0:00

and welcome to another episode of

0:03

power, purpose and prosperity.

0:05

I'm your host, Sabine Gideon, and I'm excited

0:07

to be back with another female powerhouse

0:10

to have another powerful conversation.

0:13

So if you are completely new to me again soon. being

0:15

Gideon host of the show. Also the CEO

0:18

of Gideon Enterprises, a professional

0:20

development firm where we support individuals

0:23

and organizations in leveling

0:25

up in terms of their skill set

0:27

in terms of their leadership and their careers.

0:30

Uh, you can learn more in the show notes,

0:33

outside of all of that, I would love to

0:35

introduce my guest this week.

0:37

Amy Siegfried. Throughout a more

0:39

than 20 year career, Amy has effectively

0:42

engaged with millions of people to build confidence,

0:44

connections, and meaningful collaborations

0:47

from corporate networking on a national stage

0:49

to living and working abroad. To starting

0:51

two successful companies. Her experience

0:54

has honed her ability to become a

0:56

master of small talk and

0:58

making lasting impact as

1:00

the CEO of last night's game, a corporate

1:02

executive chair of Irish angels

1:05

and an adjunct professor. Her message

1:07

of creating confidence in conversations

1:09

has reached audience of over

1:12

5. 5 million people in the

1:14

last seven years alone.

1:16

So without further ado, welcome

1:19

to the show, Amy. Thank

1:21

you. Thanks for having me. Sabine. Absolutely.

1:23

Absolutely. For the purposes of the

1:25

audience, I would love for you to share,

1:27

you know, cliff notes version of your career

1:30

journey and what led you to

1:32

the work that you're doing today.

1:34

You know, it started off and I will start

1:36

off with kind of the basics. I was in college and

1:38

I had no idea what I wanted to do besides, I really

1:40

wanted to be Katie Couric. And we already talked about

1:43

us being 80s babies and then I sort of realized

1:45

there's only one Katie Couric and even if you got a great job,

1:48

there wouldn't be that many of them. And so I thought,

1:50

well, how do I shift to make something more functional? And I wasn't

1:52

sure what that looked like. And I went to

1:54

a PRSSA meeting, which is the Public Relations

1:56

Student Society of America, and they have

1:58

a professional chapter, um, for professionals.

2:01

And, uh, the Arizona Diamondbacks were

2:03

coming in that day to speak about what they do and

2:06

bringing in their PR person. And

2:08

little did I know, my future boss walked in and

2:10

she talked about how, The work that

2:12

she does at the Diamondbacks in community relations

2:14

and how they give back to the community and they take care

2:17

of player programming, hospital visits,

2:19

uh, things like that. And I thought, wow, this is

2:21

something I had no idea existed.

2:24

Blew my mind, applied for an internship, got

2:26

the job, um, worked my butt

2:28

off. As, as we all do as interns

2:30

worked on my butt off and had

2:32

a full time job before I left college.

2:34

And so I stayed with the team. I

2:37

love the world of sports. I'm a terrible

2:39

athlete. I should note that terrible athlete,

2:42

uh, but I really enjoy the world of sports.

2:44

And so one day it was at a game. It

2:47

was with one of my girlfriends who works in manufacturing.

2:49

And she said, well, why are the guys running off the field?

2:51

And I said, they have three outs. And she said, what's

2:53

an out? It was like, okay, well,

2:55

let's, let's dive right in. We'll start in the beginning here.

2:58

But what I came to realize is that I didn't realize

3:00

the advantage I had in my career

3:02

of being able to talk sports and how that carried

3:04

me through my relationship building. In

3:07

my career, I worked in community relations

3:09

and community outreach nationally for

3:12

part of my career, my husband and I moved

3:14

overseas to Singapore for two years

3:16

where I did marketing and advertising and

3:18

where food and sports was just common language that you

3:20

could speak and talk to everyone

3:22

about. And so it sort of became

3:24

this, um, this vein through

3:26

my career, if you will. And then we

3:28

moved back to the US from Singapore.

3:31

Um, I couldn't find a job. It was right before Christmas,

3:33

and no one hires right before

3:35

Christmas, and so I thought, Hey, I had this

3:37

idea a long time ago when I had that

3:39

aha moment with my friend of, How do I

3:41

teach people about the world of sports? But

3:43

in a very conversational, easy way. We don't need

3:46

to talk about statistics. You know, so

3:48

that's kind of where last night's game came in and

3:50

it's kind of flowed into its own own

3:52

little animal and allowed me to, um,

3:55

to really open up a lot of doors and do a lot of great things,

3:57

which has been a lot of fun.

3:59

Awesome. Awesome. And I love that.

4:01

And I was sharing this with you earlier, uh,

4:03

as I was, you know, uh, internet stalking

4:05

you and seeing some of your content,

4:08

I was just like, Oh my gosh, I wish I knew

4:10

her, or I wish I knew of this back

4:12

when I was in corporate. Um, because I am.

4:15

I am your friend, that person

4:17

who was just like, I'm sorry, what, what does

4:19

the 50th line mean? Like, what is that?

4:21

Like, I, I told you, I watched the super

4:23

bowl only. So I had something to talk

4:25

about, you know, the following week with someone.

4:28

And then I, I, at some point I was dating

4:30

someone who's really, really into sports.

4:32

I grew up in Connecticut. So he was a Patriots

4:35

fan. And so I had to become a Patriots

4:37

fan and also he played hockey.

4:39

And so I had to like learn about hockey.

4:42

So it was really just like a means

4:44

for me to be able to have conversations

4:46

with the people who are in my circle. So

4:48

I love that you've created a platform.

4:51

To help do that. But we also know that it

4:53

goes beyond just knowing the details

4:55

of the sports, right? When it comes to,

4:58

uh, navigating organizations

5:00

or navigating different communities and

5:02

networks, to your point, sports,

5:05

food, you know, some of the things that we all

5:07

have in common and we all know those are things

5:09

that come up. Women in

5:11

particular, we are often left

5:13

out of those conversations, um, because

5:15

that's just not always a focus of us.

5:17

That's not to say that all women are into sports.

5:20

But it may not be the first thing that we

5:22

bring up. So as you've been

5:24

doing this, what have some of the feedback that you've

5:26

gotten from other women, especially

5:28

women in corporate who have realized

5:31

that, wow, this has been very helpful for

5:33

me, or have they been like, I'm still

5:35

scared to like, dig into it because it seems

5:37

overwhelming.

5:39

I think you get a little bit of both. And I will say about

5:41

25 percent of our followers are now subscribers

5:43

to our newsletter. And they're men

5:45

who don't watch sports, don't care about

5:48

sports, but know that they also need

5:50

the same armor to go into a conversation.

5:53

I would have one guy who actually messaged me and said, Hey,

5:55

I read before I go into the barbershop because

5:57

that's all they talk about. And I don't pay any attention

5:59

to sports. And I thought that was just a really

6:02

fascinating perspective that You're right. It's

6:04

not just women. It's everyone has,

6:06

we all have our area of expertise,

6:08

right? We're great at our own areas. And

6:10

so I think that's really a critical piece of this. And

6:12

I look at sports as this opportunity to be another

6:14

tool in your tool belt of success. Right.

6:17

I think for, for me, uh, sports

6:19

is that great connector. It's something that

6:22

you can start a conversation with. Uh,

6:24

we've had a lot of people who there was one

6:26

message I actually have received from someone. She worked

6:28

in a cube land, right? And the guys would always

6:30

talk sports over her. And

6:32

someone told her about last night's game and she

6:35

started following us on Instagram and getting our daily

6:37

conversation starters and she said at one point

6:40

they were talking about something and she chimed in she goes oh is that

6:42

because they won because of xyz

6:45

and they're like how how

6:47

did you know that and then she sort of just sat down like confident

6:49

like okay never mind i'm just gonna keep on in my own little world

6:52

But it gave her that opportunity to be

6:54

a part of that conversation. And the guys

6:56

then started to incorporate her. And

6:58

what I really preach to people and really

7:00

talk about is sports is this great segue into

7:02

so many other conversations. So

7:05

if you're in a networking event and

7:07

you say, you know, let's say you're in Chicago

7:09

and you're like, you know, why did you catch the cubs? The, I, the, the

7:11

cubs are having a terrible season, whatever you want

7:14

to talk about, someone's talking

7:16

to you about that. And you say, you know what?

7:18

Um, I love going to Cubs games. Where do you like

7:20

to go before Cubs games? What do you like to get at the Cubs

7:22

games to eat? Do you ever travel with them on the road?

7:24

Like, there's so many opportunities to take

7:27

a sports conversation and turn it into travel,

7:29

turn it into food. You can turn it into

7:31

business. And I think that, to me, it's

7:33

the ultimate conversation starter that's still

7:35

a safe, a safe thing to talk about because

7:37

there are so many, And I think that's one of the

7:40

things we can't talk about these days, that it's some besides

7:42

the weather, it's one of your few safe ways to start

7:44

a conversation and join in. And then you navigate

7:46

it to something that you're really comfortable with. And if that's

7:48

fashion, that's an easy diet, that's an easy left

7:50

hand turnout of sports as well. And so it really

7:53

does make it an easy way to start a conversation.

7:55

Agreed, agreed. So it made me

7:58

think of two things and then it'll

8:00

actually be a great segue to

8:02

the next layer of this

8:04

conversation. You know, I

8:06

was. I don't know six months ago like

8:08

time, time comes and

8:10

goes for me now, but there was an article

8:13

and I want to say it was in either.

8:16

Wall Street Journal or something like that, where

8:19

it was basically saying that if more women

8:21

want to advance or want to

8:23

move up in their careers, then

8:25

they should learn golf. Um,

8:27

and I can't remember which, it was a major publication

8:30

that said that. And of course, you know, there was a lot

8:32

of backlash around that. Like,

8:34

why is it that we have to,

8:37

do something that we may not enjoy? Or

8:39

why are we being, you know, Penalized

8:41

in our career because we're not

8:43

participating in this particular

8:45

sport. And it took me back to

8:48

early in my career, uh, being in a financial

8:50

services organization. Literally, I

8:52

had a senior leader say that to me,

8:54

that's where all the business happens. That's where

8:56

all the conversations happen. So if you're not

8:58

there, then you're missing out. And.

9:01

Again, at that point in my career, I was like,

9:03

I'm not playing golf. Like there's nothing

9:06

fun about that, but it's interesting

9:08

to see nearly 20 years later,

9:11

that is still a stumbling

9:13

block if you will, or perceive stumbling

9:15

block for women to be able to advance.

9:18

In their corporate careers, because they're not out

9:20

on the golf course

9:22

at seven o'clock in the morning, you know, shooting

9:24

the breeze with their male colleagues. No,

9:27

you're

9:28

absolutely right. And it's really interesting because we've been

9:30

having this conversation just in

9:32

general, um, over at my role as chairwoman

9:34

for Irish angels. Is if

9:37

we're doing things to incorporate women, we can't

9:39

start things at 7 a. m. Because so many people,

9:41

so many women have children to drop off at school and you can't

9:43

drop them off until usually 7 45, 7

9:46

38 o'clock. So we're, we're looking at it from that perspective

9:48

of, let's say not even including

9:51

the golf course, but that's a, that's a huge piece of

9:53

how do we set our whole team up for success?

9:55

And I actually started taking golf lessons just

9:58

for the reason that you talked about. Right. I

10:00

wanted to be able to be able to be a part of that conversation.

10:02

I wanted to be able to jump in on

10:04

that golf team of in a tournament, whatever that might

10:06

be. And I struggle

10:08

with it. I really do. And I personally struggle with

10:10

it because A, it's really hard

10:12

to learn something new as an adult. B, as a

10:14

woman, you have so many other obligations on

10:17

your time, especially with the family and whatever

10:19

else you might have on there, to add in

10:21

another layer of carving out an hour

10:23

for a lesson and you've got to go play.

10:25

There's a lot to it. And so I, I completely respect

10:27

that. I do agree that you do have to

10:29

figure out how to have a presence somewhere.

10:32

And that is even if you go and you ride

10:34

in the cart, go and ride in the cart,

10:37

go and hit balls at the driving range. If that's something

10:39

you need to be present at. Start

10:41

off small. Um, that's kind of

10:43

where I'm at. If I'm being honest is

10:46

I'll go to the driving range and I'll ride in the cart with

10:48

you, but I'm probably not going to play golf, but

10:50

I'm still going to be present. And so

10:52

if that's the way you want to dive in and you say

10:54

to your leadership team, great, well, I'm

10:57

going to go and I'm going to be a part of this. I'm going to take a car and I'm going to

10:59

ride along. Um, anyone have a problem

11:01

with that? Because. You're still part of the conversation,

11:03

but you don't have to golf. And that's, and

11:05

that's my opinion. I'm also not a purist when it comes

11:07

to golf, obviously. Um, I'm not

11:09

playing in the masters anytime soon or anything like that.

11:11

And so, um, I think there's still

11:13

an opportunity to have a seat at the table.

11:16

Um, but there is, I was actually talking to someone yesterday.

11:18

Um, her son is a professional golfer

11:21

and she said, her son has such a talent

11:23

because he's had to small talk with people.

11:26

All the time on the golf course, right? If you go

11:28

play by yourself or with just a buddy, you get

11:30

paired with two other people and they could be

11:32

20, they could be 70, you

11:34

know, they could be from all walks of life, all

11:36

different careers. And so he's made this,

11:39

this career essentially out of small talk.

11:41

And obviously his game on the golf course, but

11:43

it's really fascinating when you think about it from that perspective

11:46

too. And, and what that looks like. But I, I mean,

11:48

I agree. I think there's an opportunity to

11:51

learn and sort of be a part

11:53

of something, but it is, it is a challenge

11:56

to think we still have to, you

11:58

know, want to love whiskey and cigars to be able

12:01

to, to join in that conversation. And I do

12:03

think that's a challenge. And that's where I look at some of these things.

12:05

If we can get in those conversations in the office,

12:08

where we're now giving ourselves just a little bit of extra

12:10

merit, a little bit of extra one, one, you

12:12

know, one extra point up. I think that

12:14

is, is, is important, um,

12:16

because it, once again, it puts you on a different level and

12:18

you're, you're seen as a different level. And that's, that's important. As

12:21

much as I hate to say that it is, it's a true point.

12:23

And we, unfortunately we're still, that's something we still battle.

12:26

Yeah. Yeah. And the other

12:28

piece too, it's, it's quite expensive

12:30

or it can get quite expensive. So it becomes

12:33

a prohibitive game

12:35

or opportunity for a lot

12:37

of people in the workplace. Um, right.

12:39

And so it's just kind of like this. Um,

12:42

at some point, we just have to reevaluate.

12:44

Okay. How do we as women, like

12:46

you said, take that conversation

12:48

inside? How do we create those spaces?

12:51

I'm a big, uh, proponent of networking

12:53

and building your network and building your social capital.

12:56

And oftentimes we, we reduce

12:59

networking to, Oh, I'm going to an event.

13:01

Oh, LinkedIn, where it's just like, no, no, no, this

13:03

should be part of your job. This should be something

13:06

that you have incorporated and

13:08

are intentional in the day to day to have

13:10

those conversations with senior leadership

13:12

that can be on something that, you know, you have some

13:15

level of common ground or, some

13:17

common interest.

13:19

No, I absolutely agree. And it's really interesting. And one

13:21

of my roles, I serve as an adjunct professor. And

13:23

actually just yesterday, I put together a whole slide

13:25

deck about networking because I

13:27

ran a poll in the beginning of the class of the

13:29

semester and 86 percent of them were uncomfortable

13:32

with networking. And so I sat down with

13:34

them and I said, Hey, okay, let's talk about A, what makes

13:36

you uncomfortable, but B, what is networking?

13:39

Networking is building relationships.

13:41

If that's you and I going to grab a cup of coffee,

13:44

it feels much more genuine than going to an event

13:46

and handing out a business card. But

13:48

that is networking. It's all relationship

13:51

building. So I said, keep that in mind when you're, you're, you're

13:53

putting this sort of scary

13:55

hat on about networking. It's not scary.

13:57

It's making relationships. It's creating relationships.

14:00

And it's, it's really fascinating when you,

14:02

when you, I talked to them about how you

14:04

do that and how you do that genuinely and how you find

14:07

a champion for you because you need to make a friend

14:10

before, make a friend before you need a friend.

14:12

It's kind of what I've always kind of had that

14:14

mindset of you're going to need

14:16

to invest in other people. And then one day you might need

14:18

something, whether that's a job,

14:21

whatever that might be. But I'm

14:23

someone to pick your kid up from school, but you need to

14:25

invest in that in order to be able

14:27

to withdraw at some point. And so I said,

14:29

whether you're in your environment now as

14:31

a student, whether you're in your environment now

14:33

in the corporate world, whatever you're doing, Make

14:36

a friend. Go, go

14:38

find someone because I, I said, you know, I think

14:40

the biggest thing too is also think, keep in mind, everyone

14:43

brings something to the conversation. So

14:45

you and I may sit down and you're thinking, Oh, I might

14:48

be able to get, I don't know, XYZ out of

14:50

Amy. And I'm thinking, Oh, I might be able to learn XYZ

14:52

from Sabine. You know, we're both

14:55

bringing something that conversation. I don't care if you're

14:57

20 meeting with a seven year old, you're

14:59

both learning from each other. And I think that's that

15:01

mutual beneficial circle where

15:03

you're not bothering someone. And

15:05

I think it's, it's that some of us are so programmed to think

15:07

we're bothering someone where it is

15:09

really, truly, it's a mutually beneficial

15:11

conversation because. I learned so

15:13

much from my students and their

15:15

friends that they send my way to learn

15:18

from me, and I'm like, I learned so much from them, forget

15:20

what I give them, I, that's just

15:22

what, this is just me, right? This is what we do.

15:24

And so, um, I really do think that

15:27

we all need to remember there is a, there's a reciprocal

15:29

factor to networking and it's relationship

15:31

building, not just that one way sort

15:33

of transactional, uh, situation.

15:36

And I think that does put it in a whole different perspective.

15:38

Absolutely. It's, it's that mindset

15:40

of, you know, making deposits

15:42

before you make withdrawals. Um,

15:45

but again, people are, are, Often

15:47

wait until they need to make a withdrawal to be

15:49

like, Oh, wait a minute. My balance is empty.

15:52

And also too, for the women who are in

15:54

corporate, you know, this is how you build

15:57

those relationships to get those sponsors,

15:59

um, to get those people who are mentioning your

16:01

name behind closed doors. Uh, you

16:03

can't walk up to someone and be like, Hey, can you be

16:05

my sponsor? It doesn't normally work

16:07

that way. It is a, it is a progression

16:10

of a relationship that is built and a

16:12

trust. If you will, that they can

16:14

put their name behind you. Um,

16:16

so as we, as we shift

16:18

gears a little, you know, obviously this conversation

16:21

is about how to help support

16:23

women and giving them a tool, like

16:25

being able to talk about sports or being

16:27

able to expand their network

16:30

or include networking in their day

16:32

to day. We were talking about this a little, There

16:34

is so much room and opportunity

16:36

for women like never before to

16:39

really step in and own

16:41

our power individual power

16:43

on our authority to,

16:45

you know, expand our influence and of course

16:47

our impact in a way that generations

16:50

have never experienced before.

16:52

I'm dedicated, let's put it that way to

16:55

really just stripping away

16:58

our titles, stripping our way, our roles,

17:00

stripping away the things, these identities

17:02

that we have, uh, been given

17:04

or that we have taken on to

17:06

really assess like, what is, what is the real

17:08

work. Of showing

17:11

up as a woman in this world. What is the

17:13

real work that's required? And so

17:15

I gave you some, some pre questions around,

17:17

you know, your thoughts and your definitions

17:19

around power, authority,

17:21

and influence. And I'm curious,

17:24

you know, just based on what you've seen,

17:26

your lived experiences, if

17:28

you had to define power, or if

17:30

you have a definition for power, what

17:33

is that? What does that mean to you?

17:35

I really think, I think I, what I love what you're doing

17:38

is, I think, I think there's some, there's so much

17:40

transparency that's coming through now and I really

17:42

love that where we're talking about

17:45

the good and the bad, so much

17:47

of what we see out there is good, right?

17:49

Someone was telling me last night about how you're

17:51

like, how, how did LinkedIn come about? No

17:53

one warned me that it was a place to just feel completely

17:55

inept. That everyone's doing all these great things.

17:58

That's what LinkedIn is, right? We're not going to, you

18:00

don't share necessarily your, your flaws.

18:03

But I think you're starting to see that. And

18:05

I am all for being the first

18:07

one to raise my hand and going, I screwed up. I'm not good

18:09

at this. Whatever that might be. And

18:11

I think that's really key to understand that. We're,

18:14

we're trying to do a lot of things right now.

18:16

Women are all trying to do a lot of things, which

18:18

is probably why we don't have time to learn golf. Uh,

18:21

and it's, so I think the

18:23

best thing I can say is defining power

18:25

is, is, is knowing what you're good at

18:28

and using it to maximize those relationships,

18:31

but also while not being afraid to pick others

18:34

up and take them with you. And

18:36

I think that is a key piece that it took

18:38

me a long time to figure that out,

18:41

that there is no harm to me in my

18:43

career. By lifting

18:45

up others that in fact builds

18:47

a better base. It builds a better core, it builds a

18:49

better community, a better workplace

18:52

by doing that. But I, like

18:55

I came up through organizations that weren't that way.

18:57

They were cutthroat. They did withhold power.

19:00

Uh, information is power, those kinds of things. And

19:02

that's what I learned. And I had to unlearn all of

19:04

that. And that was really hard. And

19:07

if someone I worked with, but like when my twenties, I

19:09

was listening, I would say, I'm sorry, because that is how

19:11

I learned it. And I've had to unlearn

19:13

all of those pieces. But I do think

19:15

really identifying what you're good at and

19:18

being not afraid to tell people about that,

19:20

not being afraid to embrace that is

19:22

so key. And then using that to help

19:24

other people, I think is such a key piece

19:26

of that. And there's something so empowering about

19:29

empowering others.

19:31

Yeah. So I'm curious, uh,

19:33

cause I've had this conversation with a couple of other women

19:35

and I know my experiences as well.

19:38

Who did you learn that cut throat?

19:41

This is how we got to be or this is how I

19:43

have to move forward. Like what,

19:45

what, what gender was

19:47

that? Uh, were those models? They

19:49

were, they were all men. They are all men. Okay.

19:52

Well, cause yeah,

19:53

cause you, you grew up. I mean, I worked mostly

19:55

in male dominated industries, but yes, I mean really truly

19:57

when it came down to it, I've, I've, I've. I would

19:59

say I had one and we kind of, I've talked to

20:01

this before previously, but I have one

20:03

boss, my first boss, she was phenomenal.

20:05

I mean, she was not afraid to be direct and

20:08

be honest. Um, my,

20:10

one of my favorite things that we're still friends to this day

20:12

that she said to me is when I was late to something, she said,

20:14

why is your time more important than mine? And

20:17

it was just that equalizer. And so,

20:19

um, I, I've struggled,

20:22

that was my first and last phenomenal

20:25

female boss. And

20:27

so it's really interesting how, um,

20:29

that one workplace environment was, was very

20:31

male dominated. But as I've gone on my career, a lot of those

20:33

boss, a lot of my bosses were

20:36

female and they, they

20:38

were challenging. It was a fight. Um,

20:40

but I mean, I really learned that first initial

20:43

cutthroat information is power type

20:45

of thing from working in a male dominated environment.

20:47

Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And

20:50

I, I feel like this is part of like

20:52

the being vulnerable and the being real right

20:54

because we can have that rah

20:56

rah let's be empowered and

20:58

sisterhood and we're all here for

21:00

each other. But then, People

21:03

are walking around with wounds and

21:05

scars from experiences

21:08

where that wasn't the case. And so

21:10

the conversation around really defining

21:12

this, you know, everyone has, has their own definition

21:15

of, power and how it shows up

21:17

and whatnot. But the truth of the matter

21:19

is, depending on whether you see power

21:21

as something that is power over

21:24

others, or you see power

21:26

as power with, um, in collaboration,

21:28

which I believe is what we, as women,

21:30

it's our, it's our natural tendency.

21:33

Not that we can't extend or

21:35

stretch to that other one, but our

21:37

natural tendency is around power with.

21:40

And so, you know, the, the. Purpose

21:42

of this conversation is to help those who

21:44

are listening really start. If you haven't

21:47

already defined for yourself, what is

21:49

power? Are you afraid of power?

21:51

Do you embrace power? How do you show

21:53

up? is power something that you believe

21:55

is sourced internally or is it

21:58

something that's sourced externally? Let's

22:00

have these conversations because as I've

22:02

shared before, we have this This

22:04

window in which the it's going

22:06

to open up for more of us to

22:08

have or to be in those seats of power.

22:11

And so it's not just about being in the seat of power,

22:13

but when you're there, how are you going

22:15

to show up and behave? It's like that thing

22:18

with money, right? It was just like money doesn't change

22:20

people. It just exposes

22:22

More of who they were already before

22:25

they got the money. And so I'm

22:27

really challenging the audience here to,

22:29

um, expand their own awareness

22:32

within themselves of how they

22:34

relate to power. And so with that,

22:36

I know another word that either gets

22:38

women to, like, cringe or

22:40

embrace or they're a little curious.

22:42

Is really the word authority, um,

22:45

because depending on your experiences, that

22:47

may have a good or, um,

22:49

not so good context for you. So

22:51

I'm curious when it comes to authority, how do you

22:53

define that?

22:55

You know, authority is really interesting. I think authority,

22:57

if done right. is

22:59

truly the power to make a bold statement, right?

23:02

To better make a change. Like if you have authority,

23:04

you are able to make something happen,

23:06

right? We look at a police officer who has authority

23:08

to execute the law. You

23:10

have, um, you know, a CEO

23:13

who has authority to make decisions and make

23:15

things happen. It is an opportunity for

23:17

you to make things happen. And so

23:19

I look at authority, if done right, you are making

23:22

things happen with the, the, the mind

23:24

and the greater good. in mind, right?

23:26

I think that we're, are we doing them with the right

23:28

intentions? And I think the intention

23:31

goes along with authority. You

23:33

know, I'm a, I'm a parent, which means I'm an authority,

23:35

but that doesn't mean that I'm the boss. Right.

23:38

I tell my son that all the time. Like, why are you, he says,

23:40

why are you the boss? I'm like, I'm not the boss of you. You're

23:42

the boss of you. I'm here to make sure that you don't kill yourself

23:45

and to teach you something along the way and to raise you to be a

23:47

good human. I'm not your boss. And

23:49

so authority might be someone who has the power to

23:51

make those decisions, but doesn't necessarily mean they always

23:54

execute that. And so I think authority

23:56

is is is very interesting word to

23:58

bring up.

24:00

So what I'm hearing you saying is that You

24:02

know, authority

24:04

can be given right depending on the

24:06

role that you're playing, but it's also something

24:09

that you inherently have and

24:11

get to choose how you exercise

24:13

that authority. Absolutely.

24:17

And when it comes to influence. You

24:20

know,

24:20

influence, we use the word,

24:22

right? We have so many people who want to be influencers these

24:24

days, this day and age. And

24:26

it's, it's really fascinating because influence,

24:29

I look at it that it, once again,

24:32

it's something that can be used for better

24:34

good, right? And for me. It's

24:36

important to do what

24:38

I say I'm going to do and be that positive

24:40

influence, right? I want the

24:43

people who I associate with to

24:45

see me as that person who does the things I

24:47

say I'm going to do. I want them to see

24:49

me as the one who is the ultimate influencer, not

24:52

because of what I say, because of what I do

24:54

and of my actions. Right? And

24:56

I go back to having a child

24:58

or teaching students, right? If

25:00

I get up there and tell them all these things, but yet,

25:03

you know, like we were talking about networking, I'm like, please

25:05

don't over serve yourself at networking events. You

25:07

know, those kinds of things that you learn. Yeah. Sometimes

25:09

the hard way. And then I'm going out and partying

25:11

at school events. It's like, oh, well, what is she talking

25:14

about? She doesn't know what she's talking about. Right? And

25:16

so I think it's really important to influence

25:18

and to truly be a true influencer.

25:20

You have to action what you're saying.

25:23

Yeah. Yeah. And I would even add

25:25

to, to that, that In

25:27

a way, I mean, obviously you are influencing,

25:30

but, you know, influence shows up in so

25:32

many different ways, right? So you

25:34

saw an opportunity to educate,

25:36

uh, women or your friend initially,

25:39

but other women out there, um,

25:41

it's supporting men as well,

25:43

right? So it's, it's gender neutral

25:46

in the work that you're doing, but you're also

25:48

in, in a way, just. By sharing this information,

25:51

influencing people who, you know, otherwise

25:53

wouldn't even have time to go look up

25:55

like, okay, well, what was the score for this? Or,

25:57

you know, uh, uh, was that a Birkin

26:00

who, I forget who it was, but like he had the Birkin

26:02

bag and everybody was after

26:05

the Superbowl, right? It was just like your,

26:08

your co star didn't even know what Birkin bag

26:10

was. And it's just like little things like

26:12

that. You're giving these pieces of information.

26:15

And allowing people to then take it and say,

26:17

okay, what do I want to do

26:19

with this information? How do I want to leverage it?

26:21

And like the lady who was in the cubicle being

26:23

able to, you know, ask a question and now

26:26

she's part of the conversation. So I think,

26:28

you know, when we think about influence and

26:30

I've asked this question before, you know, people like

26:32

to think about. the Oprah's and the

26:34

Beyonce's and the people who have like,

26:37

you know, these major platforms. Yes,

26:39

they're influencers, but we are influencing

26:41

in everything that we do every interaction

26:44

every conversation that we have with someone,

26:47

we are influencing I

26:49

thank you for answering those questions because I really

26:52

want to show the breadth and depth

26:54

of what it means to be a leader, the breadth

26:56

and depth of what it means to be in

26:58

a position of authority or to have

27:00

authority or impact in any capacity.

27:03

You have to show up knowing that you are powerful.

27:06

You have to be okay with exercising

27:08

authority in whatever that looks like for

27:10

you, and you have to be willing or have

27:12

the understanding and the awareness that everything

27:15

you do. Is influencing

27:17

someone somewhere, whether

27:19

you, regardless of whether you see

27:21

it or not. Um, so thank you for that.

27:23

And then, you know, as we go into purpose, right,

27:26

purpose is another one of those words

27:28

where like people share and people are

27:30

always like, I don't, I don't, I don't know

27:32

how to define purpose. And I don't know that there is.

27:35

There is a definition for purpose, even

27:37

though everybody will swear that they have one. Um,

27:39

I do believe that it is this innate

27:41

thing that we individually get to

27:43

come into this world and find for ourselves.

27:46

So I'm curious, and you don't have to tell me what your, what

27:48

you think your purpose is, but as you think

27:50

about purpose and how it's playing

27:53

out in everything that you're doing, how,

27:55

how do you feel like you are showing

27:57

up in purpose with all of those? I

28:00

think this ties in kind of what we talked about

28:03

and it talks into purposes. What I

28:05

found the further and more I've gone along throughout

28:07

my career is. to be genuine.

28:09

And if you're genuinely excited

28:11

about something like purpose to me is something that makes getting

28:13

out of bed worthwhile, right? And so

28:15

to me being genuine ties,

28:18

all those pieces in there, I am genuinely

28:20

excited about a lot of things that come across my

28:22

desk. And so that to me carries

28:25

through to all of those things is you can tell

28:27

I wear a lot of different hats. And I think

28:29

with me being genuine, That

28:31

a puts forth the

28:33

best version of me, right? It may not be the best

28:36

version of what someone thinks maybe I'm capable of, but

28:38

some days I'm not going to show up that well. Some

28:41

days are harder than others. Like we all have that.

28:43

And I think as humans, we understand

28:45

that. And so coming across as a genuine

28:47

individual, I think is a key piece of that.

28:50

And I will tell you early in my career, that

28:52

was a challenge, right? I was the one sitting in

28:54

the corner making notes, like little tiny words that

28:56

was like, what the heck does that word mean? I'm going to go look that up when

28:59

I get back to my desk. And what I should

29:01

have done, and probably would have benefited

29:03

me and helped me find mentors and

29:05

things like we've talked about is asking

29:07

the question, following up after the meeting and

29:09

going to that person saying, Hey, Hey, you talked about,

29:12

I don't know. Insert thing here. I

29:15

don't understand that. Can we talk? Can you teach me about

29:17

that? I want to learn. I want to be, I want to understand.

29:19

I want to maximize that. And to me,

29:21

I look at that now as someone who's

29:23

20 plus years into a career. I

29:25

find that motivating, right? To have someone who can come

29:27

up and say, Hey, I

29:30

don't understand this. I want to learn it though, because I

29:32

want to get better. And there's some sort

29:34

of gumption. There's some sort of excitement. There's some

29:36

sort of boldness that comes from someone

29:38

being able to do that. And so

29:40

for me, purpose, if you're genuine about

29:43

it, it comes from a good place and you can be proud

29:45

of where you're coming from because that's you.

29:48

That's who you are and you're not somebody else.

29:50

And that makes you different. That makes you great.

29:53

And so to me, I look at purpose is,

29:55

is that kind of full wrapping

29:57

circle of if you're genuine and you're genuinely

29:59

excited and you're genuine, feeling genuine about

30:02

what you're doing, that is your purpose.

30:05

Girl, I think we could have a whole conversation

30:08

around that being afraid

30:10

to, you know, ask or

30:12

not know the answer, right? Like that

30:15

fear that we as women, like if I don't

30:17

know that the answer I'm somehow incompetent

30:20

and it's just like, It's

30:22

not what it means. Um, but thank you for

30:24

bringing that up and thank you for sharing.

30:27

Um, so as we, as we transition

30:29

here, I'm, I have a couple

30:31

of, uh, blitz

30:34

session questions for you, if you

30:36

will. Um, so.

30:40

You've seen a lot. You've experienced

30:42

a lot, um, both in your, in

30:44

your careers and your businesses and everything

30:46

that you've done. If you could go back

30:49

to a younger version of yourself and

30:51

give her a key piece of advice that

30:53

you think would have been a game changer,

30:55

what would that be?

30:57

You know, it's, I think this is really hard

30:59

to narrow down, right? You start thinking about all these facets of

31:01

your career, and you're like, oh, my gosh, I would have told myself this.

31:04

Um, I think we've already kind of covered the don't be afraid to ask questions.

31:06

Be curious. Um, two

31:09

things I kind of narrow that down to, and I really do

31:11

hone this into my students is, A, remember,

31:13

you have a talent, you bring something to the table.

31:15

And that's something when I think we're especially young in our

31:17

career, even now, right? I

31:20

still feel like sometimes I'm inept compared to someone

31:22

else. And I need to stop comparing. And

31:24

I need to realize I have these talents. I may

31:26

not be a scientist who's going to solve, you

31:28

know, the next vaccine, But

31:31

I'm going to be someone who can do X, Y, and Z.

31:34

But I would also say the biggest thing that I would think of

31:36

that I think of is stand up for yourself.

31:38

Because even if you have advocates, it doesn't

31:41

mean someone's always going to stand up for you. You

31:43

need to be the one to advocate for yourself.

31:45

Don't be afraid to say, Hey, I'm really

31:47

good at this. You know what?

31:50

Look at me for this because I'm really good at this. I want in

31:52

on this project. I want whatever this is. Don't

31:54

be afraid to advocate for yourself. Don't be afraid

31:56

to put on your LinkedIn that you've done XYZ

31:59

dollars in sales, whatever that is that is in your

32:01

business. Put that in your resume. Put

32:03

it on your LinkedIn because you've earned it. You've worked

32:05

hard for it. And I think so often

32:08

women are taught to sort of be a little quieter,

32:10

to step back, not to be so boisterous.

32:13

I think of the Taylor Swift song, um, The Man,

32:16

and it really is truly, it's a double edged sword,

32:18

right? We're not always looked at differently. From the same lens,

32:20

but I'm going to be proud of what I'm good

32:22

at. I'm going to be proud of what I've done. And

32:24

you should be too, because you're phenomenal. You've

32:26

worked your butt off to get to where you are.

32:29

And I think it's so critical to stand up for yourself

32:32

because if it comes down to it, and let's

32:34

say there's layoffs at your company. And

32:36

you're quiet and you're in the corner, people might say, I'm

32:38

not really sure who Sabine is, so let's

32:41

just, let's just cut her. It's like,

32:43

no wait, we can't cut Sabine. She is so

32:45

good at relationship building, she, clients love

32:47

her, x, y, z, this, this, and this.

32:50

That's a critical piece, and if you're not advocating

32:52

for yourself, and you're not sharing those wins,

32:55

Who's going to find them? How are they going to get them?

32:58

And I think so often we think, oh, if we work really hard

33:00

and we do something great, someone's going to see it. But

33:02

probably not, right? There's so much going on in the world

33:04

that you need to be able to be the one out there waving

33:07

your flag saying, I'm awesome. I'm amazing.

33:09

Come find me. I'm a great addition to your team.

33:12

Whatever that might be and I'm, I'm okay with

33:14

being good at what I'm good at. I'm okay with being maybe not

33:16

so good at what I'm not so good at.

33:19

It's so funny. I, I talk about

33:21

my experience early in my career and having

33:24

to learn that no one's going to tap me on

33:26

my shoulder, no matter how much work I

33:28

take on. We've been taught that it's tooting

33:30

your, it's, um, it's tooting your own

33:32

horn or it's Fragging like all

33:34

of these labels that we've internalized. No,

33:37

it's not. It's letting other people know,

33:39

um, I can't tell you and I'm sure you've experienced

33:41

this in your business, right? Or like

33:44

you're talking to a friend and you're like, oh, I do this

33:46

and they're like, wait, really? That's what you do.

33:49

Like people don't know. And

33:51

even if they do know, there's so much information

33:53

out there. People aren't remembering

33:56

everything about you and all your accomplishments

33:58

and all your skills. And so it's important

34:00

for you to maintain a brag book one.

34:03

So you have something that when you're having those

34:05

low days that you can go back and

34:07

look at your wins. And also when,

34:09

you know, time is up for you to share those receipts,

34:12

you have something that you can say, these are all

34:14

of the things that I accomplished.

34:16

Yes, I actually had a boss who taught me he kept

34:18

a success folder in his inbox and

34:21

he would ever, whenever he would get, you know,

34:23

a great sale or he'd have a great email

34:25

from a client or whatever that might be, he

34:27

dropped it into successes and that

34:29

way he had that to reference on bad

34:31

days. He also took those notes

34:33

and just type them into his resume. So

34:36

it might just be just a dump of notes, but

34:38

he had that file. And I've, I've talked

34:40

a lot about that with my students. I was like, when you do something

34:43

awesome, write it down because you're

34:45

not going to remember when it comes time to put

34:47

together your LinkedIn or to put together your resume,

34:49

keep those written down. And so as you have these wins,

34:52

make a win file, however you want to

34:54

do that for you, write those down,

34:56

put those on your resume. Be so

34:59

proud of you because

35:01

you you've earned it

35:03

yep. Looking ahead once you've

35:05

kind of you know had this time you've done all

35:08

the work You've made the impact that you wanted to make

35:10

And you're looking back at your life. What do you want

35:12

the narrative to be?

35:15

Gosh, that's a really good question. Um,

35:17

you know, I, I really rely and I kind of always

35:20

go back to this for myself is, um,

35:23

this was a couple of years ago. I was at a skate, I was

35:25

at a skate shop somewhere on

35:27

in California and on the wall, it said evolve

35:29

or die. And I mean, that

35:31

could be taken very morbidly, but I looked at it

35:33

as a business owner and I looked at it as a human.

35:36

And I want to keep evolving. I want to keep learning.

35:39

And if I don't keep doing that, then I'm

35:41

going to waste away. And I think that to me

35:43

is such a key piece. Um, I

35:46

had a one and a half year old and I decided to go back and get my MBA

35:48

because I wanted to learn. I wanted to be able to be

35:50

successful in Irish Angels. And I was a journalism

35:53

major. I didn't know, I didn't

35:55

learn the ins and outs of business

35:57

and spreadsheets. And so

35:59

I really wanted to felt like that was something I was

36:01

inept at. And so I went back to do

36:03

that. I'm probably not the most ideal timing

36:05

with a baby and COVID, but you know, here we are, I've survived.

36:08

But I, I, that to me, I, I want that

36:10

to be that someone sees that, um,

36:13

my legacy is to be a lifelong

36:15

learner who helps those continue to do the same

36:17

and inspires those to continue to do the same. Because.

36:20

You know, we're here for such a short amount of time. There's so much

36:22

to see. There's so much to do. And I should probably take

36:24

that full circle and go back and learn golf again.

36:26

But you know, here we are

36:28

one thing at a time, one thing at a time. Um,

36:31

I was, I was listening to this interview

36:34

with Bob Proctor. Do you know who he is?

36:36

He was on the secret and whatnot. Yeah. And

36:39

at the end of the interview, they asked him like,

36:41

you know, at the end of his life, like, what

36:43

will he be the most proud of? And he said

36:45

that I was a good student. And

36:47

for someone who, you know, has achieved

36:50

all that he has achieved, obviously through

36:52

a lot of study through a lot of

36:55

reading and all this other stuff, it was just

36:57

like it just reinforced for me.

36:59

Um, and he said something similar that we're

37:01

either, um, I

37:04

were either growing or, you know, We're

37:06

dying basically is what he said. And

37:08

so that, that definitely falls aligned

37:10

with that. Um, and

37:13

then lastly, as we talk about growing

37:15

and evolving, uh, are there any

37:17

books or a book that has been pivotal

37:19

for you in your growth, either personal

37:22

or professional?

37:23

You know, I, I'm, I will tell people I'm not

37:26

the best business book reader because I try to read before

37:28

I go to bed. Then all I do is dream about business. So

37:30

it's a terrible thing for me to do. Um,

37:32

I've started carving out. An hour

37:34

throughout the week on my calendar to read because I'm, that's

37:36

one thing I'm just not very good at, but I am

37:38

listening to the power of moments by

37:41

chip Heath and Dan Heath. And

37:43

it talks a lot about, um,

37:45

changing the script. And that can be, it's,

37:47

they, they use personal life and

37:50

corporate life or business life, uh, in

37:52

this as examples. And it's so fascinating

37:54

to talk about. Changing the script,

37:56

how you can make your consumer,

37:58

how you can make your customer feel more valued

38:01

with just small shifts, your, your team,

38:03

your family, how you can make that value

38:05

of a memory. And they talk a little bit about,

38:08

um, you know, a memory

38:10

is basically something happening, normal

38:12

that's happening outside the norm, right? So let's

38:14

say it rains on your wedding day.

38:16

And that makes for epic pictures,

38:19

whatever that might be. That's that taking

38:21

out of the norm, waking up in the middle of the night and having,

38:23

I would do this the other day with my son, he was hungry

38:26

at 4am. So waking up in the middle of night

38:28

and having peanut butter, crackers and milk at 4am,

38:30

you know, that's something I'll actually remember. And

38:32

he still, he remembers. And

38:35

I'll be honest, I was really cranky about it at that point

38:37

at that moment, but it is that value

38:39

of memory, right? Something normal happening in an abnormal

38:41

time or in an abnormal situation. And

38:44

so the book is fascinating, full of these little

38:46

nuggets of just really, truly ways to

38:48

make an impact and ways to make people feel special.

38:51

And so I think that's, that's one of the ones I've, I've

38:53

listened to interviews with him and I've really enjoyed listening

38:55

to those nuggets of his interviews. So I

38:57

dove into the whole book and I'm really enjoying it.

39:00

All right. Awesome. So that's the power

39:02

of moments by Chip Heath and Dan

39:04

Heath. And so we will be sure to include

39:06

that in the show notes as well. And

39:08

so with regards to those who are listening,

39:11

who want to connect with you, who need these daily

39:13

tips on what's happening so that they can join

39:15

in on the conversation, where can

39:17

the audience connect with you? Where do you hang

39:19

out?

39:20

So our website is lastnightsgame. com. Um,

39:23

I am mostly on Instagram where

39:25

we do daily conversation starters on Instagram,

39:27

as well as Twitter. And Facebook and

39:30

LinkedIn, but those are little nuggets that

39:32

you can have just for your day. That's

39:34

something kind of fun and interesting around the world

39:36

of sports. Say, um, the fact

39:38

that Dwayne, the rock Johnson's grandma is getting inducted

39:40

to the WWE hall of fame, nothing

39:42

mind blowing, but like something's kind of interesting

39:45

that you might be able to dump into conversation.

39:47

So, um, we're on all the social media platforms, including

39:49

Tik TOK and YouTube, and then of course,

39:51

last night's game. com. And we're all at last night's game.

39:54

Awesome. Awesome. And so,

39:56

uh, and I'll include all of your

39:58

all of your links and all of the profiles there.

40:01

And I'm telling you the Instagram

40:03

I was just going through and I was just like, Oh, I didn't know

40:05

that like the take me out to the ballgame

40:08

thing that you had that I didn't know that was a thing. That

40:10

was just the chorus for a very long song,

40:12

apparently, or very long detailed song.

40:15

So I learned something on there on a regular

40:17

basis. So I kid you not, it could

40:19

be something really quick. It's only, only

40:21

under a minute. So you can learn,

40:23

you can hear about it. And that could be the conversation

40:26

starter, uh, for you to use

40:28

at your next, uh, networking event

40:30

or meeting, or, you know, stop

40:32

at the coffee station with someone.

40:36

Awesome. And so before I let you leave,

40:38

anything else you have going on that you want to share with the audience?

40:41

Uh, we also have a podcast, uh,

40:43

sports curious podcast, um, comes out three times

40:45

a week. Our Monday and Friday

40:47

ones are very short and sweet, about three minutes to get

40:49

you. Wrapped up from the weekend, going in the week, and

40:51

then wrap and get you set up for the weekend.

40:54

And then we dive into a deeper topic on

40:56

Wednesdays, which is typically about a 20 minute podcast.

40:58

We believe in short and sweet and entertaining

41:00

because we all have so many other demands on our time.

41:03

So let's keep it short and sweet and fun.

41:05

Okay, this is the question for me. Is there always

41:08

a sport happening? Like, is there

41:10

ever a season or a period

41:12

where, like, there are no sports events

41:14

taking place? There

41:16

used to be. So it typically

41:18

was in July. There was one day where there

41:20

were no, um, major professional

41:23

sports. And that by that classification,

41:25

that's men's baseball. That's baseball,

41:27

basketball, hockey, or football. Um,

41:30

but now because we have so many

41:32

additions, so many leagues and so many things like the

41:34

WNBA is always played on that off, like

41:36

there's always something happening and I can tell you,

41:38

there's. Not usually a day where there's

41:40

not some big sport happening.

41:43

All right. Look, I just, I

41:45

just learned something else new on here.

41:48

Well, Amy, thank you so much for coming on,

41:50

for sharing your experience, your wisdom,

41:52

um, for seeing the need, literally

41:55

a vision. Big need in the marketplace

41:57

and for, you know, sharing this information

41:59

for those of you who are listening, I hope you will

42:02

go and follow her on

42:04

Tik TOK and Instagram and all the

42:06

things. And if you connect with her on LinkedIn,

42:08

cause you know, that's my favorite spot. Uh, be

42:10

sure to tell her that you heard her on

42:12

the power purpose and prosperity podcast.

42:15

With that, we will be back next week with another female

42:17

powerhouse have a wonderful rest of the

42:19

day and we'll talk soon. Take care.