The Foureva Podcast
The Foureva Podcast is where real stories, bold ideas, and honest conversations create real opportunities.
Hosted by entrepreneur, author, and international speaker Jamar Jones, each episode goes beyond the highlight reel to uncover the decisions, setbacks, lessons, and relationships that shape successful entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders.
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The Foureva Podcast
Leading with Humility: Building Healthier Teams & Stronger Leaders with Andrea Hyre
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In this episode of The Foureva Podcast, host Jamar Jones sits down with executive coach and leadership expert Andrea Hyre to explore what it truly means to lead with humility, self-awareness, and purpose.
Andrea shares her journey from becoming a CEO at a young age to launching her own company, Hyre Impact. Together, they dive deep into communication challenges, mental health in leadership, and how to grow without burning out your team.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, team leader, or executive — this episode delivers raw, practical insight on how to lead better, grow stronger, and stay grounded through it all.
✨ Episode Highlights:
✅ Why true leadership starts with self-awareness and humility
✅ The connection between leadership struggles and mental health
✅ The #1 issue every organization faces — and how to fix it
✅ How to scale your business without burning out your people
✅ Andrea’s dice game that exposes real-time communication breakdowns
✅ Why not everyone is meant to be a leader (and that’s okay)
✅ The book that reshaped her view of leadership: The Motive by Patrick Lencioni
✅ Her secret to being promoted fast — confidence, character, and accountability
Let’s grow your brand and business!
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Opening And Guest Intro
SPEAKER_01It looked like you all had strong communication, this one isolated group of this one company in this one space, but now pull it out where all of your expectations are different, your jobs are different, and your pressures are different. That's the biggest thing. The communication really starts to take a turn at that point. Um, because we're led by our pressures, really, at the end of the day. And a sales rep's pressure is just very different than an operation. They're both pressure and they both need to get the job done, but they don't have a mutual understanding of what those look like man, we're live.
SPEAKER_03We're live. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another banger episode. We got Andrea in the building from Oklahoma. What's going on, Andrea?
SPEAKER_01Hey Jamar, not much, just in this windy Midwest state.
unknownCool.
SPEAKER_03How how long have you been there for?
SPEAKER_01I've been in Tulsa since oh gosh. Um, I came here for school. So 2011, I think, is when I started school down here, and I've I've been here since so way longer than I anticipated it would be the answer. Way longer.
SPEAKER_03That's normally how it works. That is normally how it goes. Um, we're off oftentimes put into places, and then just next you know, we blink, and there's like 20 years later, and we're still there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. We try to leave every single year, it just never works out for us.
SPEAKER_03So well, thank you so much for being on the uh on the podcast. And you're you're really all into coaching, um, leadership development, helping a lot of organizations and groups really grow their cultures and their leadership um within their organization. And I wanna, you know, we have a lot of uh uh audience that is a lot of C-suites, entrepreneurs, um, a lot of them really are in their business, and they're trying to elevate um all different areas. I think with this conversation, everybody, we're gonna really focus on the leadership aspect, organizational um impact, and how we really can really be a leader, like how how we can how can we lead better? How can we be more effective in our day-to-day activities? But we're also gonna go a little bit into uh Andrea's journey as well, as far as just how you've been able to launch this business. Um, what does that look like for you and where are you going? So, first, everybody, can you tell everybody really quick, just a quick snapshot of just like who you are and what you do?
Andrea’s Path To CEO And Lessons Learned
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. Yeah, like you said, um my name's Andrea Heyer. I go by Anj a lot, which uh you do not have to necessarily call me, but that's that name is out there uh in the open as well. And so I do, like you said, a lot of executive coaching, um, leadership development. Love working with teams, uh, love working with individuals too, but my sweet spot is really working with teams and getting them to kind of click and jive and communicate and get more productive and more efficient. So um I get the opportunity to do that. Uh, I was the CEO of a leadership development company for about four years before kind of launching out on my own here. Um, and that that probably taught me more lessons in those four years of my life than maybe the last 20 years of my life, but it was a really cool experience uh getting to do that. And so um now doing it on my own, getting to connect with even more people, it's it's just been a fun journey. So, yeah, like you said, leadership is kind of my niche, and um, I'm trying to be a student of it myself.
SPEAKER_03Cool. And and so what was that what was that like? So you were a CEO of another company for four years. Yep. Um did you did you found that company or were you how how did that happen? Like how did you get put into uh that position?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, great question. Um so I started their pretty entry level actually in about 2020. I didn't I didn't start or own that company at all. Um, just kind of jumped in. Um, they had started around 2010 originally, that founder. And so I started as a pretty entry-level employee. And within that year, they had a lot of change in their leadership um structure and area. And so within that year, I just kind of started working alongside the CEO at the time, the founder. He was the founder and CEO at the time, and um just kind of expedited the process of he knew he needed leadership. He wanted to do a big shout out to him because I think this is a good picture of delegation, but he knew he wanted to do some bigger things. He's an awesome, incredible keynote speaker, um, does really, really well in the space of like team development. I've learned so much from him in a lot of those different ways, but he wanted to like primarily do what he's really good at, which is that, and do less of the business and the team development and the management and all those things. And so we had just kind of worked it out over the span of about a year where he would really go and own a lot of that. It'd be a lot more revenue generating as well. So I kind of called him one of our best sales reps. Um, and he would do pretty much just that, and he handed the rest of everything else over to me. Um, I had no idea what I was taking on at the time. I'm not sure he did either. Looking back, I'd be curious to ask him, like, would you do that again? I'm I'm not sure what his answer would be because it was a journey for us all. Uh, like I said, I learned a lot. I was leading a lot of people who were my age and older. Um, and so it it just required a lot of uh self-assurance and confidence, but a lot of teachability as well. So yeah, we we went down that path, and that's kind of how it started, and it worked really well um until the end. He I ended up leaving because uh he restructured the business a little bit, so he's kind of doing his own group um dynamic,
Scaling Pains And Sustainable Growth
SPEAKER_01and so I'm kind of speaking with them, but he hasn't have a need for like a team or CEO or anything in those realms, and so yeah, that's kind of how I got started on that side of it and just got thrown in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. How how big was the how big was the organization?
SPEAKER_01We had about um at our highest, we had about 20 full-time employees and then like 66 contracted facilitators. So, because a lot of it is speaking and facilitating. Um, that wasn't always our full-time people, but we had about 60s to 70 of those uh who would go out and do that.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, it's a great nice, and so so you're you're new into your own adventure.
SPEAKER_01New is that fair to say? Yeah, oh yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah, okay. What is the scariest thing for you right now?
SPEAKER_01Um to be honest, the scariest thing for me is that I that I would grow, I'll grow this a little more quickly than I'm able to keep up with it. That's kind of one of the biggest downsides. I'm gonna say something very controversial because you don't always see this in like business podcasts and stuff. It's always like grow, grow, get bigger, more revenue, triple in three years, and you know, those kinds of things. Um, it's not inherently bad, but I I worked for a company that did that. And um there's a lot of struggle that comes with that too. And so I I think I am really trying to teeter the line of let's grow at a steady pace that we can really maintain without burning myself or other people out. So I want to grow, but uh that is I think that is definitely something I'm kind of touch and go with right now is like what does growth actually look like and how do I want to steward that well rather than just like do it to say I did it, but I have 15 people burned out in the process. Um, it's kind of a tricky thing to navigate. So that that might be one of the biggest hurdles for me right now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's uh it's such a great point that you just brought up because a lot of us try to, and we all want to grow, we all want you know, more revenue, want to grow our business because we all have these kind of goals in mind. Um, and I know also too from personal experience, um, I scaled way too fast um about three years ago. And um, yeah, I had a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01It's hard.
SPEAKER_03I had a lot of stuff going on, a lot of new projects, a lot of um crazy shenanigans. We rented out uh a sports arena, we did all types of stuff uh for a huge conference, and uh yeah, it's it's hard, people. It's extremely hard. Uh yeah, people don't talk about this enough. Yeah, I I think that I think people is the hardest part in any business, um, whether you own it or not. I think just especially for for entrepreneurs, like duplicating yourself is extremely hard. Yeah, um, the being okay with letting go is extremely hard. Uh, and then trusting in individuals, especially if it starts off hot, everything's cool, you know, they're clicking, and then all of a sudden they switch up on you. Um, or oh my god, they found a better opportunity. Maybe it's something that you can't match at all. It's in and maybe there's still a great relationship, but now you're out like this killer person that you had, and it's so hard to fill their role. Um, maybe we don't promote fast enough, maybe we don't fire fast enough.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, there's so many different I've never made that mistake.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so many different ways. So um, I guess with with that being kind of your uh a fear or a challenge that's that you're looking at, when you're looking at other organizations, all the training that you've done, what do you feel like is one um one thing that people constantly struggle with? Like, what do
The Real Communication Problem
SPEAKER_03leaders constantly struggle with, whether they own the business or even if they're uh a C-suite in leadership?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is gonna sound so simple, but it is every single there. I've never been to a place where this doesn't come up, but it's always communication, always, which is even our own organization, the one that I was a part of before, which is so funny because we're a leadership development company, and I would say communication was probably one of our bigger hurdles as well. Um, but I get it all the time. And I, if I'm digging deeper, that's what they tell me is communication. Communication is a problem, communication is a problem. I think one level deeper is probably more so the humility to learn who you're working with and how they work and how they operate, the humility to understand they're a little different than you. They're not going to respond on the email in the same way you will. Let's look at it from their perspective. Like, I think that's the baseline level of what we call communication, but I think it's really this let's have a more humble relationship approach to the work we do. Getting people to kind of navigate into that space is well, it keeps me in a job. So I'm grateful for that. But it keeps me in a job because it's so hard to do. Yeah, extremely hard. Yeah, it really is. So I do a lot of assessments with teams as I work with them because typically that's like the the first light bulb moment of like, oh my gosh, we're different from each other. Like, oh my gosh, that's your strength. And that is my literal bottom level weakness here. So it's really cool to watch those light bulbs go off. Like, oh, maybe, maybe it's not just that we don't talk enough. Because a lot of people think communication is a problem just because they're not talking enough. And I'm like, well, you might be speaking a lot, but not in a way that somebody understands or a way that some people can receive. Um, and so that those are really cool moments where we get to do kind of even more go-so through data. And I'm like, there's something a little deeper to you just thinking of a communication problem. It's probably a little bit more of a managerial problem or a relationship problem. And but man, that is through and through almost every single company I've worked with. That's what comes up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and now, and I'll be honest with you, I don't think everybody's like built that way to communicate in the way that you're you're implying as far as to have the humility within them all within themselves in themselves, but also to learn about another individual that way. Like, there's there's a lot of um, so I have a book called Change Your Circle, Change Your Life, and the the first step is always unlocking somebody's self-awareness, and I feel like they are not self-aware enough with themselves to even lead other people, so they can't communicate yet because they don't know how to communicate with themselves with the with themselves. What do you what do you think about that?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I uh it's what keeps me in a job, like I said. I mean, the more I hear you say that, the more I'm like, yeah, I mean, I'm good to go. I've got I am a hundred, I am a firm believer in that. Yeah, it's um typically people want organizations like or people like myself or you know, the one that I worked with, they want us to come in and it's like a one-stop shop. Hey, we really need this, work with us for three hours and make it better. And we would constantly have to tell them, like, we are not this is not a one and done deal. And I'm I really I'll do it if people really pay enough to want it. But I try to tell them like the transformation does not happen in this three-hour information overload or team building. Like, if if you really want transformation for yourself and for your company, this is like we're playing the long game. We have to break down some of those barriers of self-awareness, the barriers of pride. It's always pride that I see more often than not. Um, and myself too. I mean, I've been in the same boats, but it's you need someone to kind of coach that out of you because it's not our default, like you said. It is not my default when I read an email that infuriates me to be like, let me think about it from their perspective, let me ponder why I'm so upset. Like, we don't, that's not our default. I need my coach to be like, pause, let's think, let's talk, let's communicate. And so um, yeah, I agree with you a hundred, a hundred percent. But that is the beauty in what where I see kind of the coaching business and just the leadership development world is that you get to bring an outside perspective in to keep you accountable.
Cross‑Functional Pressures And Misaligned Goals
SPEAKER_01Um, I don't always keep the clients with me if they're not willing to be accountable. That's kind of a different that they might not be a good fit for me. Um, but when it's like a mutual commitment of like, yeah, we're gonna hold accountability and we want to at least try to get to that place of self-awareness and we're willing to do the long work to get there. Um, those are those are my kind of people and companies that I just I thrive, love to work in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. I I um I think also with uh with leaders, um the communication is is a huge piece. Um how also is that just with the the team that they manage, or is that also with um their own peers as well?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, every um my experience is every team thinks it's every team but theirs, if that makes sense. So it's like, well, operations won't communicate. They they're just horrible communicators to us as sales reps. We're we're not bad communicators with ourselves, but try to get operations involved. They're horrible communication, or vice versa. Like, well, salespeople have no idea what we're doing or what we're working through over here. So it's it's funny because I actually, when I boil down and work with just that one team, like operations, there might be some interpersonal stuff there we got to work through. But typically I feel like I'm just enhancing what's already strong in those teams. When I pull it back and look at, okay, let's look at the whole organizational piece. That's where you really find the rift of like, okay, it looked like you all had strong communication, this one isolated group of this one company in this one space, but now pull it out where all of your expectations are different, your jobs are different, and your pressures are different. That's the biggest thing. The communication really starts to take a turn at that point. Um, because we're led by our pressures, really, at the end of the day. And a sales rep's pressure is just very different than an operation. They're both pressure and they both need to get the job done, but they don't have a mutual understanding of what those look like. Um, and so that's typically where most of my work ends up sitting is in the overlap of those departments and areas.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, how do we how do we better understand that pressure? I mean, that's really good. Like how how do we how do we identify it? Um, how do we understand it? And then how do we communicate with with another individual just to understand what they're potentially going through or what they're under?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I do think you said this before, first step is step is kind of self-awareness, a willingness to even hear it is the a big piece of it. Again, typically I work with a team three or four times before they're even willing to get to that part. But once they're there, um, personally, I I actually do some, I guess you could call it experiential learning activities to get them
The Dice Exercise: Objectives Vs Outcomes
SPEAKER_01to see that to play out in real time. Um, so I might do some. I'm gonna give away all my secrets here if anybody ever works with me, but I'm like, take notes, people. Take notes. But there's one that's my favorite, and they um you get like, let's say it's a team of, I don't know, 20. You pull three people out, put them in three groups, and then you pull one person out of each group, and you tell the groups at large, the three groups, like, hey, your job is to roll the dice, roll as many sixes as you can. Count how many sixes you can. You have a certain amount of time, roll as many sixes as you can. That's what they think the objective is. And the three people I pulled out, they're captains. I tell them the real objective of this activity is to see how many times people on your team touch their face. That's the real objective. But the group thinks we're it's rolling dice, like how many sixes can we roll? And so it's wild to watch it play out because they're feeling so good about themselves. They'll be like, maybe five minutes in, I'll stop it. And the groups will be like, We got 32, we got 32, we got 36, we got 36. And I'll say, Okay, so team captains, why don't you go ahead and give me your number? And they'll be like four, eight, three. And the groups just because they still don't know. They're like, we rolled way more. They like some groups have actually gotten angry. They're like, We rolled way more than four. What are you talking about? And so I let it play out until I then describe, like, hey, what you're experiencing right now is happens in every all of our everyday lives, but the goals were different, the objectives changed, and neither one told the other. And so we have the outcome we have right now. And it's once they see that and live that out in real time and remember, oh, that does feel the same as when I'm responding to that email, then we're able to start. I kind of open the light bulb, maybe is what a better word to say. The light bulb goes off, and we can then go a little deeper. I have them do a lot more um like conversational, more vulnerable conversation pieces out of that. But I typically can't get people there until they like see it firsthand themselves. Like, oh man, that is my tendency. Like, I can't say it's not because you literally just watched me do it. Yeah, you just watched me get furious at the misobjective.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so that's a good activity. That's a really good activity, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, hopefully, not too many people listen to this. Um, many of my people.
SPEAKER_03Hopefully, a lot of people do, but not too many of my it's all right, they're still gonna pay you because the thing is you could you can get the dice, you can you can do the activity, but it's about the facilitation of it all, and it's about the really the learnings and the takeaways. So they're still gonna hire you. It really is they can roll dice all they want, but they're still gonna hire you, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because if you don't facilitate out of it, they're like, What was the point of that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and then you have a lot of people furious,
Self‑Awareness, Coaching, And Accountability
SPEAKER_03yeah.
SPEAKER_01They're like, now I'm just mad, and you're not now I'm just pissed off.
SPEAKER_05Oh man, you guys don't want that, so definitely hire, all right?
SPEAKER_03You don't want that, you don't want that. Uh no, this is this is really cool. And what type of companies do you uh particularly work with? Like what sizes? Uh, can you give some examples of some companies that you worked with in the past?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's the company I was working for that I saw some clients through were a lot of tribal companies. Um, but out of that kind of came just tribally owned. So there was one hospital I worked with out in Arizona. Um, there's been a couple casinos. Uh a lot of the both of those I worked with their executive team and then what I'll probably call like mid-level management on that. Um, so those were really cool to be able to work with. Um, we're with a lot of smaller companies. I I would say those are kind of more my favorite is this the company that is like wants to scale and grow, they're just at the cusp of it, but they've got to get some real foundational pieces in place before they just take off. Um, that's kind of been my my sweet spot. Worked with a couple banks doing some of that. Um, and then some actual leadership companies themselves have just brought me in and I've worked with them, kind of worked with each other on that really. I learned a lot from them too. Um, so it's kind of been all over. For me, it's more so like the team's values and do I align with them? Like you can be in any industry, I'll work with anyone. Um, but for me, it's a lot more like what's the team leadership like? What are what values do they want, and what vision do they have for themselves? And if we're a good match, I'll work with any of them. Um, but yeah, some of the the casinos were fun actually. The dice game, they were really good at.
SPEAKER_05Um, of course.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they just somehow had it down.
SPEAKER_03That's cool. What why do you um why do you care so much?
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a good question. Um okay, so I that's a great question. I have had I've had a couple different, you know, um career shifts right in my life. And I've uh made a very little amount of money and I've made a lot of money, and I've made somewhere in between. And um, I really used to think if I appear successful in that, making the money, doing the things, you know, if I'm appearing successful, I'll be pretty fulfilled by that. Um, and that happened and I wasn't. And I think the reality was because I didn't believe I was actually making an impact anywhere. Like maybe I'm making a lot of money, sure. Um, but the impact felt not very minimal. It's like I'm just doing it for me. Like it, it didn't, I it didn't feel very fulfilling, I guess is the right word. Um, and so I think I have had so much pain in my own journey of leadership that to me, if I think about, you know, even 10 people that I could help either avoid those mistakes or just let them know they're not alone walking through it, the money matters less, the status matters less. The going out on my own is kind of a really big jump from what I was doing before. There was a lot of security in what I was doing before. But I was like, well, to me, there's just there's way more opportunity for for impact, which kind of came along the name of my business higher impact. Um, and if I'm not doing that to me, it's just not worth it. And so I just think it matters because we're not talking enough in this space about true leadership. We're talking about stages and we're talking about how to be good presenters, and we make fun of HR and you know all the LinkedIn things that you see about just horrible people and corporate companies, but you don't see a lot of people willing to step out and coach them out of it. And so um, I just think there's a huge need, and it matters, especially for the younger generation that's coming up, they're not gonna tolerate the inauthentic styles of leadership,
Industries Served And Team Assessments
SPEAKER_01they're gonna find a way to go make money outside of it because they're really good at that, um, which is just one of the things I love about them. So uh yeah, I think it matters for us and for the next generation.
SPEAKER_03So for you to take the jump, take the leap, what um what was the ultimate decision factor for you to do that? Because it's uh I've talked to a lot of people throughout my life. Um, and it's hard. It's hard to take that lead. I know some people still that want to take the leap, but it's been seven years and they still haven't done it. Um and they just go back to corporate or they go back to the thing, but they've been thinking about it. Every time there's a there's a job change or something happens, they're like, oh man, maybe this is it. Maybe, maybe this is the time I'm gonna go out on my own. What was the real uh decision factor for you to actually pull the trigger on it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It was having worked in the company that I did, it was great. Um, but I was pretty limited to working with that team. I mean, if I tried to do a lot more than that, I I was already a little burned out and I would have burned out kind of even more. Um, like you said, when you're trying to scale and you're trying to grow. Like that's just that's a lot, and we were doing a lot of that. And so once that kind of started phasing out, um, I ultimately just knew I was like, I can go work for another team, I can go do this exact thing, even if I want to go find another CEO position, I can do that. But I'm gonna be stuck to just that team. And I guess I just reached a point in my life where that felt too small. I'm like, but if I could do the same sort of impact with four different teams in a month, that seems so much more fulfilling and impactful to me than working really well with this one team. And hopefully they do go somewhere and it meant something to them. Um, but something in me just that wasn't enough anymore. I wanted to be able to um have the flexibility and the freedom to work with a lot more diverse groups of people and people who really need it. And I was just capped where I was. Um, and it was great for what it was, but I was definitely capped there. So I just decided you're either gonna go and do the exact same thing, but stay capped in that way. Again, you could still make plenty of money, but stay capped in that way on the impact side or get a little riskier, but be able to work with just far more people. And so that was kind of the decision for me. It felt like it fell into my lap a little bit, the way that the owner just kind of switched up, you know, his own um or structure and and kind of what he wanted to do, and he didn't need a CEO anymore. So that was, I don't want to say that was a decision at all because, like I said, I could have gone and just got another job. It's not, he gave us plenty of time. It's not like I was like, there's no one else in that company who left and was like, perfect time. I'm gonna go start my own now.
Why Impact Matters More Than Applause
SPEAKER_01Like none of them are doing. Um, but yeah, just seeing what I saw, I think I knew it just where do I want to put my time in this next season of my life? And I knew I wanted to put it in a little bit further than just 10 to 12 really good people um and more organizations than that.
SPEAKER_03Where where did this drive come from? Where did where did the mindset of like this entrepreneurial mindset come from? Like it's it's that's a and don't give me a cliche answer either. No, I where did it really come from? Is it an upbringing? Is it uh I don't know. Have you seen others be successful in it? Are you just like no wired weird?
SPEAKER_01I no, I must I must be wired weird. I really think that's just what it is because I've actually seen um people really only do it not great. Like I have actually not had you know an entrepreneur at least close in my life, and they're just like doing it awesome, scaled really well, took all made all the right decisions. Um so much so for the last four years, I have said, like, there's just no world. I'm never gonna own my own business. I've I probably a year ago was saying that. Um, really? But I wow, I really was. Yeah, I have not, I didn't like, you know, I have not been dreaming about this. I've been dreaming about this work, I will say, for a long time since I was young. Um, never down to like, yeah, let's own my own business. That sounds like something I want to do. I have only seen people struggle, really. Um it's a struggle, yeah, because it is a struggle. I think even for the most successful people, it's a struggle. Yeah, I'm not as front row seat to them, but yeah, it's just a struggle. And so I just thought, why do that? And then I think in this last year, um the low points and really kind of hardships that I had in leading the company I was leading without it being mine, um, and just knowing at the end of the day, this is literally, you don't own any part of this. I think that might have been the tipping point for me of like, if I am going to struggle this hard, make this many hard decisions, have to lead this many people, why am I not just doing it for myself? And something in that was kind of the the um restructuring or maybe rewiring of how I thought I would do what I've always wanted to do, because this is it, a lot of this is what I've always wanted to do. I just didn't know I would structure it this way. Um, so I'm not sure. I mean, my dad was a business owner, he was a small business owner. So maybe there's a little bit of that.
SPEAKER_03Um so you've seen it a little bit, right? I yeah, I have dealership and yeah, I have again, not um not awesome, not in an awesome way.
SPEAKER_01I've seen a lot of the struggle, is what I would say. Yeah, yeah, but I've seen him do it, and I just thought, you know, that was normal. So the yeah, there might be a little bit of my background. Um, but I I think it to me it's just a means to an end, though the owning the business part is like a means to the end of the bigger work I want to do.
SPEAKER_03What is the bigger work? Like, what where do you see this in 10 years?
SPEAKER_01That's a good question. I
Mental Health, Leadership, And Loneliness
SPEAKER_01I would just love to see it impacting people in a way that tells them that they can do the difficult things you and I are saying. Own a business, be in leadership, be in management, whatever those things are that are of impact to them. But I I would love to see a world where they learn that they can do that in a healthy way. Like you and I are talking about the struggle, and that is always going to exist. But I watch so many people go through that struggle with some real unhealthy coping mechanisms. And I truly believe it's because they don't have anyone else helping them, like they don't have somebody else pulling out. It's pretty lonely when you're driving like that. Yeah, um, it's it can be pretty dark. You hit a lot of low points. Like, there's a reason people use those coping mechanisms. But to me, 10 years from now, if I knew there were at least like a small group of people I was cultivating where they are doing hard things that's never gonna stop, but there's a some sort of community around them in which they know they don't have to be so unhealthy doing it. Um, to me that's that's worth it. And if I need to stop leading a team or work for another company to have more time to facilitate more of those conversations, that's just that's worth it to me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Cause you don't want so really the it sounds like the the mental health aspect of the work that you do. So the the outcomes are uh really the organization or the leadership being able to lead more effectively for teams to be more in sync, um, to ultimately help with you know grow their company or um help with the culture of their company to put them in a good direction. But it sounds like the real reason is the mental health of people because when we go through this stuff, we then tend to turn to other things um and go down a slippery slope, um, even in the workplace. Um and that's pretty powerful. Yeah, that's yeah, I would totally agree.
SPEAKER_01I don't actually therapist, don't get me wrong. Yeah, yeah. No, you're the therapist of the world.
SPEAKER_03Coaching kind of we're we're teetering. We're teetering on coaching.
SPEAKER_01It's yeah, it's a teetering. There's I think I heard a great um oh, I can't remember what it was. It was like some kind of quote someone said, but they were saying like therapists help you process and reconcile like what's happened in the past and create a better path for the present. But coaches help you create what's ahead of you and guide you in the steps to getting there. And I was like, Yeah, I could I could subscribe to that. Like, that's a good yeah, that's a good, it's better than me saying, Oh, yeah, I do the same thing in therapists. Definitely not.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, I don't think we're talking about it enough um for sure. And so it's always like, I even now I get asked, like, well, how do you want to grow? How do you want to grow this? But man, no one's asking me like what kind of leader do you want to be? Who do you want to be 10 years from now? Like, what are you hoping people say about you and your character 10 years? Those aren't like flashy questions that drive people, you know. It's like, how much money do you want to make? How kind of what kind of following do you want to have? And so it makes sense for the world we're we live in, but I'd love to just turn those tables a little bit and help people see there's a little more than just that.
SPEAKER_03That's cool. That's cool. Because honestly, I don't see a lot of people in uh the leadership space, leadership coaching space talking about the uh that effect of mental health, you know, within their within their. I mean, sometimes maybe they come off as a wellness coach, sure. Um, yeah, you know, instead, but I do feel like the real core things that are like the real problems, the real pain points that are happening is that mental health challenge. Um, and then unfortunately,
Early Promotions, Confidence, And Character
SPEAKER_03if you have a really dysfunctional team like that and they can't communicate, then people are leaving, then there's turnover, and then it's very costly. Yeah, it's super costly to the organization to have your people just just dropping like flies because yeah, like the the it's toxic or the culture's bad, you get one bad apple, or maybe somebody doesn't know how to they haven't unlocked that self-awareness, so they don't know how to lead effectively. Um, so yeah, it's it's definitely very costly. So that's that's awesome. Uh like just really good important work that you're doing. Um, that also is a little bit different, too, than than what I'm hearing um other leadership coaches talk about.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, you know, you got to pay the bills, so you do have to present yourself. If I just walk in the door and I'm like, listen, I'm gonna keep you accountable for your mental health. There's actually some people who do want that, but it's a pretty low oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. You got to get in the door first, you know. For sure. But at the end of the day, that is, yeah, I think that's the big measure of my success for myself, uh, in working with others.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so so all the job like the job changes, the things that you've had. Can you give us a personal like story of of uh why this work also is so important to you? Just like because you had kind of mentioned why you do it, um, the passion behind it. But you said you kind of played a lot of different roles, did a lot of different jobs. Um, is there a personal story you want to share with us of like why, like, was there something that you that that affected you uh through that process? Was did you have a garbage manager at some point?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like let us in, let us in, let us know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I think my my story is probably a little more one of I I don't know why this is, but from really young, like my first even jobs, you know, out of college, um I just was promoted to leadership roles really young. And if I'm really looking back on any of those significant leadership roles in my life, I had no one leading me really. I mean, on an org chart, they may have been a boss, right? Like I've had bosses before, but the leadership roles that I'd been in, similar to like the CEO one, I mean, it it's to the degree of like I had to learn how to lead myself without anyone leading me or guiding me along the way. And so since I didn't have that coaching at the time and I didn't have that accountability at the time and didn't have anyone showing me how to do that stuff at the time, there was so much about the world that I just thought was normal. Like not being able to sleep at night because I'm just thinking about work, you know, and then not being able to sleep turns into all this anxiety and depression, all this stuff I think is normal because it's like, oh, then it must just be impactful to me. That must be, it must be a good thing that I, you know, have these sleepless nights. But I didn't have anybody telling me otherwise. I didn't have anybody leading me otherwise. I had to make a lot of like hiring and firing decisions um without anyone to telling me this is appropriate, this isn't appropriate, do this, don't do that. I mean, I just never had that um in a lot of my career, most of my career journey. If I look back, it there was maybe one uh with a job I had right out of college. Um she was a she was a great leader, but I work for a really short time. And so from there it was just like trial by fire in every single instance that came up in leadership. Um, and there were a lot of them. And um I really had to navigate, thank God. I don't know why I got lucky enough to pull myself out of it and get the smarts to get a coach and a therapist and all those things, but um thankfully it wasn't worse than it could have been. But I was like, this is how people get like there, this is there are so many more people in this seat than me. And no one is talking about it. And even to me, like no one ever taught the only reason that I kind of got out of that space and that head space was that I just made the decision to get a therapist or get on medication or find a coach. But a lot of people, number one, don't even know that's an option. Um, but if they did, it that might not be the option that they think they want to take um as well. And so they might not think they need it. So yeah, I mean, I I definitely had a lot of stories of I wouldn't say had bad managers ever. Um, but a lot of the positions I found myself in just they expect you to just do it, just do it and lead and uh you know, let us know if you need anything. But I didn't even know if I needed something because I was 25. I'm like, I have no idea. What should I need? I have no idea what I'm doing. Um and so that that I
Not Everyone Should Lead
SPEAKER_01think is kind of a story that's resonated in every single job I've had that has been a constant theme. Um, and so that those types of leaders are very um, very personally, I'm very personally drawn to um and and would be would be connected with in that way. But that's just so many more people, so many more of us than what you think they are, you know, because outwardly they look successful. And they are, and I did, I did look, there's a reason somebody asked me to just take their company, you know, as young as I was and gave me a CEO title. I still have no idea. I'm like looking back, I'm like, that's crazy, actually. Um, but I did, I knew it appeared as though I knew what I was doing. But man, when you pull back the curtain and you know, you check in on them at 11 p.m., they they probably don't know what they're doing as much for themselves, um, as much as their success is appeared in business.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was gonna I was gonna ask you why why do you feel like uh just to unpack that a little bit, why do you feel like you were promoted constantly into leadership positions early? Like what did people see in you because I think it's a really good lesson though for a lot of people, because um I think in my own life, I feel like if you're really good at your current role, oftentimes a lot of leaders just be like, okay, well, let's just bump bump bump the person up, you know, into a different different role. Um but that doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna kill it in that role either. For sure. Yeah, you know, if you got a you got a really good uh person that's really good at the skill set or the job, and then you put them into a leadership position, that's totally different than probably what they were doing. Um, but what what do you feel like for yourself personally? Like what why why were you promoted so fast? Um, if you had to like kind of boil it down to either uh personality, was it work ethic, was it um communication style? Like, did you just were you really good at uh the schmooze game with uh all the executives?
SPEAKER_01It might be it might be better than I think. I don't know.
SPEAKER_05Like what was it? What was it?
SPEAKER_01I would love to turn around and ask uh those people one day. I don't know, but if I had to guess for myself, I should, yeah, we should make that a podcast. That'd be interesting. Um what did you see in me? I but I I think a couple things. One, and I actually didn't know this about myself until a little more recently, but I think I hold a confidence I thought everyone has. Like I was like, oh, everyone just has that. Um, but I I think I definitely have kind of an outward-facing confidence that is more unique to me, where I've just never said I can't do something. I'm always gonna find a way to do it. Just never. And I think for you know, my last job, I think that was something that got me promoted pretty quickly was there was just never like a oh, I don't think I can figure that out. I don't know if I can turn our books around for the last three years. I just was like, yeah, I can do it. I'll I'll figure it out. Like I'm gonna find people to help me figure it out. And I did. And I think a lot of that boils down to it must just be some kind of like internal drive or confidence that that I that I have um in that. But I think the other piece too is um I've gotten better at this in in my career, but I'm a pretty direct person as well. Like I I cut through the fluff pretty quickly, and so I think there may have been something trustworthy about like I really believe I'm seeing what I'm getting with you. Like, I don't think there's something behind it. Um, and I was the same way even with the boss that I just left. I've always told him exactly what I think when I think it, whether he likes it or not. Um, and I was doing that early on. I remember one of our first conversations actually with he and I. Um, I was still like an entry-level employee. I cannot believe looking back, I said some
Clarity Of Expectations Beats Career Ladders
SPEAKER_01of this stuff to him. But there was a a team of ours, and they were it, there was a little bit of a culture shift happening, but I was like, they are all talking so much trash about you and the company, like all of them out there, but no one was telling him, none of his truck reports, you know, nothing like that. And so I just walked in as this like entry-level person, and I was like, Look, I don't know if you want to know this or not, but it's been like months, and they're they are talking a bunch of crap about you out there. And I'd love for you to not tell them I said that, but I feel like someone's got to tell you this is not going as well as you think it is. Like it's really, really, really not. Um, and he has kind of a lens of view, everything a little too positive. And so I was like, you're like it's just not working. I don't know if you know that or not, but it's not. Um, and I didn't think that that would mean or do anything. I just was like, someone's got to tell him. Like, he has got to know. Like someone has to tell him. And then I just left, but looking back, I'm like, I think just different things I've done in my career like that just build trust over time. Um, I've really always like hoped and prayed I'd I'd never be taken to spaces my character couldn't keep me.
SPEAKER_03Um, and so I'm hoping that you know they're never taken to spaces where your character couldn't keep you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I I I have hoped that and prayed that just to not be yeah, not be taken to at least high enough or to spaces big enough that my character can't keep me. I've seen way too much fallout uh with that to care or to not care about that. And so I I guess it's my hope is that they've seen confidence, they've seen character, they've seen someone who they could trust. Um I've always been there I've very I can't think of a time, you know, I would lie to any of them. Um again, maybe if I was taken to a space my character couldn't keep me, I would be lying. I don't know. But for where I've been, it um I I would say that those are probably a couple of things that have helped. It's wild because it's not any kind of special skill set. Like I've never been an expert in anything. You know what I mean? I've never like, I don't have this, I don't know if my IQ is wildly high or you know, like there's no kind of um special skill set I have. I think it's just the ability to hold myself accountable, hold people accountable, and say what I mean and do what I'm gonna do when I say I'm gonna do it. Um, I think are the things that kind of take you to those places.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I think you just described your superpower.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I well, I was thinking, I was like, dang, I think I'm taking I am taking my answer. He asked me that, and I'm gonna go with another one.
SPEAKER_05I'm like, I think you just did. Thankfully, you went there.
SPEAKER_03Holy crap, and I can I honestly I could see that in you. I could definitely see the directness, um the no BS attitude, but in a more because you're softly spoken, and even though it's probably different modes to that, but softly spoken, but
Motive For Leadership And Recommended Reading
SPEAKER_03you're very but it's in a it's in a it's in a way that somebody can receive it well, it's not in a way where it's just like being at you, you know, told at you, at you, at you. Even in our in our one conversation here today, I'm I'm already seeing why somebody in leadership would be like, Oh, okay, I think I think we can promote her, you know, to to this, or or she can lead people and have that trust factor too, because um, I also feel like from this conversation, you're a great listener, which is I think those two things, a good listener and a doer, it's rare.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's true. It is rare.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, some people are great doers, but man, they don't know how to listen with a lick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it's true, or they don't want the feedback.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they don't want the feedback because it slows them down, take it, you know, yeah, can't take constructive criticism. I mean, all those things. Um, or you have you know, vice versa, where somebody is great at listening, but they just don't want to do anything. It's like you follow up two weeks later, like, okay, like you're checking in. All right, where are we at? Oh, I haven't started that yet. Yeah, what do you mean you haven't started? I would have had the whole thing launched by now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've been I've been in way too many of those conversations. I'm like, okay, so did you need to hear me say, go and do that exact thing at this time on this day? Like, I don't, I must not been clear enough. Okay, I can own that. Is it me? Is it you? Yeah, so many of those conversations.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. Yeah, yeah. No, that's cool. That's cool. That's that's I don't see a great superpower. I mean, it's it's you got great, uh, what is it called? Soft skills, soft skills, yeah. Um, and I think that's what leadership is also all about. I mean, yeah, the technical skills is what you need to apply once you're in certain conversations and and and to do your job, but the soft skills is what takes you places, and that's what you know really can lead a team, that's what really can get you um to the places that you're trying to go is really that communication. Back to what you said in the beginning of the podcast, it's communication, yeah.
The 60‑Second Playbook For Scaling Leaders
SPEAKER_03How we're communicating with one another is really the key. Um, the more that we can become more effective in our communication, you know, we can get anything that we want. I mean, the the um I who who said this? Um, I think it was Grant Cardone that said, like, everything that you ever want is in another person's hands, every single thing that you want, and you actually can't get it by yourself. Yeah, you can't you can't get anything in this world on this planet, probably besides self-love.
SPEAKER_01Sure, sure, that might be it.
SPEAKER_03That might be it, but there's nothing else you can get.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You can try to grow your own plants, I guess. Um, but oftentimes, I mean, this society, like if you're trying to get food, you got to go somewhere. You know, if you're if you're if you want to plant your own stuff, you gotta either make your own tools, which you better be good at chopping up stuff and yeah, in the wood and all that stuff, or you gotta go somewhere and get it from somebody, yeah, and there has to be a discourse, there has to be uh conversation or or trade or some some form of uh uh combination of those things to be able to get what you want, and so with that learning lesson of communication, it's people have to learn how to effectively communicate in all roles in their life because it's all a relationship-based uh world that we live in. And if you're bad at relationships, that's gonna be tough, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Especially the lead. I'm like, you just be good. Sometimes I tell people like, just be good at what you're good at. Like, I actually don't subscribe to the notion that everyone's
Where To Connect And Closing CTA
SPEAKER_01a leader. I actually don't think that, which is hilarious because I'm in leadership development and that kind of goes against the grain of everything we say, but I really don't. I'm like, let your people be good at what they're good at. Like, yeah, they I made the mistake once of promoting our top sales rep, and she was so good, so good. But that's what she was. She was a really good sales rep, really freaking good. And then I tried to make her a leader as well, and she was still a fine sales rep, but I was like, you're not doing the thing you're excellent at, though. Like, I should have that I shouldn't have promoted you just because you're really good at that job. Doesn't mean you're gonna be good at a leadership job. Yeah, um, and and so I've made those mistakes myself, but I'm like, I just actually don't think that everyone is kind of called to that space. I I think you can learn it if you're willing to be self-aware too, but it takes a lot of work, and I guess that's why I don't think everyone's a leader, is I don't think everyone wants to do the work. Um so I don't, yeah, unfortunately I don't I don't subscribe to it, but I think um if you want it and you're willing to do it, I think you definitely can be. Um so yeah, I love that. That's a really good, that's a really good, I gotta write that one down. You said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I um yeah, not everybody's ready to be a leader. I totally I I think people can uh some people are ready to grow into it. Um sometimes it's timing. Uh I know in the beginning, like I so I worked eight years in IT at one point in my life. Uh and I started as a technician and I grew into an IT manager, but for about three and a half years, I didn't care about the job. I didn't care. I was a hip hop artist, I did hip hop for 11 years of my life. That's all I cared about. That's all just was like, dude, the music is 100% what I want to do. Traveling all around. I'm I'm getting booked at shows, I'm opening up for major artists, and everything was cool. But the job was just a job. I was just there, yeah, clock in, clock out. I'm out, I'm out. Yeah, and then yeah, and then and then what happened is there was a shift because of timing. Because unfortunately, I I tore my vocal cords when I performed at the uh University of Minnesota.
SPEAKER_00I tore my oh my gosh, I was doing way too many shows.
SPEAKER_03I was doing about a hundred shows a year, so it was like a lot.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, and I I didn't even know you could do that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it happens to a lot of people, people don't talk about it enough. But the number one instrument you have in that kind of line of work, especially as a singer or um uh hip hop artist or anything using your vocals, um is right here. And if you keep using it over and over again, I had three shows that weekend, you know, two universities and one uh like like nightclub that was out in uh and tore them up. Wow, then what happened is oh my gosh, I was depressed for like two and a half years, but through that depression, I then like because I'm a Capricorn, I don't know if you're into all the signs and stuff. I'm not I'm really not really, but sometimes it aligns with you for people. Um, yeah, so I uh I go all in on anything I'm doing, anything I can't, I don't have a light switch. I it's just it's all or nothing. So once the music was like, I can't continue to do this, uh, and I had to come to terms with that of at the pace I was at. I then started to pour myself into the job, and then immediately just like you know, within a few years, just started to get promoted and blah blah blah. So it was a timing thing. It wasn't that I couldn't be a leader, yeah. It was that I just didn't have the focus and the determination in that particular thing to want to be a leader, right?
SPEAKER_01In that, yeah, and so it really was a timing thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_03The desire that's great, yeah, good wording. Yeah, it's the desire to do it. Um, so I think also a leadership, not everybody's born to be or a leader, but it's also a timing thing, like when people need to step up to be a leader. Sometimes people are kind of shocked because even my uh good friend of mine now, but he was my my boss at the time. Um, he saw something in me I never saw myself, yeah. And so he kept giving me chances when I didn't deserve them again and again and again. And then once I was ready, he's like, Okay, cool, boom, let's do it, let's do it. And then I just started to, and I didn't have any formal education. I mean, I'm competing with people that have bachelor's degrees, um, master degrees in IT, and I just was a studier, I was like going to seminars and all types of stuff. Um, and I was just a bookworm about it, you know. Um, to to grow in those spaces, to be in those conference rooms, to have those conversations and communication to help, you know, move whatever I need to do to move forward. So, yeah, um, I think I think everybody listening, like and watching, this is a really good example of like two good examples. I didn't mean to jump in and tell my story, but yeah, you did.
SPEAKER_02It's good.
SPEAKER_03There was there's a two good examples of like you communication is absolutely key, and also if you can learn how to negotiate, that is also a level of communication that people really need to learn how to negotiate, how to talk with somebody, how to actually have a good agreement between two two parties. Um, yeah, those are all things, and it's all about timing. So, as you're looking at your organization, you're looking at your your teams, um, maybe have some conversations and say, like, what do you what do you really want right now? You know, what what would make like what goals are you striving for? We got company goals, but what do they want? And you kind of kicked off the podcast with this. Like, yeah, talk to them about where they're at and have the humility of asking those right questions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's some interesting um research. I think Gallup did it, and they talk about like basic needs of employees, you know, and it the basic need, a lot of us, I think, think it's people want to know where they can grow, they want to know what where promotions are available. All those things are true. That's in the hierarchy of needs, but the very fundamental baseline of needs for employees and organizations is that they know what's expected of them at work. That is it. Like, I know what is expected of me at work. That's the fundamental, everything builds on that. And I see a lot of leaders jump to the growth piece of like, well, where do you want to be and where do you want to go? And I have I've done it myself. And I had so many employees look me in the eye and they're like, Aunt, yeah, I want to do this, but can you tell me what I need to do today? Like, what are you expecting of me today? What is my job right now? And I'm like, that's super fair. I'm not doing a great job of telling you that. I can totally, I can totally expect that and respect that and hear that. But I think again, it's the humility of like just saying, Do you have that desire? Do you not, based on where you are today? And and giving them steps to where they are today to what their future could be tomorrow. There's a book I love on what you're talking about. It's called The Motive by Patrick Lynch. I don't know if you've heard of it before. No, I don't think I have. Let me see. It it's really good. He actually writes like the first half is kind of almost like a story, because he's kind of like a script writer, and then the second half is like the non more non-fiction, like leadership development piece to it all. But yeah, it's called the motive. And he subscribes the idea like, sure, anybody can be put in leadership, but the people who should be in leadership are the ones who have like the mo, like, do you actually have the motive to do all the things you and I are kind of saying on this podcast to be healthy, to be humble, to submit to the needs of your organization and the employees you lead and things like that. And so after reading that book, I actually had to ask myself, I was like, well, shoot, do I do I want to do that? It was a challenging book for me, but it was really good. It reminded me like what leaders actually are and what they're not. Um, and it's kind of countercultural to what culture tells us today leaders are and they're not. So that's a great one to check out if if you're kind of someone who's maybe feeling stuck in that space or trying to figure out if that is a drive that you have. Um, that really helped put some things together for me.
SPEAKER_03When's your book coming out?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. Hopefully, you know, hopefully, I told you I'm gonna have time now. So maybe soon if I get lucky.
SPEAKER_05You said what?
SPEAKER_01Oh man, I was like, wait, did I tell them I have a book?
SPEAKER_03No, no, but you got a lot of great insight. You got a lot of great insight um of how your mind works, and I think there's a lot of learning lessons too that people can really learn from. Um, and I was like, Well, you're promoting other people's books, so why not your own?
SPEAKER_01Um people want no, it's cool, it's cool.
SPEAKER_03I did the same, I do the same. I mean, I there's so many great books, and like there's abundance, abundance, right? There's there's tons out there. I I just uh bookmarked this, so I'm gonna definitely grab this book. I don't think I've heard of this one in particular, so I'm definitely gonna uh take a look. I'm always learning, I'm always like to see. Yeah, I always you know I know I've learned a lot, but there's always more to learn. Like, so I'm gonna get some golden nuggets out of this thing. I guarantee it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, they say leaders are learners.
SPEAKER_03Yes, 100. 100 leader. All right, so in closing, I'm gonna do I'm gonna put you in a hot seat. Okay, I'm gonna put you in a hot seat. So I'm gonna give you a 60 seconds. 60 seconds.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03All right, and I want you to speak to a leader that runs an organization, maybe that um has a team. Um let's say, oh man, what let's see. What's the scenario? It's the scenario is they have a team of about uh let's say uh seven direct reports like that they that they have on their team. Um and it's it's like that uh that small business that's like right on the cuffs of like they need to scale, right? Um maybe they're about 20 to 50 employees, let's just say, somewhere around there for the company. They're looking to get to that next level. Um but they're struggling with with the scalability piece, they're struggling with actually building a culture. Okay, and um they have one or two leaders that were great in the beginning, uh, but as they grow in scale, they don't feel like they can actually stick around.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yep.
SPEAKER_05So I'm gonna give you 60 seconds and I want you to give them I want you to give them some game.
SPEAKER_03This is gonna be a social media clip, by the way, but uh I want you to give them some game of uh what do they need to do or what steps can they can they look into what they have going on? Uh actionable steps, actionable steps that they can take, um, or maybe even questions that they should ask themselves to get to that next level.
SPEAKER_01Okay, all right. You have to tell me when the 60 seconds, yeah, you have to tell me when the 60 seconds is up because I'm sure I'm just gonna keep going. Okay, I don't have a stopwatch, so you're just gonna have to, hey, you're done.
SPEAKER_05Hold on, let me see what I can do. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let's see. This is content. This is content. Hold on. Uh let's see, uh, clock. Do a cyber. It's all right though, because on the social media clip, they're just gonna see you. So I I'm I'm cyber.
SPEAKER_01I would love for them to see you too. I think we're a duo tag team here on this thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, this is all right, hold on. Uh start. Oh my god, I'm putting laps in. Okay. Uh is that right? Stopwatch. Okay, that's good. So I got I got the I got the clock up, right?
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_03So we're gonna run it. All right. Three, two, one, go.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I think what I would tell that leader who wants to scale and Is trying to figure out some leadership pieces in their own journey is that it starts with you. And so you may think the problem is some of the people below you, and it might be, don't get me wrong, you would get there. But the first, very first questions I would ask you is who's leading you? Who's holding you accountable? Um, what do you still have to own that you have not yet owned? So whether that be mistakes or system errors or whatever those things are, there's always something I think we're not willing to take full ownership of. What do you need to own? As the people below you watch you get more accountable, own more of your stuff, do what you do when you say you're gonna do it, you will see either them leave because it won't be the culture for them, or you will watch their culture shift themselves. But as they watch you do it, that will be a clear marker on if there's somebody worth leading or not.
SPEAKER_05Bam, what time to spare?
SPEAKER_01Well, oh man, I had three seconds.
SPEAKER_03I could have given like one little snippet, but you actually had a little bit more because like I started it and you took like a pause, so for like five seconds.
SPEAKER_05So man, you probably had like eight seconds.
SPEAKER_01You probably had eight seconds to speak. You'll have to have me on again for the second half of what I'd say. So we'll leave the people hanging.
SPEAKER_03No, that sounds good. Great advice. Um, so happy to have you on the podcast. Uh, where can people find and connect you? Uh connect with you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, so LinkedIn, uh really all social media. I'm on um Andrea Higher is my personal, so just Andrea underscore higher. Um, but for the business, it's higher underscore impact is uh where you can find it on pretty much all social media accounts. Okay, where we're at.
SPEAKER_03Cool. What what's the main platforms that people need to reach out that you're going to respond?
SPEAKER_01Let's do oh man, that's tough. Okay, let's I'm doing both right now. Let's do mine. Let's do mine for now. Andrea higher, Andrea underscore higher.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay, cool. Is that on Instagram?
SPEAKER_01It is on everything. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Oh, everything. Okay, got you, got you. Okay, cool. Because I I always tell people uh that I have on the podcast, everybody's reachable. You know, everybody that I have on this podcast, um, everybody's reachable, and I encourage people to reach out. So if something hurt is something that you heard here today uh really resonated with you, really connected with you, definitely reach out to her. Um because you never know where that conversation is gonna go. You have no clue where that conversation is gonna lead to. It could better your organization, it could better you, um, it could better your team. And or it might just be, you know, I also also say, like, uh, even like referrals, or hey, I know somebody that can help you. Yeah, like you just never know what these conversations can lead to. So um, I always encourage people to reach out. Um, and oftentimes they do. Yeah, oftentimes do.
SPEAKER_01I could talk about this stuff all day, so I hope they do.
SPEAKER_03Well, cool. Well, so great to have you on. Um, everybody, please comment, subscribe uh to the show. Share this with somebody that needs to hear it. Don't be selfish. Share this with somebody that needs to hear this message today. Uh, and don't forget, if you can change your circle, you can change your life. Thank you so much for being on, and we'll catch everybody on the next episode. Peace. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. And don't forget to hit that notification bell for more amazing content that we're gonna be putting out. And don't forget, you can change your circle to change your life.
