Omnichannel - Mastering Heart-Centered Leadership: Wisdom of a Tech CEO Lindsay Williams Stanton
Episode Date: March 8, 2024Send us a textHave you ever considered the sheer force of heart-led leadership? Today's episode features a riveting conversation with Lindsay, a trailblazing tech entrepreneur in the HR space, wh...o brings her own narrative of loss, empathy, and the transformative power of emotional intelligence in business. Together, we unpack how authenticity and compassion in leadership not only foster stronger relationships but also fortify the very core of an organization.The journey of a leader is perennially evolving, and here we uncover the impact of vulnerability and the dismantling of fear in the echelons of command. Reflecting on the profound teachings of Brené Brown and my own leadership path, we explore the paradoxical strength found in admitting our limitations. Gender expectations in leadership and the art of empathizing without overstepping boundaries also come to the fore, offering a nuanced perspective on maintaining personal and professional spaces.As we wrap up, I share some of my most personal and effective strategies for managing emotions and preventing burnout. From meditation to mindfulness, and even a little peek into how I navigate stress, this episode is packed with valuable tips for any leader looking to sustain their presence and effectiveness. Lindsay's insights leave us with a heartening reminder of the vitality of empathy and understanding in shaping not just successful leaders, but inspiring human beings.Get a FREE Copy of the High Converting Online Events Book: https://book.dominikalegrand.com/
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When we're working through challenges and how we come to the table with them,
it is really an exercise of how we handle ourselves from the day to day.
And one thing I would mention is every little thing adds up
because you are reframing your response and de-escalating your response
when the little things happen.
I feel like most leaders feel like they have to know everything.
They feel like they have to present themselves that they know everything to their team.
Otherwise, they're going to create a lack of confidence.
I'm so happy to have you on the show today, Lindsay.
And let's see where we're going to go.
I know that you are a heart-led entrepreneur.
And I really want you to talk about that a little bit with the audience, with the listeners.
If you can just share a little bit about your journey as a heart-led business owner, that would be lovely to start with.
Yeah, that could be an episode in and of itself.
My journey has definitely been a wild ride.
So as you know, I lead a tech company in the HR space.
So we're helping digitize the way that people find and recruit talent.
And it's interesting because I think the HR space does have a lot of female leaders in it.
But I would say there always can be more. I've
seen it grow, grow over the time that I've been in it to me, like obviously a man can also, uh,
you know, lead in a heart centered way. Um, I do feel like it's kind of that feminine energy that
will take us there, um, and kind of be the driving force.
I feel like it's much more of a conversation now in general than it used to be.
And I think a lot of that has been the huge pendulum shift in power, if you will, and
employees demanding, especially post-COVID, if you post-COVID, if you will, I mean,
that there needs to be met in a bigger, deeper way. And so I think that to some extent it's
been forced for me. It's been a natural flow. I think leading in a heart-centered way was very resonant for me and came very natural for me after Roger, our CEO, and the love of my life, my spouse, all the things passed away.
Because one thing that grief does for you is it reframes everything and what actually means something and what actually should be important.
And you look at things through a different lens.
And so for me, that was a big catalyst behind a shift.
I mean, I've definitely always been an empath and other people's feelings have always been very important to me.
And I do feel that all business is relationship driven, whether it's your internal, you know,
and the way you lead an organization or the way you are facing with your customers.
At the end of the day, it's all relationship and we all can get a product or a service
from anywhere, right?
I mean, so you want to go where you feel the most
seen and comfortable. And so I think that starting from the inside out just makes sense. And I think
more and more organizations are starting to see that. And I'm seeing a huge rise, at least in our
space. And I think it's across the board and more females in the
C-suite and more of a focus around the people and not just counting people as a number or a
social security number, but truly diving into the people. And that's so critical, especially
when you think about the history, the knowledge behind the products of your organization,
having that like foundational element of long-term employees is so important.
I love that. I was noting as you were speaking, and I guess you kind of answered that question
already, but how do you personally define a heart-led, like heart-led, like a heart-led
business or the leadership that leads from the heart? Yeah, I think it really comes down to,
I mean, you can say that you can act like it in the day-to-day, but I think when it really comes
down to it, when stuff hits the fan, you know, if there's challenges within the organization, or probably even more
than that, if a particular employee that's been with you for a long time is going through something
and can't be as present or need some grace and flexibility to be able to recognize that and not only formulate things in a very set way, you know, like not necessarily
everything has to be like, quote unquote, by the book, but like really working with people through
their challenges and being able to meet them where they're at. I think that's when like the rubber
really meets the road. You can act like that from a day-to-day perspective and certainly carry that like into your meetings
with your staff and things.
But I think if when, you know, somebody is going through something or if there's turbulence
or challenges, I mean, every business has spikes, there's ebbs and flows, that's just
natural.
Like when you're going through those things, what does that look like? And who are
you putting first? And how are you carrying yourself when things get tough? I mean, it's
very similar to how we handle ourselves in our relationships when we bring emotional intelligence
to the table, you know, and don't aren't reactive, but process. And that could be taken into consideration,
like if, you know, an employee sends an email you think is like a little too edgy or like got a
little too much heat behind it or something like that, like just slowing your roll, not responding
right away, hitting the pause button, waiting 24 hours and really digesting and think about, OK, what is that person going through right now?
And how can I bring grace to this situation and try to de-escalate the flame of the fire versus, you know, adding more fuel onto it?
So another long winded answer.
No, I love that um again a couple of things came to mind as you were speaking and i want to ask you this before we we jump into the next
question you did mention that when things are but shit hits the fan um you really kind of
very quickly realize what's really important.
You know, it's just like even, you know,
if anything happens to you, like you go back to your core
and you see what is important.
And I do believe that our instances when I'm thinking I'm going to die,
for example, I'm on a plane, I'm like super nervous flyer.
So I'm like every time I'm boarding on a plane,
I got into a point where, okay, if turbulence happens,
I'm going to be panicking,
but I'm going to go back to my core really quickly.
And I'm going to get a glimmer again.
I'm going to remember again.
So now, because I'm, it's almost like all the layers are done
and it's just back to your core and what's important.
And you go through it like in instances, right?
And it's love, by the way.
I don't know what it is.
I think it's just at the core of everything.
Everything.
I don't know.
That's every emotion is like love, you know, even sadness, anger.
Love or fear.
Like everything's either from love or fear.
Yeah.
But at the same time, you know, those glimmers when we see like what's important
and I just want to ask you like what was that you realized that okay this is important versus okay
I thought that this was but it's really not yeah that's a really that's obviously a really big
question I think um the way you asked it and thinking about your experiences,
like with the flight, for example, did bring up another thought too, that these things,
when we're working through challenges, like, and how we come to the table with them,
it is really an exercise of how we handle ourselves from the day to day. And one thing I would mention is every little
thing adds up because you are reframing your response and de-escalating your response
when the little things happen. Like back to the email example that I was mentioning,
like instead of flying off the handle, if you like take a deep breath and respond,
what's really interesting and what I've noticed, uh, and I will get to your question,
but is that, um, it doesn't even have to be a big thing. It starts foundationally with the
little things. And the more you kind of force yourself, if you will, to come at things with
that more, um, intentional response, the more it happens naturally.
And therefore the less panicked you are when something, when shit really does go down. Um,
and it's like, you've retrained your brain and your nervous system to deal with things differently.
And I think that's really important. I think for me, you know,
um, I know, you know, my story, uh, because we know each other. Um, but, uh, for me, grief was
that catalyst, that recalibration, that big bang moment. I don't think you necessarily have to have
that, but, um, that reframed a lot of things, you know, I mean, like there were obvious, you know, you do, you do life and there's like, you know, things that Roger and I thought were important, like, you know, where we live or, you know, the house we're in or all these things or, you know, what's going on with, you know, this customer or, you know, this aspect of the business. And at the end of the day, when, um,
you experience the passing of somebody that's especially somebody that's, you know, part of
your every single day, uh, in many cases for me, at least like every minute of every day, pretty
much, um, it reshapes what's important. And also you realize the things that you look back on.
I was just talking to a friend about this the other day
and who also lost her husband.
And we were saying how like some of the times
when we were like the most stressed
or really like going through something,
like those are like some of the best memories,
you know, how we like persevered and we did the
thing and we, you know, but like, and you look back on it and like how your response was or how
your, you know, spouse's response was. And it's like, those are some of the best memories. So
it doesn't all have to be, uh, rainbows and unicorns for there to be like joy in it, you know, and being able to kind of hold both.
I love that. I think when you were just saying that, it does seem like you have to have a great
mindset to look at the lessons in the bad things, you know, because in the good things, it's easy,
like you like, okay, but in the bad things, it takes some serious thinking, you know because in the good things it's easy like you like okay but in the bad things it takes some
serious thinking you know like okay
well and i think you know the more you reframe the quote-unquote bad things to your challenges
like the more it just it starts to happen naturally for you you know where you're like you're I've noticed that
my immediate like response or reaction to something isn't like oh why did this happen
it's like okay there's a reason I know there's a bigger plan behind this I just don't know the why
yet oh my god that's so wise to do that okay, there's a bigger lesson here. I mean, you know, it's
amazing, by the way, to be able to do that. And there is the empowerment, you know, dynamic.
There's a drama triangle and the empowerment dynamic. And it's basically, I don't know
if you know, the drama triangle has a victim, the rescuer and a persecutor. And basically,
it's the theory is that we go through if we are
in the drama triangle either we're victim like oh poor me life happens to me um we are persecuting
when we are blaming like it's your fault like this happened to me right and then rescuing is like i'm
gonna fix it for you but it's not because of you because i want to feel better about myself
and so the drama the empowerment triangle is basically the victim becomes the challenger
and then that is like okay what did i learn from this and what are the lessons are from me and what
options do i have right and in each role um for example the the rescuer becomes like okay i believe
in my power and i believe in other people's powers so that if I can do it they can do it so I don't have to save them so again I think even if you don't know I think you're doing the empowerment
triangle yourself and you're like basically that's what you are doing practicing by recognizing the
lesson you know because I think there has to be a time when I'm like okay I'm a victim poor me
I feel sorry for myself like I can't believe it's happening to me that is a process of like coming to
okay what was the lesson here and I think that takes time and like you
started trains your nervous system to be getting there yeah yeah it helps you
regulate more on your own and I think it just shortens the time around each of
the cycles that you might
emotionally go through to, you know, when something happens. And when you can do that for yourself,
you bring that to your relationships. And, you know, part of that is obviously leadership. And
if you've got, you know, people that report into you and you're bringing that, you know, type of ability with those relationships,
it just helps everybody else regulate better too. Like they, I, you know, firm believer that we,
you know, everything relates to energetics. And, um, at the end of the day, that's what we are is
the energy that we bring to the table. And, um, I think when you lead yourself that way and you lead your teams that way, then you set the standard for what's acceptable in the organization and how people should treat each other.
And it impacts the teams and the breakdown of the teams within your organization too. I love that you share that because oftentimes I'm having client meetings
and sometimes I go to their team to just be there as the marketing person
and like listen to the whole conversation.
And a lot of the times I'm still seeing the traditional leadership,
you know, the I'm going to put you in your spot so you learn the lesson you know it's not it's not the um it's like the people fearing the person like they don't even want to
unmute themselves to say anything because they are just like they don't want to be put in the spot
they don't want to be yelled at they don't want to be like just feeling this discomfort and fear
like when are they gonna lose their job and I love that you said that there can be leadership where it's not based on fear, you know, and it's not how we can get
respect. I don't even know what is it that we're needing, but what is your take on those traditional
leadership, you know, scenarios? Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think I'm going to
add to that too too that I think that
fear can be involved when you're not necessarily even trying for it to be so I know like in the
past for me like I'm a very high drive type a person and I've shifted that a lot as well over
the last few years where I'm like more a balance now of like go flow go
flow you know like kind of back and forth like do the work let it happen you know and being able to
release the outcomes but um you know with like kind of that natural like drive that I do have
and that I've always had I think um I've heard over the years that like people
were afraid of me and that always shocked me because I always try like I've always tried to
be like kind above all else you're so cute on top of that I don't even know what it is
thank you but I've heard it before so I think like like sometimes when you and it was more than once.
So I think sometimes when you come to the table and like you're very high drive, you can unknowingly, certainly unintentionally create fear because like you might like people maybe have a perfectionist like type of a feel like they need to hit certain things
with you because they see how you're you know how you expect for yourself that's what I theorize
about it but so I think you can I think you can bring fear to the table even unintentionally is
my point with this and um to me I you know about, you know, people like Brene Brown and like the
impact of vulnerability and having those honest conversations with people is the easiest way
to, um, really kind of try to take fear out of it.
Because if you're vulnerable, raw and transparent with your people, and I'm not telling, I'm
not saying you have to tell every aspect of your personal life or anything like that as a leader, but if you come to it with
authenticity and vulnerability, like if there's a situation you're like, I don't know, I'm going to
have to think about this. I'm going to have to really process this. Like, I'm not sure what we're
going to do next. And I welcome your opinions, you know, for example. If you come at it with that, I think that
it's funny because I feel like most leaders feel like they have to know everything. They feel like
they have to present themselves that they know everything to their team. Otherwise, they're
going to create a lack of confidence when it actually can be the exact opposite and oftentimes
is. Like the more you open yourself up to say,
like, I'm not exactly sure how we're going to navigate this situation or, you know, deal with
what's going on, like right now in the market or whatever it might be. But I'm here, I'm going to
do everything in my control to help us be successful. And I welcome your thoughts and opinions on it. With that type
of a more open conversation, a vulnerable conversation, I think you always decrease
fear. And it's funny because like, people want to know that like you're real, you know, and I feel
like when you come to the table with authenticity and
transparency even when you're not confident or don't have all the answers
that actually translates so much better to people than like trying to force
something down their throat that they know isn't like real and that they don't
feel confident that you know what you're doing, if that makes sense. I love that.
And I think, again, as you were speaking, it made so much sense, this vulnerability aspect.
You know, often there's a fear that unless I know it all, I cannot be a leader.
You know, I have to know it all.
I cannot show that I don't know.
There's a book called The Hard Thing About the Hard Things.
And it's just about this.
It's about how to be honest as a leader.
And it was a tech company that was getting bankrupt.
And the owner didn't want to tell anyone, the team, that things are not going well.
Because he thought that as a leader, he should know better and should not share these things you know shelter people from the
reality of the business and yeah I think that's such an important thing to have those conversations
what would you be saying to leaders that are not leading organizations but but leading, for example, masterminds programs, you know,
then then they are paid to be there. And it's opposite game. Can they show that they don't know all the answers? Like, what do you think about those scenarios? 100% I think like, for me,
I wouldn't hire somebody as a coach or mastermind or to learn from, if I didn't also think they were constantly
learning themselves. And we all bring a different lens of experiences to every interaction,
you know, regardless of age, demographic, like every one of us brings different elements. Your
lived experiences are completely different than my lived experiences. So to think that just because you're, you know,
leading a mastermind or coaching somebody that they can't also help you, I think is naive and
limits your ability to learn. And at the end of the day, I don't know about you, but I'm here,
like I'm 100% here to learn. And that's why we're in these earth suits is to learn and, you know, achieve the purposes that we were created to achieve. And I think that we hinder that process when we limit who we can learn from. And we can all like learn from each other in different containers, even if we are the quote unquote leader of those containers. Yeah, I love that. Did you ever feel
pressure to be having it all together as a leader? Um, probably before going through loss.
Yeah, probably before going through loss. And I think like, just as a gender, we identify as female tend to be worse at that, like feeling like we have to have everything 100% all together, which obviously no one ever is going to have 100% all together, nor are we going to feel that we set. And, um, I think once you let go of that and recognize that nobody
does have it all together, um, and that the world needs more female representation from a leadership
perspective and more of that feminine coming into it, I think it, um, it's freeing in a lot of ways
because, you know, nobody, nobody knows the answers and we're all
here just navigating and doing the best we can to navigate. So once you set that expectation,
you allow yourself room for making mistakes and growing from that.
I love that. I want to kind of circle back to what you said before about
you said that in a hard lad business, if an employee is going through something,
there is a communication and the compassion of that, you know, that they can share what's
happening. Maybe it affects your performance in at work, know what do you think is and i want to say this because
um my my partner specifically he has his own employees and i feel like i know everything
about them and their drama and everything you know there's a lot of like compassion from his
and empathy and i love that he has all of that empathy for the employees but at the same time i
feel like there are it's it's getting out of
control in a way that it's just it's he's like going into their personal life too too much they
share like weird details like oh her daughter is having an abortion so they need some money i don't
know like things like that like they come too personal so what do you think is the line between the employees being vulnerable and listening and being compassionate versus like going overboard and like really caring too much and giving them too much of our compassion?
Yeah, I mean, that's a complicated question for sure.
I think that for everybody, what that line is going to feel like is different because, you know, your own boundaries are probably different.
For me, I like I know enough about what's going on with our employees, but not like an overabundance of knowledge where it's like, OK, I didn't need to know that. So I would say like, it's a little bit arm's length, but just knowing
enough to like, you know, like if somebody, you like, if one of your leaders like just had a baby
or they, that you know, that they have a parent that's ill, like, or terminally ill, for example, like, just, I think that is enough, like, most employees in
the course of conversations, you know, you learn those types of core to their daily activities,
things. And I think that is enough to, to bring, you know, that level of grace to the table,
and be able to give consideration, You know, like I've got
one employee who's phenomenal and she's always worried about like letting me know if she's going
to be like out doing something with one of her kids for a couple hours or whatever the case might
be. But, you know, she's getting her work done. So like, you don't need to check in with me to that extent, you know,
like, and I think that's like the balance too, right? Is, um, are they showing up and delivering?
And if they're showing up and delivering, my thought process always is like, we're good.
You know, like, I'm not gonna worry about, I'm not gonna micromanage. You either can do your
job and are, you know, capable of performing or you're not like me micromanaging you isn't going to help your performance so yeah so I think
that's part of the balance too I love that you mentioned that as well because you as a leader
you don't need to be updated on every single thing right because and that goes back to the
empowerment triangle like i trust in your power you know i i trust that you got it so you got it
you know and that i love that i love that you master that yeah which um can be super freeing
for you as a leader too because you know you're freeing up your time. And also, they if your employees see that, that that's how you handle
yourself, then everybody that reports into them, they're going to give them that same ability to
manage their calendars and you know, their task. So it definitely does, you know, go for full circle
within the organization. Did it take you time to start trusting the people that you hired?
Yes. I think, you know, most of our team are, have been with us for over five years. A lot of
them are close to the 10 year mark. So, you know, like there's 100% trust. But yeah, I mean, you know, and for me, like being, you know, a recovering type A,
um, like it's, you know, the testing things at the beginning, it's the testing things with small
doses. I would say I'm much better at that now than I used to be. Like, I just don't sweat a lot
of those like detailed things. Um, unless somebody gives me a reason to, you know.
So you came, you came far basically. Yes. Yes. This used to be a real struggle.
Yeah. But you also have different things that you're, you want to focus on. So that really
frees up your time, right. To be letting people do their things, you know, and trusting that they are doing it.
If they're not doing it, you'll figure it out anyway.
Exactly.
I love that.
What I wanted to go from here is,
you mentioned being an empath,
and that's interesting to me because,
and again, I don't know if you tend to experience that,
but you tend to open up people easily.
So that's why I was asking, like, so what is the fine line for you?
Because, you know, people can share things sometimes that it's way too much information, you know, and you don't even need to know because of your nature of being an empath.
Yeah, I think a lot of that is guiding the conversation. Like, you know, if it starts to go, you know, a little too detailed, a little more information than you want, maybe just like gently circle it back to like a work question or tasks that they just shared with you. You know, I think there's
ways to do it that are much more subtle and just make everybody more comfortable. But then that,
they're like, that starts to set up some boundaries for them too.
I love that. I want to ask you this. What was your biggest fuck up as a leader?
Oh, God. TBDd i don't know um yeah i don't know i mean i would say i probably the thing that comes to mind first
would be like just in the past um just being like super hypervigilant about everything and feeling like I just needed to,
to, to know. And, um, that really stemmed from like control, you know, and just, uh,
I think releasing that, uh, has been huge. Um, but you know, I look how uptight like I was when
I was living and leading that way. And, and um it's so much better health-wise
to to like not lead like that so I guess I think I would say that I love that thank you I mean right
now as we're having this conversation I can tell you're very chill about that you have you release
a lot of control and I think maybe that's also part of your your journey and I know that you
are um doing you're practicing your reiki healer or you're doing that actively still can you talk
a little bit about that as well yeah yeah so um my side gig is um besides running the tech company I
am a grief coach and I'm trained in somatic healing and, um, in Reiki that, uh,
the training program I went through is a Reiki master that is, um, very intuitive based. So,
uh, pulls in a lot of mediumistic abilities. Uh, and, uh, it's interesting cause it actually does
100% layer into leading the tech company too. Uh, because you know, like what I feel in my body,
like I can do these things to myself. Right. And, um, I could be like, okay, if I'm starting to get
upset about something like, okay, do these things to regulate. Um, but yeah, it's, uh,
it's amazing how much energy we store and hold and, different parts of our body, both like just
like in our physical body, as well as like our chakra points that can lead to things with our
physical body. And being able to release that has an enormous impact. And I love being able to see
the freeing aspect actually of that healing with the people that I work with.
It's pretty awesome.
I love that.
And I wanted to ask you a couple of emotions that I think most entrepreneurs in leadership feel.
And maybe I want to ask your take on that in identifying those emotions.
And maybe if you can give some tips on processing them for the listeners.
So the first one is overwhelm.
Yeah, I know it's completely counterintuitive.
Overwhelm is so common.
And I would say, like, if you've been through any type of trauma or grief going into overwhelm happens like snap of the
fingers I mean just so much faster um but uh a couple things a couple tools that I use when I'm
like feel myself in a state of overwhelm number one step away um so it's I know it's counterintuitive
because it's like no I have to do all the things but you don't have to do any of the things. Just like take a minute, take a beat.
Um, I do like the box breathing, the four by four. Um, for those who don't know box breathing,
it's, um, inhale for a four count, um, hold for a four count, exhale for a four count and hold for
a four count doing that for just like, you know, five cycles is definitely a game changer going for a
super short walk another great way to self-regulate and get yourself back to a better spot
and then just creating a little bit of time and space between whatever's you know making you feel
overwhelmed is huge I always find that my response to something 24 hours later
is completely different and always 110% better than if I had fired something off or made the call
in the heat of the moment when I was feeling overwhelmed. So as hard as it is, I think when
you're in that state of overwhelm to try to create some time and space, it is so, so important and the result is going to be better for it. So, um, even though you might
feel like you have to like cram and get all the things done, just do yourself that favor because
the outcome is going to be so much better. I love that. Um, exhaustion. um i sleep is a priority to me and i do not think um in general as a culture we prioritize sleep
i you know i've listened to a lot of like self-help type like podcasts audibles all the things and
um you know you're useless without a good night's sleep. And a lot of the things that I listened to talk about how we glorify, you know, getting four hours sleep or whatever, you know, which is
just crazy to me, um, to me, like, and especially, you know, with grief and trauma, like you have to
prioritize sleep because nothing actually nothing like puts you into that overwhelmed state faster
than lack of sleep. So the two definitely go hand in hand. Um, but so for me, it's carving out, like my phone is on
silent at nine o'clock at night. Like it will not be, I will not hear your text. I will not hear
your ding, like whatever it is, like I will not hear it after nine o'clock at night. Cause that's
my time. And you know, I'm a big meditator. You don't have to
meditate long, but five to 10 minutes helps you, your body trans, you know, like, like go into that
state of like pre-sleep and dot, you know, kind of downshift a little bit before you actually go
to bed. But yeah, I mean, I treat sleep like a religion. Like I treat my workouts like it's completely productive and it's going to happen.
I do require eight hours.
So that's just a non-negotiable for me.
And I think that a lot of people could use to implement something like that.
Maybe it's not eight hours for you.
Some people need 10.
Some people only need seven.
But feeling into your body and what
that looks like for you and then make it a non-negotiable. Fear. That's the biggest one,
right? I think, you know, we talked about that a lot, I think throughout the conversation today.
And a lot of it is, it does start with the little things and
reframing your mind not to freak out at the little things will make it more of an automatic process
when the big stuff goes down. So, um, practicing that day to day, you know, whether it's like
running late and you feel yourself going into that state of panic like just you know
like creating some self-regulation and doing some breath work and just reframing that it's really
not that big a deal taking the time in those moments when it's the little things will 100%
help you overcome fear when like some it feels like something big later i love that and i think
yeah like you said throughout this conversation we did mention a lot you know on processing those
emotions i'm gonna say the last one to be burnout but i'm not sure if that's emotion
why it's like if that ever happens to a leader what do do you think is the best way for them to what to do about it, basically?
Yeah, I think if you get to that point and you haven't created boundaries to prevent it up until that point, like it happens and it's too late, just learning from it and setting up boundaries.
You know, success doesn't look like working 24 seven.
And I know when like you're starting or and leading a company, um, you know, you work a lot of hours and that's just natural, but you have to have time for you because if you're not healthy it doesn't matter you know none of it matters if you're not
healthy and you can't be there to run your organization if you are not healthy and um
mentally sound and so in order to do that you have to protect your health your body you know
doing things like moving and you, whether that's exercise or just
like being out in nature, those types of things. And then obviously your sleep, like we talked
about, like those key things are so important to preventing burnout. I love that. So basically just
take care of ourself, prioritizing our health so that we can show up for our
businesses. Yeah. One advice that you would give to your younger self?
Probably just to suck up and be in every moment, that it's so easy to get distracted, you know, like there's, it's always like squirrel, right?
But I think just being present.
Do you actively practice being present? Or do you feel yourself like, oh,
I need to be present here, or your mind tends to shift? No.
That's one of those things, again, like the more you practice and the more it happens
naturally I don't have to really force it anymore but um if like especially early on if I felt
myself like kind of getting distracted or doing you know multiple I like my the staff has always
teased me over the years that like I am like the queen of like multitasking like and like legitimately
totally multitasking and like doing the things um but I think the more that you stop yourself
from doing that and the more that you're like really truly in the moment you get to see things
for more of what they actually are and you miss a lot less uh and to my point earlier like
some of the things that at the end of the day uh are most important to you and that are you look
back on on the like with the fondest way can be things that you would never have thought that
when you were in the moment so but you have to be in the moment to be able to remember them. So, yeah.
I know.
And I just want to add to that,
that sometimes being present is not a fun thing.
And I'm like, again, on the plane ride,
it's turbulent and I don't want to be present here,
you know?
And like you said, after the lessons come,
obviously the downloads and everything,
you know, you see what's important and what's not.
But man, it's so hard to be present.
Sometimes present is not cool.
It's not a fun place.
Where do you see yourself in the next five years? Like what are your plans as far as, you know, I'm sure you're going to be
keep leading your business. But I'm just curious to know about your future goals.
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of like, five, 10 year projections, just because I
We just talked about being present. Great.
Exactly. One of the things that I've learned is like, just to be in the moment. Um, and I think that's definitely something that, uh, if you are
dealing with grief, um, looking too far down the road can definitely trigger, you know,
feelings of overwhelm and, um, and sadness. But, um, I think for me, um, you know, I definitely see that I'm going to be, um, kind of
drawn more into helping people, especially like with the grief coaching and, um, continuing to
balance that with, um, leading an organization. I think more and more opportunities on that front to be of service and, you know, to really help people is going to be something that takes a more active role in my life for sure.
Yeah, I love that.
Just to finish our episode, but I think because we talked about so many things, but I think if I had to really summarize it it's really to be present
and that's our message for today thank you so much for for coming Lindsay and for your time
and for all the wisdom I'm sure that all the leaders can learn from you not just like how to
be leaders but how to be leaders with a heart with empathy with compassion so I'm just so grateful
for this one and thanks so much for coming thank you thank you so much for having me I always
enjoy listening to your episodes so it was so nice to have the conversation yeah absolutely