Natalie Byrne, Founder of Blank Space communications firm, and a Legacy, Impact & Brand Purpose Strategist, explains what "blank space" IS, shares stories from her work with President Obama and the United Nations, weighs the metaphorical benefits of being on a speed boat vs a cruise ship, and reveals what we can learn from horses about leadership.

Welcome to Let's Talk Legacy. I'm Gary Michels,

your host today we have Natalie Byrne, founder of Blank Space

communication firm and a legacy impact and brand purpose

strategist. So I want to dig right in because tell us a

little bit about what Blank Space is, and how did you arrive

at that name?

Ok, well, I love this question right off the bat,

and it's just so great to meet you, and it's great to be here

and with your audience, I'm, you know, I'm someone who thinks

about legacy all day. So this is just, this is so exciting and

blank space actually came to me. I was in the private sector. I

was working with big brands and Unilever before I started my

firm about seven, eight years ago. Actually, it was a time

when we were really thinking about, what is a business bigger

than any product, what is its value system, what is its

purpose? So I was working with brands on their brand purpose

work, and working with founders on their legacy work. So

thinking about who are they, beyond just one business, what

is their philanthropic interests? What is their

mission? And how can we really build this life of legacy for

both a brand and a founder? So that's how I started the

business and and blank space, the name really came from the

idea that I don't think that we need to put, you know,

categories into what we do. This is where I make money. This is

where I give it away. This is who I am in my community. I

really think of the blank space as this future that we can all

be in, where we are in our true lane. We are doing good while we

are making money, we are supporting our community and our

family and everything that we do. So the blank space is this

idea of kind of wiping clean everything we've known to create

something new and and our own legacy.

Right on. Do people when you tell them what

blank space is, are they surprised after you explain it?

Or, okay, that makes sense. How do most people respond to that?

They actually get really excited, because it's a

method we have, the blank space method. We've started doing

blank space workshops all around the country and thinking about,

what is your blank space? So I actually think it's fun, because

it opens you up to something bigger than just, okay, what am

I doing as a company, or what am I doing as an individual? It's

it's a new way of thinking about things and being really in your

lane.

So the mission of blank space is to create a

legacy of impact. Before we dive in deeper to this topic,

what are each of those words, legacy and impact mean to you?

Oh, that's a great question. In my work, I

really think that words matter, so I like the challenge of

defining them right off the bat. Impact we can start there is

slightly overused, if I'm honest, but I've been working in

impact and thinking about positive impact, social impact,

a company's impact and a family's impact for a very long

time. And so I think that with impact, it's really important

that we think about how we show up, what we're doing every day,

to make a difference and at the same time, you know, drive our

business growth. So I don't think of those two things as

separate, which is different than other people who would say

they work in the impact field. It's not necessarily about

philanthropic endeavors only. It is truly how you show up every

day and legacy that could be everything from as simple as the

way you make someone feel when you're ordering your coffee at

Starbucks. Are you the type of person who's in and out and not

making any eye contact and running from thing to thing? Or

are you present? And you know, blank space also has a lot to do

with being present, being fully present in your life, so that

your legacy isn't something that happens after you die. It's

something that you can actually create in the way you show up

every day.

It's, it's like when someone says, Are you

present? See how are how you doing? And and they come, fine.

No, no, no, no, how you really doing? Yes, which I think people

are in such a fast paced world that often people don't do that.

It's almost like the thought of slow down to speed up.

Oh my gosh. I completely agree. I was working

with a big grocery retailer brand the past few years, and we

were thinking about your neighborhood grocery store is

really like a community hub, whether you're in line next to a

neighbor, or maybe your other neighbor is behind the deli

counter, helping you, you know, choose what, what you're going

to get for your lunches that week. I love the idea that we

can just be, as you said, more present, more in our true self,

too. And you know, in the world that we live in today, on our

phones, heads down, running around it is, it is hard to do

that, but that's exactly what we try to do with the blank space.

So I wanted to just note that, because you are how you make

other people feel.

Now you you created a legacy roadmap which

helps clients rethink what they do, why they do it, which is

really important, and how. They can move towards a more legacy

driven way of life. Can you tell us a little bit about that

roadmap?

Oh my gosh, I would love to you're talking

about all my favorite things. You know, when you have a north

you know, on the compass, or a North Star, or I even think of

it sometimes, when I'm working with a really big company, this

is a cruise ship that's carrying a lot of different people, and

you want to make sure it's pointed in the right direction,

and that's what a legacy roadmap is all about. What are we

thinking about now? So when we get to these times in our life

that might be more challenging, or we might have to make big

decisions, we have this really grounded sense of our value

system, is probably where I would start. And so we do like

an assessment of where you are, you know, where the business is,

where the family is, and thinking about, Okay, so we're

here, and this is our value. So as we think of our big, big

goals and where we want to go, the way we can measure that

along the way is by being very value centered. You know, this

is it's interesting, because we've seen some big companies in

the past few years in the headlines, making huge mistakes.

CEOs ousted based on values, where they've skewed so far away

from what the company's mission is and what they are trying to

do for both their employees and their consumers and their

shareholders, that they've lost their values. They've lost

what's driving them, and I think that's the same in our own

lives. An example that comes to mind is like Boeing, right? This

is a company that's been around a long time, so the CEO

definitely inherited a set of values. But if that has been

done correctly, what we as we would say in the business, it's

evergreen. It doesn't change. You don't change your North

Star, but if you haven't done the work. So sometimes I'm

coming in and helping businesses who have been around for a long

time that have never asked these questions, why do we do what we

do? Who are we actually serving? What is our bigger mission, and

you know, beyond just the products that we're releasing?

So to so I think that to your question, there's a yes, and we

want a value system to last. I don't think that if family and

community is important to you, that shouldn't change in 10

years, and if your roadmap has gone off, then that's where you

can counter and say, Wow, we're spending all of our investment

in this one area, and yet this isn't a part of our core values

at all.

Not at all. You've also created an exclusive Legacy

Council. Can you tell us about the council a little bit?

Yes, I'm so excited. You mentioned this, and

this is a cohort of eight individuals who are really

thinking about their leadership in these places. So you know,

whether they're scaling their business or launching a

foundation, or maybe they're ready to write a book about

their story. You know what they've brought to the table?

This is going to be a cohort of eight people together, which is

so exciting to me, because there's so much peer to peer

advisory too, that that I see, and I've been working so for so

long behind the scenes with these big companies that in

order to make this group that can work on their legacy

together and go behind the scenes at some of these big, big

places where it comes to life, I am so excited by the legacy

Council. And then year over year, that group just gets

bigger and bigger. So you have this whole network of other

people who are value driven, who are thinking about thought

leadership, or they're thinking about their values, and they're

thinking about how their businesses and philanthropy and

lives are really all representative of that. And the

thing about these eight people is they're bringing so much to

the table. So there is an opportunity for so much shared

life, understandings and learnings and growth, and the

curriculum involves everything from you know, what is your

authentic voice and what rooms you should be in, how you say no

to things that are outside of your lane, looking at planning

through transitions, transfer of wealth, scaling your venture.

Post m a next gen legacy conversations, there's a lot

about narrative, which we even started talking about in the

very beginning of our chat. So I feel like there might be some

people in the audience who could be a good fit for this. And

everyone gets to bring something to the table that they're

working on, so they get the benefit of the advisory of the

firm, but in this much more fun and accessible way, there is

sharing out to the group and accountability, and then working

with me privately so that everyone knows that what they're

building on their side is moving forward.

Sweet. Love it. So you've personally been honored

to be a White House delegate under President Obama, traveling

with him to Kenya for the global entrepreneur summit as a

speaker, that's awesome to be honored, to be able to do

something like that.

Well there's nothing like connecting with

people's hearts and shifting minds and, you know, speaking

and bringing these messages to groups. So I love that. It's a

passion of mine. I started as a journalist, so listening and

speaking and and, you know. Helping to drive these

narratives is so important to me. That was one of the biggest

honors I've ever had. It was his, if you remember, it was his

homecoming trip to Kenya. And we actually gathered entrepreneurs

from all over Africa to come together to Kenya. And you know,

these were entrepreneurs of all ages. You had young

entrepreneurs. You had so many different countries represented,

and it was, it was, it was awesome. You got to see the

innovation and creativity that is driving this continent. And

the continent is a lot younger than what we see in Europe or

even here in the United States, so you have a lot of young

innovation. And it was an exciting time. So we did

mentorship, we did speaking, we did round tables, and we talked

about how entrepreneurship can just drive so much for a country

forward. And I take that with me. I love working with

entrepreneurs. I think you could probably hear that from like the

legacy Council and the different work we do. Think founders have

that certain passion in them that they're they're leading an

organization and a family all at the same time. So it was a

really special trip. And Africa is such a special continent, and

I just was so honored to be a part of his delegation.

What do you think it is that drives people?

Hmm, you know, I feel like there's so much more

that connects us than keeps us separate, and you wouldn't know

that by turning on the news today, because it's just a lot

of a lot of fighting and a lot of disagreeing. And I think that

there's so much more that brings us to the table. So when you ask

what drives us, I think that's such a personal, heart centered

value driven. People want to provide for their family. They

want to feel safe and secure. They want to feel healthy, so

they want to have access to these basic things, like, you

know, good food, good water, clean air. They want their kids

to have access to a really good education. I mean, these are

your universal desires for for people and families. And when we

get into what we're talking about with legacy, I think it

also matters how we're being perceived and what we're leaving

behind, even if it's something so small that no one really

knows, because it's just the way that you are maintaining a local

garden. You know, on the weekend, there is just this

feeling of pride of contributing. When I talk about

careers and what we do, I actually think of it as how we

contribute to the world around us, and how we serve, how we use

our gifts. And I think that we're missing that in a lot of

these conversations.

Absolutely. Well, you've also, I mean, gosh,

you've accomplished so many things in your life, and I'm

glad that we were able to have you on the show, working on so

many projects with the United Nations too, which is such a

huge important role in our world.

One of my favorite initiatives was

actually bringing business leaders in some of the things

that make you really good at business, risk taking,

creativity, innovation, thinking fast is not things that the UN

does well. So the idea that we can learn from, you know, we

think sometimes as a speed boat and a cruise ship, I go back to

that we can learn from each other. You know, you move fast

on a speed boat, but a cruise ship brings a lot of people with

it. So I think that there's such an opportunity at the UN for

shared learnings. Some of the initiatives we've done are

around women and climate. We've also done peace conversations

based on supporting local businesses. When you support

local business growth in some of these countries that are facing

a lot of difficulties, a lot of challenges, things that we

aren't seeing here at home, you actually help the community to

thrive. And once you can make a living and your kids can go to

school, you'll see an economy transform. So I thought that

that was really, really uplifting. And idea of investing

in other countries really also helps us thrive. This has become

something that's quite a hot topic currently, and with the

United Nations, it's just so inspirational to see how many

people come together to make the world a better place. There's so

many youth driving this. There's so many youth here in the US

that come together at the UN and are meeting on things that are,

you know, that seems so such big challenges for us, but for them,

they're like, We got this. Our generation is stepping in. We

want to collaborate. We want to think big. And I find that

really inspiring.

So with legacy being such a big focus, what

legacy do you hope to leave behind through your work in your

organizations, professional, individual? A big legacy that

ties everything together?

Oh, that's such a good question. You have all the

good questions. I think for me, my legacy is for people to know

that what they do matters, and sometimes we feel like we have

no impact on the world around us, and it's a scary place. And

I think that if everyone had takes a second to go inside, and

I am the leader in this own place, in my world, and I can

make a difference in his own, own little pocket of the world.

Um. Um, that what I would like my legacy to be is just

inspiring and lighting a spark in everyone, that what they do

really matters. And it can matter to your neighbor, to your

kid, to your spouse, to your boss, to your teammate. This is

the type of world that I want to live in. And I'll take the other

thing you brought up earlier in being present. If we could all

just be present with each other a little bit more and listen a

little bit more and open our hearts a little bit more, I

think we would solve some of these big problems pretty

quickly.

Is there anything like in your personal life that

would be different?

Well, I I'm really passionate about the time

I spent at the stables. I love riding horses.

Love it. Me too. I used to ride all the time.

Hunter jumper? What do you, what did you do?

I'm a trained hunter jumper. Now, you know I'm

I'm not doing that competitively or anything, but time with

horses, time at the stable, it's so grounding. I've these animals

teach us so much. And I actually just got certified in eques

leadership development.

That's awesome. There's nothing like just with

the touch of your hand and your seat, and to be able to get a

horse to jump over a four foot jump, it's, there's nothing like

it, right? Or it's, it's crazy.

Talk about being present, right? I mean, you if

you are ahead of that jump or behind that jump, then you are

falling off that horse.

I've got stories. The horses are, they're, they're

such smart animals and calming. And there is so much to be

learned that's awesome.

Yeah, one of the things I can leave you with

around that too, is, you know, you know this because you ride,

their nervous system is so much bigger, and the way that they

self regulate as a herd, so they are constantly in communication,

even a couple football fields away, through their nervous

system and their heart and how fast it's beating and what's

happening. And is there anything to be afraid of out there in the

in the woods, outside of the field. So they really teach us

how to come into ourselves, how to connect with the people

around us, and I think, just to make, actually, a lot better

decisions in our everyday and in our business lives. That'll be

part of my legacy. I'll have a ranch one day with my horses.

There you go. So what's next for you, and where

can our listeners learn more about what you're doing?

Well, if they're interested in the Legacy

Council, please reach out. Blankspaceworks.com, and I think

what's coming up next right now is I'm working on a book around

being in your heart, being present, moving everything out

so that you could be in your lane. I think that we're in a

world where we're saying yes to everything. We're being

overwhelmed with opportunities and information, and the more

you can be in the blank space, the more you could be in your

lane, the better everything gets, the more success you could

bring in because you're focused.

Absolutely. Well, gosh, it's been awesome, and I'm

sure people will be reaching out to you.

Yay. Yes, okay, well, you and I have to meet in

person at some time with a bunch of horses around us.

Absolutely, absolutely.