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When Your Boss Fails the Values Test · Not All Business

0:00
Welcome to Not All Business, a podcast by two former CEO's who
0:04
went from competitors to friends.
0:06
I'm Blakely Graham and my Co host is Heather Cooper and we're
0:09
supervised by our producer Clay Cornell, who clearly has his
0:13
work cut out for him this episode.
0:16
Sticky situation. Do you or do you not tell your
0:20
boss when you have something going on in your personal life
0:24
that might impact your work? Heather, you want to do a lead
0:33
story this week or? I'll have to do a lead story
0:37
this week. You're like, OK, let's banter
0:39
go. All right, I'm on it.
0:41
It's fucking hard. So it was my kids birthday, they
0:44
were born. It's kind of good they were born
0:47
3 days apart. But it's like all growing up,
0:49
it's like you have not. Oh, but different years.
0:52
Yes, yes, my love. Different years, two years
0:56
apart, in fact. OK, so September 3rd, September
0:59
6th, Please don't steal their identity.
1:01
Anyway, so I've always having to deal with like these
1:05
back-to-back birthdays, birthday parties, da da, da.
1:07
They get older. It just comes down to money.
1:08
So it's not as hard. But I was in my old photos
1:12
looking through some stuff to do a post, just, you know, for each
1:15
of them, and then started texting you in the middle.
1:18
And then somehow we got about like, high school photos.
1:22
And then you sent me. You sent me a beautiful one.
1:27
Oh, yeah. So she sends me this picture.
1:30
Hands down. You look exactly like Daryl
1:33
Hannah when she like you, Daryl Hannah, which a lot of our
1:37
listeners probably don't know who Daryl Hannah is.
1:39
So Daryl Hannah was a beautiful, long, blonde hair, tall drink of
1:48
water. She was in Splash.
1:50
Is she? She's not dead.
1:51
I don't, I don't know. I haven't seen her lately, isn't
1:54
she? Neil Young.
1:56
Is that? She was like up in a tree
1:58
protesting something like, didn't she go live in a tree for
2:01
a few months? I don't.
2:03
Know hear that another now that's going to be our second
2:06
thumbs down anyway. You look exactly like her.
2:10
It blew my mind. I don't know when that stopped,
2:14
but my whole middle school through high school, I got that
2:17
once twice a week, all, all the time.
2:19
And it was really nice to hear because I loved her and splashed
2:22
like it was great. But it stopped at some point.
2:25
So I feel like at some point I aged out of Daryl Hannah.
2:27
But I'm glad you saw it in that high school picture with the
2:30
biggest hair. Like was it the claw or the
2:33
wave? I can't.
2:34
Remember what? I don't know, but it was
2:36
beautiful. We'll put the link in the
2:37
comments for everyone to see the photo.
2:39
We should put that out there. We should.
2:41
People need a boyfriend. Love that.
2:43
Blakers. Oh, that's how it came out.
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Because you didn't like that I called you Blakers last week,
2:48
and that's because that was his nickname for you.
2:49
Yeah, only, only high school sweethearts can call me Blakers.
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He would be really offended if someone took that name.
2:55
He wouldn't actually be offended at all.
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He's the sweetest guy on the planet Earth.
2:57
Do you still keep in touch? Do you still keep in touch with
2:59
your ex boyfriends? Yeah, yeah.
3:03
Wow, you invited them all to the wedding.
3:05
Stop it. Also them all.
3:08
How many are we talking? How many are we talking?
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We didn't invite my high school boyfriend to the wedding, but I
3:14
should have because he is so great.
3:18
Yes, he's so great and has the same name as my current husband.
3:22
Wait, I just, I just wanted to jump back in and say Daryl
3:26
Hannah and Neil Young are married.
3:28
They got married in 2018. Kidding me?
3:31
OK. And they live a very.
3:33
Daryl Hannah is married to Neil Young.
3:36
Yeah, No. And they live a very private
3:39
life in Canada and they seem very happy.
3:41
Really. Well, like pause to me Googling
3:44
to see if Blakely still did she age as well as Blakely?
3:47
I need to see it. Don't wait for me.
3:50
I mean, I'm, I'm looking it up right now, Daryl.
3:54
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Daryl Hannah, American actress.
4:00
Yeah, she's she looks great. She looks great.
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She looks a lot like you and it's freaking me.
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Out, I don't actually see it, which is the odd thing, but I
4:12
think it's also like, I don't actually like hear your own
4:17
voice until you hear your own voice type of thing.
4:19
Do you know what I'm saying by that?
4:21
Well, it's a compliment, and I think that you should be a
4:23
mermaid for Halloween. That's it.
4:27
Well, I've got the boot. Everybody sound off in the
4:29
comments. Should Blakely go as Daryl
4:32
Hannah for Halloween? Well, you were going to do that
4:35
or you were going to do Ted Lasso, right?
4:40
Because your husband looks like the reporter guy.
4:43
Trent Kim from the. Independent.
4:45
He totally does. Totally.
4:47
That's awesome. Yeah.
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I yeah, I was going to be Hannah Waddington or, you know, the the
4:52
boss lady. And yes, he was going to be
4:55
Trent Kim. OK, so good at that.
4:57
We'll see. It's a little out of season
5:00
right now, so if Ted Lasso's like reboot that's coming out is
5:05
good, maybe we'll do that for how.
5:06
Long I actually would recommend doing it this year while
5:09
everyone still has like a nostalgic good like feeling
5:13
about about it. Don't wait till next year
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because you never know if it'll be like I didn't really like
5:18
them this season or whatever. Clay, you ever have the cool
5:23
advice? I'm so impressed.
5:25
Yeah, we care about your personal brand even if you
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don't. Blakely, we're looking.
5:30
We're looking now for you. Here's a question for you.
5:33
There's as a as a woman. There's two ways to go on any
5:39
Halloween costume idea. There's three, but go ahead with
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your two. I'll start with my two and then
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see how you're going to add. Then you go funny where you're
5:50
not, or you go sexy. Oh no, I've been like training
5:54
my daughter and her friends to stop with the sexy berries or.
5:58
I know the. Sexy bunnies the sexy.
6:01
Clowns, whatever. I always went funny.
6:03
I always went funny. Funny.
6:04
So much better, so much better, so much better.
6:07
I did back in the day, Mary Katherine Gallagher.
6:10
I did like just anything. Is that is that it's Pat?
6:14
It's not Pat, you're crossing it, but it is a Saturday Night
6:16
Live character. It's Molly Shannon.
6:19
She's this is before you were born.
6:21
I know she would just do. This like Catholic girl who was
6:24
like super awkward and she'd be like.
6:26
Super stuffed or. Like sometimes when I get
6:28
nervous I so then. Yes, OK, I know that.
6:30
Yeah, I know that. Yeah.
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I just didn't know the character.
6:32
Yeah, that's, that's great. It is fun, but it's fun to go
6:35
out and, you know, going out to the bars and stuff and you're
6:37
doing something that's fun and funny.
6:38
So I I preferred that. But like you wanted.
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To be sexy? Was that what you were saying?
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No, third option is you just do not do Halloween.
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I am Boo. I, Boo, am the third option.
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I do not like that holiday, I do not like the pressure, I do not
6:57
want to think about what to wear.
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Oh my gosh, what? What happened to you?
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What happened? It's my mother's favorite
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holiday. Oh.
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Mama Blakely went too hard. She went.
7:07
For a while. What what she what she do?
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She handmade every single costume I ever had.
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So like, bless her for that. That's so.
7:16
Oh, she she takes birthdays and Halloween very, very seriously.
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Did you get a choice in the costume?
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Was that the problem? I I.
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Think I got to say what it was and then she did it.
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I don't know. I don't know.
7:32
I think the bridge happened in the sexy years.
7:34
I think it was college and all this.
7:36
She stopped making your She's like making your costumes.
7:40
Mom, your mom's shorter. She pink ladies shorter.
7:43
Yeah, like what? Things.
7:47
OK, so then did you then pass that on to your kids where you
7:51
did not do Halloween and they're they're deprived?
7:55
Yeah, yeah. I We don't do a lot.
7:59
OK. What age do you stop trick or
8:02
treating? Wow.
8:04
What age do you stop trick or treating?
8:06
Question ever. But no, no I am not.
8:11
I do not like the huge groups of college age children coming with
8:15
their pillowcases. Like bring your orange pumpkin
8:20
your. Cute bucket I I get that it is a
8:22
little bit of a bummer. That said, two years ago I did
8:25
go Halloween caroling with a big group of friends, which is just
8:29
another way to to go around the neighborhood we are pairing for
8:32
candy. Song.
8:33
Halloween. Halloween.
8:35
Halloween. No, let me just let me just let
8:38
me sing it for you. We wish you a happy Halloween.
8:42
We wish you a happy Halloween. OK, You improvise.
8:46
You're doing. It's just about to say, Clay,
8:48
let's like, cut this whole stick.
8:52
I like holidays. We're we're coming up and you're
8:55
such a Grinch. I am a Grinch.
8:57
I had a Grinchy week, Heather, I had a really Grinchy week.
9:00
What happened? I Do you ever have a feeling in
9:05
your body when you know you're like pushing too hard?
9:08
Like how does it show up for you?
9:09
Yes. Like how?
9:11
Oh, you're asking me. Yeah, I'm just wondering.
9:13
My neck tense is up. Yeah.
9:15
Yeah, so I get my jaw box. Yeah, it's really, really bad
9:21
and the worst I've ever had it. It lasted for like 3 months and
9:25
I had to have this friend woman PT, she like put on this like
9:30
thick rubber glove and she'd like stick her finger up inside
9:34
my mouth and like release like release the jaw.
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It was so painful and she had to do it for a full month, like a
9:40
couple times a week until it released for good.
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And so I'm just very, you can't eat.
9:47
I can't, like I can't have popcorn, which is what I eat
9:49
every night. Like I, I just, it's awful.
9:51
It's debilitating. And so just that kind of watch
9:54
out for that and stress. And it was just a, it was a hard
9:57
week. And we can get into that because
9:58
it all has to do with the podcast.
10:00
And jeez, I'm sorry I'm such a stressful thing in your life.
10:07
All had to do with the podcast. OK.
10:09
I'll, I'll tell you about that in a second, OK.
10:12
But I have something I need to share because I'm really, really
10:14
excited about it. So like I'm doing everything
10:16
right. Like when I'm stressed and I
10:17
know it and the jaws start flocking, I sleep.
10:20
And you can like check my Garmin.
10:22
I got like a sleep score of 80 every night.
10:24
I like go to the gym more times than not.
10:26
I'm eating really well. I haven't had a single glass of
10:30
wine since you were at my house and you made me drink 7 bottles
10:34
like it. I'm like nailing it and my jaw
10:39
is like locked up. And so I'm like, what the fuck
10:41
do I do? Like, what do I do?
10:42
And so here, and I'm telling you the story because I think people
10:45
will benefit from hearing this answer.
10:47
Maybe a question mark, I'm not sure.
10:49
But on Sunday, someone asked me to go to church.
10:56
And Clay, I know what you're thinking.
10:57
It's not the Church of God, OK? What?
11:00
Am I thinking? She's like lately went to
11:03
church. That doesn't make any sense.
11:05
I did not go to the Church of God, which I think would also
11:08
work just as well for many, many people.
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But I went to the Church of Red Rocks and I realized sitting
11:17
there with 5000 of my Bramley members seeing Brandy Carlisle
11:23
and all of her kindness like. What's a Bramley?
11:26
What kind of? Cult, did you just?
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Join. OK, OK.
11:28
OK, this is the Church of the Church of Music.
11:32
Is what you what you're getting at?
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Church of Music. Yeah.
11:35
And I sat there and one of her songs is probably the joke
11:38
because that's the song that brings tears to everyone's eyes
11:41
every time. And I'm like, this is what I
11:43
needed. So sometimes I guess this is my
11:46
PSA for everyone because I didn't get home till midnight
11:48
and we're eating tailgating food, which is actually pretty
11:50
good because my friends are great.
11:54
But you can be doing everything right to completely regulate
11:58
your body. But if you do not feed your
12:02
soul, I think you can equally get out of whack.
12:05
And so I just, I just have to remember that to feed my soul
12:09
anyway, so I'm better. Monday morning I woke up.
12:13
Like, look, wow, that's a deep, deep, big wide.
12:18
Perverted. That's OK.
12:20
Don't have to do this. Well, that's don't like.
12:23
Sometimes I just wanted to show you I'll do that.
12:27
OK, all right. But it is because of the podcast
12:31
though that's. Awesome, so you found your
12:33
thing. It's not pole dancing, it's
12:35
concerts. It's always been concerts, but
12:37
you know, I can't stay up late because I was so worried about
12:41
regulation that I was sacrificing the soul part.
12:45
I just like, that doesn't make sense.
12:46
So whatever, stay up late and know what your stressors are.
12:52
So because I've been in therapy for 49 1/2 years, I know now to
12:59
look deeper until like what is causing it in your?
13:03
60s you look good. That is incredible.
13:07
I I knew you were older than me. I didn't realize.
13:10
We're going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of you going to
13:12
therapy on the podcast. Well, you realize my mom's a
13:15
therapist. So like I came out of the womb.
13:18
Into therapy. So like, let's just.
13:19
Say I forgot that I forgot that. Regardless, here's the thing.
13:22
You talked about it last week, like externally feedback's tough
13:25
and but I'm not actually worried about that because I have
13:28
Heather and Clay and you guys are the reason I want to do this
13:31
all the time. I love you so much.
13:33
Like I think we'll get through external feedback, but it's like
13:36
the internal shit that gets me. It is like the humble bragging,
13:40
I'm not doing it anymore. I'm not doing it.
13:43
We love it. Give the people what they want.
13:45
No, that's my inner child needing validation.
13:47
I'm not. I'm not today.
13:50
I am not going to humble brag. You're going to get so boring.
13:53
And then you're going. To We actually don't really like
13:56
where this is going. Could you go back?
13:58
I don't. Could you like to revert that?
14:01
Yeah. What am I going to have to make
14:02
fun of anymore? If you're this like super solid
14:05
peaceful, well, they want to. Grow too, Heather.
14:08
I want to grow. And then the other thing that
14:13
I'm going to do today is I do not want to sound like a
14:19
Midwestern Valley girl because I've never lived in the Midwest
14:23
and I've never lived in the Valley.
14:25
What's wrong with today? Nothing's wrong with the Midwest
14:29
as we have 3 Michiganders on the podcast today just making.
14:32
Sure, you knew your audience. Go ahead.
14:33
I just want to speak slower and lower.
14:39
Today, OK, keep doing that. That gives you something to work
14:43
with, OK? I'm going to get testosterone
14:46
patches, but we'll see, all right.
14:49
Hey, don't hate against testosterone.
14:51
It's important though. Just be plicking out my chin
14:53
hairs. Plucking, plucking, plucking,
14:56
plucking. OK, I'm up.
14:58
OK, so new Blakely. I really like this Blakely.
15:01
Blakely that you went, that you saw Brandi Carlisle and that you
15:05
went to the Church of Red Rocks. I've never been to Red Rocks and
15:08
I've never seen Brandi Carlisle so.
15:10
You've never been to red. Rocks, what's wrong?
15:12
With you, You've come to Colorado so many times.
15:14
I know. You're a musician.
15:16
I've had friends play there, I've had friends go there.
15:20
It's it's, and every time it comes up in conversation, I'm
15:24
just the person who's like. I've never been there before.
15:28
No, it's true because even I went backstage with with.
15:32
Gabe, humble brag I passed my energy to you.
15:35
Oh, you just humble bragged. Oh my gosh.
15:39
And I was looking really pretty that night, if I can recall.
15:45
I just all of a sudden it's pretty, Daryl Humble bragged.
15:49
This is an episode of Freaky Friday.
15:52
It was like 20 years after I was crowned homecoming queen.
15:56
I'm trying. To put the mother.
15:57
The I'm just joking, whatever. Anyway, okay, we gotta get
16:03
Molly. Like poor Molly.
16:05
Let's get Molly on the show. So much to add to this
16:07
conversation. We need to bring her in.
16:08
On another Michigander. Yes, like what?
16:11
Let's introduce our guest. Our guest today is Molly
16:14
Keeveny. Molly is a corporate
16:17
communications and marketing leader with 30 years of
16:20
experience in CPG. Clay, I know you want to know
16:23
what that means. It's Consumer Packaged Goods.
16:27
OK. Thank you.
16:28
She has worked you guys for a jaw-dropping list of brands.
16:33
I'm just going to name a few. She's got Silk soy milk, almond
16:36
milk, Horizon Organic, Earthbound Farm, Cliff Bar, Luna
16:40
Bars. She has a bunch of brands under
16:42
Mars. I think those were her pet food
16:44
years. Those were all her in house.
16:46
But she's also worked with major clients like McDonald's,
16:49
Anheuser Busch, Tyson Foods, Tootsie Roll, Coors Brewing.
16:52
You guys get the point. I could go on.
16:54
And. Yeah, All I hear is like
16:56
sponsor, sponsor, sponsor. Yes, right idea.
17:00
Let's talk about that. OK.
17:02
Connections. Yep.
17:03
She has been one of my closest friends for 20 years.
17:08
OK. And if we're really, really,
17:10
really lucky, she may sing the Taco song for us today.
17:16
I'm not sure. Well that sounds like a non
17:18
negotiable. I know Molly, let's bring her
17:21
on. Welcome to Not All Business.
17:26
Hi everyone, Blakely here. This episode of Not All Business
17:30
is brought to you by yours truly, where strategist Cindy
17:33
Forgard helps growth minded leaders navigate pivotal moments
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with confidence. I worked with Cindy when I was
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18:17
OK, back to the show. Well, I have to tell you, I
18:24
don't know what the Taco song is, but I'm sure you're going to
18:27
Jack my memory. But what I will say is I have
18:31
also seen Brandy Carlisle at Red Rocks last year.
18:34
Yeah, Clay, you've got a you definitely have to get to Red
18:37
Rocks. It is unbelievable venue.
18:41
So Molly, I feel like we should start with a Taco song.
18:47
Do you not Taco? Oh, Taco burrito.
18:50
What? That what's what's that coming
18:51
out of your Speedo? That one?
18:54
That's an SNL. OK, that's an SNL.
18:57
Will Ferrell, Sherry Oteri. Remember, they were the
19:01
cheerleaders. Cheerleaders.
19:03
Yes, and they would they would go to the offbeat events like
19:07
they didn't go to the football game or the basketball game.
19:10
They went to like the swim meet. So that's like Taco burrito.
19:13
What's that coming out of your Speedo?
19:15
Like that was, you know, I just love it when she and then like,
19:20
like there's another ways. They were Oh my God.
19:22
They were outside of the Hickory Farms in the mall to drum up
19:25
business during Christmas. So they were like, Oh my God.
19:28
They were like mentioning kinds of cheese.
19:32
Oh God. And he said something about
19:35
Monterey Jack hair on his back. I don't remember, but that was
19:39
Sherry o'terry was actually. Anyway, they're hysterical
19:43
together. I got it.
19:44
So good. All right, well now we're going
19:47
to get down to business. So Molly, you have spent 3
19:51
decades in like corporate comms and communications and building
19:54
teams. Like I know all of our walks
19:56
have been mostly about like leadership advice and like
19:59
building out teams and you're just.
20:02
So good at like the natural organic culture piece and I bet
20:07
you it's not even natural and organic.
20:08
I bet you you are very thoughtful and pointed on how
20:12
you build cultures. And so I guess I don't know,
20:14
just start with like what your passion is in the workplace and
20:18
how you do what you do and how you create that magic and.
20:22
Wow. Well, one of the things that I
20:25
came to love in the work that I do in corporate communications
20:30
is helping companies or brands define their purpose and also
20:36
define their values. If you think of a purpose, it's
20:39
all about, well, why does a company exist and what kind of
20:44
positive impact does it want to make with people or the world?
20:47
And then when you think about values, that's really about core
20:50
beliefs like how, how are you going to behave in the
20:54
workplace? What, how are you going to make
20:57
decisions? How are you going to treat each
20:58
other as colleagues? And how are you going to treat
21:01
partners and suppliers and vendors?
21:03
And so why do we exist and how like how are we going to treat
21:08
each other? And I think that I don't think
21:11
there's any more like great work, at least in, in my line of
21:15
work in terms of corporate communications.
21:17
I don't think there's anything more exciting or fun to do, or
21:21
meaningful if you do it right. Yeah, also and impossible
21:25
because I think like being on both sides of an acquisition
21:28
throughout my career, I think that's one of the hardest things
21:31
to do. When you have two companies
21:33
coming together, there's a ton of uncertainty.
21:36
Is there still going to be jobs for everybody on the other side
21:38
of this? Who's who's coming on top, who's
21:41
the acquirer, who's being bought?
21:44
What values are? Is there a new set of values?
21:46
Are we kind of now under their set and their vision and that
21:51
communication? It's not even just what's from
21:53
the top in my experience as like what's put out there like coming
21:57
soon and here's what we're doing.
21:58
It's what's behind the 5 minutes after the meeting meeting where
22:02
it's like, OK, yes, but what really is that?
22:04
And that's the stuff that spreads like wildfire that if
22:08
you're not getting in front of it and if you're not having the
22:10
people bought in, like in those five minute after the meeting
22:14
meetings, you're so screwed in my personal experience of just
22:18
like containing that and staying ahead of it.
22:21
So I'd love to hear how you, like, at what level are you
22:26
addressing when you're like coming in and you're saying, OK,
22:28
let's all get on the same page here.
22:29
Who's in the room? Who are you talking with?
22:31
How's that getting disseminated to the rest of the group?
22:35
Sure. I mean, who's in the room?
22:36
I mean, I've learned a lot where I've done a lot of things that
22:39
didn't work and certainly some things it did.
22:41
And I think that who's in the room?
22:43
Certainly the C-Suite, you know, they got to really believe it.
22:48
And I think that that can be really where a company falls
22:50
down is, you know, they can plaster it all over the place or
22:55
stick it in their social channels or whatever, or
22:57
whatever their purpose and their values are.
22:58
But if the top, the top folks aren't living them, living them,
23:03
you know, that's where you really run into trouble.
23:05
And I'm sure we all have amazing stories of when leaders fell
23:08
down and didn't live the values. I know I've got plenty of those,
23:13
but boy, it's magic when you get it right.
23:15
And I think that some of the things I've learned is, you
23:19
know, don't tell, don't tell the companies.
23:22
Our cultures are totally compatible.
23:24
My God, our cultures are so similar.
23:28
Every company I've worked for wants to say, Oh my God, it's a
23:31
meeting of these two companies that we we share the same value.
23:35
You don't. It's.
23:36
Nothing to do with money. Nothing.
23:37
Like, no, yeah, like don't like don't even waste because nobody
23:41
believes it and every company says it and it's just bullshit.
23:45
So don't do that. Also, to your point, when an
23:49
acquisition happens, it is not an A merger of equals.
23:55
One of those companies bought the other one, and the one that
23:59
bought it is in the driver's seat.
24:01
Yep. So it's not never a merger of
24:03
equals. No, it's that's not the way the
24:06
world works. I think being honest about that
24:09
and acknowledging, yeah, this is going to change, like this is
24:12
going to feel different and it's going to feel bad even for a
24:15
while. But here's, here's the greater
24:17
place of where we want to go and being very clear about their,
24:21
the employee's role in that, whether it exists or whether it
24:26
doesn't, or whether it's to be determined, but not promising
24:29
something that you cannot deliver on.
24:31
Because in that tumultuous time, people need to have something to
24:35
hold onto. And the and they get wind of it
24:37
because they're all talking about the meetings that the one
24:39
on ones that they've had. And so as soon as they see
24:42
somebody else not get followed through, it undoes every other
24:45
one and one you've had because they're like, Oh well, no, so
24:47
and so was told this that didn't happen.
24:50
All of a sudden you've lost it. So like being as upfront as
24:53
possible and honest of something you have control over and you
24:56
can follow through is so. Critical and I I think you
25:01
brought up another really good point, Heather, which is that,
25:04
you know, when an acquisition occurs, 99% of the time people
25:09
are going to lose their jobs. Some people, yeah.
25:12
And so to act like they're not, I've had companies say they're
25:16
not. And I'm like, why are we saying
25:19
that? Because I know I'm going to be
25:20
coming out with messaging in short order that negates that.
25:24
So, but you can be honest with employees, as long as you think
25:29
about that, how component, how, how well can we treat employees?
25:35
If, if there are some who have to exit, how can we make sure
25:38
they maintain their dignity as as they exit?
25:41
And that is so important because for every employee who's staying
25:47
at the company, they see that there's the back channel
25:50
conversations. To your point, the meeting after
25:53
the meeting, Oh my God, I could go on and on about that.
25:55
I used to tell my teams that I'm like, do not walk out of here
25:58
and have a second meeting. Let's just have it now.
26:02
So I do think, you know, the where, where I've helped
26:07
companies do this really well is when they're really willing to
26:11
be honest. And that can get touchy in terms
26:14
of whether or not they're publicly traded and things like
26:17
that. I think some of that stuff gets
26:18
a little dicey. That's why there's some
26:20
sensitivity around it. Yeah, that's true.
26:24
Well, I've never been part of a publicly traded 1, so that's
26:27
where my expertise stops. So I'm glad we have you on here
26:30
for everything. Neither have you, by the way,
26:32
Blakely. So don't get that smile off your
26:34
face right now. You're you're acting like, Oh
26:36
well, have you? You're task grading go public
26:40
that you Starbucks owned. Well, you were a barista.
26:44
I'm not I'm. Not that a barista, which is a
26:48
great job, Thank you. Oh.
26:50
We might need to cut that. You came out strong.
26:52
Well, but you know everyone at. Starbucks coffee had this week.
26:56
Did you make them? No, I told you I'm I'm eating
27:01
healthy. I'm not allowed to have
27:02
caffeine. Every Starbucks employee goes
27:06
through barista training. Just I have had. 480 milligrams
27:09
of caffeine already today and I don't think I'm done.
27:12
Totally Also backup on the caffeine's not healthy.
27:15
Why is caffeine not healthy? We don't.
27:17
Need to go into. My no, you scared me.
27:19
No, we don't have to go on a a bag.
27:21
I just, you freaked me out because I was like, I thought I
27:23
didn't think caffeine on its own was not healthy.
27:25
For legal reasons, this is not a medical podcast.
27:28
Caffeine is healthy for some people, and for some people it
27:31
is not. OK.
27:33
For me, it's very healthy. Now back to the show.
27:35
I'm just on a week break. Thank you.
27:37
All right, Molly, I'm really just because I know from our
27:43
walks, like you manage all those communications at the corporate
27:48
level, at the acquisition level, you were like, I have to put
27:51
down my coffee mug, tea, tea, I'm drinking tea.
27:55
You were like the puppet master, right?
27:57
For what? What was going to come out of
27:59
your CE OS mouth to make that integration really work as well
28:03
as it can work, but you also yourself, I know you were an
28:08
incredible like people manager and I'm just curious what what
28:13
are like your top three practices or in connecting your
28:18
team and Val and how you value your team or showed value to
28:22
your team or care for your team? Sure, I mean I.
28:25
You don't have to pick top three, but I know you're really
28:27
good at this. Well, I, when I turned 40, and
28:31
I'm a little bit older than that when I turned 40, I don't know,
28:36
I had a little maybe you told me to you probably told me this on
28:39
a walk. But anyway, I realized that I
28:42
wanted to be able to show up as the same person everywhere I
28:44
went. And I felt like there were
28:46
places where I wasn't showing up as the same.
28:49
I'll give I'll give a an example.
28:52
When I went into my church, I felt like I was a cafeteria
28:59
church member. I picked some things that I
29:01
believed in. And then there were other things
29:02
I really didn't believe in. And when I went in the voting
29:05
booth, I was voting for different things that the church
29:07
I belonged to didn't, you know, prescribe.
29:11
So I started, I started at that point like saying, OK, wait a
29:16
minute. When I walk into work and I walk
29:18
into church and I walk into my home and I walk into the voting
29:22
booth, I just want it all to be the same.
29:24
I want to be the same person. I want to bring the same values
29:28
and so I'm going to park family over here for a second because I
29:34
didn't really realize I wasn't doing it over there and it but I
29:37
started doing it in these other places.
29:39
And so I actually I that was a few years after I got married.
29:43
My husband was of a different faith.
29:45
We were having kids. That's probably what actually
29:47
caused the epiphany is like, OK, how are we going to raise these
29:50
kids? Baptizing, yeah.
29:53
So we did get them baptized, but in a different faith, the faith
29:56
that I felt more comfortable in. My husband had been a part of
29:59
that faith. And so I was like, check, cool.
30:02
Now I'm walking into work with the same values.
30:04
I'm walking into my church with the same values.
30:06
I'm walking into the voting booth, blah, blah, blah, blah,
30:08
blah. You know, like, I started just
30:10
having this realization that I wanted my values to be the same
30:13
everywhere. It was actually on a walk with
30:16
you, Blakely, where I we must have been talking about our kids
30:22
because, and Blakely does know I care deeply about the people I
30:25
work with, especially the people who are on the teams I get to
30:28
lead. And Blakely said, what if you
30:31
treated your kids the same way you treat your employees, which
30:36
is a little bit of a whoa like that.
30:40
That it, it, it should it. I don't know that it stung in
30:43
the moment, but it stung later as I thought more about it.
30:46
But it was such a pivotal piece of advice.
30:49
No, don't apologize. It was amazing.
30:52
The reason I said that though, and I'm I'm remembering this
30:57
conversation now, is Molly. This goes to my question.
31:01
A few minutes ago, she would tell me these stories of of like
31:06
community building with her team or gifts she would give her team
31:11
on the birthday for birthdays or a team member was having like a
31:15
struggle at home and how like she showed up to support one of
31:19
her employees. And it was unbelievable.
31:22
I had never in my life had a boss that genuinely cared and
31:27
made their team feel at as valued as Molly.
31:30
And then at home, kids have been hard, hard.
31:35
And so I'd again, didn't mean to sting.
31:38
It was more of just like a, wow, you values are so strong.
31:45
How do we bring that to family? Yeah, I mean, it was awesome.
31:49
And thank you for saying so many nice things.
31:51
I I do care deeply about the people that work with me or that
31:55
I get to work with. And, you know, I've done a lot
31:58
of those things that Blakely mentioned, but I started to do
32:03
them with my kids now. So things like, I'm a big fan of
32:07
a handwritten note. I think it's a lost art
32:10
nowadays. And with so many employees
32:12
working remote, gosh, what if you pop that note in the mail
32:15
and they got it at their house? That'd be such an unusual thing
32:18
that where you'd be the only boss they probably ever had who
32:21
had done that. I had a one of my direct
32:24
reports. She was married, but she didn't
32:26
have kids, no plans to have kids.
32:28
And but she and her husband just obsessed over their dog.
32:33
And one day that dog died. And this was before the pandemic
32:37
when we were working from home. And I just said, don't come in
32:40
the rest of the week, you know, and I, we sent flowers to her
32:45
and you know, because that was she was losing a member of her
32:47
family. Like we treated her the same way
32:50
if, if, if she would have lost a close family member or, you
32:53
know, I am a big, my love language is giving gifts.
32:55
So I do a lot of gift giving. But I think the lesson like, OK,
33:00
so I, the work I love to do is making sure companies live by
33:06
their purpose and their values. And I think what Blakely helped
33:10
me realize is like, make sure you're living by your purpose
33:13
and your values, you know, in your personal life as well.
33:17
And I think that's still an exploratory, I certainly don't
33:20
have all the answers, but that piece of advice like what if you
33:25
could treat your kids the way you treat your employees?
33:28
Like really turned like the I would fire them for me.
33:31
I would fire them immediately. There's for cause, but OK, no,
33:38
sorry, go ahead. But you know, I, I do
33:42
handwritten notes to my kids now or I can tell when they're
33:46
having a really bad day and I'll talk to them about what they get
33:49
right and what they're doing right, you know, things like
33:52
that. Taking it back like to the work
33:55
piece of it and I, I love this concept of bridging it and
34:01
bringing that home and those values home.
34:03
And so now, like popping it back across the net, how is that
34:07
balance of taking your employee as their whole person, valuing
34:11
them, living up to the company values when you also have a
34:15
board to answer to AP and L that can get out of whack with one
34:19
bad month? And how are you keeping your top
34:22
line in check? And still you're we're still
34:25
dealing with humans for all of our, you know, for better or
34:28
worse. And what does P&L mean, Sorry.
34:31
Profit and loss statement. Thank you.
34:34
Yeah, I mean, those demands, that's what can derail a company
34:38
big time, right? Like I, you know, you know, I
34:43
remember, right. Like within a week before an
34:46
earnings call, we were trying to determine if we needed to recall
34:52
a product. And thankfully, the company I
34:56
worked for at the time always had the right conversations and
34:59
frankly made the right decisions.
35:02
And was it? The thigh master, I remember
35:04
when that was going to get recalled and I was just because
35:07
it was like. Susan Summers.
35:10
Yeah, the thigh master. And it was like pinching people
35:12
and it was like flying out of their legs and hitting them in
35:15
the face. I.
35:16
Have to say, out of all the brands I've worked on, I mean to
35:20
to be able to define the purpose of the thigh master, that would
35:26
be pretty freaking awesome. Would be right?
35:31
Oh my God, I mean Susan, sorry. Anybody else watched Threes
35:34
Company? What was not told about her?
35:35
Yes, absolutely. Oh my gosh.
35:40
But anyway, the good news was we didn't have to recall the
35:43
product. But it was a big debate because
35:45
we knew that if we had to recall that product, I mean it.
35:48
And we didn't, we didn't. We it, it was legitimate that we
35:52
didn't need to do it. We did all the due diligence and
35:54
did not need to recall the product.
35:55
It was safe. But you can imagine the
35:58
conversation we were having in the room, earnings would have
36:02
been below forecast show, right, right, because it definitely
36:07
would have impacted the stock. But thankfully, in that
36:10
instance, that company remained true to its purpose.
36:15
Is there ever a time where those things are like opposite of each
36:18
other, where it's like, OK, so we're faced with this and then
36:21
the value is opposite of the action that needs to be taken.
36:24
And how as leaders, are you communicating that?
36:27
Are you acknowledging it and saying, I know this doesn't feel
36:30
like teamwork or I know this doesn't feel like quality or,
36:34
you know, whatever those kind of posted values may be?
36:36
If the decisions and the actions that are going to be forthcoming
36:39
are feeling opposite toward that, how do they communicate
36:42
it, Own it? I don't know that I've ever been
36:45
and I'd have to really think hard, Heather, about whether or
36:47
not I've been in a situation where I prepared a leader to
36:51
say, hey, here's an example of where we're not going to be able
36:54
to live a value and here's why. But I've certainly been in
36:58
situations where they just they've touted those values and
37:02
then in their own, in their own leadership behaviors, certainly
37:05
haven't looked up to them. I mean, my God, we all have that
37:08
fun story to tell, right? Do you have?
37:10
One specifically I share with us.
37:12
I have a spectacular 1. Let's hear it.
37:15
Let's hear it, yeah. So and and it and it and when it
37:19
happens to you as an employee, but your your job happens to be
37:23
to make sure it doesn't happen. And like it's like, you know,
37:26
kind of double whammy. So anyway, I had so this was
37:30
fair fairly post, you know, fairly along the post
37:35
acquisition timeline. I was feeling a little bit more
37:37
settled and comfortable. The head of HR who was with the
37:41
company, I'd worked with that person for 10 years at another
37:44
one. So I had a really trusting
37:45
relationship with that function. And as you can imagine,
37:48
communications in HR work work really closely together
37:50
companies. And I unfortunately had a very
37:54
tragic situation happen in my family and it was so jarring
38:03
that I wasn't really sure. I had no idea how it was going
38:06
to unfold. I had no idea how long my
38:09
husband and I were going to be managing this tragic, this
38:12
tragedy together in our family. And we were fielding, it was
38:19
over the Christmas holiday break.
38:21
We were fielding calls pretty continuously from hospital and
38:26
experts, doctors, etcetera. And I, I just didn't really know
38:34
how that was going to impact my work or if it was going to
38:36
impact it. So I went to the head of HR that
38:38
I said I really trusted, I still trust her today.
38:42
And I said, hey, this is what's going on.
38:45
And she said all the right things.
38:47
And she was super supportive and she still is today.
38:50
And I said, should I tell the CEO?
38:53
Because I was reporting to the CEO at the time.
38:57
And she said, yeah, I think you can trust the CEO.
38:59
I think you can do that. I think you should tell that
39:03
person. And so I did, because I wasn't
39:06
sure how my work might be impacted by it, and so I shared
39:11
pardon. No, yeah, that sounds like the
39:13
right thing to do. So I shared it with the CEO and
39:18
the CEO said all the right things, we're going to be here
39:21
for you. Oh my gosh, whatever you need.
39:26
And then even went on and told me a story, a similar story that
39:30
she was aware of that one of her friends had gone through.
39:33
And so it's just very empathetic.
39:35
Empathetic. And it was great.
39:37
A month later, that CEO asked me to join this pretty rigorous
39:45
leadership training and development program that I was
39:50
flattered to be asked to participate in.
39:52
But I was like, in the back of my mind, I'm like, Oh my God,
39:54
did you not just hear what I like?
39:56
I can't take this on. Had you been working that whole
39:59
month from the time that first conversation and you were just
40:02
working like scaled back a little bit or?
40:04
I was still showing up 100. Percent, you were still showing
40:07
up. I just knew that I had an out if
40:09
I, if I, you know. Yeah, I just knew that I had,
40:11
you know? And like, I don't care how
40:15
flattering it is, you do not pile on a what?
40:19
It doesn't matter what an honor it is.
40:21
You do not pile on something of that magnitude to someone's
40:24
plate. Right, knowing what you're
40:27
going, they're going through, right?
40:28
And you have to kind of appreciate and you guys do I
40:31
think like when you're when you're the company that's being
40:34
acquired. And at least it was pretty clear
40:37
in this culture, this acquiring culture, we weren't allowed to
40:40
say no. Mm hmm.
40:42
OK. Yeah.
40:43
And that, you know, I should, I should have known better and
40:46
pushed back, but I was, I'm the only breadwinner for my family
40:49
at the time. I was the only breadwinner.
40:50
I was the only reason we had healthcare.
40:52
So, you know, there was some pressure there, right?
40:54
And the situation we were going through as a family involved
40:58
health. And so healthcare was really,
41:00
really important. Anyway, so leadership thing gets
41:05
piled on and I do it even though it's at 6:30 in the morning and
41:09
yeah, blah, blah, blah. Well, then Fast forward, I'm in
41:13
the program. It seems to be going well.
41:15
Fast forward to my mid year review, which was only what
41:21
three or four months after I did started the leadership program
41:25
and the CEO had a dual role at that point of CMO and CEO and
41:34
was thrilled when she brought in Acmo.
41:37
So now she was going to just get to go to her CEO duties and I
41:40
was going to start to report to the CMO.
41:43
We get into the mid year conversation.
41:45
This is really my first exposure to my new boss.
41:47
So I've got CEOCMO, they're giving me my mid year and the
41:55
CEO just tore into me. In front of and Chief Marketing
41:59
Officer Clay, by the way. So the CEO tore into in front of
42:03
the CMO. In front of my brand new boss,
42:06
What have you been doing? You're not getting anything
42:08
done, etcetera, etcetera. So feedback I never really had
42:14
heard before, but it was also within the context of like I've
42:17
had a pretty significant tragedy occur.
42:20
Yeah. And did you?
42:22
Was you blindsided by this that you didn't feel it coming in
42:25
like Slack messages or emails or anything?
42:28
No, I mean, I wasn't. I wasn't excited about my own
42:31
performance, but I didn't feel like I was going to get whopped
42:35
upside the head, and certainly not in front of my brand new
42:38
boss. Like that was my boss's first
42:40
impression of me. Yeah, and what boss surprises
42:45
someone on a performance review? It's that's one O 1 That's such
42:50
amateur that's so amateur, right?
42:52
Like of course not. And if you, you know, if you had
42:55
an employee who's going through a tough time and they have the
42:58
guts and the vulnerability and, you know, are vulnerable enough
43:03
to come and tell you that, then if you felt like their
43:07
performance was slipping, wouldn't you go to them and say,
43:11
my gosh, Heather, are you OK? I've noticed. 100%.
43:14
I've noticed ABCD is going on. Does that have to do with what
43:18
we talked about in February? Like what's go?
43:21
Are you OK? Like that's.
43:23
What if you would? Do it immediately.
43:25
You you would do it. You would do it within a week of
43:28
noticing that or like anything that was off or was like, OK,
43:31
well, this behavior is a little different.
43:32
What's going on there? Let me check in.
43:34
Let me make sure that there's not some overloaded situation
43:36
here, that something else hasn't happened, that Molly hasn't felt
43:39
comfortable to come talk to me. Like checking in and actually
43:42
giving a shit instead of waiting until your performance review.
43:45
That's a side note with performance reviews, I look at
43:48
them as an opportunity for the employee to review me as a
43:53
leader, the company as a whole. What questions do you have?
43:55
What process gaps do you see? Because if it's just limited to
43:58
their performance, then I shouldn't be waiting a year or
44:01
even 6 months to get around to it.
44:03
I should be calling it out if required, putting them on a
44:06
performance improvement plan or something to like get to the
44:08
bottom of that performance, whether to help but succeed or
44:12
usher them out of the organization and give them
44:14
another opportunity for something that's a better fit.
44:17
But to surprise you with that knowing, with what you've been
44:20
through, that must have been crushing.
44:22
It's pretty defeating. Not only did I feel defeated
44:26
personally as as a single employee in that moment, but of
44:28
course I'm feeling like this company doesn't mean this stuff.
44:33
Right. Like, give me.
44:34
Yeah, this is all talk. They're not demonstrating it at
44:36
all. Well, when I asked for a story,
44:37
I didn't realize it would be a personal one.
44:39
Thank you for sharing. Yeah.
44:43
So what happened? Well, I mean, so interestingly
44:46
enough, I I did think did did she?
44:49
Maybe she forgot all about that conversation, you know, was six
44:54
months prior. Maybe she forgot all about it.
44:56
God bless you for your like codependent thinking of like,
45:00
well, maybe, maybe maybe it wasn't her, maybe she didn't.
45:03
Maybe she did mean to do better. Honestly, a lot of times this
45:06
kind of stuff, we can get wrapped around the axle on this,
45:10
but a lot of times it really doesn't have anything to do with
45:14
us, you know, I mean, of course, I, I, I took it so personally.
45:20
But then so Fast forward a couple months, I was delivering
45:24
a presentation to her and a new head of HR.
45:28
So my 10 year pal, she's split, she's out, got a new head of HR,
45:33
my boss, the CFO and I do this presentation.
45:37
We walk out afterwards, we're in the break room and this is the
45:41
first time she brought brought the issue up, not of my
45:46
performance review, but the one I told her about that was I
45:49
would the tragic personal situation I was going through
45:51
with my family. I thought she may have forgotten
45:55
all about it. But we were in the break room
45:57
and she says, how's your daughter?
46:00
And I looked at her and I said she's doing much better.
46:05
I wasn't sure if you remembered. Good response.
46:10
That wasn't and. She wasn't acting like she
46:13
remembered. Yeah.
46:15
And so anyway, Fast forward another month and a half.
46:17
I got severed and I got a severance package out and it was
46:20
glorious. Amen.
46:21
Thank goodness, which I got to ask the follow up question of
46:25
that. Is that still?
46:27
Pisses me off though, don't skip over like I don't like that she
46:30
got severed. No, you don't like that she got
46:34
severed. But I think there's a lesson in
46:37
here, which is especially under acquisition conditions, when you
46:43
when the values no longer match up with your values, how long do
46:49
you stay? Because some you are either
46:52
going to get severed or you are going to quit at some point
46:56
because that's true. I just, I don't know, while
46:59
you're telling me like how long would you recommend someone?
47:03
It's exactly right because. I didn't.
47:06
That wasn't the way I wanted to go out, but it gave me an
47:10
opportunity to rebound in the way that I wanted to rebound and
47:13
continue in the way I wanted to continue.
47:16
And now I'm actually, you know, doing contract consulting work
47:20
for companies who want to define their purpose and their values
47:25
and figure out how to live them. That feels.
47:28
Good, that feels, really. Good.
47:29
And it feels aligned like I, I did just bite your head off,
47:33
Blakely. And I thought I was, you know,
47:35
vindicated. But you're right.
47:37
No, you're really mean, actually, I know.
47:39
Well, I had a rough day. I already told you about it.
47:42
But anyway, so OK, Molly, this is so good.
47:45
Thank you for laying that all out for us.
47:47
So just like how would you, you know everything you've been
47:50
through in this, How would you tie it up?
47:51
Like how when you're looking back on this, how does that all
47:54
come together for you? So one of the things that I
47:58
think historically, and Blakely and I talked about this a little
48:01
bit, but I think I put it a little bow around it,
48:03
historically, I think that people have had to keep their
48:07
work lives and their personal lives very separate.
48:11
I remember my dad when, you know, growing up what, you know,
48:13
he turned down a job from Grand Rapids, MI Heather to New York
48:17
City working for a New York day, you know, working for one of the
48:20
papers in New York. He turned it down because he
48:23
said I am a family man. And so that, you know, there was
48:27
definitely a division of work, family.
48:31
Then as women, you know, we grew up and we went through this
48:34
whole period of like, OK, I need to figure out how to balance
48:37
work and life. And like, there is no balance
48:39
that I mean, you're not, we're never balanced.
48:42
We're hair on fire. Then you heard people say, well,
48:45
you can have it all. You just can't have it all at
48:47
once, you know? And then the pandemic hit,
48:50
right? Then the pandemic hits and we're
48:52
all mashed together. The kids are going to school at
48:55
the same place, you're working at the same place, your
48:57
husband's working, and you have no choice but it all to be
49:00
together and messy and mashed up.
49:03
And so now that there's a little, I feel like what's
49:05
happening is, is, you know, there was a real, there was a
49:09
real, I think a genuine understanding during the
49:14
pandemic that we were, you know, throwing in a load of laundry
49:18
while we're hopping on the call. And then we're.
49:20
Yeah. There's an acceptance of it.
49:21
There was an acceptance. Of it.
49:23
Yeah. And now that even though a lot
49:25
of people are working remote still, there are many companies
49:28
that are calling people back. And I think that what's
49:30
happening now is you're seeing that separation again.
49:33
And I think no matter where you work, you can't separate this
49:36
anymore. And we shouldn't and that there
49:38
should be this connectivity between, right, our personal
49:42
values and our work values. And we should be, they should be
49:45
aligned and, and that's OK and that's good.
49:47
So anyway, that's how I would tie this sucker up in a so
49:50
we're. Throwing out.
49:51
I agree. We're throwing out work life
49:53
balance like you're saying. We're bringing in work life
49:57
integration. Well, this generation, well this
50:01
generation is demanding it. Like regardless of what we want
50:04
or how we think, like they're coming in this and they're
50:07
demanding it. I.
50:08
Think that I do too. I think work life integration is
50:11
about the best way that I can think of to describe it.
50:13
I don't love those words. I wish there was a different way
50:16
to describe it just because I don't like.
50:18
You're the head of communications.
50:19
I know. I got to work on it, but like
50:23
definitely. But if there's, you know, if
50:25
there's you just we shouldn't have that separation.
50:30
And at the end of the day, when we're when it's all said and
50:33
done and we're done and maybe someone generous enough decides
50:38
to throw a retirement party for us.
50:40
No one is going to give two shits or you're not going to
50:43
care about Oh my God, somebody brought up this amazing project
50:47
I worked on. Or they're going to be like
50:51
Molly you wow, you know, you were a great boss because you
50:54
remembered my kids names. I gave one of my, I had a single
50:58
mom who worked on my team once and her daughter got into
51:02
college and the next day I had a gift for her, which was a
51:06
university sweatshirt for her kid 'cause she was so proud of
51:10
her daughter and, and, and like that meant everything to her,
51:15
you know. And so no work and you know, and
51:18
it wasn't separate for her. She was talking about where her
51:20
kid was gonna go to school. That was a big damn deal.
51:23
Let's celebrate where your kids going to school.
51:26
I love that you did that. You know.
51:28
I do too. Well, it goes back to the thing
51:30
about people don't remember about maybe even maybe your name
51:34
or what you've done, but they remember how you made them feel.
51:38
And it's more of a sense and it's a connection.
51:40
And so that is possible in your personal life.
51:43
It's possible at work. And it's beyond just taking an
51:46
interest in how they're performing at their job, but in
51:49
who they are and what's important to them.
51:51
That's what makes a great leader.
51:53
Yeah. I don't know if I'm a great
51:55
leader, but I do think that you are, You know, I think that this
52:00
integration of values at work and at home, I just think we
52:05
need to make sure as a society that we recognize that that is
52:09
definitely what the younger incoming workforce wants and we
52:13
need to deliver it for sure. Before we wrap up, I just have
52:17
this idea. I want to run past you guys.
52:21
What you know how you every time you go to a new company, Molly,
52:25
you spend like a week long seminar with the executive team
52:29
and you define your purpose, mission, mission and values.
52:35
What if we did that at home? I can't believe I haven't done
52:39
it. OK, For I can't believe you
52:40
haven't done it because that is such a Blakely thing to do.
52:43
Like I could see the whiteboard in your family, in your living
52:45
room. First of all, I can absolutely.
52:47
You've done it, Heather. I I already did it and have done
52:53
it. Of course, my kids were really
52:54
little. So anyway, I but you know.
52:56
Humble brags really are coming over to you, the humble.
52:59
Brag they are. They're it's like pouring off of
53:01
me, right? Now, we don't need to listen to
53:03
any more of that bragging today, but we are going to get that
53:05
into a future episode. Yes, we can get into it.
53:07
Later think that would be so, so cool.
53:11
Anyway, all right, Heather, you know what?
53:15
Honestly, I don't think anybody could have done a better job
53:18
than Molly and summing up what we discussed today.
53:21
I found you just did a great job of summing that up, Molly, about
53:24
the inner workings and the opportunity in front of us that
53:28
we have to accept the personal and the work as integrated and
53:35
start to look at our employees as humans and all of the messy
53:39
things that come with that and bring those a little bit closer
53:43
together instead of as we are all raised and conditioned to
53:45
have that separation between work and our personal lives.
53:50
I just don't think that we are in a world anymore where that is
53:53
a reasonable ask. And so I think we need to
53:56
brainstorm and get together and figure out how are we going to
53:59
bring in these next generations that are growing up and
54:02
demanding more of a balance. And so thank you so much for
54:05
sharing. Before we let you go, we do ask
54:08
a question of all of our guests and we answer it too.
54:13
So the question is, what brought a smile to your face this week?
54:17
Oh my gosh. So while you're thinking we can,
54:19
Blakely, Yeah. I think I know.
54:22
Yours. Yeah, What is it?
54:24
The Bramley? Yeah, yes, it is the Bramley.
54:27
But specifically, Brandy Carlyle is known for her ballads.
54:33
They're gorgeous. Like her voice is stunning, but
54:36
she played some new music and she had a rock song and I was
54:40
like, this is so cool. Like she had a rock song and it
54:44
was a stick it to the man rock song.
54:46
So. Yeah.
54:47
What's it called? Is it called Stick Church?
54:49
And state, church and state. Oh wow OK you've said church
54:54
like 4 times on this episode. I'm just going to say it's
54:57
rocking my world. OK spiritual OK evil girl.
55:02
Mine was a it was a smile through tears.
55:08
It reminds me of steel Magnolias.
55:09
Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.
55:12
Anyway, she, my daughter left for Thailand, how dare she, for
55:17
three months for semester abroad.
55:19
And so took her to the airport and got her through with her
55:23
oversized baggage. It was a whole thing.
55:25
And then we were at the security gate and we hugged and then it's
55:30
like then the tears started coming because we're all happy.
55:32
And then it was just like, oh, this is that moment.
55:34
And then she, she walked away, she turned around, she walked
55:38
away and she walked about like 3 or 4 steps and then she came
55:41
back and then she gave me another hug.
55:43
So I want one more and then hugged her for a little bit.
55:46
Now I'm sobbing like an idiot. And then she just then she
55:48
walked off into security. And so it was sweet.
55:53
That was. Sweet.
55:54
That was a sweet. Smile.
55:55
Yeah, it was Klay. You're on mute.
55:58
I don't know if you're sharing. OK.
56:00
That's a a dock for producer points right there.
56:04
That's like, that's like, oh, put him on a PIP.
56:07
He doesn't even know what PIP stands for.
56:11
Loser. That is performance improvement
56:14
plan. You'll be getting that on your
56:16
performance review. OK, you're you are still on
56:21
mute, buddy. I'm.
56:23
Sorry to tell you, I'm going to let Molly go.
56:25
Wait, how about now? Oh yeah.
56:26
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, it was actually a glitch in
56:29
the system, it wasn't me, but I still accept full.
56:32
Responsibility. As part of are you?
56:34
Living your values by lying. OK, are you living your values
56:38
by accusing me of lying? Actually, you kind of are.
56:42
Touché. OK, sorry what what I was going
56:49
to say is, is that when you texted us I thought I thought
56:53
she was just going home and you were like oh I'm so sad she's
56:55
going home. It was like 3 months.
56:57
I had no idea. I didn't respond to the the way
57:00
I should have. When I texted you my crying ugly
57:02
face out, my ugly crying face out of the airport.
57:04
Yeah, it was that moment. Sorry.
57:07
I know. It was brutal.
57:10
All right. Do you want to go next or should
57:11
we let Molly go? Oh, let's get mine out of the
57:13
way. But this, I am glad that Molly
57:18
is here for this because she's a former Michigander.
57:22
And the thing that brought a smile to my face.
57:25
Oh, see, all all Michiganders point to where they're.
57:30
Yeah, we can point to where. We're.
57:32
From frankly, do you feel left out?
57:34
OK. You should.
57:39
This past Sunday, my favorite sports team, the Detroit Lions,
57:44
took the field in their first season game of the year.
57:51
And, well, that. Did not that was that did not.
57:54
Why would that bring a smile to your face?
57:55
I was heartbroken and I like, I'm just like what?
57:57
I thought we were going to be way better than this.
57:59
I was really more hopeful for the new offensive.
58:01
OK spoiler alert, we lose and we did not look good bad.
58:05
But yes I'm talking about the moment when they take the field
58:08
and I'm so psyched. I mean, I couldn't.
58:12
I have been waiting for months for this.
58:14
I know me. Too.
58:15
And obviously the smile turned into basically tears and like
58:19
sadness, but I was just like so happy.
58:22
I've been waiting for this moment for so long.
58:24
My son is sitting next to me. He's got his line shirt on.
58:27
I've got. Mine the one you made.
58:29
No, no, I'm still working on that one.
58:31
I haven't. I had to push that project.
58:32
I'm working on a little project, but we're just like sitting
58:36
there and I'm like, I've been waiting for this moment for so
58:38
long and now it's here and I'm like, nothing else is happening
58:41
right now. This is the only thing.
58:43
And I was just, it made me very happy.
58:45
Anyway, I thought you might appreciate that, Molly, as a
58:47
former, well, what's a Michigander?
58:49
Always a Michigander, but. I mean, that is such an amazing
58:52
segue because my dad, who is who is he's deceased, but my dad was
58:57
a huge Lions fan and it just takes, it takes so much to be a
59:02
Lions fan that he had a fake sponge brick.
59:07
I mean, it looked like a real brick, but it was fake and he
59:10
had it. My brother gave it to him so he
59:12
could throw it at the TV during Lions games.
59:16
God bless him. What's his name?
59:17
What's your dad's name? Well, it was Bob Keebony Bob,
59:22
but. Also a newspaper reporter.
59:24
Also a newspaper, yeah, a newspaper man his whole life and
59:27
any of his whole career. But what brought a smile to my
59:30
face is as we were talking about, you know, being able that
59:34
there's, you know, having no separation between work and
59:37
personal values, it. I couldn't help but think of my
59:40
dad in a number of cases because he was such a just so he lived
59:44
his life so true to his values. And I this idea of like, I'm a
59:48
family man. I mean, he really was a family
59:50
man. So that brought a real huge like
59:52
smile to my face and just being able to reminisce and think
59:54
about the things I learned from him.
59:57
It was awesome. And it's only Tuesday or
1:00:00
Thursday or whatever day is. It's, well, imagine, I mean, you
1:00:04
would have had to be a Jets fan or something like I don't know,
1:00:07
but he gave you the the gift of being a Lions fan by staying
1:00:10
put. You did give me that gift.
1:00:13
Thanks, Bob. I don't have the sponge brick
1:00:15
though. I need the that is.
1:00:17
SpongeBob SpongeBob. SpongeBob.
1:00:19
SpongeBob. SpongeBob.
1:00:22
I love this. OK.
1:00:24
God. All right.
1:00:25
Because I had this episode so much fun we're.
1:00:28
So glad to have you on. Bye Mom, you guys.
1:00:31
So much, so much. Bye, Heather.
1:00:34
Bye, guys.