4 Day Work Week

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform. [00:00:10] Speaker B: Good day, everyone, and welcome to another edition of let's be diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who supported me through this journey. A lot of times we're kind of talking in organization. One of the big topics that's coming up lately is the four day work week. Lot of companies and a lot of places around the world are trying this. I know there's some companies in Canada that has tried this as well, and it was interesting to me, so I thought I would dive into it, and I thought it'd be interesting to get into it with a recruiter because I wanted to get the viewpoint of what people are actually looking. And are people actually looking for this, or are they actually asking people, companies, if they're, if this is a possibility? So our topic today is the four day workweek, and my guest today is Najet Cannon. Welcome to the show, Najet. We are so happy and excited to have you on here today. [00:01:08] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Thank you, Andrew. I'm really happy to be here. [00:01:12] Speaker B: We're excited to have you on. How are things written? Ajet? What's going on? What's, what's the word? What's the deets? Give us, give. Give us everything. What's happening? [00:01:23] Speaker A: Nijet is busy, busy, busy building probe recruitment, busy putting herself out there networking and doing her best to get things going. [00:01:37] Speaker B: And how do you find out? How is that going? Like, the networking part is, because a lot of people seem to be doing a networking thing. How's the networking thing going for you? [00:01:46] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's, it's an interesting, it's an interesting thing, networking. You know, I think that early on in my career, I was quite, I was quite intimidated by it because I didn't really understand, you know, the ins and outs of networking. And, you know, it just, it seemed a little inauthentic, you know? And as I, as I matured professionally and personally, I found that networking can mean a lot of different things. And for me, I've grown to learn that, for me, it means building relationships. So, yeah, so I think that it's more, you know, doing, doing more one on one. Sally, I've tried different types of networking, and what works for me is really that one on one approach, being able to build those relationships and partnerships as, and grow together, you know? So I've, I have a different mindset to it. [00:02:41] Speaker B: I was telling somebody just today, Najet, that we don't so I'm huge on rapport building. Rapport building is one of my core values. It's super important to me. And I was telling somebody today that when I love having conversations with people because you just never know who you're talking to, how the conversation is going to go or what it's going to, what it's going to come out of. It could be just a connection. It could be somebody that you're going to collaborate with. It's going to somebody that you're going to work with. It might be somebody that you're, that someone that's going to buy from you, but you just never know where it's going to go. But until you have that conversation, you have to have it in order to. [00:03:21] Speaker A: Figure out what's going on exactly. [00:03:25] Speaker B: Super important. So I'm glad that things are going well. I'm sure that business is going well as well and I'm sure it's going to pick up and it's going to get better and better. You sound like you were doing the right things to get yourself on track, so keep up the good work. [00:03:41] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you so much. I love that. [00:03:44] Speaker B: You're welcome. So before we begin Najet, I always have a fun, thought provoking question to ask my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours today? [00:03:56] Speaker A: I don't know. I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be. [00:04:01] Speaker B: So your question today is why do we put shirts in a suitcase but put our suits in a garment bag? [00:04:17] Speaker A: Is there, is there like a, is there a punch at the end? No. [00:04:22] Speaker B: No. That's the question. That's the question. Want to get your thoughts? [00:04:32] Speaker A: Why do we put shirts in a suit? Well, is it, would it, would a shirt be qualified as being part of a suit? [00:04:43] Speaker B: I wouldn't. I mean, it could, but usually we put our, our suits, like, like our shirts, like our dress shirts or t shirts or whatever, in a suitcase suit. I mean, wouldn't, shouldn't, in other words, this question is, wouldn't, wouldn't a suit go in a suitcase as well? Why would it be in a garment bag? [00:05:02] Speaker A: Uh uh. No. No, because you want that suit. If you're, if you've got, if you're traveling with a suit, you want that suit as crisp and clean as possible. I would put it in a garment bag. I mean, the, I guess maybe they could revisit the term garment bag and call it a suit bag, but I think that the suit goes in the bag so that it can stay crisp and clean for when you arrive. You got that? No worries. You don't have to worry about it. [00:05:31] Speaker B: Okay. That makes total sense to me. I love it. I love your answer. There's no, there's never any right or wrong answer in a jet. We just have fun, have a little bit of a, have a little bit of a giggle before. So I love it. Thanks for having fun with me. Why don't we start off with you telling us a little bit about you, your story, and of course, your why. [00:05:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So just quickly, I guess, I graduated from Concordia University. I have a bachelor's degree, bachelor of arts degree, with my major being history. I had no idea what I wanted to do. Like so many people, I really didn't. So tried different things. I tried teaching. Realized I did not have the patience to be a teacher. Loved the kids. They ripped up my heartstrings. But I just could not, I could not see myself doing that long term. It just didn't feel like a right fit to me. And then trying different things went into customer service. Of course, that's the fallback for every post grad I started in. After I left teaching, I went into customer service and, you know, you realize early on, if you have a knack for that connection, being able to have a connection with someone else, and I saw that in customer service and I liked it. I liked making people happy at the end of the call or being able to do somebody a service, it made me feel good leaving people happy. I loved, I loved how I felt, but I knew that, you know, being in customer service was not going to, for me personally, it was not going to be enough. I always felt I wanted to do more and more. And early on in my career, I tried different things. I never wanted to be into sales. I found sales was too salesy, you know, sales was too hardcore. It was too, too aggressive, too removed from the individual, all of those, all of those things that people think sales is. And so I kind of parked that and then I went down the road of customer service and ended up falling into, like so many people fall into recruitment. I fell into recruitment because of my abilities and customer service, my abilities to connect with individuals. And again, I mean, early on in my career, because, you know, when you're in recruiting, it's not like, you know, there's not like different levels. I mean, you eventually, you know, you become a seasoned recruiter, but you're still a recruiter, you know, so you don't end up becoming CFO of anything. You know, you just, you're a recruiter. So. So I wanted to explore different things. I wanted to see what else I could. What else I could accomplish early on in my career. So. So I went into HR, and I took that as far as I could. I could. I went into. I became an HR director, which I was pretty proud of that. I was proud of that accomplishment, especially not having, you know, the educational background in it. I kind of, you know, you hustle and you. And you learn, and you do a lot of things on the job, and you figure stuff out, and there's a lot of logic in pretty much everything we do and reason and common sense. So all of that combined brought me to be a director at that level. I was really happy with that. And then, you know, fast forward to having my daughter thinking, thinking, oh, you know what? I'm just gonna have this, and then I'm gonna go right back to work, because, you know, we're. I'm a careerist, you know, so always, always thought of my current. I have my one and only, one and only child, so I had no idea. I had no idea how I was gonna feel, you know, having. Having this child. So I had my child. And, of course, I did not go back to work. I wanted to stay home, and I wanted to be as close as possible to my child. And I ended up leaving my job and taking whatever contracts I could as a recruiter from working from home. So I was working from home before working from home was a thing. I was doing the remote pretty much for the past 15 years. So what ended up happening was, I saw it was, you know, timing and opportunity is everything, and the timing of me doing these, you know, recruiting gigs and the fact that I had all of this experience behind me combined with my HR background, it was just. It was the perfect combination to keep going, you know, and that and my desire to continue to stay home as much as possible, as close to my daughter as possible. So it just kind of grew from there. And I would say it didn't just grow, it kind of exploded, because you reach a point in your career where you're like, um, not only do I. Do I do I have this, I have this times four, five, or six, like, I can do this so I can run circles around my old, my younger self, you know, because I've acquired a lot of skills and experience along the way. So you reach a point where, yeah, you know, I can really hustle. I can. I can take on two, three, four contracts at a time. Like, there's nothing stopping me. And when you've got that drive and motivation and passion for what you do. It's just. The sky's the limit. So I just. It was just the right timing and the right opportunities that came to me that made me realize this is exactly where I need to be. This is exactly what I love to do, exactly where I need to be. And I just. I never looked back since then. So I started as an independent contractor and then eventually grew into what it is today, which is pro. [00:11:30] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, you know, I think that recruitment, I 100% agree with you that recruitment, I think you have to have that. You talked about rapport building, and you talked about customer service and building that rapport with people. I think it kind of comes hand in hand with recruitment. So I understand how you, you know, dealing with people and then kind of falling into it. I could see how you. It just gravitated to you. So I. I love that story. You just. [00:12:03] Speaker A: You. [00:12:03] Speaker B: You want. You like to leave people happy. You like to have people, and that is HR, in a nutshell for me, is leaving people happy and leaving people in a good place and making sure that, you know, they have a safe work environment. So I love. I love all that stuff, and it seems like he put it all together and it's all in a bundle and everything is working out for you, so that's awesome. [00:12:30] Speaker A: I think so. Thank you. [00:12:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it. So why don't we start off with asking, what is it? So we're talking about the 40 work week. What is the structure of the 40 work week in your mind? [00:12:46] Speaker A: Well, I think it could be. I don't think there's any one four day workweek model. I mean, there's companies that do ten hour workdays. There's others that cut it at 32, like a 32 hours workweek. And then there's, you know, flex hours, you know, depending on what the needs of the business are, I think any one of those models could work in a four day workweek. [00:13:10] Speaker B: Okay. And is this, like, has there been a lot, like. So this structure that you say? It kind of depends. So does it depend on the organization? Like, does the organization kind of figure that out or, like, how does it. How does that work? [00:13:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think it depends on a lot of things. I think it depends on the, you know, the industry, the company size, specific job roles. I mean, if you're. If you've, you know, if you've got a call center and your call center is 24/7 then that's obviously going to factor into the. Into this, into the structure. However, you want to, however you want to map that out. [00:13:52] Speaker B: Because I could see the structure of, you know, like I said, different companies, and I could see it not working out for people. So, like, I have a friend of mine who works a 40 work week. They work. They work ten, they work 10 hours. So I believe he works seven to five, and then he has Fridays off. But for a lot of people, it probably wouldn't work because, like, so, like, he doesn't have any kids. So for someone who has kids and you're working till, let's say, five or 06:00 at night, it might not work. [00:14:34] Speaker A: No, it wouldn't work. And I think that, you know, I think that this, this conversation, 40 work week, is. It's making noise. I mean, people are. People are talking about it, and I, and I get it. I get it. It's ever since, you know, ever since the, the pandemic kind of flipped everything upside down, it, you know, it became, it became. All of a sudden, it's on the table. Just like working from home was on the table, so. Or is still on the table. But I think that there are so many things that go into that, and I think that for me, hearing people talk about having a four day workweek, of course any company can structure it according to their needs, right? Any. Any company can go, okay, we're going to do the ten hour work model or 32 hours workbook or the flexible hours. But at the end of the day, it comes down to people being able to perform their jobs or not, people being able to deliver or not. So, you know, I would put it in the same category as remote work. I think that, you know, the benefits are similar in that you've got the improved work life balance. People claim it increases productivity for them, reduces absenteeism. There's an environmental impact to it, so fewer commuting. So I feel like it's a similar argument. A similar argument can be made. Right. But, you know, for me personally, having worked remote, like I said, at this point, well into 15 years of my career, I can tell you that it really is not for everybody. Just like the four day workweek. And if we're talking and if we're going to table the four day work week, then if people are saying, yeah, you know, I can do my work in four days instead of five, then what's stopping you from doing your work in four days now? [00:16:31] Speaker B: Well, that's what I wanted to. So that's what I want to get into because I want, like, so, like, like, how do companies make it work and like, and how can, you know, like, then how can somebody do the same job and less amount of time? Because there's some people that stay because they haven't finished their work, so they have to stay a little bit later. So now you're taking a day away from their, you know, from their tasks. So now, like, wouldn't somebody like, have to stay even, you know, maybe a little bit later than what they, I mean, it may not be for everybody, but in some cases, like, wouldn't some people, some people have to stay a little bit later in some cases because they're off the next day or did they just not worry about, I don't know. [00:17:21] Speaker A: Honestly, Andrew, I don't think, I don't think people, and I'm generalizing, but I don't think the majority of people can actually handle, handle that. And I'll give you an example. [00:17:37] Speaker B: Right. [00:17:38] Speaker A: I woke up today at my desk at 830, and that's late. That's late for some people. Started nine. I find 830, I'm already behind the game, right? So, but I'm a business owner, so I get it. My mentality is different. But let's say for the average worker, they start their day at nine. Now, for me, I started at 830, and I go from file to file to file to meeting to email to, and I do not stop. I'll take ten minutes for lunch. Some people will say, well, that's not very healthy. It's not a good way to be blah, blah, blah, all of this. But I find at the end of the day, I feel very accomplished. I feel very good about what I've done in my day. Can the average person maintain this type of hustle in their day? [00:18:28] Speaker B: Right. [00:18:29] Speaker A: I'm gonna probably go with no. People have limits. They have, they cap, they need a coffee break, they need a smoke break. They need a, people need that. And I'm not judging that. I'm not judging people for that because you're working at capacity for you. So, I mean, is it realistic for a company to say, to make a blanket rule of a four day work week going from a five day work week to a four day work week and expecting those same people who perform? You know, some days they're moderate performers. Not everybody's going to be on top of their game every single day. So is that fifth day kind of a buffer to kind of make up for all the inactivity during the week? Right. [00:19:16] Speaker B: And I don't want our listeners to like, so I'm asking Najet these question. This question. I don't want our listeners to think that I am against it. I I'm, I am. No, in a. No way against it. I've just been hearing a lot about it and I'm trying to figure it out. [00:19:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:36] Speaker B: So one of the things I'm trying to figure out is, I guess it would have to be that, you know, depends on the company. But let's just say, you know, Najet, you're the manager of the business, and I'm supposed to do, I'm working a 40 work week, and I'm supposed to work eight to, let's say eight to six, right? [00:19:58] Speaker A: Yes. [00:20:00] Speaker B: And something happens and for whatever reason, could be traffic, could be here where I live, the train is all over the city. So a train could derail you for 20 minutes. So I show up late. I show up half hour late. [00:20:18] Speaker A: Yes. [00:20:22] Speaker B: So I'm thinking, depending on the company, some companies would expect you to stay half hour later. Some companies would say, well, don't worry about it. You know, it's, it is. So I guess it depends on the manager. I guess. [00:20:38] Speaker A: Well, it depends on the manager, and it depends on the company culture. It depends on their values. And I think that, you know, the situation you just described sounds very exceptional. And, you know, if the person is performance 99% of the time, why not cut them some slack? It's not their fault. That, to me, is a very human approach to it. Right. And I think that, I think that going back to, you know, can, can companies, should companies put a, put a, you know, a blanket four day work week rule? I don't think that that would be a good idea because I think it's not for, it's not for everybody, and it's not for every role in the company, you know, and also, you know, it depends on. Could it be merit based? You know, if you see somebody constantly delivering, you're delivering day after day, you, you're constantly hitting your targets, you know, why not put some sort of benefit in there to say, well, you know, what if this person, you know, at the end of, at the end of their year, if they've performed, you know, over and above, can we put that type of reward system in place? I don't know, but to me, it seems like something that should not just be given. I think it's something that should be earned and based. Results. Based on results, really? That probably is how I would see it. [00:21:58] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think I agree with you. I think it's kind of, you know, company situationally based. And I think it's individual based. So like I was saying earlier, if you, you know, if you were a couple, you don't have any kids, it would work. You know, maybe if you have kids, maybe it doesn't work. Maybe if you, you know, some people were, you know, with the times, some people are having to work a second job, so, you know, they can't stay later because they have to go to that second job on, on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, yeah. Type thing. So they can't stay later, so they have to work the five day workweek. So I guess it's kind of, it's very situational, which is kind of why I wanted to, why I wanted to talk about it today. So we kind of went into a little bit, but I kind of want to go into a little bit more in depth here, like, so in your mind, what are the kill when you're talking about a four, we're talking about a 40 work week? What are the keys to consider when we're looking to establish that? [00:23:06] Speaker A: All right, so some things to consider for a four day workweek, as I was saying earlier, is, for example, if you're a service business, you want to make sure that your customer coverage is complete. There are no interruptions. Because of a four day workweek, you're going to consider setting clear goals for your employees, so making sure that everything is clearly defined, everything is measurable for employees to achieve. We're shifting from focusing on hours worked to focusing on accomplishments. I think that's actually a positive, I believe. And the evaluations become performance based. Right. So you want to, you want to. That's, that's part of focusing on, I guess focusing on results, if you will, and not hours. The other thing that they're going to want to do, I think companies that would want to implement this is reduce meetings. I think that's probably, I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels meetings can be really, really long and frequent. So there must be a better way to say the things you want to say in less, less meetings. I think that certainly will help reduce, reduce hours and make people a little bit more efficient. And I think that's part of communication, encouraging use of emails, you know, maybe sharing documents that. I think all of that will help in the reduce, in the reduction of meetings. I think maybe they would probably want to look at implementing flexible scheduling. So, you know, how are we going to, that's the other thing. I mean, we're assuming that everybody's gonna have Friday off, but maybe that's not it, maybe somebody would not work on a Wednesday or maybe somebody would want a Thursday off or a Monday. You know, so employees working different sets of four days that you'd wanna make sure that coverage is thorough throughout the week. Right. Or setting core hours. That's another thing that I think would probably be a requirement. So I just, I'm not sure how many companies have implemented this already. I think that there's not many, although some, some are saying, I believe there's a company, I think it's Microsoft Japan, that, that implemented a four day workweek and they're claiming a 40% increase in productivity. So, you know, I think that it has to be carefully thought out with, with, with a lot of the elements I mentioned. Right, right. [00:26:11] Speaker B: I love when you said setting clear goals. I would imagine that when, so you're recruiting for a role, the person gets hired. And so now that managers there and they're having an orientation, it's the first day. So I would say a good manager is gonna sit and they're gonna, with that candidate and they're going to, or new employee and they're going to go over all the specific goals for the candidate and they're going to, they're going to give the clear expectations. So what they're expecting from that employee. [00:26:51] Speaker A: Right. [00:26:51] Speaker B: Is where I'm going. So if the company is doing a 40 work week, they're going to, you know, so if you were, for example, if you're hiring, let's say it's a customer service role, it's a four day workweek, well, you're not going to be hired. I mean, I would think that you're not going to be hiring somebody. And then let them say, well, you know, what day works for you? You're going to be hiring. And like you said, you know, if there's a specific day, you're going to say, okay, well, it's a four day workweek, but your day off is going to be Wednesday. Are you okay with that? You know, so I think that would kind of be something that I think a lot of places would do and that would make sense to me. The person that is applying may not be too thrilled about having a day off midweek, but, you know, that's the job. So it's either, you know, you're okay with it or you're not, in my mind. [00:27:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And you raise, you raise a really good point, Andrew, is that like you, you will never, ever be able to make everybody happy. There's no one model that is going to please everybody. So if the company decides, okay, it's Wednesday, that person's unhappy with it, then it was all for naught. Right, right. Or, you know, let's do Thursdays, or let's do Mondays, or let's do, you know, flex schedule. There's. There's no pleasing everybody. So, like, what do you do with that? [00:28:23] Speaker B: Right, exactly. Exactly. So we know that a 40 work week. We know all the good things. We talked about it earlier. It's good for mental health. Production is. Goes up. We have, you know, safer works and work environments. [00:28:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:40] Speaker B: What's, you know, to most companies. [00:28:42] Speaker A: Yes. [00:28:43] Speaker B: What's wrong with a five day work week? [00:28:47] Speaker A: Well, I think it goes back to what I said earlier about, you know, if people are mulling over the 40 work week concept, then. Then that. Then that kind of. Doesn't that imply that whatever we're doing now in five days, we could do it for. [00:29:02] Speaker B: Yep. I love your answer. I love it. I love that thought. I love that thought. [00:29:10] Speaker A: Yeah. So I find, you know, I think that. And then that goes back to, again, merit. I think something that's. I think that it should be merit based. I think there could be a flex model where people have proven themselves to reach their targets and have amazing attitudes. Our great colleagues, teamwork, collaborators, basically hit all the marks. Why not reward those people? Why not reward those people and say, you know what? You can do what you're doing and for. And we'll pay. But then that's the other. That's the other question. Are we being. Are we paying people for four or five days? Is there going to be a reduction in size? It's like. There's, like, there's a whole can of worms with that. Right, right. [00:29:58] Speaker B: So what I like about this is it's. It's. And you hit the button right in the head or hit head right in a button. There is that we're talking. So all these things that we're talking about. We weren't talking about these things years ago. So what's cool, what's amazing to me is that these conversations are being had. And why are we having these conversations? Because, like you said before, things are not working the way they used to years ago. So now we need to kind of try to figure out things that will help to ease the tension. So there's a lot of people, I mean, you know, just talking about mental health. There's. I mean, I don't even remember people being. Talking about. Talking about that. When I first started working, no one was talking about mental health. People just did their work. If they were sick, they called in sick, but they didn't, they didn't call or they didn't go to a doctor and say, oh, I'm gonna be off for mental health. So I think just all these things, including the 40 work week, is, I think it's good as far as a conversation because I think it's important that we have them. [00:31:16] Speaker A: Yes. [00:31:17] Speaker B: And it's important that we try to figure out what is best for our organization and for our employees. [00:31:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, a nice compromise that I've seen in the market has been a four and a half day work week, which is great and often implemented only during summer, that summer season, like starting in, starting Victoria Day weekend, ending Labor Day weekend, where all, you know, summer hours, companies, you know, companies that have implemented that say, well, you know, you make up those hours during the week, but people that are performant, nobody's clock watching, you know, if you're performing and if you're doing your job well and you still leave at five and you still use the summer hours, nobody's gonna look, nobody's gonna ask, nobody's gonna think twice about it. They're gonna say, bye, have a great weekend. You know? So I think that that, to me, is a nice compromise, you know, to say, gives people a break on Friday afternoons. Everybody knows Friday afternoons are not exactly productive, so why not give it to people? And I like that. I think that that's a nice kind of compromise that has worked, that's proven to be successful amongst many companies. [00:32:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I could see that working, especially if you have, you know, cottage or chalet and you're like. And you go and you want to. And you're going there for the weekend, like, you know, that would be great to finish up five, you know, finish earlier, and then you can get home, pack everything, get ready to go, and then when everybody's home, you're ready to hit the road and head out for the weekend. So I'm sure that would be great for most people. For sure. And who wouldn't want to finish early, like, say, on a Friday? I mean, I know I would. I would. I would love to finish early on a Friday. I can't. I can't think of anybody who wouldn't, so. [00:33:10] Speaker A: Exactly. Me too. And then couple that with, you get. Couple that with a hybrid work model, and then you've got, you got Mondays. You got Mondays. You're home on Mondays. Because, you know, the hybrid work model, a lot of them, a lot of companies implement, well, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you got to be in the office. So imagine you've got summer hours and you're leaving Friday at noon, and you're up at that chalet and you hit traffic Sunday night. You don't feel like getting up at six to be in traffic. You've got your. Your golden because you're working from home on Monday. So, like, to me, like, that's a nice work life balance. That's a nice compromise, I think and. [00:33:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. So the jet. Tell me about three of the. About the three most influential people in your life and how they've impacted your career. [00:34:07] Speaker A: So I'm gonna go with the obvious. I know, but it's my parents, right? [00:34:14] Speaker B: That's okay. [00:34:17] Speaker A: But they're each for. Each. Each of them for their own reasons, right? So they're very. They're very, very, very different people. They were very different people. So those are two. So I'd start with my dad. My dad was always an entrepreneur, so I got. I got that entrepreneurial kind of gift from him. I don't know. He was a funny guy. Like, every morning, even if he had nowhere to go, Andrew, he would wake up at 530 in the morning, take his shower, shave, sit at the table, have his coffee, and read the paper. And he would be in a suit. He would be in a suit even if he had nowhere in particular to go. And I really admired that because he was ready for the day. So for that, I say, that's pretty awesome. That was a pretty awesome thing that I learned from my dad. My mom, my mother, she just. My poor mom, she hustled her whole life. There was no job that was beneath her to raise her kids, to give food to her kids. Like, that was something that. Beyond words. Beyond words when somebody's willing to do whatever it takes for other people. I mean, just her kindness. Her kindness always blew me away. And her. No matter what life threw at her, she would have a smile or a song, and it just. That stayed with me, you know, that this was before all of these how to manifest and all of these wellness books came out. And way before, we were talking about mental health. Like you said, my mother was the living, breathing proof of resilience. She was the living, breathing proof of positivity, of manifesting before even knowing what all that was. She just did all of that. And so that was my. My mother was my model. My mother was everything. So. So those two people. And then the third person is no surprise. My sister, my sister, my sister. We grew up. We grew up incredibly poor. We grew up. We grew up very, very, very hard. It was a very hard life. And my sister Washington, my inspiration for absolutely everything. She's a bit older than me, and so whatever my sister was going to do in life, I was going to follow. And thank God she is a brilliant, brilliant woman because I followed her. So if my sister was going to go and work two jobs to put herself through school, well, I'll do the same thing. And if my sister was going to go into politics, I couldn't do that. I didn't have the gift of gab like my sister, but I made sure that I was on a different path professionally. But, you know, something that would have, you know, made her proud. And my sister to this day, she's. She's an exceptional, exceptional human. I've never seen anybody with that work ethic and that drive. So I follow her. These three people are definitely people that inspire me. [00:37:39] Speaker B: I love that. I think that it's super important that, you know, that we have people that, that impact us and. And make us who we are. And from my conversations with you, Najet, I could tell that these people have impacted you and made you a hard working and the person that you are. So, you know, you talked about rapport building earlier, and I feel like that was, they were a big influence on helping, you know, molding you into the person that was able to, to talk to people and build rapport with them. And I think trust is huge, and you've been able to garner a lot of trust from the people that you work with. So that's pretty awesome. [00:38:29] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. I really, truly do owe it to mostly my mother and my sister. [00:38:36] Speaker B: That's awesome. Any final thoughts today? This has been such a great conversation. I've really enjoyed it. And any final thoughts? [00:38:46] Speaker A: I just think you're fantastic. I think that what you are giving back to the professional community is outstanding. I love it. I was just so looking forward to this time with you and to be able to have this conversation. It's been absolutely delightful, and I hope I get invited back. Cause I love you, Andrew. [00:39:11] Speaker B: Well, listen, you know what that is. I love the vulnerability in my guests. I just love that. So thank you so much for those kind words. I really appreciate that. And I think it's super important to have those people who are supporting you and backing you. So I thank you for your support through this whole process. And thank you for taking the time and thank you for taking the time from me from day one. Day one. And thank you for taking the time to chat with me today. It's been great. [00:39:47] Speaker A: Oh, thank you as well, Andrea. I really, really appreciate your time. It's been really lovely. Thank you. [00:39:52] Speaker B: You're welcome. On behalf of myself and my guests in the jet, I would like to thank you all for listening today. And until next time, be safe. And remember, everybody, that if we all work together, we can accomplish. [00:40:06] Speaker A: You have been listening to let's be diverse with Andrew Stout. 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