Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: 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. Those who have left us will always be in our hearts and never be forgotten. Today I'm going to talk about value based influencing. I'm super honored to have as my guest today someone who has a little bit of familiar familiarity on this and that. Her name is Megan Anderson. Welcome to the show, Megan. So happy to have you on today.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me in this very influential conversation.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I like the swing that you got there. That's pretty. That's pretty good. I like that. How are things with you? What's going on? What's new in your world? What's happening? Give us the tea, the deets, give us it all.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Yeah, great. So new in my world, I am a mom of three girls, so my husband also is a teacher and a coach and so we call it. He's a football coach, so we call it the coach's curse. But all in jokingly, right, that he ends up with three girls. So one is pretty new yet just turned three months yesterday. And so I'm still enjoying a very long maternity leave, which I'm very, very grateful. I typically work in the corporate world in health, Medtech and my company. I'm so gracious for them. They actually give 20 weeks full pay in the U.S. which is a lot for the U.S. i know that's not the case for where you're at in Canada, but for the US that's pretty gracious of them. So I'm a little over halfway into that maternity leave. I think I have like eight weeks left or so. So that's, that's what I've been doing. Just trying to stay sane while I have three kids under five and just kind of surviving, not thriving, but in the best way, right?
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Absolutely.
And, and three girls too, on top of it. So that is, that is unbelievable. And that's funny that you say the, the coach's curse because you think, yeah, I got to have my son and then it's. It always works out that way. Right. We think you're going to get a boy to, to coach and he's probably thinking, oh yeah, I'm going to get a boy and I'll be able to coach them sports all through while they're younger. And then you're a girls, but girls can play Sports too. So.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. He also coaches middle school girls softball, so he definitely is a girls coach. And my girls are already strong, showing some interest in that. He's bringing them to a wrestling practice here next month. Like little kids wrestling. So that's actually the fastest growing sport in America is girls wrestling. Yeah. Kind of cool. If they get into that. We'll see.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: It doesn't surprise me because it's. With the cost of sports and stuff like that, I'd imagine it's not a very costly sport for them to partake in where they're playing like hockey. Then it's equipment. You know, softball is probably up there too, as far as a very minimal, minimal cost as well.
So. Yeah, I could definitely see it being why a lot of kids are getting involved in it because of, because of the cost. Let's be frank here. Everything is going up. So, yeah, it's tough for parents who have their kids in sports or want to keep them involved in sports and want to keep them being active instead of playing video games and stuff like that all day. Right?
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I think you're on point there. You know, with wrestling, it's a pair of shoes which a lot of times you can get used even in a singlet. And versus hockey, which I know, I've heard from other hockey parents, that's extra, you know, such a great cost. But I also, I learned this from my husband. He was a wrestler growing up and he always believes that every kid should be in some individual sport. It definitely gives you like a different set of values since we're talking about values growing up and instills them in you that serve you for a time to come as you go through this life. So I think wrestling, you know, is a good one for that. Versus, you know, there's good dynamics for team sports too. But we believe that everyone should be a part of some individual sport.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I am totally agreement with you on that for sure. So I'm glad to hear that things are going well and glad to hear you guys are busy. Things, A lot of things going on. It's active, you're keeping the kids busy, which is super, super cool, for sure. But before we begin, before we get into this interesting topic here, I always have a fun, thought provoking question to ask my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours today?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: I'm ready.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: So the question is, why do we say that we have the weight of the world on our shoulders, but when we try to express it, we say we have to get it off of our chests.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. So. So I'm gonna do a gravity pull here. I think when you're standing, the weight of the world, gravity goes, you know, down on you, so that's why you say that. But you feel it all in your chest. When you're anxious, you feel it there. Right? Even though gravity sits here on top of your shoulders, you feel anxiety and the buildup in your chest. And so when you need to get things off your chest, that's, that's where you, you feel the weight lifted off.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: Wow. Listen. What an awesome answer. I'm super impressed with that answer. I did not expect that type of answer at all.
And you not knowing you're gonna make me look like a fiber here, as normally people don't. Nobody ever knows the question ahead of time, but that answer is gonna make me look like a fibber here. But whoever's listening, I did not tell her this question ahead of time. So she just was prepared, ready to go and answered it full swing. So I, I love it. Thank you so much for, for doing that. That's awesome.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Yeah, you're welcome.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: So why don't we get going here and get into meat and bones of it. Why don't we start off with you telling us a little bit about you, your story and your why.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: Sure.
So my story, I think I'm going to go back quite a ways here, back to high school because that's where really a lot of this starts. And a lot of the conversation I'm going to talk about today relates to the spot that I'm going to.
At 17, I actually joined the military. So I joined the army at 17. My parents had to sign for me.
So I was still a senior in high school at the time. And after my senior year of high school, then I went off to basic training. And that was my first job, right.
Was the military. And so I joined the Army National Guard. And so with that I was not full time military, but there are its own challenges when you do National Guard. So when I got back from basic training, in addition to then your one week in a month, two weeks in the summer, and sometimes it can be more than that. I was juggling college full time and then a full time job as well. So I worked 40 hours a week, was going to full time college and then on the weekends, one weekend a month, I was also doing the military. So from a very early age I learned how to balance a lot.
And I did that in unique ways. Right. My 40 hour a week job was overnight. So then I was Able to go to class during the day and then of course didn't take any weekend shifts. So I had the weekends open for the military. And I think that since we're talking about values today, really instilled a lot of values in myself early on, and I continue to do that today. If anyone knows me and sees me out on social media or you've gotten to know me through LinkedIn, I'm always doing something else on top of just being a mom and working full time. Right. So I've started a podcast, kind of a side business to help others through a startup journey if they're starting their own company. And some people look at me and like, how can you juggle so much? And I have a hard time answering that sometimes, but I think it's just because I've done it for a long time, you know, since I was a young age. So it's kind of all I'm used to. Right.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Yes. That's awesome. So I love your story. What kind of intrigues me is military, like, that is super awesome that you did that at such a young age. And I always talk a lot about going on and doing different, going from one career or one job to the next job, but carrying the things that you learned from each job to the next.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: And when you, when you said to me that you telling your story, saying that you're in the military, you mentioned values. But the things that I, I'm sure you learned a lot, but the things that come to mind that you probably learned a lot was values, trust, integrity and grit. So when you just told your story, you're just saying that people don't know how you do stuff. I think that comes from the military. I think you, you got that grit from that and that just, you know, you know, taught you, you know, doesn't matter what I got going on around me, I gotta get this done.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I think you said it perfectly. A lot of things that you do in a previous job or previous role, the things that resonate with you, stick with you. Also the things that you didn't appreciate stick with you. And you want to change that and make it better the next time around. Right. But the military is actually incredibly good at, you know, their value, proportion and influencing via their values. Right. So the army, specifically, their values are, you said a few of them. Loyalty, duty, respect, self assertive service, honor, integrity, personal courage. Right. And those are really good things to keep inside of you all of your life. And what I think the military actually does really well in terms of Values is it aligns really well with their brand, right? So before going into the military, you know they have values, but you don't know exactly what they are unless you look them up, right? But you're not surprised by them when you get in and learn what they are because they have this brand around them that everybody knows and appreciates. So I think when organizations align their brand with what their values are, that's when they do the best in values based influencing.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: I couldn't have said any better than the way you just said it. That is words to my heart and my value system that that is super bang on. So what is this value of influencing? What does it mean in your mind? I'd like to hear your, your thoughts on that.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: So influencing to me and putting values behind influencing, right? If you think of I'm going to bring the military up a lot. But if you think of the military and any organization, right, Any large organization, you have a common goal, right? And you're trying to round up all these people to see that North Star and work towards this common goal. Well, you're able to do that a lot better when you get the right people who are aligned to that goal and really passionate about that goal. And how you do that is, or one way you can do that is you get people that are aligned with your values. This is what we stand for as an organization. It has to mesh, right? Has to make sense. This is what we stand for. And, and because we found our people, all these people that are aligned with what we stand for, we know that this group of people is going to be able to work together to achieve that common goal together and they're going to be passionate about it and it's going to be done well, right? So that's how I see the ways of the world and value of influencing.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: I think you're bang on there. And the one thing I probably would add is that it's great to have values and great to understand those values and it's great to have them. But I do feel that if the organization doesn't, they can, anybody can put values in or structure values. But I feel like like you said, everybody has to be aligned and that includes from the top. So if they're not aligned at the top, then we're going to talk a little bit about behaviors as well later. But if the behaviors of the people at the top are not aligned with those values, then no one's going to follow it, right? It's like follow the leader like a kid. When we played that As a kid, if you're following the leader, it's if they're behaving a certain way and, or they don't believe in those values, well then, well, most people will be like, well they're not doing it, so why do I got to.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: So how do we value organizational behavior? So how does values affect our organizational behavior?
[00:12:30] Speaker B: I think that's a good question.
And when I think about behaviors, you know, you just touched on it a bit. It's, it's gotta be the same behaviors. You get it from the top down.
What, what I see like this is also from the military, but I think it carries over very well into the organizational space. Is some of the favorite or best leaders in the military weren't the ones just barking orders, they got on the front lines and did the job with you from time to time. Right. Like a leader can't always do that because they have other due days to do. But when they do that occasionally and you see them not only talk the talk but walk the walk and they're like, no, I are a team. Right. I am one of you. That is really impactful. And I think when organizations can do that in some sense, then you're going to have a stronger team. And that's all behavioral based. Right. That's how the leader chooses to behave with their team, interact with their team. I think that can be incredibly powerful when with team building and then influencing and all staying on that same track again to reach that common goal.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Yes, I do agree with you and yeah, I did talk about it a little bit. But yes, behaviors are key.
We again, we watch what our people are and I don't even think leaders, I think even our co workers, right. I mean there's, there could be, could be a situation where you're always coming in on time and leaving on time and taking your lunches and breaks on time and there could be somebody else who doing the opposite. They're taking longer breaks or they're coming in late. They're supposed to start at 8, they come in at 8:15 and then they're supposed to leave at 5 and they always leave at quarter two and you're looking at it going well. How come they always get away with that? And I always do what I'm supposed to be doing and come in and leave on my times and I'm never taking off any times in my break. But yet they do. Is anybody watching? Is any. Does anybody really care? So I think that kind of bothers people too. And that can definitely affect the way that people look at stuff as far as behavior.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I agree. And I think that all comes down to, like, what the expectation is and being clear on the expectation, but then having integrity and following through on the expectation. You can't just say, okay, as a leader and as a team, these are the expectations we set for each other. But then there's got to be that constant pressure, follow through. And that's when, like, the. The values can come into play. Like, are you really practicing the values and values isn't just a. We say it, we put it on our website. It's got to be in the practice.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: Absolutely. I talk about that a lot. I think I've mentioned that quite. On quite a few episodes that we just. Exactly what you said there. It's. It's. I can't say that enough. And it's all part of communication, too. Right. And I think that when you're communicating what your expectations are, and I think that that goes from day one, when they're first starting. I believe that that's in the orientation process. When you are meeting with somebody and for the first time, you're giving them what your clear expectations are and what you expect from them. You're not throwing down the gauntlet and yelling and screaming at them, but you're just saying, look, this is what I expect and I want to be clear with you so you understand. So that six months from now, you're not coming back and telling me. Well, you never said that. You never told me that. I never knew that. I never knew what you were supposed to do. I didn't. I didn't know what the dress code was. I didn't know what I was supposed to be here and at a certain time. And I didn't know my breaks were this long. Like, everything's got to be explained to everybody and communicated. And I feel like we can't communicate enough.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah, I agree. I'm going to bring this one up because you, you brought up being on time. It sounds like you're like in a physical environment. Well, in the corporate world, we very much work in the virtual world. Right. So it's a lot of meetings on camera. And this is one thing that I'm like, a big proponent of, and this comes very much from the military is time. Right. Being so respectful of your time. And it happens a lot. I think everyone can probably resonate with this when meetings go over, and I think that's okay sometimes, but you need to stop at the top of the hour and just check with everybody. Okay? We didn't quite get through this topic. Does everyone have another 10 minutes to stay on or should we reschedule a follow up? Because that gives people the chance to say no, I have to go, I have another meeting I can't be late for. And doesn't put them in the awkward space of having to interrupt someone to say hey, I gotta go. Because it can put people in an awkward space. So if you take anything for this episode, I would recommend like this, putting that practice into place, just stopping at the top of the hour and asking everybody.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree with you. That's part of values as well. And the other thing I would add to that is when you're having a part of value system is when you're having a meeting somebody should be taking, whether it's a one on one meeting or whether it's a group meeting, somebody should be taking down the notes or the minutes from the meeting. And I'd say the first couple of minutes are discussed if there's stuff that's in the meeting previous and. Okay, well any information on this? No, I should have some news on that, you know, by Monday. Well then the next time you have that meeting you should first few minutes should be going over. Hey John, you mentioned that you were going to have information on this on that Monday or a few weeks later. Where are we on that? Right. So just kind of doing some follow up.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: So.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: So everybody again, communication. Everybody knows exactly where everybody's at.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah, it's great practice for sure.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: So what role does diversity play in enhancing values?
[00:18:18] Speaker B: I think this is such a great question because there's a lot of change in the world. Right. But values often are created like at the beginning of a business and a lot of times they don't change course, but I think it's okay if they do. But so much in a sense where it's because the organization was brought to this different space but everyone's still aligned just on this new value system. Right. And how do you get to that place is by learning the different diversities of how other companies do things or how the market is now influencing how our company works or just from a basic learning sense. Right. If you think of, you know, all the cultures and the cultural practices we have in the world. Right. There's a lot. And the more that people go online and can run businesses online, which means you can get talent from all over the world. And so diversity is going to come into play much more. And so how do we all align when we're so diverse but still can get on to that value system that's created so that we're all still working towards that common goal. And so, you know, that was a question that I just made, and I don't know if the answer is always so easy, but if you can find the answer to that, I think you're going to be able to, you know, still come together as a team to reach that common goal, if that makes sense.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it totally makes sense, for sure. I grew up with parents of a mixed race. So just growing up in that atmosphere and seeing how they were brought up, the different foods and the different cultures and the different ways of life and. And they parented totally different, one parented different than the other. And that's because they were parented a certain way. So they just follow suit of what they. What they learned or what they, what they knew or how they learned to be a parent from their parents.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: I want to add to that conversation point that you just brought up, and I think this is like the coolest thing about living in this technological world that we're living in is so even when I was growing up, because, you know, seeing different things so vastly on the Internet weren't a thing right when I was growing up either. And so you only learn what you see. And so you see parenting style, and then so it's easy to follow that parenting style. And they're still, you're still probably going to be influenced the most about how you, you know, what you experienced and what you've seen. However, we're in this world where, like, if you think of, like reels on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, like, you see so many more perspectives and diversity. And so you can learn from that and say, I never thought of, you know, that parenting style in that situation. And so now that opens up a whole new way to be influenced, hopefully in a good way to then bring diversity and make, you know, yourself a better parent, a better worker, a better whatever, Right? So I think that's super cool.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: It is because it affects the values. Because of the way you were brought up, you're going to have different values and the way that a leader of an organization or a manager or what have you, who's in charge of the department, you know, you can't necessarily treat or talk to somebody one way the same way that you would another. And you have to kind of figure that out. And how do you do that? Well, by having conversations and getting to know the people and. And I'm a huge proponent on rapport building. I think it's super valuable for me. It's one of the most important things out there, and I think it just brings and broadens so much more when you build rapport with, With. With somebody, for sure. Just look at you and I, we had a conversation over the. And I think we bonded and built rapport right from that conversation. And I remember that conversation like it was yesterday because you had a gazillion things going on at the same time and you still made time to talk to me. So I think we created a bond just by that conversation. And we've continued to send messages back and forth to each other and talk. So that, just for me, that's rapport building is a part of values for me.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And I still remember that conversation from like yesterday too, and it definitely influenced some of the next steps I took in my life and what I was going on, you know? Yeah. So I. I'm truly thankful for that and for you to like, reaching out and making a genuine connection over LinkedIn of never knowing each other before. Thank you for that.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's pretty cool. It is. It is very cool. So in closing, what is the one takeaway that you want our audience to get from this episode?
[00:22:58] Speaker B: One takeaway. This is probably pretty obvious, but I think the one takeaway. And maybe you align on this as well. I'd like to know if you do. But how important values are in anything that you're doing. Not only for an organization where you have to align a bunch of diverse individuals, but even for yourself. Like, if you're starting a new business and you're an entrepreneur, take the time to think about, like, what is value valuable to me in this project that I'm doing?
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Right.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: And anytime something, an opportunity comes up and it doesn't align with those values, you'll way easier be able to make the decision on if it makes sense to go and pursue that opportunity for your own business. Right. Or if you think of, like, your podcast, your podcast is kind of like a mini business. Right. But it's very. A solopreneurship type effort. And so have you ever thought about, like, what are the values for my podcast, my business? Right. And if you haven't, if you're an entrepreneur, solopreneur, and you haven't thought about that, I would encourage you to take the time to, like, write down and figure out what the values are for that project or business.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I am totally in full agreement with you on that. I do think we have to understand or know what is what is valuable to me. And when you ask, it's funny because I have asked people in the past what is valuable to them. And there's a lot of people that struggled with it, and I don't struggle with it. So I don't think. Anyways, so, I mean, two of the things that are valuable to me, one of them I just said, is rapport building. And everything that's very important to me is storytelling. Storytelling for me is huge. I can't express how big and how important it is to storytelling. I know you mentioned earlier that you are a podcaster. And I always say to people, if you are thinking about starting a podcast, you have to understand what you value or what you value in the podcast. Podcast why you think it's so important to you, but you also have to have a passion for it. So don't just do it. Don't put values, mission vision on your website if you don't believe in them or. Or feel strongly for them. If you want to start a podcast because you feel it's a value to you, then, yes, do it. If not a value to you, where you don't feel strongly for it, you're just doing it because everybody else is doing it, then don't do it because you're not going to get the full win of it by just doing it. To do it, you really have to have your full heart and soul into it. And I say that if you do, you will definitely reap the rewards for it.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. I'll also mention that I think when you do set values for yourself and you stick to them, people get to know you as like, I know she values that or he values that so much. So it becomes a respect thing. And then it also becomes easier for yourself to set boundaries and then others to respect those boundaries because they understand them, because it comes from a place of your values. And I'll just echo what you talked about. My podcast is called Innovation for Entrepreneurs and I talk about all things innovation. I have a passion for innovation. I could talk about it till the cows come home. And same thing. Like, my husband is very, very supportive, but I, like, have to.
I have to read him. And am I talking about it too much? Because he doesn't have that same passion. His passion is like fishing and football. So he could talk to me about that. Then you just have to read the person. Okay, am I talking about this too much? He's respectfully trying to, like, listen. So because I'm so passionate, want to talk about this, but Then when you get on a podcast episode or just in a basic conversation with somebody else that has that same passion, it does not ever feel like work. It is just like, I love that we got to have that conversation together.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: Our. Our topic today was values. And when you. When you talk with somebody who has not just the same interest but have the same value system as you, conversations can flow. And I, like, as you said earlier, you remembered our conversation. You had a lot going on that day. And I probably. We are both adults, so we have to do some adulting. And I feel like if there wasn't anything going on that day, we probably would have talked probably another couple of hours. Prob. Just because of the way that the conversation was flowing. And I love that because that just means that I'm talking to somebody who is aligned or has the same interests as I do. And it's super cool when you. When you do find that. When you do find that connection. For sure.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree.
[00:27:41] Speaker A: For sure. Well, listen, I want to take the time to thank you for coming on today. I have enjoyed connecting with you, and I value a lot of the things that you put out there.
I want to say that I admire you for all the stuff that you do and all the stuff you're able to. To. To. To get done in a day. You were probably one of the grittiest people that I've met. And I am super honored to have somebody as gritty as you in. In my network. And I look forward to our. Our future conversations. For sure.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. Thank you so much. And it actually is an honor for somebody to describe me in that way. Thank you. But it's gritty with two T's. Not gritty like our Vikings football player.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: No, gritty. I would give you the two T's if I, If I was to talk about gritty, I would say gritty with a two T's for you. For sure.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah. But go Vice.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: But go Vikings. Exactly. On behalf of myself and my guests, Megan, I'd like to thank you all for listening today.
And until next time, be safe and remember that if we all work together, together, we can accomplish anything you have been listening to.
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Let's be diverse with Andrew Stout. To stay up to date with future content, hit subscribe.
