Developing Resilience in Yourself and Your Team

In this episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, Jenn DeWall interviews Heather Younger about building resilience. Heather is the bestselling author of The 7 Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty, and the founder and CEO of Customer Fanatix. Heather is an Employee Loyalty and Leadership Evangelist. In this episode, Jenn talks to her about how leaders can be more resilient, as well as how we can help others become more resilient in the face of adversity.

Full Transcript Below:

Jenn DeWall: Hi everyone! We’re here on The Leadership Habit Podcast. This week, we are interviewing Heather Younger. Now, for those that don’t know Heather, she is an Employee Loyalty and Leadership Evangelist. Heather, thank you so much for joining us on the show today. I really appreciate having you!

Heather Younger: I’m excited to be here just sitting in the parking lot, and it’s, it’s like awkward. And I feel like I’ve just parked crazily and this lady has no choice, but to squish in. And I’m sorry, this is on the call now, but that’s what’s happening. I’m excited.

Jenn DeWall: Hey, that’s real life. I’m sure many leaders can believe that we sometimes have to do things, whether it’s in our car, whether it’s in our office, we just have to get it done. I mean, that’s commitment. That’s passion. That, you know, and we’re going to be talking about resilience today and how we can be more resilient, which is obviously so important. Given the climate with the pandemic, given the impact of the protests here in the U.S., We’re talking about resilience, how to build a workforce that can overcome adversity to hopefully achieve your strategic goals and just help your organization. Bri. So Heather, for those that haven’t met you yet, please just tell, tell our listeners a little bit about you.

Creating a Listening Culture

Heather Younger: So, I run an organization called Customer Fanatix. We focus on helping organizations create a better listening culture for their employees. And that focus ends up being on, you know, helping them with employee culture teams and employee resource groups and things like that in employee communication. And, and then I also am a keynote speaker and author on loyalty and leadership. And then I’m a podcast host too on leadership. Leadership with heart specifically. So I do a lot of things, and then I have four kiddos— FOUR kiddos. So it’s interesting.

Jenn DeWall: Yeah, yes, that is a busy life, but I love it. You have to be probably the favorite person that comes into an organization because every employee I’m guessing would love to love their job, love their organization. And you’re the one that actually helps organizations create a better culture or a place for people to work. So they’ve got to love you.

Heather Younger: And I think that that they love me. I love them. And when the feeling is mutual, I think we get a lot more done together. I feel blessed that way.

Overcoming Adversity to Build Resilience

Jenn DeWall: Good. Well, we’re going to be talking about resilience. I know for those that don’t know, Heather, Heather actually did a TEDx talk all about how we can overcome adversity, and that’s really going to be our focus for this podcast episode is how we can build a stronger workforce. How can, what do they do? So even right now, I know that the perfect starting point is how are you seeing organizations need to adapt given the pandemic and the, I guess, unforeseen consequences that have happened as a result of the pandemic?

Heather Younger: I mean, I think, I think the biggest thing is it’s listening. What often happens with leaders is especially in an executive-level leader. But even the mid-level leader, they are thinking they have to solve problems by themselves, and they feel like they kind of have to do it alone. They have to stay strong. And, and so I think at this moment, I think what’s needed most is to show you a level of vulnerability and strength combined. So compassion, vulnerability, and strength, all balanced out. It’s kind of the most critical thing that leaders need to focus on. As far as building, you know, building resilience inside of their team, you cannot give what you do not have. And so you have to assess whether you are resilient first. Because if not, there’s no way for you to help others do that. And so that would be the first thing— to assess where you are as a leader. And do you feel like you are kind of adaptable to change and more open to the possibilities of what things could be and what they could look like in order to be able to pivot right now?

Jenn DeWall: Gosh, I love that expression. I’ve never heard that before, but it makes total sense. You cannot give what you do not have. So if you think that you can just create a resilient team, but you’re inside, maybe, you know, freaking out you’re nervous, or you’re just not feeling confident, then how are you going to be able to inspire people to buckle up, hold on and still stay committed?

Heather Younger: Yes, but I want to be clear that, you know, for those who are listening, that all of those emotions you just mentioned are 100% natural, and I don’t expect anybody not to have those emotions. So we that’s part of building resilience, first recognizing how we currently feel. So there’s this level of emotional intelligence or self-awareness about how we feel in our shoes, given our circumstances. And then it’s deciding, you know, from there now I feel these how long I’m gonna allow myself to fill this, what am I going to stop myself from feeling this? And, and then what, how do I get myself out of the place where I’m feeling this, or at least minimizing it so I can move forward. So that’s kind of the, I just want to make sure I put that as a foundation. I don’t expect you to be non-human or don’t show emotion or have, cause that would be just silly of me.

Jenn DeWall: Oh my gosh. You know the one thing that I love about this pandemic, I’m sorry. I know that’s probably a weird thing to say. You love it, but I do feel like it’s brought this unique opportunity for us to finally be real, to recognize that we all have this shared experience, and you can’t hide and pretend that emotions don’t exist anymore. The pandemic is showing you that people are afraid. They’re nervous for their jobs. They’re nervous for their families. Emotions are there. You can’t just avoid them and say, well, this sucks and kind of seems awkward. So let’s just focus on this Monday morning meeting because it’s a part of it now.

Heather Younger: It is, exactly.

Resilience Requires Vulnerability

Jenn DeWall: And I think, you know, you talked about vulnerability and strength, you know, what does vulnerability look like as a resilient leader? What does that look like?

Heather Younger: Well, I think vulnerability looks like what vulnerability looked like all the time, which is, you know, being open about kind of where you might stand. It may not be a hundred percent open. So I, you know, it’s not like you’re just going to stand and sit there with your team members and just start to break out into tears and start to go like crazy and nuts. All the things that you’re feeling inside, not every bit of that needs to be released, but some of that does, number one, you will gain more respect and trust and loyalty from those people right now, in this moment, when you show them that you need them and that you cannot do this alone. And at the same time, you will also get that same loyalty by showing in spite of those things, that there’s a level of strength that you’re exhibiting and that you want to be there to help them to, to get through it.

Jenn DeWall: Why do you think people kind of avoid resilience? I mean, I know we talked about the discomfort that might come with emotions, but is it, is it just not being aware? Why do you think that people don’t make it a priority to think, let’s create an empower and develop a resilient team? Because I think people talk about a more agile team. They talk about a team that can communicate or project manage, but they don’t necessarily bring up resilience as the top thing. Why does it matter?

Heather Younger: Well, I mean, resilience, number one, is kind of like the ability to be tough when, when hard things come our way, it’s the ability to have the ability to bounce back when something happens. And so here’s the thing to be thinking about. And this really is going to turn this idea of adversity on its head and resilience. If you want to be more resilient, so tougher when things hit, come up, come your way. You have to be actually searching out adversity and challenge. Okay. So let’s just say that again. You actually have to look for challenges, change, and adversity. You have to look for it in order to become resilient because you can’t be resilient unless you have adversity. So what are you going to be tough against if there’s nothing to be nothing adverse in your way. Right. Okay. Okay.

So we all know in business, and in life, things keep happening to us, and it’s how much we’re able to kind of repel those things, you know, bounce those things right off of us and keep moving forward. That makes all the difference. So when we look at teams, leadership teams, and the leaders that are obviously looking for those leaders to guide them and to help them move forward. That leader first has to be able to continue to move forward. So they have to say, I see this adversity coming, this adversity just hit us. I’m feeling these emotions; the emotions are there. Okay. I have to keep moving, or I may stop for just a second, but I have to keep moving after that. So that leader has to first do that. But then after that leader is able to do that. They have to help their people do what I call re-framing. And I don’t really call it that. I just stole that from psychologists who say that, right? And it’s basically the team members who are wallowing in their victim-hood or wallowing in their fear or whatever’s happening. Because we all have these and we all get there. You help them get out of it. But wait a second. This is the one good thing that’s actually coming from it. We’ve become closer. We understand each other more. Our communication has been polished. Those are one of the ways that a leader can help their people through kind of tough times. And it’s extremely important because if they don’t bounce back, your business, take a deep dive, and it could go under.

Re-Framing the Situation

Jenn DeWall: So the mindset or the re-frame, what does re-framing look like in the face of adversity? So the challenge is right there in front of you. Holy cow, we have to let’s say downsize because that is going to be one of the ones that I think people are experiencing right now as a result of just the economic impact of the pandemic. How do you re-frame when you feel like it, your whole business is about to change?

Heather Younger: There are so many different angles because I, of course, I consult organizations on employee experience, whether it’s via, you know, now during COVID, or racial unrest, or whether it’s not – assuming we’re in good times, right? And so as I hear you say that like the layoffs, obviously layoffs and furloughs – those are all kind of a necessary evil in many of these things. But, but the other thing to think about kind of a sidetrack issue is making sure that we care for those who have been furloughed or laid off. Make sure we care for those who remain behind. So part of that, like let’s say the furloughs or layoffs are happening knowing that your team members, many of them will actually go through a grieving period, a loss that’s happening as a result of the layoffs, the furloughs.

And there’s also guilt that takes place because if they remain behind, that means they kept their jobs. And so now there’s a guilt that’s there. So there’s a level of understanding where your people are sitting. So you, but you can’t know that unless you know you, so you have to be self-aware as a leader, then you become more socially aware, more socially intelligent by understanding what’s happened with your people. And then you help them live in their shoes, in the circumstances, but then helping them become more adaptable, going deeper into kind of the emotional intelligence framework to say, okay, how do I adapt to these feelings that I’m having? Well, how do I put them aside for the benefit of myself, my family, and our team and the organization? So that’s where you’re you, you want to make that, make sure that that happens.

But I think the key is showing them the sunny shot, the brighter side of things. When you look at re-framing, it’s recognizing the emotions that we have. And recognizing, being self-aware of how I’m feeling, and then helping basically for them to saying, am I going to take these emotions and let them stop me? Or am I going to do something about it? Am I going to use these emotions as my “why” for moving forward? And once you make that decision and hopefully it’s the latter, that it’s the “why” for moving forward. Then what you do, I think the key is to be really intentional. So it’s to say, okay, what are the things that are blocking me right now from moving forward? And as an organization, as a leadership team, what is it that’s blocking us from moving forward? What’s got us stuck right now and uncover what those are.

And in many cases, I mean, writing it out. In many cases, they’re irrational things. And we start to go down this rabbit hole of like negativity and thoughts that, of what could happen, could happen, could happen that are all negative. And what we do is we do that exercise and then we kind of flip them on its head and each one of those they go through and go, okay, what was the learning from this? What’s the bright side of this? Just like you said, Jenn, earlier- I hate to say the word love when it comes to the pandemic. Knowing, of course, we’ve lost a lot of lives, but there’s, there are some silver linings here, and that’s the leader’s role, the first to do it for yourself, and then to help your people see the silver linings and then to make them get in stock, how do I then move forward? What are the next plans that we do to move forward? So yeah, that’s kind of the process. I do a lot of these workshops. I really enjoy them, you know, helping teams work through it, helping individuals work through blocks that are happening and making them get stuck

Jenn DeWall: Well, and I think you touched on one of the pieces that I feel like can often be a blind spot for organizations. They are so focused on the budget and what they have to do to get back on track with their financial metrics or, you know, they’re spending whatever that is. And so they make the layoffs, and they might even put in some nice packages for the people that are going to be departing. And they think about maybe even sourcing people that can help them find jobs or, you know, coaching. I feel like that’s popular for the packages. But yet we don’t necessarily look inside to say what work needs to be done to make sure that the people, as you said, like the ones that are left behind can still function because they are emotional. And I love that you touched on just that feeling of guilt, because I know I’ve never had that, but I know myself as a person. And I know naturally if I was at a company and kept my job, I would feel a tremendous amount of guilt. I have guilt with like being successful just in general, because I feel like if my family doesn’t have it, then that’s not fair. So I can’t believe that even, you know, going into the workforce to not have that emotion and that we have to recognize that it is complicated.

Heather Younger: A big part of this is learning how to put one foot in front of the other. So, you know, learning the forward movement is what helps, is another thing that’s helping to build resilience. So it’s, you know, changing our minds helps us change our behaviors, and the behaviors are always going to be forward-thinking and forward-moving. So I think that’s kind of critical, and yeah like I said, I started, I went off that track because I do have multiple, we all are complex beings, and I have multiple sides of me. And I think of everything as far as in regards to employee experience and journeys and people, and most organizations aren’t thinking that way, but that’s why they hire me because I help them, which I have to look at all sides of the human experience when I’m looking at employee experience and helping them hopefully training them to start looking more at those things as well, you know,

Jenn DeWall: So when you think about, you talked about forward-thinking behaviors, what are forward-thinking behaviors? What does that look like?

Resilience Means Starting Again

Heather Younger: Well, I mean, for me, I can give you kind of experience. So last year, some years ago- and I’d say this in my Ted talk, but some years ago I was laid off from a position. Actually, this was not a layoff. This one was more of— this is the law thing. So I have a law background, I’m a lawyer. I just don’t practice anymore. And it was mutually agreed, but initiated by my employer, that I was no longer a good fit for them, and not just for the organization. But they really suggested that law was not for me. And it was because I was really good at marketing.

I was really good at bringing clients in. But I just didn’t want to do anything with them when I got them really. Like, I didn’t want all the detailed stuff. I just wanted the relationships and people that know me to know that’s exactly me. Like I have to give everything away, that’s detailed. Except for the employee engagement surveys, it’s funny. It’s the only area of detail I’ll handle because I like to look at all the details of the employee comments. But anyway, so I’m in that position, that happened. And I mean, it hits me hard. Because I had worked my whole life. I thought since I was 10 years old, I was going to be a lawyer. And yeah, I went to law school, I passed the bar, I go practice. And I’m like, this is so not for me.

And it was just a hard hit when she— when they were like, I don’t think this is going to work, and really should you even be doing this work? And like, okay, maybe you’re probably right. But it took me a while to, you know, not like too long, but it took me a while to go, okay, are they right? What’s happening? But I immediately just pivoted and said, well, you know, but they did say this- and they were right. I mean, the thing that they’re right about is that I am a people person. I am relational. I can bring the business in. And so I pivoted into a role that was more of a sales relationship, building leaders type of role after that. And it was because I did it quickly. And so it was like moving forward instead of just sitting, it wasn’t like months later that I got a clue, it was like two weeks later, I got a clue. And so part of that is based upon that background, in my backstory of having a lot of adversity as a child, some of it I did not even disclose in that Ted talk that actually would propel it, it would raise that level up even more. But just that, that struggle of having to be an outsider in my own family and having racism in my own family was a big thing I had to overcome as a child early on and often.

Jenn DeWall: Share your story, share your story. We want to hear, tell our listeners your story.

Heather Younger: So my mom is white and Jewish. My dad is black and Christian, and my mom comes from an Orthodox Jewish background, and they were not at all happy about this union. They were like, wait a second. You’re supposed to marry a nice Jewish boy, and that did not happen. And then I came out of it. And while they loved me, I had- there was lots of love. There, there was a lot of shame there on their part. And so it created a need. They didn’t want to have me go to family gatherings. So I could never go to like any kind of large public events, any kind of events, where there was anybody outside the immediate family that would see me there. In fact, I didn’t even go to a large family gathering until it was my grandmother’s funeral, the person that kept me out of the family. I was 36 years old when I finally went to that event. So I am going through that type of life where I always feel like I almost just be like guilty of who I am, and who I’m not. And I feel like I’m not good enough. And I had to get to the point where I was like, listen, in order to be, you know, to have a voice, to feel important in my own home, I have to learn to use my voice. I have to learn to articulate. I have to learn to think a certain way, and quickly on my feet. I have to be relational with people. And so all of those things that developed the person I am today.

And so my high-level empathy and relate-ability come from the fact that I didn’t feel like I was being empathized with. I didn’t feel like people were listening to me, and they didn’t care about me as a child in that way. So now, I set out in my life to do the exact opposite and help organizational leaders listen more effectively and to care for those they lead. So it’s just, I turned that adversity right on its head and said, okay, well, you know, they’re going to do what they’re going to do. I don’t hate them. I don’t have bad feelings against them. They chose, they made their choices. I’m making mine. And I’m hoping to show other leaders how they can also make better choices. So that’s it, that’s it, the story. And so moving forward from that, right? Every time I get hit and I get this feeling of not being good enough, which has happened multiple times in my life with like, you know, Nos, we all get Nos, but every single one of us gets Nos. But when I get a No, it triggers other things, right. There are other things that happen to me. Because a No to me is like, okay, is this about me personally? Like, am I not good enough? And so that’s what happens, boom. It goes,

Jenn DeWall: What do you do? Okay. What do you do? Like how do you do that? Because that is the hard thing. I think for people like you can be self-aware, but then it’s, it’s so easy to jump on the train that’s like, you’re not good enough. You goofed up on this report. You were late for this. Someone gave you bad feedback. How the heck do you jump off the bad feedback train?

Using Visualization to Build Resilience

Heather Younger: So I think I just like everybody else, I’m human. And so I don’t have any kind of shield that completely protects me from that. It happens to me the same way, except here’s the difference between— it happens to me. I don’t let it seep into my pores as much as I used to. And I also know when there’s a cutoff. So I kind of visualize, I try to tell people this, and it’s hard. There are two things I visualize. So visualization is very big for me. One is I visualize a switch in my head. There’s a switch in my head that I choose to turn on and off. So wallow, wallow, wallow, victim, victim, victim. Then boom, turn it off— like time to be done. Turn it off. That’s one thing I do. The second thing I do is I visualize almost like if you think about the donuts that we go swimming in, there’s like that little donut, the thing that floats the floaty.

And I visualize like one of those around me and every time something adverse or that feeling of like, I visualize it being bounced off so that it’s not, it’s not seeping into who I am. It’s not seething into my pores. Because I think that’s a big thing of what happens with most of us with adversity, with the challenges, with the negative feedback, with all that is that it just, it becomes us. And we get stuck in it. So my ways of getting around it were these kinds of tools of like, okay, visualization for myself to say, okay, yep. That hurt. Yep. I’m not saying it doesn’t keep happening. It happens a lot. I am just intentional. It happens a lot. I wouldn’t say every day, but it’s like, I’ll have a client conversation, and I’m thinking I’m negotiating. And I think it’s going to land one way and then it doesn’t.

And then I’m like, Oh, I had to have done this or that. Maybe they found a better person, maybe. And I just, I do that. And it happens. I do it, and maybe I cycle on it for maybe less than 24 hours. So it’s like a 24-hour thing. I may sit in it for about 20 minutes, and then I’m like, okay, next that’s the other thing I do a long time ago after I quit the practice of law, I went to work for this company called Mary Kay cosmetics. And which is funny. I went to like a practice, from practicing law to toting cosmetics, but it was the best decision I ever made because their level of training and Oh man, it was where I found another one of my people-

Jenn DeWall: Wait! There’s adversity there because you had to do the switch. And that’s something that I think a lot of people are afraid of. Like, Holy cow, I’m going into a completely new company. Didn’t mean to cut you off. But like the basic way that you like, again, flip the script, said, this is, I’m not going to be kept in a box. And I’m like, wow, like it’s not my jam right now. I’m going to find something else. Okay. Continue on with what you were saying about Mary Kay.

When They Say No, You Say Next

Heather Younger: I think the key would be – that what you just said too is, you know, we, too many of us seek perfection, stop it. Stop seeking perfection. That’s the reason why my pivoting is allowed. I’m allowed to pivot because I don’t seek perfection. I seek to be my best self, which I know is not a perfect self. And so that’s exactly how I coach people. That’s exactly what I talk about my training. As I’m talking about in my speeches, it’s not about perfection. It’s about seeking to continually and continuously improve. And so I do that. I’m always trying to get better. And what I know I’m never going to get better at, I just delegate it. I’ll be honest. That’s just how I roll. Now. I do have to say, this is an insightful thing from my perspective, is that there are people like, I would not want my doctor to have my same perspective.

They need to seek perfection. Because I don’t want them cutting me in the wrong place. I want our pilot to have perfection as a focus. Because I don’t want them crashing my plane. Right. So there are certain professions- if it’s a life or death situation- that they better be seeking perfection, right. May not be perfect, but they need to be seeking it. I think most everyone else, though, should not be seeking it. And that’s where we get stuck. That’s the stuck part. These are all kinds of triggers of stuckness. So with Mary Kay, once there was one lady is there. So I think she still works there and she made it the top of the organization, African-American lady. And she would say, you know, when, when they say no, you say next. When they say no, you say next. So it’s a rhythm. It’s literally just like that. And so my whole life, I mean this is 25 years later. I still think that, when I get a no, I’m like next. Or when I’m sensing, someone’s kind of iffy with me when I’m in a negotiation; I just go “next.” And then if they come back to me, which by the way has happened, then I’m like, Oh great. Well, like I’m pleasantly surprised, but I don’t allow myself to be associated with their iffy. Whichever that might be for them.

Jenn DeWall: I love that because there’s a big piece where I think when the, you know, when they say, no, you say next, I think your approach, because it’s so much on the mind hat, mindset and behavior. I love that. You just allow people to depersonalize like too often in the workplace. We personalize. Personalization— it’s personalization, and you’ve given a few techniques. Obviously, mindset is one way to do it. And then also acknowledging like how, like that we have a choice, like how long do we want to stay here? And then how do I want to respond? But, or, and then you gave them an option. Like when they say, no, you say next, but I think oftentimes people just look at rejection and it’s so debilitating. Or even just why someone might be might’ve been rude or why your idea wasn’t heard or why you didn’t get promoted. Those aren’t necessarily all about you.

Heather Younger: Yeah. And it’s not all bad because here’s the thing. I remember one time going, submitting a proposal. I took time off to submit a proposal to a leadership team in this organization. And I had already kind of proven out that I could be in this particular role I was trying to do, but they chose not to move me forward. So, fast forward a couple of years later, I leave the organization to work in a place that allows me to be in that kind of role that I was proposing for them. But I thought out the thing I needed, and I waited until the time is right and I did it. But then, like shortly after I left, I found out they actually did create that position and filled it with someone who was the exact opposite of me. And so it was like, ouch.

But, but then again, it was like, Oh, well, because I had already now met the place where I was supposed to be. I had already landed in the spot that I was supposed to be. And so you know, I think that’s the key that all these things that you just made, that list of things of like, you know, I didn’t get the promotion or whatever it is there’s always going to be a silver lining. I would just, I would welcome everybody to seek it out, to be looking for it actively.

Developing a Resilience Mindset

Jenn DeWall: Yeah. And I, again, I saw this shirt, and it was at the dog park, but this guy had a shirt. I’m guessing he was an entrepreneur, but his shirt said, “I eat no’s for breakfast.” And I feel like that is kind of the mentality that we have to have. Like it’s okay. You’ve got to, you know, because you brought this up in the beginning, we have to make sure that we are actually seeking a challenge. If we want to grow, especially in this, this new pandemic land where our business strategies have likely had to, we’ve had to pivot or change, or we may have less staff. Like we really need to think about how can we welcome the challenge? How can we welcome the adversity? And then what’s the opportunity to re-frame. And these are all things that you had said. And then, how did we focus on forward-thinking behaviors?

Like what’s going to get us to this new, I hear the expression “new normal,” but just the new way that we need to evolve our business to be, to still operate, to still hopefully be sustainable and so on and so forth. Heather, there are a few other questions like that I want to ask before, but what would you give, what advice would you give for people right now that are really struggling? They’re kind of still living in the stuff. I mean, you’ve talked about a lot of tips, but if you just had to speak from your heart, like what would you say to people that are feeling really stuck?

Start. Move. Shift.

Heather Younger: Start. Move. Shift. That what I would say. That there’s nothing better than when you’re sitting around. And you’re like- let’s use weight as a thing, like being in shape, right? We say, ah, my waistline is this and my, I can’t fit in these pants. And Oh, this, this suit jacket is not fitting because much whatever this is. That’s what we do that when it comes to weight. And instead of just continuing to talk about it, put down the cookie. Walk to your basement exercise area or walk to wherever you go to exercise and start. And so I think the key is that today there’s no better time than right now today, this exact minute for you to commit, to making a change, to shifting out of the stuck place. Don’t look back at what you didn’t do this last two months, commit to thinking about what’s happening to us right now today.

Jenn DeWall: Yeah. So think about what you know, think about the type of leader that you want to be both in your personal life. So whether that’s goals about health or fitness, but in your professional life, Hey, if you’ve been struggling for the past few months, you feel like all these changes have kind of like thrown you to the ground. Like you’ve got to pick yourself up. It’s I love that you had said start, move, and shift. You just got to do. And you said this earlier, just one step at a time, like one foot in front of another, all you have to do is start right now. I love that. That’s an empowering message to even wrap up a podcast with, because I think sometimes we, in a podcast, we talked so much about, you know, a lot of ideas or just different like techniques of doing something. But sometimes we just need to hear the message like, yo, it’s on you – you just gotta start.

Heather Younger: It really is. It’s become more of my— when you talk about new normal for me, I would say this happened way before COVID I would say maybe in the last couple of years, but that message of that it’s you choose. You choose, you choose what you think. You choose how you interact. You choose how you make people feel. You choose, you choose everything. There’s so much. It’s actually so much we can control and influence. And once you kind of write a list or whatever, those are like the whole list of everything I can influence the whole list of everything I can control. It starts to get you excited. You’re like, wow, I actually could do a lot more than I thought

What is Your Leadership Habit for Success?

Jenn DeWall: You are choosing to see that you can. The choice is priceless. The fact that you even have a choice is a gift. And we, I think, forget that all the time, because we’re subconsciously choosing an emotion or behavior, that’s just not serving us. So I’m going to wrap up with our last question. And this is the question we close all of our podcasts with, which is what is your leadership habit for success? What do you do, Heather, to stay on your game, to keep your head strong, to serve your clients? What do you do?

Heather Younger: I would say I get up fairly early, and I do work out. I just work out in my basement, and I always do that before I, I never did like a gym. So I would say like, for me, the physical is a thing that opens up my mental and my emotional. So I think that works for most people. I mean, even if you go look at a lot of successful people, you’ll either see that they may start with meditation and then they go work out. But that kind of early morning routine is what starts me off. When I don’t do it, which is a rarity, then I find myself going off track, and I can go down that rabbit hole a lot more. So I would say that is the kind of get moving and get moving in a general sense. Right. Get moving physically, but you know, just get moving start.

Jenn DeWall: Yeah. And it doesn’t have to be a grandiose action. Remember, it could be a five-minute walk, or it could just be an email, or it could be putting together your strategy for the next big idea that you want to propose to someone. All you have to do is just put pen to paper, put your shoes on, and get going. I love that. Wake up early, seize the day, maximize your time, Heather, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. It was so great to talk to you, and I hope that we can have you on again soon to just talk about things that, you know, I want to talk about it as much as I want to talk about. I just think it’s great, but so maybe we’ll get to have you again sometime down the line to talk about that, but thank you so much and yes. Have a great day.

Heather Younger: Thank you. It’s been wonderful. You’re wonderful.

Jenn DeWall: Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, featuring employee loyalty and leadership evangelist, Heather Younger. If you want to connect with Heather, maybe book one of her trainings, purchase her book, or just find one of the many resources that she has on her site. Head over to customerfanatix.com, and that’s Fanatix with an X. Or even find the link in our show notes. If you enjoyed today’s episode of The Leadership Habits podcast, don’t forget to rate and review us on your favorite podcast streaming service. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Until next time.

Episode 33: Developing Resilience in Yourself and Your Team with Employee Loyalty and Leadership Expert Heather Younger