Unpacked with Ron Harvey
People Always Matter. Join Ron as he unpacks leadership with his guests.
Unpacked with Ron Harvey
Rethinking Authenticity to Build High-Performing Teams with Elaine Chung
We unpack the illusion of authenticity at work and offer a practical, humane path to showing up as your best self while building a resilient team identity. Elaine shares research, stories, and tools that connect identity, culture, and performance in a world moving fast.
• redefining authenticity as impact-aware presence
• mapping identities to values and operating principles
• practicing the pause and asking for “best of you” feedback
• tuning cultural traits up or down with intention
• resetting team identity after re-orgs and leadership changes
• prioritizing connection over convenience in an AI era
• learning resilience from children’s trial-and-error
• creating brave space without forcing oversharing
• frameworks from The Illusion of Authenticity
• when to call Elaine to realign team performance
“Remember to join us every Monday as Ron Unpacks Sound Advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges.”
“Reach out to Elaine at hello@beyondthechange.com or visit beyondthechange.com.”
“Follow Ron on LinkedIn and share the podcast with someone who needs it.”
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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 Unpack Podcast with your host, Leadership Consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. 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 Harvey.
SPEAKER_02:Good morning, everyone. This is Ron Harvey once again, uh Global Course Strategies and Consulting. Of course, if you're following us, you know my wife and I um have been in business doing a leadership development firm for about the last 13 years. And we really enjoy helping leaders be more connected to their workforce while doing professional development. Um, and that's really where we spend all of our time at throughout the day, whether it's coaching, workshops, retreats, looking at your vision and your strategic planning, you know, things that just help us be more effective as leaders. And I'm not exempt from that as a leader of an organization. Um so, but we're we're here today to talk about you know the unpacking of leadership. Um, you know, so Unpack with Ron Harvey is really very authentic, down-to-earth casual conversations. And I'm always excited about our guests coming on the show from around the world with all different backgrounds and different perspectives. And so we love the collaboration. And so today I have Elaine joining us. And of course, you guys know if you watch us, always ask our guests and introduce themselves however they wish to. And I just get out of the way and hand them the microphone. So I'm gonna hand it over to Elaine. Um, she was in Columbia the other day. You guys know I'm in Columbia, South Carolina. We didn't get a chance to meet each other in person, um, but she's on the show, she was ready, and we were in the green room making sound work. So hopefully it goes well. And Elaine, let me give you the microphone.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks so much, Ron. I'm excited to be here. Um, so I am Elaine. I'm uh, well, since you talked about Columbia, I'll just say I'm from Greenville. I grew up in Greenville, so South Carolina has a special place in my heart. Um, and I'm actually like a leadership strategist, I'd call myself, and really focusing in on helping leaders really be connected with their teams and hype and help them be high-performing teams by rethinking authenticity and what it really means and really what connects us to being human. I have always been a scientist by heart, and so I have studied plain neuroscience to team psychology and organizational behavior. My background helped me just read research papers actually and enjoy it and know how to directly go to the researchers themselves. So I just amassed a lot of this information and realized, even as a leader out there on the operational side of things, just how many of these kind of intersections of knowledge didn't really intersect every time when you were in practice or even when you studied it. They kind of lived in separate universes. And so it's really been my mission to bring all of those together to really transform how teams collaborate, lead, and and grow together and really, I think, dare to do things that might seem impossible or that might feel a little discomfort to really break through and um have this bond that really can be standing the test of time. So I guess that's me in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes. Phenomenal career. So, you know, scientist background, loving it and enjoying reading papers and understanding what people have put together, which you need someone in every space that enjoys what they're doing. So, so you spend a lot of time, you know, as you look at your website, you look at your company and the work that you're doing, you spend a lot of time uh talking about, you know, rethinking authenticity. So let's let's start there. What's the biggest myth about being authentic at work that you think leaders are still falling short?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think like the whole premise of when I kind of thought of this book too was reflecting on my own leadership journey, not only as a leader, but as an employee. And recalling those instances where I would either be at a conference and sitting in the audience, or maybe it was in a meeting and hearing a leader just say, the key to leadership is authenticity. It's just about being you. And I think that never really sat well with me. Um, in the back of my mind, I always thought, well, that that's nice for you. Uh it it's a it's a privileged uh point of view to be able to have, and and yes, to to be you, a an expression of you. But I think the illusion really is like, is it really just you though? Like if you're just you and just thinking of you, you can actually be very focused on being unfiltered, not really understanding the impact that it could have. And how is that really impact a team? So when I rethought of like, well, what if we actually thought of authenticity as being really focusing in and bringing out the best version of you, your most intentional favorite person to be with, like in itself, by doing that, by focusing it, you'll be able to uplift others. And so if we had a team where everybody was actually focused on that, just how different it would feel versus just being you. And so that's where I thought, well, then there really is this illusion about it. Like it really isn't just about being you, and that's probably why it never settled well. And when I kind of went on this question quest, because yes, I'm a scientist by heart, as I said, and I couldn't help myself but like interview like a hundred people to do, in essence, research just on how people were thinking about their journey of identities, what they thought about. Um, because for me, before I started on it, I realized there were a lot of things that I hadn't reconciled that I, while it may have been personal, uh, it was showing up at work, like kind of like how I behave, and there's some of like cultural connection to it, or what I valued. There was a, you know, some back history to it. And I realized without recognizing our identities, how can you actually recognize and identify like those are the values that you have? And because those values always translate to the operating principles that you show up with. It's like how you show up is gonna represent what you value. And when I did that research with like a hundred people, uh, some key findings which I thought were surprising, but at the same time, I was like, no wonder that's how I felt uh in the corporate space. Was one was like when we all sat down, that was actually the first time people thought about all the identities that shape them. Like they kind of could spout out in the beginning just the ones that were current, like in their face. But then as we peeled back some of that, it realized, oh, there's some that I forgot about, or some that I kind of overweighted. Like uh at the time when I did the research, there was a like a swath of layoffs, and um, people really overweighted their kind of worker identity. So it completely devastated them to lose that part of it. Um, and then at the same time, it was like we're all doing this journey. So from interviewing people who were just graduated from college and into their first job to those that are on the edge of retirement, everybody actually went through this journey with different levels, but they all still did. And then the last finding I found very interesting was like pretty much everybody did it alone. There are only a handful that either, you know, talk to their therapist or their partner by about the real kind of hard identities that were that they wanted to resurface or try to mix. And what I realized is like, okay, if we're all going through this and we're all doing this alone, like we can change something about this because it really does impact all the elements of how we show up at work. And realizing that there was a UKG workforce survey, um, and they had where where the findings were that an employer, so like a manager, has the same impact on an employee's well-being as their partner, and that's actually more than the doctor, right? So, yeah, and so kind of like putting that in perspective is like if we are doing something or experiencing something together, what an interesting and uh positive possibility for us to connect on something that unpacks why we show up the way we do, and then if we want to change it or not, because oftentimes there are some things where you don't realize, oh shoot, that's because I grew up this way and it's showing up like that at work.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes. Thank you. I mean, I love your responses, I mean, and a lot to unpack here for you. You know, for audiences that are listening, how difficult was it or it or can it be for people to slow down enough to unpack the personal things that impact them professionally or in race relationships? And and how difficult can that be to really just pause and slow down and unpack? Because it does show up, whether you accept it or not, it does show up.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, most definitely. And I think like with many things, it's um it can be hard, but it's like a muscle to practice. There's neuroscience that says once you continue to do that in the sense of like taking that pause, taking that reflection, uh, and guiding that through, that it is going to be easier and easier. And I think the first question I always help do or ask, I think also because like everything around us makes us go faster, right? Like AI makes us go faster, the cell phones make us go faster. And but forcing the pause, there's this one question that I I like that helps pause because it like if authenticity is about really trying to figure out where you are at your best, sometimes it's hard for us to know exactly what that is. We might feel or uh be able to isolate certain parts of it. Um, but one thing to force a pause is actually to ask outward. So anybody you've worked with before or someone um that you've known for a very long time that might have seen your entire kind of journey, to ask them, like, where have you seen me at my best? And to give that example, like, what did I do? What did I say? And really dig into those details of it, like a kid does, like the but what about this and why? And uh really can force the pause and force the presence of understanding how you are being uh or showing up with those operating kind of principles, like how you're really showing up towards them. And that can force you to pause is by asking someone else that question and listening to that question or the answers that come back.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes. Well, well, thank thank I mean phenomenal response. So let's let's continue when you look at leaders being authentic. I I often ask a question when we're doing facilitation and we ask people to to introduce themselves to someone with some restrictions. They don't get to talk about family or pets or careers and education and kids and but to talk about them. And people struggle there, but yet we're asking people to bring their authentic selves to work. Most people struggle at talking about who they are, not what they do. How do you how do you help understand or unpack that? Because it's a challenge, because sometimes I think we lose ourselves in the things that we do and forget who we are.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. I think part of it too is that when there's an identity that we see or that is present just day to day, we're just gonna notice it more, right? So if you're a parent, if you're a carpooler, or if you are a data scientist, like those are the things that show up day to day. And those are like the the labels and the words that get attached to what those are. And so it it partially still goes back to slowing down, um, and also asking the question in maybe I think a slightly different way of just what makes you you and and the what can be like what experiences do you still remember that make you you? And those can be leadership ones, those can be personal ones that you're now reflecting and seeing on the leadership side. I'll share one of these, like when I started to kind of unpack things myself was in early on in my career, I was I had a performance review where the leader told me I was too nice. And while we'll we'll we'll while there may be issues on describing uh a performance review and saying that, we're gonna table that on the side first, but it it did make me pause because I was like, wait a minute, but like I met my goals, right? And she's like, Yep, and it was on time, right? Yep. I was like, so it's a style difference that like is going on, and I it wasn't until I started working through this book in reflection, it was that in Chinese culture, like you don't rock the boat. So in essence, like I had been raised since birth to like not be rough and tough, not be like exer or exerting some type of like um kind of negative dominance, but I still got it done. It was just a little bit different, and I think right or wrong, there's like the style can be different depending on person and all that, but I think realizing that it was from that helped me realize I could be intentional on like, do I actually really want that characteristic or that thing that I grew up with to always be there? And then once I recognize, I was like, well, not totally. Like, I still want to be the assertive one that you know helps fight the fight and not just acquiesces, but really recognizing and like kind of like labeling it and knowing what it is, that's when you can start pushing it out and being like, Do I really want this in my core part of me? Or is that really something that sure it influenced my past, it influences some of what I think about, but is it a core part? You can consciously then say, like, no, thank you, versus it just showing up like that review was like, Oh, I'm just nice. Like, I don't know what that means, you know.
SPEAKER_02:So wow, I mean, thank you for sharing that because oftentimes I don't know if we we recognize some of the things culturally that we we bring to the table, have been living with our entire lives, and naming it and say, Do I want it? Um, sometimes there's this obligation of feeling I have to have it, or I feel guilty about not using some of the things culturally that have been a part of my ancestry forever, yeah, and now I want to be different. How do you help people get past that? No, so can you unpack like, hey, I know that my Chinese culture says this, this, and this, but and in this who I am, becoming who I am, you know, which I think is important, becoming what is the becoming piece of it? Yeah, how do you help people when they're butting up against their cultural values or cultural beliefs or cultural upbringing?
SPEAKER_00:Well, like, first it's to recognize it, then it's like what pieces and parts, because there are some where uh I would say, like, so I in the book I talk about kind of the vibrancy of it. So depending on your scenario, while you may know, like, hey, this is less part of me, but in certain circumstances, you might have to turn it up or turn it down. And I think first you got to recognize that it's there, and then you have to kind of experiment, like maybe you're gonna do opposite of what you think you would have typically done. Try that out, be brave to try that out, and then be present on how did it feel? Like it likely felt uncomfortable, a little awkward, but that's okay because anything new is really going to feel like that. But to really kind of like start asking yourself, like, did I show up at my best though when I kind of approached it this way? While it felt uncomfortable, did it also feel good? And asking in those senses on a personal standpoint, because I think these things, like it could be culture, it really could also be like who you were around, because um, Dr. David McClellan's research on kind of who you surround yourself with, like your your what you would try to achieve, your risk tolerance, like that all also impacts you. So you might be like, Well, I hung out with this group all the time, um, but and I just kind of like did it because they did it, but did is that really set for you? Uh and some of these questions too um really connect to with the team side of things, because a lot of teams that I work with, they have had some type of re-orgs or leadership change. And if you think about it, if each individual kind of has their own identity that they show up to work with, there's also a team identity that you have to work with. And when you have these types of changes that happen, those ide the identity changes. So, not the written necessarily like roles and responsibilities or who reports to who, but really the underlying the shoulds and shouldn'ts that really go at the team core before the whole processes and things like that. There's like expectations that change that haven't been talked about or discussed. There's uh a new set of kind of team promises to figure out and team operating principles to figure out because the identity has changed, that these kind of pause questions, while they may feel very individual, they are very much like if you ask it in the context of a team, very applicable uh for the team. Like, does my team show up like in the best way when we're doing X, Y, and Z? Okay, maybe not anymore because the organization has changed, whether it be the goals or um even the functional capacity of your team. So rethinking it in that way is very important. And what to go back to like how do you kind of both force the pause but also um deal with some of the harder parts? It is to recognize that it's hard, um, but also to recognize that it will benefit you in the long run and to take it piece by piece, like look at it, experiment with it, reflect on it consciously to then be able to identify like really what's in, what's out, not only for you and how you want to show up at work, but also your whole team.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes. I mean, phenomenal. I love the insight. I want to pivot a little bit. You've been in the industry, you've changed careers, um, you've done different things, and you've worked, you know, across the board from Sony to the Navy. I mean, you've had you know a great career and exposure to a lot of things. What's something that you're noticing um that surprises you regardless of what organization or where you find yourself at in the world of delivering something? What are you noticing?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm noticing, and I think maybe this too is even with the context of AI kind of moving in, how even with the technology moving, how important uh connection still really is, like with all of these. If we're thinking of high performance teams where really at the end of the day don't need to be handheld, can really navigate change. Uh the leader can point to the North Star, um, kind of move things away. Like that actually still remains, I think, the same, but at the same time, even more important of remembering like connection over convenience is really important. Uh, can't just farm everything out. There's still that human element. We talked a little bit in the green room, too, of just nothing like meeting in person. Um, yes, we can get a lot done outside. Of that, but that there's that one extra layer where you'll find out new connection points to new ways of doing things. We've run a couple of experience, uh experiments, even within our own uh group, because we also love experiments, of even finding out that even if you ask AI to help you uh dissect a plan, like a 21-day learning plan, there's still holes in it. So if you actually asked a human consultant or a human expert within that, um, they'll have other ideas, whether it be like books you should also read or different techniques to read uh or to learn about. And so I think that that part is just really being comfortable with connection too, because it's going to be a little imperfect sometimes. Uh, I might talk over your words, I might not know exactly what to say, or you know, I already bumped this microphone, you know. So like things like that. But I think that part of it builds that authenticity, like the real authenticity kind of things where we are uh focused on the connection piece. Um, and I think at the end of the day, we need that connection to be resilient, really, like at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I love it. You know, one of the questions you talk about connection, I'll with five generations in the workforce. I'll go back to the days when when we were two or three, you know, on the playground and playing in a sandbox. Kids naturally, before they are embedded or become mature in their growth, kids, when you watch when they're really, really young, they know how to connect better than adults. Naturally, what can we learn?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so much to learn from kids. Um, I think on like connection part of it.
SPEAKER_02:We may need to pay attention to what they do in daycare because they can connect really quick.
SPEAKER_00:So I think if if any adult out there just wants to have some inspiration, like kids is just a great source with it because you all were once, we all were once kids. And and part of their ability to go out there and kind of be brave and adapt is one, there's stuff going on in their brains where they actually have a lot more pathways uh already uh in their brains. And as we age, they get pruned. So kind of what we think are kind of behavior patterns. Um, once we keep doing it, those are the pathways in our brains that get set versus kids, anything is game. And there's a level of bravery that's also instilled in them that they haven't had a bunch of those shoulds and shouldn'ts yet, which is a precious moment. Um, but we can also embrace some of those too. So remembering, I think this one fact I will carry with me forever. So I'll share this with the audience here is that um the average number of falls a two-year-old has a day is 38. So they fall down 38 times a day. So in my mind, it's they failed, right? Like they failed to walk or balance their bodies. And I will say, if I did that as an adult today, I might have a hard time getting up and like going at it again, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yeah, 38 rolls in one day. I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, yes, to try, but the thing is, like, they tried that hard, right? Like that hard that they fell 38 times. So they probably actually tried even more because some of the stuff succeeded.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:But to think back and be like, okay, so if you want to embrace being like a kid, just think about those 38 dries and how close you are to that, even a fraction of it. Um, being intentional in that way can really help you be brave, um, which is what kids are, they're super brave, um, and to be able to connect in that way.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, wow. I want to unpack something, you know, because I always talk about you know, us being really transparent and let people behind the green curtain, you know, because often we make it look easier than it is, and like we you know, we we didn't break a sweat, and and we know that's not true. So let's talk about you know real life leadership for you. What was a moment when you totally didn't get it right? And what did what experience did it teach you about the illusion of authenticity?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think so. When I led a small team, and I think about that question here, I had the whole like pressure of performance. So, like thinking like I'm supposed to do it this way because the you know, C-suite wants me to do it that way. Um and and when I executed on that, it didn't feel great. I in the back of my mind, I felt like there's a different way to go about it. But at the time I didn't feel like empowered or even educated as I am now, like in reflecting in some of that, to do that. And I think that part of it is those kinds of like things to monitor too. Like now moving forward as I lead teams, as I work with other leaders that lead their teams, it is to force the reflection because it is very easy to go meeting to meeting, uh, to go from like all your tasks and all the context switching that has to happen, but to truly innovate and lead teams through change, or again, like I keep going back to I think the AI side of it because it is changing our environments quite quickly. So if you want a team that's not just pushing back on things all the time, but really looking at it and evaluate it in a um almost like scientific manner, too, within that, and but can quickly fall into what like solutioning to that extent, that that is what's going to help companies keep the competitive edge. That's gonna help what the teams that people want to join and um and continue that side of it. So like when I reflect on uh an example of that, I think that was probably the one where I was like, okay, I I need to do it differently next time. I think when I reflected on it in my smaller team, I did talk to them about it too within that. And I think that was that helped help me also get some feedback on that. It wasn't just sitting in my own head. I think that often can happen when you're in leadership roles. Um, but yeah, I think that's and that that did teach me a lot of just like why it is important to pause to look at the shoulds and shouldn't's of beliefs too within that. Um maybe I'll share one more of just related to work, but recognizing like when I was in business school, I thought that I needed to either like go into consulting or some hardcore operational stuff because that's just what I should should do, right? Believed what I should do. But when I talked to the career counselor, they said, well, everything you talk about is very much about like organizational behavior. You like that class, um, to like the whole team psychology side of things. And and I remember her saying, like, wouldn't you want to explore like HR? And for me, I was like, no, no, not at all. But when I look at it now, like, look at how it's come full circle. Going back to that psychology side, back to the behavior side, the questions I ponder are always around that. Because I think with all the uh operational experience I've had in the corporate setting, down to the smaller startups, the the core part of leading teams through tough parts and leaders either like just not having enough support or even just some foundational knowledge to help get them to be able to empower those uh those teams. Um, it just kept coming up over and over again. So that's where it's like I I think I can contribute here and being able to help teams navigate that change, uh, and also having that operational, deep operational experience to know, like at the end of the day, you know, there's there's some stuff that are kind of like best practices that I can tell you about. But at the end of the day, there's probably these these portions of things that are the things that you can execute now, um, and knowing how it can go in the operational side of things, still reach for these other ones, but at a minimum keep these.
SPEAKER_02:So oh yes, yes, coming out of your comfort zone is very difficult, easy to say, difficult to do. I want to go to your book for a second, um, before we you know we uh begin to wind down here. You know, in your book, The Illusion of Authenticity, um, you mentioned the pressure of showing up um as our full selves. How can leaders create brace space, if you will, without demanding people to put everything on display?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think that's a great question because like you you may have, and I've experienced this where you may have a leader who's all out there.
SPEAKER_02:What do I really get them to see?
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, you know, so they may be all out there and be like, ah, this is me, and I'm like so excited that I can be there. Um, and for leaders who are, I think, more on the comfortable, um open to show up all of that, is for them to also pause to recognize there's people too that are navigating what it means to be them. And from that side of it, forcing people, it's not playful, it's not invitational. Um, you'll never get the response you really need, or actually the level of connection you're probably trying to drive for in that way. So it is recognizing um if you have a team that you can also like just when you let's say you express it in that way, like da-da-da, this is um, and then you kind of see some silence. Yes, I think it is to take an internal pause of like maybe my vibrancy, I gotta just just a tad, turn it down so that it feels more comfortable too, with the team coming in to be able to show up and to show up in the ways that they want to contribute. And I think for leaders to also still reframe it as it's not about like just be you, but if I can ask everybody, every every one of my team here to just be the best of you, like like going back to that, and if you need help supporting you to identify what the best is, we're here for you, right? Um, because a lot of this work, too, is uh the more we do it together, when you have playmates around you, uh it actually helps in the reinforcement side of it, the encouragement side of it, the accountability side of it. So that's how you can reshape new norms within your teams of like really focusing in on then how can we actually bring out the best of us? So that's like a different level of conversation versus like let's just be authentic in the traditional terms of authenticity, and that really can transform the discussions that the teams have, not only in reflections of how they're contributing, but how they're contributing as a connected um organization.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think it's much needed. I mean, because you hear it so often, you know, um, about being authentic authentic in workplaces and your lives and your relationships. But is it is it a safe enough place? You know, some people say, do they are they really do they really want me to show up as myself? Or is it just something that people are asking for to be polite and and to be correct in the business form? Um and I've heard people say they don't, they're not they're not ready for me to show up as myself yet. The organization is not ready for it. And and I think there's some truth to that, but I also think there are some some things that you're gonna have to take some risks with um to be able to help your organization make shifts and changes. So you have a book out. Um, can you tell us where you know, uh, you know, share again the title where we can find it at? And what do you hope people walk away from the book with?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, so the book is The Illusion of Authenticity. It's rethinking what it means to be ourselves at work. Um, and I hope that everyone, I share some frameworks in there. So I hope everyone actually writes all over that book. I invite people to write all over it and use it really as a kind of working guide to figure out what are the things that you really want to stick with. I I kind of have the the image that I describe of how all our identities are like different colored balls of play-doh that we've been taught not to mix together. And so we might take certain colors in one setting and then different colors to another setting, but context switching, like we know the science around it, it's exhausting, like it tires you out. So, what if we actually kind of thought of these identities of like different colors that we're blending together, like a marbley dough mix? And so I hope everybody takes the time then to be able to find what their marbley mix is. Like that's that's the purpose of the book is to help identify, help them identify that and how it actually shows up uh in your teams um as that second part of it. So, yes.
SPEAKER_02:I love that. I'm about to I'm about to use that, Elaine. The marbley mix. I don't know if I heard that before. I like it though. I can think of a marble that has all these colors, and marbles do come with a lot of colors in it. So I love the marbley mix when you think about teams. Final question for for us um before we get to the contact information for you. If someone could have exposed the younger version of you to something, what would you wish they had exposed you to younger?
SPEAKER_00:Expose myself to younger. I like this question. I think it might be something that I do with my own kids now, which is maybe okay. I'm gonna share two things though.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, uh yes, go for it. The more the better.
SPEAKER_00:I think one is exposures to different ways of thinking and doing, yes, and I think uh as parents, parents will naturally try to protect and like kind of like this is the way, but I think I I wish I had a little more exposure from that end, and then two uh talking about how it feels. Yes, I think I definitely culturally was not that was like not me. It's like it was not approached. Don't go there, yeah, yeah, don't go there, right? But I definitely talked to my own kids about like uh even more recently, is like I did a big conference and then just reading some of the feedback too. And it's like talking through that part of it to like my nervousness on like submitting for this RFP and you know, just things like that. I think uh I if I were to go back in time, like I wish I had a little more exposure to that to build the the muscle or that neural pathway. So it wouldn't feel so hard. But I think for me now having kids, I practice it with them, and I think that part of it really helps, uh helps them, but also helps me as well.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. I I mean I just started asking leaders that question in most of the seminars or workshops that we do. What do you wish you had been exposed to more of when you were younger? You know, for the for our listeners that you know, I even had to unpack that question. I said, I wish I had been exposed to more than just my zip code.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I say because the everything in my zip code is like that protection, and this is where, and this is like like how much exists outside of the zip code, if you will, your bubble, your circle, your protective environment, your community, how much is outside of that? Because we're a global economy now. I wish I had been exposed to more than my zip code.
SPEAKER_00:Love that, love that phrasing.
SPEAKER_02:So, so what's the best way um for people to reach you and and what are what are some of the things that they may be experiencing that says give Elaine a call?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I think for uh any team leader who has a team that's gone through some changes, whether it be re-orgs or strategic change in a relationship, and really kind of sensing some tension in the sense of this is this is maybe common phrasing that we hear is that I want the team to do what they're supposed to do, and they're not anymore. And it seems vague, but there's deep-rooted identity stuff going on that impacts the operational side. And so those are the ones that we love working towards to help fix that because once you do, it really unlocks the engine for that team to really solve through difficult things. And so that would be who who who, if you have are experiencing that, come find me. And um, you can actually go to our webpage at uh beyond the change.com or also my own email, it's hello at beyond the change.com.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, kept it easy, simple. Hello at beyond the change.com. So please reach out, like you say, and I think now there's so much change in um in the workforce across the board for all of us. Change is happening faster, it's not slowing down. Um, you're gonna have to have constant change on your teams, and when one person changes on your team, your team changes. Um, that's whether it's retirement or whether someone had a better opportunity we got when one person leaves or joins your team, your team changes. And I think we minimize that sometimes and don't understand the relevance of how that changes the entire team function. So uh thank you, Lane. You've been phenomenal. Is there any last-minute wisdom you want to share with everyone before we we wrap up?
SPEAKER_00:Thanks. I well, I think the last thing would be like go mix that play-doh, it's okay. Yes, um, and play together with some playmates too that are willing to do that with you.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes. Thank you. Phenomenal, phenomenal for everyone that's been with us. Thank you again, Ron Harvey, uh, Unpack with Ron Harvey, where we have a lot of real conversations, unpacking things that we really live through and go through. Hopefully, you you found something useful. Um, uh, you know, that that makes a difference for you as a leader in your team. Reach out to uh Elaine or myself. Um, you can follow me on LinkedIn, you can go to our webpage on Global Core Strategies and anything that you want or think um that we can help you will be happy to. Um, we're in business, we love helping, but we want to add value to you. So thank you for listening. Um, and actually to send other guests and tell people about the podcast. Until next time, Elaine and I will sign off and tell you to have a wonderful week and be safe. Um, and it's hot, so stay hydrated.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. You too.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpack 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.
