Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Ep. 54: Stop Fixing Yourself: Your “Flaws” Could Be Your Superpower - Jeni Yelton
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What if perfection isn't the goal and the very flaws
- 0:02Speaker 1: that you're fighting could be the key to becoming a
- 0:03Speaker 1: more confident, effective leader? Welcome to the Goalvisor Podcast, where
- 0:10Speaker 1: we explore business growth, communication, and personal development through real
- 0:13Speaker 1: conversations with people that make an impact. Our guest is
- 0:17Speaker 1: a leadership strategist, executive coach, and speaker with more than
- 0:21Speaker 1: 25 years of experience helping people lead with greater confidence, clarity,
- 0:27Speaker 1: and purpose. She challenges one of the biggest traps in leadership,
- 0:31Speaker 1: the exhausting pursuit of perfection. Her message is simple but powerful.
- 0:36Speaker 1: Stop fixing yourself and start leveraging what already makes you
- 0:40Speaker 1: uniquely valuable. She's the author of Confidently Flawed, The Fatal
- 0:45Speaker 1: Flaw Theory to Stop Fixing and Start Thriving. Glowvisor welcomes
- 0:51Speaker 1: Jenny Yelton.
- 0:52Speaker 2: Hi, Joe. It's such an honor to be here today.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Thank you for inviting me.
- 0:57Speaker 1: Oh, you're welcome. Very excited. So Jenny, let's begin. Tell
- 1:01Speaker 1: us a little bit more about what you do.
- 1:03Speaker 2: So I am a speaker, author, and coach. And really,
- 1:06Speaker 2: when it really comes down to it, I am an
- 1:08Speaker 2: adult learning theorist. I have spent my career trying to
- 1:12Speaker 2: understand why I behave the way I do, why other
- 1:15Speaker 2: people behave the way that they do. And that's what
- 1:18Speaker 2: I'm passionate about is really understanding people. And through that process,
- 1:24Speaker 2: I discovered that you know, people spend so much of
- 1:28Speaker 2: their time, effort and energy in this comparison mindset. And
- 1:33Speaker 2: I realized that myself working in different types of industries and,
- 1:38Speaker 2: you know, in corporate training and development in HR, where organizations,
- 1:43Speaker 2: big and small, try to put kind of this way
- 1:47Speaker 2: of behaving onto employees and then get frustrated when there's
- 1:50Speaker 2: these big gaps. And so as part of my development experience,
- 1:55Speaker 2: for others and part of my development culture and organizations,
- 1:58Speaker 2: I've really focused on more of, you know, what is
- 2:01Speaker 2: about the impact of somebody and a little less with
- 2:05Speaker 2: their skills. How can they use those skills and the
- 2:08Speaker 2: best skills in them? Because I am a true believer.
- 2:11Speaker 2: Are you ready, Joe?
- 2:12Speaker 1: I'm ready.
- 2:13Speaker 2: You're not broken. You're not broken, but you're not perfect.
- 2:17Speaker 2: So we have flaws. We all have flaws. And part
- 2:21Speaker 2: of the empowerment is knowing what those are, being open, honest,
- 2:24Speaker 2: and transparent, but not to hold yourself back from them,
- 2:27Speaker 2: but finding a way to use them in a way
- 2:30Speaker 2: that makes an impact, that makes a difference. Because at
- 2:32Speaker 2: the end of the day, that's what's going to measure success.
- 2:37Speaker 1: Wow. That's a mindset shift altogether. Now, every successful entrepreneur
- 2:42Speaker 1: has had a defining moment. So what inspired you to
- 2:45Speaker 1: pursue this path?
- 2:46Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting because I loved corporate training and development,
- 2:51Speaker 2: but I tell people who get into training and development
- 2:54Speaker 2: to be careful because anytime organizations look at the budget,
- 3:00Speaker 2: they see training and development as a nice to have.
- 3:02Speaker 2: And that's really difficult because I think that most companies,
- 3:07Speaker 2: I believe in most people, but even most companies and
- 3:09Speaker 2: organizations want to make their employees perform well. They want
- 3:13Speaker 2: to increase leadership skills they want to do those things
- 3:17Speaker 2: but when they're looking at a budget sometimes training and
- 3:19Speaker 2: development is considered expendable and after my third layoff from
- 3:25Speaker 2: an organization I thought okay what can I do to
- 3:28Speaker 2: make an impact in a larger spectrum so as an
- 3:32Speaker 2: entrepreneur I started to research you know is it consulting
- 3:35Speaker 2: do I need to go out there and do some
- 3:37Speaker 2: consulting and Do I need to go out there and
- 3:39Speaker 2: do coaching? And I did both of those things and
- 3:41Speaker 2: enjoyed both of those things. But then there felt like
- 3:44Speaker 2: there was a purpose that was pulling me to do
- 3:46Speaker 2: something different. And that's when I sat down and wrote
- 3:50Speaker 2: the book because I wanted to share the message. I
- 3:53Speaker 2: want to disrupt performance management and do things differently within
- 3:58Speaker 2: organizations so that they see the value of professional development.
- 4:02Speaker 2: And it doesn't have to be training and development per se,
- 4:05Speaker 2: but professional development, encouraging growth and purpose within their organizations.
- 4:11Speaker 2: That was probably my biggest transformation for my own career. I,
- 4:15Speaker 2: I actually have a little story. I sat down trying
- 4:18Speaker 2: to figure out, you know, what I was going to do.
- 4:20Speaker 2: And my pen stopped working and I looked at them,
- 4:23Speaker 2: like got a little upset. I don't know if you've
- 4:25Speaker 2: ever gotten upset at a pen, Joe, but it's a
- 4:28Speaker 2: moment when you just get upset at it. And I
- 4:30Speaker 2: thought you have one purpose. And that's when I realized,
- 4:33Speaker 2: I'm like, wait a minute, we spend all of our
- 4:35Speaker 2: lives trying to think of our purpose and walking around
- 4:37Speaker 2: wondering what we're here for and then think there's a
- 4:40Speaker 2: simpler way to look at it. But if I can
- 4:43Speaker 2: find a simpler way to look at it, how can
- 4:45Speaker 2: I help people and organizations find a simpler way to
- 4:49Speaker 2: look at purpose so that they can bring it into
- 4:51Speaker 2: the organization, retain the employees that they need to, grow
- 4:55Speaker 2: the performance that they need to, scale the organization from
- 4:58Speaker 2: any size? from a mom and pop small operation all
- 5:02Speaker 2: the way to a large organization, there's something more than
- 5:06Speaker 2: just getting somebody to work. It's getting somebody to work
- 5:09Speaker 2: for fulfillment.
- 5:11Speaker 1: Now, you've had the opportunity to work with certain organizations
- 5:13Speaker 1: or departments. Making that shift, that mindset shift that you're
- 5:20Speaker 1: bringing to them, is it something that people embrace immediately
- 5:24Speaker 1: or is this a long, laborious process to get them
- 5:28Speaker 1: to make that shift?
- 5:29Speaker 2: That's a fantastic question. I would love to say that
- 5:32Speaker 2: I could just hand them the thing that said, hey,
- 5:34Speaker 2: find your purpose. And they would all just say, well,
- 5:37Speaker 2: that's what we've been searching for the whole time. Most
- 5:40Speaker 2: companies and organizations and departments want to see measurable results.
- 5:45Speaker 2: They want to see numbers. They like the concept of
- 5:48Speaker 2: people feeling fulfilled within their role, but it's harder to
- 5:52Speaker 2: see the impact. But here's the sneaky part. It's the
- 5:56Speaker 2: same thing with training and development, which is one of
- 5:58Speaker 2: the reasons that training and development tends to be one
- 6:00Speaker 2: of the first cut in organizations is the ROI for
- 6:04Speaker 2: performance measurements is hard to measure when you train somebody.
- 6:09Speaker 2: But when I come in and I talk about change
- 6:11Speaker 2: and training, it's more about transformation and real measurable impact
- 6:16Speaker 2: where you can measure where people actually are performing better
- 6:19Speaker 2: because they're adopting, they're implementing, they're motivated. The biggest failure
- 6:25Speaker 2: in most organizations, and when I say most, I'm talking
- 6:29Speaker 2: like 99% of organizations, the biggest failure they have with
- 6:34Speaker 2: change at all is forgetting about the employee part of
- 6:37Speaker 2: the change. They focus so much on the process. They
- 6:40Speaker 2: focus so much on the technology. They focus so much
- 6:43Speaker 2: on making sure that all their SOPs are correct. they
- 6:48Speaker 2: train their employees, but they never really motivate their employees
- 6:51Speaker 2: for the change. And so they spend millions and millions
- 6:53Speaker 2: of dollars trying to, and I've been a part of
- 6:56Speaker 2: some of those transformations, trying to get people to adopt something,
- 7:00Speaker 2: to throw it out and say, oh, the problem is,
- 7:02Speaker 2: is the system. Most of the time, it's not the system.
- 7:06Speaker 2: It's lack of interest in the people. And so when
- 7:09Speaker 2: you start thinking about motivation, people are motivated by what
- 7:12Speaker 2: benefits them. And that is sometimes a hard thing pill
- 7:17Speaker 2: to swallow, but it's the reality. In fact, if, if
- 7:20Speaker 2: I would not be surprised if my kids put this
- 7:23Speaker 2: on my grave, because I say it all the time,
- 7:25Speaker 2: people behave in a way that benefits them. And that's
- 7:29Speaker 2: just human nature, positive or negative. If they're doing something,
- 7:34Speaker 2: they're doing it because they're either protecting themselves out of
- 7:36Speaker 2: fear or benefiting themselves out of results and, you know,
- 7:41Speaker 2: some sort of success. It's not a bad thing. It's
- 7:44Speaker 2: human nature, but organizations and even individuals themselves don't always
- 7:48Speaker 2: reflect on that. So I wish it was an easy
- 7:52Speaker 2: thing for people to do, but they have to be
- 7:54Speaker 2: willing to invest in the idea of really defining their
- 7:58Speaker 2: culture and their purpose all the way up the level.
- 8:01Speaker 2: A lot of times organizations start with trying to fix
- 8:05Speaker 2: their employees right where they are. The problem is they're
- 8:07Speaker 2: not broken. You don't need to fix them. You need
- 8:10Speaker 2: to shape the culture so that it is more aligned
- 8:13Speaker 2: to a purpose, more aligned to a mission, more aligned
- 8:15Speaker 2: to values so that people all the way at the
- 8:18Speaker 2: top and it has to spill down. They have to
- 8:21Speaker 2: see it working and being successful from every single level.
- 8:25Speaker 2: And that's where it's often lost in scope is because
- 8:30Speaker 2: a lot of times senior leaders in the organizations, especially
- 8:33Speaker 2: ones that have grown themselves, are so focused on their role,
- 8:38Speaker 2: their responsibilities. And they have a ton of responsibilities that
- 8:41Speaker 2: they forget how much they influence, inspire the ones every
- 8:46Speaker 2: level below them.
- 8:46Speaker 1: Now, if one of our listeners wants to invest in
- 8:51Speaker 1: themselves or in their department or their small business, can
- 8:56Speaker 1: you share with us what that journey would look like
- 8:59Speaker 1: working with you?
- 9:00Speaker 2: I've got several coaching clients that I'm working with that
- 9:02Speaker 2: are really focused on their own development. Most of the time,
- 9:06Speaker 2: People come to me in periods of transition in their life.
- 9:09Speaker 2: So either they're stuck and they can't seem to get
- 9:13Speaker 2: out of their current role, like they've applied for manager
- 9:15Speaker 2: positions or they maybe struggle with executive presence or being seen.
- 9:21Speaker 2: And so they come to me saying, you know, how
- 9:22Speaker 2: can I get myself to the next level? Others come
- 9:25Speaker 2: to me in periods of transition when they're wanting to
- 9:28Speaker 2: maybe own their own business. So they were working for
- 9:30Speaker 2: a company and now they want to move into entrepreneurship and,
- 9:33Speaker 2: and it's exciting. Entrepreneurship is super exciting, but there's pieces
- 9:37Speaker 2: of it that aren't clearly defined. So I work with
- 9:40Speaker 2: them on trying to really define, you know, their purpose
- 9:43Speaker 2: and what they're trying to do to be really clear.
- 9:45Speaker 2: Because my belief is, and this is with any level,
- 9:49Speaker 2: if you can define your, your, your purpose at that,
- 9:52Speaker 2: that third level, but, Overall, I work with people through
- 9:57Speaker 2: that purpose idea of there's three levels. of purpose. That
- 10:01Speaker 2: first level is what you do, your tasks. It's that
- 10:04Speaker 2: safety and security. It's the actual job. It's how much
- 10:06Speaker 2: money you make, your drive remote or hybrid, or if
- 10:10Speaker 2: you're in the office, it's where you can eat lunch.
- 10:15Speaker 2: It's those main things, right? That just your day-to-day life.
- 10:18Speaker 2: The second level of purpose is connection. And within yourself,
- 10:22Speaker 2: it's the community of love and people that accept you
- 10:24Speaker 2: for who you are. Within an organization, and this is
- 10:27Speaker 2: what I work on with organizations, is defining what that
- 10:31Speaker 2: looks like for a company and a culture within their organization.
- 10:35Speaker 2: It means that you go into work and it's people
- 10:36Speaker 2: you want to be around. It's an environment that you want.
- 10:40Speaker 2: The problem is, is that most companies and even people
- 10:44Speaker 2: stop there. That's it. They just look at that area.
- 10:48Speaker 2: And then they say, okay, well, that's good. My culture
- 10:50Speaker 2: is good and I'm making enough money. Everything is fine.
- 10:52Speaker 2: And they kind of work up to those, those two pieces.
- 10:56Speaker 2: The third level of purpose is beyond yourself. It's really,
- 11:00Speaker 2: what is your gifts? What do you, what do you value?
- 11:02Speaker 2: What motivates you to get up every day? What are your, what,
- 11:05Speaker 2: who are you meant to serve? Who's supposed to get
- 11:07Speaker 2: an impact from what you do? Here's the difference between
- 11:10Speaker 2: those three levels that I work with, with individuals I
- 11:14Speaker 2: work with in organizations and I work with with entrepreneurs
- 11:17Speaker 2: is is to really define this first instead of this first.
- 11:21Speaker 2: Not how much money you got to make, what kind
- 11:23Speaker 2: of job you're going to do, but really defining that
- 11:26Speaker 2: up that third level of who's going to be impacted.
- 11:29Speaker 2: What does that look like? Because here's why. These two
- 11:33Speaker 2: down here, how much money you make, your job itself,
- 11:37Speaker 2: the tasks that you do, even the culture are all
- 11:41Speaker 2: externally driven, internally felt. And you can probably attest to
- 11:45Speaker 2: the show where you had a great environment, you worked
- 11:47Speaker 2: with some great people, you love it, and then your
- 11:49Speaker 2: best friend left and suddenly everything changed in that culture.
- 11:52Speaker 2: Or everybody got along and then a new person came
- 11:55Speaker 2: in and you even hear all of the cancer joined
- 11:58Speaker 2: our culture. So it's internally felt, but it's externally driven.
- 12:03Speaker 2: And once it's externally driven and it's negative, then we
- 12:06Speaker 2: go back down to the lowest level and say, are
- 12:08Speaker 2: we making enough money? Do I even like what I'm doing?
- 12:11Speaker 2: So most people that come to me are at that
- 12:13Speaker 2: level of, questioning, even all the way down to level one.
- 12:16Speaker 2: The last level, you don't ever know because you just
- 12:21Speaker 2: know within yourself, it's all internally. It's internally felt and
- 12:24Speaker 2: internally driven. So you know that what you're doing means something.
- 12:28Speaker 2: It makes an impact. It delivers something. It leaves a legacy.
- 12:32Speaker 2: It has some sort of a ripple effect. You may
- 12:34Speaker 2: never see that measured. You may never see somebody come
- 12:38Speaker 2: to you and say, oh, because you did this, this
- 12:41Speaker 2: is why I'm doing really well. You just have to
- 12:43Speaker 2: know that you're doing something bigger than yourself. And I
- 12:46Speaker 2: start here instead of here with people. I start all
- 12:49Speaker 2: the way up here trying to figure out what their
- 12:52Speaker 2: values are. And when I say values, you can have
- 12:55Speaker 2: a hundred values, but there's usually only three that wake
- 13:00Speaker 2: you up and motivate you every day. It doesn't mean
- 13:02Speaker 2: the other ones aren't important. It just means that there's
- 13:04Speaker 2: those three that drive you. I help you figure out
- 13:07Speaker 2: what those three are. I also help you figure out what's,
- 13:10Speaker 2: your gifts are. We tend to devalue our gifts. If
- 13:14Speaker 2: we think we can do it, we think that it's
- 13:17Speaker 2: too easy and we don't really value it in ourselves
- 13:20Speaker 2: and we don't always value it in others. And so
- 13:23Speaker 2: we find out what are your natural gifts? What are
- 13:26Speaker 2: you good at? What your capacity is? What you make
- 13:29Speaker 2: an impact doing? And then who are you meant to serve?
- 13:32Speaker 2: And usually it's somebody like you. It's somebody in your
- 13:35Speaker 2: own culture. It's somebody that you want to help. but
- 13:38Speaker 2: that's who you're meant to serve as an, as an organization,
- 13:40Speaker 2: as an individual, as an entrepreneur. And then we kind
- 13:43Speaker 2: of figure out, okay, now where do you want to
- 13:46Speaker 2: be and who do you want to be around? And
- 13:47Speaker 2: how do you network? If you're an entrepreneur, how do
- 13:49Speaker 2: you make those connections and talk through that process? And
- 13:53Speaker 2: then down to what do you want to charge? What
- 13:55Speaker 2: are the exact products that you want to offer or
- 13:57Speaker 2: for an organization? You know, what do you want to pay?
- 14:00Speaker 2: How do you want to do the compensation so that
- 14:02Speaker 2: it works down the list? It, It feels more fulfilling
- 14:06Speaker 2: because if you're up here and you're more aligned to this,
- 14:09Speaker 2: then you can have that friend of yours leave and
- 14:12Speaker 2: you're not going to automatically jump down because you're already
- 14:14Speaker 2: at a higher level up here that you're not going
- 14:17Speaker 2: to feel it as much. It doesn't mean you're not
- 14:19Speaker 2: going to feel it. It just means that you know
- 14:21Speaker 2: that there's something bigger than this and then this through
- 14:25Speaker 2: the process.
- 14:26Speaker 1: Now, once you're hired by an organization, how do you
- 14:29Speaker 1: deliver those different steps to making the transformations?
- 14:32Speaker 2: I use ADKAR as a framework for change and transformation.
- 14:36Speaker 2: And I am ProSci certified. And, you know, I'd always
- 14:39Speaker 2: done change and transformation. I've always used the same process
- 14:42Speaker 2: and the same thoughts. But now I really leaned onto
- 14:46Speaker 2: a measurable result, which comes back to our original discussion,
- 14:50Speaker 2: like how do you see results? Well, ADKAR actually helps
- 14:53Speaker 2: you do that because it does have measurements that are
- 14:56Speaker 2: put into place throughout the process. So I use that
- 15:00Speaker 2: framework of ADKAR starting out with, awareness and desire, which
- 15:04Speaker 2: is what do they know? Do they know why they
- 15:06Speaker 2: need to change? Do they know why? What's the benefit?
- 15:09Speaker 2: What's the benefit for them? Why are they motivated? And
- 15:12Speaker 2: getting people on board, then determining those knowledge and skills
- 15:16Speaker 2: that are right there in the middle and abilities and
- 15:19Speaker 2: what they need to improve on. And then finally, how
- 15:22Speaker 2: do we measure it? How do they reinforce it? How
- 15:24Speaker 2: do you continue it? One of the things I really
- 15:26Speaker 2: find interesting in training development, and this is probably To me,
- 15:32Speaker 2: it's one of the things that frustrated me as a trainer.
- 15:34Speaker 2: And I think it frustrates employees and it really frustrates
- 15:37Speaker 2: managers is people will go to a class and let's
- 15:41Speaker 2: just pick a topic like time management, because that's really
- 15:45Speaker 2: one of the most common topics, prioritization, time management. And
- 15:49Speaker 2: they'll send somebody to class and say, you need to
- 15:51Speaker 2: improve on your time management. It'll be on their performance review,
- 15:54Speaker 2: improving time management. So they're ready. They know, most people know,
- 15:57Speaker 2: I need to learn to be better at managing my time.
- 16:01Speaker 2: So they'll come to the workshop and it'll be a
- 16:02Speaker 2: great workshop. You know, I try to make my workshop
- 16:05Speaker 2: super engaging and fun and have people enjoy it. And
- 16:08Speaker 2: they learn something, we talk through it, and then they
- 16:10Speaker 2: go back to their desk and they don't apply it.
- 16:13Speaker 2: And managers get frustrated and like, well, why does nothing change?
- 16:17Speaker 2: Why doesn't anything change? It's because they really weren't motivated
- 16:21Speaker 2: to manage their time. And they almost feel like they're
- 16:24Speaker 2: being beaten up for the same thing over and over again.
- 16:26Speaker 2: And they have all the tools. They have all the resources.
- 16:29Speaker 2: So what I do in that knowledge and abilities area
- 16:32Speaker 2: in the middle is really address what they really need
- 16:36Speaker 2: to learn and how they can manage through it. So
- 16:40Speaker 2: I use this fatal flaw theory where, and I've been
- 16:43Speaker 2: teaching this for over 25 years, but I look at
- 16:46Speaker 2: my flaws and I own them. And then I say, okay,
- 16:48Speaker 2: they're flaws, but that doesn't mean that they're impactful in
- 16:53Speaker 2: a negative way. Sometimes a flaw can actually lead to
- 16:56Speaker 2: a gift in another area. But I look at these
- 16:58Speaker 2: flaws and I say, okay, is it fatal? Is it
- 17:00Speaker 2: fatal to my career, fatal to my organization, fatal to
- 17:03Speaker 2: my health, fatal to my relationships? If it is, I
- 17:06Speaker 2: don't really fix it. I try to manage it. So
- 17:08Speaker 2: that's what I work with companies to do is to say, okay,
- 17:11Speaker 2: instead of looking at what is a flaw for an
- 17:14Speaker 2: individual employee, look at and see, is there a way
- 17:17Speaker 2: we can manage it and measure success on what makes
- 17:19Speaker 2: impact instead of what's a performance competency measurement, comparing them
- 17:25Speaker 2: to somebody else. That's where we go through the process
- 17:29Speaker 2: of looking at, you know, transformation, not just training.
- 17:33Speaker 1: Now, would you be able to share with us a
- 17:35Speaker 1: success story where you've seen the most transformation in an
- 17:40Speaker 1: organization you've worked with in the past?
- 17:42Speaker 2: It's probably one of my favorites. And like I said, I,
- 17:46Speaker 2: you know, I don't. I really have understood what my
- 17:50Speaker 2: third level is for a long time. I had to
- 17:52Speaker 2: define it, but I do understand it. And my third
- 17:54Speaker 2: level purpose is that I take complex ideas and simplify
- 17:59Speaker 2: it in a storytelling way that people can understand it,
- 18:03Speaker 2: use it, apply it, and transform. That's my purpose. And
- 18:06Speaker 2: so I've been doing that my whole career and not,
- 18:09Speaker 2: you know, I don't expect to get Other than good
- 18:12Speaker 2: ratings in a training class, I don't expect that somebody's
- 18:16Speaker 2: going to come back to me 10 or 15 years
- 18:17Speaker 2: later and say, because of you, this happened. But I
- 18:20Speaker 2: have had that happen. And it's so amazing and fulfilling
- 18:25Speaker 2: for myself to see somebody else be successful. So an
- 18:29Speaker 2: example that I think, and I know that she would
- 18:32Speaker 2: be okay with me sharing, was an employee at an
- 18:36Speaker 2: organization that I was working with and I was coaching
- 18:38Speaker 2: one-on-one who was kept applying for jobs. And when I
- 18:42Speaker 2: say applying for jobs, I just mean if a job
- 18:45Speaker 2: came up, she applied. And it was really out of desperation.
- 18:50Speaker 2: She knew she wasn't happy where she was. She knew
- 18:53Speaker 2: she had more to give, but she really couldn't figure
- 18:55Speaker 2: out what it was. And when by the time she
- 18:58Speaker 2: came to me, it had probably been about four or
- 19:00Speaker 2: five times that she had been declined for an opportunity.
- 19:03Speaker 2: And when we sat down and we started to really
- 19:06Speaker 2: talk about what her gifts are, what her skills are, what, what,
- 19:09Speaker 2: makes her fulfilled. She started to really look at not
- 19:14Speaker 2: only what she wanted to do, but why she wanted
- 19:17Speaker 2: to do it, the impact she could make, the difference.
- 19:20Speaker 2: And instead of just trying to get out of that desperate,
- 19:23Speaker 2: I need to do something else. She really figured out
- 19:26Speaker 2: like who she wants to serve. And so she started
- 19:29Speaker 2: to be more in line and building skills and things
- 19:33Speaker 2: that actually she was already good at. but become a
- 19:36Speaker 2: master of. Because that's the way I think development should be,
- 19:39Speaker 2: is that you should look at your gifts and spend
- 19:42Speaker 2: more effort and time on those and developing those. And
- 19:44Speaker 2: so that's what she did. And some of it ended
- 19:47Speaker 2: up being kind of a culture thing for her as well,
- 19:50Speaker 2: but she left the organization and she has moved up
- 19:56Speaker 2: in different organizations, but she's always moved up with confidence, clarity,
- 20:02Speaker 2: and intention, which to me is really what it's about.
- 20:06Speaker 2: The funny thing is, is that she thought she wanted
- 20:10Speaker 2: to be a leader. And I think leader was a
- 20:12Speaker 2: wonderful job and a perfect place to be, but she
- 20:15Speaker 2: was stuck on that was her only path. But when
- 20:18Speaker 2: she started to really figure out who she was, how
- 20:21Speaker 2: she wanted to make influence, she realized that she wanted
- 20:24Speaker 2: to be a leader by influence, not a leader by manager.
- 20:28Speaker 2: And I think that's not easy for some people to
- 20:30Speaker 2: realize that there's different paths that you can take by
- 20:34Speaker 2: really unpacking it and kind of understanding who you are
- 20:37Speaker 2: and who you're meant to serve, and making decisions by
- 20:40Speaker 2: intention with confidence and clarity, your path becomes clearer. You
- 20:45Speaker 2: feel like you're making the right steps forward. And she
- 20:48Speaker 2: is probably one of my biggest cheerleaders. She talks about
- 20:52Speaker 2: me to everybody, refers people to me. And this is
- 20:55Speaker 2: somebody that I've now known for 15 years. And this
- 20:59Speaker 2: conversation started like five years ago. I have other stories
- 21:02Speaker 2: of like that. And I have stories within organizations where
- 21:05Speaker 2: I've seen culture and shifts change in organizations. I've been
- 21:09Speaker 2: very fortunate in my career to enter in organizations where
- 21:13Speaker 2: there really wasn't employee training and development and helping shape
- 21:17Speaker 2: a culture of development within an organization and seeing the
- 21:21Speaker 2: accolades that those organizations have received for the type of
- 21:25Speaker 2: training and development cultures that they have now. But her
- 21:29Speaker 2: story is one that just makes me smile and makes
- 21:33Speaker 2: me know that I'm on the right path in this journey.
- 21:36Speaker 1: Now, without getting too deep into your processes, would you
- 21:39Speaker 1: be able to share one quick way to at least
- 21:43Speaker 1: identify one of your own gifts?
- 21:47Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's actually, I love that. It's one of
- 21:50Speaker 2: the things that you think is really easy and other
- 21:52Speaker 2: people have noted you for is a good way to
- 21:55Speaker 2: do that. Like you think about, you may not even
- 21:58Speaker 2: recognize it. Very quickly, there's a story in my book
- 22:02Speaker 2: about me walking through a Renaissance festival and I used
- 22:05Speaker 2: to do Renaissance festivals a long time ago and I'm
- 22:07Speaker 2: pretty crafty. Like I, you know, I'm kind of creative
- 22:10Speaker 2: and kind of crafty and I would walk through the
- 22:12Speaker 2: Renaissance festival and I wouldn't buy anything I thought I
- 22:15Speaker 2: could make. Isn't that weird? Like if I could make it,
- 22:20Speaker 2: I didn't seem to value it as much. And here's
- 22:24Speaker 2: the funny part. I never made any of it. No,
- 22:27Speaker 2: I buy the stuff to make it, but I never
- 22:29Speaker 2: actually would make any of it because I really didn't
- 22:31Speaker 2: have the capacity or time to do the work for it.
- 22:35Speaker 2: But in my head, if I could do it, I
- 22:37Speaker 2: didn't value it. That was a huge light bulb moment
- 22:40Speaker 2: for me. And so one of the things I tell
- 22:43Speaker 2: people to do when they're starting to figure out their gifts,
- 22:45Speaker 2: and there's a lot of different tools that you can use.
- 22:48Speaker 2: You can use things like a disc profile. You can
- 22:51Speaker 2: use strength finders. You can use, there's a lot of,
- 22:55Speaker 2: and I have a tool within my book and also
- 22:58Speaker 2: within my companion guide to my book, like a self-reflection
- 23:02Speaker 2: tool to help really identify your gifts. And I do
- 23:05Speaker 2: that when I coach people. But one of the quick
- 23:07Speaker 2: and easiest ways is think about things that you've just
- 23:10Speaker 2: always been known for. It's easy for you. So like
- 23:13Speaker 2: one of my gifts is flexibility. I don't tend to
- 23:17Speaker 2: get upset if something changes. I'm pretty adaptable to changing
- 23:20Speaker 2: and fixing things and not getting frustrated with the unknown.
- 23:26Speaker 2: That's a gift. Now, it can be a flaw to
- 23:31Speaker 2: other people. And so that's where you have to understand
- 23:34Speaker 2: that some gifts could be flaws in certain situations, but
- 23:38Speaker 2: being aware of it is the first step. Absolutely. So
- 23:43Speaker 2: what do you think your gift is, Joe?
- 23:45Speaker 1: You know, I don't know. I guess listening.
- 23:49Speaker 2: That is a gift.
- 23:52Speaker 1: Now, if listeners remember only one thing from today's conversation,
- 23:56Speaker 1: what do you hope that message is?
- 23:59Speaker 2: It's what I said exactly to you when we started.
- 24:01Speaker 2: You're not broken. Stop beating yourself up, trying to be
- 24:05Speaker 2: something that you're not meant to be. We get off
- 24:09Speaker 2: that hamster wheel, you know, of trying self-improvement. I am
- 24:13Speaker 2: all about growth and learning. Never will I say you
- 24:17Speaker 2: shouldn't look for opportunities to always learn, grow, try new things,
- 24:22Speaker 2: experience life. You only got one time on this rock.
- 24:25Speaker 2: So do that. Enjoy it. But do it because you
- 24:28Speaker 2: want to do it. Do it because it's going to
- 24:29Speaker 2: make an impact. Don't do it because you feel like
- 24:31Speaker 2: you have to be somebody you're not. So that would be,
- 24:35Speaker 2: if I want anyone to remember anything about what I say,
- 24:39Speaker 2: what I believe, is that you're not broken. You're not
- 24:42Speaker 2: perfect either, but you're not meant to be perfect. But
- 24:44Speaker 2: you don't have to fix yourself. You just need to
- 24:47Speaker 2: find a way to be confident and flawed.
- 24:49Speaker 1: I love that. Now, where can our audience connect with you?
- 24:53Speaker 1: Learn more about your work and continue this conversation.
- 24:55Speaker 2: Thank you. I, well, I, I do, I try, I
- 24:58Speaker 2: do speak on stages and I look for opportunities to,
- 25:01Speaker 2: to be able to speak on a stage, talk to,
- 25:03Speaker 2: you know, your organizations, uh, or, you know, do some
- 25:07Speaker 2: speaking and like events and industry group things. And I
- 25:09Speaker 2: have a couple of those events that are on the
- 25:12Speaker 2: radar for the next couple of months. I'm looking forward to, uh,
- 25:16Speaker 2: you can also go to Jenny Yelton.com, which does have
- 25:19Speaker 2: my like speaking page, but it also has a little
- 25:21Speaker 2: bit about my coaching and, Other pieces, Purpose Driven Solution
- 25:25Speaker 2: is the business side of like my coaching and consulting
- 25:29Speaker 2: piece as well. And then I am the Chief People
- 25:31Speaker 2: Officer for CanSult, which is a consulting organization. And they
- 25:36Speaker 2: are one of, we align in so many ways. I'm
- 25:40Speaker 2: excited about being a part of, you know, their organization
- 25:44Speaker 2: and helping them bring consulting and different opportunities to organizations,
- 25:49Speaker 2: especially as they're shifting cultures. making transitions, scaling, transformation. That's
- 25:55Speaker 2: a big part of what Cancel does. But I think
- 25:58Speaker 2: if you just go out and buy my book, it
- 26:00Speaker 2: is on Amazon. It's Confidently Flawed. I would love for
- 26:03Speaker 2: people to read it. I actually have in there a
- 26:06Speaker 2: place for you to give me some feedback about kind
- 26:09Speaker 2: of the flaws you're working on. I'm starting working on
- 26:12Speaker 2: my second book right now that's really geared towards organizations
- 26:16Speaker 2: and how they can start leading confidently flawed in their
- 26:19Speaker 2: teams and in their organization and their culture and their environment.
- 26:22Speaker 2: So that would probably be the best right way to
- 26:26Speaker 2: reach out to me. And I'd love to hear from
- 26:27Speaker 2: your listeners.
- 26:28Speaker 1: Now, Jenny, thank you so much for joining us. And
- 26:30Speaker 1: we really appreciate your time.
- 26:32Speaker 2: It's such a joy to meet you. And thank you
- 26:34Speaker 2: for bringing me on and allowing me to share my message.
- 26:38Speaker 2: It's important for us to realize that we are good enough.
- 26:41Speaker 2: We're here who we're supposed to be. There's only opportunities
- 26:46Speaker 2: for improvements and making an impact.
- 26:49Speaker 1: Thanks everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you, make
- 26:52Speaker 1: sure you share it with someone who needs it. And
- 26:54Speaker 1: don't forget to follow the Globalizer podcast for more conversations
- 26:57Speaker 1: that make an impact. Till the next time.