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Speaker 1: I'm possible. You're the one that's going to make this happen.

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Speaker 1: You have to chart your own course. Sometimes it can

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Speaker 1: be scary, but break it down and it will all

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Speaker 1: come over time. And you also don't have to have

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Speaker 1: all the answers. You know, you don't have to have

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Speaker 1: your entire life planned out.

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Speaker 2: What's going on, Emila Badi? Here?

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Speaker 3: You're listening to episode two hundred and forty nine of Hurdle,

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Speaker 3: a wellness focus podcast where I talk to inspirational people

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Speaker 3: about everything from their highest tides and toughest moments to

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Speaker 3: essential tips on how to live a healthier, happier, more

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Speaker 3: motivated life. We all go through hurdles in life. My

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Speaker 3: goal through these discussions is to empower you to better

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Speaker 3: navigate yours and move with intention so you can stride

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Speaker 3: towards your own big potential and of course have some

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Speaker 3: fun along the way. Now, before I talk about this

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Speaker 3: week's guest, Melanie Allen, she's the chief marketing officer at

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Speaker 3: Brooks Running, I want to say two things. The first

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Speaker 3: thing is I shared a poll in five Minute Friday.

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Speaker 3: The episode for that five Minute Friday is March twenty eighth,

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Speaker 3: And for.

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Speaker 2: All of you who have voted, Thank you. I appreciate you.

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Speaker 3: If you haven't voted yet, head on in specifically to

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Speaker 3: Spotify to vote in the poll. It would be super

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Speaker 3: helpful for me to garner some data from you. The

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Speaker 3: second thing I want to address here is that if

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Speaker 3: you have been tuning in to Hurdle this month, then

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Speaker 3: you know that Brooks Running has been sponsoring the show

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Speaker 3: in March. It is no coincidence that I'm having Melanie

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Speaker 3: on the show today.

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Speaker 2: We have known each other for some time now.

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Speaker 3: I actually had an opportunity to interview her for the

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Speaker 3: first time IRL back at the top of twenty twenty,

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Speaker 3: and I was honored when I said to the team, Hey,

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Speaker 3: as a part of this sponsorship, why don't we get

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Speaker 3: mel the show and have her tell her story in

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Speaker 3: today's episode.

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Speaker 2: She does just that.

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Speaker 3: She gives us all of the backstory on the path

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Speaker 3: that led her to Brooks and as you'll hear us

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Speaker 3: kick things off with today, details what it was like

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Speaker 3: to be the Brillians behind nicknaming the ever popular Pumpkin

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Speaker 3: Spice Latte the PSL. At her previous gig at Starbucks,

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Speaker 3: Melanie talks about what it was that Drew her to

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Speaker 3: Brooks the coincidences that she experienced during her interview a

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Speaker 3: process that made her know that it was the right

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Speaker 3: leap for her, and talks about how she got to

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Speaker 3: a point in her life where she knew that she

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Speaker 3: needed to prioritize getting back into the swing of things

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Speaker 3: with her movement practice. We talked about what that looked

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Speaker 3: like for her, what balance and a holistic wellness practice

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Speaker 3: looks like for her these days. And of course, there

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Speaker 3: is so much goodness in this episode when it comes

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Speaker 3: to career advice, stepping into your power as a leader,

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Speaker 3: and something I really enjoyed in this conversation is the

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Speaker 3: dialogue that we have about graduating within your career, getting

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Speaker 3: to a place where you're not doing the same things

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Speaker 3: that you have always done as you take on new

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Speaker 3: levels of responsibility, and how to embrace that transition in

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Speaker 3: a way that's both graceful and productive for teams as

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Speaker 3: a whole.

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Speaker 2: I adore Melanie.

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Speaker 3: I really enjoyed this episode, and I'm.

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Speaker 2: So appreciative of Brooks, not just.

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Speaker 3: For their support of Hurdle over the past month, but

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Speaker 3: also truly for making me feel so seen, so heard

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Speaker 3: as a creator, as a journalist and as a friend

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Speaker 3: of the brand.

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Speaker 2: Period.

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Speaker 3: Make sure you're following along with Hurdle over on social

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Speaker 3: It's a Hurdle podcast.

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Speaker 2: I am over at Emily a Body.

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Speaker 3: Subscribe to the Weekly Hurdle newsletter and the daily Hurdle

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Speaker 3: subscriber chat over on Instagram. The link to do both

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Speaker 3: of those things is in the show notes. With that,

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Speaker 3: let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling.

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Speaker 2: Today.

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Speaker 3: I am sitting down with Melanie Allen. She's the chief

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Speaker 3: marketing officer at Brooks Running. Melanie, Welcome to Hurdle.

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Speaker 1: I am late. Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

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Speaker 2: I'm excited to have you.

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Speaker 3: We will get into your entire backstory, but I have

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Speaker 3: to tell you that I was sitting down having a

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Speaker 3: post half marathon beer with Des Linden last weekend and

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Speaker 3: she told me that you are the person that we

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Speaker 3: have to credit for the Pumpkin Spice latte Craze.

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Speaker 1: Well, I didn't start the Pumpkin Spice, but I did

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Speaker 1: name it PSL. We celebrated the thirteenth birthday and I

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Speaker 1: brought it into iced coffee. So that was a big move,

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Speaker 1: going from PSL hot to PSL cold. So all the

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Speaker 1: cold versions, I'll take credit for.

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Speaker 2: All the cold versions.

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Speaker 3: For those that aren't familiar, give us a little context

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Speaker 3: of your gig before you joined the team at Brooks.

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Speaker 1: I was at Starbucks before Brooks for seven years, worked

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Speaker 1: on our retail marketing business. Did a lot of different

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Speaker 1: roles there. My most favorite are being able to bring

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Speaker 1: all the different drinks and beverages and flavors, and then

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Speaker 1: I think what's most near and dear to my heart.

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Speaker 1: I did a lot of red cups and red cup

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Speaker 1: designs and everything for holidays, so kind of have a

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Speaker 1: love hate relationship with the holidays after that.

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Speaker 3: Understandable, right, But you were working on something that, like

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Speaker 3: truly was so symbolic of such a special time of

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Speaker 3: year for so many. I think even if you aren't

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Speaker 3: a Starbucks fan, everyone notices on the street when the

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Speaker 3: cups change colors.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, Well, and as soon as the new year starts,

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Speaker 1: we start working on the next year's red cups. So

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Speaker 1: it just never ends. So you get done and then

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Speaker 1: you're restarting again, which is where that love hate relationship

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Speaker 1: comes in.

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Speaker 3: Which is something that you're also super familiar with when

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Speaker 3: it comes to what you work on over at Brooks.

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Speaker 3: You are truly ahead of the curve when we think

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Speaker 3: about what you're working on right now versus when we're

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Speaker 3: actually going to see what you're working on right now.

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Speaker 3: Give us some insight into what the timelines look like

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Speaker 3: that you're dealing with in your day to day.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. We usually live in multiple seasons and multiple years.

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Speaker 1: So my morning started off today with a Fall twenty

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Speaker 1: six seasonal strategy meeting, which is over a year from now.

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Speaker 1: I would say I live in the today, so managing

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Speaker 1: today's environment or what might be happening today on our

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Speaker 1: social channels or on our website all the way up

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Speaker 1: to two to three years out.

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Speaker 2: You know that we're jumping around a little bit.

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Speaker 3: So I do want to help us kind of get

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Speaker 3: some context into how you got to where you are today.

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Speaker 3: Talk to me a little bit about what your personal

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Speaker 3: interest and relationship has been with health and wellness.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question. I've always been active. I

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Speaker 1: was not a team sport person young, but always very active.

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Speaker 1: Did a lot of snow skiing, hiking, that sort of

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Speaker 1: stuff when I was young, and then I had my

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Speaker 1: daughter and I realized I needed to prioritize my health.

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Speaker 1: It was a priority before her, and then you know,

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Speaker 1: as you become a working mom and life happens. I

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Speaker 1: let that go for too long, and at work, a

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Speaker 1: team was training to do a half marathon and I

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Speaker 1: had never run over three miles and I just thought, well,

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Speaker 1: I don't know that I can do this. But there

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Speaker 1: was a huge group of us that had never done

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Speaker 1: it before. And it was the Seattle Rock and Roll

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Speaker 1: half Marathon, and my daughter was five at the time,

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Speaker 1: and so I was like, you know what, I need

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Speaker 1: to do this for myself. And I started running and

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Speaker 1: it hurt. I had like shin splints, I had other challenges.

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Speaker 1: And my neighbor was a physical therapist and she's like,

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Speaker 1: you need to go fit, get fit for proper shoes

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Speaker 1: because I don't know what you're wearing, but that's not

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Speaker 1: helping you. So I went to a local shop here

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Speaker 1: right up the road from Brooks and they fit me

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Speaker 1: with Brooks Adrenaline. I trained in those. I had no

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Speaker 1: more pain, I had no more issues, and I finished

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Speaker 1: my first half, which was amazing, and I just really

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Speaker 1: conquered something I didn't think I could do. And I

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Speaker 1: never changed from that shoe. From that day forward. And

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Speaker 1: that was that was about eight years before I started

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Speaker 1: at Brooks.

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Speaker 3: If my math is right, this is like fifteen years ago.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, probably a little over fifteen years ago. And so

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Speaker 1: I just I loved Brooks from that point. I just

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Speaker 1: it helped me achieve something I didn't think I could do.

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Speaker 1: But then I also thought I would never leave Starbucks.

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Speaker 1: I love Starbucks. But a recruiter reached out to me,

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Speaker 1: and when they reached out, they put a little subject

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Speaker 1: line that said CMO in Seattle. I was like, whoh,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of a dream thing. I got to figure

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Speaker 1: out what company it is and what it's about. And

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Speaker 1: I'm a bit of a sign person. There's things we

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Speaker 1: can control and then there's things that just for some reason,

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Speaker 1: the universe puts everything together for you. And I had

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Speaker 1: a brand new box of Brooks shoes sitting on my

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Speaker 1: living room floor ants when I called this recruiter and

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Speaker 1: she said it's for Brooks Running and I was like

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Speaker 1: looking right at the box and I'm like, it's a sign.

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Speaker 1: Then I got the opportunity to meet the CEO, and

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Speaker 1: you know, Jim was just an incredibly inspiring person. When

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Speaker 1: I learned more about the brand. I was pretty hooked.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so awesome. I have chills as you tell

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Speaker 3: that story. I would be interested. I have a background editorial.

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Speaker 3: My first job was not exclusively within health and wellness.

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Speaker 3: I was approached by a recruiter as well to be

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Speaker 3: a fitness editor for the first time, and I definitely

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Speaker 3: was sitting there thinking, I don't know if this is

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Speaker 3: for me. I don't know if I'm going to get

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Speaker 3: bored talking just exclusively in this vertical. With your past

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Speaker 3: experience being at Starbucks and then having this new opportunity

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Speaker 3: in the table to work at Brooks Running, did you

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Speaker 3: feel some kind of way about getting into health, wellness

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Speaker 3: and fitness yourself.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was not at all concerned about the industry.

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Speaker 1: I think a couple things for me throughout my career,

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Speaker 1: I've always worked on consumer brands. I've always worked on

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Speaker 1: brands that matter to me or that I believe matter

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Speaker 1: to the consumer. Sometimes they're kind of small, but they

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Speaker 1: really do matter. I had always prior to Starbucks, I

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Speaker 1: worked at Procter and Gamble for fifteen years. So if

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Speaker 1: you look at Procter and Gamble, you look at Starbucks.

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Speaker 1: These are big, large public companies. Matrixed organizations. So my

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Speaker 1: biggest concern was going to Brooks would it be would

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Speaker 1: there be enough opportunity for me? And I quickly learned

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Speaker 1: that that was the case clearly seven. I've been here

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Speaker 1: seven over seven years now and I'm not bored one

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Speaker 1: single day. So I was more concerned about the size

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Speaker 1: of the company and the ability to move and be challenged,

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Speaker 1: and I learned that that was not the case. I also,

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Speaker 1: for me, as long as I'm working on something that

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Speaker 1: I feel passionate about and I think is making a

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Speaker 1: difference in someone's lives, that's that's a win for me.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And you're also getting at something that's very important

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Speaker 3: about the general interviewing process. I believe oftentimes when we

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Speaker 3: are in the seat where we are a candidate for something,

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Speaker 3: we fall into this habit of wanting to appease who

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Speaker 3: it is that's interviewing us. But what I'm hearing you

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Speaker 3: say here is that you add concern and questions that

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Speaker 3: you brought forth into the interview process.

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Speaker 2: Is that right?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely, And it was a long interview process. It

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Speaker 1: was it was over the summer, and so when you

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Speaker 1: take in summer vacations and other things that happened over

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Speaker 1: the summer. It ended up being almost a three month

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Speaker 1: interview process, so there was a lot of time for

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Speaker 1: all of us to think, and I just kept trusting

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Speaker 1: my gut. But I did I had you know, I

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Speaker 1: had reservations because I loved my job at Starbucks. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think it's easier when you're moving jobs or companies

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Speaker 1: because that job is not fulfilling to you anymore, and

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Speaker 1: you're like, you know what, I'm not getting enough growth,

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Speaker 1: I'm not challenged, you might not love you know, the

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Speaker 1: environment in which you're working in. There's something that you're moving.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're looking for that next opportunity. And in

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Speaker 1: many of the cases for my roles, I think it's

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Speaker 1: been most challenging in those decisions because I haven't left

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Speaker 1: when I'm unhappy. I've left when I've been really happy.

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Speaker 1: I think that's what made that decision kind of a

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Speaker 1: little bit harder. But also, each time I talk to

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Speaker 1: anybody at Brooks, it just I left smiling, and I'm like,

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Speaker 1: that's really the testament.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, entirely.

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Speaker 3: And it's so funny you can draw parallels between something

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Speaker 3: like that, leaving a job when you're happy It's like

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Speaker 3: when you get out of a relationship and both of

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Speaker 3: you love each other, but it just wasn't the right fit.

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Speaker 3: It's easier to walk away from the relationship when one

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Speaker 3: person does something that's absolutely awful, exactly exactly. So you

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Speaker 3: make this hop and you find out you get the job,

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Speaker 3: and what would you say from the get go is

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Speaker 3: one of the most exciting things that you find as

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Speaker 3: you step into this new role.

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Speaker 1: There were two things, and these both happened within the

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Speaker 1: first month, actually three, and the first one was my

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Speaker 1: first meeting. Brooks has two big company meetings, no surprise

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Speaker 1: that has running attached to it. Your meeting is a

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Speaker 1: thirteen point one and the end of your meeting is

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Speaker 1: a twenty six point two meeting. And so I was

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Speaker 1: able to join during our thirteen point one meeting. And

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Speaker 1: these are not like normal meetings. It's not like any

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Speaker 1: other business meeting I've been to. There's costumes, there's themes,

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Speaker 1: there's just a ton of fun that we have that

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Speaker 1: you're delivering business content and business strategy in a way

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Speaker 1: that's really engaging and celebrating all the work that had

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Speaker 1: happened and leading up to that moment in time. So

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Speaker 1: I was hooked from a culture standpoint immediately. Our employee

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Speaker 1: awards are submitted by other employees and their peers, and

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Speaker 1: so the specialness of those awards I've never seen before.

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Speaker 1: So culture was number one. That was day one, my

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Speaker 1: very first day. And the second one was within that

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Speaker 1: first month was our big yearly strategy meeting. And I'd

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Speaker 1: never been to a strategy meeting like this one. It

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Speaker 1: is a small group of leaders. The leaders have been

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Speaker 1: there for a long time. The leaders listened to everyone.

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Speaker 1: People actually asked me what I thought. That had not

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Speaker 1: really happened around a table, especially when you're brand new

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Speaker 1: at the table where they're like, Melanie, what are you thinking?

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Speaker 1: It's like, oh, they called on me, like what do

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Speaker 1: I do? I didn't have to try to insert myself

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Speaker 1: into the discussion. So that was another component, which is

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Speaker 1: just the value of the senior leadership team that I

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Speaker 1: was around. And then the third one was I had autonomy.

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Speaker 1: I went in and wanted to change our creative agency

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Speaker 1: and our media agency, and I went to our CEO

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Speaker 1: and said, I want to do this. I thought there

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Speaker 1: would be layers of approvals that needed to happen in

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Speaker 1: reviews to be able to make those changes, and he

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Speaker 1: just went okay. I was like, well, how do you

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Speaker 1: want to be involved in the process. He's like, I

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Speaker 1: don't you get to make the decision. I was like, what,

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Speaker 1: I get to make the decision. So that was the

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Speaker 1: other thing and the third thing that in those three

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Speaker 1: things are still true at Brooks today.

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Speaker 3: It's so great to see how it lights you up

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Speaker 3: even now reflecting on that time period. I'm curious if

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Speaker 3: you've found in your experience that perhaps, being a woman,

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Speaker 3: it was hard for you at times to speak up

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Speaker 3: at some of these larger tables previously.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, absolutely, it's I think it's something that I

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Speaker 1: have been developing my entire career, which is finding you know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of times we talk about finding your voice,

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Speaker 1: figuring out what are the right things to say at

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Speaker 1: that table? When do you say them. One of the

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Speaker 1: things that I learned early on it was an advice

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Speaker 1: that I got from a manager and she said, just

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Speaker 1: say one thing during the meeting. She's like, that's it.

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Speaker 1: It can be a question, it can be a comment,

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Speaker 1: it can be a guess, and she's like, just leave

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Speaker 1: the meeting saying one thing. And that just broke down

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Speaker 1: that big step that I needed to make. You know,

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Speaker 1: I had to make an impression at every single meeting,

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Speaker 1: so you don't just don't leave not saying anything, because

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Speaker 1: there were times when I would retreat and just kind

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Speaker 1: of watch what was happening before I felt comfortable jumping in,

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Speaker 1: and I think that served me well throughout my career.

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Speaker 3: It's easy to draw a parallel to that piece of advice.

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Speaker 3: And I'm sure how you felt when you began running,

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Speaker 3: when you had all of those colleagues that were like,

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Speaker 3: let's run a half marathon. You were extremely nervous and

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Speaker 3: intimidated before you began. But often time that beginning, or

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Speaker 3: the first time that you chime in with a yes,

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Speaker 3: and is the part that's the scariest.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, exactly. It's just I break down a lot

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Speaker 1: of things into just that one for small step, and

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Speaker 1: that helps me a ton. I mean, it's such a

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Speaker 1: great metaphor for running for life, for any thing, because

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Speaker 1: you know, at times that bigger task is so daunting,

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Speaker 1: but if you can just get through the little things,

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Speaker 1: they will add up to something. But yeah, that first,

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Speaker 1: those first conversations, especially early in my career, I started

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Speaker 1: out as an engineer and the room was not filled

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Speaker 1: with women, and so that was particularly you know, an

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Speaker 1: environment that I had to really learn early on, and

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Speaker 1: again I think served me well over time.

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Speaker 3: I'm super interested to hear where your headspace was when

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Speaker 3: you got to this place where you understood that you

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Speaker 3: didn't need to clear all of your ideas or all

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Speaker 3: the changes that you sawt with somebody else. Was it

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Speaker 3: hard to take action at the beginning?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, absolutely absolutely. I had been in organizations where

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Speaker 1: there was always a safety net. You know, there were

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Speaker 1: enough people who had to sign off or agree or

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Speaker 1: review it that even if you were leading it, you

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Speaker 1: knew that there was somebody else that was there that,

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Speaker 1: you know, if it turned, if it took a turn

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Speaker 1: for the worse. I was kind of in it with

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Speaker 1: more people, and so I think that was the first

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Speaker 1: thing I had to get over, that fear of okay,

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Speaker 1: well what could how bad could it be? And you know,

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Speaker 1: and I certainly went to our exec team and said,

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Speaker 1: I'm making this choice. Are there any things that you're

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Speaker 1: concerned about, anything that you're seeing that I'm not seeing?

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Speaker 1: And a lot of times like nope, sounds good. So

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Speaker 1: I felt supported, but I also just had to start

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Speaker 1: to trust my gut and make the decision. I would

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Speaker 1: also say leaned on my team a lot. So I

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Speaker 1: felt like asking them to see around corners, or let's

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Speaker 1: play Devil's Advocate about something and try to see if

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Speaker 1: there's another thing that we're not seeing. And so I

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Speaker 1: think it grew us as a team stronger because now

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Speaker 1: we were making the decision together. But it certainly was

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Speaker 1: unnerving at first.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I really appreciate the I may be in a

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Speaker 3: pos position that is technically higher than you, but I

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Speaker 3: know that regardless of level role position here, we all

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Speaker 3: have the opportunity and the same vested interest to create

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Speaker 3: something that's good for the brand. I also really appreciate

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Speaker 3: the admission of this can be very overwhelming for me,

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Speaker 3: and I love having a safety net, this idea that

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Speaker 3: I'm learning actively even as a leader, how to trust

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Speaker 3: my gut. I think a lot of people listening to

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Speaker 3: this right now have been in a position where they

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Speaker 3: are too trying to trust their gut and lead with

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Speaker 3: their intuition. Any practical advice that you can offer on

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Speaker 3: how someone can really just move forward acting on their

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Speaker 3: own intuition.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting many of the things that I've had to

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Speaker 1: manage through a problem or a situation is because I

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Speaker 1: didn't trust my intouition in the beginning, and so that

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Speaker 1: helped me learn to talk about the intuition. So a

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Speaker 1: lot of times I will share with the team that

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Speaker 1: I will openly say there's something that's just not sitting well,

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure what it is, or you know, if

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Speaker 1: I have that intuition, or if it's like I just

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Speaker 1: think we got to go here, here's why I'm feeling

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Speaker 1: that way, or here's what I think again, just asking

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Speaker 1: if they're seeing something i'm not, And to me, I

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Speaker 1: think a lot of times it's looking back at different

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Speaker 1: decisions and seeing what would have been if you just

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Speaker 1: listen to your gut. The other thing that I talk

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Speaker 1: a lot about is realizing that, you know, what, I

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Speaker 1: made the best decision I could with the information that

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Speaker 1: I had at the time, and sometimes that like all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're like, well, my gut was here

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Speaker 1: this time, but now that I got all this other information,

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Speaker 1: I would have made a different decision and being okay

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Speaker 1: with that, and a lot of times, well, we'll talk

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Speaker 1: as a team if a decision needs to change recognizing

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Speaker 1: that that decision needs to change because we have new information.

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Speaker 1: There might be a new competitive situation, there can be

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Speaker 1: a new situation within the company, the consumers changed, whatever

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Speaker 1: that may be. And being okay with the fact that we, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we made a decision here and it's okay that we're

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Speaker 1: going to change it, and we're changing it for these reasons.

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Speaker 3: This open communication with the team is so important and

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Speaker 3: also so exemplary that it's important within business, but it's

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Speaker 3: just important within life as well. And I really appreciate

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Speaker 3: the sentiments surrounding do the best you can with what

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Speaker 3: you have, knowing that what you have today is different

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Speaker 3: than what you had yesterday, and also it will be

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Speaker 3: different tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 3: For you, as you started to make these decisions, as

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Speaker 3: you started to trust your gut more, you then obtained

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Speaker 3: and learned new things that made this process and the

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Speaker 3: decision making and trusting your intuition moving forward a little

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Speaker 3: bit easier.

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Speaker 2: Would you agree?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely? Yeah, Yeah, you know. It's always fun to reflect

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Speaker 1: on it now, you know, because every day you're always

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Speaker 1: facing challenges. But if you do rewind to that time,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, it's I've come a long way and

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Speaker 1: that in that regard and I should celebrate that more.

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Speaker 3: I love how you pointed out earlier the fun that

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Speaker 3: you have at Brooks as a company, and how some

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Speaker 3: of the existing structures in the way that the corporate

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Speaker 3: culture is really is different than anything that you've seen before.

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Speaker 3: Why do you think that that is important finding the

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Speaker 3: fun within both the company and then also within your role.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think it's a bit of the DNA here,

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Speaker 1: you know when I you know, twenty years ago they

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Speaker 1: started run Happy, and it's just about finding the joy

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Speaker 1: and all the things and recognizing that you can do

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Speaker 1: really hard things, but you got to celebrate them and

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Speaker 1: you have to smile along the way or laugh laugh

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Speaker 1: along the way. We talk a lot about our culture

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Speaker 1: as work play hard. You know, we're a competitive bunch,

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Speaker 1: and you know, often a bunch of athletes are very

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Speaker 1: active people, and so there's a high achievement bar where

439
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,080
Speaker 1: there's a lot that you put into your work, but

440
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,879
Speaker 1: recognizing that you need to, you know, we also play

441
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,520
Speaker 1: hard as well, and that balance between the two, I

442
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,840
Speaker 1: think is what makes this place special. It also makes

443
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:27,880
Speaker 1: us more creative. It inspires us. I think a lot

444
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:29,879
Speaker 1: of times when we get stuck. People do go for

445
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:31,800
Speaker 1: a walk or a run, and then they can come

446
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:33,440
Speaker 1: back and be like, oh wait, I have all these

447
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 1: ideas and recognizing you can do that in the middle

448
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,119
Speaker 1: of the day. You don't have to do that just

449
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:39,960
Speaker 1: at certain times on your off time.

450
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,919
Speaker 3: Right, And what does finding the fun look like for

451
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 3: you personally? How do you find some sort of balance

452
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 3: that helps you show up as your best self.

453
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: I'm usually a very optimistic It can be done. There's

454
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,719
Speaker 1: a way. And for me, when you have a problem,

455
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,399
Speaker 1: work through a problem and you find a creative solution,

456
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 1: you find another way about attacking something that you didn't

457
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,520
Speaker 1: think about before, and you're doing that with a group

458
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,280
Speaker 1: of people, to me, that's fun. You walk out and

459
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,680
Speaker 1: you're like, whooh that was It might have been really hard,

460
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,439
Speaker 1: but we just achieved something great. That to me is

461
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,400
Speaker 1: where the fun lies. And then celebrating wins and failures.

462
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,880
Speaker 1: And then we sit in meetings all day long, take

463
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,639
Speaker 1: five minutes just you know, talk about you know, the

464
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: water cooler, talk or talk about what somebody did over

465
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 1: the weekend, and just get to know each other as people.

466
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:40,200
Speaker 1: So that that way, that delineation between work and home

467
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,920
Speaker 1: is a little bit less. It's just life and you

468
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 1: get to live it, you know, through your work life

469
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:47,439
Speaker 1: and your home life.

470
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, it sounds like for you a big part of

471
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 3: leadership is being a holistic human. What would you say

472
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 3: has been one of the biggest lessons that you have

473
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 3: learned over the course of your past seven years as

474
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 3: a leader at Brooks.

475
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,720
Speaker 1: There's a few things. I mean, one these are actually

476
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,200
Speaker 1: things that I probably learned before I was at Brooks.

477
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,400
Speaker 1: When I was at Procter and Gamble, I went through

478
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 1: a week long training program with Corporate Athlete. And Corporate

479
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: Athlete was a moment for me. I think I was work, work,

480
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: work all the time, and it was like, I'm just

481
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,399
Speaker 1: going to keep working. And if I just keep working,

482
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 1: I get my to do list done, I get my

483
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 1: emails done, I get all the things done. And Corporate

484
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,119
Speaker 1: Athlete is a program that teaches you about holistic and

485
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,320
Speaker 1: how do you maintain your energy level throughout the entire day.

486
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,679
Speaker 1: And there were so many signs of you put all

487
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:48,879
Speaker 1: your energy at work and then you go home and

488
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 1: you have no energy for the ones that you love,

489
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,679
Speaker 1: whether that's yourself, your family, your friends, and so the

490
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,119
Speaker 1: whole program was about how do you keep your energy

491
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 1: throughout your entire day and that energy that you put

492
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 1: into that you reserve for your home time will actually

493
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,400
Speaker 1: benefit your work life. And that was momentous to us

494
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,800
Speaker 1: and our leadership team at P and G at the time.

495
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: We all went through it together, and so we were

496
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,639
Speaker 1: all doing it together. We all left work at five,

497
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: we all turned off. We all valued the impact of

498
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,920
Speaker 1: turning off. We valued the impact of working out, meditating,

499
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 1: spending time for yourselves. So that was twenty years ago

500
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:30,800
Speaker 1: and that really has stuck with me, and I think

501
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 1: that kind of embodies this whole idea of like when

502
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 1: I say fun, it might be just that, like you've

503
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 1: got energy to enjoy every hour of your day.

504
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 3: That is so critical the idea that the amount of

505
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 3: energy that you have to give will differ from day

506
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,439
Speaker 3: to day, but it's also finite, right, And if you

507
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,160
Speaker 3: are leaving the office and feeling like you have nothing

508
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 3: left for even yourself, nevertheless, your family, your friends, any

509
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,840
Speaker 3: sort of a social life, then it won't matter how

510
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 3: fulfilled you feel during the hours of nine to five,

511
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,639
Speaker 3: of those are the hours that you're working, it won't

512
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 3: be enough. Yep, exactly exactly, and that's so interesting also

513
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 3: to hear about the entire team doing it together. Is

514
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 3: that something that you would say as the weeks, months,

515
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 3: years went on, that you guys were able to upkeep

516
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 3: because I would imagine that over time some of those

517
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 3: boundaries would kind of fall by the wayside.

518
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: They did, They did. We tried really hard. Like all

519
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 1: of our meetings, you'd never go more than two hours,

520
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,240
Speaker 1: and then we'd all walk together. You know, if you

521
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 1: had a four hour meeting, we'd all walk together. It

522
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: definitely changed, and it changed as people who had not

523
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 1: gone through the program came in and they didn't have

524
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: that same mentality. I will say that while we don't

525
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,440
Speaker 1: have that program, particularly at Brooks, I think that is

526
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 1: what makes the Brooks culture a little bit different. And

527
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 1: when you think about fun, they that energy and how

528
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: they balance the energy is something that is just ingrained

529
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: in the culture.

530
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 3: And so much has happened within the run space over

531
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 3: the last seven years. I mean, you don't need me

532
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 3: to tell you, especially after a global pandemic when we

533
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 3: saw arguably a running boom of sorts, tell me a

534
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 3: little bit about what happened for both you and Brooks

535
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 3: as more and more people began to start lacing up

536
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 3: and then in turn buying a lot more sneakers.

537
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, its a roller coaster. When the pandemic started, we thought,

538
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 1: no one's ever going to buy anything again because they can't.

539
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,040
Speaker 1: You pull down production, and then you start to see

540
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 1: We were working with Strava at the time and some

541
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 1: other we use some other data points. We had our

542
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 1: team in the field. They went out and they started

543
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 1: counting the number of runners that they were seeing in

544
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 1: each day. They were seeing more and more. So we

545
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: quickly saw that people were moving to outside and starting

546
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,800
Speaker 1: to run, So then we kind of shifted our strategy.

547
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 1: But the agility that we had, that's something that's helping

548
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,680
Speaker 1: us in the future. I still think running is changing

549
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 1: a lot. You're seeing the impact that it had on

550
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 1: gen Z and younger youth. You know, they were seeing

551
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 1: their parents out, they were out with their parents, and

552
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 1: now that's created runners and walkers at an earlier age

553
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: than previous generations. And so that's I think is just

554
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: going to continue to pay off for running. You're also

555
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 1: seeing health and wellness their interaction with it changed, so

556
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 1: lots of good things for us. I would say, though

557
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,720
Speaker 1: it's just rapidly changing. And what the pandemic in those

558
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 1: early years showed us is we have to be really

559
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 1: agile and just watch the consumer and we've got to

560
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 1: be able to move quickly with them.

561
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 2: And how are you moving quickly?

562
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,520
Speaker 3: I mean at the top of this we talked about

563
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,840
Speaker 3: how you had a meeting today about fall twenty twenty six. Right,

564
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 3: so as the pandemic is happening, things have already been

565
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 3: in motion, orders play, and then the boom happens. How

566
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,920
Speaker 3: do you keep up with that demand to provide for

567
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 3: your customer.

568
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I think this

569
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 1: is where you break down, like what can you control

570
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 1: and what can't you control? You know, some of some

571
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: of our plans and the things that we do, we

572
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: realize eighty percent probably doesn't change dramatically, So be okay

573
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: with the eighty percent is probably locked. But there's ten

574
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 1: to twenty percent of things that we can change or adjust.

575
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 1: So whether that's pulling up a product, pushing a product,

576
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 1: shifting a campaign, changing messaging. We have channels that are

577
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,480
Speaker 1: much faster, you know, when you think about social or

578
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 1: other venues that don't take as much time to pre produce.

579
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 1: So being able to just look at what are the

580
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 1: things that we can adapt quickly and let's use those

581
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:54,000
Speaker 1: levers and allow the fact that it's okay, we can't

582
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,320
Speaker 1: move the big engine and it probably doesn't need to move.

583
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 3: That's such an important learning though, because like, how many

584
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 3: time in your day to day is there something that

585
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,840
Speaker 3: is beyond your control that you may get stuck on

586
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 3: and trip over and getting to a place where you

587
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 3: can be like, listen, I can only do the best

588
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 3: I can with what I have and control the controllable,

589
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 3: and then it serves me to be like, I can't

590
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 3: pull that massive lover, so I'm going to stop fretting

591
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,959
Speaker 3: about it now. So challenging though, to get to that

592
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 3: place where you feel like you can let go of

593
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 3: that control.

594
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, every day is always a balance.

595
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 2: I'm going to be honest.

596
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 3: Because we are mostly women here, that time of the

597
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 3: month is truly such a headache for me.

598
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 2: I know, I know it's a headache for all of us.

599
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:47,480
Speaker 3: But as long as I can remember, I have leaked

600
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,960
Speaker 3: on long runs and bike rides and that was until

601
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 3: I was introduced to sequel tampons earlier this year, created

602
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 3: by two female athletes with us active women in Mind.

603
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:03,959
Speaker 3: Sequels Signature Spiral Channel say that five times fast creates

604
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,720
Speaker 3: a longer flowpath, redesigning the tampon for the first time

605
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:12,320
Speaker 3: in eighty years wild I know. In other words, I

606
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 3: experienced improved absorption and less leeks tested for up to

607
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 3: eight hours of where I feel so much more comfortable

608
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 3: in at peace knowing that Sequels got me am I

609
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 3: on the go lifestyle covered. Now that I have started

610
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:31,240
Speaker 3: using Sequel tampons, I can't imagine going back to anything else.

611
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 3: Head on over to Tryseqel dot com and use the

612
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 3: code hurdle for fifteen percent off a single thirty two

613
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:43,479
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614
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 3: s e q U e L dot com and use

615
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:52,360
Speaker 3: code hurdle at checkout for fifteen percent off. Also, of course,

616
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 3: I've got to give some love to Brooks Running. So

617
00:33:55,520 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 3: grateful to this brand for sponsoring Hurdle in March and true,

618
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 3: I have been absolutely loving my new glisser in twenty

619
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 3: two's and let me tell you I have put them

620
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 3: through the pass. I've been doing long runs, speed runs,

621
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,360
Speaker 3: tempo workouts, you name it. This is a sneaker that

622
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 3: I don't think twice about being on foot. It feels

623
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 3: so comfortable and cushion and distraction free and allows me

624
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:25,719
Speaker 3: to really be present in all of my movement. It's

625
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,279
Speaker 3: also got and I know this sounds fancy, but a

626
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,920
Speaker 3: double Jaccard knit upper that feels truly like a second skin.

627
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,440
Speaker 2: It is flexible and accommodating.

628
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 3: And don't even get me started on the DNA tuned

629
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 3: nitrogen infused boam. Okay, I'm started, so I'm gonna tell

630
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,800
Speaker 3: you about it. It's basically got larger cells that helped

631
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 3: provide plush landings in the heel and then smaller cells

632
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 3: in the forefoot which make for a really super responsive

633
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:53,959
Speaker 3: toe off. Trust me, you want to get your hands

634
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,759
Speaker 3: on a pair of these, Get yourself a pair of

635
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 3: Brooks Blister and twenty two today by heading on over

636
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:04,240
Speaker 3: to Brooks Run dot com Slash Hurdle Dash podcast. Again,

637
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,800
Speaker 3: that is Brooks Running b R O K S R

638
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 3: U n n I n G dot com Slash Hurdle

639
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:24,760
Speaker 3: Dash podcast today. For you, as you navigated your role

640
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 3: during the COVID pandemic, h what did that look like?

641
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 3: Obviously working from home? When did you guys start going

642
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 3: back in office? How did that shake for you?

643
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,239
Speaker 1: Boy? I don't even remember how long we were at home,

644
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:37,160
Speaker 1: but it was well over two years. It felt like

645
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 1: a really long time. I think the biggest thing that

646
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:45,839
Speaker 1: it did is our executive team became so close. There's

647
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 1: not many of us on it, there's six. It's a

648
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 1: really small group, which is one of the things that

649
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,839
Speaker 1: I love. And most of us are still here. Our

650
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,800
Speaker 1: CEO had made a transition, but our new CEO was

651
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,399
Speaker 1: there and we met every morning I think at seven

652
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,360
Speaker 1: or seven thirty, and we huddled and just talked. And

653
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,760
Speaker 1: for the most part, there was the first component, which

654
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,799
Speaker 1: was we have no idea what to do, and so

655
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,120
Speaker 1: the reality that we were all in the same playing

656
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 1: field of just we actually have no idea what to do,

657
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 1: and then we have an entire company that's relying on us,

658
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:22,880
Speaker 1: so we got to figure it out. And then we

659
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,720
Speaker 1: just started figuring it out together and working the problem together,

660
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:30,240
Speaker 1: and by meeting every day, you know, it was virtually

661
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 1: over teams and zooms, and we got so much stronger

662
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,520
Speaker 1: and so much closer together during those times. And then

663
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,760
Speaker 1: that's just continuing to pay off as we moved back

664
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,360
Speaker 1: into in a real life environment. And now we're a

665
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 1: mixed We're in the office typically three ish days, three

666
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:50,879
Speaker 1: maybe four days a week, but then that we are

667
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 1: still able to get the benefit of the flexibility.

668
00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 3: It's so interesting this brings about I guess I don't

669
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 3: know if it's a question necessarily, but you talk about

670
00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,279
Speaker 3: being a leader who doesn't have the answer, and I

671
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:12,759
Speaker 3: think that oftentimes one may assume that in order to

672
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,680
Speaker 3: be a leader you have to have the answers. Can

673
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,680
Speaker 3: you talk a little bit about when it's maybe okay

674
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:23,319
Speaker 3: to admit that you don't have the roadmap in front

675
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 3: of you?

676
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I mean I think that that's when you

677
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 1: build trust with your employees and your teams. Because if

678
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,440
Speaker 1: any leader was coming out saying I have all the

679
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 1: answers for a pandemic, I think every employee would be like, uh, yeah, right,

680
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:43,319
Speaker 1: I don't think you do. So what we did is

681
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:45,720
Speaker 1: we because we didn't, we had to build a plan.

682
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,360
Speaker 1: We started talking about, Okay, what are the signals that

683
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,279
Speaker 1: are going to help us understand what's going on with

684
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,200
Speaker 1: our business? What are the phases that we think are

685
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,360
Speaker 1: going to happen as we move through it. We don't

686
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 1: know when we're going to move through them. We don't

687
00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:59,400
Speaker 1: know what they are, but you kind of had like

688
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:03,880
Speaker 1: so we buil a fictitious roadmap, so to speak, but

689
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 1: it gave us phases and then they were pretty right.

690
00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 1: Like when we would talk to employees, we met with them.

691
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:11,960
Speaker 1: We had town halls every week, so we were talking

692
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: to them every week and giving them the here's where

693
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:16,959
Speaker 1: we are, here's what we know, and here's what we're

694
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 1: here's where our heads are, and here here's you know

695
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,400
Speaker 1: what you can go do. And then we were quickly

696
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:24,920
Speaker 1: able to say, you know what, Wow, we're finished with

697
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,200
Speaker 1: this phase. We've moved through it, and now we're into

698
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,600
Speaker 1: the next phase. And people could see the road to

699
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:32,840
Speaker 1: quote unquote normalcy.

700
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 2: Quote unquote normally.

701
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 3: I appreciate that though, that concept of establishing trust within

702
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,080
Speaker 3: who it is that you're working with or even within

703
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,479
Speaker 3: your relationships. Right it's like I don't have the answer here,

704
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 3: but I'm going to be here with you and we

705
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 3: can figure it out together.

706
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 2: And that is a lot more relatable.

707
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:55,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it builds that builds such a stronger relationship

708
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,400
Speaker 1: for when you are moving through challenges or problems. Is

709
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:03,240
Speaker 1: an organize, it pays off so much to be able

710
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:06,719
Speaker 1: to be vulnerable when you need to. You know, I

711
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:08,600
Speaker 1: don't think you can sit in that for a long

712
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:10,480
Speaker 1: time if you're always in the I don't know what

713
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:13,360
Speaker 1: to go do. But if you can at least frame

714
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:17,040
Speaker 1: the problem or frame the situation and be able to say,

715
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 1: I'm not sure the path I should go. I see

716
00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:22,319
Speaker 1: three ways, Like can you help me work through these

717
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,200
Speaker 1: three different ways? Because I don't know which path I

718
00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:30,080
Speaker 1: should take? That shows that you are a critical thinker.

719
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:33,640
Speaker 1: You have the ability to think through this problem, but

720
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 1: you want somebody else to be able to see the

721
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,520
Speaker 1: problem with you and maybe see, you know, talk it through.

722
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:41,560
Speaker 1: That to me is when I've seen the most strength

723
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,720
Speaker 1: when I've gone to my peers or even my team.

724
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 1: So I'm not just going with like I have no

725
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,280
Speaker 1: idea what to do, at least having like here's my thinking,

726
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 1: check me on this, or you know, let's talk through it.

727
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:55,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a collaborative process.

728
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,680
Speaker 3: You're talking about so many of the different qualities that

729
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:03,360
Speaker 3: make you a good leader, albeit not intentionally. When I

730
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 3: ask you, what are the kind of qualities that you

731
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,240
Speaker 3: look for in someone that you want to bring onto

732
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:08,800
Speaker 3: your team?

733
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 2: What comes to mind, Melanie.

734
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 1: That's a great one. I'm going to say they're initiative

735
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:19,839
Speaker 1: and just drive to kind of figure it out. Like

736
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 1: I think somebody that has that optimistic view of you

737
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 1: know what, I can figure it out. I don't always

738
00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:29,319
Speaker 1: look for somebody that's had all the perfect experiences that

739
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 1: you would expect. I think a lot of the non

740
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:36,760
Speaker 1: traditional experiences can really showcase someone. So for me, somebody

741
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 1: that just has that can do I'm going to figure

742
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:42,560
Speaker 1: the problem out, you know. I think someone that culture

743
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 1: and how they work in relationships being important to them.

744
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,919
Speaker 1: We don't work alone ever, really, so how you relate

745
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: to people and you're able to get work done in

746
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,440
Speaker 1: terms of influencing others when you might not have control

747
00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:59,839
Speaker 1: over something, and you know, there's always basic skill sets

748
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,480
Speaker 1: I think when you think about consumers and storytelling and

749
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 1: from a marketing standpoint, those are always critical as well.

750
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:12,560
Speaker 3: I really love that this is a trend we are

751
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:17,920
Speaker 3: seeing within the corporate world right now in that when

752
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,839
Speaker 3: I was younger, I don't know, ten fifteen years ago,

753
00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:23,880
Speaker 3: there was a very specific roadmap or a path that

754
00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:25,920
Speaker 3: you had to be on if you wanted to be

755
00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:29,280
Speaker 3: an editor at a major magazine, for instance, and now

756
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 3: I would almost argue because of the pandemic, are partly

757
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:36,480
Speaker 3: because of the pandemic we have seen and been exposed

758
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:39,719
Speaker 3: to individuals that have been able to garner such a

759
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:43,520
Speaker 3: wealth of knowledge in unconventional ways, and that makes them

760
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 3: more attractive employees.

761
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:46,200
Speaker 2: Yep.

762
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And you think about whether it's an influencer that's

763
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,840
Speaker 1: created their own brand and they've created their own content

764
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,440
Speaker 1: and they've they've had to take that initiative in action,

765
00:41:57,719 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 1: or whether it's somebody who's worked at a startup or

766
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,719
Speaker 1: somebody like there's all these new jobs out there that

767
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 1: are non traditional jobs that when I started, it was

768
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,759
Speaker 1: it was a very like you get this education, and

769
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,040
Speaker 1: therefore you have this job, and therefore you're going to

770
00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:14,040
Speaker 1: do this job for the rest of your life. It's

771
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:15,600
Speaker 1: not today anymore, Thank goodness.

772
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:17,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.

773
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:21,400
Speaker 3: And this also brings about another important point, which is

774
00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:25,319
Speaker 3: the idea that if there is something that you don't like,

775
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 3: you can change it. I think that that is something

776
00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:36,000
Speaker 3: that can be challenging, especially when you have perhaps what

777
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 3: we often refer to as a victim mindset. Right It's like,

778
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:44,880
Speaker 3: if I know that I want to do more event hosting,

779
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 3: or I want to do more on camera work. I

780
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 3: don't need to wait for someone to come to me

781
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:54,880
Speaker 3: and offer me these perfect experiences, because that's the beauty

782
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 3: of the internet these days. You can create those opportunities

783
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:01,480
Speaker 3: for yourself. But it's hard to adopt that mindset. It's

784
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,680
Speaker 3: hard to take the initiative and be your own biggest

785
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,800
Speaker 3: hype human first.

786
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:10,000
Speaker 2: That's what I want to ask you about next, Melanie.

787
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:12,320
Speaker 3: I would love for you to give me some insight

788
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 3: about how you get to be the person that truly

789
00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 3: believes in yourself.

790
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:17,920
Speaker 2: First.

791
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 3: You certainly had to have a fair amount of self

792
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,280
Speaker 3: belief to go after these bigger roles, right to see

793
00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:27,200
Speaker 3: that CMO posting and say to yourself, why not me?

794
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 3: So how is it that you channel that self belief?

795
00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 3: Where does someone begin?

796
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:35,960
Speaker 1: I'm going to go back to my mom all the way.

797
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 1: It starts with my mom. It starts with my dad too.

798
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,239
Speaker 1: I mean, my dad also was a you can do

799
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:45,520
Speaker 1: anything kind of person. But my mom. My mom is deaf,

800
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,759
Speaker 1: and she has a little bit of hearing, and she

801
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,279
Speaker 1: can read lips, so most people would not know that

802
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:54,960
Speaker 1: she's hard of hearing. She lost her hearing when she

803
00:43:55,080 --> 00:44:00,399
Speaker 1: was seven, and she just immediately like everyone and told

804
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,560
Speaker 1: her this is now what you have to go do.

805
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 1: And she's like, no, I'm going to stay in the

806
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,960
Speaker 1: school that i'm in. I will figure it out. I'm

807
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,000
Speaker 1: going to learn how to do this. I'm going to learn.

808
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:15,320
Speaker 1: Like she ended up going to beauty school in high school,

809
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:18,680
Speaker 1: so she you know, got her high school degree at

810
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:21,400
Speaker 1: a you know, over over time. But she also went

811
00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:23,520
Speaker 1: to school, you know, when she was I think she

812
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:26,560
Speaker 1: started when she was fourteen or fifteen, and she was

813
00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:30,359
Speaker 1: told she couldn't in so many ways. And then she

814
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: went to design school when I was in middle school,

815
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 1: and again everyone said, you can't get up and present

816
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:39,480
Speaker 1: in front of people because you can't hear them, you

817
00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:42,719
Speaker 1: can't work in an office environment, and she could. She

818
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:45,520
Speaker 1: did all those things, and so I think she was

819
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 1: just a really great inspiration for me to never feel

820
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:52,280
Speaker 1: like I couldn't do something. Now I have a thousand

821
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,760
Speaker 1: voices in my head that tell me all the reasons

822
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:58,120
Speaker 1: why I can't do it, but she sits there and says,

823
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,879
Speaker 1: you can. There was something recently that had the opportunity

824
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,040
Speaker 1: to do. It was an outdoor activity that I was

825
00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:07,920
Speaker 1: scared of doing, and I said I don't think I'm

826
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:10,080
Speaker 1: going to do it, And she was like, I did

827
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:12,840
Speaker 1: not raise you this way. I did not raise you

828
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,279
Speaker 1: to say you can't. She's like, I know you can

829
00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:19,280
Speaker 1: do this. And it had to do with a skiing opportunity.

830
00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: And she also put me through a lot of ski school.

831
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:25,799
Speaker 1: She's like, I also didn't pay for ski school all

832
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,799
Speaker 1: those years for you not to take this opportunity. She

833
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,560
Speaker 1: is the one that's the champion for me. And then

834
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:34,920
Speaker 1: I've had a lot of great mentors and sponsors and

835
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:38,640
Speaker 1: coaches along the way. But it is a struggle. I

836
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:42,920
Speaker 1: would say, I don't always feel that I have imposter

837
00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:45,560
Speaker 1: syndrome every day all the time, and so you just

838
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 1: got to figure out how to manage that voice in

839
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:48,560
Speaker 1: your head.

840
00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:53,160
Speaker 3: That's the question though, right how do you manage it?

841
00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:56,360
Speaker 3: What do you say to yourself when you don't feel

842
00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:59,800
Speaker 3: so shiny or so sure or your mom is in

843
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 3: ready to talk you into the ski experience.

844
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:06,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're actually working with an executive coach. All of

845
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,480
Speaker 1: our team at Brooks is working with him right now.

846
00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:13,880
Speaker 1: And one of the things that he said to me was,

847
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:17,680
Speaker 1: let's name that voice in your head. So I've named

848
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:19,680
Speaker 1: the voice in my head now, and he's like, let's

849
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:23,600
Speaker 1: just be really clear, that's her speaking, that's not you.

850
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,560
Speaker 1: So have a conversation with her and like tell her

851
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,560
Speaker 1: to let go. But it's it's actually been really really

852
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,520
Speaker 1: like a big relief for me because immediately I know

853
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:35,359
Speaker 1: it when the voice is going on in my head,

854
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:38,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what, I'm going to put you away, Like,

855
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:40,440
Speaker 1: thank you very much for that input. I'm not taking it.

856
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:42,480
Speaker 2: What have we named the voice?

857
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,759
Speaker 1: Okay? I feel bad to anybody who's named this, but

858
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:47,480
Speaker 1: it has to go with somebody who was not very

859
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 1: nice to me in high school and her name was Tiffany.

860
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:52,759
Speaker 1: She told me all the reasons why I wasn't pretty enough,

861
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:55,160
Speaker 1: I wasn't good enough, I wasn't smart enough, you know

862
00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:59,439
Speaker 1: all those things, and so Tiffany's there in my head.

863
00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:03,200
Speaker 1: There were a lot of conversations, I'm just winning now.

864
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:04,880
Speaker 2: I am winning now.

865
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:08,719
Speaker 3: Yes, I certainly use that tactic before we call it

866
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:12,600
Speaker 3: the gremlin in coaching and identifying and naming that gremlin

867
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,960
Speaker 3: can help you do exactly what you articulated. Is so

868
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:19,319
Speaker 3: helpful know that there is a difference, and also get

869
00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:23,040
Speaker 3: to a point where you really do understand and recognize like,

870
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:24,800
Speaker 3: these are just my thoughts.

871
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:26,160
Speaker 2: That's simply it.

872
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:29,080
Speaker 3: I am not my thoughts, which it does not feel

873
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:30,120
Speaker 3: like that way all the time.

874
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:35,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, sometimes she wins, so it's okay.

875
00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:37,200
Speaker 2: But did you do the skiing thing?

876
00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:41,959
Speaker 1: I did? It was Hella skiing, and it was Hella

877
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:47,799
Speaker 1: hard I will say that, Yeah, it was. It was

878
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:50,600
Speaker 1: an incredible opportunity. I'm so glad I did it. It

879
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:53,600
Speaker 1: was exhilarating and it's been a long time that I've

880
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:56,680
Speaker 1: got that far outside my comfort zone and it felt

881
00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:57,120
Speaker 1: really good.

882
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,480
Speaker 3: Speaking of getting outside of your comfort zone, if you

883
00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:04,200
Speaker 3: had to identify perhaps one of the biggest challenges or

884
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:07,839
Speaker 3: hurdles has been over the last seven years of this

885
00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:11,560
Speaker 3: chapter of your career, what comes to mind for you, Melanie.

886
00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:13,840
Speaker 1: One of the things that I'm always challenged with, and

887
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:17,680
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people in their career journeys

888
00:48:17,719 --> 00:48:20,000
Speaker 1: go through this where you go from how do you

889
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:24,759
Speaker 1: move from managing to leading? And when you start out,

890
00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:27,600
Speaker 1: you love doing the job and you love doing the work,

891
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:32,040
Speaker 1: and as you go up into a leadership role, you're

892
00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:34,439
Speaker 1: not doing the work anymore. So the thing that you love,

893
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:38,160
Speaker 1: you're watching, You're watching and you're coaching and you're guiding

894
00:48:38,239 --> 00:48:39,000
Speaker 1: other people to.

895
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:39,479
Speaker 2: Do the work.

896
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:44,680
Speaker 1: But I really love especially with Creative and our events

897
00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:47,279
Speaker 1: and everything, like it's just it's amazing to get into

898
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:50,440
Speaker 1: the work and the preparation and so for me figuring

899
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:54,279
Speaker 1: out how to still fulfill my passion areas and that's

900
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:56,759
Speaker 1: the part that I love for work. But while I

901
00:48:56,920 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 1: have to move into being a leader. We talk a

902
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:02,239
Speaker 1: lot about like you're if you're on a ship, Like

903
00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:04,799
Speaker 1: how do you continue to make sure that you're on

904
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:08,319
Speaker 1: the bridge of the ship and you're not down on

905
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:10,880
Speaker 1: the ship kind of in the middle of it, like

906
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:15,960
Speaker 1: trying to micromanage or you know, overguide anybody. But how

907
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 1: do you how do you get up and see a

908
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:23,320
Speaker 1: longer term view and help just maneuver and help people

909
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:26,640
Speaker 1: learn and guide and grow. So I think that's one

910
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:29,880
Speaker 1: of the hardest things, is just becoming a leader. You

911
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,600
Speaker 1: end up being more you're managing budgets and staffing and

912
00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 1: I used to be creating campaigns like that. That's a

913
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:40,960
Speaker 1: pretty big transition of the type of work that you do,

914
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,440
Speaker 1: and so I think that's always a hard thing to

915
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:44,960
Speaker 1: try to figure out, how do you move from that

916
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:46,680
Speaker 1: management to leadership space.

917
00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:51,279
Speaker 3: How do you still find that creative fulfillment?

918
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:55,200
Speaker 1: Oh, I pick my moments, and I'm pretty obvious that

919
00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:58,640
Speaker 1: with the team that like you need to help, I

920
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:02,560
Speaker 1: need to fulfill some creat of outlets. And so there's

921
00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:06,680
Speaker 1: certain times when we go through campaign development, like early concepts,

922
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:10,239
Speaker 1: when we're going through different ideas and saying what we

923
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,640
Speaker 1: like about it, and you know, pushing ourselves or presenting

924
00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:17,160
Speaker 1: those to consumers and understanding how they're reacting to them

925
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:19,480
Speaker 1: and what they're saying. So the early concept stage is

926
00:50:19,480 --> 00:50:21,440
Speaker 1: a place that I'm like, I'm not getting out of this.

927
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:24,680
Speaker 1: I love that part too much. Yeah, And I think

928
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 1: it keeps me close to the team and the work

929
00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:27,719
Speaker 1: that we're doing for runners.

930
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:30,440
Speaker 3: It's super interesting that you bring this up, because it's

931
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:33,520
Speaker 3: certainly something that I thought a lot about when I was,

932
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:37,239
Speaker 3: let's say, on a conventional media career path, and that

933
00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:41,040
Speaker 3: you start as a writer, you become an associate editor,

934
00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 3: you become an editor, maybe, you work your way up

935
00:50:43,520 --> 00:50:47,160
Speaker 3: to different facets of that senior editor, editor in chief maybe.

936
00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:50,040
Speaker 3: And I realized on that journey for myself that I

937
00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:55,360
Speaker 3: wasn't interested in just editing. I cared so deeply about

938
00:50:55,680 --> 00:50:59,040
Speaker 3: the storytelling and the writing, and so I had to

939
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:02,680
Speaker 3: admit to myself, like, maybe this isn't the career path

940
00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 3: that I was originally after, and do a lot of

941
00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:09,839
Speaker 3: self inquiry to discover, Okay, it's okay that it's not

942
00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:13,160
Speaker 3: what you thought that you would want. How do you

943
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:15,600
Speaker 3: get what it is that you want? How do you

944
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:18,240
Speaker 3: feel fulfilled by the work that you're doing?

945
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,720
Speaker 2: And so what I'm assuming then.

946
00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:23,759
Speaker 3: Is that by being able from time to time to

947
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:26,960
Speaker 3: chime in on the creative, you have also been able

948
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:31,239
Speaker 3: to really find fulfillment in being on the bridge of

949
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:31,680
Speaker 3: the ship.

950
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:32,680
Speaker 2: Yeah.

951
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:36,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely does, especially when you see the ship

952
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:39,320
Speaker 1: functioning well and you're like down there and you're like, oh,

953
00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:42,000
Speaker 1: like you know, I think it's always hard. It's kind

954
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:43,719
Speaker 1: of like with your kit, you're like, oh, they don't

955
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:49,640
Speaker 1: need me anymore. Like that's a good thing. I would say,

956
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:51,840
Speaker 1: kind of similar to what you were talking about. It

957
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:57,440
Speaker 1: was a mentor of mine when I was in engineering

958
00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:02,719
Speaker 1: and research and development and he said to me, look

959
00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:04,799
Speaker 1: a couple levels up and do you want to be

960
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 1: doing that job. I was like, no, I do not

961
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:11,560
Speaker 1: want to be doing that job. He's like, that's a problem.

962
00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:14,000
Speaker 1: Where do you want to be? What do you want

963
00:52:14,040 --> 00:52:15,919
Speaker 1: to be? Like, what are the jobs that you want

964
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:17,680
Speaker 1: to be and what are the ones that you think

965
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:20,920
Speaker 1: are going to fulfill you? And so that began my

966
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,960
Speaker 1: journey into marketing. But it was a really great question

967
00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:26,080
Speaker 1: that when you looked up, you're like it took a

968
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:29,320
Speaker 1: different turn, and it took a turn away from consumer

969
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:31,799
Speaker 1: and that was one of the core focus areas for me.

970
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:35,080
Speaker 1: And so just that one little question actually changed my

971
00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:36,720
Speaker 1: entire career journey.

972
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:40,400
Speaker 3: It's so important and also like so beautiful to be

973
00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 3: so cognizant of your inputs and ask yourself who it

974
00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:47,280
Speaker 3: is that I'm surrounding myself with. That's going to help

975
00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:49,920
Speaker 3: me get to where I actually want to be, not

976
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:53,080
Speaker 3: where I feel like I should be or someone else

977
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:56,759
Speaker 3: feels like I should be. Someone recently said something to

978
00:52:56,800 --> 00:53:01,439
Speaker 3: me that really really resonated, which was, you can't articulate

979
00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:03,839
Speaker 3: what it is that you want, then you don't get

980
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:07,720
Speaker 3: to get it right. Yeah, and so it sounds so simple,

981
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:09,439
Speaker 3: like what do you mean you haven't like sat down

982
00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:10,920
Speaker 3: and thought about what it is that you want.

983
00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,440
Speaker 2: But if you can only articulate what you don't want.

984
00:53:14,600 --> 00:53:17,319
Speaker 3: Okay, that's a starting point, but you need to do

985
00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:19,440
Speaker 3: the work to ask yourself, where is it that I

986
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:20,359
Speaker 3: truly want to go?

987
00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:24,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, yep. And you don't always have to know I

988
00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:27,719
Speaker 1: want this specific role in this specific company. I think

989
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:30,840
Speaker 1: that can set you up for disappointment. I've done that before.

990
00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:34,040
Speaker 1: Think more about here's the characteristics of the job that

991
00:53:34,080 --> 00:53:35,879
Speaker 1: I want, Here's the kind of work that I want

992
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:37,959
Speaker 1: to be doing, Here's the kind of problems I want

993
00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:40,040
Speaker 1: to be solving. And then all of a sudden it

994
00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:42,000
Speaker 1: starts to open up and you can talk to people

995
00:53:42,040 --> 00:53:44,920
Speaker 1: about that, and then they start also helping to search

996
00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:47,680
Speaker 1: for things that are like that, and then opportunities start

997
00:53:47,680 --> 00:53:48,200
Speaker 1: to come to you.

998
00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:49,640
Speaker 2: It's so funny that you say that.

999
00:53:49,719 --> 00:53:51,680
Speaker 3: I think about a goal that I had at the

1000
00:53:51,719 --> 00:53:54,320
Speaker 3: top of the year, which I then reframed. The original

1001
00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:57,040
Speaker 3: goal was I want to do a morning show segment.

1002
00:53:57,200 --> 00:53:59,759
Speaker 3: And the woman that I was speaking to about this

1003
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:02,600
Speaker 3: said to me, well, what's the goal of doing the

1004
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:05,080
Speaker 3: morning show segment? And I said, I want to be

1005
00:54:05,239 --> 00:54:09,440
Speaker 3: seen or want that visibility to that size or type

1006
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:12,000
Speaker 3: of an audience. Right, we're talking about millions of people

1007
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:14,839
Speaker 3: that are tuning into morning television, and she said, so

1008
00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:16,680
Speaker 3: the goal is that I want to be seen by

1009
00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:17,440
Speaker 3: millions of people.

1010
00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:19,720
Speaker 2: And she said it like that. It gave me chills.

1011
00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:22,080
Speaker 3: I was like, that is frightening to say out loud,

1012
00:54:22,120 --> 00:54:25,120
Speaker 3: But that's exactly what I'm vocalizing to you that I want.

1013
00:54:25,200 --> 00:54:27,920
Speaker 3: She said, don't put yourself in a box by saying

1014
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:29,719
Speaker 3: it's just the morning television.

1015
00:54:30,360 --> 00:54:31,760
Speaker 2: That's such a small box.

1016
00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:34,359
Speaker 3: But by saying something that literally gives me chills when

1017
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:36,040
Speaker 3: I say it out loud, I want to be seen

1018
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:38,640
Speaker 3: by millions of people. It's like wow, Like that's a

1019
00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:41,120
Speaker 3: big deal and like there's a lot of ownership and

1020
00:54:41,160 --> 00:54:41,920
Speaker 3: excitement around that.

1021
00:54:42,680 --> 00:54:44,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my gosh, I love that. That is a

1022
00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:46,520
Speaker 1: great reframing. Yeah, and a great goal.

1023
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:49,880
Speaker 3: Someone comes and checks out your little corner of the world,

1024
00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:53,279
Speaker 3: maybe your LinkedIn, Perhaps they find you by slooping on

1025
00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:56,600
Speaker 3: the Instagram. They see you as the woman that is

1026
00:54:56,640 --> 00:54:59,240
Speaker 3: the chief marketing officer at Brooks Running.

1027
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:01,960
Speaker 2: But when you in the mirror, Melanie, what is it

1028
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:03,640
Speaker 2: that you see looking back at you?

1029
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:09,040
Speaker 1: Totally honest, the thing that I see is my daughter.

1030
00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:13,399
Speaker 1: She's twenty two now, and there's so many times when

1031
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:16,799
Speaker 1: we're like looking in the mirror together, Like she's constantly like,

1032
00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:19,520
Speaker 1: do we look alike? Do we not look alike? But

1033
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:23,160
Speaker 1: what I see is that two I see, I see

1034
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:25,279
Speaker 1: how she sees me, or that's what I want to

1035
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:28,359
Speaker 1: see in me, which is, you know, when she looks

1036
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:31,120
Speaker 1: at me, she talks a lot about like you know,

1037
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:33,840
Speaker 1: just what she sees in me, and as a leader

1038
00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:36,400
Speaker 1: and as a person and as a mom. And I

1039
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:40,760
Speaker 1: think just someone that enjoys life, works really hard, has

1040
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:43,839
Speaker 1: strong ambitions, and goes after it.

1041
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,120
Speaker 3: How does that make you feel when you think about

1042
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:50,200
Speaker 3: the fact that you have raised this young woman who

1043
00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:54,080
Speaker 3: truly looks to you and sees you as a leader.

1044
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:57,440
Speaker 3: I personally think that is so powerful and special.

1045
00:55:57,880 --> 00:55:59,920
Speaker 1: It was interesting because my husband said it to me,

1046
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:02,719
Speaker 1: is like He's like, I don't think you realize how

1047
00:56:02,719 --> 00:56:05,040
Speaker 1: big of a role model you are to her. And

1048
00:56:06,200 --> 00:56:09,440
Speaker 1: then he just continued to say all the examples of

1049
00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:12,480
Speaker 1: how that is, and to me, that was that was

1050
00:56:12,560 --> 00:56:14,240
Speaker 1: just a moment when I'm like, I hope I always

1051
00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:16,200
Speaker 1: see that person when I look in the mirror. I

1052
00:56:16,200 --> 00:56:19,359
Speaker 1: don't always every day, but just reminding aren't myself that

1053
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:22,280
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of good things that good qualities

1054
00:56:22,320 --> 00:56:24,040
Speaker 1: in there that I should focus on those and not

1055
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:26,719
Speaker 1: the ones that Tiffany looks at.

1056
00:56:28,280 --> 00:56:31,000
Speaker 3: The thing is also is that in those moments where

1057
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:33,319
Speaker 3: you don't feel so shiny or so bright, you have

1058
00:56:33,480 --> 00:56:37,200
Speaker 3: that to come back to, right you have this beautiful

1059
00:56:37,200 --> 00:56:39,319
Speaker 3: conversation that you have with your husband and also the

1060
00:56:39,320 --> 00:56:42,120
Speaker 3: words that your daughter has shared with you, reminding you

1061
00:56:42,480 --> 00:56:44,160
Speaker 3: of who it is that you are and what it

1062
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:47,239
Speaker 3: is that makes you great. And sometimes you know, regardless

1063
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:50,839
Speaker 3: of the situation, we all need someone to help lift

1064
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,319
Speaker 3: us up, not because by any means or stretch of

1065
00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:56,400
Speaker 3: the imagination that we are weak, but because we are

1066
00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:59,719
Speaker 3: better when we have that community and that driving force

1067
00:56:59,760 --> 00:57:02,360
Speaker 3: behind us to step into our full power.

1068
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:05,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have a small family and a small circle

1069
00:57:05,480 --> 00:57:09,680
Speaker 1: of friends, but that it's so meaningful and so important.

1070
00:57:09,880 --> 00:57:13,799
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely Well, Melanie, as we wind down here

1071
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:16,440
Speaker 3: right now, you have an opportunity to give yourself a

1072
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:18,920
Speaker 3: piece of advice, knowing what you know now when it

1073
00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:22,919
Speaker 3: comes to that evolution of you as a leader, having

1074
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:25,240
Speaker 3: to let go of some of the things that once

1075
00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:27,760
Speaker 3: brought you a lot of joy, understanding that it's for

1076
00:57:27,880 --> 00:57:31,600
Speaker 3: the betterment of the greater team. As you stand on

1077
00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:35,080
Speaker 3: the ship's bridge. What advice do you tell yourself.

1078
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:36,720
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with one I'm going to do.

1079
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:38,920
Speaker 1: I'm going to circle back to my daughter one more time.

1080
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:42,560
Speaker 1: It was when I became a VP at Starbucks. I

1081
00:57:42,600 --> 00:57:46,240
Speaker 1: got my first office and had a chalkboard wall and

1082
00:57:46,280 --> 00:57:49,720
Speaker 1: she was I don't know, maybe twelve ten, and she

1083
00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:53,680
Speaker 1: wrote on the chalkboard I'm possible, like I a postviem

1084
00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:57,440
Speaker 1: and then possible. And so I would just give that

1085
00:57:57,720 --> 00:58:02,240
Speaker 1: to any young person's early career is just remember that

1086
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:04,760
Speaker 1: you're the one that's going to make this happen. No

1087
00:58:04,760 --> 00:58:06,520
Speaker 1: one else around you is going to do it. You

1088
00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:09,400
Speaker 1: have to chart your own course. You have to plan it,

1089
00:58:09,840 --> 00:58:12,320
Speaker 1: take the initiative to do it, and sometimes it can

1090
00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:15,440
Speaker 1: be scary, but again, just take that small step first

1091
00:58:15,520 --> 00:58:18,000
Speaker 1: and break it down and it will all come over time.

1092
00:58:18,120 --> 00:58:20,000
Speaker 1: And you also don't have to have all the answers.

1093
00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:21,880
Speaker 1: You know, you don't have to have your entire life

1094
00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:24,160
Speaker 1: planned out. You can break your life down into small,

1095
00:58:24,200 --> 00:58:25,080
Speaker 1: little chunks too.

1096
00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:29,640
Speaker 3: Yes, the little doables make all of the difference. Well,

1097
00:58:29,800 --> 00:58:32,280
Speaker 3: I am feeling inspired right now. I am going to

1098
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:33,960
Speaker 3: tackle the rest of my inbox. I'm going to go

1099
00:58:34,000 --> 00:58:36,880
Speaker 3: on with my day. For those that want to keep

1100
00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:39,280
Speaker 3: up with you, Melanie and follow along with what's going

1101
00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:42,040
Speaker 3: on at Brooks give us the details.

1102
00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:46,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely follow us on Instagram at Brooks Running and

1103
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:49,000
Speaker 1: then you can find me on.

1104
00:58:48,880 --> 00:58:52,080
Speaker 3: LinkedIn Beautiful, I'm Over, at Emily A Body, and at

1105
00:58:52,160 --> 00:58:54,800
Speaker 3: Hurdle Podcast Another Hurdle Conquered.

1106
00:58:55,160 --> 00:58:56,240
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.

1107
00:59:01,040 --> 00:59:01,080
Speaker 1: A