Tell me about your vision. Sure. So I am on a
mission to rid the world of lazy leadership.
As a leadership advisor, I work with leaders
and teams and organizations to build trusting
environments through communicating with clarity
and addressing conflict in a constructive manner.
Wow, that's awesome. Tell me more. Sure. So I
tend to work with people within the professional
services space and then their clients who they
refer me to. And what I'm hearing a lot of these
days is that we're all going so fast that we
have more meetings on our calendars than ever
before. And that we're not as human beings, we
don't have the time or we're not making it a
priority to slow down and take a moment to just
think about. what is needed in this moment, in
this conversation, in this meeting, in this interaction.
So what I'm hearing and seeing people do is they're
sweeping a lot of things under the rug because
they just don't have time to address these things.
So what they think is like, I'm just going to
do this or quickly respond to this email. They
end up taking more time later on because of the
residual effects. you know, there's a misunderstanding
or they misread something or they misinterpret
something in an email, for instance, and that
escalates conflict or misunderstanding in some
way. And so trust erodes and they oftentimes
leaders don't realize that that trust is eroding
when it is until it gets to the point that something
blows up or someone leaves or a client fires
them. And so really helping people be far more
deliberate in their approach to leading both
internally and externally with clients or customers
and really helping them gain that awareness of
what they're doing that's not serving themselves
or others and then giving them the tools to be
able to have a difficult conversation or to address
conflict. So that it doesn't continue to escalate
out of control. For sure. Wow. Thank you. Thank
you for sharing that. Tell me more. How did this
come about? Like, how did you get on the path
of this leadership? I know leadership is very,
very, very important in any organization. And
if an organization is not really focusing on
that, the growth is, I think, comes to a halt
or the growth stops eventually. So tell me more.
How did you end up here within this realm? Well,
I started my career working at Harvard University.
And one of the first, well, second role, third
role that I had there was working at Harvard
Business School on an initiative examining women
in the workforce. And this was, well, it was
19 years ago. And I know that because I was pregnant
with my daughter. So that's how I always know
how long it was since I was there when I started
there. What we noticed at the time was that the
infrastructures essentially were not in place
to retain and advance women into leadership positions.
When my daughter was born, that just gave me
that fire that I wanted her career opportunities
down the road to be the same as her brother,
that whatever opportunities that he had, that
she could have the same opportunities. When she
was about five, I started my own practice of
this leadership advising, working with leaders
and individuals and teams and organizations to
really help them, as I said, be deliberate. Like
you said, without that vision, without knowing
where we're going, where we're heading, what
we're trying to achieve, we have so many people
just rowing in different directions. And by helping
people get on the same page, addressing the issues
before they start to... to really grow and become
like an avalanche and just take over everything,
really help people think and communicate what
that vision is, what they want for the organization.
And not some fluffy language that's put on a
plaque and put on a wall somewhere, but really
something that people can live by, make decisions
through and know who they are and how they are
representing their organization, their team.
to be the most effective leader, the most effective
at what they do so that they are admired, that
they are respected because of that. Thank you
for sharing that. Thank you so much. Would you
say that that is also your why of what you do?
Yeah, it really, you know, going back to my daughter,
that is my why I want. the workforce, the workplace
to be different than it was 19 years ago when
she was born. And I certainly have seen shifts.
Things have changed in the last five years of
the way that people interact with one another
and more and more seeing a lack of interaction,
of live interaction, you know, and people struggle
with that. And there's so much that we don't.
or pick up on when we are texting someone or
emailing someone compared to a live conversation,
ideally in person, but that isn't the case all
the time. But being able to see where people
are and seeing their interactions, their response,
their body language, the nonverbal. communication
that happens, which depending on the research
I've looked at, it's anywhere from 65 to 90 %
of our communication is nonverbal. So certainly
in a text and an email and instant message, like
you can't tell the whole picture of what's going
on. So it really forces us to communicate and
to listen far more intently than we've ever had
to. So what are going? going a little deeper
in this. So what are some of the changes or some
of the impact that you have seen when someone
implements your way of strategy behind leadership?
Yeah, well, it's funny you should say that. I
just was on with a client this morning and I
did some work with them around their communications
as a leadership team. And we use an assessment
to help them understand both themselves and each
other, how they naturally think and behave. And
the story that came up this morning was that
the two managing partners plus the chief talent
person were discussing hiring a vendor consultant
to help them with something. And they interviewed
two people. One person was, here's my framework.
Here's my approach. This is where you are. This
is where I'm going to get you to. And this is
how we're going to do it. So very logical systems,
processes in place. The other person was a little
bit more fly by the seat of his pants of like,
we're going to unearth and see what comes up
and then we'll figure it out as we go. And the
two leaders, the one who responded well to the
gentleman who said, let's fly by the seat of
the pants, that's how he communicates. That's
his approach to problem solving. But with the
chief development person. They came at it from
different viewpoints. So she really liked the
processes, the systems, the approach, the clarity
that she had with one consultant. But they were
able to say, instead of saying, well, we're just
going to agree to disagree and I'm the managing
partner, so we're going to do as I say. What
they were then able to have this conversation
of, oh, I understand where you're coming from.
You like this structured approach and that feels
confining to me. And then. She was able to say,
yeah, I do like the process. I like the system.
I like to know where we're going. I like having
that clarity. And the willy nilly is the word
she used doesn't work for me, but there wasn't
a disagreement. It was simply understanding,
oh, this is how you prefer to communicate. So
of course you're going to appreciate that approach
versus this one. And so they're able then to
talk about it, not. Kind of finger pointing,
but instead being able to say, oh, OK, this is
where you're coming from. This is where I'm coming
from. But what does the firm need and where are
we trying to get to and approach it from that
perspective? Because they understood that they
were seen and valuing things differently in those
in that decision of who to choose as a vendor.
Yeah. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. That was
very, very helpful. I have one more question
for you before we enter this segment, Julie.
Your entrepreneur journey, how did you get started
on that? If you want to expand, how was it in
these early days when you were getting started
off your feet and figuring out what you need
to do? When I started my practice, it was something
I'd thought about for a bit. I was working at
the time for a startup in the career space and
really had a great relationship with the two
founders and watched them. grow and create, you
know, they started with writing a book, saw a
need for some consulting, and they kept growing
that way. I was their first employee. And so
I saw and learned from them in terms of what
worked, what made me feel comfort, what made
me feel uneasy. And what I figured out was, you
know, I really love having an impact on people.
And how can I do that? in the most effective
way. So when I started my practice, my goal was
to do to coach some of the leaders who that I've
been exposed to over the course of my career.
And but I maintained that relationship. And kept
doing project work for them because that, for
me, that felt comfortable to know I had a little
bit of income coming in while I was starting
my practice. And I approached it certainly from
a more conservative, less risk -taking place.
You know, I bought a computer. That was my down
payment. And I took some courses. But I wasn't.
you know, I didn't have an outlay of money. So
if for me that worked, because if it didn't work,
if the practice didn't grow, I could walk away
and there wasn't much that I needed to get rid
of or, you know, that I owed on. And so I had
the one of the best pieces of advice that someone
gave me in the very beginning was you're going
to have these very large dips and rises of your
practice. And As you continue to grow and build
your name and get referrals, that won't be such
deep highs and lows. And so now when I have a
little bit of a dip, I take advantage of it.
That's the time that I do a lot of business development.
I do a lot of speaking. I will do a lot of planning
and development because I know that it's going
to come back up. But it's not these big highs
and lows. It was within the first year of my
practice, all my clients at the time would be
ending their engagements at the end of the month.
And I had no one starting the following month.
So I had no income coming in. And it was a great
motivator. It set that urgency, like I got to
get out there. And I still do this, but I do
a lot of speaking, whether it's on podcasts like
this or on big stages at conferences. I want
as many people. as out there to know and to hear
how I approach things, how I add value to people.
And so that's what I did when I knew, like I
saw all my clients are coming to an end. I called
my alma mater and said, Hey, I'll do a free webinar
for you. And I got three clients out of it, you
know, which it wasn't, I wasn't expecting to,
but it was a great thing. And then I realized,
Oh, I can keep offering to do a webinar. Doesn't
take much. on me. I'm not traveling sitting here.
I have the equipment. I can do this. So speaking
has always been something that has worked really
well for me from a business development and growth
standpoint. Thank you for being here today. I'm
really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros
Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward. This
is going to get more and more fun. We'll have
more and more engagement as well. We invite people
to participate in the show. And thank you for
giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent
time building out your vision and becoming a
vision pro yourself.