She's Busy AF

EP 137 | How Empathetic Leadership Can Transform Your Business with Erin Diehl

• Lauren Loreto

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Have you ever been struck by lightning—metaphorically speaking, of course? That's the jolt of inspiration you'll feel when you hear Erin, improv virtuoso and empathetic leadership guru, recount her leap from the corporate grind to the founder of her own company, Improve It. Our chat brims with laughter and sage advice, as we talk about why empathetic communication isn't just nice to have, but a critical skill across all levels of business—whether you're captaining a team, dealing with clients, or flying solo. Erin's journey through the improv world and her spontaneous spirit—best illustrated by her whimsical "The Price is Right" escapade—will leave you pondering the poignant connection between a zest for life and professional success. 

Find Erin Diehl Online:

Find Lauren Loreto online:

Timestamps:

  • Erin's background (00:01:21) 
  • Personal anecdotes and the impact of childhood experiences (00:04:35)
  • The impact of frequent relocations on personal growth (00:06:15) 
  • Erin's journey to creating Improve It (00:13:31) 
  • The significance of improv and overcoming fears (00:17:48) 
  • Radical Empathy as a Leader (00:22:02) 
  • Negative Listening Patterns and Empathy (00:27:31) 
  • Where to Find Erin’s Book and Staying Connected (00:37:10)

Topics Discussed: Lauren Loreto, podcast, She's Busy AF, Brand Good Time, content marketing, web development, Erin Diehl, business improv educator, Improve It, keynote speaker, empathetic leadership, professional development, comedy, experiential learning, background, experiences, insights, improv, personal growth, childhood experiences, challenges, adaptability, authenticity, community, college experience, Clemson University, aspirations, broadcast journalism, Chicago, Second City, Improve It, professional development company, acting classes, theater, leadership, radical empathy, book, communication skills, effective communication workshop, negative listening patterns, IQ, leader, burnout, recalibrate, healing journey.


Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of she's Busy AF, a podcast dedicated to creatives, entrepreneurs, marketing teams, brands to help you guys smash barriers and scale. I'm your host, lauren Loretto, founder of Brand Good Time. We are a content marketing and web development agency and today I have probably one of the most entertaining people I've ever interviewed on the podcast. I felt like I was in the presence of a comedian and, honestly, truthfully, that's what she is. So I'm really excited for you to hear from Erin on this topic of empathetic leadership and really how to achieve success within a business through empathetic leadership, and I honestly think you know whether you are a leader or not, meaning you leading a team or not. If you're an entrepreneur who just works directly with clients or a freelancer, this is still an episode you definitely want to tune into because it really comes down to communication skills and how we navigate the business space as leaders. If you're a business owner, you are a leader. So Erin is a business improv edutainer, fail fluencer and keynote speaker. Through a series of unrelated dares, she created her company, improve it. You're going to hear more about that in the episode today. It's a very interesting story on how she went from working to creating a company, but it is a unique professional development company that uses comedy and experiential learning to sharpen leaders and teams so they can thrive in ever changing environments.

Speaker 1:

She's a graduate from Clemson University. She's a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional and a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including the Second City IO Theater and Annoyance Theater. She's spoken on global stages with companies including Amazon, linkedin, mckesson and the Obama Foundation. She has an energy and message to share with the world that creates lasting ripple effects for change. She is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program and a member of the Chicago Innovation Awards Women's Cohort. She has such an impressive background but is so humble and is a living testament to the power of lifelong learning and how working to understand ourselves can help others do the same thing too.

Speaker 1:

She has a podcast called the Improve it podcast, which you can find and listen to anywhere you listen to podcasts. She is also the first-time author to the Amazon bestseller and top new release book I See you A Leader's Guide to Energizing your Team Through Radical Empathy, which we talk a bit about in this episode. So she is most proud of successfully coercing over 35,000 professionals to chicken dance, and if that is not a great lead into this conversation, I don't know what else is. So please tune into this episode. Please enjoy. I've freaking loved having Erin on the podcast, so I'm really excited for you guys to dive in. Let's get started. Welcome to the show, erin. I'm so excited to have you here today.

Speaker 2:

Lauren, I'm so excited. I already feel like we're like long lost sisters. So there's a lot of there's some synergy here. To put it in a, you know, corporate context, there's a lot of synergy and I'm here for this. I'm so excited.

Speaker 1:

There's a lot of synergy and if anyone here watches SNL and gets a kick out of it, you have to go follow Erin on Instagram and just go binge her reels, because I got a kick out of some of your like wig posts running around you Running around.

Speaker 2:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

No, I was dying. I'm here for good humor and you bring it, so no pressure. But you better make someone laugh today.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, I'll see what I can do. My armpits are already sweaty. No, I'm thank you for for liking Pamela Lookingglass. That is my character and she has been so fun. And I've got a new one coming, lauren, like pretty soon.

Speaker 1:

So get ready new wig, new character yeah, you know what's funny will still be, if any of us. So you know we're in marketing, but if any of our clients have any sort of humor tilt to their marketing or their brand, we always recommend assigning a character like like a flow or a Jake from State Farm, and because it just makes things so much fun. It makes things so much fun, fun. So you are nailing that with your content. But before we get into everything here, what is one thing people might not know about you from your bio or your professional work, but that totally informs the person you are today?

Speaker 2:

Oh, such a good question. Well, I packed a lot in that bio, okay, so there's a lot in there. So let me think about that. I always have like a fun fact on the ready, but it doesn't really inform who I am. No, actually it might. Okay, this is a fun fact.

Speaker 2:

I was on the Price is Right when I was 23 and I won a birdbath and 32 wine glasses Okay, and this might inform the person that I am, because I didn't actually collect said wine glasses or birdbath, because you have to pay taxes on them and I lived in Chicago. So I was like, what am I going to do in my high rise apartment with a birdbath? So I did not collect. But I was on the Price is Right and I did come on down with Drew Carey. So I think that informs who I am because I love to have fun. Let me just say this I'm always up for an adventure.

Speaker 2:

I had never watched the Price is Right. I know this is horrible. I had no clue what I was getting into. My ex-boyfriend at the time and I were in LA and it was his favorite show and he was like we need to go be in the audience and they make all the audience audition and so I got chosen. He did not and I felt really bad but I had no clue what I was doing. Chosen he did not and I felt really bad but I had no clue what I was doing. So I think, like I'm I think that just informs, like I'm no risk, no champagne, had no clue what I was doing Just went there and somehow got chosen out of the audience of however many people to come on down and, uh, I didn't actually get to get on the stage but I did win a consolation prize and that was my consolation prize. So I think that just informs like I'm always down for anything. I love to have fun and I really enjoy just adventure and taking risks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, okay, piggybacking off of that, something that is in your bio on your website you talk about it is that you moved a lot as a kid and I totally resonate and identify with that. It's a huge part of like my story too, and it does shape the person that you become, because you have to become adaptable, right. So it's, like you know, fight or flight. So how do you feel like moving so much shaped who you are today?

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh. Well, first of all, I you know, lauren. Again, synergy Okay, there's so much synergy, oh man, it really. It just made me who I am to a whole I. I definitely think I moved when I was eight, I moved when I was 13. I moved when I was 18. And then I lived in Chicago when I was 22 until for 15 years. So, and now and then I moved to Charleston four years ago and knew a few people, but not a lot with my family. I think it has just really taught me to be adaptable. It's taught me to embrace who I am.

Speaker 2:

I remember when I moved when I was 13 to from a small town in Georgia, like small small town, to a suburb of Detroit Talk about fish out of water I was like culture shock. And this, my school was extremely diverse. My high school spoke 40 different languages, four zero 40. And I was coming from the South where, like, all I knew was this, just this small town, vibe.

Speaker 2:

And I remember going to that school and I made friends but I wasn't really showcasing my personality, I was kind of holding back a little bit and I called my best friend from Georgia, I remember, and she was like why aren't you being yourself Like? That's so much easier. And so it really taught me to lean into who I am and embrace it and to find community through laughter. That's always been a big part of my life and laughter, levity and positivity, and so when I myself internalize those vibes and I feel them, I'm able to put them out to the world and then attract the community, the organizations, the people. That person is giving that love to others and then attracting friends, family. My best friend's name is Lauren, by the way, so again, hashtag synergy Okay.

Speaker 2:

Synergy and I met her. This is my friend, who I met in high school. She's still my best friend to this day and I wasn't really allowing my full self to shine with her. Obviously, now we've been friends 25 plus years and have a long history and know each other very well, but she's the person I didn't showcase myself to and then, as soon as I did, she became my best friend for life and we've been there through every major milestone together.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. You know, I remember being like nine years old and so similar to you. Let's see, I moved when I was like six weeks to nine, 12, 15, and then to college. She was starting to do the puppy dream. I moved a lot and I remember very young I couldn't pinpoint when, maybe it was like nine, but I was like I remember just going to the playground at school and being like going up to my teacher in the most nonchalant way, like I'm moving, you know, like it wasn't a big deal to me because I was so used to it.

Speaker 1:

Like switching schools, like I never was in the same school for more than two years, like I never was in the same school for more than two years and you know this was my dad just climbing the corporate ladder and you know, bigger opportunities. Or, like you know, building a home and moving to a new school district, like stuff like that, when I was really young. And I remember thinking, starting to think as I was getting into my adolescent years, that this was my chance to reinvent myself. So like if I because I don't know I was a firecracker, like I was mentioning pre-show, like my poor daughter inherited that and so that would get me into hot waters with some friends, teachers, you know, whatever. And so I, as soon as I faced conflict, I was like but that's okay, because I'll probably be moving again soon and I can reinvent myself when I go there. And so I think very similarly like there's pros and cons to that, you know, because you because you're like who am I?

Speaker 1:

You don't like. At the end of the day, you have this like identity crisis of like who am I as you're in these formative years of life, but it does make you so adaptable.

Speaker 2:

The older, you get so adaptable. I love that. And you've moved actually like a pinnacle times, like when you're 12, when you're 15, like those are, you know, years where you're forming relationships, you're about to graduate. One thing that you said that made me think of something. When I was in middle school, when I lived in that small town in Georgia, I was bad, like I was not a great. I had friends who were like, cause it was a small town, there wasn't a lot to do, Like I started drinking alcohol in sixth grade and smoking cigarettes Okay, which is not great. I'm just saying this out loud on the show. I've never said that, you know before. And I had a friend who was really mean to me. She was a bully actually. She was super mean, but I wanted to be friends with her Cause she was like the cool kid Right we.

Speaker 2:

She was super mean but I wanted to be friends with her because she was like the cool kid right. We were in middle school and then we went to junior high and the two middle schools came together and me and my really close friend, candice decided you know what? We're going to start a new friendship group here. We're going to make friends with this other middle school and kind of get away from these bad vibes. So even at that time, like I understood energy and I understood like this is not who I want to be, and then I made all these great new friends. When our junior highs collided and then my dad was like we're moving and I'm like no, I just made some amazing friends.

Speaker 2:

Like I found my people and exactly what you said when I was 13, we moved to Michigan and my life symbol because of that move is a butterfly, because I was like I have this opportunity to transform and no one will know who I was with this old friend group and have that lingering over me. I'll be able to shine and showcase who I am now versus who they might remember me as when I was hanging out with this bad friend, and that has stuck with me forever. So literally anytime I see a butterfly, like it's on my Apple watch, like I have it everywhere in my office. I just know that I am transformed and I'm. I am who I'm supposed to be now, and that is just. Anytime I see a butterfly outside, I'm always feel like I'm being guided, I'm being helped in by the universe, whoever whatever you want to call it, but that is where that started. This is like. This is therapy.

Speaker 1:

Right now, lauren, I am feeling wow, some childhood reminiscence, yeah not me trying to dissect, like all of our youth, but yes, I know, I know. So okay, I guess, if we fast forward a little bit, you know like you went through middle school, you went through high school. Did you go to college?

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay, yes, went to Clemson in South Carolina, clemson University.

Speaker 1:

All right, and then from there, you know what got you to the place of Improve it and starting that company, which I do want you to kind of touch on too, like, tell us about it, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So when I was 13 and moved to this new place, I said I was going to be the next Oprah. I remember watching Oprah Winfrey. One day I was home from school sick on my parents' like 90s floral couch. I was wearing like a ratty pajama set from the Delia's catalog. Do you remember Delia's? Okay, Maybe that's just.

Speaker 1:

I do, I do remember.

Speaker 2:

You remember that I had this like hippie flower and I was like who is this person? And I remember watching her show and the way that she made the audience feel was exactly how I wanted people to feel in my presence. And I was like I'm going to become Oprah. And this is the early or the late nineties. There were like a ton of classes online. There weren't a ton of things that you could do other to get a degree in broadcast journalism.

Speaker 2:

So I went to Clemson, goal to be Oprah, majored in broadcast journalism, had some internships in radio and TV and after graduating I was like I am for sure going to get picked up by a major television network. I'm going to be a production assistant and then I'm going to make my way to you know, producer and then I'm going to be the star. And so here's the deal. I didn't really have anything to talk about, I just knew I wanted to make people feel good and I wanted to make them laugh. So I moved to Chicago where Oprah lived, because I thought somehow, through osmosis, I would get her good vibes. And I said well, what do you need you know, this is 2005 to become Oprah? Well, I guess I should probably improve my improv skills, and so I enrolled at Second City, started taking classes. I ended up getting an agent and booking a ton of like MC hosting gigs that had me traveling across the country and every time I would come back I would do some shows or do some classes and I just started to really see how improv was such an art form and it was such a teaching tool.

Speaker 2:

I finally got off the road and I started working in a recruiting firm and I was doing business development at a recruiting firm, which is a very hard job. I had never done recruiting or business development. My leader at the time her name's Jen D'Angelo just knew that somehow it was going to work and she could train me to do the sales part. So I started really leaning into this nine to five and making my second job six to 10 PM, which was training all over the city at every major theater, and I just started like it was such a awesome connection between what I was doing in my classes and on stage and how it was improving my professional life, and so I came up with this idea for Improve it.

Speaker 2:

I told my boss about it because our clients were more HR leaders at the time we were recruiting for like admin professionals, executive assistants she goes well. This is amazing. Why don't you pitch this idea to one of our clients, who happened to be United Airlines? And so I pitched it. They loved it. I did a pilot program for them pun intended, for free. Then they said we want to hire you and I started doing more workshops with them and I knew, as I started building it, it wasn't just me. I wanted a team. So I created a team based off people I knew in the improv community. That team has now grown we have 22 improv professionals and we've been in business 10 years and we bring, we use improv comedy to train professionals and teams have either high self through play, laughter and experiential learning, and it's it's been the greatest. It's obviously, as you know, as an entrepreneur, there are ups and downs, but it I never in a million years thought that that dream would take me here, but I can't imagine my life anywhere else. That's insane.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so little known fact about me that the audience probably doesn't know and you definitely don't know this, but I wanted to be an actress when I was a kid, um, and so I did. I did like I did acting classes every summer and I was in theater like all through school and I my most memorable and but also most uncomfortable moments through acting were when I did improv, yeah, and so I just want to like draw a line to that, because I think getting uncomfortable but then also like having a good time and learning about people around you, like it totally makes sense how this became a thing for you and I think that's so cool. I think that's so cool like yeah that's amazing.

Speaker 2:

I could see you doing acting. You need to get back into it with your spare time. I know there's not any spare time, but I also know like a lot of people hear the word improv and it's terrifying Like their armpits get sweaty Totally. I used to be this same way. Can I tell you that, like I, I truly my first improv class was my stomach was a knot. I was so sweaty that lasted for like two years, but I just kept exposing myself to it because I grew up also acting, singing and dancing.

Speaker 2:

I was literally in a state on a stage in community theater. When I was three, my mom did community theater. I was with her my whole time and then I danced even at college, at Clemson. I danced for a team, for the football and basketball teams, choreography lines, scripts, like that's what I was used to, knowing those having control, and it terrified the crap out of me to not know what was about to happen. But I, through many years of training, finally figured it out and it's like right now what we're doing is improv, we're not, but we're not labeling it as improv.

Speaker 1:

When you label it.

Speaker 2:

You get nervous, but we're improvising all day long and it's the really really good performers that you see on the stage. They don't even really realize that they're improvising, because it's just a part of their life. It's just such you've failed so many times doing it that it doesn't even matter anymore. And when you have the goal and the intention of just showing up and having fun, that's when the magic happens and that's just even a metaphor for life. So it's such a magical training tool and we really make sure that people know it's a safe space, that we're never gonna make you stand on stage by yourself and bark like a dog or do anything silly. We, together, collectively, are gonna create this positive space where you feel empowered, you feel like you can do anything and you're going to be applauded and cheered on through the entire process.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. Well then I have to ask did you also obsess and try and watch every single episode of Whose Line Is it Anyways? Oh my God.

Speaker 2:

I love that show so much. Yes, and I will tell you. I mean I met Drew Carey when I did the Price is Right that makes sense. Obviously there's a connection there yes, and so it was crazy, he was the one. It wasn't Bob Barker that I came on down with, it was Drew, and so that was an awesome connection. But yeah, and those people are like the masters, right, like they are so talented they're so funny. So funny.

Speaker 1:

Anytime that was on TV I was like because, believe it or not, I still lived in an age where cable was a thing and so not anymore. But that was like. I was so looked forward to that show every time it was on, like, oh, whose Line Is it? Anyways on, we're jumping in. Man, such a good show, such a good show.

Speaker 2:

That's like such a good memory because I will tell you, my son is four and a half and we were just on a family trip. They came with me on a work trip. That was now a family trip this past weekend and you know, we're in the hotel watching TV Number one. He doesn't even know what a commercial is, except for the ads on Hulu that we don't pay for. And then we were watching America's Funniest Home Videos and he's like what is this? And I'm like this was my childhood, Like this, this is what your mom grew up watching on cable television with commercials, and it was just. It was really interesting to see that juxtaposition and how our kids like it's kind of like simpler times, right, but there's so much things that literally at their fingertips right now that we never had. But it's just, it's just really cool to go back and watch that childhood memory with him.

Speaker 1:

that was so fun oh my gosh, I cannot wait to go. I mean, tonight I might be going and watching his line, is it? Anyways? Again, this was a solid reminder that that was such a good show, cool, okay. Well, I want to transition a little bit and talk about your book and how this came to be and why everyone should go read it. I mean, you have like the most bubbly, sparkling personality. I know a lot of it has to do with radical empathy, so let's start there. Can you tell us a little bit about your perception of radical empathy as a leader?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I had a crash course in it from the leader I mentioned earlier, jen D'Angelo. I came out of a job where I had a leader who did not lead with empathy. This leader was climbing the corporate ladder at a rapid pace, would do anything and everything to get ahead and would take whoever was in their path with them. And it was hard to witness and it was hard to live through. And so when I found Jen, who led with such empathy, who cared about me as the human being, not the human doing it, taught me every single thing I needed to know about leadership and her leadership is it's a case study in the book.

Speaker 2:

We just did a book launch party in Chicago. She was there and I didn't expect this, but I literally just like burst into tears while telling a speech about her leadership for me because she really it's such a domino effect Like her leadership has created who I am for my team as a leader. But when I think about just radical empathy in general, it's not just wearing somebody's shoes, thinking about putting their shoes on your feet. It's taking their Nike dunks, putting your feet in them, wearing them for a day and then handing them back over and being like I got a couple of blisters, but now I see, and so I have an activity that can really help understand this. Lauren, if you want to do a little improv with me, it's very easy.

Speaker 1:

You don't have to do nothing, okay.

Speaker 2:

So I mean this activity. I call it empathy. It's in the book, you can literally do it with anybody. You could do it with somebody on your team, you could do it with your partner, you could do it with your kids, if you want to be more empathetic, so can you tell me a challenge that you have going on in your life right now? It could be personal, it could be professional. So you're partner one, I'm partner two. The goal is partner one tells partner two a challenge they have going on in their life. So will you tell me a challenge that you have?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'll do the first one that comes to mind. I'm, like you know, eight months pregnant or something like that, and my toddler wakes up once or twice a night now because of who knows what, but she never did that before and it's causing a lot of sleep deprivation in our house and a lot of tension, because when you're tired, you're tense.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so here's how this works.

Speaker 2:

Partner two is listening and now is going to repeat back exactly what partner one said in the first person. Okay. Okay, so I am eight months pregnant, or close to it, and I am a little stressed because my toddler wakes up in the middle of the night. She never used to do it and it's causing a lot of sleep deprivation. Okay, so what happened there was I repeated it back in the first person and it's probably it probably should have been better if I had you do this and repeat back what I said.

Speaker 2:

But what I felt when I repeated back your challenge was like I could actually picture you going to bed and then just like waking up in the middle of the night with your daughter calling and you like grabbing a glass of water and trying to go back to sleep, but not getting back to sleep, and then waking up again later and just waking up in the morning, feeling exhausted and while also growing a human. Like I was able to feel that because I put myself literally as you, the human with the experience, and so a lot of times in leadership roles we just think transactionally oh Lauren was late again. Oh Lauren, you didn't show up for this meeting on time. Oh, lauren's not delivering her presentation on the dot, like I asked.

Speaker 2:

And so if I were your leader and I had this conversation with you and be like how's everything going, how's everything at home, and you were to tell me that and I was able to really listen and empathize with you and see what was going on behind the scenes, I might say, how about you take a day off tomorrow and all I want you to do is just rest and I want you to put your feet up and watch whose line is it anyway, and just give yourself a you day, because you got a lot going on and you're going to feel better if you do that. And then come back Friday. You know it's like that versus okay, she's late again. Here's another. You know, tick on her on her report. You know like it's. It's it's seeing the person as the human, because we all have lives outside of the job and they they factor into how we show up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know someone like me. When I if I I'm just you know I put myself in those shoes, thinking if a team member came to me, I would probably do that. I would probably say, yeah, take the day off, because I know that's what I would want. You know that's. I think that's the empathy side of what you're talking about. But the other part of me would want to fix it. I want to fix the problem. Yeah, like I am that person. When someone shares their problems, always well received.

Speaker 2:

So, but it's good too. That's a great leader. You're helping problems off.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it can be good. I think it can be good and bad, because some people don't, some people just want you to listen, right, yeah. So how do you like, how do you gauge that with someone, like whether they want just want you to hear them out or, like need the help.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So this is making me think of an activity we do in our effective communication workshop and I'm not saying this is negative, but we call it negative listening patterns and we have people identify with one of five different negative listening patterns, and the one that this would be most relevant to is called the counsel. So you're giving advice without like being asked for. It's like as a new parent, how much advice did you get that you'd ever asked for? Like that's like basically the council's role. And so when we do this activity, we have people partner up and talk about something in their life, so you could tell me about your upcoming weekend plans. And so if I was, if I identified as the counsel and you were telling me about your weekend plans, I mean I might be like, oh Lauren, well, you know what you need to do. You should do X, y and Z, blah, blah, blah. I know that that's going to work for you. And then you would ask you how did you feel as the person receiving that counsel listening pattern?

Speaker 2:

And so where we always land with this activity is that listening and this goes into empathy is really not necessarily about you at all. It's about how you make the other person feel. So if you start to go down that rabbit hole of counseling, you could pull yourself back and you could literally just say hey, you know if, if you were the counselor here, you could say something like I'm just, you know, I'm concerned about you, your mental health, your wellbeing is, did you want this advice or do you want me to just listen? And you can even ask that question and generally they'll tell you like oh no, this is great. Or they might be like you know, I'm just so burned out. I just needed to be heard today. And I think asking because, as leaders, we want to think we know all the answers. But asking questions to the human to see how they want to be led is also such a great way to make people feel seen, heard and valued, which is, again, empathy. It's like the root of empathy is making people feel that they're important.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so. On that note, who do you think would benefit the most from your book, which is called I See you?

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay, this book is for the leader who is burnt out, who gives to everyone else except themselves. And by leader I mean you could lead a team, you can lead an organization, you could lead a community, you could lead a home, you could be a caregiver, you could be a person who is overextending themselves and needs to recalibrate and come home to who you are and once you find that, you'll have more love to give. So I I wrote this book. I thought I was going to write a book about improv and it was going to teach you how to do it, and it was just going to be an extension of our workshops. Whenever I thought like, yeah, I will write a book in my lifetime.

Speaker 2:

No, this book wrote me because I came out of such a dark. I had a really big healing journey that I had to go through from basically like 2018 to 2022. And I wrote it at the beginning of 2022 after months of deep healing and internally and it was. It was a homecoming to myself and I was burnt out. I had overextended myself, pivoting our business. I'm a lifelong people pleaser, which is a pattern from the moving days and such a pattern, and I also had some physical pain that I was dealing with, and once I healed my emotional pain, my physical pain went away and and it was such a crash course in mind-body connection, and so I thought I have to take this knowledge and share it with other people who need to give to themselves first, because you cannot give as a leader if you don't have anything to give Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So take us through the book a little bit. Are we going to learn more about you and your story? And I know that in the book there's a curriculum that you call Energy you. So how has that played out in the book? And yeah, talk to us about that.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So it's broken down into three parts, but I'll start with Energy you, because I think that's the best, that's like a really good, just entryway. So let me ask you, lauren, I know your birthday, it's April 28th, right, yeah, okay, I love that day because that was the day that you were born and it was also the day that you enrolled yourself into this magnet school, and little did you know that you had been studying this curriculum your entire life. But the book is a crash course, and so energy is all around us. Like if you were to take out your phone and look at a picture on your phone right now and maybe it's with your daughter you could feel how you felt in that moment, right, so that is energy, is energy. That is energy you, what I call energy you at work.

Speaker 2:

And so when we start to understand, as leaders, that we're not leading people, that we're leading energy, we can actually recalibrate ourselves. And so part one is all about self-love, and it does give some funny stories in there from my improv and leadership days, but at the end, every chapter is rooted in a solo activity or an activity that you could do with your team from the improv stage, calibrated into this world of self-help and self-love. So all of the activities there are there to help you understand mind-body connection, what you want out of your days, your mornings, and how you can change your limiting beliefs into kinder, more loving, positive thoughts. Once you can do that, you go into part two, which is all about selfless leadership, which is all about how do you be that empathetic leader, how do you take the energy that you have and give it outwardly. And part three is all about a magnetic culture. So you have love to give, you give it outwardly. That just attracts twofold.

Speaker 2:

That was a big, that was a magnet for everybody listening. That was a magnet attracting each other. Okay, that was a, and it is. It's just like if you put out good vibes, you're going to get them back and you start to live a life in an in, in an organization, in a community, in a team of your dreams, and it. It's really simple in theory but hard to do. And so, again, everything has a tangible activity at the end for you to take and to run with. And I also have a guidebook too, so like, if you want it in a fillable PDF, you can get that, too, on our website.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's amazing. I love books that are like, so interactive, like that, or like again the structure. That's why I asked him, like part one, part two, part three and activities. Sign me up.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I love to like dog ear, like highlight, like I'm that type of reader too, and that's what I wanted it to be.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's really hard to craft a book meant for entrepreneurs and leaders that's actually engaging, so you obviously kept that in mind.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, I was like this is not your average leadership book. It's like if you were to take boring and flip it on its head and then add some pom poms and confetti. I would say that's what this is.

Speaker 1:

I absolutely love it, Cannot wait to grab my own copy and I have to ask will you sign it for me?

Speaker 2:

Of course. Oh my god, Lauren, yes and thank you. And I will tell you, this book is for me, it's more than just a book. It's a message, it's a legacy that I want to leave here on this earth of love. That's really what it is Love back to yourself, love back to others, and love that can attract community fellowship and lead you to the highest version of yourself through play. Let's play a little, let's have some fun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't know how much you know about Brand Good Time, which is our marketing agency, but that's like the core value and the belief that the business was built on is that, like marketing should be fun and like it should be the most fun that you have in your business. And I, growing up, dreaded summers, you know, because I was like, oh, I feel like I always get bored in summers, like I'm not bored at school because it's engaging, I'm doing things all day. But it was my worst fear to be bored, and so that carried into like one of the major core values of the company and I think if you can make any concept like everything we're talking about today fun, then you have more engagement and you have happier people. Obviously, laughter does so many different things in the brain, so I think that's really cool that you've harnessed that and gotten to where you are today. Gone through this journey, created a book for all of us, and so I cannot wait to check it out.

Speaker 2:

Oh well, thank you, and I love your energy and your vibe and you're doing amazing things. Whoever you know is a part of your team is very lucky, so you're. I could just like. Even from your email, I was like I cannot wait to talk to her. She is awesome, so thank you for this, and what a cool conversation. You made me want to watch. Whose line is it anyway tonight? I think I'm going to do that, yeah.

Speaker 1:

We're going to, like, cosmically, do that together. We're both looking at the same moon. Yes, okay, it's a viewer party. Yes, so before we sign off here, please give us a couple things. Obviously, all of this is going to be linked in the show notes, but if people want to obsess over you daily, like I want to, and that I do, where can they?

Speaker 2:

find you and then also best place to buy the book. Oh my God, well, I would send you right to itsairandealcom book. Oh my God, well, I would send you right to itserindealcom, and my last name is D-I-E-H-L, that you can find all the links to every retailer. We're hoping to get it in more indie bookstores. That is my goal right now. So I love Amazon and I love Barnes and Noble. You can obviously get it there, but hoping to get it in more indie stores, and then you can check out all things. Improve it on my site, it'll take you right there. Then prove it podcast, it'll take you to everything.

Speaker 2:

And so I am so grateful that you had me on this show, lauren, and I can't wait to keep in touch with you. We have so many things that we're synergizing on Okay, the word that we have to stay connected, the word of the hour. And then I said calibrated like eight times. I've never used that in the conversation, ever, so I don't know where that came from today. Calibrated and synergy Okay, that's where we're at. I'm looking at my microphone like it's a person. Anyway, all right, I'll wrap it up. Lord, you're amazing and everybody listening. Give her five stars because she rocks.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thanks, erin. I always forget to ask people for the ratings, but more than anything, I want people to go purchase your book. So, for anyone listening, please go check the link in the show notes. Grab her book, erin. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Speaker 2:

It was an absolute pleasure to have you. Oh, this made my day, thank you.

Speaker 1:

All right, we'll see everyone on the next episode of she's Busy AF.