Latest / Leading By Example: Executives Making An Impact / Mission-Driven: Meredith Seacrest Leach, CEO of the Ryan Seacrest Foundation

Transcript

Mission-Driven: Meredith Seacrest Leach, CEO of the Ryan Seacrest Foundation · Leading By Example: Executives Making An Impact

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Our efforts are supporting millions of children. We're not necessarily
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: in the hospital every day. But I want you to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: feel inspired and not get sucked into whatever it may
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: be that you're losing sight of what the mission is.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: The annoying part about work isn't always the big stuff.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: It's those little things that start to add up. An
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: overflowing inbox, a meeting that could have been an email,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: a project that doubles in scope at the very last minute.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: And when this happens, it can be helpful to remember
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: why you're there in the first place. Hey everyone, I'm
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Jessica Chen, host of Leading by Example. I'm also the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: founder of soulcast Media and the author of Smart Not Loud,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: How to Get Noticed at work for all the right reasons.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Today I'm joined by Meredith ccres leitch, the CEO of
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: the Ryan CEA Crests Foundation. Yes, it's that Ryan Seacrest,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: the iconic radio host. In twenty ten, the two of
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: them came together alongside their parents to help launch a
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: foundation that brings media production to children's hospitals across the country.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: They also co authored a children's book together called The
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Make Believers. As another way to inspire creativity in kids
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: around the world like me. Meredith started her career in news,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: working at Entertainment Tonight before moving over to public relations,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: and when her brother Ryan asked her to run his foundation,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: she jumped right in to help them scale, evolve, and
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: carry out their mission giving kids a fun and creative
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: way to spend their time while in the hospital. So
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: in this conversation, Meredith shares how creativity shapes her leadership style.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: She also talks about setting boundaries when working with your family,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: building a culture rooted in flexibility and trust, and how
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: she helps her employees stay connected to the impact of
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: their work because when you lose sight of the mission work,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: it can start to feel like a checklist. But when
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: you can keep your why top of mind, that's when
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: you make the biggest impact. I'm Jessica Chen and this
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: is leading by example. Well, Meredith, thank you so much
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: for joining us today. Obviously, a lot of us know
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the name Ryan Seacrest, we know what he does. I
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: feel like your family, you know, there's this really huge
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: media centric background. Where do you think that came from?
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Is it just like both of you had this innate
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: desire to want to get into media, Like, how did
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: that all start? In many ways, I think it naturally
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: was in Ryan.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Ryan and I we played a lot together even though
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: we were six years apart. The good news was we
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: were kind of that age difference where you didn't fight.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: He was just the big brother that looked out for me.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: We're fortunate to have really great parents that always instilled
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: us to be close as siblings, and so we've remained
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: very close and now work together and have for years,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: which is a lot of fun. And a lot of
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: what we did playing as kids is we'd make movies
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and shows. He would pretend to do the news, and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: we had this sun room and had a bar, and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: he'd hang a sign, you know, paper made channel news
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: sign off the side of the bar. We would put
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: on a New Year's Eve show and he would be
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the host of the New Year's Eve show, and it's
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: almost like he manifested things. So we used media for fun,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and that's where a lot of this all started for
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the two of us.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: You mentioned that you grew up in a very family
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: centric household, So what did your parents teach both you
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: and Ryan about leadership, influence, work ethic.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Well, my dad worked very hard and he was an attorney,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: so he taught us a lot about paying attention to detail.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: But he would share too, like you learn more when
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: you're listening than when you're talking at times, and so
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: to be a good listener as well. He also was
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: on time. He had the military background, so we learned
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: about being punctual. And my mom is a wonderful mom
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: who made our sandwiches in our lunch bag and you
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: know all those kind of things that they show up
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: for you. So we definitely had the family dinners where
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: we could reflect on what was going on in our
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: lives or connect as a family with all the busy
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: schedules and things going on. So that was also a
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: big focal point in our background.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Before we talk about the foundation, I want to talk
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: about your experience in PR what what are some of
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: the things that you learned, particularly around how you lead others,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: how you build visibility. What were someone like the golden
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: nuggets you learned in that industry.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: We definitely learned about writing and communications and communicating clearly,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: communicating with talent, and building trust with those you worked with.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: You know, you found if you worked hard, you delivered,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: you kind of got a reward in that and good
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: communication with whoever you're working with. Working at entertainment tonight
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: was definitely fast paced, very intense at times. I took
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: away things that I loved about it, but I also
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: things that definitely from a management style that were not
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: my favorite. It was definitely more of an aggressive, you know,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: yelling environment at times. So I grew and I learned
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: so much so fast. Working in a newsroom, it just
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: was the best job in the sense for once I
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: worked there, I felt like I could handle anything after that.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: You know, I always say a lot of times, like
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: our early year experience, even though we might not have
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: been in a leadership position, there are things that we
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: see other leaders that we watch. I'm just curious, what
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: were some of the things that you saw that number one,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: you really thought, oh, I would love to lead others
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: this way. And on the flip side, what were some
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: of the leadership attributes that you saw that you were like, hmmm,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: that's not really my style.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I learned definitely the bosses that did
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: innocence talk to you, learn about you, try to give
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: you opportunity for success. Then there were some that it
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: was almost like a fear based scare you type. I
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: think I learned what worked for me and how honestly,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: if I think you create an environment that you feel
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: connected to, you feel heard, you just perform better. Right,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: You feel safer to be you and work hard versus
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: almost shutting down. If there is this fear to take steps,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: to do things to raise your hand, that is going
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to be the wrong answer. Versus a more welcoming environment
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: to be able to brainstorm and share your vision and
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: know that it won't be shut down. I had another
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: job at production company and that definitely was a more
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: warm environment in the sense of sharing your ideas. I
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: was new to the company and it was you were
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: just thrown in to pitch meetings and throw out your
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: ideas and creativity. So I got to see two different
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: angles of the approach on things as I went through
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: different production companies and seeing how it all works.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: So eventually your brother Ryan Seacrest pulled you into his foundation.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Can you tell me about that period of time and
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: was that just a conversation you had over dinner or
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: was it something that you had to think about for
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: a while. Tell me what was going on.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Ryan would visit children's hospitals just with some
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: of his work and even with his radio show Kiss
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: FM in Los Angeles. They would go to the hospital
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: there in Orange County where you are, and bring in
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: some special guests, broadcast live and I would join him.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Living out there, I'd go with him and we were there.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: At one point there was one little girl got out
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: of bed who hadn't been out of bed in like
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: seventy two days, and she got so motivated to get
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: out of bed to be part of seeing the excitement
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: downstairs and the broadcast and the special guests, and it
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: really touched Brian and I and we drove home and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: my parents happened to be visiting at the time, and
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: He's like, you know, I just reached this point where
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I'd love to create something tangible and something that relates
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to what I'd do. And we started brainstorming as a family,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and it kind of was like, okay, radio and television
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: are your two things. Like what could we create that
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: could live in a hospital, be that fun spot, broadcasting
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: could happen, kids could learn the equipment, all the good stuff.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: We could bring special guests by to be the heartbeat
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: of the hospital. So it evolved into creating we call
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Seacrest Studios. So he first tasked my dad to see
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: if he could just set up a five oh one
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: CET three. He's like, Dad, can you figure this out
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: for me? So my dad got it established is the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Ryan Seacrest Foundation. Then we started to pitch Children's Healthcare
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: of Atlanta with the CEO. There this concept of building
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: a multimedia studio down in the lobby of the hospital,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and we always kind of joked and my dad too
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: that we didn't really know what we were doing. But
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: it was luckily Donna Hyland, the CEO, said let's do this,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: and we were able to start to build our first
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: project and kind of learn as we went. So I
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: was doing it on the side. Is just helping out,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: help with the pr all the things, you know, I'm
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: helping him walk media. We didn't have a publicist with
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: us at the time, so I was wearing all kinds
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: of hats. And then we started to get win another
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: hospital in Philadelphia they wanted to look into getting one
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: of these. So Ryan looked at me and said, hey, Mayor,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: will you quit your job and will you run this?
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Because this could really be something And I thought there's
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: any area to really work together giving back is the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: most beautiful place to do it. And we think alike
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: in many ways our hearts connect and ways that we
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: want to give back. And so I thought, all right,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: here we go. I just took the chance to leave
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: my job and go try to start to build the foundation.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: And we did end up building in Philadelphia, and Selena
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Gomez came with us for that opening, and next thing
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: you know, she's saying, you know, oh, I'm from Dallas,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: could we build one in Dallas? And she connected us
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to the hospital in Dallas, and then all of a sudden,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: we got Boston Children's reaching out and so it started
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to become a real thing. And as we're building more
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: of these and realize that we need like an application,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: we need to get some real infrastructure here, ended up
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: hiring someone to help me. It's crazy. It's been fifteen
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: years of doing this and we're still building more, and
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: we never dreamed that it would be what it it
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: is today. So it's been amazing to see again what
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: was just this idea really turn into a true network
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: of studios and children's hospitals across the country.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: I know how hard it is sometimes to get folks
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: who are doing one thing, which is healthcare, to get
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: them to see the value in building something like this.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Can you tell me what it was like having those
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: initial conversations with these hospitals. How do you actually communicate
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: to get the buy in from them?
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I think we really tried to paint the picture of
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the story of what the impacticut have. As we call
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: it a no poke zone. It's a place where kids
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: can be kids and escape what they're going through. It
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: really becomes just the hub for all kinds of fun
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and it feeds to every patient's room and a closed
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: circuit network, so if they can't physically come down, they
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: can still be a part of things. And there's so
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: much this important to heal from the medical side but
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: also the mental side and to compliment the medical journey.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Was really a goal of ours to help aid in that.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: You know, you made this transition in doing this foundation,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: this nonprofit, but your whole previous experience before that were
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: obviously at organizations that were, you know, very business driven.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: How did you have to think about leadership and communications
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: in that way.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I think in certain ways it was good going into
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: nonprofit with more of the business background because we were
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: able to say, look at things like Ryan at the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: time had a partnership with Coke. How could we leverage
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Coke then to be a partner of our foundation. He
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: was on the E network at the time and he
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: was a partner. So I went pitching each of his
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: businesses of kind of joining this mission and believing in us.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people liked the family
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: element and that we were honest of wanting to do this,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and they joined us in the mission. And that pr
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: experience helped, right of learning how to communicate, how to
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: be prepared, how to bring a presentation that would show
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: them that we're serious about what we're doing, and so
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: it all kind of connects. And working with talent, we
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: did start kind of an arm of the foundation where
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: it's just talent booking, so we help bring in special
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: guests to all the markets that we serve and all
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: our hospital partners. So we added this extra element of
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a service of bringing them special creativity and content and
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: guests and all that. So it was beyond just the studio.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: But it's very different working in a business and then
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: raising funds and learning about a nine to ninety And
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I didn't know all this at the beginning, and five
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: oh one c. Three and all the accounting we have
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to do an audit each year, and all these things
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: that you have to live and learn as you grow
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: a nonprofit, and just being mindful of your spending, right
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: like you want to raise funds and you want to
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: spend them appropriately and be cautious, you know, it's one
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: thing we always want to be by the book on
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: all the things that we do as a nonprofit. So
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I had to learn a lot, but I was able
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: to take past experiences through pr and entertainment and some
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: business sense working with brands and things that I'd done
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: in the past and kind of merge it into the
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: nonprofit side, which in many ways was helpful from that
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: point of view.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Did you initially feel as you are pitching this concept
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: to these hospitals, did you feel like you ever had
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: resistance or was actually an idea that people just generally
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: like got instantly. What was kind of the reception of it?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I think it was one of those things at the
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: beginning sometimes they had to go visit an existing one
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to try to really understand it, and then they met
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: with the hospital partner and saw what it was doing
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: in their environment, and then that would help show the capabilities.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Now we're fortunate we're building in Milwaukee, and when we
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: met with the team there, the CEO had been at
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the hospital in Denver, so he knew what all it did,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: so he was all in for it and knew and
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: wanted it for his hospital now being there. So that's
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: so helpful when you truly understand all that the studio
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: can do, besides just seeing a picture of it, you
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: can't understand what the magic is that can happen inside
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: patients and families until you've really experienced it.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Speaking of the magic, do you have a personal story
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: or something that you saw firsthand of a child experiencing
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: being their own radio host and what that felt like.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Do you have a particular story that.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: You can think of this one? Well, boy, you're in Atlanta.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: He just lit up all our hearts and you know,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: going through a hard time with what his diagnosis was,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and the studio really became kind of his outlet, his
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: place to be happy. He always called the studio team
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: his best friends. And then he got inspired to start
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: a podcast with his grandfather and he would talk about
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: his diagnosis. But it truly became a way to heal,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: a way to connect and he was inspired. And now
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: if he has to come back for appointments, he wants
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: to book it around special things going on with the studio.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: He wants to come back and visit. He sees his
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: hospital experience positively by what all he learned and how
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: it grew him as a person, and thinks that he
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have had that experience or wouldn't expose him to
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: to something that he's so passionate about and enjoying this
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: podcast with his grandfather and all those things. So to
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: see hard times, but what our ability and the outlet
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: that we created can inspire a young person and motivate them.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: That's so meaningful to us. And you know what we
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: do this for.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: We'll be back with more leading by example after a
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: quake break. So you're now the executive director of the
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Ryan Seacrest Foundation, which means you manage a team. How
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: do you think about leadership in this role? How are
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: you communicating your team? How do you get them energized?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: How do you get them aligned? Like? What's your thought
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: process when it comes to managing people?
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: So I really wanted to establish a culture and I
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: always said, you know, we started as a family and
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: whether it's the team that's in headquarters for the foundation
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: or it's our secret studios all the team members across
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the country. We always say that we're all a big family,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and so this notion of supporting each other, helping each
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: other grow, learn, having trust in each other. And I also,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: because of certain experiences in my past, I believe taking
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: care of yourself is so important and that you do
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: make time to go work out. If you say to me,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go this yoga class at three, go
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: put it on your calendar and get it in and like,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: if you've got more work after, get it done. But
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I find that if you allow your team to make
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: time and room for themselves in their life, they perform better.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: They're not feeling their chained to the desk from nine
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: to five. And so I started two kind of reset
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: days where you have two a year, and it's not
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: to add to your vacation. Don't use it to run
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: to target. Actually go do something that resets you and
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: take the day off and come back rejuvenated. And so
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: putting some things into the culture like that, I find
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: your team feels more motivated and wanting to perform versus
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: feeling depleted and drained. So I really try to infuse
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: certain things like that for motivation with our team.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I love that and I feel like it sounds like
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: it's very intentional in how you allow your employees to
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: do this, You encourage them to do this, And I
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: just think back to I feel like I've personally had
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: some managers who I felt like they weren't like that.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: They were very much micromanaging the situation and you know,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: making sure like are you doing your work? And I
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: feel like for me as an employee at the time,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: it didn't create that culture where I felt like I
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: was giving my best. How do you instill that I
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: want you to go out, I want you to take
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: care of yourself, but at the same time, we have
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: to get our work done right, Like, how do you
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: communicate that to them?
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I think it's put in place, but if you abuse it,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: you would be called out. And I think I'm fortunate
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: with the team that's been hired. It's a very motivated,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: connected team to the mission, and that has been fantastic
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: in the sense that everyone is truly just loves what
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: they do. And I always say this, like, you know,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: we're here to help children and don't overstress on these things,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: like this is the goal, Like we're doing wonderful things,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and I want you to feel inspired and not get
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: sucked into whatever it may be that you're losing sight
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: of what the mission is.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's also just reminding them. In
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: many ways, it's almost embedded within a nonprofit, like you know,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: we're working together for a great cause. I actually just
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: recently joined the board of one of our local nonprofits.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: It's a children's museum here in Orange County called Pretense City.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: So I just joined the board there, and I always
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: feel like talking communicating with the folks there. It feels
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: almost so much easier than talking with an organization because
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: all of us are coming into the room, we're all aligned,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: and we're all motivated to make sure we can make
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: the biggest difference for the kids, which is you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: what we do as well. So I totally get it well.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Even in a team meeting, you know, go around and
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: at times just have a mission moment or you just
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: reconnect to why you do the job. You know, somebody
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: has a story that week they want to share of
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: what they did that week or what happened, and it's
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: just reflecting so you don't lose sight of the big picture.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: I might have just come back from a visit in Dallas,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and I want to share the impact or how great
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the team there is doing and the creativity of the
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: way they're using animation. We're not necessarily in the hospital
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: every day, but our efforts are supporting millions of children,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and it's set sense to keep that motivation a morale
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: as we do our daily jobs. Working with children and
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: seeing what I see through families and what they're going through.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: It gives you a lot of perspective for the way
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: that I live life, where I focus my priorities and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: where I don't focus energy either.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I love that. So one of the things that I
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: know you and your brother did was you co wrote
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: a book together, a children's book, and I know creativity
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: and play is a huge part of that. Can you
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: tell me how creativity and play also shows up in
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: perhaps your leadership style.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I'm not like a stiff, rigid person. I want people
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: to smile and have some fun, and we do things
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: even through the team. I take them out to dinner
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: or we'll go do something fun to just get out
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: of the office. And so creating that somewhat playfulness so
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: that you don't.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Get run down.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: It's just important to me that my staff and joys
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: where they work. Even when we interview people, I say,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: this is much you're seeing where you would work, but
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: we're interviewing you, but making sure you would fit in
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: this culture too, and this would be for you. And
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: so I think there's so much to say about that.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: And I think as an adult, you can always still
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: continue to believe in dream and not feel that this
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: chapter is just this. There's always new doors to open
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: and new things to learn, and always continue growing. I
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: think that is what inspires me. I like to continue
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to push myself to do new things, try new things.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Even moving to new cities and starting new adventures in
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: the book was another fun endeavor that I did with Ryan.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: And then the Make Believers started and we're working on
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: some other projects. Don't fully continue the Make Believers journey.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Talking about working with your brother and having that working relationship,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: but seeing him at family dinners, family functions, how do
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: you separate the two?
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: It was very important, and even because my parents were
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: more involved in the beginning, and I wanted to whether
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: it was talking to Ryan or my parents not have
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: you felt like you were always talking about work. So
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: it was one of those things where we still set
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: meetings or a call. But if I called, you know,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: my parents after seven, you know they were in Atlanta.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I was in LA.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: My mom didn't start asking me all these questions. It's
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: more like I'm calling you as a daughter right now.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Right and two With Ryan, I now to this day,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, I make an agenda. He knows when we're
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: talking about work. When I call him about other stuff,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: it's just being brother and sister. Or I'll text him
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: here the three things I need from you, and he
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: gets back to me. And so it's just learning communication style. Again,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: we can separate family time versus work time. So I've
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: definitely tried to manage that for all of us to
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: have healthy working relationships.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. So as a company grows, as a mission evolves,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: how does that change the way you think about leadership?
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Because at the end of the day, this is a
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: leadership podcast and you are leading people. How does that
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: change from just managing maybe two or three people to
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: now a dozen or so.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've definitely had to grow, and I feel
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: fortunate to have some really strong employees and being able
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: to empower them to take on things and not be
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: a micromanager. I can't do all the things I used
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: to do, and I want to be a present mother.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: So I'm trusting that you can handle this, and that
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: you do hire people that can take on certain parts
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: of the organization so that you can lead from the top.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: But you have wonderful people supporting you that can really
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: help do the daily walk and all the different facets
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: of the foundation.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: So then it sounds like it starts with the hiring
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: process making sure you're hiring the right people in the
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: right roles. So then how do you determine that this
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: is the right person for the right role for our organization?
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: I know, and it's not easy. I mean, I think
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: in the beginning, it's fortunate to find really passionate people.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: One of the one of full ladies who works with us,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: she had worked at Chock Children's and so she was
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: very familiar already with what we did, so she just
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: already had this connected passion. You know. The next employee
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: was an intern in a Secrest studio, so she had
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: this connected passion and then it kind of evolved from there,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and maybe I don't know. It's something about reading people
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: like you get a feeling and it's do you fit
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the culture. There could be wonderful people that are super skilled,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: but maybe they're not the right fit for dynamics within
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the office. So there's several things. There's not always the
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: perfect recipe for it, but it is helpful if you
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: find the right people that you can trust and empower
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: to carry out certain jobs. I think it's hard if
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: you do have an employe where you do feel you
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: constantly have to watch them and oh are they doing
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: this and they're doing that right? And that's almost creating
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: more work for you because you can't let go of
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: certain things or oh I need to probably join that
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: call with them, versus being able to say they got this.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: You know, if I join, it's great, but if I can't,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I know that they've got it handled. And to be
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: able to establish some of that over the years and
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: build that trust and it didn't happen overnight. It took time,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: but I think it's been something that's been very helpful.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: And we've just found a lot of our team like
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: they stay with us. It's been years and they don't leave.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: So I hopefully that says something.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: That's a huge testament I think to the organization as
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: well as your leadership. So we know media is also
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: changing in that sense, right, I mean we're now evolving
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: from just radio to podcasting to digital and I think
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: I read somewhere that you are offering bilingual content as
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: well in some of the hospitals. So how are you
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: thinking about the future at these hospitals.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Well, we finally truly hired a director of engineer and
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: innovation because that is part of it, right, I mean,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: technology is changing, it's advancing. We've had to go back
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and renovate old studios and then we're building the new
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: ones and then they're more advanced than say the one
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: we built six years ago. So it's this game of
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: keeping things up to date but thinking ahead about innovation
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and having young children. They're so savvy and what they
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: can do and what they're learning. It's faster than I
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: could keep up with. But we're trying to make sure
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: our facilities feel relevant to the times, but also that
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: we're using the media for good and in a healthy way.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: So it's a constant part of what we have to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: do as an organization with building and using tech that
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: we continue kind of learning and growing with it.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: So the name of this podcast is called Leading by Example,
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: and the question that we always ask our guest is
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: what does leading by example mean to you?
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I do think you do need to lead truly by example.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: You can't say to people when you're on vacation, really
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: take your vacation, but then you don't do it. There's
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: these boundaries that you have to create and show and
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: lead that. It's okay for certain ways that we do
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: our work here, but if you want your team to
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: be on time, you should be on time. You know.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: If you want your team to be prepared, you have
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: to be prepared too. So I think you have to
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: practice what you preach and you can't just want these
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: things but not be doing them yourself. So you truly
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: do need to lead by example.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Meredith, thank you so much for being here with us.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: I really enjoyed this conversation with you. I know, thank you,
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: and listening in to this conversation. I had a great
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: time chatting with Meredith. In fact, there were two things
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: that we talked about that really stood out to me.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: The first one was when she talks about how you
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: should lead with your feelings in your pitch, not just
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: talk about heavy data and numbers. So when Meredith and
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Ryan were pitching hospitals on building these multimedia studios, they
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: didn't just lead with specs, square footage or ROI. They
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: led with a feeling. And if you can remember, they
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: called this studio a no poke zone. That phrase, immediately,
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: as I can imagine, would transport every hospital administrator into
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: that emotional experience of what a sick child must feel.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: This would be a place where they wouldn't have needles,
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: no fear, or any of that anxiousness that comes with
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: being in a hospital. And before anybody would say, well
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: how does this work, they actually felt the why behind
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: the studio. This is what we call emotional resonance, and
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: I think it's a very smart leadership strategy. It's not
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: just marketing. Because when you can name a feeling of
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: your idea, of your service, of your pitch, you are
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: now speaking to people's emotions. How you position it can
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: really evoke that feeling that gets people bought in. The
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: second thing that she talked about that I loved was
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: how you can use your experience, your work experience as
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: leverage for your next job, even if it's a completely
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: different industry. So for Meredith, she didn't start her career
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: in nonprofit. She started in the fast paced world of
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: media and business. And what I loved about her experience
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: is she took her corporate fluency and used it as
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: intellectual leverage. She thought about how brands usually work, how
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: partnerships get structured, how to make a very compelling pitch,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: and she used that experience as an opportunity in her ask.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: So it's all about finding these connection points between your
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: previous experience and how you can now leverage it in
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: your current experience and where you want to go. Thank
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: you so much for joining this episode. I hope you
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: walked away feeling inspired, because I certainly did. If you
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: enjoyed this episode, or you have feedback on what you
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: want to hear and guests you'd like to hear from,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: please rate and review, leading by example, every review, every rating.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: It really does help us reach more people and make
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: this show the best it can be. I'm Jessica Chen,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: the author of Smart Not Loud, How to Get Noticed
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: at Work for All the Right Reasons, and the CEO
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: of Soulcast Media, a communications training company. For more information
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: about me and what I do, you can head over
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: to my website Solcastmedia dot com or add me on
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: LinkedIn and Instagram. A huge thank you to our production
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: team at Ruby Studio, especially Kelly Kyle, Matt Stillo, and
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: Sierra Spring. We'll be back in two weeks with another
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: episode of Leading by Example. I'll see you, then fight