Speaker 1: 0:30

My name is Leanne Schwope and I own Leanne Schwope Consulting Very creative name I know, so creative. I work with business to business companies, so only B2B large entities that are looking for strategic marketing help. And when you say strategic marketing, that isn't about flyers and pamphlets, it's all of the things that sort of go into the thought leadership before then. So how do you design your product? What's the voice of the customer? What's your strategy around building it, what's the price that you're going to pay, what's your value proposition and, most importantly, what is your customer segmentation? So I work on all of those things and then at four or five o'clock I become a farmer at the end of the day and I run a Christmas tree farm with my business partners Wonderful.

Speaker 2: 1:15

How do you balance that all? Like you said, when it's four or five, or five and six, you become a Christmas tree farmer. Yeah, how do you balance that? So that means maybe like nine to five, you're doing this and that. Like how do you find energy? Give us the secrets.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Yeah. So I think the best way that I find energy to do it is that I live in a magical place. So I live on a Christmas tree farm. It's 33 acres. The land is absolutely beautiful, so it's really easy to be motivated at the end of the day to get outside and just take care of them. I believe in the universe or God or whatever higher power you believe in to nourish the land, and so I get to go out there and look at beautiful sunrises, beautiful sunsets, and then I get to help feed it Right, and so it's really simple, because I'm not like a TV watcher kind of person sit down, I'm kind of like a little energizer bunny, so it's good for me to just get outside and do what I need to do Plant flowers, take care of the trees mow the lawn.

Speaker 2: 2:20

I've had to learn all sorts of new things. I would not say that I'm great at it yet, but I'm learning, I'm learning, we're always learning. Yes, I love it. What a great answer. Now I would like to ask you about being on TEDxSpeaker You're also an author. How do you harness storytelling and drive authentic leadership in organizations?

Speaker 1: 2:32

Yeah, so that's actually really simple for me. So I think my parents, specifically my mom, just raised me to be a genuine person. I mean, I remember one time in my life I lied to her, I snuck out of the house and I woke her up in the middle of the night and I told her what I did because I felt so guilty about it. So I was just kind of raised that way, like I just have to be. So I was just kind of raised that way Like I just have to be honest and authentic and true to myself. And so what I have found in my career and it hasn't happened like recently, it's happened the entire time is that I just love to work with people who are honest and have integrity and who work hard and who believe in the mission that they're doing hard and who believe in the mission that they're doing. And I have found that if I'm working with people where that starts to run out or it changes or I start to see things that are different, it's time for me to move on and to find a place to work where I can be my authentic self.

Speaker 1: 3:30

When I was at an organization in Columbus, ohio, I remember hearing a story from a woman at an employee resource group seminar that we were having, and she told me how she couldn't have a picture of her family on her desk.

Speaker 1: 3:43

And I was like, well, why can't you have a picture of your family? And she's like, because I don't have a conventional family. I'm married to a woman and we have kids and they're not Caucasian like we are. And she goes and I know at this company that I work for, I can't have that picture there, and it was at that moment that I knew, every day going forward, I was going to make sure that I worked in a place that allowed someone to put any photo on their desk or bring their whole self to work every single day. And the data proves that when you create a work environment like that, you have the best team. That's how you succeed, and so not only is it important for the person the person that's working for you or part of your team but it's important for the numbers of your business, and so I just love it. So it's easy for me. I don't know, it's not hard.

Speaker 2: 4:31

I love that. It's definitely in your passion or destiny, because if it comes easy for you, you're definitely in the right space of where you need to be. You know, and I feel like sometimes a lot of people look away or they're just like, well, I work here, Like I'll just stay here, I'm not happy and I don't agree with that. But sometimes that can be really hard for some people, you know. You know, so, being able to step in and be like you know what I don't want to be. I don't want to be in spaces where other people don't feel welcomed or feel like they have to like hide their true selves because they can't be who they are or they fear that they might get judged or retaliated against. So I think that's awesome and I love that you speak on that.

Speaker 1: 5:10

I do. And I do want to say one thing, because you said something that sparked a thought in my brain, which is there is a point of privilege of being able to do that right. Not everyone has the opportunity to always stand up for themselves or to leave a job because they don't feel like they can be their authentic self, and I think it's our job anyone who has an opportunity to support other people to make sure that we give those folks opportunity as well, because not everyone can do that. I mean, I remember when I was married and I'm divorced now, but when I was married, I quit my job and I said, instead of doing a home remodel, we're going to, I'm going to not work for a little while because I can't be in this place of work any longer. It is, it is harming my mental health, right, and my husband at the time supported me in that, and that's amazing. But not everyone has the opportunity and I think we have to recognize that.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Absolutely Some powerful words. Thank you for sharing that, by the way, that's so powerful. Um, I'd like to ask you if you can share an experience from your early career that significantly shaped your approach to leadership and authenticity. I know you just gave me one with that workplace, but give me some other ones that maybe perhaps have opened your eyes to other things that maybe you were like. You know what I'm passionate about this. I'm going to write a book about this. I'm going to share more about this in my life.

Speaker 1: 6:31

Yeah, so my first job that I had, I was like the fifth employee of the company. So when I graduated from college, I had a couple of options as to where I wanted to go and I went to a small venture capital firm, which was the best decision I ever made and we were making body armor for the government. Whoa, yeah, yes, talk about like real life situation as soon as you get out of school, my goodness. And during that time it was amazing because we got to meet with the war fighters, with the Air Force, with the Marine Corps, and they told us about what they needed in their body armor. And there was a point in time where one of those war fighters came back to the office and brought a flag in that they had flown around because our side body armor so body armor normally goes in the front and back.

Speaker 1: 7:22

During the war in the early 2000s, we started making side body armor and it saved two of the men that were in their fleet platoon I don't know what the right word is, I apologize. It's been a while and they brought us the flag that they flew because of that and it was just very humbling to know that literally what you do can change people's lives Right. And then, quickly, a few weeks later, I was having a meeting with the CEO of the company where he wrote the dollar amount of how much we had in our checking account and said okay, here's how much money we have, here's what our bills are. How do you suggest we figure out how to run this business? And I was like, gulp, okay, well, just because you do good doesn't mean that you have a strong business model, and so finding the marriage of those two things was the best lesson that I could learn in my early twenties. You know, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 8:12

No, wow, that's incredible. That's an incredible story because how many people, when they come right out of college, they're like, hey, I'm going to be making some body armor Like, and the fact that it saved people's lives, like you were able to make that impact and change, that's crazy and I think that's so cool that they gave you the flag.

Speaker 1: 8:28

I still have the flag. It's in my office, that is so sweet I'm sure you look at that very fondly.

Speaker 2: 8:32

You're just like, wow, I do. And now talk to me about your books. You brought in three books. I did Talk to me about them.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Okay, so my first book was Perspectives, and this is all about authenticity in the workplace. So this came from a lot of research that I did after the story that I told you about the woman that couldn't have a picture on her desk. I did after the story that I told you about the woman that couldn't have a picture on her desk, and I really wanted to talk about how it's important for companies to allow for employees to show up authentically. And then I wrote a book with Mission Matters, so I was one of the authors in this book, so I just have a section in it.

Speaker 1: 9:10

It's not my whole book and I really write about in this sort of soft skills which is strange because I'm an engineer and so people expect you to talk about math and data all the time. But what I have really found is that I talk about how growth happens and what's really important about who you surround yourself with, and that leads into the authenticity piece, and so I'm really proud of the work that I did here. My dad read the whole book and he said I wasn't fully understanding where you were going with this until I finished your section, and I'm proud of you for what you wrote because it shows that you care about people.

Speaker 2: 9:50

That is so sweet and to hear that from your dad to say that and he read your whole book.

Speaker 1: 9:53

He did yes, that's so sweet, yes, sweet. And to hear that from your dad to say that, and he read your whole book, he did yes, that's so sweet, yes. And then, lastly, I work with. I have worked with an amazing team at Amphora Consulting and we wrote blogs over and over again, and one of the partners, who is exceptional and a great thought leader, he decided that we should put it into a reader so that all of our blogs can be in one place, and so you can find that here. It's called the Grassroots Strategy Reader and it really focuses on, you know, business strategy, pricing, all of those things that can make your business tick.

Speaker 2: 10:25

Amazing when can people find these books? Where are they available to purchase?

Speaker 1: 10:28

Yeah, so you can purchase them on amazoncom or you can go to lianchopecom and the hyperlink is there. Perfect.

Speaker 2: 10:35

Now I want to touch on something before I move on to the next topic is something that seems to be really a passion of yours speaking about or sharing perspectives on, and that is authenticity. In your first book, new Perspective is about having authenticity and being able to have that in the workplace, and then the second one is talking about growth, which also goes hand in hand with authenticity and the people that you surround yourself with. Why is that so important to you? Like, what? What made you realize? Like, like, was it a childhood thing that you grew up with? Was it just growing up and being in a workplace? What? How did you become so passionate and why?

Speaker 1: 11:18

Yeah, so that's really. It's an interesting question and I'm not sure if I have the perfect answer for it, but I will do my best, no worries. So I think I've always believed that the people you surround yourself with make you who you are right, and so, in general, people you surround yourself with make you who you are right, and so, in general, I just choose to surround myself with happy people, like I want to be around, people who boost me up and who are my biggest fans and who I can call when I'm having a hard time and they talk me through it, or at work, I can knock on their door and I can say I'm really struggling with this problem, with this client, how do I solve it? Right, and let's work on it together, but not make me feel bad that I have the question, rather, work together to solve the problem. And so I think I've always just had that in my in my gut, in my stomach, and um, it's a blessing and a curse all at the same time, and what I mean by that is I have removed a lot of people from my life when they don't fill that momentum for me. I've left a lot of careers because it doesn't fill that momentum for me. But what I do know is that when I live that way, I'm super happy and I'm flourishing and I can go with.

Speaker 1: 12:35

There's a book called Flow and it's an. It's an exceptional book and I can't think of the author's name right now, I apologize, but it teaches you like how you know the energy that you create. You go with and it's going to, it's going to lead you to where you're supposed to be, and I just I really think my mom taught me all of this. She's the sweetest, kindest woman and she hasn't had an easy life but she worked hard for everything that she has. She raised three amazing kids through a lot of challenges and she always just taught us like I could be mad or I can just go with the flow and make things work, you know, and I think that kind of taught me how to do that in work, in life and everything that.

Speaker 2: 13:15

I do. That's a beautiful mindset. It's not an easy one, I will say from personal experience. Sometimes it can be a little bit hard, but I love, despite that, what your mom's been through. She was able to teach you that and now here you are with it, writing books, sharing that wisdom that maybe we didn't have parents that could give us that amazing wisdom. So I think that's incredible that you're doing that and taking that and, like you know, just carrying that flag for her and then to the next generation and so on and all the people that you touch. So I think that's incredible. Oh well, thank you, you're welcome. And then you've worked across various industries, including aerospace and defense. What common challenges do organizations face in fostering inclusive cultures?

Speaker 1: 14:00

It's always the same. So it's it doesn't matter what industry you work in, it doesn't matter how big your company is. Like having an inclusive culture. Having a good culture is challenging. Having an inclusive culture is even more challenging, no matter who you are, and so what I have found is that those challenges come from the top. So if leadership, if the C suite, is not on board with what they want to have as a culture and inclusive environment, it's going to triple down. It's not going to happen.

Speaker 1: 14:28

What I do know is that the companies that do it the best, they typically are very open to hearing from everyone in the organization. So it doesn't matter if you're at the C-suite, if you're at a VP level or if you are sweeping the floors, because all of those jobs matter, they're important, and when you hear voices from all of those people, that's where the culture really is impacted and very positive. There's very few companies that have that, unfortunately, and that breaks my heart, but I'm on a mission to try and help companies to create that and to give them a strategy to execute it, to go forward.

Speaker 2: 15:07

Yeah, I love that. Would you mind sharing to me if it's not too like personal or breaking NDAs or what have you, I don't know sharing? You don't have to give any names or anything, but sharing maybe an experience that you were able to witness or see yourself firsthand with some of the strategies or tips, or just helping to open their eyes on whether it's diversity, inclusion, letting people be their authentic selves, and how you were able to change or help integrate those ideas within a company.

Speaker 1: 15:42

Yeah, so I can think of one company that I worked with probably about four years ago and it was exceptional. Probably about four years ago and it was exceptional. And typically when we do a workshop or a consulting agreement, you have a lot of hostages, like someone has decided they're going to work with a consultant and everyone else grins and bears it, but you can tell that there's like the. You can look around the room and you can see the people that are excited you're there the ones that are ready to learn and the ones that are like I can't believe I have to do this right. Yes, there's always that, and so one of the most beautiful things that I did with this particular client is it was a one day workshop and it was someone in the finance department and he was a hostage. He was not happy about it. He didn't want us telling them how to run their business. He wanted to do it via budget. All of those things Fast forward two months into the program where we're executing the strategy, where we're saying taking all of the things that they said they were going to do and making it become reality.

Speaker 1: 16:46

And I was on a phone call with this person and they said I just really want to thank you for turning what was on a piece of paper into actual tasks that we're doing, because we don't do that very well, and you're making the culture here different, and that was just exceptional, like it, just it melted my heart, because you don't get that all the time. A lot of times you work with clients and you just go with the flow, but they don't want to work with you. You know and I try not to take it personally, but I take my work very seriously and I want to be the best partner for people, and so it hurts a little bit.

Speaker 2: 17:22

Oh, I get it. No, but you know, in the end you're, you're only here just to do the best that you can for them. It's nothing personal on either end and I'm sure sometimes there can be some differences, but at the end of the day, if you can help make their team more successful, their business more successful and come together, that's what it's all about.

Speaker 1: 17:40

Well, especially because if we do that, it ultimately will help them make more money, yes, and when they have more money, they have lots of opportunities to do other things that part right there yes, exactly.

Speaker 2: 17:50

Lots of opportunities to do other things. That part right there yes, exactly Exactly. And now, how do you approach conflict resolution in organizations?

Speaker 1: 18:00

to ensure it leads to growth rather than division. Yeah, so the main way that I approach this so I'm a certified licensing professional and so in that you learn how to negotiate, and so the main thing that I think is important with how to get to a conflict resolution is to understand what's the ideal outcome, but also what's the outcome that you're going to settle for, and having those two bandwidths within there, it allows you to understand where the gaps are and what you're willing to compromise on. And if you don't have those things defined and you just say, say, it has to be my way, you're never going to get to a conflict resolution, right, and so I find that working with people and sharing with them okay. Well, what's your goal of having this conversation? What's your ideal outcome? What's the best, the alternative outcome that you would be okay with, right? And then what's your walk away point? We all have to know what that is, because if you're not okay with something, you have to know okay, at this point in time, I need to step away. This isn't going to get to a point where we're actually going to resolve it.

Speaker 1: 19:02

Now, what does that mean? That might mean that you have to stop working on a project. It might mean that you have to leave that company. It could mean a lot of different things. It might mean that you get a ding on your performance review. Well, are you willing to accept that, or do you want to come up with a different solution? Right, yeah. And so really thinking through all of those things, and I think the most important part is being prepared Like it's not an emotional thing. Don't do it the day that you're mad. Don't do it Like when something blows up, take a breath, walk away, meditate, think about it and make a plan and then execute that plan.

Speaker 2: 19:37

I love that. No, it's so true. There's so many steps you need to think about before you go and execute something, like you said right now, like don't do it when you're mad or don't wait for it to blow up. And sometimes it's just like when is the right time? Like when do you know?

Speaker 1: 19:49

Yes, and I actually think your question. I took it as a big question, like a big conflict resolution, but this can apply on a day-to-day basis. So just think about when you get a crummy email from someone and you want to respond right away. Well, first of all, don't respond right away. Number two do you have to respond, or should you pick up the phone? Or should or should you go walk and see that person right? And then, if you are going to respond to that email, the best advice I have ever received is, when you're writing the note, write dear mother theresa, meaning whoever it's for, talk to them as if they were. You're talking to mother theresa because you're not going to say something mean to mother Teresa At least I wouldn't, no and if Mother Teresa isn't your person, write whoever that person is right and then phrase your conversation that way, because it will completely change your tone.

Speaker 2: 20:41

Wow.

Speaker 1: 20:41

Because I think writing negative emails I'm sure I have done it in the past I would take all of those back if I could and write Dear Mother Teresa.

Speaker 2: 20:49

Dear Mother Teresa. I love that. That's going to be a game changer for some people. They hear this like that's good there may be like how do I do this? And they're like whoa, I tried that and Holy crap, the results were insane Right, crazy it is so crazy.

Speaker 2: 21:04

Yes, I want to ask you about marketing and the word out there about what you're able to do with companies when it comes to business consulting. Getting the word out there about your books, your beautiful Christmas tree. Are you an avid social media user? You're making me laugh, girl. What's working for you, what's not?

Speaker 1: 21:24

Yeah, so it's so funny because I'm a coach and I help people and I give keynotes and workshops all the time and I give people advice that sometimes I don't follow myself which is why I'm laughing, because you know, that's how life is, you know, yes, but yes, I do use so for business. I use LinkedIn all the time. I put very authentic and vulnerable content out there which I love. It has actually probably the last 18 months I've been doing that is completely changed the type of person that I work with on LinkedIn now. So I absolutely love it.

Speaker 1: 22:00

For the Christmas tree farm one of my other business partners and I run the social media pages for that. He does amazing with it. I'm average with it, but the farm is magical it's like a hallmark story, and so it's really easy to is magical, it's like a hallmark story, and so it's really easy to sell itself and we have a great customer base. We also have a newsletter and a website for all of that. All the things, all of the things. So, yeah, so I just kind of do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I come to podcasts with amazing people like you in order to kind of get my word out there and, yeah, I'm working on it.

Speaker 1: 22:30

Yeah, I wouldn't say I'm perfect at it, but I just did a website refresh, so everything is new content out there about my new consulting firm and my keynote speeches and my workshops.

Speaker 2: 22:41

Beautiful. It sounds like you're on top of all the things that need to be on top of. So I am trying. No, I'm proud of you. I am proud of you because I know it's not easy and you just have to like. Everyone is like just do it, Just hit record, Just hit send or just hit post, and you're just like oh, I want to delete this.

Speaker 1: 23:00

Why did I do that? But just do it. Well, you make it easy.

Speaker 2: 23:01

So thank you, oh my gosh, thank you. No, you're easy to talk to. Is there anything that I have not touched on that perhaps you would like to share, whether it's about yourself, your business, anything at all, your industry. You have the floor.

Speaker 1: 23:12

Awesome. Well, I mean, I think the main thing that we haven't talked about is I'm very passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, and so I support the United Nations, specifically the women's component of that, to make sure that, you know, women have access to water, to healthcare, to education, to raise their family, all of those things. I volunteer for a lot of organizations like WEPAN, the Women in Engineering Proactive Network, that does amazing research to make sure that women have a seat at the table, and so I think diversity, equity, inclusion is a little challenging right now with everything that's going on, but I encourage us all to not step back from it and rather stay strong and stay focused on what we believe in, even in light of challenges that we have, and just stay the course. And you know, things come, they, they come and they go, and they come and they go. Leaders change all the time. So just stay the course, because in a few years, everything's going to be different again.

Speaker 2: 24:12

Absolutely, and I think it's also important to find your community, because it can be hard sometimes doing it on your own. So maybe being able to find that safe space or the people that you can lean on, because I think it can be challenging sometimes to handle it by yourself. I mean, it's not impossible but it's really hard because there's days where you want to get down and give up and maybe it can be vice versa with the other person. When they feel down, you can be that support.

Speaker 1: 24:38

So, definitely, finding your community and being able to talk about these things and feel like you can be open and honest about it and someone will understand, yes, there's a famous author out there who's written amazing books and if you, if you Google this, you'll find it right away and it's called eight minutes and he talks about how he had a friend who texted him at some point in time and was asking for help. But he didn't know she was asking for help. And he said she said I'm doing okay now. And he said what do you mean? And she said well, I texted you earlier this week.

Speaker 1: 25:13

He was like well, you just said what's up? Like you didn't like tell me anything. And she said I just need a little bit of your time. And they came up with a code word of I just need eight minutes, I just need eight minutes of your time in order for to share. And then they can put a smile on their face and go back to what they need to do, because sometimes it's not about solving the problem, it's about getting it out yes, so 100%.

Speaker 2: 25:45

A lot of people are holding and they're like I need somebody to talk to. I want to feel like someone's listening to me.

Speaker 1: 25:49

I want to feel like.

Speaker 2: 25:50

I'm valued you know, yes, to talk to you. I want to feel like someone's listening to me. I want to feel like I'm valued, you know? Yes, absolutely. That's a great point that you made. I'm gonna have to check that out. Eight minutes, yeah. Eight minutes, yeah, you'll find it right away. Perfect. And now, um, do you have this is my last question Do you have a quote, a saying or a mantra that you like to live your life by? Or, if you could share, maybe something that someone's told you in your life that stood out, that you would like to just leave the audience with?

Speaker 1: 26:14

Yeah, absolutely so. I have a quote in my, in my office. That's you know, go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Right, and and I think the key word of that well, there's two keywords confidence and direction. And we don't know what that direction is and it's going to change at all times. It's going to look like a zigzag, it's not going to be a straight line, and I encourage especially younger people to know that, like you might be studying right now to do something, but you don't know where your career is going to take you in five, 10 or 15 years. Just go in that direction, but be confident about it.

Speaker 1: 26:51

If I could tell my younger self one thing, it would. It would just be ask more questions. That's the one thing I love about being a consultant is we get paid to ask questions. I wish that I knew that when I was in school, I would have asked a million more questions, and I think that that's what all of us have to live by Ask questions, learn from people, grow. Everyone has a different life experience, but if we're open to learning about that, our life is going to be more flourished because of it.

Speaker 2: 27:18

Oh, for sure I love that. I know there's a couple of things, too, that I wish that I had asked, but let's not even go down that route for me. We can talk about it later. Yeah, you're right, thank you. Well, I want to say thank you so much for coming on here. I appreciate you making time to be here. It's always awesome to get to work with you and sharing a little bit about your passion and what you're doing and the steps. Even if it's like your job, it's steps that it's crazy. You can call this a job but steps you can do to help make the world better, which is crazy. Right To think that that's your job. Like to help make a positive impact.

Speaker 1: 27:52

So I think that's awesome. It's a blessing, right? Yeah, how lucky am I. Well, thank you so much. Well, thank you, and thank you for your team. You guys have been always been so welcoming and helpful and I just love working with you guys.

Speaker 2: 28:01

Anytime, we're happy to work with you too, okay.