Latest / Daily Influence / 726. From Burnout to Resilience: How Jennifer Hendricks-Fogg Redefines Leadership, Caregiving & Sustainable Success

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726. From Burnout to Resilience: How Jennifer Hendricks-Fogg Redefines Leadership, Caregiving & Sustainable Success · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IE Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share Daily Influence with someone who could use a little extra positivity today.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And make us part of your Daily routine, whether it's during your commute, on a walk, or an quiet moment just for you, because you're influenced matters.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Davian Fluence, I'm Greg Clino.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today, we're joined by Jennifer Hendrick Spog, an advocate, speaker, and leader whose work centers around resilience, burnout, and the realities of caregiving.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jennifer brings a deeply human perspective to leadership.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: helping individuals and organizations navigate challenges while staying grounded in purpose and impact.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Her work reminds us that influence isn't just about what we achieve, it's about how we show up for others, especially in life's most demanding moments.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jennifer, we're so glad to have you here.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for having me, I'm excited.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jennifer, to set this stage for our listeners and give them a sense of your journey.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Could you share a bit about your background and what led you to where you are today and your how your personal journey, especially with your sun Logan shaped the work you do?
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I've been, I've been in sales forever and ever and ever and I had my sun later in life.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: I got married later in life and unfortunately at three months old,
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: My son was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumor.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were told that he'd never survived, never walked, never talked, never eat.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So here I am, I have a very successful career.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Married at 39, baby at 40, and three months later, like I said, he was diagnosed.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was very crushing.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I look at the situation where if I was probably in my 20s, I honestly probably would have jumped off a bridge.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: because I feel like I was older, I honestly feel like my son shows me to be his mother for a reason.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: So him not beating cancer wasn't an option, like for him not not to not beat it.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we fought and the irony is I work for Aflac, I sell cancer insurance for a living.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Aflac Children's Cancer Hospital wrote my son's treatment plan that we were able to administer here in upstate New York.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It all happened for a reason.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And without him, I wouldn't be who we're where I am today.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's been such a crazy journey.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So he'll be 10 this year.
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: And he's got better hair than me.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I always tell people they said he never walk.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: He doesn't walk.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: He runs.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: He does all the things that we were told he would never do.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: And going through everything that I'd been through with him, we then started a nonprofit to support other families going through childhood cancer and other serious illnesses called the Logan Strong Foundation.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I also became a certified special needs like quality coach and addition to the work that I do with athletics.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So everything I do kind of really ties together and is very mission driven.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing that there's so much depth in your story and it really refrains how we think about strength and endurance.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that really stood out in your work is how you challenge the traditional narrative around burnout.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: In your work, you talk about burnout, not being a motivation issue, but a performance and systems issue.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you expand on that and how shifting that perspective changes the way leaders and organizations show up as responsible influences?
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think for me like prior to having my son like I was always a go get her I was always working two or three jobs I was what you want to call a workaholic right and I still consider myself that person today, but I also know when to slow down when to stop.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's okay to take a break.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that we live in such a hustle culture.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not a fan of that word.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I feel like people think they have to work and work and work and work to achieve their goals when at the end of the day, if you reframe and restructure your day and who you surround yourself with, what you surround yourself with, how you structure your day, you can actually get a lot more done.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like for me, I personally get up two hours before my son and husband every single day.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just because I know that's the only quiet me time that I have and when I put myself in that right head space, it helps make for a better day and then I know, okay, I had my knee time this morning because, you know, I know what it's like to have life change in a second and I think having that experience.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: makes me better able to structure my day and I always tell people and like get up, take a shower and get ready every day because you never know when you're gonna get that phone call at least you've got something accomplished.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: So putting these things in place that a lot of people know it's okay to take a break like I work from home.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I still take at least 30 minutes on my couch for lunch every day because I know I just need that reset.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: that shift the loan feels like it could completely change how people lead support their teams and even how they view themselves.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: When their perspective shifts, it often shows up in very real human moments.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell us about a moment or experience where you thought you made a positive impact on someone's life, especially in helping them navigate burnout or reclaim their capacity?
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm too sorry that I think I can share so one is me personally like when my son was diagnosed like I actually tried to continue working and my boss is like what are you doing you know because you you can't have both feet in one and both feet in the other you have to you know really figure it out so it was really hard for me to step back because I was always such a worker but I knew
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: that I, in order to be there for my son, I needed to be there for my son.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't, you know, my business will be there later.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: My son was more important.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I have to personally have that mindset for myself.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: That was very hard.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Another situation that now that we're talking about this, I work with some other special needs parents and I was chatting with a mom one day and she was struggling with just like getting things done and having time for herself.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I said,
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Do you do the laundry?
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: She goes, yeah, and I go, okay, put a little laundry in, set a timer for the laundry and go sit down and enjoy your coffee.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: The laundry is getting done while you're taking a break or if you have another task to do set timers to do it, that way you know.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I always use actually my business coach says this to me as well.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I share this as well with my clients is I call them threshold moments.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: So when you're in the car, when you're pulling in the driveway at the end of the day, take five minutes for yourself to just breathe before you come into the house and chaos.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Same thing before you walk into the office in the morning, just take a minute and say, okay, this is my focus for the next thing that I'm doing.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think we were so quick to jump from thing to thing to thing to thing without taking a beat and just taking a breath to be like,
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Wow, that was a really cool meeting, or, hey, I want this to happen next.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: So having that mind shift and that, you know, breath really is very helpful.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is our great examples, you know,
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: They really highlight how influenced isn't always loud, but it's deeply meaningful.
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: You also talk a lot about sustainable strength, which feels especially relevant in today's high pressure environments.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: What does it look like for leaders to build sustainable strength and lead effectively without self-racier, especially in high pressure or sales-driven environments?
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think it's having those open conversations, right?
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And making sure you're taking care of yourself first, you can't take care of yourself than how can you take care of other people, right?
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: The old added, you know, in the airplane, the oxygen mask goes on, you first, where you can help somebody else.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think it's across the board no matter where you are, what you're doing, that really is important.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And having those open conversations with people like, hey,
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: protecting your capacity, right?
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like there are really times that I come home and my husband wants to tell me about his day and I'm like, honey, I love you.
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I need a minute, right?
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because we're always so all over the place and I think it's just important to set, I mean boundaries, right?
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's like a big word lately and I think it's so important to have those and it's not, it's not meant to be rude or disrespectful to somebody.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's protecting your piece because you know,
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I have friends that my phones don't do not disturb from certain time periods.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, that's my boundary.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have learned not to react.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: If I see something I don't like, I'm like, all right, take a minute and then, you know, give yourself 24 hours.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think it's just having those open communication and having that those conversations of where you're at where you want to be at and how you can work together.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's missing.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's, I think we're always so quick to just assume in judge.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: When at the end of the day, we all have something going on that that we're going through.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like just be kind, just communicate.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, something many high performers wrestle with as capacity and boundaries.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: How can high performing or not as high performing individual set boundaries and manage capacity in a way that actually improves performance
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: So this is something that I talked to a lot of my special needs caregivers about because for people like us, like I said, life can change in a second.
• 10:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's not my fault my son has, you know, five doctors appointments this week.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can still get my job done.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think it's really about setting those eye time block a lot.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then moving on to the next and if I can get my worked on in 30 hours, but I have a 40 hour work week, why can't I bring my kid to the doctor?
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Right.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think it's about maximizing the time that you have and knowing knowing how to use it.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's really good advice.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: When you think about everything you've learned through your experiences, both personally and professionally, if you could go back and offer advice to your younger self, what would you share and how might that guidance help others who are early in their journey today?
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Comparison as a thief of joy, right?
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think we all, I know for me like,
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of people that I went to high school with did the four year college.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: They they got careers.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: They got married.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: They had kids and that was not me at all.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think there's so much to be said about what used to be typical as to what's typical now.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what's typical.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's what's best for you.
• 11:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that's so important for anybody to hear.
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a huge Gary V fan and he always says it like
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: Forget everybody else.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: I get to about you, and I think if we instill that, you know, if I could have instilled that in myself, younger, I don't, you know, things may have been different, but I just, I think worrying about you is just such a huge thing that needs to be reminded.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a great point.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's all about your path and not everyone else's path because we all have our own paths.
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Exactly.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, and that kind of wisdom really has ripple effects.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't just shape, you know, stay with us, but it shapes how we stand show up for others as well.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: You work with people who are constantly pouring into others, leaders, caregivers, high capacity professionals, one message or words of encouragement would you like to share with listeners who want to make a positive difference without losing themselves in the process?
• 12:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: I always say life isn't what happens to you.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's what you do with it that matters.
• 12:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we were handed a worst case scenario.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were handed a parent's worst nightmare.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And my son is here to tell his story.
• 12:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I am here to tell his story.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I keep sharing it because, again, life isn't what happens to you with what you do with it that matters.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I just like to share the faith, the hope,
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: the resilience, right?
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because he was diagnosed at three months old.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: He was a baby.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: He didn't know any different.
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was up to me as his caregiver, as his mom, my husband to make him see the positive and the good in the world.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if I ever had like a crying fit or I was upset, my husband will be like, go take a break.
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I would leave the room.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I would never let
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: my son, see me cry, or sense any negative doubts because he didn't know any different.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: So the more I stay positive, the better he did in treatment.
• 13:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think it's just knowing that, yeah, this really sucks, but what can I learn from it and how can, how can I learn from it and help others in the meantime?
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I've had such a beautiful perspective and that really shows how a positive mental attitude can really help overcome even in darkest days.
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's not easy, but you're just going to try and try and try again.
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, Jennifer, this has been such a beautiful conversation and your perspective brings both practicality and humanity to what it really means to lead and influence while especially under pressure.
• 14:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so grateful that you're a shared story in your insights and the work that you're doing to help people not just perform but really sustain that performance and a healthy and
• 14:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, if our listeners want to get in touch with you, what is the best way to do so?
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, I am my own website, Jennifer Hendrix Fog.com, and then I also have my non-profit, Logan Strong Foundation.org.
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Great.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll put that in the show notes for our last time.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm so grateful for you and all that you're doing.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for joining us and sharing your story today.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for having me.
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to our listeners, is something from today resonated with you, share it with someone who could use a little positivity today, and take a moment to reflect on where you might need to reset your capacity, set boundaries, or show up differently, because that's where positive and responsible influence begins.
• 15:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Remember, small actions create big impact, keep showing up, leading, and growing one day at a time.
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive, responsible influence.
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye.