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Send Your Key People on Vacation: The Ultimate Business Stress Test (#87) · Exit Algorithms

• Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Welcome to Exit Algorithms, the podcast where we decode what it really takes to unlock growth, streamline operations, and prepare your business for a high value exit. I'm your host, Pete Vera, and today I'm joined by Hannah Bauer. She's a leadership strategist and award winning entrepreneur with nearly 30 years in the trenches as a CEO, executive director, and board chair. She's a Lean Six Sigma black belt. A Baldridge Excellence Examiner and a Maxwell Leadership Faculty Member. Today she's the founder and CEO of HeartNomics and author of Hustle with Heart, helping CEOs align people, purpose, and performance. Hannah, so excited to have you here. Welcome to the podcast. Hanna Bauer: my goodness. Thank you so much for having me, Pete. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah, I can't wait to get into this. we talked a little bit on the the pre show, but yeah, do you mind sharing a bit a bit about your background and yeah, what led you to to be the you know, start on your own business with hardenomics? Hanna Bauer: Yeah, well I would like to say to start was a motivation, it was more desperation. Like desperate to find like solutions and to make sure I was able to pay all the bills and I can think almost life of the entrepreneurs is like that, right? I mean we go in the trenches, you find out something that you're good at and it's like, Hey I can make a living out of this too. but no a lot of it too not only d was the inspiration to wanna make a change in the world, but also came a lot with my personal story as a heart to see survivor where I learned a lot of real raw lessons, you know, not because I wanted to, just again surviving. I realized there was quite a parallel between survival of heart attacks and survival in leadership and entrepreneurship. of course I didn't know that when I was a kid. It was more like, you know, when I reviewed it, when I realized what had happened, and really being able to come out from that. So that's where my heart framework comes in, that's where my beat method comes in. had the opportunity to serve a lot in leadership. But really that came out of wanting to be able to see the transformation. There were a lot of times in my life where it didn't seem like I could get past my circumstance, fighting for every breath, fighting for every beat. And in later on in life, even though I was well, it felt like that many times. Like how can we get through this one more budget cut? How can we get through the one one more client that's no longer here? You know, can we really keep on doing so I saw I started seeing a lot of parallels of what I want as a kid with what I was doing. doing in my entrepreneurship and really that led to more of that structure of what you see today and from the coming in from experience and being able to work with other leaders globally. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Wow, th thanks for sharing that really powerful story. yeah, I'm I'm curious, you know, what does a a typical client engagement look like when you well maybe what do you look at first when you take on a new client? Hanna Bauer: Well the desire, right? A lot of times what we don't know what we don't know. so the clients that come to me are the ones that I know there's quite something not right that's going on. They may not know exactly what it is, but they do have symptoms. having gone through quite a few health things, I realized there's a lot of symptoms, but the symptom doesn't necessarily mean that's the source. So with clients, when they come to me, they may come as through communication. They're like, there was miscommunication. We have all these meetings, but yet we don't get anything done. there's changes that we know that are coming, but I don't know if I'm the people, you know, the the last initiative we did didn't even stick. We've sunk all our money in the last initiative. And now we're back to where we were. the loss of talent has been key or also it actually a great opportunity because you know with every change and every shift there also comes a amazing opportunity to go forward but there's insecurity in do I have the labor force, do I have the systems and structure in place to be able to pursue those things. So usually that's how somebody comes to me in that conversation when they're looking to scale when they're looking to navigate crisis uncertainty and that a lot of times that uncertainty may come from having to inject or respond to compliance science issues or the tech new technology, having to do the influx of new technology into the organization. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Audit, yeah. When do you typically see that start to happen? Like they they need you know, more systems and and formal structure. Is there a certain maybe revenue point or or employee count where it starts to be difficult to manage? Hanna Bauer: Yeah. Well both. I mean like if you think about it in a small business, right? I mean like you you're able w when you have a small team and n because they're small doesn't mean they're not doing much. On the contrary, I mean you see million dollar businesses now that have a what we call even a skeleton crew, the core people of seven to ten, right? But where you're seven people outside of your owner, really you're able to keep in communication, you know each other's sink, you know how you you know you know how you vibe the flow that goes in there, but then when you inject Another person, right? Perhaps a second tier leadership where they may not have that direct access to the visionary or the direct access to the owner. That's when you start seeing the communication erode if you haven't already been in practice on passing those things down. So by the second tier, and I don't mean in you know position, I mean as far as connection if to the or to the owner, is when I start seeing the sound deterioration in the what not only the expectation. But you know what do we need to be watching out for? Also the initiatives that are being put in. That would be my the initial one right around seven, ten, about you know, the one million to two million really cutting point for for businesses that where they're really starting to think we need to start having some form of processes and systems that we can put into place. and then of course comes the optimizing. Sometimes the problem is not the lack of processes and systems, so many people people have franchises, many people have already, you know, like the box like businesses like already come with all these things. But they may not have the report to execute on the strategy. And they may not have the report to or the flexibility even to be able to not only adapt but respond to opportunities. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Yeah, that makes sense. yeah, I you know, I I did a little digging on on your book. I I hustle with heart. I'd love do you mind sharing some of the main through lines and and takeaways for for business owners from that book? Hanna Bauer: Yeah, so this book actually was Bertha, the hospital bed is something that for me as a kid, you know, always curious. I was diagnosed with the age at the age of four. and really spent a lot of time in the hospital from the age of ten to fourteen. So at that point, you know, it's like my my preteens, my teenage years, I'm very curious about, you know, what the world is like and really couldn't do much of from the CCU. So I had to come to terms in a very young age that I couldn't Couldn't let the circumstances dictate what my future was because I did have big dreams. And I think as a kid we all have like this amazing, like, hey, this is what we're gonna do and all that. So I had amazing parents where they always set the standard high for me. They they wouldn't cut me any breaks, which I would get mad at them, but then I understood why. But in that I realized that Even from my bed, even in those moments where I really couldn't do much, every small action had an impact. And it was the cumulative small actions from breathing on my own to sitting up on my own to being able to walk around and sustain on my own. There were moments not only to celebrate, but there were moments that were moving me towards a desired state. That's what hustle with heart is. hustle with heart is the framework that allowed me to look at the values of Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Mm. Hanna Bauer: on how I did things which again with meaning hope having hope that this is hey it's gonna get better the empowerment that happens where not only empowering myself beginning with that because it can be very disempowering when you see everybody else you know doing all these things and here you are stuck in a bed right but even in empowering yourself and you being able to transfer that empowerment to others the accountability that comes as far as like what things are we looking at what are we monitoring you know what is it that we are measuring again you cannot change what you do not measure right you you cannot grow it absolutely there the results you know always there has to be purpose in it especially when time is limited in the sense that you don't know how much time you're gonna have I mean I did have to live a lot with life and death Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Hanna Bauer: Time really was of essence to me. So how was I gonna make this work? And that's where the accountability part came in, understanding that it didn't it wasn't just a one person, but it's accountable in a community. And then trust. It takes a lot of trust. It takes trust and not only the where where you're at, the people that you are with, your leaders in my case. At that time it was the the doctors, my parents, a lot of things I didn't understand again. I was a kid. But later on in life is seeing, well, who what is my trust circle how am I not only trusting others but how am I a person of trustworthiness so that's where the heart framework is and I had to figure out a way how do I grow in this without like you know with with this concepts and that's where the beat method so it's the heartbeat method and that's believe engage act and transform and that's a quick like breath you know what do I believe how do I engage with what I have not well it's not not what I need. No how do I engage with what I have What small action can I do right now? And what's the transformation I expect from that? And does the transformation doesn't match my belief? So it's a quick individual alignment, the heartbeat. And that's what the little book is tips for every day. To take out bite-size. I have actually a digital course that goes also along with that and some workbooks available to go more into depth. But that's how I work with executives. That's how I've gotten through not only heart disease, executive, and yes, motherhood. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Hanna Bauer: Mothering five kids. If I don't use if y'all don't have heart attacks have mothering parenting kids, let me tell you that's quite an accomplishment. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. that's awesome. Yeah, I love I love that that framework and breaking it down into small small steps, small shifts. What are what are maybe some of the you know the action items that you know that you are common amongst the businesses you work with, like the quick things that you you'd find. Hanna Bauer: one is the the first thing is the overwhelm. Actually so it's not like the positive thing, we're working towards this. It's like everyone's just like overwhelmed by the amount of change or like I I don't know if I'm ever gonna go to catch up. That initial thought that may be underlying the entire day. And then without being able to catch that thought, that day could literally Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Yeah. Hanna Bauer: Is well actually is literally put in the rhythm in your day. So the having already the thought being living with this overwhelm sense of overwhelmness, something that we do like in what I do with the book. A lot of times I couldn't see what I wanted because of the circumstance, right? So it was easier to see what is the that feel that feeling, that thought that took the energy out of me. So the thought of I can never catch up, for example, that's gonna be an immediate drain withdrawal. control Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Hanna Bauer: being able to catch that just even in that in that so what what's what's going on then why do i think that you know when have i thought that before and What was my the what happened? You know what you you you're still here, so what happened? What changed? Did anything change? So why how can we turn that immediately into a positive? And that's really using a universal law. For every negative there's a positive, for every up there's a down, for every in there's an out. The reason why you know you're inside is because you know what it feels like when you're outside. I mean, we know this, so it's same like that. If there is the thought of, hey, I I'm never gonna be able to catch up, then the opposite also must be true. Right? Where you know Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Hanna Bauer: What it's like a being living being caught up on time with everything. So focusing on that part. Like, okay, so if this is true, that means there is a time that you know where the other is true. Let's take a look into that. Let's go be more curious into that part. So that's how we start. Because a lot of times I find is not that we don't know that things are not going well, we also don't know what well is for us. We don't know what the rhythm is for us. So even looking at that, if this is true, this must also be true. Otherwise you wouldn't know. You don't feel like you're caught up. There must have been a time you were cut up and you know what that felt like. Or you know somebody who was catch up and you know what that looks like. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Mm. Yeah. I love that. Pow powerful. That's awesome. yeah, I know I yeah, I would I have to ask your opinion on on leadership. I know you you're some an expert at that, you know, with the the Maxwell institute and and just all the work that you do. I'm curious wha what is your thoughts on you know values based leadership and what does that actually mean for a business owner trying to grow? Hanna Bauer: well, like my mentor says, John Maxwell, you know, infl leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. And he says everything rises and falls on leadership. And those are true principles. I will also say for me, for example, there was nothing I could do for my heart to cease outside of maybe coping, managing. So I had to rely a lot on other people. So what were these other what were these other people doing though? for me, leadership is also the love that sustained. You while you're waiting for your breakthrough. my cure did not come, it didn't exist until 1992. So I actually am the recipient of the an innovative heart surgery at the time. I'm the first kid to ever receive it. and then it's now something that is used to globally. So I didn't even know it was a medical breakthrough until the hospital called me. So they're like they said twenty years later they want to do a documentary. they want to do the reenactment of the whole time. And that's when I found out what the impact was. So I say that because when I saw the interview from the doctor, he said that we were just trying to keep her alive long enough for technology to catch up. And I'm saying that that's leadership. Leadership kept me alive long enough. The leadership from my grandmother as she would you know be with me in the hard times she would go Into the crisis with me, the leadership of my medical doctors to not give up when there was every reason to give up. The leadership of my parents to advocate for a cure that did not yet exist. And I see that consistently with organizations where leaders, really leadership, that leadership I see now is that leadership that's transformation through love and excellence. The leadership that's going to take to love your people through the empathy, through the ever-changes, through the different technology. things that are coming in through the compliance but really loving and be empathizing with them so that we can innovate together because that break it sustain them so that the innovation can come through. So I would say that's really for me leadership today in the organizations. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. awesome. And and I think I you know saw you you talk a bit a bit about getting your employees to also lead. I I'm curious, yeah, wha what does that look like? And do you find that's some business owners are a little bit maybe scared to to hand off some of some responsibilities and entrust their employees? Hanna Bauer: Yeah. I mean, absolutely, I mean, right? I mean, there's reasons we we've all been hurt. Those are people that wanna love that be like, you know, it hurts. It hurts when you trust and then you know, this is not the follow through that you expected. So, I mean, there's pain on both sides, right? There's also pain on the employee who also keeps on getting a lot of responsibilities but no authority in the area. So I this is a it's a position of both and this is really where that's why you you cannot get what you don't have for the owner. Personal development is just as important as Your business acumen. I can tell you, having been leading publishing, leading nonprofits, leading those things, it really every time, every one of those moments, I can point to specific personal development goals that I did, where it really changed the way that I executed, I showed up, and what I understood my place needed to be at that time. For employees and empowerments, it really is not just matching the task and giving a task. It really is that training. one thing in like, for example, in Lean Six Sigma, we're like, we don't really believe in like supervisors and managers. I mean, that means that you really haven't trained your people well enough to be able to understand that you need somebody to be supervising them to make sure that they're in trained. So, this is where really the empowerment is everybody is an owner of their own work. Everybody has not only that ownership, it's also a stakeholder, but also they are in trained. trusted not only with the outcome but also they have to join in the rewards. So a lot of times a delegation is passed down on all the responsibility, all the things that may seem adverse, but there also has to be a transfer in the rewards that come in there. And I mean, hey, we we like to win. You know, look at that's why the video games are booming, right? I mean we we like social media. You like it when people give you the thumbs up, when they give you feedback. So empowerment doesn't just have Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yes, we Hanna Bauer: Because let me give you this, it's your baby, you do with it, check back with me in a couple of weeks. That's not setting up your people if you don't they don't understand not only how we do it, which is the values of the organization, but also the vision and the mission. They have to understand, well, how does this is this purposeful and meaningful to the vision and the mission? Because they re really every decision that an employee does has got to be done through that filter. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to talk a little more about about that. Maybe the some frameworks and or and maybe some steps, practical steps business owners can take to train their train their team up. Hanna Bauer: So I like to use core that goes back to heartcore. So I have heartbeat for the internal alignment and heart core for organizational alignment. So what is core? Core is C for cultivate. That means that's your vision, your mission, your values. That's essentially your foundation. The foundational aspects that your leaders need to stand on. So that is the cultivate aspect. Then there's optimized. The O is optimized. That's when you have the processes and the systems. But now it's not just having them, right? Which they may have been developing. cultivate some but it's how do we optimize these we know what needs to be optimized you know and sometimes optimized is not like what more do we need to do so that this can work is really what do we need to get rid of so that we can be that much leaner and faster so an optimize a lot of times is also even some of the band aids that we did because we were doing everything in the past that we were able to get away with we're getting rid of that so that's optimizing and then we have the reach the are in core is the reach which is your feedback loops right I mean again you have the internal customer you have the external customer but there has to be that feedback loop consistently so reach is really checking all your systems not only in the communication internally but how you perceive not how you say you perceive it not what you say you do to the customer what does the customer say you do for them another question is who would miss you if your closed your doors were closed today who's gonna miss you how would you know Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Hanna Bauer: Is there a way for them to tell you how do you know right now? So reach checks stat. Reach checks to make sure like are it are my people, you know, it is really the customer I'm saying who's gonna, you know, who am I serving? How do I hear from them? How do they hear from me? How do I know? And then elevate. And elevate really is reaching to the not only the thought leadership, but the innovation that we need. change is happening. It's not gonna slow down. I don't think anybody will say, yeah, it's gonna say it's just a fad. gonna be a season. if anything we've seen changes going faster, the changes are lasting less. transformation initiatives are not you know things that may have lasted for five years, four years, it might be two years, one year. So understanding that with Elevate is also the innovative fuel that I need to do for both my organization but also the innovative fuel for my sector. So that's the other part of core is really being on understanding that What is my role not only for my people here, but really what is my further my responsibility and my impact into the industry and the world I'm looking to serve? Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Yeah. that's another another great framework. I hadn't I hadn't heard of that. It's awesome. Hanna Bauer: Yeah, it's core. You can check it out on my website. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: That's great. Yeah, and you mentioned it a little bit earlier, but you know, frequently deal with overwhelm or just burnout. how do you recommend owners get around that when they're trying to scale, you know, without getting completely consumed by the business you know, scale sustainably. Hanna Bauer: Yes. Breathe. And don't get consumed. That's what I got. It's like breathe. Breathe y'all. I you gotta breathe. And I'm not and I I mean I I say that lightly, but I also say that very much what there was nothing I could do when I was having a major heart pains in the middle of of my heart. I couldn't control the heart which was malfunctioning, but I could control my breath. So there's some things in what are happening that are really legitimate causes for your burnout right now for those business leaders that are listening. Yes, it's legitimate, yes, it is it is grounded, it is sound, yes, it can be scary. You can't control the uncontrollable, so control what you can control. And first of all, you can control your own breath. And it's amazing what breathing does for you, but also what allowing your team to breathe also does for them. Because they're feeling the chokehold, they feeling the pressure on top already. If you're feeling like this, think how your team already feels. They may not be saying it, but they're probably feeling it. So again, one of the things about if you've ever seen race cars, you know, you've ever seen those, you know, we have a motorway here, they're amazing machines. I mean like they they go super fast but even in as fast as they go and however many rounds they do they all have to pull over. Not one have I seen that they don't have to pull over because if they don't pull over it becomes a very dangerous situation for everybody involved. So I would say that too. Be pulling over, there's no shame in that. There's no like we're weak. There's not like we we can't sus we can't do all these things. It's as it was what makes you strong, it's what makes you safe, it's what makes you trustworthy. So taking that time to literally decelerate and press that pause button, it's important. Because you're feeling that, it doesn't mean that you're failing. On the contrary, you probably have had a lot of success. But like everything, this human, like everything with time, we all need that reset, we all need that maintenance. So I would highly encourage you. especially in times which makes no sense because there's really never a time where it makes sense is to pull over and align. Align back with your purpose, align back with your people, and align back with the performance that's needed. What is the performance gonna performance that's gonna be needed for this season? Because one thing we all know, you cannot have the foot on the accelerator the whole time and expect never to run out of gas. You're always gonna have to pull over. You're human and that's beautiful. It's okay. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Yeah. that's a that's a great analogy. yeah, and you know, we we talk a lot about owner dependence on the show, you know, eliminating key man risk. I'm I'm curious, you know, what are maybe some practical steps that you recommend for business owners trying to eliminate themselves as the as the bottleneck? Hanna Bauer: Yeah. Go on vacation. See what happens. That's the greatest test. What all breaks down? You know what happens when you take off that week? Yeah, the scary part, because when you go on vacation, and actually I would even do that with my key people. I've done that. I've literally done that. You send your key people on vacation because that way you start knowing what are the questions that are coming up. What do I have a way to answer those questions? If they were gone, something happens. We all know. I mean we used to call it I manufacturing the the Mac truck principle. What happens if you get up here in logistics, right? So you understand. I mean things happen. So it's a good pr it's good for them. And let me tell you the feedback, the information you get when your key people you send them on vacation, that is huge. Questions. Who is the who's starting to who who is responding to those questions? That tells you even your next line of leadership. That tells you, you know, where are the breakdowns? It tells you what doesn't get done or what does get done, what is the actual pace for the thing. So you know what we we need to know what how long do things take. So it with your key people, if Just doing that to where what happens when we press a hard stop? Because then when they come back in, then we have a clear workflow to work from. Okay, we need to find out what are the answers to this, and this is where a lot of the processes and systems are born from that. Hey, this all this happened, it was terrible, and then now you're back, so let's fill in that gap. So that's a very quick way to find out who's doing what in your business. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Hanna Bauer: it is a very quick check and is be I've seen it work for me for practical even like I said, you go on vacation and don't be there answering the phone the whole time. See what happens. Again, what's the worst thing that can happen? And I'm telling you want us to fail quick. And so that we can respond to that and fail learn from those failures. So we have to like not constantly be trying to prevent everything. There we need to know what is it that happens and this what happened as bad as I thought what would happen. Because that's the only way that I'm gonna be able to learn what see those gaps, but also be able to empower other people to fill in those gaps. I need to understand what level of risk. Maybe things that I didn't think were that big of a risk are really a big risk. So I need to compensate the same way. We're talking about risk, looking at at a risk, and it's like, wow, this is really it may not take us long, but it's a very high risk activity that I need to make sure I have the right person that's looking out for that. And I need to train differently. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. that's a that's a really good tip, honestly, yeah. that's a the the quickest way to find, you know, what needs to be replaced, yeah, is to just test it, right? Hanna Bauer: that. Buy them a cruise. Send them on a cruise. There's no internet, there's nothing and they'll have everything paid for. Send your key people on a cruise. Not all at the same time though. One at a time. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Ha Yeah. that's awesome. Yeah, and I I always make sure to touch on AI. I know it's a a buzzword, but you can't really talk about business these days without it. Seems I'm curious how how do you see it affecting your your industry and and how are you personally leveraging it the most? Hanna Bauer: Okay, so there's a couple of things. Actually I'm I'm giving a session, I'm speaking in Canada next week, and actu bringing in the power of AI and the human, the the human centric and the just the overall how do we do this and remain integrous, right? So this is not the first time that we're disrupted by technology. So first of all, I know what happens right now. It's like, my gosh, it's like the end of thing. Yeah, the difference here is that usually a lot of times the industry or the sectors may go through This one at a time. The difference kind of like what happened even with 2020 is that it wasn't just one country battling through a virus, it wasn't just one thing, it was like it's in like the entire world at the same time and the global economy. The same thing with AI, it's not that this is a new way of technology. I mean, look at even the disruption that the cell phones themselves did, just having a cell phone with what they did. but it's just everybody at the same time. Not everybody got a cell phone at the same time, you know. were different stages to it and the technology wasn't as disruptive in that sense but yeah it started changing the way that we did work so this actually reminds me a lot of what we went in the publishing industry and for us you know think some people forget the rise of the ebook well that kind of destroyed the way that publishing did business back in 2010 and I was actually leading an industry at that time so we were majorly disruptive but we also were like my gosh it's like these End of the world, people were even doing videos with called the death of print. You know, how like printers were just gone. Well, another industry had gone before that through that before us, and that was the media industry. Where you remember, I don't know if I don't know if you're old enough, Pete, to remember the CDs, and if for the C you had to buy a whole album, but if you just wanted that one song, you had to buy this the single-literally get the single, and then maybe you can stream that one, but then suddenly it went from I don't have to buy the album, I don't have to even. and buy the single, I can stream it straight on my phone or on my computer. And then I don't just have to have one artist like that. I can have many artists like that. Well, that was disruption to the media industry, which for us, what we saw as a publisher is there was an industry that went through that before we did. How did they handle it? And we started taking a lot of lessons from that. What's happening now is that it's the same thing, it's just a lot of industries had not gone through that disruption. It's like, well, what's the playbook for doing AI? So like we haven't done it, right? But we can't Take the playbook from how we've done things in the past with other tools. Every time there has been a technology, number one is the human. So when we're talking about AI, there has to be a governance structure to the use of the tools, it's not the system or the process that is leading the human. Again, there has to be governance and the responsibility, and yes, this comes from the leader on how do we not only keep the human in the loop, but what are the The actual crucial points for the human to be able to go in there and the decision making that needs to happen. Now there's some things right now that are written to where you know it does require the human touch, but there's things outside of what a third party may say. This is where humans need it. You really need to know what the governance, just like we did when with social media started, we started writing policies, we started writing things on how to handle social media internally. Well, but the same thing is in the governance, because this is this is a different technology in the sense that It does learn it can auto-correct without you saying yeah, autocorrect. So there has to be that. And here's like the other thing. Don't look at AI as a way to solve all the problems that you have going on right now. If one thing is, like I said, AI is gonna amplify the human. AI is also gonna amplify the gaps. So if you currently have a gap in your culture. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm-hmm. Hanna Bauer: Whatever it is, if you have currently have a trust issue in your culture, implementing AI at that time, guess what's they're gonna do to the trust in the culture? The gap's gonna be bigger. If you currently don't know even what process you're using to do a certain thing, let's let AI create that process. If you didn't know before, you're probably not gonna know now. So when things go wrong. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Yeah. Hanna Bauer: You're not gonna be able to do that root cause diagram as quick because people were not part of that. So I will highly recommend, which is a thing, and this is where my the whole cultivate and core. If you don't have cultivate right, whatever tool you bring in is just gonna amplify and create that gap and make it faster and bigger. So you need to know what indeed are the processes and the systems that you need, and not just come up with a process for this and process for that and a system for this and a system for that which it can. But also how am I gonna be able to be vigilant and g have the governance? Again, keep the authority. Remember I told you like with leadership it's not just the responsibility but the authority. What is the authority? Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Hanna Bauer: of your people with these systems and do not expect AI to solve these things for you because it won't. It will amplify whatever it is. The good and the not so good. It will amplify that much quicker. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Well said. Yeah, I I love that that answer. I'm glad I I'm glad I asked you. Great great frameworks and and takeaways. okay, Hannah, la last question. If you could pick one practical tip for business owners wanting to scale sustainably, what would it be? Hanna Bauer: you're be Line. You gotta align. You gotta know your purpose. You gotta know your people. You gotta know your performance. What is expected? It's that alignment. Like I said, it's that breath. It's that consistent. You cannot give what you don't have. The worst thing you can do as a business owner is the entire time be busy the whole time and realize that when you got up the ladder, you were in the wrong roof. And that happens a lot of times without aligning. So I would my my first call is alignment. And honestly, that means take a breath, take a pause. It's good. Doesn't make you weak, it makes you strong. But taking the time to align is of the greatest things you can do right now for your people, especially in the fast highway of change. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Awesome. Wow, th thank you so much, Anna. Really good insights today. where can listeners find you and learn more if they enjoy the conversation as much as I have. Hanna Bauer: well you can go to my website heartnomics.com. Yeah, just like you heard it, Heartnomics for the for the heart. you can find me there. You can find me on LinkedIn. I also have a complimentary assessment there for business owners that you can take a look at the functions, you know, so you can check out your heart leadership there as well. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Great. Yeah, I'll leave that in the show notes. Thanks so much, Hannah. Loved having you on today. Hanna Bauer: thank you for having me.