Unpacked with Ron Harvey
People Always Matter. Join Ron as he unpacks leadership with his guests.
Unpacked with Ron Harvey
How Strategic Relationships Drive Corporate Success
What does it take to become a corporate executive at just 24? On this episode of the Unpacked Podcast, we’re thrilled to have Victoria Pelletier share her extraordinary journey from her first job at age 11 to leading major Fortune 100 companies like IBM and Accenture. Victoria's story unfolds not just her professional milestones but also her life as an author, board member, public speaker, wife, and mother. We delve into the emotional rollercoaster of stepping into leadership roles at a young age and how confidence and strategic relationships played pivotal roles in her success.
Victoria offers invaluable insights into navigating the tech industry as a woman, revealing the inner workings of her leadership philosophy. Learn how she transformed perceptions and embraced her uniqueness to foster inclusivity and build genuine connections in male-dominated environments. Through personal anecdotes, Victoria highlights the critical importance of self-awareness, authenticity, and strategic intentionality in leadership. She shares her strategies for creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and heard, and recounts her experiences of overcoming challenges and biases with resilience and grace.
In our conversation, we also unpack the critical role of mentorship and sponsorship in one's professional journey. Victoria emphasizes the necessity of having a mentor, coach, and sponsor to advocate for you and support your growth. We discuss the importance of choosing mentors who align with your goals and values, and the reciprocal nature of effective mentorship. The episode wraps up with a heartfelt discussion on the significance of building a supportive community, encouraging listeners to seek out and nurture relationships that propel them towards their aspirations. Join us for a wealth of practical advice and inspiring stories from a leader who has truly walked the talk.
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Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey
“If you don’t have something to measure your growth, you won’t be self-aware or intentional about your growth.”
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Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...
Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host leadership consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. Ron's delighted to have you join us as he unpacks and shares his leadership experience, designed to help you in your leadership journey. Ron believes that leadership is the fundamental driver towards making a difference. So now to find out more of what it means to unpack leadership, here's your host, Ron.
Speaker 2:Harvey, good morning. This is Ron Harvey. I'm the Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer for Global Core Strategies and Consulting, which is basically a leadership firm, and we're based out of Columbia, south Carolina, and my wife and I have been in the business now for 10 years. We're both veterans of the Army and when we walk away from serving the country, we wanted to figure out another way to serve and we had so much experience and leadership and diversity and traveling around the world and seeing so many different things that we figured that would be a good spot for us to add value to something we really cared about. So we launched a company called Global Corps and been phenomenal and had a lot of support. So we've been very successful based on the relationships and the people we know that's taking care of us. I would love to tell you it was our degrees. I would love to tell you it was our certifications yeah, that counts, but it's the relationships that really made us successful in our business and meeting people and talking to people and taking care of people. So as we go into this today, we've always paused to say what do we continue to do to give value, to add value to people that sometimes are watching and listening listening for that nugget to help make them better.
Speaker 2:So we do a podcast and we bring guests from all over the world with all backgrounds. We are non-biased at all, like people come on and we have real conversations. The challenging part is I'm surprised that we haven't run out of guests. Is we never send them the questions and they're like, yeah, bring me on for that show. So we don't send any questions. We do promise to talk about leadership, but outside of that, we really just uncover stuff and talk about stuff that's happening, but no one's talking about it. So we can figure it out together.
Speaker 2:So I'm super excited to have Victoria on with us and she's in a warmer place to me Well, I don't know South Carolina's warm, she's in South Florida, miami, right now. So pleasure to have you. Thank you for saying yes, but I'm going to pause and give her the microphone, because I don't do well introducing people. Who knows them better than me or them? So I'm going to let her do the introduction and tell you who she is, what she does and whatever she wants to share. So let me hand you the microphone, victoria.
Speaker 3:Thank you for saying yes. Thanks for having me, ron. It's an absolute pleasure to be here. So, victoria Peltier, I am a forever long it feels like corporate executive in primarily the business to business professional services world.
Speaker 3:I got recruited out of banking while I was in university to step into my first executive role at H24. So it was a huge stretch role for me as a chief operating officer for what's called a BPO company business process outsourcing and so think technical support and customer care and sales and those kinds of things and that was my foray into the world of B2B. I loved it. I thought I was going to be a lawyer, but I kept putting that off because I loved the corporate world, I loved leadership and I was challenged in it and excited by what I was doing. And so I've stayed in that space ever since, grown from what was private companies to now probably the last 15 years or so, leading in Fortune 100 companies, the likes of Brookfield, aon, american Express, ibm and Accenture being the most recent ones.
Speaker 3:I'm currently in transition, looking for my next C-suite gig. But I also describe myself as a multi-potentialite and that means I have a ton of like diverse interests and passions. I've always had side hustles, if you will. I've built businesses, I'm an author, I sit on multiple boards and I'm a professional public speaker. And on the personal side, I'm a wife, I'm a mother to two amazing humans that also make me feel old when I tell you that they are 24 and soon to be 20. And I'm a fitness fanatic, foodie and wine lover. That rounds it all out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if that fitness fanatic and foodie go together Somehow. Yes.
Speaker 3:One certainly makes the other a lot easier to do without packing on the pounds.
Speaker 2:Wow, I mean phenomenal. So you're in Florida, you're in leadership, but you started really really young, 24, you know, and you had some opportunities. What was it like at 24, stepping into that role initially? Like right out the gate, you know someone's listening. They're probably the other Victoria that's getting ready to go down that path. You went down. What? Was it like you know, overwhelming stressed, not sure, feeling, insecure what?
Speaker 3:was it like it was all of the above? Now I started working at 11. I need your listeners to know, like I do recognize that 24 years old to step into a C-suite job is highly unusual. Yes, I started working at 11. My first leadership role came at 14, as the assistant manager of the shoe store I worked at while I was in high school and then I graduated high school at 16 and went off to university and worked and got promoted through the ranks. So although I was young, I still had a lot of years 10 years as a leader even at that point.
Speaker 3:But I'd come from running banking call center operations to stepping into the COO role where every function except for finance reported to me. So it was a massive stretch role for me. I was leading thousands of people. I am not a fan of fake it till you make it with one exception confidence and so I think a large part of why I stepped into that role and they hired me besides the fact that I'd been running banking call center operations and they had banking clients and it was mostly contact center was I showed up with confidence, even though I wasn't feeling that it was like the duck you know paddling underwater.
Speaker 3:I don't really like the phrase imposter syndrome, but it's probably the best way to describe it, and there was a few things I did, however, that were good and bad, and so good. I've always built really diverse teams and I've surrounded myself with people who, I believe, know more and have more than I do, or have different experiences. So, for all those functional areas I knew nothing about, I needed to assess the people that were in those roles and ensure that they were the right people, or hire people into it. That helped me ensure that they were the right people, or hire people into it. That helped me.
Speaker 3:Where I fell down as a leader is that imposter syndrome, coupled with the fact that I had a really difficult upbringing and I was used to sort of building walls around myself. I feel like I wear this mask of all business all the time. I'm not going to show a significant amount of emotion. I'm not going to be vulnerable, because I don't want anyone questioning how or why I've earned my seat at the table as a 24-year-old woman, who's, by the way, part of the LGBT community. I was married to a woman at that point and I'm still openly queer, even though I'm now married to a man, and so I felt like I needed to show up with this mask, and I had a horrible nickname I found out many years later as the Iron Maiden because I felt I needed to be a certain way as this young female.
Speaker 2:So you're portraying that. I mean you felt like you had to be successful. I mean because there are people that are in that space right now, as you're talking and explaining your background and how you showed up at 26 as a female and fit into a lot of diverse populations, people really feel like this is who I have to be and they lose their authentic selves being something they're not. Where did it turn for you? I mean because that's a spot that a lot of people struggle at Imposter syndrome. You know, as you say, you're not a fan of it, but it happens. There's a term that's out there that people can understand Fake it till you make it. I'm not a fan of that. I'm like, yeah, you can fake it till you break it too, I mean. So faking it can get a whole lot of people in trouble and mess a lot of stuff up versus saying I don't know. So as a woman in that space, was it still pretty male dominant?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and sadly, ron, it hasn't really changed, particularly as I've spent a lot more time in technology companies, and so for me, yes, I felt like the only in many instances. So I was the only woman on the leadership team At the time. I was the youngest by two decades. I'm certainly not the youngest around the table necessarily now, although in some cases I still am. I'm in my late forties, and so I again felt like I needed to show up a particular way, and, by the way, the leadership that I had experienced and I think my parents' generation experience was much more of that sort of authoritarian we're not here to be friends, like that kind of thing and that's actually who I am authentically Like.
Speaker 3:I'm extremely emotional and I love to connect with people, but I didn't show up that way at work, and that's because that's what I saw in leadership and because I was the only in many instances, in many instances. So I had to. When I heard it I don't know, I was 27 or 28 when, I think I then heard that my nickname was the Iron Maiden, I was like, oh ouch. Well, like perception's reality for people, you know, and so I was like clearly like one. It's not who I am, but this is how I'm showing up. So I'm going to have to do something very different in terms of changing perception, but it also meant changing how I showed up.
Speaker 2:Yes, let's unpack that for a little while, because oftentimes there are some perceptions that come along and people want to change it, but they don't intentionally change their behavior, but they want the perception to change. And in my head and I could be wrong for all my listeners I don't think it's possible to change perception without changing something about your behavior how you talk or how you walk, or what you read or how you. Something about you has to change so I can see something different yeah, what did you do?
Speaker 3:I have a phrase I use a lot for everything from like personal branding to diversity and inclusion practices, and in this case, it was my leadership, that strategic intentionality, and so particularly around you're not leadership gurus strategic intentionality two words that we use a You're not leadership gurus.
Speaker 2:Strategic intentionality two words that we use a lot and you put them together. But how fun, pat, when you say strategic intentionality, I love both of them, but when you blend them together, the listeners are like what did she just say to me?
Speaker 3:So for me, some of the pieces around being strategic was well.
Speaker 3:An element of that came with incredible amount of self-reflection and self-awareness and understanding how I was showing up and then building a strategy for how to pivot.
Speaker 3:And then the intention came in with things that, quite frankly, made me really uncomfortable. So, because I showed up all business all the time, the intention came initially with really baby steps, things like I'm like when I walk into a meeting, I'm not going to jump right into the agenda, I'm going to take the first five or seven minutes to engage with people, to ask them about their weekends, about their family, what's going on. That just didn't feel natural for me because I was so used to being hustling and being on all the time, to having a very different conversation with people in one-on-ones, for example. It's not going to be all about business updates, it's not going to be about performance. We're going to talk about again their personal. We show up as our whole human self and so start to understand who that human is, start to talk about career and aspirations on all these things. So there was strategy behind me needing to be a very different kind of leader and intention. That came with how I thought how I spoke and how I acted.
Speaker 2:Yes, which is huge for you If you're listening and you're paying attention to Victoria. Sharing a recipe is what I always called it. People call it a strategy. I use a language that settles down. It's a recipe. What's your recipe to get what you're trying to get? Strategic. So in corporate world, they all use the word strategic In general conversation around the bar recipe when they make that drink. It's a recipe that makes that drink really taste good. What's the recipe to get the results that you're trying to get? And so what Victoria is walking through is we were taught one way to show up at work, and that was different based on your gender, based on your race, based on your position, based on your education, based on your it was based on.
Speaker 3:So many things that anybody can be confused on how to show up. How did you figure that? I never really had great examples myself, ron, of leaders. In fact, it was sort of the opposite. I feel like I learned from the horrible leaders whom I worked with. There were some that were unethical, some that were just the bad boss, if you will, and so I used them instead to model the opposite and started to recognize, as I took these steps and saw what worked, leaned more heavily into that.
Speaker 3:So for me, I learned that being authentic and showing up, sharing lived experience that I was ashamed of but it really contributed to how I showed up every day was important to the type of communications that I have with people and being transparent. A lot of my career has been spent working through kind of transformational change. I've been a part of or supported even clients with probably around 40 merger, acquisition or related transactions and corporate restructure that comes with that. So I've learned how to manage that change and a lot of that. To do that effectively actually comes down to how we communicate, and so I started to adapt. I've been in so many different situations that it's put me in a position to learn from all of those experiences, what worked well, what hasn't to then change my leadership style, to show up as I refer to it, as this whole human leader.
Speaker 3:And that's everything from me being my authentic self. That includes being vulnerable with people to build trust and rapport with people to again how I communicate. Transparency and communication Doesn't mean there's a trade-off for strong business performance and performance management if necessary, but doing that from a place where I built trust with the people that I'm leading directly.
Speaker 2:Wow. So I'm happy to get you to say that again, because often people think it's a trade-off and you said it really really well, like it's end in both versus either. Or did you figure out if people want to call it balance I don't use the word balance because it's like a seesaw someone has to weigh a little bit more for us to have fun on it. I call it harmony. I call it getting along with you know. So, for me, sometimes I'm at 80 in this space with my family and sometimes I'm at 20, based on what's happening and what we need at that moment. How did you figure out to show up? You know, not the ironmaid, but show up as hey, let me be authentic, because we do tell people, be your authentic self, long as it's within what we want authentic to be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a balance and so for sure I mean and I have long since practiced radical candor. For those of your listeners who've read the book by Kim Scott, I like the way she approaches that and it doesn't mean you're a jerk. In terms of the direct conversation you need to have, you do it in a way and from a place of care and compassion and hoping for progress or improvement with those individuals. But the best way to do that, the authenticity comes in. Again, I think, how you build relationships with people. The sharing of our own lived experiences builds that connection and understanding and so that when you need to have those difficult conversations, you're doing it from a place of trust and they receive the feedback so much better because they know you've got their best interests at heart.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I love it as a leader. You don't have to be a jerk, and sometimes you're taught. You know when I was coming up like don't let them see you sweat, Don't be vulnerable, keep your personal, your professional stuff. I think there's oversharing, there's a limit to what you share, but there has to be a place where people see you as a human, so there has to be something that you share. You know, I'm a father, I'm a husband, I love to work out or I love to, but whatever those things are, people want to know, because we want to know everything about our staff, but very rarely do we want them to know anything about us other than we're the boss, we sign the check and we're watching them.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:And we call that a relationship. I'm not a fan of that style of relationship because I think it has to be where we both can create the space to be vulnerable, and I think leaders go first. If you want vulnerability to be in your organization, you're going to have to be a little vulnerable, you have to be more transparent. And then people you have to model what you expect. I use this quote or this phrase.
Speaker 2:I always say to people your audio has to match your video. Agreed, if you say it, I ought to see it, but if you say it but I see something else, I'm going to go after what I see more than what I hear. That's why video is so popular. I tell people like what you do and what I see is probably what I'm going to mimic. Very rarely am I going to mimic what you say, but you're dropping a lot of great nuggets, words that I love and buzzwords that drop in. Can you share?
Speaker 2:We're in agreement when we're talking about you as an individual and being in a DE&I space, and usually when DE&I comes up and it's pretty chaotic right now across our entire society for everyone like how do we deal with certain things? What do we teach? What don't we teach? How do we see people? How do we not see people? Very rarely do we get to talk openly about DE&I and looking at more than just black and white. Where do we unpack this so we can let our listeners learn a little bit more than what they may not know? Because sometimes people, especially in my community, african-americans are like I don't want to teach white people about DE&I. I'm like, well, okay, well, where are they going to?
Speaker 1:learn that Like somebody has to have the conversation.
Speaker 2:I get the frustration, but then you have I don't see a lot of people that's not of color in DE&I that's being the facilitators and the experts in that space, and so it's a pleasure to have you on here to have a conversation that people can hear from both sides of who we are, what we are and how we do it, and we both believe in it.
Speaker 3:So I came out as bisexual. I've used different terms over the years. I just kind of use queer now it just means I'm not straight at age 14 in a small town while going to a Catholic high school. So that's been one of the elements of diversity. You know, for me, being a woman in business and it was not very long ago where I was leading a large strategic executive meeting in technology space predominantly, which still has some ways to go, and it was myself, one other woman and 40 men, and so my journey around DEI really began when I stepped into that first executive role because I was young, the only woman and queer. I was like holy heck.
Speaker 3:And, by the way, I come from the child welfare system, adopted out of it, but to a lower socioeconomic home. So there's just all these elements. So I encourage people to recognize that diversity, to your point, is more than black and white and it's more than gender and we can have like intersection over many of these things. But the reason I also lean so heavily into it is that world of outsourcing that I was in has not typically been the destination job to go to. You go when you're under or unemployed, a new immigrant to the country, and so I recognize that the team that I came in to lead was very, very diverse, with a massive turnover something like two 300%, yeah and so if I wanted to retain people for longer and have them engage so they were producing better, then I needed to create a better environment for them, and what better way to do that than recognizing even though I was the Iron Maiden, I've always been heavily leaned into DEI and trying to create a sense of belonging in terms of our uniqueness, and I've been very fortunate that I think it was back in 2015,.
Speaker 3:I then started to lead a business in the human capital space, so working, consulting and providing both consulting technology and services to companies around their workforce and culture and now, all of a sudden, marrying what I was so passionate about with how I got paid was amazing, and a big part of that has been also talking about DEI. And, as you said, ron, so much has changed over the last couple of years with you, know, and I live in South Florida, and so let's not talk about my governor and what's been happening in the state or talk about affirmative action that's been repealed and all those things. But you're right, I've been told when asked to speak on diversity, which is one of the topics I do from a public speaking and coaching standpoint that I wasn't diverse enough, and so I was like well, what does?
Speaker 2:that mean? Yeah, because you look at, you say, okay, I have a Caucasian woman sitting in front of me. What does she know about diversity? And that's a bias, that's a judgment really, really quick, and that's where we get in trouble. How did that land, what did it mean and how did you respond to it? Like you're not diverse enough.
Speaker 3:You're a professional speaker and you show up on stage, the first thing they think it has to be someone of color, always talking about it. It doesn't. But that said, I go back to strategic intentionality. If we're going to have a panel or if it's going to be a conference with a multitude of speakers, then those organizers need to be very strategic and then around what diversity and how they want to show up for their audience and then be really intentional about who they put on stage, and that needs to be a mix. There's a big conference coming up here in Miami in just a couple of weeks time and I would love to go. It's got Gary Vaynerchuk I think I'm not a baseball fan One of the Rodriguez I don't remember the big Rodriguez who's speaking.
Speaker 3:I looked at it and I followed.
Speaker 3:I was a speaker at an event several years ago after Gary Vaynerchuk. Everyone was there to see him, not to see me, but it's just got this lineup, I think, of about 12 speakers One woman, white, one Hispanic man and I think the rest are all white men. So I was like organizers, you need to do better than this and recognize the various elements of diversity and I mean I'm super open about being part of the LGBT community, but for someone to make a you know, a comment to me that I wasn't diverse enough, just because, in this case, what they wanted is they wanted someone of color to be on stage, without understanding who I am and what I could bring to the table. Yes, I still have significant privileges of white woman born in North America, but I've got all these other facets that I can bring to the table. Yes, I still have significant privileges a white woman born in North America, but I've got all these other facets that I can bring to the table and I'm an incredible ally to the rest of the community.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and that's the conversation that we got to be able to sit down and have, because you know people will make the judgment without understanding what all you have packed. I call it carry on luggage. You know it's like going to the airport and everybody carries a suitcase that if TSA says let it go, they'd freak out because their whole life is in there. And I don't think we take enough time to understand what people have in their carry-on luggage. They judge it just based on that's a really pretty suitcase, but they don't really know what's inside of it. And so when you start thinking about the levels of diversity and making sure that people feel like they see them or something about them is shown and being represented across all platforms is so important, but people don't want to have the conversations anymore and if they do, they're minimizing it to just gender, sexual orientation or race. Outside of that, they feel like we've checked all the boxes and that's so untrue and it's not productive anymore.
Speaker 2:I mean, so we got to go a little deeper, a little further and really be able to, as I tell people, for me being nonjudgmental, I mean, I accept you whoever you are. Tell me who that is so I can respect it and I'm okay with that. Now let me be real clear. That's not what I was taught when I was growing up. So I had to modify, I had to change, and not because some rule said it or some policy we I had to modify. I had to change, and not because some rule said it or some policy. We could change all the policies if we want to change. Here's what I truly believe, victoria until we change hearts, the policy never gets implemented in any way.
Speaker 3:I agree 100% so.
Speaker 2:I get it. We got to do the legal stuff. But humans have to change. Like I got to want to care, I got to want to respect. I want to value everybody to respect. I want to want to value everybody. So diversity for me is can I appreciate, not just tolerate? Can I truly appreciate who's in front of me? Because people will tolerate you just because they have to. It's their job and they don't want to get in trouble and they don't want to be looked at as something true, like they're making bad decisions, and so they'll tolerate you. But behind closed doors they're a different person. Publicly they'll show up saying all the right things and doing all the right things. Here's the challenge. I tell people that are listening to us If you want to find out if you're struggling with anything in DE&I, let it show up at your house and you'll figure it out real quick.
Speaker 2:You'll figure it out. If you think you don't have a problem with someone in the LGBTQ community, let your child bring home. Someone of the same sex You'll know. Or someone of a different race, You'll know. Or you'll know. Or someone of a different religion you'll know, Because when it shows up at your house and comes at your doorstep. You'll be amazed how people respond. Then, Publicly, they'll say what when the camera's running? But behind closed doors they'll show up.
Speaker 3:So I'll tell you that my test is can I embrace it if it shows up at my door?
Speaker 2:Love it. That's a test.
Speaker 3:I feel very fortunate that my mom, the woman who adopted me, was incredibly liberal and very much of that, so I'm glad she taught me love, so I was able to embrace that and bring that into the you know the world, but it's so sad that it still exists. So sad story. At the beginning of March I started as CEO in a portfolio company owned by a very conservative family office who found out during my first week of employment that I'm queer and first of all I was like did you not Google me? And by the way, on my resume it says like I've won these awards for my outstanding LGBT leadership and mentorship. And they let me go because of their very conservative religious beliefs. And I'm like here we are in North America in 2024.
Speaker 2:And you, as a Black man, would have you know, oh, yes, I tell people all the time and I love having these conversations. I tell people I say, because the only way you get to do it candor. If you can't have the conversation, you can't change the behavior. It's just no way it's possible. What you can't talk about, you can't do anything about. And so I enjoy having the conversations and I with having the conversations, and I don't take it personal. Unless someone does something that's offensive, I hold them accountable. But I have the conversations. As uncomfortable as they may be, as much as I may disagree, I can listen to the conversations. So I can at least say okay, I understand your point of view. Do you mind if I share my perspective, because that's where the growth happens at? So I'm in those positions all the time and I enjoy them. I don't mind having them, you know, to help us get better. At least see me as a human being. And then we get past all the other things, you know, because at the end of the day, all of us want the same thing Love, respect, kindness, fair treatment, regardless of whatever your background is. People want to feel loved and respected and appreciated in the space that they're in.
Speaker 2:Let's shift a little bit to coming in as a leader. You're in South Florida and you're working with organizations. Well, the people that are listening what are you seeing? Some trends, because leadership has taken a challenging turn. From COVID you got hybrid. You got want to work in office, don't want to work in office. It is like the generations are different. You got five generations in the workforce Today and now what you got to pay in how people are changing. Leaders are dealing with 10 issues all at the same time. That's all critical. What advice do you have for a Ron Harvey that walks in? And I got all these things I got to deal with from all of them and I also got to make sure I still do the business of the business.
Speaker 3:It's tough for leaders for all the reasons, ron, that you stated. So what I would say first? Well, second, it will become my second point. But the first thing I think there's a lot of people think that to be successful, there needs to be this rise up a corporate ladder. That comes hierarchy and leadership. I would ask people to really deeply assess whether that's what they want or not, because success is defined in so many different ways, and so I've put people into roles who said they wanted to very quick were like oh my gosh, like this isn't what I thought it was going to be. So I say that first of all, and understand what you're signing up for. Then the next thing I do think foundationally, some of what we've talked about about just being that good again my words, whole human leader around authenticity and vulnerability and the way we communicate with one another and the respect and how we listen to our employees and embrace diversity. I think that's the foundation. But then all these other things that you talk about around like multi-generation and surround yourself with people who understand their perspective, ask your employees their perspective to gain their experience and how they want to be received, how they want to be led within the workplace and then other elements to deal with around.
Speaker 3:As you said, hybrid. I'm a big fan of hybrid. I see far too many companies demanding a full return to the office. I think that comes from a lack of trust in many instances in our employees, and we think we need to see bums in seats to think that somehow they're working. So build trust and flexibility with our teams and so on. But I do actually think there's so much innovation and connectedness that comes by being in person, which is why I support a hybrid environment.
Speaker 3:But also the shift in a skills economy and add to all the technology that's coming in is changing the way we work as well, and so getting a little bit different at how we look at our workforce from a skills perspective and evaluating what do we have today, what do we need in three to five years as we talk about our strategy and the skills for future, and what is our plan to build towards that. Are we developing our people, are we buying those skills, or do we hope there's going to be enough of it available for us? Stuff gets automated Like. All of this needs to be decided, and so actually I think the role of the HR business partner is now like the strategic advisor. They should be versus. That's very transactional, like you know. Payroll and benefits yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's changed. I love that you used the word the skills economy. That's real and if you haven't heard that word, it's across the board for everyone. There's a big skills gap and it's only going to get wider if we don't pay attention to it. No-transcript up for that anymore, unless they just got to keep their lights on, and it's the only job they can get.
Speaker 3:Yeah, as soon as they find another job.
Speaker 2:They're out.
Speaker 3:You're right, and I think that is one of the things I forgot to mention. But related to that is you probably have said this in your past I mean, people quit leaders, they don't quit companies. That said, and COVID really reinforces for employees is the connectedness to purpose, and so you know, finding like roles and companies that align with purpose and values and those leaders. So, again, going back to like our roles as leaders in that is critically important and you said earlier around you know how we want to feel loved and we want to be respected, and so that's where that command and control or the trust or lack of by insisting bums in seats, is not working anymore. Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:So here's a question that we haven't touched on at all. I'd love to touch, in the last couple of minutes, the role of having a mentor or advocate or champion whatever language we want to use, and I think all of them are different but regardless of where you are on your journey, how important is it to have a mentor, have someone in your corners, advocating, speaking up for and I know some people don't like it, like why don't someone have to speak up for me? Yeah, we can have that conversation, but the reality is I have advocates, I have champions, I have people that are saying my names in rooms that I'm not in. That's introducing me before I get all that's happening. I don't always agree with all of it, but I know that it's still the case that having a mentor or having someone that speak on your behalf is still vital for my success.
Speaker 2:What has been your experience on having a mentor? You were the youngest, the only woman at the table, and I'm sure you opened a lot of doors for a lot of people. How important is it to have a mentor?
Speaker 3:Critically, and I do think there are different roles to play. So I refer to it as coach, mentor, sponsor, and so the coach is usually it's your direct manager, because that's more talking about performance and skills for success in that role. And so you need, ideally, finding the right one who's going to help coach you on that. But what I would tell your listeners be like zero in on how success is measured in that role and in that company, and the coach should help you, support you with that. And mentors, I think you need many, I think you need ones, and again, it's not all hierarchical. You want to find people maybe it's a peer of yours, but they've spent 20 years at your organization to your five. So the institutional knowledge and history you want someone who's going to guide you on those things, because those are critically important. So find a multitude of mentors who will impart their wisdom and experience on a variety of fronts for you.
Speaker 3:And then the last is sponsor, and that's the one you're talking about, who advocates for you, the one who speaks up for you when you're not in the room, and I'm sad if anyone said to you why do I need that? Because the reality is people do business with people they like and trust and want to do business with. So you need those people you know to be doing that and for me, that's not something that can be manufactured. I work for companies where we create mentorship programs you can't create. I will choose who I'm going to sponsor because it's my name, my reputation, who's going to put forward someone who has strong performance but who also has great potential and alignment to. I want to know are they a good human, like who might? I?
Speaker 3:think you need all three of those coach mentor sponsor to help you. I think you need all three of those coach mentor sponsor to help you.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love it I mean phenomenal All the information you're dropping. So we got that part of what we need. Can you share a little bit? Unpack briefly for us. What's my role if I'm asking you to be my mentor or my sponsor, because I have a role to play, so it's not just show up and you're going to do the work. What's my role if I'm the one that's going to need your support?
Speaker 3:What's my role One. I think there's some research that's gone into asking who's going to be your mentor. You need to show up incredibly prepared. This isn't a one-way street, and what I want you to realize is that we as the mentors get so much out of the mentees as well, and so this is a give and take relationship. As much as you think you might just be taking from that relationship, but recognize that it's very much two way, and you know, I think, you've got responsibility to then pay it forward for others. What I would say is my youngest has learned this exceptionally well this phrase, but I say it in business all the time as well you don't ask, you don't get, and so don't be afraid to make the ask.
Speaker 2:Yes, and in my culture, my community, they just say closed mouths don't get fed. I'm like, yes, if you don't open your mouth, you don't eat. And I love that, because sometimes we show up as the mentee and we just like show up and like, hey, here's what I need and expect the mentor to do the work. There is a responsibility, there is an obligation, and you ought to be very strategic and intentional about who you pick. What do they bring and what is it that you really want from them? And that has to be clear, because it is your role to define what you're trying to get out of me. So if you're asking me to be your mentor or a sponsor and advocate for you or a coach, what do you want and what do I bring to the table that makes you think I should be your coach? Because everybody shouldn't be your coach or your mentor or your sponsor. And because they have a title don't mean they're a great fit. That's right. Yeah, everybody's not good for you, for what you're trying to get done. It doesn't mean they're not good, it's just not a good fit for your relationship.
Speaker 2:What would you leave with the audience? Are you doing any books? You got things coming on? Are you traveling? Are you speaking somewhere? Give us some of the good information. What are you doing that you love with them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so although I'm in transition, I have so much going on. My husband jokes that he's like I think you're busier in your unemployment than when you were employed you got a time.
Speaker 2:now you got a time.
Speaker 3:Well, I am not good at being idle, so the good news is I've always maintained my side business, and so that's I've been able to keep busy with that. I decided to write not one, but two books while I was off. So I wrote one that came out in January called Influence Unleashed, which is around the power of influence and personal branding, and then I have one coming out this summer on leadership the power of whole human leadership. It's called thank you. I have several talks coming up, including a Ted talk on resilience in two weeks, so I'm excited about that. And then stepping into whatever the next executive role is going to look like for me.
Speaker 2:Wow, so all the stuff you just mentioned. If someone goes to your LinkedIn website, will they be able to see the stuff your TED Talk book releases? Here's what's coming out. Is all that something? Or is there a website they can go to and, if they're interested, want to bring you on a podcast? I hope, as you're listening and you want people to come on. She's getting ready to release books, so podcast is super important. Visibility is super important, so reach out to her. How do people reach you if they want to make contact, to use your services or just to support what you're doing?
Speaker 3:The best way is to go to my website, which is victoria-peltiercom. I'm sure you'll have it in the show notes, so they don't need to figure out the spelling of that, and so everything's on there from the keynote talks I do. The books are there, I share the podcast that I'm on there as well, and then, if they want to link out with me to other social platforms, all the links are directly on that page as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, thank you. Phenomenal, I mean great, I mean I probably can talk to you a lot longer, but we want to make sure that we don't lose our audience if we stay longer but phenomenal information. Thank you for what you're doing and for coming on the show and really being transparent and vulnerable, like here's who I am. Here's where I started, because most people on the surface will probably make a lot of assumptions that's not accurate about who you are, and that's what I love about this show. None of our questions are prescriptive, like none. Like we just go into the conversation and whatever we talk about, we want to add value to you. So hopefully, we did two things today. One, we respected your time and we added value to make a difference in your life, which is what the goal of this entire show is.
Speaker 2:So if you ever want to reach either one of us, check out our websites. You can check our social media platforms. I'm probably a lot more active on LinkedIn than any other platform, but you can go to my website and you can book time with me if you wish to. But we'd love to support you, we'd love to help you and we ask you that if there's something we can do to support what you're doing. Please reach out to either one of us. This is about community and relationships. Make sure that you have the connection with the people that you need it with to do the things that you're trying to do. People do make a difference. So, for this day, victoria and I will sign off and thank y'all for joining us and hanging in with us, as we gave you another episode of Unpacked with Ron Harvey.
Speaker 1:Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked Podcast with leadership consultant Ron Harvey. Remember to join us every Monday as Ron unpacks sound advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges. Until next time, remember to add value and make a difference where you are, for the people you serve, because people always matter.
