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Building Balanced Teams with Heather Heuman - ClearPath Coaching and Consulting

Written by Craig Anderson | March 28, 2024

Becoming a successful leader begins with knowing your ‘why.’ It’s the foundation for building a strong culture and developing an effective team.

In this episode, Heather Heuman, CEO and founder of Sweet Tea Social Media Marketing, joins us to share her entrepreneurial wisdom and leadership insights. She brings a unique angle to leading a virtual team, the positives of owning your weaknesses, and understanding your personal ‘why.’

Join us as Heather shares her how-to guide on becoming the best leader you can be, while developing a team and culture that excels.

After You Listen:

Key Takeaways:

  • Recognize and own your weaknesses so you can strategically hire others who excel in those areas, creating a more well-rounded and effective team
  • During the onboarding process, integrate the handling of difficult conversations to ensure clear communication and open, honest dialogue
  • Figure out your ‘why’ to help in promoting a strong business culture and ensuring that the vision is effectively communicated and adopted by your team

Things to listen for:

  • [01:59] Lightning round with Heather
  • [06:21] Leaders don’t ask people to do something they wouldn’t do
  • [10:52] Just because you’re smart, that doesn’t mean you’re a good fit
  • [13:49] Develop a core culture
  • [24:31] Achieve the art of difficult conversations
  • [26:28] Heather’s biggest piece of advice he’d give his younger self
  • [29:09] Craigs takeaways

Heather’s Transcript:

[00:00:00] Craig P. Anderson: And I looked at the team knowing all the work they put in and said, I’m sorry, I don’t like it. And I’m taking it back.

Welcome to Executive Evolution. I’m Craig Anderson. After spending 25 plus years in corporate America, I learned a lot of leadership lessons the hard way I created this podcast, so you don’t have to. in one of my leadership roles. I had the opportunity to launch a new business, spinning it off from a parent company. And I knew what was going to be important to our long term success was was being rooted in strong cultural values was going to be really knowing my why and knowing why I wanted this business to succeed. but I was nervous about creating all that for a team. Cause this business started with 50 people already in the organization. And I wanted them to feel a sense of ownership and developing our values.

And I unleashed a small group who were very interested in creating the value touch points for our business.

[00:01:00] And they did a lot of work and I was there for some of that work. And when they presented those values to me, I I didn’t like them. They weren’t my values. They didn’t speak to me and what this business was.

And at the end of the day, I was the leader of that business. So my why was very important in integrating it. And that was a lesson I learned through that experience. Today, I’m joined by Heather Heuman, the founder and CEO of Sweet Tea Social Marketing. She has been in business for several years, has been a friend, and I love the work that she is doing with her business and the way that she approaches the work.

So, Let’s jump into the story of Heather’s executive evolution.

Heather, welcome to the executive evolution podcast. I’m so glad you’re here.

[00:01:46] Heather Heuman: Thank you. I’m so excited. Craig. This is going to be awesome.

[00:01:49] Craig P. Anderson: I followed you on social media for a long time. I really respect the work that you have and the business that you’ve built. And I am confident you’re going to have some great insights for us today.

[00:01:57] Heather Heuman: Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

[00:01:59] Craig P. Anderson: All [00:02:00] right. Well, we always like to dive in, Heather, with the lightning round. Are you ready to jump in?

[00:02:05] Heather Heuman: Yeah. Let’s just go deep and get straight to it.

[00:02:08] Craig P. Anderson: All right. What is the best leadership book you have ever read?

[00:02:13] Heather Heuman: Okay. Ever is like a huge task. And as I thought about this, I would just like to say a book by Simon Sinek called start with why,

I think that it’s really thought provoking. And I just love that he really goes deeply into the concept of why you’re showing up doing what you’re doing, why really is going to impact all of the things, the team that you hire, the culture that you create, what’s your motivation looks like each day that you show up.

And I think that when we are happier as leaders. And what we have created and even do some self reflection on maybe what we’ve created hasn’t been so great or us as leaders have some accountability. I feel that can be empowering [00:03:00] sometimes like myself, I’m a doer.

And so I’m just like a go, go, go, go, go, go. But sometimes if you slow down enough to really think about the why it is that you’re doing what you’re doing. It can really radically shift either a pivot you make, or just give you a refreshed, view of the business that you were in.

[00:03:19] Craig P. Anderson: I agree with you. The leader’s why is what really needs to drive the business. and I do strategic planning with different businesses and I’m always shocked when the leader wants to delegate that or group create the why for the business. Because the danger is you create something that’s not a hundred percent in alignment with you.

And then how do you stay committed to it as a business? And what I’m hearing you say is because it’s your why, which is very clear to you, driving the business that allows you to kind of promote that and promulgate that across your teams. And I assume even into your clients.

[00:03:48] Heather Heuman: Absolutely. And even to your point, like the why I do think comes from the leader, and I, myself, like we’ll have team meetings and I do love getting collaboration and brainstorming. And I want [00:04:00] my team to feel that they’re a part, but a lot of that more so is the, what are we doing? Maybe we’re shifting our service offerings.

What strengths are we having that maybe we’re not utilizing that could be of better service to our clients, but the why. At least for me personally, it may strengthen or it may deepen. knowing my why personally, but more so reading the book and seeing that when you know the why it can really help leaders be better inspired to take action that really, I think at the end of the day helps everybody sleep better at night.

[00:04:33] Craig P. Anderson: Yep, a hundred percent. All right, let’s dive into question number two. Who is your leadership crush?

[00:04:39] Heather Heuman: So my faith is really important to me and what I do in business. But my answer is Marcus Lemonis, who I’m not in any way saying he is a Christian. . I’m not even sure, but his leadership. As someone that is not [00:05:00] afraid, he tells it like it is. He goes into messy situations and he’s just brilliant.

He’s just someone that I really respect. And when I just thought about this question over and over again, and I tried to maybe give you an answer that was like, maybe someone in my direct realm of a Christian leader. I just kept going back to Marcus Lemonis and he just really inspires me. His willingness just to be bold and just to put it out there and to make hard decisions.

[00:05:29] Craig P. Anderson: and it’s such a key mark of a leader and sometimes we think it has to be super alpha and that’s the only way to be confrontational and direct hardcore. I don’t believe that’s the truth It’s a lot of do you have the fortitude in yourself? And however you express that To

be direct with people to try and tell people the message I find through my career when you try and beat around the bush and work around a problem, the person you’re talking to 90 percent of the time knows what you’re trying to get to.

And then they’re confused of. Why aren’t you getting to the point? [00:06:00] And I think this is the guy with the TV show, right?

[00:06:02] Heather Heuman: Yeah, absolutely. Yes.

[00:06:03] Craig P. Anderson: whatever it is. Okay.

Yeah. And he does just gets right to it. And that directness part of that’s TV maybe, but it’s still so important. I think like, the shark tank too, right? It’s that boom, Getting into core of the problem. All right. Last one in 10 words or less, how do you define leadership?

[00:06:21] Heather Heuman: I really think it comes down to leadership is people that are willing to not ask others to do something they won’t do themselves.

[00:06:33] Craig P. Anderson: tell me more about what drives that for you. Where does that come from?

[00:06:36] Heather Heuman: You know, I just think sometimes there are leadership styles that are from a place of I have arrived and I am here. So therefore, that means I no longer have to do these things. And we all know that there are different roles in any company, in any organization. But I think that the inward heart of a leader, that is willing to.

At the [00:07:00] end of the day, maybe it’s a time crunch, maybe it’s a sensitivity of urgency, whatever that a true leader is willing to actually just roll up their sleeves and do that role. Even if it’s the role that you would maybe think you’d never see, like, that head role person doing. . In short, it’s saying never getting to a place of thinking that you are so far above others that you can’t just get down and just do what needs to be done.

[00:07:31] Craig P. Anderson: part of that is that kind of vulnerable leader, at least the leader who’s willing to say, no, I’m not sitting up here on a pedestal and you guys are all serving me. I know, I will come down. there’s a flip side danger. I’ve seen some leaders say, well, I’ve always liked social media or I’ve always liked operations and they spend all their time there, which is very different than what you’re talking about. This is, Hey, I’m not above I’m an equal. I may be in charge. I may be driving the Y. I may be setting the vision, but if stuff needs to get done, we need to prioritize getting things done. that’s that kind of leadership you’re talking about. Great. Well, [00:08:00] so Heather, you have kind of a varied background, right?

how long have you had the current business is about 7 years. All right. So you probably had some things going on before that in your life. What were your early leadership roles that Were your first big opportunities?

[00:08:15] Heather Heuman: within my current company.

[00:08:17] Craig P. Anderson: No, even before that, I talk about when I was band president

[00:08:20] Heather Heuman: I mean, I would honestly go back and say my first role as a paid person was I was a special ed teacher. So I would say that was kind of like my first place of leadership. I am in this classroom. I am responsible for these students. I’m having IEP meetings with all of these parents about their kids and really, having the creativity in my classroom to kind of do that.

How I. Wanted, but also leading from a place of going, these people have entrusted their kids to me, and being able to communicate and engage with not only the kids on a day to day basis, but their parents.

[00:08:59] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah, it’s [00:09:00] such a unique leadership role being a teacher. what are your takeaways from that what did you learn about leadership doing that? Cause that’s a very unique situation.

[00:09:08] Heather Heuman: Well, I learned that teaching in the traditional setting wasn’t for me was a unique situation, kind of my 92nd story in special ed was basically a situation where my 1st year teaching, I was asked. To lie on the paperwork and I was asked to say that I had 10 kids in my class when in fact, I had one student in my class and the teacher next door to me had 23 kids in her class.

this teacher is a 20 plus year veteran teacher and they wanted me just to go with the punches and just be a complier and do what they asked. So what I learned is, is that sometimes taking a stand comes at a cost, but if you feel convicted and you feel that the [00:10:00] why of what you’re doing is the right thing to do, to do it boldly and everything will work out in the end.

[00:10:07] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah, that is so great. Just as an early life lesson and in leadership and taking a stand. How is that developed and grown for you over time? As you’ve built your business, you know, you said since 2014, right. And you have a very clear market niche that you work with, how has that helped you in future endeavors in leadership and building a business?

[00:10:30] Heather Heuman: Well, I think what it taught me and I just kind of have carried on is really this honest realization that someone can be smart, they can be successful. They can be great. They can be profitable, but that doesn’t mean that they are either a good fit for my team from a, let’s say growing and expanding who we are.

as a culture, but also from a client perspective. So it’s kind of just made me realize, you know, it’s not like these are good people or these are bad people. It’s just like you might [00:11:00] love sushi and I hate sushi. That doesn’t mean you’re right and it doesn’t mean i’m wrong. But at the end of the day, it really just let me know that there are people in positions of power people in leadership that are not going to be a good fit for me and I have come to a place of Knowing that’s okay and To really just continue to boldly be who I am, to be very clear in who we love to help and who we to serve.

And that’s going to resonate with the right people. And it’s honestly probably going to turn away some people and that’s okay.

[00:11:32] Craig P. Anderson: and how does that grounding of your leadership and that principle driven leadership that is core to you, how does that help you grow your business faster or more quickly or more efficiently? You know, how does that actually make you better?

[00:11:46] Heather Heuman: I personally think that. It makes it easier for you to have a specialization if that’s what you do. So for example, in my world, I do online marketing. I focus on organic [00:12:00] strategies. I love coming alongside Christians or companies that operate from that lens because I feel like we are aligned at a highest level.

And some of them, it comes into their Business model on some of them. It doesn’t it’s just how we are as human beings Kind of are looking at life from the same world view But what I have found and I would not say to you that this was my strategic plan It was not a marketing niche. It wasn’t let me niche down to say I want to help christians It was more just a personal conviction of saying I feel like i’m a digital missionary And there’s like a higher calling to what i’m doing rather than like i’m just making a business decision

But what I found is that when I go to conferences and there’d be all these marketers, I would see people at dinner that say, Hey, I met someone while I was in this networking event an hour ago that you need to meet.

I feel like it almost made it easier for other people to think of me. [00:13:00] When they were having conversations with people it just made them feel good that they were making a connection because I was not afraid to say this is who I am. This is who we help. And this is why this is important to us.

And so I just feel like it evolved to this natural referral base, if that makes sense,

that if I just was like, I’m a social media strategist. And you’re in a room full of 300 people that are all like, I’m a social media strategist that it helped other people just maybe even more easily think of me because I just was really clear in what we do and why we do it.

[00:13:37] Craig P. Anderson: and how does that inform your leadership? So you’ve got a team at Sweet Tea Social Marketing. You’ve been growing through this success.

How does all that inform your leadership style and how does that show up for you?

[00:13:50] Heather Heuman: You know, I think that it’s important in any organization to have like a core culture ofthis is who we are. what has been a learning lesson for myself [00:14:00] is. To not be out there looking for carbon copies of Heather, but instead saying, this is the base, right? I love people who have a servant’s heart.

I love people that let’s say, you know, their faith is really important to them. That maybe family is important to them, but if they’re. Skill set are things that are maybe my weaknesses. I have really learned to embrace that actually, and think that it makes our company better. If I’m not out there just looking for people that are exactly like myself, they can still be very unique, be wired differently.

They could be extroverted. I could be introverted, but we as a team keep those core cultural elements aligned so that It doesn’t taint the brand. It doesn’t taint what we say we want to represent. But yet , I think it helps us be better because we’re bringing in people with different, skill sets and different passions under what we do.

[00:14:56] Craig P. Anderson: there’s two directions I want to go now and maybe I’ll circle back to one, but.

You [00:15:00] said something there about complimenting you, right? Complimenting your weakness. There’s this kind of underlying commonality, but how did you go through the process? Because this is a self awareness exercise.

And I think a lot of new leaders struggle with this because, you know, Hey, I’m a leader. I’ve got to be strong. How did you go through that process to say, Hey, these are my strengths. These are my weaknesses. How did you come to that?

[00:15:22] Heather Heuman: I think honestly, just slowly over time, I just got better at saying, you know, what attention to detail isn’t. My forte, I am a very organized person and I like to think that I have good attention to detail. But when I say to detail, I may be more so meaning just like grammar, Social media posts.

Sometimes I like, and the best at noticing the mistakes, three minutes after I’ve published it. So it’s like, I do have a attention to detail, let’s say from organizing an event and knowing that you got to get into the details to make it be like a great thing. But knowing those things [00:16:00] honestly have just come up over time of just saying, Hey, I noticed that I consistently, no matter how many times.

I read something, I just sometimes miss some grammar and spelling errors. if let’s say I’m looking to grow people with content creation. I don’t want someone just like me. That’s also like, yeah, that’s something I struggle with I need someone who can maybe be a second pair of eyes, someone that maybe that is a strength of theirs to again, make us better as an organization.

So it’s really just something I’d say. I just got better at over time and just. On a totally different lens when i’m Sending out proposals and you get clients. I’ve learned that when they say, Hey, I’m a pain in the, you know, what, at the beginning of my career, I was like, I’m going to win them over, but I’ve learned when they tell me that in the discovery call that they’re a pain, I go, they know themselves, I’m going to listen to them

I feel like we [00:17:00] all get smarter with every process, with every client, with every decision.

[00:17:05] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. and I love that you know, that about yourself. Cause that’s just, it’s such an important thing. Cause we all want to think we’re good at everything.I have an English degree. I should be great at grammar. I’m the king of the comma splice.

I know my work needs to be edited. So it’s a helpful thing to kind of learn and know about yourself or even, Following through with clients, right? I’m great up front, but maybe I’m not great at all the follow through and all the things that have to happen. So bringing that, those different strengths and different viewpoints.

And that’s what it sounds like you have is there’s some non negotiables. If you want to be part of the company, here’s the base, but then everyone else is growing up. And in my head, I’ve got this garden of all these different flowers that are bringing different things to the table, but there’s that shared value system for your team. And is your team remote? how are you managing through that with a team that does bring all this kind of diverse viewpoints?

[00:17:54] Heather Heuman: so I’m in South Carolina. We’ve got one member of our team that was in Chicago. but she’s [00:18:00] moved to Indiana. So she’s remote. She’s been with us for about six and a half years. And then someone else is about an hour and a half from me in North Carolina. And then there actually is someone else that’s in my town.

so. We’ve got a couple other people that work with us on various projects. So we’re remote. We meet monthly for face to face zoom calls and where we’re all together as a team. And then we have calls where I am, let’s say some of our team members are on certain client calls. So we’re kind of maintaining all of that online connection through email and Facebook messenger.

[00:18:36] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. It does offer you lots of opportunities for hiring that you probably didn’t have before. Now,

[00:18:42] Heather Heuman: And like I said, I’ve really enjoyed that piece myself, just being able to have that lifestyle freedom. That’s something that’s important to me. And a lot of times it attracts people that kind of want to be a part of that to say, Hey, it doesn’t matter where I live.

[00:18:55] Craig P. Anderson: there’s an area, we talked about this before we started recording, and I want to dive into this a [00:19:00] bit because there’s leadership and leading the team, but then you also have all these clients and they’re coming to you because they don’t understand the digital world. or they don’t have time to spend in it. When you think about leadership in a client context, how does that differ? Or does it, when you are leading clients towards where they want to be, it’s a different kind of leadership, but how does that show up for you? How do you do that?

[00:19:24] Heather Heuman: Yeah. There are two key things that kind of stick out on my mind. When you ask me, related to leadership in our clients. The first thing is that you can have. Leaders that are running 5 million companies that are super savvy, super smart, but they can have some of the same, I’d say insecurities that if you are, let’s say a solopreneur, or you’re a small team of like you and one or three other people, you might feel like you’re suffering with imposter syndrome, or you might be feeling [00:20:00] like I just can’t press record and make that video.

. And I’m not saying it’s surprising, if anything, I’m saying this to just encourage everyone who’s listening, no matter where you are, because I am personally seeing the leaders of these really large companies that are like, Oh my gosh, I don’t really want to be the face of the video. I’m not sure that I can do that.

I would really just much prefer to be behind the scenes. But I’m like, Hey, someone from your brand. Needs to be willing to put your face out there. I don’t care if it’s you, but someone on your team and your next team call needs to be willing to not hide. And so that would just be one thing is really, I am finding that I’m really just flexing these muscles of encouraging these leaders to say why these things are important and to give them some of those same step by step ways to have success.

And whether it is from creating video content. Or even me just guiding them saying, okay, you’re getting ready to go to this conference. Here are eight things you need to [00:21:00] do, or someone in your team needs to do. Capture this kind of video, capture this kind of photo. So we can then obviously maybe help you from a getting it out onto your social perspective.

And then the other thing that I think of is, It’s created opportunities to have with compassion, but with kindness and professionalism, but sometimes clients can hire you. They can be paying you monthly, a lot of money. And they’re almost intentionally or unintentionally just not willing to do what needs to be done to get them the result that they want.

And now this is how I operate. I say to them, can I speak to you in a way that is just exactly what I’m thinking without offending you? And once they’ve typically given me permission, I say, in so many words, you’ve hired us and you’re paying us a lot of money, but you are not willing to do these [00:22:00] things.

And that is stopping us from being able to get you the result that you want. And I, at the end of the day, know that maybe this is your stance. on this type of thing on social media. But I want to ask why you hired us if you’re not going to allow for us to help you get where you want. Because at the end of the day, I do say to them, you pay the bills, right? But I’m like, here’s why I think we should post this type of social content. Or here’s why I think you need to create these five, frequently asked questions type of content. And I ultimately say, this is what I’d like to do. You’re the one who’s ultimately like writing the check. You’re paying the bills. This is your account. I do want you to feel good about it, but at the end of the day, you’re paying me. Which is lovely, that’s great, but it’s like my hands are tied behind my back and that at the end of the day doesn’t feel good to me.

Because I don’t want the work relationship just for the sake of the [00:23:00] money. I want to be able to help you get the result that you want. And sometimes I think as a leader, that’s a hard conversation to have when someone’s like, paying you, but I’m just like, Hey, life is short if you don’t want to do what is necessary, this may not be the greatest fit, but I also in love say, you know, if you want to be able to get the result that you want, then I need you to do these four things.

And here’s why I need you to do these four things. And I honestly, through those conversations have really just started incorporating that into my onboarding process to say, are you coachable? Are you willing to say there’s testing involved? Are you understanding that what you think is maybe pretty? And on brand and I agree it’s pretty and it’s on brand, but sometimes the less than pretty the rogue photo that you take on your photo or on your camera, that’s in your back pocket that has a chance of getting a 15, 20 percent higher reach on your social content.[00:24:00]

Are you willing, are you open to testing things, even if it feels different to what you think is the right thing to do? And so I’m processing that just with our clients to say, it isn’t sometimes that they’re just trying to be difficult. It’s just sometimes what may be working now, let’s say in social media is different than what they imagined if they let’s say grew up in the nineties of what this is, what marketing is like.

[00:24:31] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. And what you’re really talking about is the art of the difficult conversation. It’s just like you might have with an employee who

is underperforming, Here’s the facts. Help me understand what’s getting in the way. Here’s why we need to do what we need to do. How do we get you in the right place? These are the challenges, the internal strength to do that, because even in a customer context, you’re worried about. Them being offended and saying, well, I don’t want to do business with you or the employee leaving. is [00:25:00] that something that came natural to you? Or did you have to build that up over time to be able to have the strength to do that?

[00:25:06] Heather Heuman: I think I’ve always had the strength, at least in my current company. I do think what’s gotten better and what feels easier is realizing the why behind their decisions. Are sometimes just fear of the unknown. And so I feel like I don’t take it as personally when they say, for example, I don’t want to do this or they, let’s say, have an objection to what they’ve known to be true for the last 25 years, but they’ve really not paid any attention to how maybe traditional marketing.

Versus this landscape of everyone having this great content creation tool in their back pocket. It’s more so like an educating people and communicating to them in a way that doesn’t make them feel stupid and it doesn’t make them feel that they’re being noncompliant, but more so I personally, this is how I am fueled.

I like to [00:26:00] know the why. Behind the ask. So I feel that when I can explain, well, here’s the why, and here’s what the stats say, and here’s what your competitors are doing, and here’s what I would like to see us consider doing that helps I feel get them on board. So it’s just more so a willingness to just know that people are coming at conversations from a different angle and really just trying to put myself in my client’s shoes and then going forward with the conversation from there. Okay.

[00:26:29] Craig P. Anderson: Heather, I’ve enjoyed this conversation. We always like to close with the question of if you could go back in time, to an early. Part of your time leading people. What’s the one piece of advice you would give yourself that would have made it easier or made you more impactful?

Just made you better earlier on.

[00:26:49] Heather Heuman: I’m going back to when I was a relationship manager for a chamber of commerce, and I also was running like a local, like family friendly [00:27:00] content website. And I would say the lesson I learned and the piece of advice I would give is that when you see. That there are other people that maybe are in your zone of genius or people that offer what your services are, and they are catty and maybe not as receptive to you as you would like for them to be for you to not think that all of your competitors are like that.

Because that’s what I did. I kind of experienced like this female that wasn’t kind, that was just super snarky and just gave me somewhat of like belittling feeling, it didn’t make me think I couldn’t do it. It didn’t make me think business wasn’t possible for me, but what it made me think was all competitors, especially if maybe they’re the same gender as you, that they’re going to all be like this woman was.

So it took me about five years of realizing that’s not the case. Yes, there are going to be more snarky women. And I still can experience and see some of those [00:28:00] people today, but I really have opened my eyes to go just as much as there may be snarky people that are kind and gracious and giving people and to not minimize the opportunity for your network.

Among people that do what you do and to just have this spirit of saying, I want to help other people and I want to be surrounded by other people that are smarter myself, and I want to learn from other people. And so that would be the one thing that just pops out.

[00:28:27] Craig P. Anderson: Yeah. Don’t judge. Don’t assume.

I love it. So Heather, you have a very strong social media presence. If people want to follow you, learn more about you, where are the best places for them to go do that?

[00:28:38] Heather Heuman: come to my website, sweetteasocialmarketing. com. And there you’ll see all of our social handles for me. It’s mostly my name at Heather Heuman across most channels, but I would love for people who listen to come and connect with me on LinkedIn. That’s like my personal top focus, for the current time.

So that’s the space I love to hang out quite a bit.

[00:28:58] Craig P. Anderson: Great. And we’ll put links to all [00:29:00] that in the show notes. Heather, thank you so much for sharing the story of your executive evolution.

[00:29:04] Heather Heuman: Thank you so much.

[00:29:06] Craig P. Anderson: I hope there were a lot of takeaways for all of you from that interview with Heather, not only about leadership, but about business and how the focus that she’s brought to her has helped drive her success and helped her to grow a successful team. As always on executive evolution, I like to bring us back and focus in on the three areas of success for leaders, confidence, competence, and calm in the area of confidence. what I really appreciated about what Heather had to say was the lesson she’s learned

from taking a stand rooted strongly in her why, and knowing that even though that may make the way ahead of her rocky in the short term, everything will work out in the end, as long as she stays rooted in those principles. And that’s helped build her business confidence, Then in the area of confidence, when she talked

about knowing exactly who her client is and [00:30:00] knowing the kind of business that she wants to run has brought her clients who resonate with her business, and that makes it very easy for her to serve her clients in the most successful and most effective way.

So again, being clear in where you’re headed, having that vision, knowing what it is you’re about, Allows to have competence. in your business because you’re aligned with your customers. And then finally, in the area of calm, I really appreciated Heather’s talking about how she knew what her weaknesses were and the way she stays calm is not trying to fight against those weaknesses. Instead, she finds people who can complement her weakness with their strength and she brings those people to the fore so she can stay calm because she’s not making herself crazy trying to do the things that are not part of her highest. Potential and possible contribution to her business.

Thanks again, Heather, for sharing the story of your executive evolution. If you enjoyed this episode, please check out all our prior episodes and remember you can go from being an accidental leader to the [00:31:00] greatest leader of all time. It just requires you having confidence, competence, and calm.