From Creative Potential to Peak Performance: Building Better Leaders With PEQuilibrium

[00:00:00] Welcome to the EVOLVE Talent & HR Show. We are building the rooms where HR and talent leaders learn, connect, and evolve. I'm Anna Morgan, and this is the space where people-first leaders come for courageous conversations. Whether you're leading from the C-suite, emerging as a new voice, building community, or driving change within your organization, this show is for you. Every episode brings voices that are driving change in the HR and talent community.

[00:00:27] We're going to get into the strategies, conversations, and movements that matter. Because here's what we know. Every conversation matters. Every introduction, every shared experience, it creates momentum that extends far beyond the room. And that is the Evolve Multiplier. When we collaborate, overcompete, when we connect with intention, the opportunities, the relationships, and the impact compound across our entire community.

[00:00:52] You've tuned into a podcast. But this is actually your connection to the entire EVOLVE ecosystem. New episodes come out weekly. Now it's your turn to EVOLVE. Welcome. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the EVOLVE Talent and HR Show. I'm Anna Morgan, your host. And today, I am excited to welcome a very new guest, someone out of the traditional, I would say, HR and talent community that I have regular guests on.

[00:01:23] And someone who's doing some really fascinating work. And I can't wait for her to share her story and ask her some curious questions. And welcome to the show, Stacey. For those that are not familiar with you, why don't you give us the high-level introduction? Sure. My name is Stacey Willis. I've run my own company for quite some time. And for years, I was on the marketing side of the equation.

[00:01:50] And came up with this concept over the course of the last 10 years and have kind of shifted gears and taken on HR as a function for a lot of my clients as well. And we've used this concept that got developed and started on the marketing side for talent development and acquisition. So it's been really fun to watch that application grow into your space.

[00:02:13] Awesome. Awesome. So you are an engineer originally out of UCLA and then pursued your MBA and then went on to be the VP and COO of Playwire. And now doing fractional work, you know, and partnership as a head of people and writing your book around the concept, which is peak equilibrium. Sorry about that. Words are hard for me sometimes.

[00:02:41] So, and it's just based on how you've worked with clients and what you've seen from your lens, both marketing, engineering, and then now people first leadership, essentially, that inspired you to come up with this concept, correct? Yeah. So a little bit of the backstory of where it came from. It kind of evolved when we were doing a marketing workshop for a marketing agency that I worked at.

[00:03:10] We were trying to center in on our differentiators as part of a messaging and branding workshop. You know, what sets our agency apart from the rest? Yes. And what we were trying to do was essentially describe exceptional performance at the end of the day. What made our people so unique to work with? And we just, we struggled with the words that existed.

[00:03:33] And so this is where you ran out of words and had to resort to the thesaurus or the old school dictionary, right? Yeah, we did. We thumbed through as many of those as we could. And I just, none of the words did it justice, right? We started by looking into research on the things that we called out in our workshop that set our people apart. And one of the examples was like paradoxical personality traits, right?

[00:04:02] People who can somehow embody both opposite ends of a spectrum at the same time. They can be introverted and extroverted simultaneously. Yes. And so there was a bunch of these like little areas that showed up and I spent weeks pouring over trying to find the right word. And so I quit trying to do that and just made up my own because I'm a marketer. That's what we do. And here we are with PEQuilibrium. So let's break it down. I believe there's a couple different layers to this concept.

[00:04:31] And then, you know, how do you work with this tool within the world of work? Sure. So Pequilibrium, the name itself is a combination of two words. That's how we came up with it. So it's the combination of someone who's very good at managing two opposite ends of the spectrum to achieve a balance. So that's equilibrium as part of that concept. And then the concept of being able to take that skill and take it to the peak. So that's how the word kind of sums together. Almost like the peak performance, like mindset almost.

[00:05:01] Okay. Exactly. And so the concept actually is a full framework. So the framework is three layers and it's essentially the three layers build on each other. And the first layer of the concept is what we call the creative engine. Okay. So do you have the capacity to generate novel, new, unique ideas? Do you have the brain architecture and neurology to generate unique thought? How do you think? Mm-hmm.

[00:05:28] And what's really fun about that one is everybody thinks that you either have it or you don't, right? You're born creative or you're not. And that's so far from the truth. It can be cultivated. It can be grown. It can be learned. And so that's one of the things I love, flipping on people's heads. Yes. Yes. Like say it louder for the people in the back. Exactly. Yes. You can become more creative. You can do it. And then the second layer is what we call the performance framework.

[00:05:54] So that's taking that raw creative energy, the ideas that get generated, and then having the discipline, the planning, and the determination to take whatever steps you need to make that a reality, right? Taking an idea to finished completion in the world. Okay. So how you get stuff done, how you execute essentially. Okay. There's a lot of like the concepts of grit, perseverance, high performance. Wayne's true grit would be so proud that we're still using that word.

[00:06:24] Exactly. And then the third layer is what I call the regulatory system. So there's people that can be brilliant creatives, but are like, whoa, they're hard to be around. Yeah. And then there's people that can grind and grind and grind. They don't know when to stop and burn themselves out, right? Yeah. So the third layer, the regulatory system, is where concepts like EQ or like some of the

[00:06:53] more things that we would consider soft skills. But emotional intelligence is a big part of it. Stress management is a big part of it. But it's the idea of knowing how to read what's happening in yourself and adjust as needed for the situation, but also read how you affect others and adjust as needed for that situation. And so usually these layers build in succession. You want to start from the bottom and build them up over time. Is the creative engine the bottom or probably?

[00:07:23] That's where you start. Yep. Because that's where you want to be able to generate all your raw material. Okay. So, I mean, this is a whole new category when it comes to leadership training, kind of from what I have been exposed to and, you know, super ignited and excited about it. So you've mentioned, like, I guess in past pieces of content that you compare like different traits to a climate control knob within a car. Can you explain that a little bit more? Yep. Yeah.

[00:07:51] So it maps directly onto the three layers. So the way I tend to look at it is that your car has a few climate control settings. There's the temperature, hot or cold, right? I can make it warmer. I can make it colder. Then there are the dials that control, like, how hard the air is blowing out of the vents. Those are usually separate dials. So the hot or cold is kind of the raw material. That's the creative engine.

[00:08:16] The how hard it's blowing out of the vents is all backed by having, like, an appropriate compressor and engine and, like, the pieces of the machinery that actually allow that cold air to come out. Right. That's, like, the performance framework. Okay. And then there's the thermostat, which is layer three, which is, like, do – have I had this cold air blowing so long that now it's freezing in the car? And I want to turn it down. Right. It's that knowledge of how to adjust it to make sure that we're getting our end state goal. Okay.

[00:08:46] Yeah. Now, in the work that you do, I'm imagining, like, most workplaces reward people for sticking to, like, one end of the dial. Like, what does that cost us? You know, not calibrating on the regular and leveraging all those different engines and systems and foundations. I think the biggest mistake is that we treat people as fixed, right? And that, okay, yeah, you're the disciplined one, so I'm just going to, like, keep using you for that.

[00:09:14] And never realizing that you can develop that person to build more on top of that discipline, right? And be able to help get them to the next level. So what I see happen is oftentimes organizations don't know how to train, particularly people they're trying to move up in the organization, leaders, managers. And they just resort – So many people get moved up before they're ready. Like, you know, as someone who's sat in the full cycle recruiter, you know, talent partner

[00:09:43] role for so long, managing internal mobility and, you know, succession planning, I was the one a lot of times asking the questions about management training and leadership training. And it's like, they will put your executives in it or your early career, but it's like, we forget about that IC mid-career group. So sorry, didn't mean to jump in there. So true. And then when we do provide them with training, we're like, I don't even know where to begin.

[00:10:12] Let's just throw something at it. And we'll throw the same thing at everyone. Yeah. And so someone who may be super creative and have a great creative engine but doesn't necessarily know how to do some of the planning functions needs an entirely different growth path than someone who's the flip side, right? And so the beauty of the framework is it stops treating people as boxes who can't learn something we think is like either given to you at birth or not.

[00:10:36] And then it also helps build very deliberate growth paths for each individual based on what their current strengths already are. And so really my belief is that there's like specific practices for growing each area of this framework. And then even from each layer, there's like small nuanced pieces within it. Sure. And so what we've done is developed like a full assessment that figures out where people

[00:11:03] already have all of these like great strengths, where they need to get more flexible, where they need to improve, where they need to grow, and then provides deliberate practices for them to grow that area. Okay. And this is like a platform or you facilitate these, you know, workshops or trainings yourself or kind of both? Today, it's something we've developed that we use with our client base, but we're working on, so we're publishing a book that'll come out in November.

[00:11:29] And the idea is to have, yeah, a public facing version of this assessment and growth, like an app essentially that'll help people move through their own individual pathways. But we've built and tested it with the organizations that we work with on a daily basis. Amazing. What size organization is there that you've had the most success with or typically is a prime, you know, candidate for what you guys solve? We work a lot with like early and mid-stage startups.

[00:11:59] So like 100 to 150 people, that's when you start to have this growth where you're requiring middle management for the first time, but you have no muscle for developing them. So it's a great place for us to come in and help take... Exactly. You know, in a scaling season myself, as I'm building out the future of Evolve and I've had some interesting lessons around, even though I have hired thousands and thousands of people,

[00:12:26] you know, when it's your own, either you have some blind spots or you get hype... Me, I get hyper-focused and excited on, you know, certain strengths and not necessarily thinking through the downside of not being able to execute, right? And so selfishly, like my question would be like, say you've onboarded someone that has a lot of big ideas and creativity and thinks like an owner and is hyper-passionate about

[00:12:53] the company and what they're building, but is really struggling with deliverables and execution. How would you start down that path in this structure? Sure. Verifying probably the creativity piece and strengths, right? Yeah. So it sounds like based on what you're saying, you have someone who needs to work on the performance framework layer two. And there's tons of like practices that depend on, you know, where they're good and where they're bad.

[00:13:20] The first thing I usually start with when I'm coaching someone through the performance framework is, I don't know if you're familiar with Brendan Burchard, High Performance Habits, but he has a couple concepts that I build on because he fits right into that performance framework layer. But it's something we have in the book and we call it the future four. So there's a workshop that essentially connects people to a future version of their self. So one of the pieces that came out of her kids' research, yeah, is that high performers tend

[00:13:50] to have a deeper connection and understanding of where they see themselves in the future. And the framework gets really specific. It's like, where do you see yourself in the future? Who do you see yourself being? How do you see people coming out of their interactions with you? What do you want people to feel when they work with you? And then it gets you the next step into like, what skills do you deliberately need to build to have that effect, to be that person? Okay. And so it becomes less like you need to be more organized.

[00:14:16] And it's how do you become a person who has organization as part of their identity? And it's something that makes it stick. It's way different than I just need you to be more organized. Just do it. Right, right. Like, I remember my starting my entrepreneurial journey. Like, I'm a big creative, big vision. I'm good at taking fast, imperfect action. But I had to rewire the tape around. I'm not great at administrative functions. Right?

[00:14:46] Sounds so familiar. As I have gone through this, just changing the wording is that I'm 100% capable to learn how to build my administrative or my bookkeeping skills. And when I did that, you know, it helped kind of push through those non-perferred tasks, if you will. The framework, I mean, it sounds amazing. And does it, it obviously takes into account all different types of, you know, ADHD, neurodiversity,

[00:15:15] and different ways that people consume and learn content, right? Can you tell me a little bit about that? Yeah, I would say I'm a super visual person. So a lot of what we've built is not just words on a page. It's a visual understanding of a framework. Okay. Like, after we came up, you know, after the idea of a name, like, I needed a word to describe this, the next thing I said was, well, actually, I need a map. I don't need just a word. I need a map.

[00:15:41] And so we do, we have in the book and on the website, a ton of visual frameworks to help people understand all of the components for this. Okay. And I actually, quite a few of the chapters are like deep dives into like the structure of the brain. It really just started out as like, I was fascinated by this stuff. Just so curious, right? Exactly. And so. Those are the best career pivots in my mind. Right. Because I'm not doing a day of work. I'm just living a passion.

[00:16:09] Because you're just like, oh, this is amazing. And how does it relate? And then, you know, the potential to elevate and help people sharpen their skills and develop those strengths are absolute career and leadership accelerators. So it's amazing. So a lot of my audience and, you know, coming from the recruiter side and doing tons of interviews, like take the framework and like, what does that look like in a real interview?

[00:16:35] And, you know, how can our audience use evidence from kind of this framework to show that they can move across these different spectrums, if you will? So we have a whole chapter in the book dedicated to like potential questions you can use during interviewing. Okay. But the biggest thing that we've done in because we're we essentially have built this out as part of a recruiting function for our clients as well. Okay. So that was a follow up question. That's awesome. Yeah.

[00:17:03] We've mapped all the roles in the org and decided which ones need like different portions of the concept. Right. And there's like roles where you need a ton of that creative energy. Right. And so for those, we pose questions that require someone to like be able to answer in a nuanced way. Right. A good example of one that shows the two poles or the two opposites is, you know, tell me about

[00:17:28] a time when you had to break constraints because creativity pushed you beyond your limits or something like that. Right. Or a time when you had to figure out how to be both organized and playful and see how they answer. Right. And listen for being able to. It's very hard and it's not questions you're usually ready to answer. Yeah. So sometimes it's fun to just see how people react to that. Yeah. But the biggest thing that we've learned to look for specificity in answers.

[00:17:57] Can they tell you a specific time they did that? And if so, it becomes very obvious versus a surface level answer. And so we have like a whole rubric of questions that we ask to support exactly. And, you know, with the organizations that you work with, it's most likely the interviewing teams. But you're also developing the future associates, the ICs, right, through the basic training,

[00:18:25] right, which then sets them up for future success as they hopefully get promoted and move up within the company, essentially. So for all the managers that are listening, is there one particular like mic drop question in any of those layers that it's like, hear this, write it on a sticky note and always use it moving forward? Anything come to mind? That's a hard one. I'm trying to think of just one.

[00:18:50] Well, I mean, we'll take a couple in service of helping our hiring managers, you know, ask better questions and put together more equitable interview processes. Yeah. Yeah, I would say, frankly, the most and so this we talked about the three layers, but there's a thread that we talk about that runs through every layer that makes each one much more powerful. Okay. It's the concept of intrinsic motivation. Are you motivated from within versus by external forces?

[00:19:20] And more often than not, that's going to be the greatest predictor of success in almost any role is whether or not that person's drive comes from their own desire for mastery, for growth versus, you know, obliger or being forced to do it. Yep. So, okay. And so those you're looking for questions that demonstrate that a person has deep internal curiosity about the subject matter that you need them to do in their job, right? Is there a way to see if they have that?

[00:19:48] And honestly, getting someone in the position where they're teaching you something shows whether or not that passion is there very quickly. So if you can create a situation where you're like, hey, like I'll use an example from the client who I'm on site with today. We do manufacturing. Okay. And so we hire a lot of CNC machinists. And so during the interview, I'm like, pretend I'm a novice and teach me something about reading an engineering drawing.

[00:20:14] And you can see really fast if their eyes light up or if they're like, oh my gosh, why are you asking? Those poor engineers, they're like, wait, I'm not in marketing or sales. But that's really fast how you see that spark of passion. Yeah, that's amazing. Now, I think I've heard you quoted that you called generic management training the most wasteful HR line item. Tell me more and, you know, make the case.

[00:20:42] And I can see it, but I want to hear you say it. Yeah, for sure. So this comes back to what we were talking about earlier, where, you know, if you have six people who are new to management, you're going to have two people who might be great at like setting hard boundaries for people holding accountability and two that are terrible at that. And then they might have a completely different strength. Right. And so it's really about identifying what they need to grow to be a better version of themselves.

[00:21:12] Oftentimes when you have people who are graduating from that individual contributor into a management role, there are some consistencies in the types of things they need support with because it's the first time they've had to do it. But once you're past that first echelon, it really becomes highly specific as to where their shortfalls are. So assuming they all need the same training means you're going to have half of your managers sitting there wasting time because you're not going to get any value out of this training

[00:21:41] you put them in because they're already good. Right. Right. Yeah. And they're like, this could have been an email. And then, you know, that's just that adds up over a period of time. So highly curated and individualized based on the person. And the assessment process is something that's a reasonable timeline. Right. I ask that just because as someone who hated testing and was diagnosed with ADHD in 1980,

[00:22:11] before people even knew what it was. I have strong opinions about assessments, especially before or in making a hiring decision. Curious where this is most likely used. I would hope it's kind of in the new leader assimilation team focus as opposed to pre-hire, right? Yes. So we have kind of a couple of different assessments that we've built.

[00:22:37] We've got a deep dive assessment that takes about 35 minutes. And really, that's the one where you're like, give me a map of my strengths and my weaknesses and build me a plan for exactly what I need to do to improve. And the key there is that like it's repeatable, consistent daily practices that help you improve. It's not a one-time training. That's the other piece. And then we have an assessment that we use in the hiring process that more just helps us

[00:23:03] understand what your strongest layer is to make sure it's aligned with what the strongest layer is for that job, right? If you're in an engineering role, we're probably going to need creativity to be your strongest layer. If you're in an administrative role, like you're hiring for an administrative assistant, you need that person to have that like regulation framework really, really good. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's so funny how, I mean, one, I should have reached out ahead of time and said, send me the assessment to take. I'm more than happy to. Yes. All right. Well, thank you.

[00:23:33] And I'm happy to share with our listeners. But I'm, again, in the scaling season and bringing on more people and like letting go of things. I chose in corporate to maintain being an IC, like I turned down branch manager roles and manager roles. And then when I wanted them, couldn't get them. And so now being in this season leading teams and, you know, just dealing with the entrepreneurial

[00:23:58] burnout and the decision fatigue and the things that come with that life, knowing that there are ways to accelerate your learning in service of, because I've been grappling with feeling bad about ways I should have shown up differently, where I'm like, did I say the wrong words? Or was I not clear where, again, I'm on that creative side.

[00:24:20] I am good at executing, but sustaining kind of my pace, I believe, is one of my kryptonites per se. So it's, you know, whether it's in a startup or a midsize organization, I can see how valuable it is. So like you basically help, this is someone like me or anyone listening, like how can

[00:24:44] a leader, you know, start these conversations and start embodying some of these leadership characteristics, probably from taking the assessment. Is that right? Yeah, it'll help, right? Because every leader has different strengths and weaknesses. What you're describing, so we actually built out archetypes for like clarity, ease of use. You sound like a trailblazer to me. Thank you. I know I'm like Gretchen Rubin's, you know, assessment was very simple.

[00:25:14] And it's like, I'm an obliger. If I'm going to say I'm going to do it, like I'm going to make this recording, I'm going to be there. But thank you. Tell me more about this trailblazer. Yeah. Well, you probably find it faster to do things yourself than to pass them along to other people. Yelp. Yep. And I would also say too, I heard pace a lot. Trailblazers typically have such a strong pace, it's really hard for them to slow down and help bring others along because they really need everyone to try and keep up with their pace.

[00:25:42] But when it's new for that person, it's smart. Yes. I mean, and so much to the point that I was reflecting on some of my growing pains recently and I was like, that's it. I'm not hiring anyone that doesn't have HR talent knowledge because it's just such a nuanced role that we all have. And it looks different in so many organizations trying to like take out 20 years of, you know, lived experience. It doesn't matter how much I leverage AI.

[00:26:11] I don't think I can communicate the value of that. And, you know, in the startup world, it's like, and in recruiting, timing is everything, which is probably why one of the reasons I've had the success I did, because I can be agile and execute quickly. And it may not be perfect, but it's done. For sure. Interesting. And that's a super common for that like person who's a doer and loves it.

[00:26:40] The reason I understand that archetype so well is that it's myself as well. Okay. I'm in good company. I have all those same trappings. Yeah. And so for that one, usually the regulatory system, that third layer is the one that needs the development. And it's that learning how to step back. So there's a really fun exercise that I do with people on this one and it's called the handcuffed manager.

[00:27:06] So it's really natural for us trailblazers to want to put our hands on things, right? If we're teaching somebody. We're very handsy. Yes. Like I like to do things. I like to touch things. And it's like how I like to learn too. You know, I like to be moving or outside. The kinetic piece. Yep. Is a big part. And so for that person, as they're transitioning to the manager role and they're learning how

[00:27:32] to let things go, one of the fun exercises is that you're not allowed to do anything. You can't touch a button. You can't walk somebody through. You can't show them. You have to sit back and watch. Hands handcuffed behind your back. Them do the thing. And you're slowly explaining it to them. Interesting. And so it does. What it does is it stops the pace, right? Because you're having to explain and keep pace with whatever their pace is. So it removes your pace from the equation.

[00:27:57] And it forces someone else into the role of their hands are on it so that they can learn it faster. That's one of many. There's a bunch and we could spend a ton of time there. But go over one more because now I'm like really curious if you don't mind. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So some of the other ones for that is going and like because the pace thing is so prevalent,

[00:28:23] it feels like conversations that are softer are almost a waste of time. For me, I'm that person where I'm like, if a meeting isn't tactical, it drives me insane. And so one of the salesperson in me, like, you know, what has this investment hourly yielded me over the last 10 weeks? If I don't have the receipts or the weekly updates or something, then I'm like. Right. Exactly.

[00:28:49] And so usually the most important thing when that archetype is trying to hand over strategic ownership of something is that they have to really invest in giving the person they're trying to hand it off to the knowledge of how to think, which in and of itself is not a tactical meeting. Right. It's not like a let's mark stuff off and get stuff done. And so one of the things that like we do this at home and it's super fun.

[00:29:17] We've started a tradition with me and my kids and my husband at dinner. We do life lessons every day. And so it forces us to like step back and explain something at a visceral thinking level. Level. OK. So it's almost like taking and treating your whoever you're trying to hand something off to at that level. I'm not trying to teach you how to do a thing. I'm trying to teach you a life lesson on why you need to do something so that, again, it

[00:29:46] comes back to that future for. It allows them to see the future version of themselves and they're aligned to an identity. OK. And setting them up, you know, their future self for success in a way. OK. Yep. Interesting. And so the family version is really fun practice for me. So it's the difference between like telling my kids you don't talk to strangers and explaining to them like people make facial expressions that give away, you know, that their intentions are not honorable.

[00:30:16] Things like that. It's like how do you interpret instinct and interpret? Yeah. Yeah. You know, and piggybacking on that point and, you know, does that work with teenagers that are a little spicy? I only have one. I don't know. My seven-year-old is pretty spicy, so I feel like it should. I only have a teen, young little lady and, you know, the apple doesn't fall from the tree. The karma has come back and my dad is just giggling over there, you know.

[00:30:45] What else are we forgetting to talk about? I'm curious more. I mean, this framework, you have the book coming out. You're doing a podcast tour, kind of sharing what you built and how it elevates the world of work and the impacts it can have. And I mean, if you're listening, get in touch with Stacey and help your managers out. What about your journey out of corporate and, you know, from engineering to marketing to where you are now? Any surprises, unexpected plot twist?

[00:31:15] How did you navigate that and say hell yes to yourself through this process? Yeah. So it was all, it was accidental most of the time. Yeah. So I ended up in engineering because my parents were engineers and the problem solving skills, like I have an innate desire to like get in and understand things and solve things and it was super fun. Yeah. But being an engineer, I sat in an office and typed at a computer and didn't interact with humans all that much. Yes. And that got to me after a bit.

[00:31:44] So when I went back to get my MBA, I assumed it would be so that I could manage engineering teams. Like that was where I was headed in my mind. And I took a marketing class and I fell in love with writing of all things. Wow. Which seems totally weird when engineering and math and everything is the start. But it sparked my passion. And so I shifted into that realm and kind of ended up being focused on marketing for engineering

[00:32:11] companies or technical companies because I could understand a lot of the subject matter. And so many organizations need that interpreter between engineer and like regular associate or the sales team. For sure. And I've learned it lives in every organization between whoever's the subject matter expert and the industry and those who are not. Right. Like that interpreter layer is so important.

[00:32:35] And so from there, like the idea of interactive frameworks for education kind of became like where I live today. And so that started out on the marketing side, but has translated a lot to the HR side of what I do, which is, you know, how do we operationalize learning? And the service side of it is really what draws me. It's why I ended up kind of running my own business. For some people, I have zero interest in being like, I want to make money for the sake of making money.

[00:33:02] Like for me, I need to be very deeply connected to who benefits from my work. Yeah. Yeah. And so seeing, seeing people grow, learn, achieve new levels of success. Those are the kinds of things that are really important to me, which is how I've kind of exited the corporate world and live more in my own world. Yes. And, you know, it's an interesting adventure. I had a similar career plot twist back in 25 where I had put my hat in to speak at a bunch

[00:33:30] of places and just felt like I was kind of screaming from behind the glass and said, if not now, when? This trailblazer energy for sure. And put my first conference together in 69 days. And wow. Yeah. It was like when I tell me I can't and watch me do it. I couldn't do that. Events are tough. Thank you. Thank you. So I had 16 speakers, 10 sponsors and a whole 75 attendees.

[00:33:58] And then great feedback. And I operate from a very abundant place where it's important to me to pass the mic to new voices. And a lot of times, you know, depending on the industry, it can just be a lot of the same people. And your ICs, different generations, millennial to Gen Z and now, you know, Gen Alpha coming in, like they look at the world of work so differently.

[00:34:24] And being able to create a safe space that allows people to connect and learn and be like, yeah, I dealt with that too. Or I had that similar strength or deficit. And how did you solve that is part of that North Star? Because, again, I didn't have that in corporate. Like that was just do your LinkedIn learning and your compliance training and work on your 35 open positions that you're working.

[00:34:49] So through this whole evolution of your career and kind of building out this concept, how has like in-person networking or community or conferences been a part or a through line of this story, if any? Well, I would say the in-person side, like a lot of these trainings and these workshops are like you're getting deep. It's really hard to do those virtually. So most of the time when we're running these, we're running them for companies, but we're

[00:35:18] always doing them on site. And so that's really been the big part of it for me. I wouldn't say we've taken all this to a lot of conferences because mostly we've been focused on let's grow the management team as a cohort. Sure. And so it's been a lot of those like in-person leadership retreats. Sure. Okay. And then like as far as you finding new clients and people to work with, that's where I was

[00:35:43] thinking like, did you go to local networking or show up to conferences or put your hat in to speak? To share your framework and experience, strength and hope in a way that generated inbound conversations and future clients. I have every plan to do that. At the moment, we've not had to because we've had such word of mouth where, yeah, once people get a hold of the framework and they've seen the value in it, they tell someone else that they've worked with.

[00:36:11] And so we've honestly had more work than we have bandwidth to take on at the moment. So we haven't taken that step. To hear that. Yeah. And because I'm that trailblazer, I'm not interested in building like this giant team. I want to share the information, which is why we decided to go the route of the book first and then see where that takes us from there. Okay. Understood. No, that's beautiful. I mean, in our space, a lot of fractional recruiting or HR folks at community building, obviously

[00:36:40] the referral piece comes from that. So your whole career has been those touch points, right? Where people know and trust you and they say, yes, you know, Stacey is the person that your company needs. But the way that when we're getting started, or at least for me, because I was so lonely in entrepreneurship and getting out to these learning containers, conferences, small dinners,

[00:37:07] things that were way out of the HR and talent space, just to find that creativity and that innovation and like push new edges. So I always like to remind our audience that being in person, one, we solve a mental health issue where they say more than half of the United States reports feeling isolated. And are dealing with a massive mental health issue. Say yes to that invitation and, you know, trust what may come.

[00:37:36] And then I think people get in their own way of like, I have to meet everyone in the room. And you really don't. You only have to meet one or two people. And we just forget it's one person that could change your life. And how being in community and those relationships that you've made over your career will pay dividends to support you in a career pivot or a new career opportunity or a new client, et cetera, et cetera. So...

[00:38:06] Absolutely. But kudos to you. And I love seeing, you know, a female founder crushing it. Thank you. I love it. So what are we forgetting to share with our audience today? Anything? I mean, I think we've covered a lot of the key pieces of the framework. Okay. And I think just our last bit of conversation and hearing the passion come out, like from what you said, just a big part of the framework that I think so many traditional, like, I

[00:38:32] guess self-help is probably not the right word, but like growth, self-growth type of books leave out, is this concept of like giving back and service. Most people are missing some deep connection and satisfaction from their job. And it's because they've become so disconnected from how am I contributing to the betterment of birth in some way or another. And that's actually a huge part of that future four framework that we've talked about and of

[00:38:59] the P equilibrium model is like, that's what brings back the spark and the excitement and the joy to what you do is making sure that it is connected to something that you care about, which is not like, it's not where the business world has gone over the years. And I think they're like, I'm not really care if you're fired up about this. But, you know, I would say the three line through a lot of generations is they just want

[00:39:23] to know that they're all charging up the mountain together, you know, and that they have a part in X. Yeah, they don't go in that direction. And, you know, bringing awareness to leaders of organizations on the power and capability, you know, again, we've pigeonholed and put people in boxes for so long.

[00:39:48] And also running cohorts and training that people will trust and be honest in their assessments and, you know, drop the mask and the armor and, you know, be their most authentic self. I feel like a lot of this framework is part permission slip for people to say, hell yes, I'm really good at that. And you're right. This is what I'm really interested in developing. But I never had a bridge to get there, right?

[00:40:17] Or the belief or the framework to sharpen those skills. And now, you know, you're serving it up to them on a platter, which is amazing. So that's the goal, right? Yes, yes. Well, last question, you know, obviously, you're excited about the book and what's to come. You've got some great clients that you're working with. Lucky them. How else are you evolving yourself, whether in business or personal these days?

[00:40:44] For me, the biggest evolution right now is in continuing to find balance with life. Um, so it's an ongoing game that you will play forever. No one has it figured out. Um, I am a mother of three and my husband's in the military. And so we have seasons of life where it doesn't feel like I get to spend much time on my work. Yeah. But finding the right rotation for that. And I've definitely over the years forgotten to give myself permission to have space for things that aren't work.

[00:41:14] And so it's just reminding myself that there's space for all. That's my current. Exactly. Exactly. Well, thank you for sharing your brilliance and your expertise with this community. And, you know, I think we need to kind of pull you into the in-person Evolve experience. And, you know, maybe put together some training in partnership with a small group or a company that, you know, is connected with us.

[00:41:43] Because I think there's so much value there. And we're so grateful for your time. And just thank you for being here. Of course. So, audience. Any way I can share. Yeah. Share the framework and the concepts. And I'm going to take the assessment. And maybe I'll create some content around it and share. I would love that. Yes. For everyone listening, you know, be a good human. And focus on doing the next right thing in service of your future successful self. And always keep evolving.

[00:42:13] Till next time. Thanks for joining the Evolve Talent and HR show. If the conversation landed, share it. Tell it later. Pass it forward. That is the multiplier in action. One connection at a time, building momentum across our community. And that is what Evolve is. We build the rooms where connection compounds into impact. So don't sleep on the in-person experiences, the IRL conferences, the executive tables, the fringe events, our community. Show up.

[00:42:42] That's where the multiplier multiplies. If you know, you know. Head over to evolve-conference.com to see what's evolving and how to stay connected. We'll see you next time.