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Isabel, tell me about your vision.

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My vision is that every single leader out there in the corporate world, big and small

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companies become human centered because leadership is about being there for your people and letting

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them do the job.

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It's not about command and control.

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It doesn't work.

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It's been proven that it doesn't work.

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It is about supporting the people and the people when they feel seen, heard and valued,

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they will take care of themselves.

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They will take care of one another and they will take care of your company or your clients.

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So that's my vision.

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Wow.

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Tell me more about that.

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Where did that come from and why that specifically?

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Well, the first job that I ever had right out of high school was in the Royal Canadian

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Air Force.

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In the military, you would think that it is command and control.

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There are circumstances where command and control works in case of an emergency, like

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a real emergency, not that we need to deliver this on Tuesday if not nobody dies, but in

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case of a fire or a war or something like that.

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Well, this is the time for command and control.

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But the rest of the time in the military, in my experience, it was very much who is

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the best person for the task.

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So whose natural ability will serve the team better to do this specific task?

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And regardless of how long you've been there, what your rank is, you've got to do that task.

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And what that does is, A, everybody has to put their ego aside because the mission comes

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first.

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But the second thing is that you as an individual, you feel seen, heard and valued, and you know

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exactly what it is that you're contributing to the team.

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Because if the big boss is giving you something in particular to do, that means you're the

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best at that job.

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And when I left the military and I joined my first corporate America job, I was shocked

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and not in a good way on how little leadership skills all my bosses had.

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And you know what, Harry, it wasn't your fault because in corporate America, people don't

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get leadership training.

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In the military, everybody gets leadership training.

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And leadership is a skill and it can be learned and it should be learned.

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So now that's my focus and that's why it became my focus.

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So that we can develop these skills so that every single leader can have the tools to

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manage their people better.

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That's awesome.

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I completely agree on that.

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Like we need to have better leaders.

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I haven't had much experience in corporate America just very little, but I have heard

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stories and I've heard people talk about it.

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And even yesterday I had someone on my podcast and they were leaders and they were in the

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leadership space.

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They said that I didn't believe it until now that people don't really leave companies,

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they leave bad leaders.

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Yeah, they leave bosses.

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And you know what, it's been proven and I can't remember who was the author of that

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particular research, but it said that your manager and your leader and the people that

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you're that are in quote unquote in charge of you at the office have more impact on your

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mental and physical health than your own doctor.

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Really?

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Yeah.

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So we, I think that in the private sector, we overlooked that.

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It was, it's all about getting the job done.

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No, it's about taking care of the people.

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The people will do the job and people don't leave offices and they either leave a company

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culture or they leave a bad manager.

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And employee turnover is extremely costly.

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It's 1.5 to 2 times their annual salary to replace an employee.

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Really?

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Yeah.

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That's a lot.

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That's a lot of money.

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Yeah.

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If you do it in the tech world, like it's a million dollars easy.

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A friend of mine just hired, she owns, Chico owns an accountant firm and they just hired

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somebody through a headhunter and they paid the headhunter $52,000 for three months in

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order to find one qualified employee and actually fill the spot that they needed.

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Wow.

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$22,000.

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So imagine if that person is in the right fit for your team.

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Yeah.

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That's a lot of money.

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It is.

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It is.

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Yeah.

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Wow.

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That's a staggering problem.

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Yeah.

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I think that leaders also so far are bad with interview because they're wrong.

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They ask the wrong questions.

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But that's a two-way street and thank God it is slowly changing.

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The people applying for a job should always show up to the interview with questions because

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it's not a one-way street.

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It's not, oh my God, I'm so lucky they're hiring me.

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Of course, sometimes there's a little bit of luck in that, but it's also, okay, does

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this company or this manager, do they align with my values?

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What's the company culture about?

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What's the rate of the turnover?

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Because if the turnover rate, the employee turnover rate is extremely high, that's a

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big indicator that the company culture sucks.

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And maybe you should want to work there until something is done.

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And slowly, I think that the millennials were the first ones to say, yeah, hang on, but

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what are you going to do for me besides the paycheck and besides the health insurance?

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Right?

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So where, if I get this particular position, what can I grow into within your organization?

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And that's very important because in the interview should be a discussion.

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Where do you see me in five years, but where do I want to be within your organization?

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And is there room to grow?

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Or does somebody have to die of old age or actually retire in order for me to actually

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grow within the organization?

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And the more both the employer and the employee find that it's a fit, then the better chances

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that that person is going to stay there for a little bit.

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Yeah, thank you for sharing that with us.

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You're welcome.

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That's awesome.

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Isabel, where would you say that after you figured out that there's a huge gap in leadership

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in corporate America and that's what you want to fill, then how did you get started on that

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path?

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I bet the entrepreneur journey, I know it's not as easy as everyone makes it seem.

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It's a very tough pill to swallow and keep going.

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So how did that come around?

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Through an extremely bad boss who funny enough was the best positive example for me, even

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though this person was such a bad leader and almost so bad that it made him a bad person.

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And it was through seeing him having success, financial success and what I would qualify

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as life success.

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And I was looking at him and I went, okay, if this person succeeded, there's no way I

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will fail.

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So that was kind of the leap for me because I don't come from a family where there's a

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lot of entrepreneurs and everybody was an employee.

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Both my parents had been in the military.

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When I joined the Air Force, my brother was an Air Force pilot.

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Everybody had had the security of having a paycheck every two weeks and I didn't know

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anything else.

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So I didn't think I had it in me.

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I had the limiting belief that whatever was required to have your own company, I didn't

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possess.

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I didn't know what that was, but I was sure I didn't have it.

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So by seeing how this bad example still made it work and the secret to his success was

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the people that he surrounded himself with.

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That was how he succeeded.

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And when I saw that, I went, okay, well, if I don't bet on myself, I'm a fool, A, and

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B, I can never complain again.

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Because I finally recognized that whatever I thought it was out there that I did not

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possess, I had made it all up and I just closed my eyes, held my breath and jumped.

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And here I am a couple of decades later and I'm still standing and I'm still paying.

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I'm still capable of paying the mortgage and eating and traveling and buying things that

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I need for my life.

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So obviously it was the right fit for me.

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And now that I've done it, I'll never be an employee again.

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Wow.

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Ever.

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That's amazing.

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Tell me more about that.

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I think when our listeners see entrepreneurs grow and struggle and overcome struggles and

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actually do all these, I think it gives them hope and gives them guidance.

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So how long have you been in business now?

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Twenty, twenty-two years, twenty-two or twenty-three years.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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Also, all things considering, I was a pretty young entrepreneur.

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I was in my thirties and actually not even mid thirties yet.

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And it was just, yeah, it's time to jump and believe in myself and bet on myself.

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And I'm not a betting person.

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I don't gamble.

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I don't like it.

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But I took that gamble because then it was for me.

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And I knew that I was smart enough and I was willing to work hard enough to see it through.

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And there was nothing easy about it.

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And there are still days that are extremely difficult where you get up in the morning

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and you go, OK, and why is it that I've chosen to complicate my life this much?

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Like, especially when the pandemic hit.

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Where I live, companies closed, my company closed for 15 weeks during the first wave

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of covid and 35 weeks during the second wind of covid.

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And so if you add them up, that's 50 weeks out of a year and a half.

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So a year, almost a year out of a year and a half.

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But that's the thing that happens that make you see exactly what you're made of and what

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you're capable of.

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And as I was saying earlier, now I wouldn't have it any other way.

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I will work for myself until I decide that I'm done working.

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And that will more than likely be never.

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Just because I love what I do and I'm passionate about what I do.

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And I'm passionate about the people that I work with and that I get to help.

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And yeah, but it's being an entrepreneur.

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There's nothing easy about it.

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Thank you for being here today.

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I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

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I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.

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It's going to get more and more fun.

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We'll have more and more engagement as well.

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We'll invite people to participate in the show.

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And thank you for giving us your time and attention.

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Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.