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Melissa Hurrington: Authenticity at Work- Making Bold Moves that Align · The Bold Lounge

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: My name is Leigh Burgess and I will be your host.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: If you're anything like me, you love hearing inspiring stories of people who have gone on bold journeys and made a positive impact in the world.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: This podcast is all about those kinds of stories.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Every week, we'll hear from someone who has taken a leap or embarked on an extraordinary journey.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: In addition to hearing their stories, we'll also learn about their bold growth mindset that they use to make things happen.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Whether they face challenges or doubts along the way, they persisted and ultimately achieved their goals.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: These impactful stories will leave you feeling motivated and inspired to pursue your own bold journey.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I believe everyone has a bold story waiting to be freed.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Tune in and get ready to be inspired.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Today I have Melissa Hurrington.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: She is a devoted wife and mother.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Melissa also embodies the essence of balance and leadership, both at home and the professional arena.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: With a multifaceted role as CFO and VP of operations at Premier Claims, she navigates the complexities of financial strategy and operational excellence with finesse.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Beyond her corporate responsibilities, melissa serves as the Omaha Chapter President of the CFO Leadership Council, is a founding member of the Bold Leaders Collective and stands among the next 100.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: A true servant leader at heart, she approaches every endeavor with authenticity and humility, recognizing that her greatest strength lies in uplifting others.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: At the core of her identity, she remains unapologetically and authentically, herself.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Great to have you.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I'm really excited to be here.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: So we're going to jump right in.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: We had some talk in the green room and I think I just wanted to get to recording so we could actually start and jump into your definition of bold.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: How would you define it in your world?
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: For me, I think being bold is truly stepping into your light, stepping into showing up authentically and fully who you are.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I believe that the world needs you exactly as you are, and that, to me, is bold showing up in that way, because it takes some acceptance to know that you're not for everyone and that's okay.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: But to continue to show up as yourself is, I think, one of the boldest moves that you can make.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I had a exchange on LinkedIn this week and something to the effect of someone said something new about being authentic and I you know.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I said you know being yourself should be the easiest thing to be, but it is definitely not easy at times to be yourself based on just expectations, culture, how someone expects you to move through the world, or you're not doing what someone wants you to do, Right?
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: So therefore, something's wrong in their eyes.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Right, it's so hard.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so even though it should be the easiest person to be, it's not so, it's just amazing and work to be done there for sure.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: So tell me a little bit about where you've lived, that definition where you've shown your light, been authentic, been ready for you know what may be some feedback that isn't positive, or maybe even people not liking what you're doing.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, I can honestly say the day that I chose to take my current role at Premier Claims was one of the boldest moves I had made in my career.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: They were a startup.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I was employee number four here at Premier and it felt like it was taking this complete risk.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But the CEO and I we still have no idea really how we found each other at all.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: I didn't apply, my resume wasn't updated.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: He called me but somehow we serendipitously connected and we met and just clicked immediately and I had a very corporate career with very corporate background and large companies.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, at the time I was employed by somebody who had 30,000 employers.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So even the idea of risking it all to go to a company to be employee number four felt wild and dangerous.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: But we had this really organic conversation where I said are you going to let me come in and do things the way that I've always wanted them done?
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Like, can I be the leader I've always wanted to be and felt like I couldn't because I had to cut through some red tape or play the part and fit into somebody else's corporate structure.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: And he gave me, I think, a hesitant but a green light to yeah, that's what I want that's.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: What I want is for people to come in and be themselves and show up and bring all of that energy and enthusiasm to their work day by day, and so I saw this move as what felt like at the time, and it's proven to be true.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: This once in a lifetime opportunity to go in and truly do it differently, put in policies that I haven't seen in other places treat people as whole humans is something that I like to say.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: I work with adults.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: We show up as adults and adults have adult responsibilities sometimes, and so giving grace for those and I could get all the way up on a soapbox, but to ultimately answer that question, it felt like risking it all for this startup that was.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, he was two and a half months into having filed his LLC and it just felt like it was forever going to be the one that got away If I didn't give it a shot.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: And I was scared and I was terrified, but I felt like I was ready for something more and it was a yes, and it was the boldest yes I've ever made in my professional career.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: So sometimes that's well a lot of the times, honestly, that's really where it gets hard for someone to make a bold move.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I honestly think we all have boldness within us.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we just don't free it, we don't allow it to come out or we don't allow ourselves to take action on what's coming up within us.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: What did you use to?
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Obviously you talked about it was scary.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: So one of the myths of being bold is that you're always fearless and you never feel fear, and I think it's kind of like a regular, you know, inhabitant.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's usually in my pocket and my backseat wherever.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Like it's there, it's just natural.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: How did you work through some of the decision-making to make the bold move?
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Because you don't have years to make it, you have a certain amount of time and the fact that you're even considering it so like that's something that I just want the listeners to hear is like when you even consider, should I take some time to figure it out?
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Cause I just want to say that, because I just think sometimes we push things away too quickly because we think of all the things that could happen if we do it, but we don't think about all the things that could happen if we don't do it Right.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: So what did you do?
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: What was your thought process?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: As you said, you know, obviously this is a big, big, bold move.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Everyone's going to see it.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: It's not one of the quieter ones, right?
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: So tell me about the decision process.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: I love that you asked this question, because I don't think you even know this story.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Okay cool question because I don't think you even know this story, okay cool.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: So we had this interaction, this like serendipitous interaction, right, and it was incredible.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: And that was in April of that year and I told him no, I officially joined Premier Flames in July of that year, so it was not an in-between.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: I believed in our CEO.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I loved his vision, I loved where he was going with it, but I was like, no, I'm good where I'm at.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I got a thing.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: I'm working towards my next promotion.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: This feels safe, secure.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: It feels like the right thing to do, because I am very risk averse, which I think is healthy for a CFO.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: I like to joke around, people will give me a hard time and I'm like you should be grateful.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I think that's your job.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe we should find the riskiest CFO that still has his job, or her job.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: There's pros and cons to everyone's personality.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Right, and this one fits well, but very risk averse.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: And I actually told him I would help him find someone because he was like you're it and I was like you're right, I am.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: But no, this doesn't fit in my life.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: This is crazy Imposter syndrome feelings coming up.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I have no idea how to scale a company.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Who do I even think I am to do it?
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: So we went through an interview process and I hated person after person after person after person, and he kept telling me, yeah, because it's you, because it's you.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: And I was like, okay, now I'm going to, I'm going to stay over here and keep doing what I'm doing.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: And ultimately we found somebody and he was like I've never put together a offer letter in this capacity.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: I don't even know where to start.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: And I was like I got you and it was a Thursday night and I was sitting at this kitchen table where I worked a lot of nights, and my husband was sitting on the couch watching, I think, a basketball game or something, and I put together the letter and I was about to hit send on the email and I turned to my husband and I said I think I'm quitting my job tomorrow.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: And he said what are you talking about?
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: And if it's premier claims, like I can't do it anymore.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: I have watched you pace the kitchen talking about this for four months now.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: We can't keep doing this.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: And I was like, yeah, I think it is premier claims, because in that moment I couldn't hit send on that email, because it was this real gut intuition of this will, like I said earlier, like this will forever be the one that got away Fail success.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: I don't know which one it's going to be, but I felt like I just had to find out.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I had to find out for myself of what this company could be, what I could do with it, and I deleted the letter I mean it was saved on my laptop emailed him and said we should talk and he responded and said what took so long?
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: And we met for lunch the next day and I walked back into my job and I gave my notice and you were off.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very, not like me.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: But if I had to directly answer the question, my husband played a huge role in it.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: He believes in me more than I do.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Some days, certainly before I learned to believe in myself, he kept saying like what are you so scared of?
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Just do it, cause he's not a CFO personality, right?
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: He's like just try it, we'll be fine, we'll figure it out if it goes bad.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: But you know you want to try, you know you can do it and I think, just for whatever reason in that moment, all the times that he had built me up came to the sum of this moment for me, where I was like you know what, let's, let's find out.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that underscores the myth of being bold.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: There's a myth that you have to do it alone, that obviously you have to take the action, you have to give the notice, you have to do those things right so you're front and center for the decision.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: But I think it's our support, our community, our partners that are essential.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: And I can relate to some of the things that you just talked about.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: When you're making those moves, you're like, oh gosh, I just don't want to mess it up, you know, and I have a lot of responsibility and a lot of people depend on me, and I think, as women too, I think I don't know, I I'm just saying this, but I mean, certainly could be corrected.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: But I feel like we take on a lot of ownership of, you know, making sure everything's okay all around all 12 areas of our life, right, the 360 degree of a human which you talked about, whole humanness, and so I think that's also an added pressure.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Did you feel any pressure from that perspective?
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, a thousand percent, a thousand percent.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I felt the financial pressures.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I felt the pressures of at the time my daughter was six months old, so my son would have been three years old.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: So I mean we were in the thick of it of not sleeping, the demands of parenthood in that way, right when I'm home.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I ever sat for three years, because they're getting into something like just that busy, busy, busy stage and I was just busy in a different kind of way, but that like really hands-on in the trenches of parenting babies, in the trenches of parenting babies, and at that point it's always that question of anything I do outside of the home comes with a real sacrifice at that point and I've always worked since my kids were born, but it's that additional like kind of mom guilt in it.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Are you, are you selfish to take this risk when your family's depending on you physically, mentally?
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Let's stop there for a second because I use that word.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I felt selfish when I quit my job, with being in total burnout and it doesn't make any sense even just saying it, right?
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: You know, obviously people who love you want you to be healthy and want you to be happy, want you to feel fulfilled, but that feeling of like choosing ourself was selfish.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: It's just crazy, it's whack, and I'm just like I just want women to hear that specifically.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Again, not that men don't maybe feel that, but I think maybe more often there's a sense of just guilt or selfishness if you choose yourself.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: So if you don't choose yourself at certain times in your life, you won't actually be able to help other people.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: It is the you know, oxygen mask type of analogy.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: So obviously you felt that and you and you still move through it had the support of your husband.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: What was the initial feeling that you had when you gave your notice and and started to pull the authentic you into Premiere?
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Well, to be honest, the initial feeling was what have I just done?
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: What was that?
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: The wild wild west of startups was so foreign.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, I came from like a full suit it had to wear pantyhose level of corporate to the wild wild west of a startup and I was like what was your game plan?
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: What were you thinking?
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: So the initial thought was that it probably took me three months to settle in to this idea of non super stuffy corporate.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: But, after that my energy levels were through the roof, like through the roof to show up as myself in good days and bad days and they're like silly, quirky, weird parts of me, to not feel like you had to shove them down, Like I had for so long.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: It felt so freeing, so energetic.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: I didn't leave work exhausted, like ready to take off this costume.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Kind of how I felt in my suit on certain days.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: You know, like I definitely worked in organizations that you wore a suit, suit, pants.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: You didn't wear your anthro or your hat or you know, hoodies were not allowed, yeah, so, which is okay, I'm not, I'm not dissing anybody having a dress code, but at times it did feel almost like this isn't really me.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: It's a corporate persona that I'm very good at and I it is.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: It was me, it's partially me, but you evolve, right like you evolve in what you like, you you have, you know things that experiences that change you in your life and you also represent you, your family and the life you want.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: So I think sometimes it does feel like that isn't a match, on certain days for sure.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: So you had like kind of the you know I did this, now what, and I'm doing it, and you know there is an acclimation period, right, it sounds like like, if you think about your learnings in your time at Premier and you break it into the third, first, third, middle, third and where you are right now, what would you say are some of the key learnings about yourself and authenticity specifically?
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: The key lessons for me in the first third, without a doubt, was that energy piece that I already said, just the freedom in it.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: If I could pour all of my energy into the work I was doing rather than playing the part to do the work that was being asked of me, how much more I could get done in a day, how much better I felt about what I was doing.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: A key learning lesson in the second part for me was that Melissa Harrington the human was that Melissa Harrington the human needed to fall on a priority list somewhere.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: So you get into.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: If you've ever worked for a startup, it is hot and heavy and 24 hours a day, sort of ruminating.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: If you're not physically working, it's exciting, it's exhilarating, but it's exhausting.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: And then you get into that middle section.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: We've really scaled.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Not everything is on my shoulders.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Departments are forming, I have department heads in place.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: I fell all the way off my priority list.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: I didn't slow down in any capacity.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: So we were out of that true crazy startup where you kind of knew that was the expectation but I was still running at that pace.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: I found myself the unhealthiest physically that I had ever been, mentally the least healthy I had ever been High, strong, seven days a week.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Like coming home unable to unwind, phone glued in hand.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: This sounds like you were burnt out.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: The burnout came yes, the burnout came it.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it manifested itself in very physical ways and multiple hospital trips before it was like okay, something's, something's got to give.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: But I poured everything into this role and I think that learning lesson in there was that I needed to be on the priority list.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: I thought truthfully and it feels ridiculous to say now, but I was out here like high-fiving myself for being a fantastic leader, because I was available to anyone at any time of day that they needed me and I would do what was asked.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: And you are such a good leader.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: What a dream scenario that would be to have a leader like you.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: And when I learned that lesson and learned it the hard way, like, unfortunately, a lot of us do, and I take days off and I take a disconnected vacation and I sometimes shut the laptop at reasonable hours I still have growth to do in that area but really prioritized myself, I was shocked at how much of a better leader I became, how much my energy levels rebounded this concept that if you work less, you can actually get more done because your brain cells are all firing, because you're not at a place of complete exhaustion and modeling to other people.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I had someone challenged me, one of my team members, and say you're setting an impossible standard for me that like that hadn't crossed my mind, if that makes sense, like I would never expect that of any of them.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: But how am I supposed to feel good about taking time off If you never do, if you work from six to 10 AM on your vacation, cause your family likes to sleep in, and that's how you justify it.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: And yeah, so that was really my biggest learning lesson, learned the hard way in that second phase and then in the phase that I find ourselves in right now, is really empowering others to show up as themselves.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I thought modeling that behavior was enough, but more so having to be direct, intentional with the leaders at the company of what it looks like, how they can show up differently, how can they empower their team members to show up authentically, how you have to have that psychological safety to do it, otherwise you're not given the freedom to show up authentically.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: So how can you create that psychological safety, how can you build a true inclusive culture to be able to do that, and that's been this third phase I find ourselves in right now.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: What are some tips?
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Because I think this is a challenge for a lot of people to prioritize yourself.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Where do you start?
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: If you like, are feeling some of these things that Melissa just described.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Possibly you're feeling very tired, you're feeling high strung, you're feeling I felt reactive, I felt out of alignment with every level of health that I had and I still kept going Like I can fix this, I just need to do better, do more, be present more, all of that.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: So what are some tips for someone to start choosing themselves or prioritizing themselves, small to big?
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: I had set a goal.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: I'm a big goal setter, borderline neurotic goal setter, but I had set a goal to do something for myself monthly.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: One thing monthly I'll do for myself.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: It could be 15 minutes long, it could be a half hour, it could be an hour, it could be a day Do something for yourself.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: And I found myself on January 31st being like, oh, you got to quick, go do something.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: And then on February 28th like, oh, you better do something.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: And feeling bad about it the whole time.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: That's a little bit motherhood, a little bit C-suite, like all of those things combined into that.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: But then it happened in March, I think in the middle of the month, and it felt good and then suddenly I wasn't even paying attention to the goal because I was doing it.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: So the biggest thing is I think you have to be intentional.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: You have to just say I am going to do this, I am going to prioritize myself.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: I'm a big to-do list person.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: I'm a paper and pen planner and so I would write something on my weekly to-do list that was for myself Like you need to treat it as a to-do list.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: It reminds me of when they say treat savings like a bill.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Right, you pay your mortgage, you pay your savings.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: It was one of the biggest tips to save money.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: You have to treat it like a bill.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: And so, in that way, to physically put it on my to-do list, because I'm a crazy to-do list person and I love crossing them off.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: So, if nothing else, that you crossed it off and you kept your promise.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: But my biggest thing is to start small, which I did for the most part.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: What I ended up doing was going on walks by myself, which at that time I had an early elementary age kid and my daughter hadn't started preschool yet.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: So going on walks was they all wanted to go Right, like you're, so you're still like I'm still playing the role of mom and so taking that time to say, like we can go on a walk together after, but I'm gonna go on my own, without music, without well, I did have my phone on me, but not this isn't the time to multitask and I'm gonna catch up on emails while I walk, or I'm going to listen to that podcast while I walk or multitask in some capacity to just go and do it in the silence.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: And those 10 minutes became 20 minutes, became 30 minutes, became something I looked forward to and it made such a massive impact on my mental health, on my energy levels, that just like slowly unwinding this, like high, strong personality that I tend to have.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so just choose one thing.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: So for everyone listening, put it on your calendar.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I like that last day of the month to check in so you have a reminder, maybe the day before, so that you're doing one thing for yourself and it grows.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: It sounds like, once you get it started, just like bold steps they lead to the next, leads to the next.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: And then I'd add a second thing really quickly is I told people, like other people to hold me accountable?
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes it like if I tell people I'm going to do it, then it's like, oh gosh, I can't let them down.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: It's easy to let me down, but you know who I don't let down?
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: My husband and my team, right, telling them like this is something that I see, this is something that I want to change.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: My husband certainly was like, thank gosh, because I swear to you, that job is going to kill you.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Like it's going to kill you.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so he was all in on me recognizing the pattern, and my team was like, oh my gosh, this is awesome because now I can do something for myself.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: You know, thank gosh, and I really rallied support around me in that way and, to be honest, at first it probably was keeping my promise to them, more so than keeping my promise to myself.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: But hey, it worked and then it became a habit.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: So now, kind of, your message is really being heard across different stages.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: You also have a membership.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about your message of authenticity and what you're doing with getting the message out to others across the US.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe so strongly in the power of showing up authentically, and I more so believe that the next generation is going to demand it.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: So I think it's time for a change in corporate.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of people feeling that way that there's some archaic norms and things that we've all just fallen in line with because this is the way it's always been done and it's time for a change.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: It's time to do things differently.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: Certainly, covid is the thing that just like pushed that through the roof when your whole world is slipped upside down overnight that it forced some positive change in there.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: And then this generation coming into the workforce is wanting a different type of leader, and so, as leaders, it's our job to step into that, and I believe it has impact on the bottom line in direct ways, but certainly in massive indirect ways in terms of employee engagement retention.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, turnover is so expensive.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: We could spend the rest of this time talking about stats and things around that.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: So, and then I've found my own personal freedom in it.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: What I've been able to accomplish as a leader that I genuinely don't think I would have been able to accomplish without if I was still playing the part, playing nice playing, the dressed up version of me that I thought the corporate world demanded and I think in a lot of places does demand.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: So it's something I'm passionate about, it's something that sets my heart and soul on fire and it's a message I like spreading.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: So I've been very fortunate to have invites to several different conferences around the country to go and share that message and it fills my cup every single time.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: But my favorite part is not the time on stage.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: It's when you get off stage and having those conversations.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where they need to add an hour to this.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I always feel like, in the sense of that, when you get off stage and to me's a responsibility, if someone says to me you know your story really resonated or you inspire me or you made me think twice about something.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I remember once I did a presentation, a multi-day, I did a workshop and stuff like that did the talk, and then I was talking about being you and how important it is and how the world needs you and really talking about the bold framework.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: What was so cool is I, how the world needs you and really talking about the bold framework.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: What was so cool is I was the only person the first day and anything that was colorful everyone was in black suits, gray suits, you know, very corporate, very looking, very nice and sharp.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: But then I come in and you know your floral j crew, floral thing, yeah.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: And so the next day, another lady wore her dress and she stood out because I was like, oh, I love your dress and she, like you inspired me yesterday to just be me.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: And so I was just like, yeah, and I, as silly as that might sound small to someone, to me that's just like, yeah, the world needs you, right, and I think that's you're like the ambassador of authenticity, of like, yeah, the world needs you, like you, and you have to first know who you are.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: And I think somewhere for me, like I, I didn't know who I was at 48.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Cause I had, you know, done what I was supposed to do all the time in the corporate setting and, you know, gone through the roles and those types of things.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: So how does someone even know who they are authentically Like?
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: What does that mean for someone that's just like I'm not sure I'm authentic or I'm not sure I'm being me?
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Is there a check or something that they can think through?
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: You know it's spending time on it.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I think reflection is so powerful, whether it's journaling, meditation there's a million resources out there, things that you can like reflection journals and things that you could do.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: I think it's so powerful to take the time and your body keeps track.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Your body knows what's authentic and I will say the me of six years ago.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: I lost very much lost sight of who Melissa Harrington is.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I could tell you who the CFO was and I could tell you who mom was.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: There's some you know wife in there there too that I think I was relatively good at.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: But who was I?
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: I hated the question like so what do you do for fun?
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: if you can't answer that, I just want to tell you, like, because I had a problem answering that when I came out of the corporate world what do you do for fun?
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: and I was like I don't know work until I fall asleep and my kids are asleep, yeah yeah, like outside work there wasn't much that I did.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: So this answer, that question I mean like a simple start is like what's you know, when you think about what gives you energy and what takes away energy?
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: You know, is your job listed in the takes energy?
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Sure, I think a lot of jobs are going to take it, even an entrepreneur.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: It takes energy.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: So but it the word drain means like it's really not giving back in any way to you, right, it's just taking.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: It's a one-way street.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: So like thinking about what's that one-way street for energy for you, and then what's giving you energy and are you doing things in your life that give you energy, give you joy?
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and when you do that, especially in a professional setting, in any capacity, if you do those kind of things with your team, what you're going to find is that thing that you hate doing, you dread, you procrastinate, you see it on the calendar and you'd have this like visceral response to it.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Somebody else has that on the thing that drives their energy and they love doing it, and it's can be these light bulb moments of well then, why don't you do it?
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: And they're just happy, as a clam, to run off with it Right, and it's can be these light bulb moments of.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Well then, why don't?
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: you do it.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: And they're just happy, as a clam, to run off with it, right.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: And then you find out somebody else is like, ah, I spend hours fighting with myself because I don't want to put together X, y and Z and I'm like, oh my gosh, I do that in a snap and I'd be so excited to do it.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: And trade in that way is a really powerful exercise.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: But certainly on a personal level, like rediscovering who is Melissa, it starts with like a you got to create capacity for it, which is easy to say, harder to do, but prioritize it.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: And so, if you're prioritizing, what am I going to do for myself today for 10 minutes, for those first couple of weeks, months, whatever it is?
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: It's like I don't even know what I want to do for these 10 minutes.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: I just want the 10 minutes to be over so I can cross it off my list and you find a way.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: It reminds me of, like the stories of pink flamingos, how mothers female flamingos lose their color after they give birth and then it takes years and that color slowly starts to come back.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: That certainly resonates with motherhood of.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: I feel like my my pink is coming back.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: But I think it's easy to do the same thing in your career, especially if you're climbing a ladder that you lose yourself in it and then, if you put time and attention on it, you can get your pink back and find out who you are and realign your priorities.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: But it always comes back to intentionality.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: None of it is just going to fall in line and magically on a Thursday afternoon you have time to spend on yourself.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: It's not going to create itself.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it has to be intentional, and I think that's a word that I hear a lot too, and I think, just for folks you know you hear it a lot, but what does it mean?
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: It's like you're choosing, you, you're putting on your calendar, you're taking the time, you're doing this on a regular basis and it isn't just a one and done, or, like you said, surviving 10 minutes and then, you know, never going back to it.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: So that's one key thing, and one of the things you're doing is bringing together women corporate women specifically, and higher level, like director and up senior director, vp roles, up in the new membership that you had called the Corporate Women Leaders Collective of Omaha, and tell me a little bit about how that got started and what you're doing there and what it means to be a member.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very selfishly motivated, if I'm being honest.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: I wanted a network in Omaha.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: There is power of women coming together.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: So many of us are in male dominated industries and then you get into male dominated industries at a higher level and you're the only female sitting at the table and I love my male counterparts but they're just living a unique experience to them and women live a unique experience to us and there is power in us coming together and I wanted that.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: I wanted people who were in the trenches of executive leadership, who were doing it, who get it, because I had people in my personal life.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I had people virtually.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: Certainly I love the Bold Leaders Collective that provided that, but there is something powerful about just being in the same room together and that energy and I'm a big believer that like, if you can't find it, build it.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: So I couldn't find it.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: There was nothing like it in Omaha, so I decided to build it and I hosted an event and a great friend of mine, kelly Thompson, who is an author and coach and speaker, attended the first event and we had a conversation and she's like I'm getting constant emails from people asking what is there like this out here in Omaha and she's like there isn't anything.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: So if you want to build it, let's build it together.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: So we partnered and we tested the waters and the water was nice and warm, that's for sure and decided to go all in here in 2025.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: And we launched the Corporate Women Leaders Collective Omaha, a membership based, and so it is for women in corporate America to come together and, ultimately, our goal.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: There's no outside speakers, there's no expert, because the experts are in the room.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: They're the people at the table, and so it's a chance for them to come together, to not feel alone, because so many people feel like what they're experiencing is their own failures or unique to them, or something's wrong with their company.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: And then you find out so many other people are facing the same thing and dealing with the same struggles and that you really know the answer.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: And so coming and sharing their collective knowledge, experience and energy and supporting each other, and then one of my favorite things about it certainly is just shouting each other's successes.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: So it's been exciting, it's been fun, the feedback's been great and we'd love to have other women in Omaha join us.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so if you're in Nebraska regionally and can get to Omaha or kind of be in the area, certainly check it out.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: All the information is in the episode notes about the Corporate Women Leaders Collective, as well as where to reach Melissa if you'd like her to come speak about authenticity or other topics that she is an expert in.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on the Bold Lounge, sharing your gifts, sharing your expertise and having a great conversation around being bold.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me the time flew by.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: It did bold.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me the time flew by it did.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Through the continuum of bold stories vulnerability to taking a leap you will meet more extraordinary people making a positive impact for others through their unique and important stories.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: By highlighting these stories, we hope to inspire others and share the journey of those with a bold mindset.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: We hope you've enjoyed this podcast and look forward to sharing the next bold journey with you.