EP 164 | From Vision to Action: How to Create Positive Change as a Leader

Leadership comes in different forms and different varieties. No matter what level you are, you have the power to create positive change as a leader. This week we are sitting down with Jenny Floros Founder, Leadership Advisor & Coach of Advance Forward Consulting, to share tips on how you can become a ripple effect of positive change in your leadership journey.  

Chapters:

• 0:00 - Intro & Meet Guest Jenny
• 3:11 - Jenny's Experience with Leadership
• 9:57 - Finding Your Strengths
• 19:13 - Setting Non-Negotiables
• 26:08 - Growing in Your Leadership
• 41:24 - Key Takeaways & Outro

Read the full episode show notes here

Guest Jenny's Info to Connect

• LinkedIn
• Visit Advance Forward Consulting Website

Transcript

Jenny: 0:00

In today's environment, their urgency for growth, their urgency for results is at an all-time high right, and so I think, because of that right, leadership is more important than ever, because the best way to grow right and to sustain growth is by having effective leaders who can build leaders.

Lisa: 0:25

Welcome to the Confident Podcast. I am Lisa Tarkington, your host of this podcast. If you found yourself hitting play on this podcast, it means it was meant for you. My goal is to help, empower and guide you to become a better version of yourself through conversation, advice and tips that are real, vulnerable and authentic. I am excited to have you join this journey with me. So let's get started. Hey everybody, welcome back for another episode of the Confident Podcast. I am your host, lisa Tarkington, and it is such a great day to be here.

Lisa: 0:57

We are going to be having an amazing conversation about literally one of my favorite words and themes of my life, probably in the last year, which is around leadership, specifically, leadership values and how, at no matter what level you're at, you can create positive change as a leader, and we're going to be really diving into these things. And you're probably noticing that I'm in a dress today because it is hot in Michigan, and I just want to say that, like I said on this last, the last episode that we had is, if you have summertime, if you have vacation time these next couple of months, take it, enjoy it, focus on your mental wellbeing. For us in Michigan, this is the only time where the sun is out, all the time. You should really take advantage of it, because I know that I'm still working on practicing what I preach when I say this, but work will always be there. But it's important to know that summers like Michigan don't always happen for too long, and so to take advantage of it as much as possible. My PSA I wanted to throw in there before we start today's conversation. So back to leadership. So this conversation is going to be awesome.

Lisa: 2:08

We're going to be talking about values, like I said, but I think one of the things, too, that I really want to preface is that I have been a leader my whole life, in different forms and different varieties of my life. I would say I'm the most confident leader I've ever been. Now, with where I'm at today and you guys have heard a lot of these podcasts that I've talked about putting my ego aside, being able to take feedback, being able to own my story, and today is just going to kind of give you another glimpse into what that looks like for me as well. But I am not doing this alone today.

Lisa: 2:40

Sure, I love leadership, and I could talk about this all day, but how cool is it when we get to bring guests on who are also experts in this area, and so we are going to bring on my new friend. I'm going to call her my new friend because I feel like we are long lost cousins, friends and family. So, jenny Floros is a founder and a leadership advisor and coach. So, jenny, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jenny: 3:03

Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to talk about this topic as well. It's close to my heart.

Lisa: 3:07

Love that and I love meeting other people that know how important leadership is. So could you give our audience a little bit of background, of not only kind of experience that you have, but also why this is important to you?

Jenny: 3:20

Sure Wow. You know it's interesting when I started.

Jenny: 3:26

So I started my company a little over a year ago, Advanced Forge Consulting, and I started it because of my passion for leadership development and when I started to assess my life a bit right Reflection Reflection's big right, yes and I started to reflect on what I wanted the next chapter of my career to look like and what do I want to spend my time doing. That reflection led me to the clarity I needed to build this business, because leadership, development and leadership as a whole has always been a component of my life from early as grade school. Like when you really start to like reflect different chapters of your life, that stood out the most and I wasn't then surprised that it played such a huge part in my 30 year career. And it started in marketing and then sales and I, you know, being in the corporate world. You know leadership can be defined in various ways, but I want to spend the next chapter of my career really, really helping develop managers into leaders and help companies unlock that leadership potential in their employees.

Lisa: 4:44

I love that and I don't. It's funny because I think in my whole life I've never noticed how much it's needed now more than ever. And I don't know if that's just a shift of cultures and just my growth in general, or it's just a trend across all boards. So what would you say is kind of like the theme right now with leaders.

Jenny: 5:07

Yeah, you know, I think it's challenging now more than ever, because the landscape is different. There's really not a lot of room for trial and error in today's environment. Right In today's environment, their urgency for growth, their urgency for results is at an all-time high right. And so I think, because of that right, leadership is more important than ever, because the best way to grow right and to sustain growth is by having effective leaders who can build leaders and who can get to the numbers faster. So I think that is my opinion, that's my take as to why it's more important now than ever before, because it's needed more now than ever before.

Lisa: 5:56

Yeah, and like I just kind of wanted to click my fingers as you were talking, like we have this instant gratification of like I need it now. I need it now. And I remember going, uh, about a year ago I had a conversation with one of my um former bosses, my former leaders, and we were just talking about a project that we were working on and she said, remember when we were working on that project and they wanted results right away, she's like I had to fight for fight for our team and saying that it's going to take two years before you see results. And I look at them now and I think about I'm so proud of her for saying some of the things that she said, because she set us up for success. I see what they're doing now, what that was five, six years ago, and they're soaring beyond belief. But she had to have the skills to speak on that, which is so, so crazy to think that, like you know, people want those results now.

Jenny: 6:47

But you're right, it takes time sometimes um forethought, to say, hey, you know, based on my experience and based on my knowledge and being confident enough which is why podcasts like yours and what you're doing is so critical, because these are the skills that are so important to develop early in your career right, people would say to me jenny, you know, you're so, so confident in your conviction. You know, you like when you believe in something and especially when it comes to your people, you know that was such a given. Everybody knew, when I was about to have that conversation, to be prepared for that conversation, because they knew I was coming, prepared for it. And they're like how, how did you develop that confidence? Right, and it's with time, like you called it. Right, you're the most confident you've ever been. Well, it's a journey.

Jenny: 7:49

Right, you have to have those experiences and failures right the positive ones and the ones that you learn from, to build that confidence. It just doesn't happen right, but I think, with time and various experiences and allowing yourself that journey to develop, that it's amazing once you reach that level of confidence 100%, and it's a very much ego check at the door like even just like slowing down and taking all of it in and being confident in those decisions.

Lisa: 8:24

And so I'm going to back us up for a second and ask you when you think of what a leader is, how do you define that?

Jenny: 8:32

I define a leader as someone who inspires, influences and impacts. Right, you know, back in the day, if you will, I've reached a point in my career where I can say, back in the day, you know, those were considered soft skills. Right, there were soft skills. Today, those are power skills. If you do not have those skills, you cannot be a successful leader, because those skills will earn you trust and if your team trusts you, you will be able to successfully lead them through anything.

Lisa: 9:12

I love that. So it was inspire, influence and impact, correct, correct, love. That. That's a very easy three, i's to remember. So when you think of that and you think of backing up, so you said you had 30 years of experience, when was a time when you were a leader where? Take us back to the moment where maybe you struggled as a leader, because I think sometimes we talk about where we are now but I can tell, like both of us probably have our stories when we struggle. So, like, tell us what was that like and what level or like kind of career experience did you have at that time?

Jenny: 9:48

Sure, you know there are bruises. There are definitely bruises that have happened, but with pride right.

Jenny: 9:55

I take those scars with pride. You know, I think the level where it really became obvious is when I went from being a manager to a regional sales director. Right, so, as a manager, you know, um, I was good. I was good. You know, I was learning a lot. I I felt like I can navigate that.

Jenny: 10:20

But where I became really challenged in my career is when I needed to delegate and empower my managers. When I had reps reporting to me different story when I had managers now reporting to me as a regional sales director that took on a different type of mindset, that I had to really condition myself Because at that point I was so used to doing it all on my own, doing it all on my own. You know I had a system, I had a way. You know I knew what was going to, what was needed to be successful. So my biggest challenge at that point in my career and the biggest lesson I learned right, was delegation and empowerment. And that's when my leadership skills started to come to the forefront, when I started to recognize and be confident in my skills and my strengths and then recognize the strengths of others and allowing them to come to the forefront right.

Jenny: 11:23

Because again, in this world of urgency, you can't succeed unless you surround yourself with management and employees who can bring the different skills to the table right. So that was a really defining moment for me when I started to learn and start to get adjusted in the whole delegation and empowerment. That was a definite you know moment that I think that where it was my aha moment for leadership, yeah, and I'm assuming but correct me if I'm wrong that it didn't happen overnight.

Lisa: 12:01

Oh gosh, and so how long did it take you to reach? I feel like it's a retrain of your mindset and your brain, because I remember that moment of always saying to people like I'm ready for leadership, I'm ready for leadership. But I remember a leader once saying to me but Lisa, you are, you do both strategy and you also have to do tactical stuff within your role to go to the next level. I need to be more strategic. And I couldn't grasp that because I was like, but all these things have to get done, right, and but like the goal was is that I would delegate, but I didn't have a big team then and all of those types of things. So, like, how did that flip for you? How did you retrain your brain there?

Jenny: 12:40

Trial and error. I wasn't always great at it, right, I learned, in fact. I'm sure there are people out there that would would probably say hey, I remember that period of time in your career.

Lisa: 12:52

I was impacted by that, but I do.

Jenny: 12:55

I think you know that's where assessing and reflecting is really important, and that was always a strength of mine. You know, I owned my successes. I own my failures, I own my mistakes, and that's the other thing. You know, we talk a little bit about that as far as owning it. You know, the only way to learn right is by failing forward right.

Jenny: 13:17

So, you fail but you make sure that you fail forward in the sense that you learn from the mistakes and you keep moving forward and you don't repeat those mistakes. So you know, I believe that there was that period of time where I had to take ownership of not making the right decisions and then ensuring that those those mistakes didn't happen again and getting better, right, and getting better, uh, and believing in strengths. Uh, you know there was a over time. You know I I'm a big believer. You lean into your strengths Like I don't. I have removed the word weaknesses from my vocabulary. I think it's a horrible word. I think it invokes, you know, disappointment and concern when you, when you ask someone, hey, tell me about your strengths and your weaknesses, an individual is going to sit there for like, quickly trying to figure out how do I turn that weakness into a strength in this conversation, totally negating what their strengths are.

Jenny: 14:22

Because they're so worried about how they're going to present themselves with their weaknesses Right. So I'm a big believer and I teach my clients this that you know, if you say to someone, talk to me about your strengths and also share with me what are the opportunities that you want to continue to focus and develop in Right, and that's where things change Right and that's where you start to work. We all have things to work on, everybody has things to work on, but the fear is by putting out weaknesses, you know that's an opportunity to weaponize.

Lisa: 14:56

And I'm not a fan of that at all.

Jenny: 14:58

So I think through that course of time it's just really being honest about what you're good at, what you're not good at and making sure you're building your team around you. That is good at thinking. You know that have the skill set. That may not be your strength, it could be an opportunity that you're trying to develop, right.

Lisa: 15:19

But lean into your strengths. Yeah Well, and you're making me think of something that just came to mind as you were talking. Well, actually, I had like 20 questions as you were talking. I was like, oh, I need more on this. But the one thing that you just said was surround yourself with people that have strengths that aren't like yours. So OK, so amazing.

Lisa: 15:37

But it's really sometimes it's hard for leaders to lead people that have strengths that they can't guide them on certain things because they don't know that area very well. So that's why I think sometimes people hire people like them because they're like oh well, I can totally help you with X Y Z because I already know that stuff, but sometimes that's not always helpful. Right, you need to surround yourself with other things. So what would you give advice for someone that's like okay, I know I need X Y Z, but how do I guide them as a leader? Because I don't know. I'll just use the example of like technology. Like you might be leading people in technology that you know nothing much about. So how do they, how should they lead?

Jenny: 16:14

If, if it's a strength of theirs, you don't have to lead them in that direction. Right, you lead them in the in the other aspects of their development, right, you teach them and you guide them on the areas that they're not strong in, that they want to work on right, that are needed to be successful as a team. You don't need to focus on what they're really good at. They've kind of taken that over right. They've kind of taken that over right Because, to your point, if I hired you know I would get that question a lot in my previous life, regardless of what executive or what C-level exec was, you know, within the company at the time, we had some transition throughout the years. That would always be one of the number one questions. They're like what is it about your business unit where you have so much talent? So much talent comes out of your business unit? You?

Lisa: 17:11

know, and or people don't want to leave your business unit, you know they're like what is your secret? You know and.

Jenny: 17:17

I'm like I build talent. I bring in skill sets right that are not replicas of me. Yeah.

Jenny: 17:25

You know, and I think what's a really important thing and again it comes with time be confident in your strengths. Okay, because if if you're confident in your strengths, you also have to be confident in the areas of opportunity that you have as a, as an individual, as a professional, that need to be developed, and that's okay, right, but like you don't need to guide someone who's strong in that area, guide them in the areas you're strong in. So now that makes that individual a well-rounded professional.

Lisa: 18:05

Love that. Well, you're making me think we did a podcast a while ago about the zone of genius, or there's four different zones around it, and the more that people lean into their strengths and things that they do, they're in that zone of genius. When you focus so much on also the areas of opportunity, sometimes we focus so much of our time there because we're like, well, I have to grow in X, y, z, but if you surround yourself with people with those strengths, you don't have to always continue to bend away that you know what is going to cost so much exhaustion for you as a leader that you're not going to be able to even focus on your zone of genius. You're just going to keep like pushing that arm out, being like, oh, I long for that, but I'm focused solely over here.

Jenny: 18:46

Yeah, and that's where joy comes in, right. We all want to lean into what we're great at right. We want to be happy in what we do because we want to be able to deliver right. The best way to find joy in your job is by feeling like you're achieving, like you're making an impact, you're influencing right. So you know that was always my philosophy as a leader throughout. You know my career in building high performing teams and successful teams and leaders, and so you know when, I share this with you.

Jenny: 19:21

This advice is proven. Like I, have a lifetime a career built on this approach and it has been extremely, extremely successful.

Lisa: 19:33

And I love that you share, like I have the experience on it, because it makes me go back to when I was younger and my dad would be like, but I have all this years of experience, you don't understand. And I'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you don't understand me. Now, having experience under my belt, I'm like, wow, I really should have listened when people that had the experience really were telling me things. Right, because sometimes at a younger age you're still trying to figure out who you are. You're trying to make like kind of your path a little bit.

Lisa: 20:00

But I also look at all these people that have this knowledge. They didn't just get there to where they are without having failing forward, having those opportunities as leaders, and so just love that you're sharing that because it is powerful and everybody listening in. I hope that you like understand, like it is great to find mentors who have those experiences, who look at the leadership a little bit differently and then really just kind of putting it through your lens a little bit more and so kind of going back to my question that I asked you about, you know where were you struggling as a leader? And like taking us back to that, so like kind of going off leadership values here for a second. So when you were in that time, also to where you are today, how has having leadership values helped you along the way?

Jenny: 20:49

Absolutely. I mean, it's your foundation, right? I call them my non-negotiables, right? Those are core values. They're non-negotiables, they're, you know, in, especially in sales, right.

Lisa: 21:01

There's always a negotiation right.

Jenny: 21:04

You're conditioned, you're trained to negotiate right. So it's really important because of that mindset that you also establish some non-negotiables. You know the things that are really important. Again, you call them the core values that you have to be able to anchor back on something right, especially in the world of sales, especially in the world of tech that I was in, or any industry right. At the end of the day, there's going to be so many turns and twists and pivots that if you don't have a foundation to anchor on right, it's it's going to burn you out, it's going to make you question. You know yourself and your abilities. So throughout my career and again in my teachings and coaching, I I encourage people to consider finding out what are those core values, what are those non-negotiables that they're willing to anchor on, because everyone has a different trajectory Totally. You know their leadership journey right. So you know asking those questions and coming up with those answers and then just living by those I think really helps in those tough times and those dark days.

Lisa: 22:32

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Lisa: 24:04

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Lisa: 24:40

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Jenny: 25:31

My non-negotiables have always been passion. Okay, you have to be passionate. I don't care what you're passionate about, but come to the table with something you're passionate about. I'm a believer in owning it and owning it. To me, there's a lot that falls under that right Owning it as trust, owning it as integrity, owning it as loyalty right All of those qualities fall under really owning it and making sure that everyone understands what those are and you communicate that. I think that is huge. And then, third is know your why right. Have your purpose. You know. That's a non-negotiable. You've got to know why you're doing something. What is your purpose behind it? Because those are the three things that you'll again, it anchors you right If you know your why right If you own it, no matter what.

Jenny: 26:30

Those are all important things that no matter what happens, you don't lose who you are in the process.

Lisa: 26:38

Love that. And then how does that all tie back to confidence?

Jenny: 26:43

Oh my gosh, you know it ties back because everyone gets challenged to have to stand up for something Right. We talked about it earlier in the session in the segment that will lead to experiences that will earn you the confidence you need to be able to handle when those situations come your way. Right, uh, cause you really once in. Confidence is not um ego, right, confidence is not, uh, confidence is something within you as an individual that gives you the inner power to lead and to be the person you want to be, wherever you want to be however you want to be, that personally, professionally, it comes out in all aspects of your life, not just professionally right.

Jenny: 27:49

So again, and it's work, it's work. You know this is not a one and done right, it's a constant effort.

Jenny: 27:58

And we're not always perfect at it right, there are days where we have to remind ourselves and remind ourselves about it. But I think just know your path and know why you're doing the things that you're doing, because you know life is short and if you're not living it with purpose and you know direction, it, you know, becomes challenging and I think today there's so many tools and resources at everyone's fingertips to helping them get there?

Lisa: 28:31

Yeah, absolutely. And I love all of that, because when you were talking about like even standing up and like thinking about even in just like the last two years, how I've had to stand up for myself but also my team, and I think like I become a little mama bear when it comes to my teammates a little bit, because I want them to succeed I see those leadership things and then everything aligns back to the values that you were saying. And even with confidence, we really define it as like believing in your skills and your abilities, and that is something that, the more that you practice being a leader, you're going to have more confidence as a leader. You know, I use this example all the time of when we first started to ride a bike, we probably all started with training wheels. And then, you know, and then we took those training wheels off, then we went to a bigger bike and then a bigger bike, and as we've grown, it's the same thing with confidence. You're going to start out probably with some training wheels on. That's okay. You know, sometimes I still need those training wheels back on, but it's like getting, and then you're able to just grow and grow more and more.

Lisa: 29:33

And you made another great point of actually made two great points that I want to call out. First one is is the instant gratification thing Like? Leadership is a tough role and I think a lot of people think, well, I could do it better, right, when you're in these different roles, where you're not in leadership yet, you have all of these thoughts. But I also believe that I probably thought that too right Until I got you know. And then you have the, and then you get into those roles and you're like, wow, this is a lot harder than I thought it was, but it also can be very rewarding and beautiful if you put the work into it, and beautiful if you put the work into it.

Lisa: 30:10

So you brought that up. And then about the tools and resources out there, I have had a coach I've had a few different coaches in my life since 2019 and game changer for my life. You know I've done I still do a lot of online things and in-person networking, but the coach the one-on-one, because it's customizable to me and that has been really big for my professional development. So is there any tools or resources that you currently still use, even 30 years later?

Jenny: 30:38

Oh yeah, I mean the tribe right. Whether they're coaches, whether they're mentors, you know your tribe. You learn from them each and every day. You know I have different individuals that I go to for advice, for a reality check.

Lisa: 30:55

Yeah, totally.

Jenny: 30:57

They're there for that. So they're again my foundation, right, my board of directors as we you know, many of us have heard that term they're my board of directors To your point. In one year, you know, in developing my business, I've had two different coaches and each, both of them were phenomenal, but they, they each brought out something different in me and I knew that a coach, you know, is going to only it's going to take me so far, depending on where I am in that trajectory. And I think that's the key. You know, there are lots of coaches leadership development, career development, executive coaches out there. The key is just to assess where are you in your journey and who is the best to help you take it to that next level. Right, and that person may not be the same person throughout, you know, your career. There are different people at different stages that help bring that out. And same with managers, right, we used to.

Jenny: 32:01

Unfortunately, there was a period of time in one of my former companies where we we moved teams around quite a bit.

Jenny: 32:07

You know, growth was at an all time high and so we had to like, move teams, move managers.

Jenny: 32:14

And there was a point where the sales reps were just like okay, like I can't keep adjusting to a new manager and you know, and I said but think of the beauty of that, because each manager has a different skillset and they're going to unlock a different potential in you that you may not have. So approach it in a selfish way, approach it like I have a new manager who's going to identify different opportunities and unlock different potential in who I am as a professional and how I can achieve and grow in my career. So, again, it's all a mindset and taking advantage of a situation, and I think you know that's really important is to just tap into the different resources based on where you are in your trajectory, and that could be podcasts that could be investing in development, whether it's a career coach, a leadership coach, an executive coach. You know there are, so there's so much out there right now. So, you know, seek it out, assess it and then make the right decision for you based on where you're at.

Lisa: 33:22

Yeah and I'm going to go back to what you said right in the beginning is for you. You even had to sit down and reflect, and I think now more than ever I was just having this conversation with a friend of, because I have so much self-awareness now I feel like I reflect more than I ever have before, and it's a good and bad problem, because I'm like, oh, got to reflect again. I need to find time for that. But there's also this opportunity to pivot, when you need to pivot a lot quicker because you also are like I know I need to step back, I know I need to reflect, I need to do all these things, and so if anybody listening that's like in this funk a little bit, I just challenge you to slow down, take that deep breath and grab that piece of paper For me. I'm a visual person. I have to whiteboard it, I have to think through it. And the other thing I've had to really work on too is sometimes I want to make that decision right away, and other times it's been. You need to like I, I didn't sit on it. I should have sat on it, I should have thought through more, because another brilliant idea probably would have came a little bit.

Lisa: 34:23

Um it was. It was last February where I was in. I was, um, getting my certification to become a coach and I was just longing for some more things, and I remember sitting on that for a good six, seven months just being like what needs to change, what needs to flip inside of me, and it took me six to eight months before knowing what that answer is, and so I think that's also something beautiful too. It's like I couldn't just get a like on Instagram and poof, it's there. It was like nope, that was an eight month process. I don't know if you've had anything similar.

Jenny: 34:58

Well, this my new chapter, I mean coming out of corporate. After you know almost a 30 year career in corporate America, I consider my journey my career journey in chapters. So, like chapter one was my live entertainment ticketing chapter. That was my first 15 years in the industry. Then I went into the tech sector for another, you know, almost 15 years close to it.

Jenny: 35:25

And so now I'm in what I call chapter three, right and, and people used to always say to me you know, you should, you should consult you should, you know you should do that. And I'd be like look, I'm not an entrepreneur. I love working for them, but I'm not an entrepreneur. That was how I always thought. But after you know, you look back at your career and you say, ok, this is chapter three. Now what does that look like for me? What is, where's my fulfillment? Where can I make the biggest impact and what do I want to spend the most of my time doing right, to feel fulfilled, to influence, to impact in the way that I know I can do it, to impact in the way that I know I can do it. And so that took a good six months for me to pull the trigger and say you know what after a trip to Sedona.

Jenny: 36:18

Oh perfect, what a great place I came back at the beginning of last year and I said you know what? I am going to invest in a program to help me figure out how to launch my own business and really be able to exit corporate, but not just exit corporate, but do it in such a way. I didn't want to make obvious mistakes, right?

Jenny: 36:45

So, I invested in a program and a coaching program to help, you know female, you know executives exit corporate, Like, because I wanted to make sure that what I was doing, I was doing, you know, to the best of my ability. And so, you know, I think those lessons are really key and important, and I and I do think it's important to sit in the silence for a minute, however long a minute is the exercises to take you back to you know who you are at the core and what your purpose really is, and that was the exercise truly in this program. It was the questions that led me to finding my purpose started from when I was a kid and I didn't even realize right, and so it's amazing what can come out of just sitting in silence for a little bit.

Lisa: 37:59

Yeah, and as you were talking, I was even imagining it's. I'm just going to say a few words that come to mind. It's scary, it's uncomfortable, it's tearful, but then it's scary, it's uncomfortable, it's tearful, but then it's bright, it's sunny, it's. You're climbing this mountain and you're not going backwards, and then eventually you're on top of this mountain and you're looking outward and being like I got there and it wasn't easy, there was lots of brain power that went into it, but it's so beautiful and I think that that's like the most incredible thing.

Jenny: 38:31

I mean Lisa, for someone who we're new friends. But that is. You described my journey perfectly Exactly what happened right. There was some dark moments.

Lisa: 38:43

Yeah.

Jenny: 38:45

And it's. You know, we've heard it, we've said it right, but some of the most rewarding opportunities and journeys start with fear. Right, a little bit of fear is really good. Right, it is, and it's important to be OK with that, to feel uncomfortable, to have a little fear, no matter what you're doing in your career. That will motivate you. That will, you know. That will sometimes I share with friends and family and clients.

Jenny: 39:31

Like slow down, don't rush to get to the end, right, there's like this need and desire to like in two years I got to get promoted and then in two years, I got to get promoted again. And what's next? What's next, what's next? Right, that's like the tagline. It's like you need to give yourself the time and space to be present in the lessons, right, because if you miss it, the journey is going to be a lot tougher. Yeah, and so you know, allow yourself the time. There's a reason why you didn't get promoted. There's a reason why you didn't get hired. Right, there are reasons for that. And allow yourself that journey to learn from that. Everyone can write a book. I truly believe that Everyone's journey is so incredibly different that everyone just needs to be the narrator of their story and own that.

Lisa: 40:30

Yes, I love everything that you just said and I resonate a lot with that so kind of ending and wrapping up. What is the one last thing that you would leave our audience with?

Jenny: 40:40

Keep striving to be the best version of yourself. Don't let anyone stand in your way of that. Whatever that means, whatever that looks like, whatever direction your path takes, you, make that a non-negotiable for yourself. That would be what I would leave people with.

Lisa: 40:59

Love that. Well. Thank you, jenny, so much for hanging out with us. I'm pretty sure we could have chatted way longer than what we, but I just wanted to say thank you. It was amazing and I loved your insight.

Lisa: 41:10

Again, impact, influence and inspire is the three things to think about when it comes to leadership, when it comes to thinking about your values and really living out that purpose and know that you might trip along the way, but that's okay as long as you get back up. You know, for everybody tuning in, I always say continue to spread love and kindness to everybody that you meet. But I'm going to end a little differently today. I'm going to say go be bold, because I think that that's really what came from today is like go be bold and go be you, because the world is waiting for a leader like you. So thank you for everybody for tuning in and have a great day.

Lisa: 41:45

Thank you, thank you for tuning into the Confident Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, follow the Confident Podcast on Instagram and TikTok and share it with those who might benefit. Also, if you are looking to work one-on-one with me, message and follow me on Instagram at LisaTarkingtonOfficial. Stay confident, stay inspired and, until next time, keep striving to be the best version of yourself. Take care.