Join us for the grand debut of "The Influencers' Connection Corner with Raquel "Raqi" Flores" as we celebrate 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 and 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 in style! 🎉

We're thrilled to announce our very special guest, Lyndsay Dowd, a powerhouse in building irresistible cultures that drive results. With over 25 years of experience in sales and management, Lyndsay has honed her expertise in fostering high-performing teams and transforming organizations.

From her decorated career at IBM to her entrepreneurial journey founding Heartbeat for Hire LLC, Lyndsay's story is one of resilience, innovation, and dedication to creating positive workplace environments.

Join us as Lyndsay shares her insights and anecdotes and the importance of cultivating healthy cultures and authentic leadership. Together, let's build a future where every employee thrives, and every organization excels.

✨See you there!

Here we go. Hey, hello. Welcome. Welcome guys. Oh my gosh. It's so nice to see you again. It's been so long. It has been beautiful, but you know what? Sometimes when life happens, you need to just reboot and a revive and re Vigory. Yes. Redrive everything.

every thrive, replenish, right? And then recharge and then come back and do it all over again, but in a better, better just mindset. So welcome everyone. Thank you so much. I've missed everyone out there. Thank you. Thank you for the loving and support that you guys have given me throughout these months that we've been away. So welcome to the first episode of the newly rebranded, the influencers connection corner, formerly known as Rocky's connection corner. But as you know,

We, a new year, new style, new things, correct? I love it. I love it. Exactly. You know what? I feel like you are really finding your voice more now over the course of the last year, girl, like legit. It's so impressive to see you grow. Um, and you know, I think knowing yourself, right. Uh, really helps and all that, but even knowing yourself on LinkedIn, cause even though that's like another level, another layer, um, you know, as you grow.

So, yeah, I'm so thrilled to be here, beautiful. But as always, you know, that growth would not be possible without having the exact tribe that you need. And I know we alluded to this a little bit yesterday with Denise. Shout out, Denise, to you and the amazing talk that we had and, you know, talking about authenticity and networking and what better place to do it than LinkedIn. So shout out to you, love. Thank you so much. But today, oh my gosh, I have something, you know, in my heart that I wanted to discuss.

company culture, hearts, heartbeat, just leading with heart. What does that mean to you, Lea? You know what it is meaning? You know, when you do anything in life, there has to be some purpose meaning so that you get something out of it. And leading with your heart to me means being authentic to yourself to know that whatever it is that you're doing, you know, it's

It has impact, real impact. Yes. And you know, leading with heart and leading with kindness is definitely one of the things that has cemented myself, you know, me and on this platform. So I really, really, it's one of those things that finding other leaders who do that, it's amazing. So just to kind of bring, you know, a quote that comes to mind is Simon Sinek's, customers will never love a company until the employees love it first. And that goes back to.

leading with heart, correct? As a salesperson, let me tell you, I could not sell anything if I didn't believe in the company and company, right? The product, you can sell a widget, you can sell, you know, a phone or in my case, a broken brush if you want to, right? But yeah, your clients are looking for people who are going to take care of them, who believe in this organization, they're investing their money.

hard -earned money into so 100 % I agree with this I mean, I mean look people like If you don't believe know like and trust whomever you're collaborating worth working with, you know, whatever There's a lot of unproductive work that happens as a result and a lot of unhappy people, you know when there's there's no heart there's no passion then there's like lost sense of purpose so and to talk more about

that we have a special guest for the first time on this show. You know, the inaugural show of the Influencers Connection Corner. I'm so thrilled to have her here today. So let's go ahead and roll the intro and have her come and join us. So let's get ready for that. Let's do it, kids.

Don't we just love this? We are so amazed. Thank you so much for joining us. The topic today is Leading with Heart. And our wonderful and amazing guest of the day is Ms. Lindsey Nel. So let's go ahead and welcome her. Is she ready? Yay! I'm ready! Hey, ladies! So good to be here. Thanks for having me.

I love it, Lindsay. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here today. I know it's a Saturday, you know, it's family time. However, we are always leading with heart. So the message needs to get out there. So we're going to do it right. I love it. I love it. I love it, Lindsay. Well, I've, I've gotten to know you luckily through the outlier project. So shout out to all the top individuals are there. We love you guys. Shout out to Scott McGregor.

We love and you're the good, oh my God, so many wonderful people. Thank you guys for always supporting and just for having this fantastic, phenomenal community of individuals like yourself, Lindsay, who really, really lead with heart, lead from experience, right? So tell the audience a little bit about you and then we can highlight you. Sure. I love to. So I spent 25 years in corporate America and 23 were climbing the ranks at IBM. I used to run big sales teams for them.

And my family put in 105 years at IBM. So I was literally born into this big blue legacy. I was a big blue baby. And after 23 years had passed, I was ready for a change. Another company sought me out, said, come lead a sales team for us. I said, sure. So I left all my decorated career, my legacy behind, and I went to this other company. And in six months, they fired me.

And anyone that knows and knows that was not part of my plan, I was gutted. I was sideways. It took so much strength and courage to be able to even talk about it. And after a month passed, I asked myself three questions. I said, what am I good at? What do I love to do? And how can I help people the most? And what I knew how to do was to build modern leaders and create irresistible culture that drives results.

And so two years ago, I started my company, Heartbeat for Hire. I wrote a book. I started a podcast. I speak. I coach leaders and leadership teams on all of these things. And it's been a wild, wild ride, but so, so fulfilling. So, so happy. Well, isn't that what entrepreneurship usually is though? It's a wild roller coaster. At the end of the day is the most invigorating and it really, really fulfills us. And I,

I like to coin this term, soul fill us. And so tell me a little bit about, I know you touched upon being let go after six months. You you have - tired. Let's call it what it is. It was painful. And let me just say this. I'm not a quitter. I never would have left that job. And I was so anxious. I was struggling.

so hard I wasn't sleeping. I was second guessing myself. I wasn't relying on any of my power skills. And we're going to talk about power skills. I know we are. But I wasn't relying on my instincts, my sense of humor, my ability to read people because I was second guessing myself. I was being micromanaged so hard. And they were asking me to micromanage. So if I had stayed, I anticipate I would have been in a really bad state health -wise, mentally, certainly emotionally.

Um, so it was a gift. I was shoved out of the nest and it forced to really uncover my purpose. Um, and for that I'm super grateful. So yeah, whenever something like that happens, it is for sure rattling and stops your heart and makes you really question who you are. But you know, those are mine. Those are my accomplishments. Those are facts. Those aren't feelings. And no matter how

ugly that firing was. Nobody took that away from me. That was mine. So anybody that has been laid off or fired like me, this is not the end of your road. There is so much that we can do to kind of keep you in the game and remind yourself of your goodness. And we can talk about all that. Oh, my goodness. Lindsay, I think you've touched upon so many different little nuggets that we can definitely dive into. But the reality at the end of the day is people are going through this.

on a daily basis. And they may feel like they are alone out there in that journey. You are not alone. And so we want to make sure that you understand that there are individuals out there who can help in that journey, who can help in guiding, you can help actively helping. Because at the end of the day, we are in this together. And I know I'm not trying to sound cliche, but we need to hear the words we're currently saying.

Well, and there's a few ways to do that. I mean, when you think about within the company, there's, of course, mentorships, there's business resource groups, there's trying to connect with people and network. And then outside of the company is, of course, LinkedIn. And I'm kind of a power networker. So I treasure my time with people. And that's so nice to see everybody, guys. Thanks for saying hi. I

Hi, Steven. Hi, Dev Curtis. I see you. Hi, Lonnie. Anyway, I will tell you that LinkedIn has absolutely changed everything for me. I doubled down hard on it when I started my company. I had a good size network before I lost my job, but I wasn't paying attention to LinkedIn. I was like, every time I was mad because I got passed over for a promotion, I would go out to LinkedIn and I'm like, I'm going to find something new.

please don't underestimate how important LinkedIn is to your journey. And there are so many people that want to help you. But can I just say one more thing about if you're in a company and you're struggling? Because the one thing that I want to talk about, we had something at IBM, and I called it a culture of advocacy. And we did it really well, and I didn't realize it didn't exist in other places. But what this really was was,

allowing executives to do what I called executive interviews. So you'd have somebody that's outside of your reporting chain, ideally someone, you know, a few rungs beneath you say, hey, I want to have a moment. Can we do 30 minutes of coffee chat? I just want to hear more about you. You inspire me. And it gives them an opportunity to learn about somebody who's not on their team. And what this does is it exposes you in two ways. One, you're meeting someone you wouldn't normally get to meet. And two,

you're really understanding the talent on your bench. So when you understand that you've got job openings, you can say, oh my gosh, I just talked to this person. She's fantastic. You need to talk to her. She'd be great for your role. So it exposes you in a good way, but it's a less formal mentorship program. It's just so, so good when you allow for that space and, um,

leaders talk, they all want to know like, do you know anybody that can fill this role? So when you're doing that kind of practice, you really do get to see people you wouldn't necessarily think about. Oh my gosh. I could say, I don't know if I'm getting a little feedback there. No, you're good. I'm hearing you actually. That's so weird. Is it on your laptop? Yeah, it is on the laptop. But I think, yeah.

So we're good, we're good. But anyhow, I would like to, before carrying over with the conversation, I definitely would like to see where people are tuning in from. I know I usually ask that and I didn't, so please guys, let us know where you're tuning in in the world. I love it. You know, we're celebrating International Women's Day yesterday. It was really nice to see where people were tuning in from. So please let us know. But yes, Lindsay, you know, it is very important to just...

Siphon down on those things and find information. And I think you've hit the nail right on the head when it comes to that. So can you share with us a specific moment, a success story, for example, where you see dramatic improvements in regarding to workplace culture?

It's important to remind people that culture is a feeling, which makes a lot of old school leaders feel like it's fluffy and unnecessary. And I like to say that the whole world has changed around us. Our technology has changed. Our way we work has changed. We're all remote now. We all learned that through the pandemic. So everything around us has changed. Why wouldn't our leadership style need to change too?

Um, and so for the, the old school, usually the pale male and stale leaders that love to say, I've been doing it this way for 20 years. I'm so successful. Well, are you, have you worked with a coach? Because the ones that do work with coaches, they get better and they think about things differently. And I want to jump into my favorite, favorite subject, which is, um, if you are within earshot of this broadcast, we are retiring the phrase soft skills.

We are replacing it with power skills. Soft skills undermines how important they really are. And power skills are tenets of modern leadership. So let me give you an example. So I was managing a, I was a client exec at IBM. I was managing a huge account. I had $150 million quota. And this account was, we had strings attached on every side. It was,

that we were business partners, we were competitors, and we were each other's clients. So we had to be really thoughtful about the things we did with this client. And I was presenting my plan to my boss. She was a new boss to me, but someone I had known for many years. And so I started to present my plan. And she says to me about halfway through, and she says, girl, I've got your back. Now fly. And those words were so, they took my breath away then, they still take my breath away now.

And that moment told me, my boss has my back. If I screw up, if I fail, she's got me. And so I, in turn, turned around to the 55 people that were on my team. These were not my direct reports. These were people that were all covering my same account. And I had to invite them to want to work in my space. I had to create the most fun, the most lucrative, the most connected space.

they could be, because they had choices. They could go work other places. But I turned that around and I basically said, you guys, we have an opportunity to think differently. We've got a way, we've got people cheering us on and saying, if we fail, they're here to help us. So what can we do differently? Who haven't we spoken with? What haven't we tried? And because I had that sense of support, we were unstoppable.

We went and closed the largest deal any of us had ever seen. It was $23 million deal. We changed the relationship between the client and my company. And it was so empowering. We crushed it. We made shit tons of money. I don't know if I can say that. Crap tons of money. Sorry. But we really liked it. We engaged with each other. And it was all stemming from that moment. So don't underestimate.

how impactful words can be when you are a leader. And hey, even if you're not a leader with direct reports, you still have an opportunity to lead. You still can influence people around you. And just like I said there, these people didn't report to me, but I had to really make them want to work with me. So they did. And we were weird and unconventional. And I loved that about us. And it really made a difference.

My goodness. I mean, that's a fantastic, phenomenal story and a success, right? And how do you manage that? As obviously as a top leader that you are and everything that you've done in your stellar career, what are some of the common pitfalls that organizations fall into just because they don't know how to cultivate that work environment? So, Sia, you'll appreciate this because I know you're a salesperson. So I came from sales. My whole career has been in sales and I think the biggest.

thing that I see the biggest faux pas is when leaders take top performers and they promote them to managers. And the reason this is such a problem is because most of the time in sales, the top performers are motivated by their wallet. And that's not a bad thing. Great sellers can stay great sellers and have a super lucrative career. I had a rep, she was making million dollar commission checks.

but she did not like people and she didn't care about people and she would have been the worst manager ever. So what happens when they put these people in positions of power, a few things occur. One, the top performer can't understand why their team doesn't get their method. And so they get frustrated and so they micromanage and then they want, they want to fire people because the people don't understand what they're trying to do. And they just haven't been properly trained.

So you have to ask this question, why do you want to be a manager? And you want to listen for things like, I like to see people win. I think that I've learned how to create an environment where people feel a sense of trust and psychological safety. And giving us this opportunity for growth and to let people shine, that's what I love. That's why I want to be a leader. Now, someone might not say it exactly like that. But if they say,

or they're implying it's the next stop on their career or the next rung on the ladder. Yeah, it likely is. But if you are in charge and you are putting leaders in positions of power, be so thoughtful about who you're putting in those positions. Because when you do damage as a toxic leader, that is very hard to unwind. And you will lose your top performers. You will be breeding a culture of mediocrity. And it is so hard to come back from that.

Mm -hmm. I know see I know you were gonna jump it. Go ahead I want to say something but my boyfriend decided to do the dishes in the background. I don't know if you can hear him You know what what what people need to understand when you do elevate and you move around promotions Just because you're the top performing person means you have the skill sets to be a top performing manager It's totally two different skills. It's two different ways of communication. I'm trying to talk over the

dishes. Okay, good. I'm laughing right now because I'm like, over like speaking but the assumption is just because you're good at sales and communication with your clients does not necessarily translate that you can communicate with the management team and executive management that you can articulate the same things you can drive and inspire a team. Yeah, it's it's it is power skills on a different level, right? And

And it sucks a little bit because for those that do desire, they are top performers because they're coin operated, as I like to say. You sometimes don't make as much as a manager. So it has to be a position of passion that you want to enable your team to succeed because a lot of times those managers aren't making anywhere near as much as their quote employees. So that's that too. And I think one of them.

the biggest things I advise leaders to do is, especially in sales, you always have your forecast calls. You have your business check -ins, but you need that extra time to get to know your people. And some of the questions you need to be asking, one of them, which I asked, it's a deeply humbling question, and you are admitting you don't know everything, but guess what? No leader does. So the question that you need to ask is, how can I be the best leader for you? And when you ask that question,

You are going to get wildly different answers from everyone you ask. Some people are going to say, stay the hell out of my way. Just be my escalation point. Others are going to say, can we do some role playing? Can we do some coaching? I don't think I'm doing this right. I think I'm missing something. Some people will say, I don't understand my job. I came over here from an acquisition. I was lopped on this team. I don't know what I'm doing. So you have to meet people where they are. But another question that you should be asking is, what do you think you're really good at?

What are you known for? And what do you think you want to improve upon? When you understand those things, then you can delegate. You can give people opportunities to shine. And you can say, hey, I know you're really good at analytics, Rocky. Do you want to run point on this? I've got your back. And I'm going to have you present. But I'll be right with you. And I want to help you do an awesome job. I want people to know how good you are at this.

When you give people that kind of autonomy, they will do anything for you. And I did this as a leader. I gave people so many opportunities to shine. And you know what? It made me a generous leader. All of these guys that think the ideas have to be mine, I need credit in order for me to be perceived as a great leader, you got it wrong. Your people are a direct reflection of you. And when they are doing something great, you look great.

Preach sister preach. Oh my god. You I have I've stepped away from corporate America seven years now Damn time flies, but I will say this I want to give a shot to Tim Lee. He's currently at fordinet I Want to tell the world what an amazing manager boss, whatever you want to call it team lead, whatever I he was the best manager we would be in meetings and he would be

supportive of anything that I did and I ran those meetings and if there was the client there was one particular individual who would just not accept me in a leadership role so anytime that he had a question he would look directly to my boss and Tim would bring it right back and be like Sia, Sia knows that answer I don't and and I cannot tell you how empowering that gave me to say hell yeah this is my meeting and I owned that space and that person who just

culturally would not respect me. He had to listen to me in front of his bosses because my boss put them in his place and it was so good. So shout out to Emily and Lindsay, you just nailed it because if a manager can show the world how awesome their team is, it just makes the world, the interaction with clients and your other team members internally understand the value you bring and you value them. Right? That's what I'm trying to say.

Oh, Maria Rouse just said something and I can't read the comment anymore because it's scrolled, but she was talking, I think about, um, Oh, can you scroll up a little? I can't see it. Okay. So here's the deal. When you are a new leader, the best thing you could do because you are likely replacing another leader. The best thing you could do is go on a listening tour and the listening tour is to say, okay, guys, tell me what's working.

What do you love about this team? What do you want to fix? Doesn't mean I'm going to fix everything, but I want to understand the culture, the politics, how you guys interact on the team, where you really want to see, you know, look for improvement. Because when you are a new leader, here's what happens. If you are following a great leader, as soon as that leader leaves, there is this vacuum and people are stressed. They are concerned. They are scared. They don't know what's coming and their lives.

could potentially change in a really negative way. So to come in, rather than say there's a new sheriff in town, and this is the way I do it, and it's my way or the highway, when you do that, you are breaking any tiny threads of trust that might just be there by nature of your title. Now, if you stop and you go on this listening tour and you ask, you're not making promises, you are listening.

You are collecting information. You're getting everybody's take on how things are. And when you do that, you're smarter. You're showing up as empathetic. You're showing up as authentic because you don't have all the answers. And I always said as a leader, I'm not the smartest one in the room. You guys are in the trenches. You're hearing things that are different. How can I help us? What can we do differently? I want to hear your ideas. But those ideas.

will only come if there's trust and if there's psychological safety. And it's your responsibility as a leader to provide that. Oh my God. OK, so I'm going to have to like pause because you guys are rapid fire, like just going, going nuggets. It's like perpetual nuggets of wisdom being dropped here, y 'all. Like no joke. So we could do a whole series just on the items that we would just discuss up to now. But for me, what I hear, more than anything, what I hear is,

having that humility, remaining humble as a leader, saying, I don't know everything, but because of my team and the people who I have in that trust, I know that we can actually pull through together. We can make these things work. Now, one of the things, you know, we talk about pre -pandemic, post -pandemic, but as we shifted to more remote work, do you think that actually affected how, you know, the culture in our workplace? What would you say? I do.

I do and I think it forced leaders to think differently. You know, I'll give you a great story. I had a team of about 85 people and a lot of them were coming. I called them the island of misfit toys. They were coming from all different parts of the company. They didn't care about each other. They didn't know each other. They didn't want to know each other.

They're like, you sell that weird stuff? I don't even know what that is. And they weren't making time for each other. And I saw this as an opportunity. I needed them to care about each other for a bunch of reasons. So what I did was I created a Kahoot. And if anybody's ever done a Kahoot, it's basically a multimedia quiz. They're very fun. But I asked all of the people on my team. I said, send me a little nugget about yourself that nobody else on the team knows. And so I had like 45 of these.

And so I created this quiz and one of the examples or one of the questions was, this person has visited every major ballpark in North America, but one. And they had three men and one woman to choose from. And so everybody guessed the men and of course it was Marsha. And so everyone's like, no way Marsha, that's so cool. So every time we got on a call with Marsha, someone would ask her a question about like what's left.

When are you going? And all of a sudden, Marsha looked different to them. She was now a person. She was actually more interesting. And this was just the tiny bits of forging connection. Now, the next thing I did, which was really important, we built a storytelling practice. And what I told everybody was, I want you to curate a story about the products that you sell.

but you're gonna say it in a way that you're gonna tell it to my retired school teacher mother. So no acronyms, no technical jargon. We've got to simplify and make it really easy to understand. And so everybody on the team was responsible for telling a story. And so I started featuring them on our team calls and I would say, okay, see, it's your turn. You're gonna tell your story. And so what started happening was all these light bulbs started going off like, that's what that does?

Oh, that compliments what I sell so nicely. I need to introduce you to Kevin because he's my customer. He needs that. Okay, let's talk. And so we started having all of these moments where people were recognizing, I get why we're together now. I get why this is important. So then we turned it external and we invited business partners and our customers to these calls. And so we were getting like 500 people attending these calls.

And I had a few business partners call me. They're like, dude, I had no idea that's what that did. I'm changing my whole strategy because that fits so beautifully into what I've been selling all this time. And so when now everybody's connected, we understand each other. We can talk about why you need to go and meet so and so on the team and why they're, they're important to your strategy, Mr. And Mrs. Customer. So all of those things were.

moments of creating psychological safety, creating trust, giving people an opportunity to shine. But it forged connection, which inspired innovation. It created new best practices. It allowed people to be vulnerable in front of each other and say, I'm having a hard time with my story. What did you do? Oh, and they listened. They listened to each other. Active listening is so, so important. It's a great power skill. So so many good things came out of this. I hope that kind of illustrates some.

some easy ways to amp up your leadership style. Oh my gosh. Not only did it illustrate it, but it really paints the full picture in that regard because it's injecting the human back into humanity. And I think that is one of the most important factors, honestly, when dealing with groups, when wanting to connect. And I mentioned this yesterday and during Denise's show that as humans, innately, we have a desire and a need to

connect with one another. If that line of connection is not there in any setting, you know that they're going to be discombobulated, obviously. So for me, that's very important. Go ahead. But this answered your question about being remote. So this team was entirely remote. And many of them had never met each other. And I had never met so many of them. So we had to forge some kind of interest in each other. And.

That was really important. But all of that were cultural moves. That was all. And hey, I called my team Mavericks and Hustlers. They wore that like a badge. And we were weird and unconventional. And we did things differently. And everybody around me, all the men that were on either side of me running their own teams, they're like, I don't know what dad's doing over there. It's weird. They've got storytelling programs. They've got things I've never heard of. I loved that.

I was so proud. I thought that was like the coolest thing to be weird. Let's start reframing instead of weird is unique. Yeah, well, we're good. I celebrate it. And I love it. I love it because we own that. We own that. It's not soft skills, but it's a power skill. So everyone hashtag power skills. I love it. Thank you so much for bringing awareness of that. And you know, because we do need those little it's in bits, authenticity.

for me is at the top of the chain when it comes to actually giving people that validation. I see you, I understand you. Now, how can we connect and make this work as a unit? And many workplaces like that. So, and you know, moving forward, how, like, what is it that differentiates you from just, you know, because you have a unique, just like that spice that you have, Lindsay, it's amazing. So,

Tell us a little bit more about it. I mean, I like to think I'm a weird combination, not a weird combination, a unique combination of a lot of corporate experience with a lot of heart. And because I walked in these shoes and because I led big teams, I know what works. And we've all had those terrible leaders. You learn more from the terrible than you do from the great. But,

In my book, I tell stories about all of it. And between my book and my podcast, Being on Shows Like This, I'm trying to consistently illustrate how to do good leadership, what it feels like, what it looks like. And there's a lot of ways to do it. I don't want everybody to have the same style of leadership. We don't want that. We want everybody to lead with their own character, their own purpose. But there are some tenets that should be

should be universally accepted. And my goal in life is to transform leadership as we know it. And if I can make a dent, I'm gonna try. And so that's really what my purpose is. And I think my background sets me up nicely for this kind of work. So I'm I gotta tell you right there, the fact that if you can just make one manager effective, collaborative,

supportive. It multiplies, right? You've got an entire team now people, like I said, I gave Tim Lee a shout out from seven fracking years ago, people. But it's made such a profound impact for me and my self value. And now that I'm mature, I can pay it forward, right to the next gen, right? And that's where you're doing is so critical and important. And by the way, thank you everyone that's like on today.

We've over a hundred people listening. So think about all these people alone, Lindsay, that are listening and saying, heck yeah. And I love the storytelling that you just mentioned because I say this to everybody, anytime you're a content creator, if you can connect an emotion to a concept, people will relate and remember. And that to me is a win too. So thank you, thank you. I'm like fangirling. And by the way, there's a lot of folks here.

that are fan, fangirling, fanmailing, is that even a word? Fanning? It is now. It is now. I'm making up terms. We're doing it. It's all good. But it's, you know, it's part of that what you would call for you irresistible, right? That irresistible culture that so differentiates you. So what are some of those key elements, right, of that irresistible culture?

that moving forward, what are some of the things that you see being implemented? Yeah. So let's first talk about free beer and ping pong tables. That is not culture. Those are perks and you can do all the swag in the world. You can buy hats and backpacks and shirts, but if your company culture sucks, it's going right in the goodwill bin. So if you are going to invest in those kinds of things, you better have all the other stuff in place first.

And there are so many ways to change the culture that you're in. And, know, Sia, you giving the shout out to Tim, let me just give everybody a little moment of homework. So I teach a LinkedIn workshop. And as I already said, LinkedIn is so, so vital to my success and the people around me. But one of the easiest things you can do to lift each other up is to write an unsolicited recommendation. So I would challenge all of you to go write a recommendation on LinkedIn for three people.

Do it this next week. First of all, the person that's going to get that recommendation is going to be delighted. They're going to be overwhelmed. They're going to feel so touched that you thought of them. But they will also likely turn around and give you one in return. And the guideline for recommendations is you don't want them to be more than a year old. But ideally, you want them six months or less. So that's one way of doing it. Now, that's using LinkedIn. But if you're in a corporate setting, one of the easiest things you can do is a shout out. And

give someone send their manager a note. I have to tell you how absolutely amazing Stephen Ang is. He is doing this, doing that, whatever, whatever you're going to say. And everybody, this is a very important thing. Make a folder in your email. I called it pats on the back. You can call it kudos. You can call it awards, whatever you want to call it. And anytime you get one of those, it goes in that folder and send it home.

Because God forbid you get laid off, you lose it. So all of these things go towards something. It's a technique that I do when I coach and we build our brag book. And your brag book is all of the recognition you've ever received in any job you've ever had. Your certifications, your awards, your podcasts. If you were published in an article, if you were whatever it is, it goes in your brag book. And the reason you do this, by the way, this is a living document. So this follows you in your career.

But the reason you do this is if you're interviewing or if you're being asked for a collab or a partnership, it is right there at your fingertips. Somebody says, hey, have you ever experienced the, oh, actually I did. In fact, let me tell you about it. And I got an award for that because when you are in the hot seat, you're not thinking clearly. You're not remembering all of your good things. And one more thing on this, these are facts. These are not feelings. Don't be shy about talking about your accomplishments. If you don't post on yourself,

Nobody else will. So, you know, Rocky asked me, how do I differentiate myself? Well, I know I'm good at a few things and it took me 15 years to be able to say that loudly, but I know I'm good at these things. So I'm not going to be shy about it. And I want people to know, Hey, I'm an expert in this space and I've got the chops to show. So build your bag book, keep that with you. That's so, so important for your development, for your career. And it makes you feel good.

Yes, I'm over here trying to hush myself because I'm like, yes. Yes. Keep going. I'm like making up weird. OK, I have to just add this because you know what? Damn it. We haven't done it. And you know me how I like to play.

All right. I love that bracket. You know what it is? Because I have a saying, Lindsay, and it's my own saying, and I don't care what anyone says. It's my own saying. All ships rise with a tide. When you celebrate others and you give them that just what you're giving is that atta boy, atta girl, whatever you want to call it. That one split second of appreciation because time is valuable. And when you give a thought to someone, that is so immeasurable.

it's infinitely received for that individual, but damn it, you give them that serotonin rush of frack yeah, thank you. Because sometimes we're not very gracious to our own selves. So as leaders, what I find fascinating is that negative talk, love yourself to people, give yourself an add a girl, add a boy, whatever you want to call it. You know what, we don't see this enough. And some people call it like bragging.

It's not bragging if you have accomplished something to say, Hey, LinkedIn, I'm really proud that I did X. That's okay. Celebrate yourself because we don't remember it. We're in our own worlds. So yeah, girl. Wait, one more time.

If I may, it's not bragging, it's stating facts. Facts, not feelings. There we go. Okay. I will say this, if you, this is a hot LinkedIn tip. So in your experience section where you have all of your jobs listed, put the most impactful thing or the biggest award or your biggest deal as the top line. Because when you're looking at somebody's LinkedIn profile, most of the people aren't going to open that up. They'll only see that top line. So,

Put the most punch in your face, like badass thing you've ever done on that top line. And they're going to see one thing after another, after another that you are really good at. No, I didn't bring a very important point is because, you know, people literally only have like two and a half seconds or three seconds to actually see what you do and decipher what you do from your headline. So it's important for you to drive that point like.

Nail it. And some individuals don't know this because they just look at LinkedIn in a non -traditional way or in a traditional way. I'll just say it's just a job site, right? Well, your LinkedIn profile is your landing page. If you are Googled, that is the first thing that is going to come up. So, but please, for the love of Pete, do not give up your banner to a skyline or a beach or some pretty picture. That is a huge chunk of real estate. Own it. It's yours.

And your headline is the most important piece of your entire LinkedIn profile, because that's what follows you around as you're commenting and engaging with other people. So give it some thought. And you guys, you are 360 degree humans. You should not only say, I am vice president of development. You are so much more than that. I encourage you to add a little bit of personality, a little bit of personal stuff. Mine says, I'm a mom of twins, and I love wiener dogs, which I do. She's.

right behind me. But do you know how many people talk to me about that? I can't tell you the first time I meet people, they're like, I'm a twin, or, oh, my God, my brother's a twin, or look, you know, whatever. And then the wiener dog things, it's just a way for people to connect. It's relatability. Yeah, I love that. I love that you mentioned that, Lindsay, just because, again, people don't really think about it that way. They think that, you know, they have to be like, oh, yeah, vice president of this, you know,

see so this and like, I was like, okay, that is your professional side, but what about you? I want to connect with you. Yeah. You know, the transaction will come, but the connectivity is like leading with that. I always say connection before transaction. It's one of the things that I lead by because it's so important, right? You, people will not do business with individuals they don't know, like, nor trust. So why not, you know, highlight as part of your, your headline as well. So.

I used to have salsa dancer. I'll teach you how to dance salsa. I used to have a dancing lady. Yeah. Well, so I had a client and she's like, Lindsay, I'm a cabaret singer. Should I put that there? I'm like, absolutely. That's so cool. Absolutely. So now people look at that. They're like, you're a cabaret singer? There's a woman who just joined Outlier Project and she's a hip hop dancer. And I'm like, I would never know that by her picture. So it's so cool that she put it there and it makes me want to learn more.

My goodness. Yeah, I used to tell Sia, I'm like, I mean, I love your headline. You have test main and devil, you know, of creation. You should say creation. She's like, no, Raquel, that's too much. It's like, it's your personality. I know. I know. Yes. But I've been called many things. Let's just leave it at that. But it's funny you should mention that because I actually added my name. I have in parentheses, sleepy ears. And my boyfriend was like,

Why do you have sleepy ears on there? And I said, do you know why? Because there's a story behind it and if anyone cares, they will ask. And when they ask that, that tells me there's some curiosity and they're willing and they're wanting to learn more and have a conversation. So yeah, your headline, your image that you put up is so critical. And yes.

Yeah. It does hurt me when I see people say VP of blah, blah, blah, or CEO was like, you know what? That may have that as long as you are, it should be the first. Yeah. They just have to have other besides it. And you know, it's, it's a really funny, um, conversation I have with my kids because they do not like that. My Instagram is my business and my personal. And I'm like, guys, I'm one person. I don't have a, you know, everything I live with a lot of purpose. So everything that I'm doing,

dovetails off of each other and they're like, yes, but we want our stuff to stay separate. I'm like, sorry, I'm a mother and I have children and you are a part of this equation. And, you know, some people think differently of their brand that way, but for me, this is so much of how I show up and it's important. Love it. And showing up is extremely important. I think that is the first step, you know, for us in our journeys is being able to show up just as yourself, authentically you and, you know, in part.

wisdom do as much as you can for the community. And I live by that. Collaboration is another one. But I know we digressed, but it's important to touch on those things, those subtleties that people really don't take into consideration that can actually be major, major for their careers and journeys. And looking into the future, Lindsay, so I'm going to shift this back to the actual topic. Looking ahead, what trends do you foresee in the future for workplace culture?

How can these cultures thrive with everything that is being injected? Yeah, listen. I mean, the easiest way, and why I coach the way I coach, I work with entire C -suites to really rewire the way that they lead. We work on communication. We work on how do they, vulnerability is a tough one for a lot of leaders. So if you...

You know, it's such a hot word and everybody's like, be vulnerable, be vulnerable, it'll help you be authentic. And, you know, these are kind of buzzwords, but for somebody who has been kind of leading like an ogre for 20 years or really tough, the concept of being vulnerable and them sharing they were bad at something is not real appetizing. So the way that I teach this is vulnerability is a spectrum.

So you can go really light and be like, did anybody slip on the ice today? I fell and I hurt my butt. I'm so sore. You're not saying you're bad at anything. You're just giving someone an opportunity to relate to you. And that's really what vulnerability invites. Now, you, if you're a CFO and you say, I was the worst accountant ever. Sure. That's really vulnerable. Does it mean you're a bad CFO? No.

It just means that you grew from that moment. And I think having leaders embrace the humanness and really being able to hone in on those power skills, that's what everybody asked for in the great resignation. You know, the great resignation, we saw people leaving their companies in droves without jobs to go to. They had had enough. They demanded to be treated better. They were so over.

this, I'm working crazy hours for you. You don't appreciate me. You don't highlight anything I'm doing. You've passed me over for promotions, like enough. And so I really do feel like that shifted things in the way that leaders had to think about their employees. And I look at companies led by like Sir Richard Branson, who always puts his people first. And when he takes care of his people, they take care of their clients.

That is a modern leadership mindset. Simon Sinek talks about it all the time. Brene Brown talks about it in her own way. And when you really kind of focus on the heartbeats, not headcount, that's a hashtag I always use. And you remember that there are people that you serve because you are serving people as a leader, whether you are a mid -level manager, a VP, an SVP, a GM, a C -suite.

you are responsible to these people. And if you are so fractured away from your mission, you need to find a way to get back to that. So for me, what I look at as the trends that are changing, I think obviously the whole remote versus in the office is a hot one. What I find really interesting about all of that is it's mostly led by men. These are men who...

When you ask your employees, what do they need from you? I'm part of that sandwich generation. We take care of our parents. We take care of our children. Some of these people might answer, I need flexibility. If you can give me flexibility, I'll give you everything. And ask people what they need is super, super important. And I just, sometimes it's really freaking easy to give them what they need. And at this whole, like, you must be in the office in order to be doing a good job. It's such nonsense.

It really, really is. And I'll tell you what's really happening here, because I just talked about this last night. There is a company I know very well. They demanded you must be in the office three days a week if you are a manager. So you know what happens? They badge in. They stay for 10 minutes. They leave, and they go work from home. So they're getting the credit for being in the office. They have the badge records. But is that doing anything good for anyone?

I mean, it is so demoralizing to do bullshit, bullshit, bullshit hockey puck. And it's a weirdest thing that you say that because that kills your vibe, man. You can't kill morale faster when you don't enable someone to just let them be. Raquel and I talk about this all the time. Sure, there are some tasks in your job that are timely. Maybe if someone's waiting, if you're like part of the chain and you got to kind of workflow it, right?

But you know what, in this day and age people, if you got to do your job at two in the morning, cause that's the time your brain activates, I don't give a crap. Like as long as it's done, you know what I mean? If your kid has a recital, I don't want you to work while your kid has a recital. Like just, oh girl, you are just - Well, so I have a really good friend, Jody Thompson, and she does what I do as well. And she actually commissioned a study where they measured cortisol.

in both the employees and their families from those who were working from home and had autonomy versus in the office. And the results were really mind boggling in a good way for remote work. People were much more at ease. They were much healthier than the ones that were forced to come into the office. And I mean, it's not a hard conclusion to draw, but it's really impressive when it's backed with science that it's, it's.

Not the answer to everything. And she's writing a book called The Autonomy Economy. It's not out yet, but give your people the space to do the jobs they were hired for. They will shine. They will do the things that you need them to do. They will show you loyalty. And in a world where there is no more company loyalty and people don't quit companies, they quit managers, you need that from your people. You need to build that trust. Trust is your currency. And if you don't have that, you don't have much.

truth bombs, perpetual on steroid. I'm telling you, Lindy, I don't know. He's like, we're just dropping. You can write a book, an entire book, just basically on what you just said in these last 50 minutes, y 'all. I did. Wow. So yes, you can write another one. Let's tell us a little bit about your book and where we can find it. Just because it's an amazing, I mean, the nuggets that you deliver there and the value is just unmatched.

Well, thank you. The book is called Top Down Culture, Revolutionizing Leadership to Drive Results. And the whole point of all of this is results. I mean, having a good feeling of where you work is nice, but if it doesn't make people perform, what's the point? The book is rife with stories, tons and tons of stories of the good, the bad, and everything in between.

But I really wanted to illustrate what good leadership looks and feels like and what not to do and so it's my methodology it was It was very easy to write I had so much material and it is you know one more way for people to Find how to do this how to change the way they're doing it and guys. It's not hard. It's human How you want to be led?

and be that leader. And you don't need to be a people leader to do that. So the book you can get on Amazon, I think we throw the QR code up there. I'd love you to check it out. And I'd love your feedback and reviews. I mean, to me, this is just one more tool in the toolbox to spread the love and help people understand there is a really great way to lead and anybody can do it. We'll definitely keep spreading. I a call to action. Oh, yeah, go for it.

No, go ahead. Keep spreading. No. Oh, well, oh my God. Can I just say, I'm laughing because Raquel and I are moving each other. So if you see a lot of her future kids, cause we're laughing because we're doing it. But anyway, call to action, everyone. I will challenge. There have been at least 11 QR code scans so far for those that have scanned and those are about to scan. I'm all for doing a little book club. Shout out Benita. If you want to do this book. I challenge.

Whoever wants to participate with me and Raquel, let us read it and let's talk about it because I'm all for it. So you guys, whoever scans, hit me up and Raquel up, let's do a book club and let's challenge Lindsay a little bit here with her book and maybe she can give us insights of our findings of what she's put out guys. Let's do this. Love that. I think that's such a great idea. Definitely such a great idea and shout out to Avil Beckford and she also does the book.

Thank you so much for the support. And to me, it's one of those things like, OK, we bring this. We're on LinkedIn. We lead by example. And Lindsay is no exception. God, Lee, your top leader. And I'm saying this with the utmost care and nurturing that I can. Influencing. You are influencing that space. You are leading it. And my gosh, I'm just so honored to.

to really know you, to really be right there with you and learn from you every single day. So one last thing, do tell the individuals we talked about your vote, but how can they reach you? Yeah, so the easiest thing is to go to my website, Heartbeat4Hire. All of my socials are connected there. The book is connected there. The workshops that I do are all there. But I'm super active on LinkedIn. If we're not already connected, please connect with me. I love meeting new people. I love being connected to new people. I am

always inspired by the incredible things I see out there. And all of my content that is on LinkedIn is also on my other socials. So I have a YouTube channel with my podcast, would love you to check it out and subscribe. That is the best way to support an entrepreneur. So whether it's writing a review, subscribing to a YouTube channel, I don't think people that are not entrepreneurs fully understand this, but those things are so meaningful. Reviews are so meaningful.

And if you liked what you heard, show some love. It is so appreciated, honestly. And for anybody with a YouTube channel, you know this. But when you get to 1 ,000 subscribers, you can monetize. So I'm in this push. I'm told daily by a lot of people that my SEO isn't up to snuff, and I've got all these backlink problems. Oh, well. But it's there, and it's great content. And I think we tell some really great stories. So I hope they inspire you.

Oh my gosh, let's not even get started on the whole your SEO needs to be reworked. DMs only Anyone that gets my out of office knows exactly where this is coming from. So yeah. Yeah, no, I just think it's hilarious. We went on a rant on that yesterday. So we're not going to do it here today, but people know what we're talking about the whole pitch -lapping. But Lindsay, I'm not even going to prod your brain. I'm not going to pick your brain anymore because you've delivered so

much value during the show. I am blown away and I hope the audience really walks away. And I hope you guys were taking notes and please hashtag team replay. If you believe, you know, if you have someone in your network who can benefit from the information that was delivered today, which I know everyone can, every single one of us who are on this platform can definitely take and internalize many, many of the golden nuggets that were dropped here. So Lindsay, are there any parting words, anything you would like to say before we?

you know, sign off. I just think it's so important for you to live in your purpose and whether that is through a corporate job or being an entrepreneur, you have to find your why. And sometimes when you're working for someone else, it's hard to do that. And especially when the mission is defined by somebody else. But when I had all those corporate jobs, I had to get behind what I was selling. See, I said it at the top. Whenever you're good at something and you really can get passionate about it,

you're gonna just light the world on fire. So find that purpose, find your why, and it will always serve you well. It will act as a really good moral compass, but you're just gonna be better. Love it. Love it. Oh my goodness. Miss Sia, would you like some parting words? I know you have a lot to say about this. No, this is so inspiring. And Lindsay, thank you so much for your time to talk to us. I mean, guys, I'm going to like,

cut these up into shorts that everyone can just digestible and everyone just please it's it's so great and inspiring to excel to do more to be more to get more. You know what I mean? So just put yourself out there. Lindsay, you've been awesome. Thank you so much. I mean, damn. Oh my God. Well, from my side to you guys, definitely. Thank you. Thank you, Lindsay, is an honor. And like I said, I appreciate you. And I'm just so happy that we are.

in the same tribe, that we are walking together in unison for making the communities, making the workplaces even better. From me to you all, thank you, thank you, thank you to the audience members who are still here, my goodness. I am just so, I'm so grateful every single day to be able to get the support from you guys. I love you. Thank you from all over the world, literally. But from me to you.

you know, check us back out in a few weeks. You know, the show will be every, well bi -weekly, every two weeks. So for me to you, yeah, we're going to do bi -weekly. So just for me to you, I just want to tell you, I have what I call my three L's, always live, love and lead. And, you know, Lindsay is a stellar, stellar example of this. When you live with authenticity, you are honoring yourself.

when you love with authenticity, you're honoring others. But when you lead with authenticity, you're doing both. So keep doing both every single day, guys. And always feel free to reach out to us. Connect with us, and this is what this corner is for, Connection Corner for people who are influencing and leading the way for others. So I love you all. Thank you again, ladies. And let's keep it rocking. Thanks, ladies. Love you.