The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Just Keep Going by Lynn Smith

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Just Keep Going by Lynn Smith https://www.amazon.com/Just-Keep-Going-Lynn-Smith/dp/1728290309 When Mouse sets out on his adventure, he discovers that brave isn't something you are―it's something you do! Mouse's day is full of big moments and bigger feelings. But with each step forward―jumping to shake off fear, accepting a friend's comforting hug, or simply pausing to breathe―he builds his courage toolkit. Because taking a brave journey doesn't mean you have to be fearless. It means you know how to just keep going. in her first book for children, former news anchor Lynn Smith, now a media consultant and host of the parenting podcast Strollercoaster, was inspired by her experience coaching Fortune 500 executives. She realized the fears that hold back CEOs aren't that different from what stops a child from raising their hand in class. That's why she wrote Just Keep Going―because resilience shouldn't be a C-suite secret.About the author Lynn Smith has coached hundreds of C-suite executives through their biggest communication challenges. After anchoring for NBC News, MSNBC, and CNN Headline News, she founded Lynn Smith Media & Communications, where she helps leaders transform fear into fuel for success. Through the popular parenting podcast StrollerCoaster by Munchkin, the most loved baby lifestyle brand in the world, Lynn bridges the worlds of executive leadership and skills that she wanted to be sure our children learned in the classroom and not the boardroom. She lives with her husband, two sons and dog Captain in Georgetown, SC.

You wanted the best... You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready, get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

Because you're about to go on a moment. monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. I'm host, Voss here from the Chris Voss Show.com. Please, you know, when that strange lady comes in the studio and does the opposite. That means the show has begun. Well, for 16 years, 2,500 episodes of the Chris Voss show. And that's it for me.

Thanks, ladies and gentlemen. Good night. No, go to Goodrease.com, Fortress, Chris Voss. LinkedIn.com, Fortress, Chris Voss. Chris was on the Tick-Tockety and Chris and Facebook.com, which has Chris Foss. And tell him Chris Foss sent you. Today, we're an amazing young lady on the show.

We're going to be talking about her insights and experience and how she's inspiring and helping people now. She has a book coming out, September 30th, 2025. My God, we're almost to the end of the year. It is called Just Keep Going by Lynn Smith. We're going to find out about this amazing, beautiful children's books and how it's to set to inspire not only children, but I guess some grown adults sure could use some help, too. I've seen them on Twitter. Anyway, guys, Lynn Smith is coached hundreds of C-suite executives through their biggest communication challenges.

After anchoring for NBC News, MSNBC, and CNN headline news, we had a bunch of those folks on, she founded Lynn Smith Media and Communications, where she helps leaders transform fear into fuel for success through the podcast. popular parenting podcast, Stroller Coaster, I love that name, by Munchkin. That's also an interesting name. And the most loved baby lifestyle brand in the world, Lind Brinches, Bridges, the world of executive leadership and skills that she wanted to be sure our children learned in the classroom and not in the boardroom, because, you know, it's better to learn early.

She lives with her husband, two sons, and dog captain in Georgetown, South Carolina. Lynn, how are you? I'm doing great, Chris. How do I, like, live up to that intro? I feel like I'm at like a WWE match. I love it. Someone other than me wrote it, but I've had offers to do intros for people in the end of the room.

And now going through the doors is Lynn Smith. And I'm going to body check you and body slam you. Yes. Do this, Chris. Let's go. She's wearing Armani or whatever. I don't want to offend you if I say the wrong designer name, but I'm just making up stuff here for jokes.

So, Lynn, give us your dot-coms. Where do you want people to find you on the interwebs? I'm at LynnSmith.com. I make it really easy for everyone. How'd you get that? Somebody else asked me that, too. It didn't even cost me that much, but I did have to pay for it. Yeah.

Well, I mean, you know, it's okay to pull a murder off every now and then if it's three a good cause. That's what I get for marrying a Smith. Oh, well, you know, is this first name, Bob? Anyway. Yeah. I actually, I used to have a guy who worked for me named Bob Smith. So just keep going.

Give us a 30,000 overview. What's in your new book? Well, what I found coaching high-level executives, we're talking people at the top of their game. So they were struggling not with communication, which is what they hired me to make better. They were struggling with fears. And they were struggling with what I call the burying bully.

It's that voice in your head, the inner critic, the saboteur, telling you you're going to screw this up. What if this goes wrong? All of these things. And I thought, well, why is this so pervasive with these really successful people? I knew I had one, but I didn't realize everybody has one. What if you have multiple voices in your head like me? Then you might be a schizophrenic.

You might have two for issues, Chris. That's not what the others tell me, though. They're trying to keep you out of the loony bin. The others. So I wanted to be able to teach what I teach executives in the classroom with young leaders. They're going to become leaders of the future. So we wrote this book, Just Keep Going, and it's all about Little Mouse who goes through various scenes in the book, and he's facing things that scare him. And he's got friends along the way that remind him of the physical things you can do when you're afraid.

Give yourself a hug, jump up and down, take deep breaths, and just keep going. And it's a message that I feel like we all need more. You mentioned this as well. Like, we need this message as much as our kids do. Definitely. I might need this more than the kids at that point, this point. Being an entrepreneur, it's always, you know, you're always... If you can't just keep going as an entrepreneur, you're going to go back to the W2 life.

Oh, yeah. The W2 life. That's what I call it. I'm a recovering W2. I started my first company 18, so I've lived this life. And I can tell you, sometimes even when it's, you know, the darkest end of the tunnel, the dark tunnel, the light of the end of the tunnel you're searching for, sometimes you just got to keep going. except for in Metallica's case

where they have the song turns out to the light at the end of the time and it's just a freight train coming your way. So I've seen that movie too. So why did you really feel this is important? Looks like you, Laura Gallegos was the illustrator on this for you. This is your first book, isn't it?

It is, yes. It was six years in the making. I felt it was so important because I've got two little boys. And I wanted to be able to have something for them that they could have for their children that spread a message that would give our voice to the leader of this next generation. So many times leaders are holding back from saying something in a clear and concise way because they're fierce. So they're either overly

complicating their messages. Let's synergistically optimize and all of the stuff that they want to sound smart. But they're doing that out of a fear of not sounding smart and their outcome is what they're intending to avoid or they're vague and they ramble and they go on and they say so and um and all of these things it's frustrating it can be paralyzing and it's super costly i mean there's amazing research about how much money is lost how much time how much trust that's a whole other podcast but if we can train the leaders of the future to not be fearless but to face fear in a way that will allow them to move forward and not stay stuck or move back. And that's how we simplified a very simple message that I train executives,

but for little ears and eyes. And I had my six-year-old son who started school just recently, and he said, can we bring your book to class? And I said, why? And he's like, because George just started and it's a new school, and I think he's scared. And I think he needs mouse. And I was like, it works. Like, they get it, you know?

They understand. they can be the friend that mouse encounters along the way to their friends. Just keep going. I mean, it's such a simple message, but it's so effective in some of the ways you've outlined it. And, I mean, you know, when you're young, man, it seems, you're looking at this big world. I remember being young. It was a long time ago. But the Alzheimer hasn't kicked in yet, but there's still time.

But I remember being young. I'll just reiterate the point to start that segue again. So I remember being young, and that's about it. That's all I have. That's it. You have me to take over for you, Chris? I've talked on TV for 15 years. I can add for, yeah, probably 15 minutes I could hang just talking about grass growing.

It's a skill set. I didn't really realize I was going to get as a news anchor. It's really kind of a party trick. You just let me know if you need me to take over. Okay. So anyway, I'm just fun. with you folks out there in the audience. But,

uh, but, uh, you know, I remember looking at life and I'm like, this is scary, man, this is big.

And then you're questioning stuff because on the outside, it looks stupid as hell. Like you're like, I got to go, what? My mom's got to go to work for 40 hours or, you know, what is this?

Bills and taxes and, you know, lions and tigers and bears. Uh, oh my. And, uh, you know,

it looks and you're trying to figure out, you know, who am I? and where do I fit in this machinery of bat shittery? You know, I mean, for the outside, it does look pretty stupid. I'm 57. I'm still looking at going, this is the most dumbest thing anyone's ever come up with. But, uh, think about it.

When we're kids, what also are we trained to do? Sit still, get great grades, behave, get first place. So we're breeding perfectionists. Yeah. So it wasn't. surprising to me once I dug into what was actually happening that high achievers, entrepreneurs, high level executives are paralyzed by perfectionism. Like I needed to be perfect. But perfectionism is the only thing we know will fail at, yet we still strive for it. I'm

guilty of it. I thought I needed to be perfect to be accepted as a news anchor. I would try and never stumble and all of these things. Now I realize that's actually the superpower. It's human. It's authenticity. Those are all the things that I teach. people to be. But the other piece of this is how are we as parents contributing to that and even small micro conversations that we have with our kids like, you know, you didn't win your tournament, but you're going to win next time because you're going to win. And it's like, wait, no, maybe you aren't going to win next time. So it's like, well, did you work hard? Do you feel like you're getting better at it because you're working hard, not because

your intended outcome needs to be first place? So how do we flip conversations that we're having with our children. And I bring up Sarah Blakely all the time because she's the ultimate entrepreneur and successful executive. She used to have conversations around her dinner table prompted by her father who would say, what did you fail at today? And it gave her this healthy perception of fear. Yes. And failure. What did you fail out today? What did you fail at today? And what did she do to create a billion dollar business? She went out and was told no hundreds of times. Hundreds of times until she got her yes. Now, if you're married, you just ask your wife and she's got a lot. Oh, that's a joke, people. Don't worry. We've been waiting for that, Chris.

Thanks for sent me up. The, yeah, just keep going. I mean, I've started lots of companies. I've had companies where you're, you know, five to six figures into completely investing in a company in the first year and it's at a complete loss. And at the end of the year, you're looking in it going This has to make a profit and also has to pay me back. You know, I've had companies that we started and were home runs from the get-go. But, you know, I've been through crisis. I think my audience kind of knows some of the stories from 2008. Our biggest jewel over crown over companies was a mortgage company.

And so don't have that on a housing crisis. Note to self. That check. And then COVID, you know, we used to do the podcast. We two around interviews, a lot of CEOs at events, the CS show, and any B show and, you know, these shows. And COVID came, wipe that old business out. And, you know, so, you know, sometimes, you know, I've been through just

cathartic moments where, you know, sometimes you, like you say, you just got to keep going. And sometimes I see things or I take on projects that are really big or there's a big problem I have to deal with. And, you know, one of the things I always think about is just eating the elephant one bite of time. And I'm like, okay, you got this elephant, just got to keep going. One bite of time, chew, chew hard.

And if you hadn't just kept going, think about the alternative. It's super easy to be courageous when you consider the alternative, which is what? Like, go under a bridge and start cooking canned food. Like, there's the alternative. And so the motivation is how do we put one foot in front of the other, even when it feels like we don't want to. And it was born from, you say, it's a very simple idea. It's a very simple concept, right?

But so many times we kind of fall into the, it's going to be okay. Everything's going to be all right. It'll work out. It's everything that's meant to happen happens. And no, it's sometimes that's like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. It's a very simple solution that doesn't include toxic positivity. and it also doesn't drag you into a hole. Yeah. It keeps you moving.

And sometimes that's minute by minute. Sometimes that's hour by hour. Sometimes it's second by second. Does it allude to any self-accountability? Because that's one of the most important parts is in just keeping going is to be accountable because if not, you just keep going in the circle. Of course. And exactly.

And that's the definition of insanity, right? It's what can I control and what can I not control and eliminate from your path, what you can't control? So, for example, when COVID happened, my show was taking off the air and I was home because they needed to send all the producers to like the morning show and they couldn't have more than one control room. So they took all programming off the air except the morning show. And I reported from home and I posted a video. It's still on my Instagram feed. I'm at Lynn Smith TV. and I posted it with my then one-year-old, and I said, you know, we can't control what happens to us,

but we can control how we react to it. And it turned out to be the greatest blessing that ever happened to us. Now, COVID was horrible. So many things were horrible about it. But if one good thing came of it, it was clarity of purpose. And it redefined my entire career. I built my business during COVID. I announced leaving my career as a news anchor. I moved to the beach in South Carolina. And our greatest disappointments often lead to our greatest outcomes if we're able to control how we react to them.

Control how you react. That's like a basis of stoicism, meditations, Marcus Aurelius. It's how you react to stuff that's important. You know, things are going to happen. And, you know, you can freak out. You can lose your butt and have an emotional freak out crisis or you know you can go okay uh let's keep going

take it on the chin there's going to be bumps in the road you know this week i i've got a surgery for hernia uh that's on friday two weeks ago we had the surgery set up with the different hospital two days before i'm like ready to go i'm just i'm just finally in my head i'm going to finally be free of you know having this issue with me and be able to to actually pick things up off the ground for a change. And they call me two days before and they go, oh, the insurance doesn't quite work with the ACA.

They take your adina, but then don't do the ACA. I'm like, what the hell two days before? And it was like a freight train because I'd really gotten to the mindset of in two days this hell rides over. And so I just had to go, okay, things happen.

You know, we're dealing with the U.S. American medical system. But, you know, it's going to get done and you know they had a delay for two weeks to put us in a new hospital but uh you know it's it's it's one of those things where you just have to go things happen you know i could freak out i could i don't know go on the internet and lose my shit over edna or the hospital or whatever or i could you know melt down into something which was tempting sure do something productive with it that gets you into the right mindset because you know and anyone who's played

sports before knows that your mindset is what takes you past skill. Yeah. It'll only get you to right here. And after that is mind. Your mindset, give that to me again. Your mindset is the only thing that gets you past skill. So you can be an incredible golfer. And it will only get you to this point.

And then mindset gets you over that next hump. And multiple professional athletes share this secret weapon that they have probably mindset coaches. around that particular lane of what it is that's their game. But that's true for a business owner. And it's an overused term. Maybe we say perspective so people don't feel like, oh, mindset, mindset, mindset.

It's so deluded, I feel like. But the concept around it, if you don't believe me, then try it because you'll see the results. It's impossible. It's the law of physics, it's energy. It's whatever energy you're putting out there is what things meet you at and that used to be manifestation and that used to be woo-woo and all of those things. Now there's actual science behind it, research behind it that shows it. So when you

start living that way, you see the difference. And I throw out a caveat because there might be some people listening or watching saying like, I call BS on this. I just lost someone close to me and I can't just keep going. That's not just the solution. And I do say this is not for the loss of a human connection because it's very different than losing a book deal, losing a job, and losing a job might fall into that category of losing a human connection because a lot of people have their personal identity and their livelihood dependent, obviously, on that job. But it's an important reminder in the things that you can control and make sense of. There is a different job out there that you are meant for if you can get your mind in the place

where you can take actions that will lead to the interviews that will lead to the closes that you are able to articulate your value in, that you're not mumbling and fumbling around because you're so upset. Those are the sort of, as I say, micro moments that can transform an outcome. Yeah. And you're right. It really depends on how you respond to that. Yeah. So the 2008 crisis taught me a lot. Losing everything kind of does that. Has that a fact on one? Yeah. I mean, you don't think you're going to build a 20-year empire, multiple multimillionar companies and they're just going to be taken overnight. But, you know, that's life. And I should have been better prepared for it maybe and not in a euphoric state that,

yeah, I got this coasted. But you learn to deal with those things. Now, when I have crises like COVID, I learn to sit down and look at my assets. So it's kind of a place of gratefulness. And I look at my, I go, okay, what do I got? What do I got? And that's what we do with COVID. We sat down and we looked at what are assets? And a friend of mine had posted something on Facebook that resonated with me. And he said, look, and this is when, you know, we were just going off the rails and nobody had an idea which way this is going to end, you know, apocalypse now, you know, 40 hours later, the movie, zombie land. No one knew what was going to happen. It was totally off script. And so we were panicking. And my friend said, here's what you do in this moment. You do one of two things.

you either be a lifter or you find a lifter and that's what you do and so we changed the format of the show in 2020 and decided to talk about everything other than the techno Silicon Valley crap we talked about the first 10 years and because of COVID it's like no offense to your original listeners who lived in with you from the beginning they put up with us I think more I think more would come on board since but the you know it it was like you know values are changing Like, who cares about the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5 or whatever it was at the time, when, you know, people are dying. And your family and your family friends can be gone. You can't even visit them in the hospital in their hand.

And so, you know, that was one of those moments where you just had to keep going. And I remember looking down and going, okay, what are my assets, looking them over, going, okay, I have a podcast. It's very influential. I'm rather be a lifter than someone who has to lift or find a lifter. I'm not really a follower. And so I'm like, well, we're going to try and do this. And the first few episodes are really hard because I felt like 2008 was just punching me.

And we lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of gigs that we do a year. And just watching it to go up to smoke, just like every couple months, it was like, yeah, this show's canceled. This show's canceled. And so, you know, coming from that place of gratitude, like you say, looking at what you have and having a perspective of like, okay, what can I build with this? I learned this in 2008. I got some sticks here. What can I build? And how can I help others?

And, you know, that's the crux to be an entrepreneur and any business, you know. How can we improve a live of others through a widget or a service or something like that? And we're paid usually in direct proportion to the quality of that service to the community. So, yeah, I really love the message you're sending you on the book. Thank you. And I think that right now we probably need this. message more than ever. Does anyone turn on the television?

There's something going on. Just keep going on. Just keep going, everybody. But also, our children are less connected than ever, and that loneliness can lead to feelings of hopelessness. And if we can replace that with some accountability, some self-worth and solutions, then imagine the leaders of the future, the entrepreneurs of the future, people that are going to be creating the widget, solving the problem. And they're going to be able to, there's going to be more

of them. I mean, the world would be a better place with more entrepreneurs, I feel. Yeah. And imagine what is possible when we actually raise them to be one. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of the future with AI. I think what we're really going to start is, is training each other, teaching each other, learning from each other. I mean, that's the one skill that we have, unless, you know, you can check, you can fact check with AI. Well, I say, you know, presence capital is the currency of the future. So AI can replace pretty much anything, but it can't replace human energy yet. Don't get any ideas, Sam Altman, but it can't replace human energy. It can't replace the feeling that you can evoke when you walk into a room

and it can't replace the influence that you can have on someone purely on how you make them feel through your presence. And that's directly linked to your energy and how you walk in and how you open your mouth and how you speak, all of those things. So if there's one thing to invest in in your life right now, it's your presence capital. Double down on it.

I'm still trying to fix my past capital. But the judge says we'll settle that case next week. I know what that means. I get one of my six ankle bracelets off tomorrow. I'm really happy about it. Anyway. I would love to see your audience research on the Chris Voss show on the strategy behind your well-time jokes. What?

Is there a strategy here? Is it got to be. Are these funny? There's got to be. And the laugh. The laugh is right on point. I love it. Thanks.

I've done one or two shows We've had lots of CNN people I should check into that CNN And what that's see what that 25 2025 things going on there MSNBC we like them too I used to be a big real fan of Who was it on MSNBC

The Morning Show guy and Mika And Mika and Joe Joe Joe Yeah Morning Joe Morning Joe Yeah So you've had a lot of them on your show

I haven't had those guys on my show I've been in negotiations to get him on for his books twice now. And I don't know. I guess we're too big for him, really. So that and I'd probably give him some shit about a couple of things. But I think he's great and meek is great. But CNN, we've had some CNN anchors on the show.

We tried to have the big guy. Well, Anderson, I think, still the big guy. And then I think we had, what's his face scheduled? But the book bombed, the other big anchor over there, CNN. But yeah, we love our news. Folks, you guys, the fourth estate, keep us, hopefully save us from everything, please. It's 2025. And in the meantime, you can buy Lynn's book.

So Lynn, give us a pitch out to everybody to pick of your book, get to know you better. I don't know if you want people to reach out to you for consulting services, executives and things like that. Your website, give us those dot coms, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, I'm at Lynn Smith.com on all the socials at Lynn Smith TV. I feel really passionate about sharing what it is that I've learned over my 15 years at these big networks to be able to empower people to be a magnetic communicator. It's that people are drawn to. And yes, we do that through trainings, whether it's enterprise companies or individuals one-on-one. And the most important thing is how do we raise that next generation of leader or entrepreneur through Just Keep Going, which is available for pre-order now.

And you can learn more about the book and order the book on all of the platforms that you enjoy your books. so it just keep going book.com. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. Great show. Thank you very much. Thanks for my honest for tuning in. Order the book where refined books are sold.

September 30th, 2025. Just keep going. A very important message and a real thing to teach kids when they're young, especially that life's not fair and how to overcome, you know, the obstacles you're set because no one wants to have that kid. It goes, It's not, buddy.

I hate those kids. There's a lot. I just lost the Life's Not Kid Fair Parent segment of our audience So thanks to everyone for tuning And we certainly appreciate it Go to Goodrease.com, Fortress, Chris Voss,

LinkedIn.com, Fortezs, Chris Foss, one of the TikTok and all those crazy places to the internet. Be good to each other, stay safe. We'll see you guys next time. And I should have us out. Thanks, Lynn.