Latest / Daily Influence / 779. Human-Centered Leadership: Lyndsay Dowd on Trust, Culture, and Positive Influence at Work

Transcript

779. Human-Centered Leadership: Lyndsay Dowd on Trust, Culture, and Positive Influence at Work · Daily Influence

0:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
0:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
0:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
0:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IA Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
0:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share Daily Influence with someone who could use a little extra positivity today.
0:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And make us part of your Daily routine, whether it's during your commute, on a walk, or an quiet moment just for you, because you're influenced matters.
0:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, I'm Greg Clino.
0:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Before we dive in, I want to share a quick note.
0:53
[SPEAKER_01]: We recently launched the Smart Advantage newsletter, which offers practical insights on leadership, accountability, workplace culture, and building a stronger business delivered to your inbox weekly.
1:05
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking for simple, actionable ideas, you can apply in your business or leadership role, you can find the link to subscribe in the show notes below.
1:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And now let's move into today's conversation where we'll continue exploring the ideas, actions and influence that helps us lead and live with greater influence.
1:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Today, I'm joined by Lindsay Dowd.
1:28
[SPEAKER_01]: founder of Heartbeat for Higher, a leadership strategist, speaker, coach, podcast host, and two-time author who has spent her career helping leaders build cultures.
1:40
[SPEAKER_01]: People actually want to be a part of.
1:43
[SPEAKER_01]: After more than two decades at IBM, where she led high-performing sales teams and managed major client relationships, Lindsay took that experience and built a platform
1:56
[SPEAKER_01]: and the human side of performance.
1:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Through her coaching, speaking, books, and the heartbeat for higher podcasts, she challenges leaders to move beyond titles, and tactics, and look closely at how their behavior impacts the people around them.
2:12
[SPEAKER_01]: This conversation is especially relevant for business owners, leaders, and community builders who want to lead with both accountability and heart.
2:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Lindsay, welcome to Daily Influence.
2:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for having me, Greg, happy to be here.
2:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so happy to have you Lindsay, you're so aligned with our daily influence and our messages that I'm trying to spread positive and responsible influence.
2:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to start with the path that shaped you because leadership believes usually come from lived experience, not theory.
2:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You spent 23 years at IBM.
2:44
[SPEAKER_01]: built and led high performing teams and then created heartbeat for higher.
2:49
[SPEAKER_01]: When you look back, what experiences most shaped your belief that leadership has to be both performance driven and deeply human?
2:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'm going to actually back you up to Smith because I want to just share the story that will shape how I got here and that will make all the rest of this make a lot of sense.
3:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So as you said, yeah, I was with IBM for 23 years, a beautiful decorated career.
3:11
[SPEAKER_02]: I managed a lot of first of a kind of businesses and a lot of different sales teams.
3:16
[SPEAKER_02]: And I had a glorious time there.
3:18
[SPEAKER_02]: My family also put in 105 years at Big Blue.
3:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So my husband, my father, my father, and my mother and law, we all worked there.
3:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was the last one.
3:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And after 23 years, I was just ready for a change.
3:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And another company recruited me and said, would you come and lead a sales team for us?
3:35
[SPEAKER_02]: And I enthusiastically said, yes, and I packed up my big blue legacy
3:41
[SPEAKER_02]: And in six short months, they fired me and I was gutted.
3:47
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not the girl that gets fired.
3:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm the girl you call to do the hard things.
3:50
[SPEAKER_02]: So this was a real gut wrenching moment.
3:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And after about a month of not being able to talk about it, I asked myself three questions.
3:59
[SPEAKER_02]: What am I really good at?
4:01
[SPEAKER_02]: What do I love to do?
4:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And how can I help people the most?
4:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And the last one was really important because when you work for corporate, you don't really always get to have your true north, your compass guiding your decisions, usually it's a protocol, it's a quote, it's demands of the business.
4:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So it was important to me that whatever I was going to do for this next chapter, it had to stay aligned with my heart and I had just gone through this really traumatic horrible leadership experience and I just felt I did not want other people to go through something similar.
4:32
[SPEAKER_02]: and what I've learned over the last five years is when I pull a room of people, when I'm giving a keynote and I ask, who here has had a bad leader?
4:40
[SPEAKER_02]: 100% of the room raises their hand.
4:44
[SPEAKER_02]: But if I ask who here's had a great leader, it's a lot less, I mean, like 25% and to me, that's not acceptable and so the way that I speak and the way that I teach is all through story, so whether it's keynote or it's my podcast or it's the books, I'm trying paint pictures and give you examples of what modern good leadership looks and feels like.
5:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And the whole reason I do this Greg is because it's ROI.
5:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you do these things, your business will benefit.
5:14
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not just a nice to have.
5:16
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a fluffy comb by our moment.
5:18
[SPEAKER_02]: This is actually what motivates people.
5:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the piece I want people to really get.
5:23
[SPEAKER_01]: that is wonderful.
5:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that and you made me think of the times that I've had great leaders and not so great leaders and it's very interesting.
5:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not surprising that 100 percent of the hands go up versus 25 percent.
5:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It's pretty rough and I just, and that's really sad to me.
5:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I grew up in a time where I was the only girl on all male teams for almost a decade.
5:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And I didn't really see my first good example of leadership until I was about 12 years in.
5:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And I had good leaders, but not ones that made me better, that made me a give me autonomy, made me do things I never knew I could do.
6:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And those are the moments that I really want people to understand.
6:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's not as hard as you can.
6:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the idea of leadership being human is really powerful.
6:16
[SPEAKER_01]: It becomes even more meaningful when we can see it in action.
6:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a specific moment when you realize your leadership had positively changed someone's confidence, career, or a sense of possibility?
6:29
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I have so many stories.
6:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'll tell a good story.
6:33
[SPEAKER_02]: This was a moment I had, it's a two-parter.
6:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I had a woman working for me.
6:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I just
6:39
[SPEAKER_02]: moved on to manage this team of truly the island of misfit toys.
6:43
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a bunch of different brands all thrown together.
6:46
[SPEAKER_02]: They had no idea what the others did.
6:48
[SPEAKER_02]: They didn't care about each other.
6:50
[SPEAKER_02]: They were just like, I'm here to do my job, put my head down, get my paycheck, get my commissions, and go.
6:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just felt there was a better way.
6:58
[SPEAKER_02]: There was a way for me to make them connect with each other and see each other and communicate with each other.
7:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And so what I had this woman on my team or name was Emma.
7:09
[SPEAKER_02]: When we first started working together and I wouldn't come on camera and this is virtual times and my team was all over the place.
7:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So really pre and into COVID.
7:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And after the first couple of weeks, you know, I started seeing her like turn on her camera and like, oh, there's somebody in there.
7:25
[SPEAKER_02]: This is good.
7:27
[SPEAKER_02]: and then she started putting a little light on her face and she started to actually make herself presentable and I'm like, I'm love in this transformation.
7:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And she called me about three weeks and she said, I've been watching you.
7:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I said, I know I can tell.
7:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And she said, I want to tell you something.
7:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I said, go tell me what you got.
7:47
[SPEAKER_02]: She said, well, I kind of looked at you and thought, okay, she's the new sheriff in town.
7:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And I expected you to be very my way or the highway.
7:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And what I really appreciate is you're really giving us an opportunity to shine and to chart our own course and I wanted to ask you if it would be okay if I mentor someone on the team and I'm like I'm at your one of my season sellers I would love that that's fantastic.
8:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, who do you want to mentor and she said I want to mentor this woman PJ she came over from marketing she doesn't know what she's doing.
8:17
[SPEAKER_02]: It's my said, OK, yeah, can I help?
8:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And she said, yeah, let's talk to her together.
8:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So we come to find out, is that PJ came over from market and nobody told her what her job was.
8:26
[SPEAKER_02]: It was literally like, we're saving your job.
8:28
[SPEAKER_02]: So this is where you're going to go.
8:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And you're just going to figure it out.
8:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And that happens in corporate.
8:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just, it's not great, but it does.
8:35
[SPEAKER_02]: And so we sat around and we just said, okay, look, so these are your responsibilities, these are your accounts.
8:41
[SPEAKER_02]: These are the kinds of things you can say.
8:43
[SPEAKER_02]: These are the kinds of things you shouldn't say.
8:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you run into trouble, we've got your back.
8:48
[SPEAKER_02]: She's like really.
8:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and you own these relationships, so take them with pride.
8:53
[SPEAKER_02]: It's up to you.
8:54
[SPEAKER_02]: It's yours for the taking.
8:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And she felt so empowered and so excited that between what Emma was doing and what I was doing in six months, she became my top performer.
9:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And I asked Emma, I said, has anyone ever asked you if you wanted to be a manager, she said, Lindsay, I would love to be a manager, but no one has ever asked me.
9:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said, well, when I have an opportunity, I will be promoting you and I did and she was a phenomenal leader and we're still friends to this day, but watching both of their journeys was so gratifying for me and they were allowed to be themselves, they were allowed to, you know, act with with autonomy and and authority and it was just a beautiful moment to see them both shine and they were such an example for the rest of the team.
9:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So it was really fun to watch them and part their wisdom on everybody else.
9:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, what a ripple of positive influence.
9:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I love that story and I love seeing both of them shine and they still are to this day.
9:53
[SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing.
9:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
9:56
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the ideas we talk about often on daily influences that influence is never neutral.
10:02
[SPEAKER_01]: We're either helping create clarity, confidence and accountability, or we may be creating confusion and fear without realizing it.
10:11
[SPEAKER_01]: From your perspective, what are the warning signs that leaders' influences having a negative impact on their team, even if the business results still look good on paper?
10:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, this happens all the time and I think a lot of leaders get disillusioned when they see the results are coming in.
10:27
[SPEAKER_02]: They're like, I must be doing everything right.
10:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So that can happen and great for you, but what you should also realize as soon as you become someone's leader, someone's manager, someone's boss, you become the topic of dinner conversation.
10:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And your behavior, your actions are the difference between someone really enjoying their job or just looking at it as just a job.
10:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And what people really need to understand is trust is precious.
10:57
[SPEAKER_02]: It is your currency.
10:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you damage or fracture trust, which is very easy to do, it's very hard to regain that.
11:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And once you've lost someone,
11:09
[SPEAKER_02]: They're never going to give you their their full effort.
11:12
[SPEAKER_02]: They just won't.
11:13
[SPEAKER_02]: They're just going to mail it in.
11:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And you can see some of these telltale signs, even on zoom, you know, of course you can read energy when you're in person, but on zoom when you see someone, you know, fold their arms, push back from the desk, look down, they're looking at their phone.
11:28
[SPEAKER_02]: They're doing anything else not coming on camera.
11:30
[SPEAKER_02]: These are all moments of disengagement and disengagement should be a real moment for you to be like, okay, something's wrong with Greg.
11:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I've got to reach out, I've got to find out what's going on with her.
11:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And it might not be you.
11:44
[SPEAKER_02]: It could be something personal.
11:46
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you're not checking in with your people weekly, but the minimum biweekly, you're doing it wrong.
11:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And anyone who tells me that they don't have enough time to check in with their people, please get out of the job.
12:00
[SPEAKER_02]: You are responsible to your team.
12:02
[SPEAKER_02]: You have to take care of them.
12:04
[SPEAKER_02]: It is very, very important.
12:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And you didn't get hopefully you didn't get into leadership because you thought you were climbing a ladder.
12:11
[SPEAKER_02]: You get into leadership because you understand that you have an opportunity to make people be better, which ultimately benefits the business.
12:20
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you have that one leader who is so extraordinary, who does something so good for you,
12:26
[SPEAKER_02]: you never forget them.
12:27
[SPEAKER_02]: You are forever loyal to them.
12:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I speak for my own experience on both sides, being a leader and having amazing leaders who I still cherish to this day.
12:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Any of them asked me to do anything, even now not working for them, I would step up.
12:42
[SPEAKER_02]: So those are things you should consider when you are managing your people.
12:46
[SPEAKER_02]: And especially if you know you've broken trust,
12:56
[SPEAKER_02]: is you need to really start making a lot of effort on those one on ones.
13:00
[SPEAKER_02]: It might not come easy.
13:02
[SPEAKER_02]: It might take time, but you have to show your trying.
13:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And you also have to own your mistakes.
13:07
[SPEAKER_02]: If you've done something wrong, if you yelled at somebody, if you belittled them, if you did something publicly to embarrass them, tell them.
13:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I wasn't my best.
13:17
[SPEAKER_02]: I really regret how I spoke to you, and I know you're probably pretty upset with me.
13:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to regain your trust and I'm going to try.
13:25
[SPEAKER_02]: If you say those words to someone with sincerity, what are they going to do, give you the middle finger and walk away, no, they're going to be like, wow, that okay, I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm willing to give you the shot.
13:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
13:39
[SPEAKER_01]: That's really good advice, Lindsay.
13:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
13:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, strong leadership often gets discussed through success stories, but most of the useful lessons come from the moments that Danako smoothly.
13:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell us about a leadership mistake, hard lesson, or season of reinvention that changed how you lead?
14:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure.
14:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I have a lot of our stories and a lot
14:07
[SPEAKER_02]: um, I'll tell you one of the worst ones because this is just a jaw dropper.
14:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, so I was, uh, pinch hitting for one of my bosses who was, um, out of vacation.
14:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And so our general manager was having his executive leadership team meeting.
14:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I was attending that meeting for her.
14:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And he started speaking and he was talking about my business.
14:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And he said something that didn't make any sense to me.
14:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I was listening and then at one point I said, excuse me, can you clarify what you said and his response in front of 12 people was how.
14:45
[SPEAKER_02]: dare you interrupt me.
14:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you crazy?
14:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I was in the middle of a flow.
14:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And you have the nerve to interrupt me and ask a stupid question.
14:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I was so mortified, Greg.
14:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I just sat there and I was trying to hold it together.
15:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was trying to stay really stoic.
15:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was just trying to breathe and just saying to myself, like, I cannot believe he is dressing me down in front of all of these people.
15:11
[SPEAKER_02]: This is awful.
15:13
[SPEAKER_02]: So we hang up the call.
15:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I call my boss who's on vacation.
15:17
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said, I'm so sorry to bother you.
15:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And at this point, I'm crying.
15:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just said, I've never been spoken to so disrespectfully so publicly in front of all these other leaders.
15:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't understand why you did it.
15:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And I don't I will never respect that man again.
15:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, she was horrified and she called another leader who was on that call and she said what happened he goes it was everything she said in worse it was so embarrassing we were so frustrated and so angry with him and so they both called him and said you need to apologize to Lindsay.
15:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So five days pass.
16:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, he goes, but do you know what I was trying to do?"
16:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I said, I don't.
16:06
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, I was trying to get Julie to hang herself because I need to fire her and I was giving her an opportunity to say the wrong thing and you interrupted it.
16:17
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was just like, this is a man who does not care about people at all.
16:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And nothing I say is going to impact that.
16:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Buddy broke my trust.
16:28
[SPEAKER_02]: He would never regain it.
16:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And unfortunately for him, we broke the trust of everybody else.
16:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And there are leaders that will continue to work for him because he will insulate them and he will protect them and give them earning opportunities, but who wants to work for somebody like that?
16:44
[SPEAKER_02]: That's pretty terrible.
16:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And the guy was a genius, like multiple PhDs, like really, really smart, horrible people manager.
16:52
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a bad day for him.
16:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what a story.
16:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: That's very powerful.
16:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Terrible.
17:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And not positive.
17:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Sorry.
17:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
17:02
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
17:03
[SPEAKER_01]: We all can learn from that.
17:04
[SPEAKER_01]: For sure.
17:05
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a lot of leaders say they want a strong culture, but culture can become vague, very quickly, unless we translated into behaviors.
17:15
[SPEAKER_01]: For a business owner or team leader listening today, what is your practical framework for building a culture that people do not
17:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it comes back down to the people, it comes back down to those human moments and a lovely piece of advice.
17:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I love to give leaders, especially when they're new to a team is I want you to go on a listening tour and what that basically means is you're going to listen not talk you're going to listen to everyone on your team and the adjacent teams and the people that you're supposed to be interacting with.
17:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And ask them questions like who's who in the zoo?
17:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Who should I be watching both good and bad?
17:53
[SPEAKER_02]: If you had a magic wand, what's something you would love to change?
17:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And what's a big problem you really can't get over?
18:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, you are not changing anything.
18:03
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not committing to anything.
18:05
[SPEAKER_02]: You are listening so you can be the best leader you know how.
18:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And
18:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I love when leaders take this opportunity because it's such a moment of humility and it's just saying I don't know everything you've been doing this longer than I have you have some institutional knowledge that I could really benefit from let's do this together when you do that you are setting the stage for an open and transparent relationship and people.
18:36
[SPEAKER_02]: really gravitate to other humans.
18:39
[SPEAKER_02]: When you can share something about your life, nobody wants a super polished leader.
18:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I think a lot of people think, oh, I got this job.
18:47
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to be so buttoned up.
18:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to look the part.
18:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to speak the part.
18:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to email the part.
18:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, executive presence is important, but you also have to be human.
18:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll give you a little nugget.
18:59
[SPEAKER_02]: This was a cool one.
19:00
[SPEAKER_02]: So one of my leaders who I loved.
19:03
[SPEAKER_02]: She was new to a management role and she had a really big team and we were a little worried about her because she could be a bit of a loose cannon.
19:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So we're all kind of watching her and you know, seeing how she was going to move and she shared in a meeting one day that she was what you call a coda child of deaf adults.
19:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And so both of her parents were deaf and I thought this was so cool so fascinating.
19:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I said, so you're fluent in sign language and she said, yeah, I am.
19:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think about a week later she ended up giving a presentation and she did it all in sign language and she spoke it too, but I just sat there and all like this is amazing and she told me that at age five and six, she would have to be her father's interpreter when they were going to buy a car and so you know the GM would say, oh, you know, this is the price and she'd say the price and he would be like,
19:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, not going to work.
19:56
[SPEAKER_02]: She's like, I'm sorry.
19:57
[SPEAKER_02]: He says we're going to walk.
19:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And so she's, you know, five or six years old doing these things like it's, it's a lot.
20:03
[SPEAKER_02]: But I learned something about her, something very human, something very profound about her life.
20:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And my respect meter went up a lot because of it.
20:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think most of the people in the room that heard that story and saw her felt the same way.
20:20
[SPEAKER_02]: So when you think you have to be so buttoned up, so polished, so, you know, holier than now, you don't.
20:29
[SPEAKER_02]: People appreciate the human side.
20:30
[SPEAKER_02]: They appreciate knowing you slipped on the ice or, you know, you're having a kerfuffle with your teenagers or whatever it is.
20:38
[SPEAKER_02]: They want that moment they can relate to.
20:42
[SPEAKER_02]: So try not to be so high in mighty, just relate to people and ask them questions,
20:51
[SPEAKER_02]: not just interesting.
20:52
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, when you ask people questions about themselves, they are excited to tell you something.
20:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you're a leader, right, those things down, or better yet, put it in your phone.
21:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So when you're talking to someone and they give you the names of their spouse or their children, you have it.
21:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's in your phone, right where their name is.
21:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you're looking, you can look real quick.
21:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah, I know their kids names.
21:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to say something about the kids.
21:15
[SPEAKER_02]: They're going to feel so seen.
21:17
[SPEAKER_02]: It's such an easy, easy way to connect.
21:20
[SPEAKER_02]: So all of these things contribute to culture and culture is a feeling.
21:25
[SPEAKER_02]: It's the moment you say, how's your job?
21:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Are they going to answer?
21:30
[SPEAKER_02]: It's great.
21:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Or are they going to answer?
21:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It's fine.
21:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Because that's what will tell you how they feel about the culture.
21:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So you really have to model it from the top.
21:42
[SPEAKER_02]: That's why my book is called Top Down Culture.
21:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you are a yellow,
21:50
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a good look.
21:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So you are modeling the behavior you want for your people at any level.
21:56
[SPEAKER_01]: That is so true.
21:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Always on a stage, even though there's always people around.
22:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to model that behavior that you want.
22:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You've seen leadership from inside a major global company and now through the lens of an entrepreneur coach author and podcast host that gives you a unique view of growth.
22:19
[SPEAKER_01]: What advice would you give to your younger self about ambition, influence and using your voice?
22:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I would spend a lot more time getting to know people outside of my company.
22:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I think so many people invest.
22:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I invested heavily in my IBM world in the business partners that I worked with and in my clients, but there's such a bigger world out there that teaches you how to do things that you've never done.
22:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And so surround yourself with people who are doing things that you've always wanted to do, who are doing it better.
22:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you are lucky enough to surround yourself with these amazing people, which I get to do every day, ask questions be interested and lucky for me, just like you, I have a show.
23:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So I get to interview phenomenal humans every single week, Olympian CEOs, world champion athletes, Grammy winners, James Beardonaries, I mean, you name it.
23:21
[SPEAKER_02]: They've become my friends.
23:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you can pretend you're a podcast host and just ask people questions, A, they will love to talk about themselves, but B, you're gonna learn things.
23:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And I wish I understood how much curiosity could help me back in the day.
23:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought climbing a ladder was important.
23:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought managing up was important because that's what I had seen, but I think curiosity is more important.
23:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
23:51
[SPEAKER_01]: That is great advice, Lindsay.
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I always like to leave listeners with something they can act on.
23:57
[SPEAKER_01]: If someone listening wants to become a more intentional positive influence this week, what is one specific action.
24:04
[SPEAKER_01]: They can take in the next 24 hours that would make someone else feel more seen supported or capable.
24:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm a big believer in giving people their flowers and what I mean by that is if you see somebody doing something great.
24:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Tell them.
24:20
[SPEAKER_02]: If their hair looks good, tell them if you see them being kind of someone, tell them if you are thinking of a friend who you haven't spoken to in a while, send a voice text let them hear your voice let them hear the love in your voice and I promise you if you walk around the world being kind it will rewire your brain.
24:39
[SPEAKER_02]: and help you see the world really differently than how you've been told it really is.
24:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I have done this for a lot of years and when you move through the world with a kind heart and a positive influence, it's really magnetic.
24:55
[SPEAKER_02]: It's also really attractive and people want to be around that.
24:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you are a leader that is worried that if you give somebody under team credit
25:08
[SPEAKER_02]: So if they're doing something great, that looks good on you, always give them the spotlight, always give them their flowers, and everyone else will follow suit and wanting to raise their hand for their moment in the spotlight.
25:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So give freely and often, they really pays off.
25:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Wendy, that was great advice.
25:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I am so grateful for you for joining us, and thank you for sharing all your advice.
25:33
[SPEAKER_01]: If our listeners want to get in touch with you, what is the best way to do so?
25:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm really active on LinkedIn so you can find me there.
25:39
[SPEAKER_02]: You can also go to my website heartbeat for hired.com.
25:42
[SPEAKER_02]: All of my socials are connected there as well.
25:45
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, tell them Greg, thank you.
25:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Lindsay.
25:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for having such a positive influence on so many people.
25:52
[SPEAKER_01]: You are a true gift to all of us.
25:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And grateful for your love.
25:56
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll put that information in the show notes for our last eyes.
25:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, thank you so much.
26:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for having me.
26:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you're welcome.
26:02
[SPEAKER_01]: As we close today's episode of Daily Influence, Lindsey reminds us that leadership is not only measured by outcomes, titles, or what we say we value.
26:11
[SPEAKER_01]: It's measured by the experience people have when they are in our care on our teams and within our circle and influence.
26:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So this week, choose one intentional action.
26:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Have the conversation, give the encouragement,
26:25
[SPEAKER_01]: ask the better question, create clarity where there has been confusion.
26:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Positive influence does not require a perfect platform.
26:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It requires awareness, accountability.
26:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And the willingness to act with purpose.
26:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for joining us.
26:40
[SPEAKER_01]: If today's conversation was useful to you, please share it to help us spread the positive influence.
26:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember small actions create a big impact, keep showing up, leading and growing one data time.
26:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive responsible influence.
26:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Bye bye.