So please put your hands together and join
me giving this kid a warm welcome thank

you.

Ari on Iraq had a good afternoon
everybody first of all I

need to thank John Stanford at the done
in technology and management program for

energy you see me to dory and
I definitely need to think dory for

being willing to take a chance on a rookie
like me joining the stage with lots of

other prestigious speakers and leaders in
our community so thanks to both of you

also thanks to all of you for being in
the audience today I know how crazy and

chaotic your schedules are between
school demands family job sororities

fraternities projects I have I get it so
thank you very much for being here

I plan on speaking to you for about thirty
five minutes today and then we'll do Q.

and A for as long as they let me stand up
here sound fair OK great let's take a look

so our agenda we're going to talk
a few minutes about me want to make

sure you guys know a little bit more about
who in the world is on stage speaking with

you today so going to give you a little
biography also going to be speaking a few

minutes about Al Anon
the company that I work for and

then we're going to spend the bulk of our
time in a section I call about life so

we'll dig into that and about ten minutes
and then we'll wrap up with Humanae and

feel free to ask anything you want
whatever floats your boat is a OK with me

I will do my best to answer your
question to the best of my ability.

So about me.

I was born in one nine
hundred seventy three.

And that may seem like a really long time
ago when you get to be forty two it won't

seem that go so be nice and
at the time my dad

was a graduate student and
he was getting his degree and geology so

we're big fans and my family when I was
a young toddler we made a short trip to.

Illinois all I remember about that state
is the blinding white of winter and

a very puffy snow suits that's it that is
the sum total of my experience in Illinois

from there we moved to the Lone Star State
where my dad began working for

NASA as a geo chemist and it was the time
of supporting the shuttle program and

rockets and studying moon rocks so
it was a wonderful time to be involved in

the NASA community and at that time
my family and I only had one car

I know it's almost unheard of in today's
families but nonetheless we had one car so

every afternoon my mom would have
kids of my younger brother and I and

ship a soft to NASA and we would wait for
Dad to wrap up his day and

if we were a little bit earlier he was
busy wrapping things up we would play at

the base of rockets that were displayed
out of doors talk about building

your innovation capability right and
hats off to my mother who is so

remarkable at helping us build our
imaginations she let my brother and

I soar in terms of our mental thinking

there were no limits to what we
could do when we were growing up and

that was really wonderful foundation for
me from there we moved

to a little town just south of San
Francisco called Half Moon Bay beautiful

coastal small town right there along
the beaches you could surf and

ski all in one day it was fantastic.

My dad at the time was working for
the U.S.

Geological Survey out of Menlo Park and so
science was always a part of our life so

between my mother's imagination and
her soft skills and my father's.

Repertoire of hypotheses and
structure it was a wonderful balance for

my brother and I to grow up and
as a kind loving warm and

imaginative family I'm often
asked what was your first job and

how old were you when you got it
well at the ripe old age of twelve.

I asked my parents for more allowance.

And I was promptly denied no way.

And I asked again can I
please have some more loans.

If you want more allowance you need
to get a job what I'm going to school

I'm already babysitting on the weekdays
in the weekends I just want more money so

my greed was met with another denial and
so I thought well I've really got to

think about this so
the next day I mustered up enough

courage to march into the administration
office at the junior high and ask for

a worker's permit and I presented
that to my parents that night and

I think at that moment they knew they were
in trouble and they knew that they had

a very ambitious young woman on their
hands and they were going to be in for

it and I think I prove them right
over the next several decades.

Nonetheless within a couple of weeks after
they signed my worker's permit I'd signed

my mom at a job at a local upscale
boutique in town it was a wonderful

kind of clothing store lots of Pendleton
products if you've heard of that brand so

on and so forth I did everything from gift
wrapping to cleaning the bathrooms to

inventory to stocking the employee
refrigerator whatever worked and

it might sound rather silly and
simple now but

at that point at twelve years old earning
my own paycheck being part of a pact

like that making a contribution
I was in love with working

absolutely love with it and I've
pretty much been working ever since so

from that meager start I went on to
work for a buy can toy store in town

I learned how to build bikes it was great
because then you could build a bike and

head out to the hills and go for it
right and all the way down the beach and

I also worked at a beauty supply store
in the latter half of high school so

by the time I finished high school
in one thousand nine hundred one I

roughly had six years of working
experience behind me and that amount.

Only was unusual at that particular
time but it felt great and

it gave me a whole new level of confidence
in terms of where my skills were

where I felt most in the flow and my life
purpose began to take shape at that point

in the form of serving others so
more on that later.

From San Francisco I decided to move
around the Bay Area a fair bit I

went to college at Sonoma State it's
a very small school nestled in the hills

of northern California wine country
it was a wonderful college career

and I actually graduated at the degree and
sociology I started out pre-med and

ended up in sociology I know that's a bit
of a shift that's OK We'll talk more about

that and the About Life section as well
but nonetheless I graduated college and

something just wasn't right
I explored retail management

I explored being an executive assistant I
went into recruiting I had a lot of fun

I made a lot of friends I learned a lot
but something just wasn't quite right yet

until I found a sales operations role for
a medium sized technology company

in the Bay Area and I was in love
absolutely in love with it and

so even though I really enjoyed the role
my heart wasn't really happy at that

time the hustle and bustle of
the Bay Area just wasn't quite right for

me and so I ended up finding my way to
the Peach State in two thousand and

one and I've been here ever since and
it's definitely home to my heart and so

in two thousand and one I began another
adventure and sales and marketing

operations and found myself within that
role of Pirbright e of companies and

absolutely enjoyed it I loved being able
to support the front line whatever that

frontline wanted because I didn't want to
be them I just wanted to support them.

I didn't want to quote I just
wanted to make sure they reached

their trade there's a different.

There's a really big difference and so

I really enjoyed that I also began working
for a consulting firm I know many of us

students are very interested in the
consulting world and that was a lot of fun

too it was then twenty ten though that I
recognized that I needed to change one

of the constant themes with my management
staff over the years had been Katie you

were constantly challenging the status
quo you just never let it go you are so

dedicated to continuous improvement
you were weariness out and so

I thought well maybe I need to find a role
where I'm supposed to be doing math right

maybe I need to find a manager who
really isn't threatened by that but

really wants me to do that so
luckily I found a role at L.

of on and
I have been happy as a lark ever sense.

So this next slide is
something that requires me to

expose my sensitive underbelly OK like
a wild animal like a hedgehog OK.

And here's what I did I'm a big believer
in voice of customer right any time

you launch a product anytime you're going
to put something out into the world for

people to consume hopefully
before you do that

you've checked in with the people
who are going to consume it so

hence voice of customer voice of partner
works very much the same way OK And so

I thought well if I'm really going to live
what I believe then I should incorporate

that into my impact speech so I did so I
asked roughly twenty of my colleagues for

five to ten one word descriptions
of me I didn't pay them I didn't

provide them with any samples I said give
me the Good the Bad and The Ugly and

here's what I ended up with now much to
my surprise there's not a lot of Leo.

And that moment when I realize not only
did I receive the specific feedback

back that I asked for.

But the paragraphs of information and
the examples they gave of why the.

They picked those words it was
fascinating I'll admit it I went home and

cried right because I was simply so

grateful that not only was I
a relatively decent person.

Right I could give this to my mom so
she could put it on the refrigerator but.

You did OK Mom Really you did
that you know it's the most

insightful thing you could possibly do so
your first challenge of the day is if

you're really curious about what people
think about you ask them just ask right.

Even if it's not so great even if
it's something that you're a little

uncomfortable with the things you
will learn about yourself and

about your relationship from
that it'll take you a long way.

So with that we'll talk about al of on for
a couple of minutes and

then we'll dive into
the bulk of our material.

From an element standpoint we're wholly
owned subsidiary of US Bank U.S.

bank has a presence in roughly twenty
five states some of you looking

a little quizzical about us they too but
that's because Georgia's not in U.S.

banks footprint that's OK
nonetheless we're still

the top five Global Payment providers we
have over a million customers globally we

do business in many many countries around
the world some of our recent expansions

have been in Mexico Brazil and Spain we're
very proud to share that Fortune magazine

has voted us the most admired super
regional banks several years in a row and

we're very hopeful on this
fire to earn that again

from a number standpoint we have over four
hundred billion dollars in assets and

over sixty thousand employees globally so
not too tiny.

And terms of why Ellen is a good match for
me well for me it starts at the top it

starts with the caliber of leaders that
we have at our company of which there

are many and I'm extremely
fortunate to work for this company.

Richard Davis is our C.E.O. he start.

As a teller in his late teens and
worked his way all the way up

it's taken him a couple of decades but
he did it right and

one of the things that I greatly admire
is that loyalty a sense of service and

he really helps build a wonderful
culture within our organization.

Our company has also declared and
defined very specific core values and

these are actually very personally
important to me I try to incorporate them

in every initiative every project
every relationship every interaction

Sometimes I fall off the bus to some of my
colleagues here will tell you but I just

try to leap right back on right like
a moving train just get right back on.

Those values include we do the right thing
we power potential we stay a step ahead

we draw strength from diversity and
we put people first

not a bad list of things to
aspire to every day right.

Philanthropic and to activity our
company is very dedicated to serving our

communities at any time there are dozens
of opportunities around the word world for

live on and US bank employees to dedicate
themselves to the needs of others and

that's one of the reasons I greatly
identify with our company we're also very

dedicated to continuous improvement
hearken back to my managers

who told me you're just you just
never stop changing so great so

this is a piece of our company that
greatly speaks to me from a personal level

the role matches my strengths being within
the product an innovation organization

has been wonderful I get to meet with
partners I get to work with the done

in technology management program I get
to do all sorts of wonderful things for

the overall growth of our
product portfolio and

that is really wonderful Also
my management chain I got to

really hand it to people like Laurie Hawke
me surface my direct supervisor she

has me head she knows exactly what will
make me thrive she knows what makes

me Wilton Winston Nash my teeth right and
she tries to provide me with.

A wealth of opportunities to experience
a little bit of everything and for

that I'm very grateful.

All right the goal the thing
about life when Dorry asked me to

speak to you today I had so many different
ideas I got into brainstorming mode and

for any of you who've been in that
mode you just know that ideas start

pouring out of you right and you may not
know exactly what the right it is yet but

you've got a lot of stuff on
paper to shuffle through and so

what I ended up doing was trying to put
myself in the seat of a student and

thinking Well golly if I was twenty
something years old probably an undergrad

student what on earth would I want
to know from someone on stage and

so I decided to look back at my life and

decide what were some of the topics that
I would want to know what are some of

the life lessons that I would want
to incorporate earlier in my life so

that I could truly thrive instead of just
struggle and survive and just get by so

these are some of my personal experiences
as we move into the section couple of

warnings though one they seem
simple they're not easy OK so

consider yourself more two just
because I'm up here talking about them

doesn't mean I'm a master I still consider
myself an apprentice I still consider

myself to be learning these things
as well so bear with me as I go.

So number one.

Know yourself and

what I've done with each of these is also
pair with a question to ask yourself and

there's a cheat sheet at the back if
you just want one pager on all this but

know yourself ask yourself what
are my strengths there's a lot of

assessments available to us today and
it's important to pick the right one but

they're available online many are free
many are available through your professors

and your different programs and classes
take them by all means please take them OK

for that I have had a lot of success
with myers briggs posit a mentality.

Since Strengths Finder and foresight each
of them are complementary to one another

but I do encourage you to explore them
consider taking them because they'll be

a wonderful part of your personal perform
portfolio and once you know your strengths

lean into the right get good at
articulating them so that when you're

in interviews that when you're meeting new
people that you can speak strongly to them

OK our culture tends to be very
hyper focused on our weaknesses

right you can have a thirty minute
performance review twenty five minutes or

glowing comments about how awesome
you are the last five minutes or

one of the little space for
needs improvement and

then you spend the next six months
worrying about that right and

then you forgot about the previous
twenty five minutes of awesome this so

lean into your strengths think about
it like being in a car you better

look through the windshield a whole lot
more than you do the rearview mirror so

your strengths are forward your weaknesses
are behind you it's still important but

don't roll around them OK.

Next follow your passion ask
yourself when my most and the flo

one of the best examples I can think
of this is my brother in law his name

is Chris stuff he's the lead singer of
a band called Christophe about the Grange

one of the great things about him is that
he lives a standard corporate life by day

right no one would know except for
maybe the long hair OK but

by night by weekend he is traveling
in the southeast with his Bad Brains

playing music making friends and
making his own form of magic right

that is when he is most in the flow and
I greatly admired him for

that he found it he works it he lives
it and he's dedicated himself to it you

to have the ability to find your
passion and live to it right so

pay attention to your gut when
something feels weird hey attention OK.

Minutes do something that honors
your authentic self meditate do yoga

walk the dog jog around the block
I went to yoga Mowgli today

I love that place right and
I had starry yogurt.

With gummy bears right because that
felt fun that's what I needed to do

to honor myself and
get me through this evening right so

find something that works for
you do it in small chunks of time.

And then over time you will begin to
feel the pendulum swing from Enter

chaos to a little more serenity.

Avoid prison naturally.

OK Naturally no one wants
to be incarcerated I get it

you're probably wondering how weird
I really am at this point nonetheless

the prison I'm talking about
is between your two ears.

You may talk to your friends a lot you may
talk to your roommate a lot you may talk

to your parents a lot you may talk to
a boyfriend or girlfriend a lot but

the person you talk to
the most is yourself.

So we better start taking inventory of
what it is we're actually saying to

ourselves and believe it or not a lot of
what we express to ourselves our doubts

and fears it might go something like this
my gosh this class sucks I'm never going

to pass this test that I me to a one thing
well and who've been invented that right.

I'm never going to graduate my parents are
going to kill me if I do that right that

whole train of thought you guys recognize
some of those thoughts right that's

all negative thinking that you're using to
fuel yourself can you really get through

your day feeling yourself with that kind
of negativity not so much right that

makes life hard why would we want to make
life harder on ourselves and then you're.

Right so another challenge for you if
you choose to accept that that is for

a week just a week take a mental
note of every negative.

You have every doubt every fear every
complaint every concern that you have

if it is negative in any way shape or form
take a mental tally by the end of the week

you will likely be a step down did at how
much garbage you have fed yourself in

that time frame even an optimist
like me when I took that experiment.

That was an eye opener OK so for
a week Canada see what you think and

if you're willing to change it start
asking yourself this question is this

thought helpful if you're like me a very
snotty thirteen year old answers back and

says well no of course
it's not helpful right.

You may have your own enter snotty
teenager that responds back to you

own it it's OK But from that you're
able to recognize that label it and

deal with it and when you start to deal
with it it can be really simple stuff that

you use to change your thinking pattern
change the radio call a friend go for

a walk get up and just move around do
a couple jumping jacks whatever works for

you but any movement any kind of different
bot will help you change that pattern and

that's all you're trying to do
OK neuroscience proves time and

time again we can build new pathways
in our brain so let's do that.

Number five Find your tribe ask
yourself who is in my theater

OK if we were in a movie theater
pretend we are today and

there's a beautiful elaborate
red velvet curtain and

the lighting is just right and
you can smell popcorn waving in and

this your life on the big screen
who's in there watching with you.

Who have you invited into your
theater to witness your life

who is in your front row.

Isn't who you really expect who's
trying to get in the doors and

you haven't let them.

Who's out in the parking lot and
forgot your life that's plain.

Screen.

Right so ask yourself who is in my
theater I was extremely fortunate

to grow up in a very loving family and
I know how rare that is and

I treasure that and so
my family is in the first row.

My husband is actually in
the second row physically today.

He's in the front row to our little
girl Josie that brilliant spirited

two year old is also in the front row
she's the best teacher I've ever had and

she can only speak three words.

OK There's lots of wonderful giving kind
loving people in my theater I'm very

fortunate for that but the people in
my theater are not yes people OK so

I encourage you do not invite Yes
people into your life invite people

into your life who are really challenge
who you are who will not let you get away

with your worst when you can do your
best and I also encourage you to think

about diversity right think about
people who are different than you

are different background different heights
different major different something and

bite different Miss into your life because
when we invite that kind of different

message in our life you'll be surprised
how much magic can really happen.

Number Six ask questions what do I need or
want to know so

ask yourself relevant questions
right don't ask questions just for

the sake of asking questions or
you're nervous or something like that but

ask relevant questions a lot of people
when they enter the workforce they're

afraid to ask questions they don't want
to look stupid we've got a lot of pride

attached to asking questions so on and so
forth so I encourage you to ask questions

like a child forget the pride they have no
marriage to the outcome of the answer just

ask the question naturally how you ask
a question can make a huge difference so

think about that before the words actually
we from your mouth OK but do ask Quest.

And think of it in a childlike manner.

Number seven be palms open.

Think about a boxer.

Your closed off you're trying to shrink
the target a little bit your hands are up

and funny your face your chin is down
your knees are bent you're ready to leap

whatever it takes right that's a defensive
posture a lot of people spend their life

growing through with closed this with
guarding themselves from the world

OK I encourage you to open up
a little bit be palms open.

And along the path of life ask yourself Am
I really being open to this if I'm not why

what fear is being brought up here what
am I really experiencing Why do I feel

the need to be defensive why did I just
massacre that person in a meeting hole

that was ugly right whatever whatever the
scenario is ask yourself Am I being open

or closed and then if you're
brave dig into the reasons why.

Number eight embrace change ask
yourself what can I learn so

our vertical axis is pessimism our
horizontal axis is time this is a standard

bell curve most of us have seen some
version of this what would we consider

change there is change that we invoke in
our lives and there's change that happens

to us and naturally we're a little bit
more closed or open depending on which one

it was right change that happens to us and
we get a little defensive.

Change that we invoke we tend
to be a little bit more open

we will talk about change.

As dating right so
you meet someone well over thirty.

They're great you need to get
a little weak heart maybe

you're just full of sweating a little
nervous right home OK there's nothing they

can do wrong they are perfect in
every Well you know my gosh this.

It's as though it was.

Really OK so
if you go across this dating bell curve

you go out for a couple of days and
you realize I think I was wrong boy

wait a minute they never put their
phone down a donor are constantly late

my gosh they forgot about that thing
we agreed to do boy this is trouble.

And that's just with a few facts that
present themselves right so we start out

really optimistic no facts whatsoever and
then we gather a little more facts and

then we start getting cold feet OK And
at that point if enough perceived

negative facts perceived build
up then we start checking out.

Right you may not text them back right
away you may not text back at all

you may not show up for a day you may
claim you've got something else to do

before you set the date but somehow
someway we publicly or privately check out

normally though if we can cope with those
facts and we realize they're probably

pretty little in the scheme of
things then we start heading towards

some greater optimism and
some more acceptance in this person for

all just being a little rough on them
they're actually great companion OK So

think about it like dating.

And along the way ask
yourself what can I learn.

Keep in mind though that how fast we
go through this depends on whether or

not we're embracing change right so if
you are approaching changes close fisted

you're probably going to Staal it checking
out your pessimism for a long time so

lean in to change wherever you
can lean in lean in on your tribe

right lean on your strengths all the
things that we've already talked about and

get over that hump of pessimism and
glide right on into acceptance.

Number nine overcome
obstacles ask yourself.

How is this useful imagine
yourself in a deep dark muddy

hole in the earth right like a well OK
there's no rope there's no ladder and

there ain't nobody coming to help you.

Well that's a dilemma right.

When dirt piles in on you you
can either stomp it down and

if you stop man enough dirt you can
hop your way out of the hole or

you can let that dirt bury you and
that's probably not a great option OK so

I do encourage you when you feel
mired in the muck of life and

changes that are perceived to be
negative keep coming not you and

you just feel like you're taken it to
cheek ask yourself how is this really

useful there's probably a silver lining in
there somewhere you just have to look for

it and you may have to look hard but
it is always always there.

One of my personal stories happened
about a decade ago I was working for

a technology company and as it happens new
executive members joined the team right

and everybody of course ramps up for that
and there was this kind of mild panic and

excitement that runs through
an organization and as standard kind of

cultural protocol happens you define
your org chart and you put a package of

the numbers and statistics and risks and
strengths all together so what the new

executives walk on board you can hand them
this beautiful package of information and

off to the races they will go in leading
your company right many of us have

experienced that it happens time and
time again with the change in leadership.

So at this particular time I had helped
put one of those packages together and

executives normally meet
with their directors and

then the next layer of directors and then
the next layer and so eventually I got my

opportunity to meet one on one with one of
the new executives and I was so excited

I was so excited as a younger professional
I had my stuff together and I had.

Studied this person on Linked In I had
studied the school where she went to

college I had done all sorts of homework
I had asked other people who had met

with her where she directs was she not
was she extroverted was she introverted

I was as prepared as I possibly
thought I could have bet.

My day of glory come I walk into
the office we shake hands there are some

pleasantries we sit down after
the close and truce she tells me.

You will never succeed here and
I will make sure of it.

Both are stupid.

But I remember my mouth
dropping I think all the blood

in my entire body ran down into my feet
I have no clue how I responded at all

like I I want to shock I have no idea
I can't tell you at all I have no idea

how I got back to my desk I think I
shook her hand and said thank you and

left I mean I was so
blown away at what had happened and

to this day I have no idea what caused
that conversation I don't know at all and

I remember going back to my direct manager
and this after I could learn to speak

English again after that intimidation I
told my manager my manager says your line

she would never tell you that I thought
well my goose is cooked I'm gone.

And right I'm the that's it and so

you can imagine how big of a pile
of dirt that was on me right for

an executive to tell me that and
the from my manager to not believe me.

But I was the big boss and then my but
you know what I started looking for

that silver lining and
did a lot of emotional excavation and

I realized you know what you
are really happy here and

maybe that's just the ember tasting
the lead that you needed so

I put my resume together I
hit the streets entering and

ended up with a wonderful
new adventure for myself so

take the dirt that comes your way
stomp that junk down find your.

Way out of the hole and find yourself.

That silver lining.

Number ten and prove continuously as
we talked about in terms of our L.

of on profile this is something our
company is that it catered to this is

something I am personally dedicated to as
well you can ask my life coach it's almost

an addiction for me OK I'm
a little bit of a hyper achiever.

So the only person you should try to
be better than as the person you were

yesterday.

If you fall off the wagon just get back
on none of us really want to be the same

person ten years from now that we are
today you guys would like to graduate for

example right so you don't want to be
a perpetual student more than likely

OK so to do that that means we have to
invoke change when we invoke change

we have to embrace that we've got to lean
in we've got to find our tribe we've

got to nurture our relationships we've
got to know our strakes it's got

all got to come together OK So
embrace change always ask yourself

what's next there's always an adventure
lurking there somewhere for you.

So in closing as we wrap up

this is your summary cheat sheet I
alluded to a little bit earlier.

If you choose to challenge
yourself with these questions.

And in conclusion.

One of my favorite books is Alice in
Wonderland It's just weird enough and yet

just solid enough for
me to really relate to it but

Ted Alice says there is no use trying.

One can't believe impossible things and
that feisty fiery queen says back

I dare say you haven't had much practice
when I was your age I always did it for

half an hour a day I sometimes I believe
this many a six impossible things before

breakfast so with that I encourage
you please choose to thrive.

Don't just survive please
choose to flourish

go with your flow find your passion and
great change.

Don't just skate by and
please believe lots of impossible

things thank you.

I.

Was.

Questionis I'll stay as long as
they allow them to zero zero.

Zero

Hi I was wondering earlier talked about
your SIL's operational role in C.S. just.

As an A and B.
graduate a little absurd we.

Would see.

Something more personal and
they saw experience.

I would suggest always visiting
that location first right

get there try it on for sides.

Sometimes when you get off the plane
you realize this is fantastic right and

it's kind of like slipping on
a comfortable pair of jeans.

There's a lot of times where you
can wander around the city and

think no this and.

This is not going to work for
me it's kind of the same thing as when you

did tours for college right you went to
this college you went to that college or

whatever Harry went over there some of
them felt right some of them did it

same thing with a company search.

That helped.

Can you know great presentation by the way
you know I really enjoyed the first point

your last where you know yourself and then
moving forward at the very end said that

there's one thing about knowing yourself
I want to ask you sure what happens when

you come to those who shortcomings
something that you actually have to look

at yourself and say there's something
wrong I'm not doing something right

how do you do that or how have you
done that in your career in also.

What makes that the wrong is society's
standards because society is

not always right leadership you
need a lot of the society so

how do you really say this
is it this isn't OK or

maybe it's like I am learning more and
I'm actually treating the truth right so

I can speak from my personal experience
and I've always been a little bit of

an outlier I've always done things
a little bit differently and

what that means is that I've
always been more of where

when I didn't fit in right now it's
in the eye contact you have with

your colleagues or friends it's just in a
general gut feeling that you have right so

it is important to ask yourself.

Am I bending right know
what your values are.

First starters right so
if your values are X.

Y. and Z. and you're part of a corporate
culture or a societal culture

that doesn't honor those values
it's time to make some changes and

it might come them some really crucial
conversations right one with yourself but

with other people in that particular
culture and I would also hearken back to

lean in and on your tribe letting them
know hey you know I just feel like I'm

wearing somebody else's shoes isn't me
what have you observed about me right so

start that kind of inquiry but certainly
any time that you are not honoring

your own values you will continue to feel
out of sync and so the best thing we can

do is explore what options there might
be to continue to honor those values and

sometimes that means significant
changes in our life big changes.

And sometimes those are hard but
it doesn't mean that the end result isn't

wonderfully worth it does
that help a little bit You're

welcome.

I don't say hi What is the most impossible
thing that you believed and so here.

Well I tend to believe a lot of them
blossom eggs with great regularity.

It's part about imagination.

I would say once upon a time I
thought I would never be a mother.

My life circumstances were such that
it did not seem possible at all

and that was one of my life's greatest
dreams most of the people close

to me had thought well she's just so
maternal she should have a kid and

then a series of life circumstances
happened then I realized my gosh if I make

this really big change in my life I
hope the way I'm doing the man I don't

think I'll be able to do that and
so that sense of grief and

that sense of loss that I felt that
that potential realisation was.

Devastating and then I realized when I
asked myself Is this thought helpful

right I had built my own little prison
in my mind that my snooze circumstances

wouldn't lead to motherhood and as soon
as I got a grip our girl you've let that

go you gotta let that go you just never
know what magic is out there right and

as soon as you let it go your soul can
really breathe and you start meeting

people and magic happens and lo and
behold here I am the mother of a two and

a half year old all right so
impossible things that can only can happen

you have to get out of your own
prison a little bit is that how.

Right.

So I would say you commented on increasing
change there was was there a time

where you just were really having a really
hard time being always sure yeah yeah

just because you get better at embracing
change doesn't mean you're always love it.

Right sometimes you got to fake
it till you make it for me.

I try to ask myself what is my problem why
am I stiff arm in this change right I am

really blocking this thing out is that
the person is it the circumstances that

a perceived threat like what
about the change is making me so

angry venomous sad whatever that is and

when you ask yourself that all
sorts of answers come to mind but

it's in that inquiry process that
it makes a huge difference so

it's not to say you shouldn't give
yourself a little breathing room

right even if you accept the circumstances
it doesn't always mean you know we joyful

those are two different states of mind
right so with change depending on what

the changes you do need to allow yourself
some time to live with it right especially

if it's a negative change
divorced definite family.

You don't get a promotion at work he
didn't get the job you thought you wanted

so on and so forth whatever it is you do
need to give yourself some time to kind of

roll around in that a little bit but it's
extremely important to rebound if you've

got to be able to rebound and in order to
rebound you've got to go through that and

very process of why am I feeling this
how can I potentially change this and

what's that silver lining to help.

Her.

Yes right right so going back to a point
when you know about knowing yourself yet

talked about the Myers Briggs type yes
this is to serve a two part question What

is your Myers Briggs type of appearance
you in the how do you use that knowledge

personally to try to I
guess improve yourself or

be more aware of what you're trying to do
chores so Meyer sprigs is a pretty widely

used assessment to assess your
introversion extroversion levels

if you're feeling or sensing things of
that nature you might hear a lot of

people talking about it as a mini
N F J R I'm an eighty something something

right because the result is
in the four letters there.

That don't dictate but.

Resemble a piece of who
you are in terms of

your second piece your
question how do you use.

What is mine I'm the N F J.

Do you guys know what that means OK yeah
a lot of the students have taken it so

I hope your goals are complementary.

And then how do you use those
strengths what you know about him.

I know I have to be around people.

I took a strength finder assessment as
well number one as would for anyone

who's taken that means she's created a
conference right she's great with a crowd

so I know that I'm a pack animal I must
to be around people my husband knows

this we need social time books something
Saturday night please let's go right so

I know I need a healthy part of
socialization and my life but

I also know that I'm introverted enough
that I also have to have solitude right so

I have to be able to recharge that battery
otherwise when I do go out in the wild

wild world and meld with my people.

I'm properly fueled for that.

So yeah don't accumulate your facts
be able to articulate them talk about

them with your parents your friends
your boss they're extremely helpful and

performance reviews as
well as interviews so for

those of you moving into the world of work
please know what your strengths are and

be able to talk about them know
exactly what makes you thrive and

what will make you wilt For
example if I were to be an accountant.

My colleagues now know that would be
a really bad match right I can't do

the same thing day in day out
repeatedly I'll just I'll just be

a pile of anger so so
it's really important to end your

interview process to be able to articulate
that in a lot of times when we're young.

In our careers we often don't think we
have the right to ask questions about

the role right you think you talk about K.
you talk about location you

might talk about a number of hours but you
don't necessarily get down to the nitty

gritty of culture and how you and
your skills might fit and that and

that's a wonderful place to use that new
level of self-awareness if you don't have

that conversation with your future
employers you're taking a huge risk.

Is that how.

Yes Hi So who is a person that you
consider a role model in your life

right now and how and why you think.

I got a lot.

That's a long list.

I'm very fortunate that there's
a lot of wonderful people and

my theater and one of the things
that I try to do is regardless

of someone's role in my particular life I
try to find wonderful things about them

that I want to aspire to or
that I want to show appreciation to so

I'm having a little bit of difficulty
Nerina down to one I will say that

one of my newer attendees and my theater
is my life coach tinnies hall and one

of the reasons I respect her tremendously
is that she left the corporate world after

many many years because if she said
I wasn't living to my values and

now she is so
to make that kind of dramatic change in

one's life to embrace that to invoke
a huge change into your life and your

family's life I happen to think that's
very courageous and very honorable and so

I will answer your question with Denise.

Bushnell Yes.

A lot of very poor graduating where
the graduates you into undergrads

were moving on somewhere at some point and
you drew.

So I'm hoping.

It's going to be relevant to a couple
people but I want to hear a little bit

more about your move from San Francisco
over to here because you seem to be really

highly valued of you know
you value crowd around you.

But then of the same time it's like
you're in addition to the school where

you have your friends your family is there
and you're going to give me all of that of

course something that may or
may not be much better right

now just hoping they can talk a little bit
more about the sure I'd be happy to so

I've come contributing factor that was
handy to a romantic relationship so

I do owe you that level of honesty but
and in reality in growing

up in California going to high school as
well as college there and then my career

blossoming afterwards everyone I had ever
known had said Are you sure you won here

because you know you
just seem really sound.

Right and fact when my when my college
friends realized I didn't have a double

name like Linda Lou or Sally Mae or
something like that they made one up for

me because I was just so
oddly Southern and San Francisco and so

they started calling me Katie Mae right so
even though it's humorous and

things like that those I considered
little signals and my life that I

should probably pay attention to right if
I'm feeling a little bit like an outlier

like I shared earlier and
people are telling me I'm a little

bit of an outlier then by golly what how
much more information do I need right so

it wasn't a San Francisco wasn't
incredible right the topography

the restaurants the culture that
everything is absolutely fantastic but

when it doesn't speak to your heart
it's time to make change and so for

me with Southern roots and Nashville
otherwise known as Nashville August and

you know being born and North Carolina and
having lots of friends and

family in the south the south
is just what spoke to me and

at the time moving into a metropolitan.

Area because I was from San Francisco
was really and Portland so

that's why I chose that the biggest
city in the South that you know.

That answer your question OK.

What.

I see you mention he's doing he's.

Going to be the most
difficult although not only.

Is this thought helpful.

At least this week.

The themes change week to week depending
on what you're doing what your

projects are how close to
a deadline you might be.

But the fact that one is the trickiest
because our inner voices

they've been with us a long time right
a long time they're ever present and so

they're so sneaky that way because they
can just kind of smooth ride on it and

so they're really difficult to catch in
that right hand in the cookie jar and

so that's the one I probably struggle with
the most because there are certain voices

I'm just used to hearing and I don't
always catch myself in terms of how

I might be undermining my own efforts so
that that's the one I I would point to

today call me we'll talk next week
it might be something different.

What.

Would be talked of improving continuously
Yes What are the steps you take

daily to make sure that happens.

Well.

I try to start from
a position of gratitude and

fullness and stead of scarcity.

So when the alarm goes off at five
am every morning right honey.

It's not always a stream of positive
thoughts that comes out right my gosh she.

It's up in the night again how am I going
to make it through this day I have too

many meetings to lose this much like right
I will crash I hope that coffee makers on

break we start from a position of
scarcity we don't have enough time we

didn't get enough sleep right it's
depletion depletion depletion and

so I really tried to focus on in
terms of my continuous improvement

starting the day from a place
of gratitude and willingness and

study of depletion and scarcity and that
I have found really changes the tone for

the entire day right if you start out
negative you're probably more likely

to end negative if you start
out positive well least try.

It.

And I saw a cartoon recently
from the New Yorker and

a friend of mine sent it to
me thank you Sarah Walker and

she the cartoon it's a person on a couch
in the psychiatrist's office and

and the patient says I tried to
seize the day but then the day

did some wild jujitsu move and
landed me on my back side right but

at least you got to start with try and
seize the day and

that's how I feel about continuous
improvement I also do very specific

exercises in terms of a gold chain so
I personally have a goal sheet across six

different categories from spiritual to
financial to personal to vocational and

they're short medium and long term goals
within that chart just a one page or

basic Excel sheet not been fancy a bit but
for

me it's something I carry around in
my portfolio every single day and

when I get a few extra minutes in
between meetings while I'm waiting for

a meeting room I'll take a peek at
that she and kind of do a personal

assessment of where I'm at with those
particular goals and that's one of

the tools I utilize to
help me stay on track.

Is that how.

I am subversive I thought your business
was going to thank you and I really.

My your optimism it's that quality that I
share with you and in my own experience

I have found that sometimes that's
native to the people in the they dislike

the optimism and they try their hardest
Welsh that bring you back to reality.

And so my question is how do you
allow yourself to continue to be

very positive in more so doing it for

the right reasons a lot of times I think
we do things to prove people wrong.

And so how do you make sure that will
spike told me right there how do you make

sure you continue to live to yourself and
ignoring the naysayers so.

I would probably say a couple of
things we might want to have coffee.

But certainly optimists and pessimists can
rub each other the right way it goes both

ways but often times people who are
outwardly negative to you they're dealing

with their own saboteurs right it's not
really you it's their own president that

their end and the rest of us just
swim through with that OK and

that's the same for every person
whether you're optimist or pessimist.

Being an optimist you are faced with lots
of opportunities to slide deeply and

quickly into negativity.

However I do encourage
you to stay the course

I have noticed that also
being a lively person.

I have to tone it out sometimes so

when I walk into the room and say Hi
Yeah I did agree that it's fantastic but

there are certain people you
probably shouldn't do that where.

You.
Might just want to say

good morning right and inside you
can be jubilant and ecstatic and

you can still feel all of that same stuff
but unless you really want to give someone

a migraine you might just went on about
it and you know there's the importance of

talking to people on their own level where
ever there at meet them wherever they

are at right if it's pessimism that is
coming from them and then understand

they've got their own burdens they might
be going through their own stuff right.

They may have a really rough home life
they may have just failed the test

we have no clue on the surface
what people are going through and

so there's a role there for
compassion as well so

instead of taking it
like a personal attack.

Just understand that they're going through
their own thing apply some compassion

tone it down a little speak
to them wherever you can and

then just move on and may not be someone
you and want to and buy in your theater.

Right but it may be someone you have
in your class there's a certain amount

of exchange you have to happen but that
doesn't mean you HAVE TO DAY them right it

doesn't mean you have to have a meal with
them but it does mean that you need to

figure out positive ways of making
sure it's a collaborative engagement.

To help.

Never let him see a sweat.

Yet don't hand that Micron
to my husband you know.

I'd like to move back to your role
that I love on revenue product

development innovation Yes is
the innovation a different

set of capabilities than
other kinds of leadership.

Or now you're getting philosophical on me

I should have known when you introduced
yourself to the earlier end and

in the you know in the innovation world
we're hearing a lot about design thinking

yes sure you know the hard business review
had it you know on the cover recently and

I'm just wondering what an expert
who spends day to day on new product

development in innovation thinks
about design thinking is it a fad or

is it a real process that will
enable more innovation OK so

I heard about six questions that I have
liked to respond to so guide me through

that first I'm glad you're convinced
I'm an expert because that means I.

Fools.

But I had a hell of on we're actually all
charged with innovation OK so our leaders

have repeatedly asked us to ensure that we
are the tip of the spear it doesn't matter

if innovation is in your title it doesn't
matter what your role is Brian you're

nodding your head but everything Lee do
needs to be from an innovative mindset and

so I would encourage people to read
a book by Carol Dweck called mindset

it's a fabulous book there's an online
assessment you know how I love those right

and so I have found that people who are
innovative it's more about their mindset

than the role their rank their paygrade
anything of that nature so if you

have a growth mindset you're much more
likely to be innovative in your approach.

What are the next four
pieces of your question of.

Research about these are good
night design thinking I'm sure so

I read the book title design thinking as
part of the Katie library at element.

It's a regular piece that is loaned out
to colleagues I think there's a lot of

valuable contract to that because
there is sort of a reputation for

enervation that we can spend all
the money we want we have no

constraints and so on and so forth that
there's no process that a bunch of really

good people who dress well sit in a room
and dream up crazy stuff that a company

really can't pull off and
that is a complete fallacy.

So innovation to me is more
about the how right and

pieces of that how Certainly design
thinking has some pieces that

I would encourage a company when they're
thinking about what innovation is to start

with the definition if a company doesn't
know what innovation is you're in trouble

that's a question that many people
ask me and career fairs and

different things how do I know if
it's a innovative company ask them.

Ask them and you.

Interview process what is
the definition of innovation and

the definition of innovation an element
in US bank is transforming ideas and

to value for our shareholders
employees customers and partners and

that is tried true and
it's what we live to at the company so

far India's are not translating to
value for our consumers of our products

we're in trouble when we're not innovating
within our particular constraints.

So there are certainly fads with
innovation animation itself is

a fad sometimes but there's always
best practices at the basics of that

some of those include brainstorming
right all of us have been part of a good

brainstorm most of us have been
part of a really bad brainstorm.

The most effective brainstorms happen and
the preparation stage so about nine tenths

of your effort should go into preparation
for a brainstorm the last ten.

Driving the home that's the hour you
actually spent brainstorming OK So there's

definitely a lot of good solid basics that
can be applied regardless of what book you

read regardless of what you want to call
it stick to the sanitation best practices.

That address all the components.

We need to go to want to take
your words for you great.

Have you ever been a part of the interview
process or beyond where he lives and

moves you recommend you job sure so

I have been a hiring manager in my
past that happened to be an individual

contributor now I want to manage a team
of approximately twelve people and

it was great fun and very different
part fun but fun nonetheless and

that particular role from an interview
process I encourage you to be yourself.

Please be yourself.

Because after if you're not yourself and
then you end up on the job.

You're going to feel really
out of sync with yourself so

be yourself if you're a happy go lucky
person then show that joy in the meaning

if you're a more serious person honor
that serious person with a new right but

if you're faking it in an interview
in any way shape or form

the act will soon be over right and
then both you and your team and

your manager are going to feel regret
about that so just be true to yourself and

do a lot of deep breathing
before you go out on the belly.

Georgia to.

Thank.