coach myclients.
When you are in a leadershipposition and I think all
entrepreneurs fall into this youhave to take care of yourself.
There's, there's a book likeit's called.
It's called the corporateathlete.
There's like consultingcompanies that will sell you all
sorts of things, butrecognizing that they're the
(20:35):
food that you eat, the liquidsthat you drink, the sleep that
you get, mindfulness, exercise.
All of that plays into howyou're going to show up.
So, for example, for this calltoday, brian, I really looked at
my diet to go very brain foodheavy so that I show up at my
(20:56):
best here for our conversationtoday.
Any public speaking event, I'lldo the same thing, starting the
morning with drink, you know,water, lots of water, maybe 24
or 32 ounces of water.
I've implemented a mindfulnessroutine where I meditate every
day, routine where I meditateevery day.
(21:19):
So really realizing that being.
Bob Dunham, who is a leadershipguru, said leadership is a
performing art, and when he saidthat to me back in like 2015,
2016, was the first time I heardhim say that, I thought, oh my
gosh, what do artists do?
What do musicians do?
What do athletes do do?
And that's what we have to doas leaders, maybe not as overtly
, but realizing it all comestogether.
(21:40):
Uh, and the third thing which Itotally forgot I forgot the
third thing.
So whatever, kim, I was gonnasay it's.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's always so difficult.
I do that on the air all thetime too, or I'm just like, okay
, there's three things that Iwant to bring up.
The good stuff always rises tothe top, though.
With that in mind, I want totalk about communication,
because that's something thatstrikes me about you, even in
the small details of you and Iexchanging emails even before
you and I got together today,and then here on the air, the
analogies that you weave in.
(22:09):
I know that's such a core partof your zone of genius and the
way that you interact withothers.
I really appreciate that,because what I feel about
analogies is that it gives me adifferent lens through which I
can make sure we're both kind ofseeing that, the way that it
equates in those.
Talk to me about analogies,because I have found in my life
I talk to people for a living.
Some people are amazing atanalogies, kim, and finding them
(22:32):
and knowing how to use them,and some people don't have that
because they haven't practicedjust yet.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Talk to us about the importance of analogies yeah,
you know, I didn't even realizethis was like a superpower or a
thing till my employees startedpointing it out to me.
And I've actually had someemployees that say you should
write a book and I'm like, whydo I have to remember them?
But I think it really startedfor me, um gosh, maybe probably
(22:59):
close to 20 years ago now.
I'm old, uh, I was a lean sixsigma practitioner at a big
company and if you don't knowwhat lean six sigma, it's an
improvement efficiency frameworkthat takes lean from, like the
Toyota, lean Japanese style, andthen Six Sigma, which is kind
of Deming and quality andwhatnot.
(23:20):
And I taught lean Six Sigmaclasses and in my classes were
HR, finance, research anddevelopment PhDs that could
school me on statistics.
You know every day chipdesigners, so chemical engineers
sorry computer engineers,electrical engineers, this broad
(23:42):
base, and so how do I make thiscontent land when I have
everything from HR to PhDengineering?
And that's where the analogiescame in is.
I'd start with things that werecommon sports, home life,
cooking, food, etc.
Because also the company wasinternational.
So I'm teaching Lean Six Sigmain Asia, in South America, in
(24:06):
Mexico, in Europe, and soanalogies are kind of the back
to that shared commitment.
They're shared care, they'reshared ground that we can start
from and build up from there andthen later on in my career, I
found that sometimes an analogycan break down the bias or the
(24:26):
story that someone is tellingthemselves about maybe a
leadership skill or a soft skillor something they don't
understand.
Especially when it comes tofeedback, like giving employees
feedback that's meaningful.
An analogy can just take theemotion away and something can
land better than it would if youdidn't have an analogy.
(24:48):
So now I use them all the timeand I don't like they come to me
very quickly, but I found in mycoaching practice and my
consulting practice there's alot of analogies that land
really well and it seems toapply to everyone.
So yeah, I'm a big fan.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, I love that, Kim.
I'll say, as a podcaster, I seecontent everywhere, I see
podcast topics everywhere, andit's, of course, because you and
I have chosen those lensesthrough which we see the world.
We find those opportunities.
Why?
Because we're looking for them.
So I love hearing yourperspective on that.
I want to ask you about burnout, because everything that I've
looked at with regards to yourwork and your business, it's
(25:26):
very clear to me that you loveextraordinary results and you
help others get extraordinaryresults and you are driven by
extraordinary results yourself.
Now I, having been anentrepreneur for 16 years, I
know how much work goes intogetting extraordinary results
and I know that sometimes thatwork can rear its ugly head in
the form of burnout.
Talk to us about avoidingburnout, both for ourselves
(25:47):
you're also a fellowentrepreneur but especially in
our leadership roles.
How do we make sure that thosepeople around us don't go down
that path of burnout?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Oh, can I, if I may, I'm going to tell a very brief
story.
So I left.
I worked at Intel for 26 yearsand I left because for many
reasons, but one of the mainreasons that I left was I.
I I felt like my marriage wasthreatened, and what I mean by
(26:17):
that is the work, theexpectations.
The story I told myself wasthat the company was requiring
more from me than I could giveand I didn't like how I was
showing up for my family, and soI left.
And I went to another company,also in the tech industry, much
(26:38):
smaller though and, yes, I didthat right before the pandemic.
And then I worked as anexecutive in the pandemic.
But, brian, within six months,at that second company, I had
replicated the same, I'll say,leaky priorities, the same
environment that was causing theburnout from my first company.
(26:59):
And that's really when I said,okay, I think it's corporate
America's the problem, and soI'm going to start working on my
business plan and become anentrepreneur.
And, brian, within six monthsof starting my own company, I
had replicated the samebehaviors.
The common denominator was me.
I can blame the company, I canblame whatever I want, but at
(27:23):
the end of the day.
I look at those five or sixyears and the common denominator
is me.
And so, to get back to yourquestion about burnout, is I
personally think the mostimportant thing is to take
responsibility and really thatlooks different for different
people but realize we are activeparticipants in burnout.
(27:47):
Now there are some extraordinarycircumstances that,
notwithstanding, every clientI've worked with so far has had
an active participation in theirburnout.
When they come to me like Kim,I need a career change, I need
help, I need coaching, I needwhatever.
They're actively participatingin their own burnout, and so one
we have to recognize that it's.
What role do we play?
(28:09):
How are we enabling it?
Oftentimes it's a lack ofability to say no, maybe we
don't have clear priorities.
Again, stories we're tellingourselves about what we have to
do to get ahead or get whatever.
Entrepreneurs I see it a lot.
I'm in a couple entrepreneurmasterminds where and I fall
(28:29):
victim to this as well I have toemail my clients right now or
they'll think I'm, you know, I'mnot paying, paying attention,
or I'm not there.
So breaking down and this iswhere coaching can really help
like an executive coach canreally help break down those
stories and those paradigms andsay is that really working for
you?
What's the evidence that that'sactually true?
(28:50):
And B, is it serving you?
And just actively monitoringyour environment for where's
burnout creeping in?
What are the habits that youwant?
What is the lifestyle that youwant?
Like I don't work on Wednesdaysand I it's ski season right now
, so I'm skiing most Wednesdays,then I'll be cycling, hiking
(29:12):
etc.
And so I've built habits in tostem the burnout.
But man, I pay attention to it.
It's such a great question.
It's such a great topic.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, thanks, kim.
I really appreciate thoseinsights in that real life story
because I know, just knowingour audience as well as I do,
that's really going to resonatemaybe a little too close to home
for a lot of listeners.
I've experienced that myself.
You're absolutely correct inthat we think that it's the
environment, and then we startour own business and we realize
it's actually only amplified.
I think when we start our ownbusiness, everything is
(29:43):
amplified.
So I love the fact that, kim,you and I, we couldn't hide from
that anymore in our ownbusinesses and we've had to
address it, and I'm superappreciative of you sharing
those insights.
I'm very excited to ask you thisfinal question.
I promise you time would fly bybefore we even hit record today
.
I don't know how it's gone asfast as it has, but I love
squeezing this in because Ialways remind listeners you're
(30:03):
one of us, you are a fellowentrepreneur.
You're not just a subjectmatter expert when it comes to
leadership.
So, with your entrepreneurialhat on, what's your one best
piece of advice Knowing thatwe're being listened to by both
entrepreneurs and entrepreneursat all different stages of their
own business growth journeyswhat's that one thing that you
wanna leave them with today?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
You know such a good question.
I would say imagine yourself ona tightrope and you're walking
on that tightrope and you'rebalancing the ask for help.
What I found is that my network, everyone wants to support an
(30:44):
entrepreneur like they want youto be successful.
So on one end of that thattightrope you're walking with
that sort of balance bar acrossfrom this Canyon to that can't,
from this edge to that edge, isask for help.
And also, don't over plan atsome point.
Just go out and do it andadjust as you go, this concept
of inertia or momentum that onceyou start going it's so much
(31:08):
easier to adjust once you startgoing that if you just sit back
and you don't get on the playingfield and you plan, plan, plan,
plan, plan and never start.
So I would say balancing,asking for help because your
network wants you to besuccessful, and also plan, but
don't over plan At some point.
Go out with a minimal, viableproduct and adjust as you go.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Boom, that's the real stuff right there.
I love that advice, kim.
I'll say in over 1100 episodes,it's the first time we've heard
that balanced of advice thatyou just shared with us.
And it's like I said, it's thereal stuff.
It's something we all have toface and the truth is behind the
scenes is that whatever it isthat we are planning, it's
probably not going to happenanyways.
Things change so fast, so Ilove that perspective.
(31:55):
Kim, you are honestly doingsuch incredibly important and
meaningful work and impactfulwork.
I so respect the way that youoperate and how it is that
you're serving so many morepeople through your business.
So I know that listeners willbe keen to check out all the
great work that you're doing.
So drop those links on us.
Where should listeners go fromhere?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, so my website is.
It's terrible.
I'm just going to tell youright now.
It needs work, so I'm workingon it.
So have some grace with me.
There's my humility.
It's wwwstar with two R's, soS-T-A-R-R.
Leadershipcom.
That's a combination of mymarried name and my maiden name.
You can also find me onLinkedIn at Kimberly S Har, with
(32:37):
a bunch of letters industrialengineer, lean, six Sigma.
There's only one Kimberly S Harout there, and those are the
two places that you can find methe most.
I'm still, you know I'm, I'mover 50, brian, so I'm still
trying to master the socialmedia, but my website and
LinkedIn are where you can findme.
I have a newsletter.
You can subscribe to that and Iwould love to hear I can't wait
(33:00):
to hear how this resonates withpeople, what questions they
have and just yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yes, I love it.
Well, kim, I'm in my midthirties and I'm still trying to
figure out social media as well, so you're not alone there.
Listeners, you already know thedrill.
We're making it as easy aspossible for you to find all of
Kim's links down below in theshow notes, no matter where it
is that you're tuning intotoday's episode.
Her business website isstarleadershipcom.
Star has two R'sStarleadershipcom.
You can click right on throughfrom the show notes.
(33:27):
We're also linking to Kim'spersonal LinkedIn.
So if you want to reach out toher, continue the conversation,
have her advice and perspectiveon your business and the way
that you are operating.
This is a huge leg up that youcan get in your growth journey.
So, listeners, check out thoseshow notes and, kim, on behalf
of myself and all the listenersworldwide, thanks so much for
coming on the show today.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Thank you, it was a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet
another episode of theWantrepreneur to Entrepreneur
podcast.
If you haven't checked us outonline, there's so much good
stuff there.
Check out the show's websiteand all the show notes that we
talked about in today's episodeat thewantrepreneurshowcom, and
I just want to give a shout outto our amazing guests.
There's a reason why we are adfree and have produced so many
(34:13):
incredible episodes five days aweek for you, and it's because
our guests step up to the plate.
These are not sponsored episodes.
These are not infomercials.
Our guests help us cover thecosts of our productions.
They so deeply believe in thepower of getting their message
out in front of you, awesomeentrepreneurs and entrepreneurs,
that they contribute to help usmake these productions possible
(34:36):
.
So thank you to not onlytoday's guests, but all of our
guests in general, and I justwant to invite you check out our
website because you can send usa voicemail there.
We also have live chat.
If you want to interactdirectly with me, go to
thewantrepreneurshowcom.
Initiate a live chat.
It's for real me, and I'mexcited because I'll see you, as
always every monday, wednesday,friday, saturday and sunday
(34:59):
here on the entrepreneur toentrepreneur podcast.
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