Leadership Excellence and Mastery for Women

Kris Plachy: Hello. Hi, how are you? I am so happy to have this time to talk with you today. I’m Kris Plachy, you’re listening to the Leadership is Feminine podcast. And today we’re going to kick off a new season talking about you, and mastery, and leadership. And really, what it is that helps people like you become exceptional at what you do. Let’s get started.

So hi, oh, my goodness! So we’re coming off of an awesome season, right, of so many powerful, fun, interesting interviews with so many of my outstanding fun, interesting, smart clients. And I did that season, as I mentioned, with one really, really important reason in mind. And that was that I know how much powerful wisdom there is in the world that is being tapped into every day, in small businesses, and touching lives all over the world as a result.

But for whatever reason, you know, #marketing, we usually only hear from the voices that everybody else hears from. And I think that’s fine. I think it’s awesome to learn from thought leaders and masters in their space. But I also think there is a really important reason why we should be learning from every day experts, every day champions, who are sitting at a desk somewhere in the middle of the US making it work.

I think it’s important to do that because it’s more accessible. These folks that we hear from are often more relatable, and it’s more available to us to see and place ourselves in their circumstance. So we have the ability to look at a doctor in Florida or a veterinarian in Washington. And we can say, “Hey, you know what, she sounds a lot like me.” A lot of times, people who have incredible wisdom, and they have the platform and the microphone to share it across the masses. We lose connection in many ways. And while the lessons are equally valuable, I always want to hold space for the day to day excellence that I think we’re all trying to figure out. And so I like modern, normal, unrecognized experts who are doing it all every day. So I hope you enjoyed the season and I hope you enjoyed learning from and listening to the women that I am so lucky to work with. I have an incredible client portfolio. And I’m very proud of who comes into my world and changes me just as much as I hope to impact them.

So this season to me is about mastery and becoming more and more excellent in your role as an entrepreneur, leader and team manager. And I have Eleanor Beaton—if you don’t follow her, I recommend it—to thank for this, and she and I were having a conversation not very long ago and we were talking about the fact that I’m going through a real…I would say a little bit of a metamorphosis but in kind of a really cool way, but part of that has been going through just about 10 years of material—10 years of material that I’ve created over the course of my business. And July of this year will be the 10 year anniversary of me starting my company.

And so I started going through just buckets of Dropbox folders. And I’m not embarrassed to say but maybe a little bit, that it’s a mess, it’s just a closet with a ton of crap in it. That’s how I feel about my Dropbox. So that’s my goal, is to get it really cleaned up. And so, I just opening up files and clicking on it and reading it and/or watching and there’s a lot of videos and a lot of workbooks, worksheets, you know, things I’ve written.

And my first thought process when I started looking at the things that I made five years ago, eight years ago, six years ago, four years ago, is how much I’m still saying the same thing. And at first, I felt badly about it. I was like, “Are you kidding? Like, I’m still saying the same thing.” Like, you can watch a video that I made on dealing with a difficult person and I could have made it yesterday, the tool I teach, the way I teach it, it could have been made yesterday. And at first, like I said, I was making that mean something bad about myself, that I haven’t evolved, that I’m just beating the same drum.

And then I was talking to other people about it. And I got very different feedback, which is, “No, you’re consistent. You’re not grabbing the next shiny thing,” that the frameworks that I developed, to be honest, quite some time ago, that I developed out of my own need, because I worked as a manager in a startup culture. And I needed frameworks, I needed to understand how to do what I was doing in a way that was authentic to myself, and it didn’t exist. So I built it. And with every crucible moment, I built something new.

And we’re going to talk about one of these elements in the season, which is resilience. I really do believe the virtue, the characteristic of successful entrepreneurs, I think that one of the cores that they all share is resilience. And I’m going to talk more about that in an upcoming episode. But I do think that we tend to gain this level of wisdom for ourselves, all of us. And without realizing it, we hold on to it.

Now, what I think is really cool, now that I’ve been able to have brain shift about it and bringing it back to Eleanor, is she said to me, “Mastery takes time.” And she said, “you teach principles, true principles.” I don’t teach you what’s new, I teach you what is, because there is a simplicity and beauty to managing and leading people that I think has been completely lost in layers and layers and layers of trainings and workbooks and binders and models. And I don’t think it’s that hard. I do know what makes it hard is who we bring to managing and leading. What is the vessel that we’re using to deliver management and leadership? That’s where things get hard, difficult, challenging. It isn’t the science of management. It’s quite simple.

So, in this season, I want to talk with you as best I can about what are the simple factors that lead you through the process of achieving mastery, as an entrepreneur, who also leads and manages a team, because I really do believe we can boil this down in a way that if you’re listening to this, and you do feel overwhelmed, burnt out, resentful, frustrated, lost, while helpless, if any of that is resonating with how things are going in your team. I really do believe we can, through the work that we’re going to do here in this season, we can help you resolve it. Because if I can help you know what simple, it can clear the deck for you, we can cut through all of the layers of complexity that I believe the world has shown you. And when we come back to basic truths, things get easier. And that is ultimately, my goal.

I’ve been given this feedback quite a bit in my life actually, that I make things that are complex or simple. And I’m happy to say that hasn’t changed. I think this has been, you know, it’s interesting that it’s my 10 year anniversary and here I am still talking about leadership and management. I just started a leadership coach training here not long ago. And it’s so refreshing to meet other people who just got bit by the same bug. I mean, we all get bit by these things, right, we all get the dream placed on our heart, we all get kissed with an idea. We all have it, all of us do.

I don’t know why this is mine. But I’m so honored to be on this journey with so many people, because I love watching the powerful ability of a woman, once she no longer feels helpless to managing and leading people, once she’s no longer helpless to the behaviors and choices of others. Once she knows that there’s nothing in her business that could happen, that she knows she can’t handle. Watching that happen, and being witnessed to women who experienced that kind of resolve and knowing and wisdom has been so inspiring. For me, it doesn’t seem fair, that this is what I do for a living, because I stand to watch such beautiful things happen for other people.

So we’re going to talk about how do we become that woman who can be shaken, but not thrown and still be authentic and kind and gracious, and loving? And, you know, other words there that feel good to you. That we don’t have to lose ourselves to become her, that version that is tough. And what if all of that were possible. So we’re going to do a few things over the season. And I want to clue you in on some changes. So the first change, I don’t know if I’d say it’s a change, but the first thing that we’re doing is we want to actually coach some of you. I would like to do a few coaching calls specific for the podcast. And those coaching calls will be about things that are going on in your team, areas that you feel like you need some true support, because you bump your head into it all the time. It might not be the same employee, but it keeps being the same issue.

I’m going to coach women who are running their own businesses—founders. I’m going to record these calls anonymously. So you won’t know who the people are, that are being interviewed, unless they want to share. So if that sounds appealing to you, and you would like to have a 10 minute really quick speed deep, powerful coaching call with me, I’d invite you to email [email protected] and say, “Yes, I would like to be coached on the podcast,” and my team will send you a questionnaire. But you do have to be a female entrepreneur, you do have to be running your own business. And we’re doing coaching on leading, managing team, not on how do I lose weight or deal with my mother. There’s other people who could help you with that. But that’s not what we’re going to do here.

I want to do this because I want all of you to hear, I want you to see behind the curtain. I think for a lot of people who listen to this podcast, you’re familiar with coaching, you have experienced it, you might be part of Self-Coaching Scholars or another coaching program, you might be a coach. I want you all to experience how I coach because I do things a little differently than other coaches. I consider myself both coach and advisor, coach and consultant. I actually toe the line between giving you advice and recommendations and coaching, which, in the traditional coaching world, there is no advice. And I want to show you how I do that. And I know that the people who I coach through this process will be people that will be just like you.

So if that’s something you’d like to do and you’d like to have a coaching call with me that will be recorded and shared on this podcast, as I mentioned, anonymously, we make up all the names, and I like to have fun with that, actually. I like to make up names that are silly and fun. It brings a little levity to it. Please email hello@krisplachy... That’s P-L-A-C-H-Y.com. And it’s Kris with a K, you all. Can we get that right? Kris, K-R-I-S, not K-H-R-I-S, not C-H-R-I-S, not C-R-I-S. I’m just saying. It’s hysterical when people type my email [email protected], in the email, they have to type it. And they put, “Hi, Chris,” And it’s CH. I’m like, that’s funny. So send that to Hello.

The second thing I want to tell you is we’re changing things here in this business, and I’m really excited about it. And there will be more to come on that. But I want to let you know ahead of time, we’ve been doing the How to CEO program for almost two years, we have put several 100 women through the work that we do in How to CEO. It is a game changer. Women who go through it will tell you and it’s incredibly robust. We know that you don’t have a lot of time. And so that has always been our battle, is how do we get you what I know you need, but do so in a way that sort of moves you through kind of an order of importance. But I know I can’t give you everything I need to give you in eight weeks, I just know that’s not possible, the way that we’ve been doing it.

Now, what’s cool about How to SEO and the way that we built it, is it was absolutely perfectly designed, without intention, for the pandemic. We were able to come into the lives of our clients, right on their TV screen, right on their computer screen, right on their phone and get them the help they needed. During that two-year-period, oh, my goodness, right? We were all just trying to figure out the next two minutes, let alone the next two months.

And so I’m so grateful to technology and the resources that were available to us in that moment to help people like you. But I will tell you that I am not an office hermit. I am not happy sitting in a box, being on a box. It’s like my friend and coach, Ali Brown, the other day told me, “Zoom sucks my soul.” And I said, “Amen, Mama, me too.” I can’t, I can’t! It’s not enough. And now, I know that even more, because I started getting out. Now for those of you who follow this podcast, you know that I’ve been quite the COVID anxiety-ridden human. And I still have my worries, but I’m much more present in the world.

And aside from going to Hawaii, which has been my you know, my saving grace is to go to Hawaii and be with a small group of women and just have this incredible experience. I really haven’t been able to connect. And before the pandemic, I was facilitating all the time, I was out, I was speaking. I’ve spoken to thousands of people. And I love it. And I want more of it. And I think you do too. So, I recently was a speaker at the Life Coach School’s mastermind. That was amazing. There were like 1800, 1900 people there, it was electric. And then I was just invited to speak very briefly for Ali Brown’s group, The Trust, which I’m a part of. And we did a whole session on how to manage difficult people. And I loved it.

And so we’ve been talking about what is the best way to guarantee results for our clients? What is the best way? What is the best way to provide the most excellent experience for our clients? And I think that’s a really good question for you to be asking yourselves as well. I would also ask it of you related to your employees, what is the best way for me to create an excellent experience for my team?

And what I know is that several years ago, when I decided to transition from doing corporate coaching to only coaching female entrepreneurs, Brooke Chrystelle created a week long mastermind, and that mastermind I think was six days, it might have been seven, and we met every morning 9am sharp, we got in trouble if we were late. And then we learned what we were going to do work on for the day, in the morning. And then we did it. Done!

Now, I was in a Business Mastermind, and I was rebuilding my business. So what I did was I built a website, all the copy videos, Facebook ads, I had a photographer come to put my pictures on the website, emails, pixels, like we got…The amount of work that we did in this timeframe was crazy. But guess what, I left that workshop done, not with a bunch of stuff to do. And when I work with my clients, that’s what I’m noticing is happening now. It’s like, we get an hour together and there’s all these great things I know I want them to do and I know they need to do. But we get off the Zoom call and then you know, Joyce is in their office or in their Slack, and they’re boom, they’re off, they’re in a whole other topic, they’re in a whole other triage moment. They’re on their way into something new.

I know you know what I’m talking about, right? I have so much to say about this. I just was listening to a podcast, I can’t wait to talk to you guys about this book. So that’s another podcast. But we, as CEOs, we have to develop and honor time for deep thinking and execution. And so we are restructuring How to CEO, and it will be in person and it will be immersive, and you will leave with all team design systems practices finished. And not only that, you will be able to bring with you your right hand, your ops person, your assistant, your GM, because no offense, my love, but as the visionary, it’s hard for you to do the things. You need help, you need your implementer, you need your executor. You need that person with you, who can help you get it done. And we’re going to get it done.

So we’re going to spend five days together, working hard, immersing you into this so that when ou walk out the door, you are built, you are done. I know the value of that to you. Imagine: We need to get that posting out there. Oh, it’s done. Oh, and so are all the interview questions. Oh, and so is the interview process? Oh, and so as the offer letter, it’s done. We need to fire this guy. Oh, here’s the process we’re going to follow. Oh, here’s how we exit him. We just made this hire. Oh, here’s what we’re going to do when we hire someone. Here’s the checklist. Here’s the training plan for every role. I know you want all this. And I also know that you want to punch yourself in the face every time you think about doing it. It’s the only way. It’s the way I know, to help you get exceptional results, which is my commitment to you.

So I want to bring this back to the very beginning of this podcast where I talked about becoming exceptional and being a master. We all have mastery, we all are working towards achieving a level of mastery in something, right? I’m 52 years old, I’ve been doing what I’m doing for almost 30 years, you all. I’m excited to step into this space where I can bring you together and say, listen to me, this is how it’s going to be. And I’m also excited to model for you and hold the belief for you that your investment in your time and your brain, like immersing yourself in that space.

I hear it from you all, all the time, “I wish I had more time to work on my business instead of in my business.” If you have said that, do you mean it? Because there’s never a perfect time. You know that right? There’s always another email. There’s always another Slack. There’s always another meeting. There’s always another phone call. I know you know what I’m talking about. We’ve got CEO ADD all over the place, and it’s affecting our joy. It’s affecting our business’ operations and effectiveness, and it’s affecting success and delivery. So I’m excited, crazy excited!

So the details are coming together. I’ve been with Michelle Arrant all week, my director of operations. We’ve been building what we’re going to walk you through. I’m so excited about it. It’s almost done. We’re trying to figure out where and when the first one will be. But we do have a place for you to go to put your name if you want to be on the waitlist, and it’s just www.ceoimmersion.com. Just go there, it’ a pretty rough page, but at least you can put your name there, and then all the details will be coming out and we’re going to build—initially, we’re just building a waitlist, then we’re going to ask you to make a deposit if you’re really serious about it, and then we’re going to go from there.

So I’m so glad to be here talking to you about these topics today. I know that it’s been a while that I’ve been—you’ve been hearing the same message for quite some time because I wanted the interest to be the same for the interviewer. So I’m just so happy to kind of be here and have this chat with you today and give you my thoughts and where we are and where my business is and where I am. And I would love to coach you. So email [email protected]. And I would love to meet you. And more details will be available if you opt in at www.ceoimmersion.com. So I hope I will see, hear from you soon, and I’ll talk to you next week. Take care.

         We have a lot of exciting changes coming up here at Kris Plachy Coaching Group. And I don’t want you to miss out, from leaving social media to offering live interactions only to people on our email list. I want to make sure you don’t miss out. Head on over to www.krisplachy.com and drop your name and email in our little box there. And that way you’ll get all the updates well before everybody else and even updates that nobody else will know about. See you there!