Speaker 1: 0:00

There he is, and now you know. Now you know, Monroe, exactly what we deal with every time we start this thing up.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Oh yes, that's unsettling, at best.

Speaker 1: 0:10

It is. You never get used to it, no matter how many of these you do.

Speaker 3: 0:14

Even more than that, because it's the Halloween season and Discord has the spooky tunes. It just added an extra flair on Craig's entrance and I didn't like it at all.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Oh nice.

Speaker 1: 0:26

We're living it up, so let's, let's do this. Welcome back to Corporate Strategy. The podcast could have been an email. I'm Bruce and I'm Clark and, as you have already heard, we have a special guest with us today. Her name is Monroe. You, if you're in the discord, you probably know who she is just from her posts in the past, but we are so excited to have her on to talk about her journey in her work environment. But before we do that, we've got to do the most important thing vibration inquiry. Monroe, how are you doing?

Speaker 2: 0:58

I am doing well. I've been better. On Fridays. We have this thing called Freeform Friday that is blocked on everyone in my division's calendar. That is allegedly supposed to be meeting free and, as I have found today, that is not always the case. But everything has gone well. So I'd say my CAC is pretty healthy.

Speaker 1: 1:18

I gotta ask On the invite Did it say allegedly meeting free?

Speaker 2: 1:24

No, it just says free form Friday. So I think they intentionally leave a little bit of wiggle room for things that are urgent, as they like to put it. But my director was out last week, so two weeks ago. It sounded like a great idea to squeeze everything in. It usually does until until you get there.

Speaker 1: 1:44

It really does until you get there. I was going to say I love this because I'm going to allegedly tell my team they can have every Friday off for the rest of their life.

Speaker 3: 1:54

Yeah, to me it's like the most corporate thing in the world. Hey, we're going to take no Friday meetings at all, and then everybody just doesn't respect that making and then gradually the fridays and meaningless fridays just die.

Speaker 2: 2:06

that's what happened to my company anyway it's where it's a nice effort that the thought is there yeah, absolutely yeah, it's a good it's.

Speaker 3: 2:15

You know, as long as they're trying, that's all I can say. If the company tries, the people try.

Speaker 1: 2:20

Hopefully that'll make a difference one of my one of my all-time favorite Simpsons quotes is I won't say I'll try, but I'll try to try.

Speaker 3: 2:32

I like it All. Right, bruce, we got to go to you. Vibration inquiry pinkies up. How are we doing this week?

Speaker 1: 2:38

Well, clark, you and I recorded an episode literally like two days ago, and I'd love to say that things have changed, but I'm still in the exhausted mind explosion space, like somehow I caught up on work and then uncaught up on it the next day. So it's the never ending nightmare, but we're getting through. Thank God, it's Friday and we get two days a weekend ahead of us.

Speaker 3: 3:00

Yeah, the days have been super long. It doesn't feel like we talked two days ago. It feels like it's been at least a week because so much has happened. But, unlike you, I have been able to stay on top of things. In box zero this morning, woke up, no emails. Has that changed throughout today? Yes, it absolutely has, but I felt extremely accomplished going into Friday.

Speaker 1: 3:20

I like how you said that. You said unlike you, I am capable of doing my job. That was good. Yeah, I got to hold you accountable, you know yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:28

You got to stay honest. Transparency A hundred percent.

Speaker 1: 3:31

We got, we got spicy Clark with us today. Monroe, I hope you're ready. Well, uh, Clark, you're last. How you doing Vibe check?

Speaker 3: 3:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah, doing good. I'm just happy it's Friday, we get to have this awesome podcast and we get to go into the weekend. We've got some cool things planned a lot of sports ball going on your favorite Bruce, so I will be enjoying that. Plus, the weather is actually pretty nice here in Central Florida, so going to be enjoying some outdoors time, away from this computer.

Speaker 1: 4:02

It's uncharacteristically nice here.

Speaker 3: 4:04

I don't know what to do I saw something, I saw a meme I don't know where it was from Twitter, facebook, not sure but it basically had like, right now, florida's in the fake fall and now we're going to get summer hell in like three weeks, and then it's going to be summer hell until like February and then we're going to get winter. I think that's exactly what it is.

Speaker 1: 4:23

Yes, oh, I'm so ready for it. And then in March of next year it will get stupid cold for like a solid two weeks and it will make no sense. And that's Florida weather.

Speaker 3: 4:36

Gotta love our two seasons.

Speaker 2: 4:38

In Chicago I had the audacity to try to rotate the wardrobe for myself and my child and switch out just basic summer, winter. But that transition always sneaks up because it's like as soon as I make them, I'm like, okay, it's cold, now I think we've made a decision on the weather, and then I swap it out and now I got to sweat for another week because somehow it's 80 degrees again.

Speaker 1: 4:57

See, that's interesting. As someone who's lived in Florida their entire life. I don't think about the wardrobe swap that occurs in states that actually have seasons. So do you have summer attire and then you just go straight to winter, or is there like a fall swap in there somewhere?

Speaker 2: 5:14

The fall and spring swap are just like layering up at that point, because I'm not that crafty, I'm not an Instagram mom, if you will, where everything is all aligned crafty. I'm not a Instagram mom, if you will, where everything is all aligned. I usually just wait a month too long to make the switch and that's it's worked out so far. Plus, she grows out of everything anyway, so it's mainly just swapping out my stuff.

Speaker 1: 5:36

Nice, well it's. It's good that you have the strategy, and I guess it is easier to add or remove layers than to go full. You know, uh, clothing hoard mode and try to build up just this absolute collection of every season outfits.

Speaker 2: 5:50

Oh yeah, I try to minimize the number of times I have to get on a ladder. It's safest for everyone involved.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Very good. Well, let's, let's dive right in, because I'm incredibly curious and Monroe, you've, you've got a story to kind of walk us through. So why don't you start us off, and then we'll just stop you as soon as we have questions?

Speaker 2: 6:13

Okay, wonderful. So I started well, I guess currently I'm a strategic planning analyst. But I did not wake up every day as an infant and say I want to do that when I grow up. It just kind of happened. But I started out at 17. I joined the military. I was in the army. I did that for seven years. Fun fact, I originally joined because they told me I didn't have to fill out a single another scholarship application and I felt like that was solid, sound decision-making, to just go ahead and commit the next eight years of my life. So that is how it started.

Speaker 2: 6:50

But I did really enjoy the time I did that. I wore all the hats. I was heading up production control. I was a unit administrator for a while. I did a data transformation while I was there. I helped transition five commanders during that time and I kind of lucked out because I was in the same unit that whole time and so I ended up having a bunch of work dads they all retired by the time I finished my service. So I got lucky. They just didn't care about some of the more politics and this and that they were on their way out, so they just gave me all the tea and I soaked it all up before I even knew what exactly I could do with this information. But I just took every opportunity point in the bucket for saying yes to everything.

Speaker 2: 7:32

And then, once I finished my last appointment helping out with COVID, I started up a business so an executive consulting firm essentially with a physical space. Business so an executive consulting firm, essentially with a physical space so, thank Marie Kondo but for warehousing workplaces and then residences for executives and senior leaders. And that was a fun experience. It was my first time hiring, firing, building a team, trusting said team and delegating. We're not going to talk about how well or not well that went, but after a few years Holden my daughter she's five now, but at the time she's getting a little bit too big for me to strap her to my back and take her everywhere with me. She needed some I think they call it stability with the attention she was getting.

Speaker 2: 8:18

And so I was like well, both my parents have been in corporate all their lives, I guess I'll give that, give that a go and a mentor that I had worked for the company I'm at currently and helped me kind of navigate. Okay, what does that look like? What is all this experience that I've had. What does that translate to? And so I feel like a good starting place was as a senior admin assistant and for the field so the sales side of the organization, and that was last year in January. I did that for about a year and then the way I came into this position was it always starts with a Christmas party. I think I love that.

Speaker 2: 8:59

Yeah, one conversation led to another, but that was a time where I took my first big shot. Conversation led to another, but that was a time where I took my first big shot there. An executive popped up at said function and I was like you know what, I'm just gonna see what happens. And I walked right up and was like I love your story, I want to be an executive uh, later in my career, and I'd love to hear more about your journey. Do you have 15 minutes? At any point in time that I that I could ask you a few questions and she was like, okay, well, okay, well, let's do 30 minutes.

Speaker 2: 9:27

And then I had already worked with her executive assistant on a project, so I used that relationship to actually make it onto the schedule and I was like you know, oh, executive said I could do it, just trust me. And then in January met with them and that was a phenomenal conversation. I found out that I was capable of talking to an executive without him floating. So that was nice. And then, right, she referred me over to one of her direct reports who referred me, had that conversation. He then referred me to two of her directors, had a conversation with them and then, magically, a job opportunity opened up on said team and they I got a super secret email that said to go apply to this role. It's internal only and it's only open for five days. And went and applied to that and then started, got the promotion in April along with all the bells and whistles. But that's the TLDR of how I got here.

Speaker 1: 10:32

You have such an amazing story and you shared a lot of this. Well, not a lot. You shared a slice of this with us in the Discord and it floored Clark and I. We're like we have to get her on the podcast because we want to hear the rest of the details. I want to go back. I want to go back to the beginning. I have a question Would you recommend joining the military to other folks, and in what circumstance? Would you or would you not recommend that?

Speaker 2: 10:57

That is a great question. So I have intentionally stayed out of the loop of the current state of the military. Intentionally stayed out of the loop of the current state of the military, I would say, put some real thought, key advice. Put some real thought into it. Like more than the 48 hours it took me to sign my name on a dotted line, read your contract. Yes, it's annoying, yes it's long, but if your recruiter told you something and it's not in there, it's not going to happen. And then it all depends on what you want to get from the military experience. Like, of course you can go out on a certain country Wonderful, do that. Still, try to come up with a strategy and keep what they call a me folder. So anything you've accomplished, anything you're doing, similar like you would, similarly like you would preparing for, like, an interview or review or something. But all your certifications hold on to those, because the only person responsible for your success is you and if you want to have success, that's the buck stops with you. So those are like the biggest takeaways to military um, specifically for the women.

Speaker 2: 11:58

Considering the military um, I take pause because I had a great experience, but as one in military, there were also scenarios where it just was not a great experience. So how? How know yourself well enough to know how much mental fortitude you have and either be ready to play the boys club role, um, or if you want to trailblaze, god love you sure. Have some endurance, because, um, it is. The experience is what you make it. But the biggest thing I took away from it are, like, the friends and the battle buddies that I had that made the experience great, and I try to remember the people that did stand up for me and that were protective of how the women. That made the experience great, and I try to remember the people that did stand up for me and that were protective of how the women. You know the experience of the women. I was one of seven women out of over 300 soldiers in my unit, um, and then, further than that, one of two women of color at any rank.

Speaker 2: 12:58

So that was just a different experience, but from what I understand now there's a lot more advocacy for mental health, um and uh, just taking care of yourself after the military as well, and just go into it eyes open. Read the contract and know yourself first before you make that kind of decision, because, yeah, they break you down, build you up all the things, but at the end of the day, nobody can tell you how much you can withstand in that process.

Speaker 3: 13:28

Yeah, thank you for one. Just serving our country, I mean, that's such a big commitment and I know people in the military and how much it can take out of you just to do that. And especially with the scenario that you brought up, you know, yeah, being, you know, a female first of all, but then also being a person of color, that does bring you know so many unique challenges that obviously you know we can't relate to but I can't even imagine in that environment. I'm really curious, monroe before you even chose the military, did you have an idea of, like, what you wanted to do with your life? It kind of sounds like maybe you didn't and that's why you're like, yeah sure, let's try the military.

Speaker 2: 14:05

When the offer or the opportunity came about, absolutely so, I was the one that thought I was going to go to Juilliard for musical theater which.

Speaker 2: 14:11

I kind of chuckle at now, but I was extremely passionate. I mean, show, choir, dance, all the things, theater and I knew that I was going to go to school for that in linguistics. We can see how focused I was at this time in my life, but that was as far as I knew. I wanted those two things and at some point I made the self-awareness decision that okay, maybe not Juilliard, but I could go for linguistics. So I was only in school for a couple of years, but I did ROTC. I was majoring in linguistics with a minor in Spanish and dance. I'm cringing as I say it out loud even though I know.

Speaker 2: 14:59

It was a buckshot. At that time. It was like I'm going to do all the things, which is why college did not work out, because you can't take 18 credit hours, rotc the military at the same time and just expect you to just cakewalk through it.

Speaker 3: 15:20

I've heard a lot of people who didn't really know exactly what they want to do.

Speaker 3: 15:22

They get into the military and they don't realize how many opportunities are there. I've worked with a ton of people who have military backgrounds in the tech industry because they're like, yeah, the government and obviously the military has a huge tech environment, and so they kind of were able to work their way into the right departments for something they were interested at or something they were interested in and be able to find what that was. So the military was actually a really great option for them. They also told me they weren't necessarily the best in school and also, you know, weren't the best behaved. So the military was like one of the only routes for them and a couple of people that I know, but they speak very highly of it because of having that opportunity to really step into so many different lanes and that gives you the ability to do so, plus getting structure in your life and, you know, learning how to be physically active and all that good stuff, which is really really great and very honorable.

Speaker 2: 16:09

Oh, absolutely, and I mean the IDHD in me, the very undiagnosed and untreated IDHD, needed that structure, which is one of the biggest benefits that I received at the time, even though I didn't know that. And like choosing the MOS, like you were saying, like that can be. It can be a really great building block for things you do. Once you cross over into the civilian side afterward and in true form of the rest of my decision making, I was like what has the shortest school so I can start with my buddies and friends at on time? And so I went the 92 alpha, so automated logistical specialists, so logistics and warehousing and production control.

Speaker 2: 16:50

But again, hindsight, 2020, if I was going back and I'd be like, okay, what has the biggest bonus that overlaps with what I actually might want to do? But choosing something that's civilian, transferable is definitely the way to go. I was able to craft my story each time I made a career shift based on the experience, but it was always in hindsight. It wasn't super intentional at the time of making a switch, which it makes me wonder if anybody makes an intentional shift. Like, what's that like of making a switch, which it makes me wonder if anybody makes an intentional shift like.

Speaker 1: 17:30

What's that like? So one thing you said during your your military part of the story that I quickly jotted a note down was always say yes, which is something that Clark and I have talked about on this podcast before. And now that you've mentioned the Juilliard and your more creative musical theater and all that, I'm wondering did you pick that up from the theater realm? Because I know for a fact Alex Restrepo, who you have in the podcast a lot, and myself we were both theater nerds growing up and Always Say yes was a big part of that and I think that's helped him and I kind of take that approach into our workplace and I'm wondering is him and I kind of take that approach into our workplace and I'm wondering is that the same for you, or did you get that from somewhere else?

Speaker 2: 18:05

I think it was a combination. I hadn't really thought of it that way, but you're right, in improv it's yes and it's like how can we add to this and make this successful and just be open opportunities? I also think it was a part of just my own collection of mental things that I have learned to love and grow with, but at the time it was very much. I just didn't know how to say no.

Speaker 1: 18:31

first, of all.

Speaker 2: 18:34

I had no understanding of my own capacity and I was running on a lot of adrenaline and fumes at the time, like I'll sleep when I'm dead, like that mentality more than anything else, um, and a combination of just being really nosy, but in a productive way, like I've always been curious about things and if somebody asked me to do something, like yeah, I'm going to do that one thing, but you also realize you're giving me access to look at all this other stuff, right?

Speaker 3: 19:04

Cool, great Cause, that's what I'm going to do. It goes back to that spilling of the tea You're like. Yeah, please give me all the information so that I can understand it and maybe use it in some way.

Speaker 2: 19:10

Oh yes, absolutely. I'm not a. I'm not a Virgo, but apparently I have Virgo energy, with just a random collection of information that just crops up unexpectedly. Oh yeah, I can talk about this topic Interesting. When did I pick that up?

Speaker 3: 19:23

I love it. That's awesome. Yeah, going back to that, you know, especially early in your career, and I think it's part of the reason we've all been successful. It's, yeah, being curious always saying yes, picking up that next thing, I'm curious for you. You know you jumped right into being a small business owner and obviously in that case you have no choice but to say yes. It's like say yes or don't survive, so you kind of just have to do it, something that I think a lot of people midway through their career realizes. You shouldn't say yes to everything. You have to learn how to prioritize and focus on the right things to grow in your career. Did you have a, maybe a transition moment, you know, going from the military into that where you're like, okay, maybe saying yes to everything isn't an option. I need to prioritize and learn how to say no.

Speaker 2: 20:09

Oh, absolutely. So the I kind of got. The reason why I decided on the business I did is because I had gotten swept up in the like Marie Kondo and the professional organizing was getting a lot of publicity because it was right in the precipice of Marie Kondo and everybody was just looking at their crap and not knowing what to do with their life. So I knew immediately because go big or go home. I was like, okay, I'm only going to work with luxury clients and high end, so what does that look like? And then I learned how to say no pretty easily once I decided like who it was I was going to serve and then who I wasn't going to spend time with. So I very quickly learned how to say no, just by way of targeting a specific client and being like the specialist in that, and I don't know that I learned the lesson. In the moment of like I'm learning how to say no. I just naturally was like that's not a five figure project and these other things are going to take priority over that. So it was more so out of need and dollar amount. But I think that was the first time where I actually started being like okay, I can't do 100 hours a week and I have to be able to delegate some of this. Like what can I say no to me physically doing it? Um, at the end of the day? Like what can I say yes for someone else? Um, because if I said yes for example, if I said yes to a project that wasn't normally what would fall within the category of who I would work with, that means that that time frame is now no longer available to pick up a client doing the work that I do want to work on and the clients I do want to work with. And so I had to start making some of those decisions, especially starting to get booked two months out, three months in advance.

Speaker 2: 21:52

It made it a little bit easier to say no to some of those other things, but it was definitely scary at first. At first, I had to just screen. I had to screen through like at least 50 people before I got comfortable saying, like you know what, we're not the best fit, but also here are some other options. So I was also learning the proper way to say no and in a way that still positioned me and my team as the experts. I'm like people actually like no one yelled at me for telling them no, which is crazy. I thought that was going to happen. It was was. They were grateful that I didn't waste their time. They didn't waste mine, and also here are some resources for success. If I'm not able to be the one who helps you that's awesome yeah, that's a key thing.

Speaker 1: 22:34

Like, yeah, yeah. So I was just gonna say, like I love the way you set up that explanation, because you're using no not as a negative, but it's a positive right. Like, and that's something we don't ever really think and talk about, even on this podcast, is how no can be used to positive effect. Like no, I'm not a good fit, this is going to, but by me saying this is it's going to help my company, it's going to help your company, it's going to help another company. Like, we can broaden all horizons by by using this word effectively, and I just I love that you were able to do that. That's super cool, that's a. That is a true skill.

Speaker 3: 23:09

Absolutely. So many things just came to mind, monroe, as you were talking through that. It's just like, yeah, the opera understanding the opportunity costs of saying yes and of saying no, and it's totally okay to say no. I think that's what a lot of people who are used to saying and accustomed to saying yes to everything they don't realize until they actually are forced to do it. It's like, oh, actually saying no is really good here and yeah, to your point, no one's going to rip your head off for it, as long as you bring those options of being like, hey, I'm not the best fit or I'm not the best to do this task, but I actually think Bruce might be and you should go talk to him. And not only does that get it off your plate, so you don't just take on too much and then do something potentially even subpar of what the expectations would be, but you're learning how to prioritize those things. So many great tips in what you just said.

Speaker 2: 23:55

Thank you. It was hard learned Like again, I learned most of my lessons upon reflection and not quite in the moment, but it was like I think the first time I decided fully to just this is how I'm operating now and not just hoping and praying with all the anxiety while I do. It was when somebody I had told no came back to me and referred someone else who was a good fit, because I was able to articulate what it was that we did do.

Speaker 2: 24:20

And I was able to articulate what it was that we did do and I was able to articulate for them like this is exactly the why behind the no. And they appreciated that and were able to send somebody else our way and I was like, okay, cool, I just need evidence for something working, like totally happy, taking the risk, but I'm going to do it scared until I have enough evidence. That is to the contrary of what my assumptions are.

Speaker 1: 24:44

Well, if your current role ever doesn't work out, you have a future in doing sales, education, training, because teaching those folks the importance of not a good fit but setting up the goodwill to perhaps get another customer in the future, it just seems to be a foreign concept for those people so you could take the customer in the future Like. It just seems to be a foreign concept for those people, so you could take the show on the road.

Speaker 2: 25:05

Oh yeah, I think I built that muscle of not being phased by someone's no as a like a sidebar, a side quest, if you will, while I was in the National Guard. So I did have some space for some civilian work. But I picked up and moved cross country to Seattle and lived on Mercer Island for six months so that I could tell people they should buy Xfinity in a Walmart. And so you know, you got to count your nose 100 nose a day.

Speaker 2: 25:32

That's what it takes to get to your next thing, and so that was one of the biggest. I built a thick skin in the military and being that person that no one likes to run into and completely avoid for six months In addition to that, I think just my tolerance for hurt feelings is very, very much not normal. But it's just a matter of now. I'm learning the opposite end of that having empathy for others who maybe have not had that exact experience and perspective, and corporate has a way of making you realize other people have different ranges of feelings and how they show up. Because that was something I definitely ran into pretty quickly of like that whole you don't smile on meetings or like you seem kind of standoffish and I'm like no, this just isn't a real problem. But you can't just say that because other people's experiences are valid, or so my therapist says.

Speaker 3: 26:26

I have so many questions for you when it comes to how you dealt with the transition between those things and what your perspective was of corporate. Because I can only imagine coming from the military, coming from being a small business owner, where you have to wear all the hats and do everything and there's tight deadlines and you know, you don't know if you're gonna be able to, like, make payroll in some cases in the next week. So, like some things in corporate where you probably hear you know a number of issues and you're like okay, that's ridiculous, like everything's gonna be fine. I can't even imagine the thoughts that go through your head and like your face as you're trying to just hold your composure.

Speaker 2: 27:03

Oh, yes, that journey. I would say that I feel like I handled it well. I leaned on the coping skill of like the first compliments I ever got and like consistent feedback. I was like you're just so calm in meetings and I got that feedback because, like I just I just maybe it's shutting down or maybe it's not healthy in all situations, but I felt like my particular coping mechanism of just like keeping a straight face and just letting the conversation happen and just silently problem solving until it makes sense to speak up worked out really well for the environment that I was in. Worked out really well for the environment that I was in. Um, and it also the meetings I was in.

Speaker 2: 27:48

When I first started I came in to. The very first project was, uh, a Chicago to Chicago, uh, like high rise office move, and I had just gotten done with that type of project management for the last year and a half, four years and whatnot, and I came into what I lovingly call a shit show, because they didn't have they didn't have somebody, like they didn't have a particular person that did this on a regular basis. There was this hobbled together cross-functional team that was trying to do this and no one lived in Chicago, no one, it's just all remote. And so coming in, you know, things were heated, there were miscommunications, but I was just like, oh I, I immediately knew why it was miscommunication and so I just stayed calm and then went and worked some magic with individuals to be like, hey, could you just trade off your office so this person over here can have a phone line? Like, just do me a solid. And it ended up working out. But I would say overall, first of all, therapy, like actual therapy. I've done a range from biweekly to monthly to every other month therapy sessions for the last six years to process those emotions and feedback and just what I wanted out loud to another human who was unbiased, on a regular basis. I don't know what I would have done otherwise.

Speaker 2: 29:10

It did come to after. My first three months was really hard last year because of just that, the transition and I also didn't have great leadership. It was very. They were threatened by everything like I don't want your job.

Speaker 2: 29:24

I was actually looking for the job, like two levels above you eventually, so that you're okay, um, but I did not have a great relationship with my manager and I mean I had to take a step back for about a week.

Speaker 2: 29:39

When it came to be April, I had to go on psych leave because it was such a hard transition, but the best decision I ever made was getting the ADA accommodation, taking a step away, taking care of myself and then coming back to it with fresh eyes and just realigning my strategy, because I feel like stress is just lack of a plan. Because there's a plan in place, if I can hunker down and decide what is next, the stress levels come down immensely, and so being able to do that was very helpful. And then finding out three months after that that we were doing a reorg and I wouldn't even be reporting to these same people was a great relief, and I just kind of rode that till the wheels fell off through the rest of the year exec and how you, how you learned that you did not implode as others often do.

Speaker 1: 30:40

When, when talking to the, the executives which, it's true, Like I know people who cannot do it Uh and in all honesty, I don't always like doing it I'm wondering what was the, what was the buildup to that? Like, how did you, how did you work yourself into that situation and kind of prep yourself for that first meeting?

Speaker 2: 30:57

Oh, absolutely so. Um, to start I had zero plan. It was about a 32nd it's now or never decision to even approach them in the first place. Um, but I think what helped me was that I was already interacting with and supporting executives in my business. I was regularly interacting with the top brass at my unit. Like, I was used to that type of exposure, even though it wasn't in a corporate setting. So I wasn't really phased by the title itself. Most of my stress was around my own personal brand and making sure I came off in a very curated way.

Speaker 2: 31:30

But the easiest thing to ask someone to get in front of them if you don't have a specific purpose yet is just ask them about their story. Like, I admire x, I would love to hear your journey and your story because you know that's really interesting to me and I would love to learn from that experience. That's it, and then that like, and you can figure out the rest afterward, um, when it comes to something that's in the moment. So that's why I asked about her story. And then in preparation I did every I used sharepoint and teams to like fbi, look up, search any piece of public like public internally information that I could to figure out, okay, what it is, what do they actually do, and draw some connections. I then reached out to a mentor of mine and was like, okay, here's like this thing happened. I have no plan. I did it scared, but now what I need to figure out what questions to ask. And she helped me craft a question that made sense, based on the role I was currently in and the work that this executive was doing, and it was more of like, basically, a visionary question like what is your outlook for X, y and Z market over the next 18 months or so, so that I can help support my leaders to then follow in those in that path to get to that outcome you're looking to see. And so vision type questions were helpful.

Speaker 2: 32:49

And then just focusing on active listening to not listening to respond, because, also, what do I even have to say to you? I should just be listening to, not listening to respond, because, also, what do I even have to say to you? I should just be listening to everything you say. And then, just in preparation, I just focus on asking really good questions, because the things that I ask I have found are more important than anything that I say. Someone can tell expertise by the type of questions you're asking, rather than trying to convince them with all the nitty-gritty details, because it's not always relevant. But you can, you know, make a good impression and find out a lot more by asking good questions. And, um, I actually, when I asked her the question I did, she like took pause and I just sat in the silence, which was also very hard. When she was like, um, she literally said like there, we don't have somebody like you, do we? And I was like I don't, I don't, I don't know. I was like I don't know how to answer that.

Speaker 2: 33:47

But then she like, answered the question and whatnot. But then that question is what got me to the next conversation. It didn't have anything to do with, like, the work I was actively doing currently. It had more to do with the questions I was asking to tell them, kind of communicate the way that I think.

Speaker 3: 34:06

Holy cow. Well, first of all, do you want my job? Because I think you should be on this podcast more often.

Speaker 2: 34:13

I will join at any time. I finally have capacity now to be hopping in the Discord chat and it's very, it's very interesting.

Speaker 3: 34:21

I literally just like took 20 notes. I'm like holy cow Monroe. So I think something you said there is super well. I mean you said so many good things but you didn't ask for anything. You didn't ask for a job, you didn't ask for anything in that conversation, right, yeah, that's the incredible thing. And I think everything you said I mean you took your shot. You had 30 seconds now or never, I'm just going to take my shot and you were genuinely curious about them.

Speaker 3: 34:47

If you can get people talking about themselves, it'll be a really easy conversation because all you have to do is listen, ask them questions back and try to understand what they're all about, and that alone will make you extremely personable and it will make you someone to remember. And then, when you did all your follow-up research, you came prepared to that meeting. You knew what to ask, you wanted to understand what's the vision for this and you brought some opportunities of what they're thinking about. Or you showed hey, I did my research, I want to understand more of how I can help you and by doing that I think it just was a no-brainer and that's why I said it. You know, kind of joke in the beginning it's like do you want my job, because everything you just said just shows me like you would bring a ton of value to something like this in this podcast, and I'm sure they saw that in those discussions as well.

Speaker 2: 35:34

That's incredible. All that in those discussions as well, that's incredible, thank you, thank you. I will never close a door that is open, so I'll hit you up in a year and see what's happening.

Speaker 1: 35:41

We're going to witness the first on podcast, corporate firing, where we replace Clark with Monroe.

Speaker 3: 35:47

So get ready. It's only a matter of time.

Speaker 2: 35:50

And I will go back. I will go back to what you said about you know, did I ask for a job? I did not ask for a job in that conversation. The two conversations later, when I was talking to the directors, they did outright ask like usually if a conversation is going well, they'll ask, without me having to bring it up, like, what can we do for you? It's like we've had this amazing conversation what can we do for you?

Speaker 2: 36:11

And at that point, after those conversations, I knew I wanted to be on their team and I had no idea in what capacity, but I wasn't afraid to tell them. I just told them straight up. I was like you know, I want to be on your team, whether that's in three months or two years. I want to do the work that you are doing. And here is why. And I was like, whenever the opportunity comes up in the meantime, if you have any projects where I could help, you know, just volunteer my time to help support any of the work you're doing. It's phenomenal. I would be happy to do that. And that was the conversation that 24 hours later, a rec ID became open. Also, have friends in HR and I will.

Speaker 1: 36:48

Well, if you do have friends, I'm going to need them to also come on the podcast, because we have yet to actually prove HRr exists in this environment.

Speaker 2: 36:56

So oh yeah. Well, I will say too, like that specific relationship was built completely outside of this scenario. It was a part of my. I wasn't getting along well with my immediate environment and so I was creating psychological safety for myself by reaching out to other people in the organization just to get to know them, um, and the business, and one of those people happened to be in HR. So we were already meeting regularly, just like on a work friendship level, and so what happened was there was some conversation happening.

Speaker 2: 37:29

My name popped up in a room I wasn't in. They were, and they were basically the person that said open that rec ID right now, that you want this person. And I had no idea when I started the relationship, working relationship with her the year prior, that that would ever come to fruition. But it's just, you never know where that opportunity is going to come from or what room your name is going to be in that you're not. And so as long as I have more people in a room that like me like ability factor than then the dissenters, then I've won.

Speaker 3: 37:57

Brand is so important.

Speaker 1: 37:59

That is hugely true and I'm glad you shared that, because I think you know we talk about this and Restrepo has been a big advocate for this. It's you know. It's not what you know, it's who you know, and that's incredibly true and I think, even though you have this incredible background and you have all these skills that you've gained, having other people that know you for that and knowing what you can do, they will become your biggest advocates and when they know they can rely on you, then they want to bring you in and have you there. You almost become a commodity, which is like you never want to say that about people, but it's like oh, I know Monroe can do this job. Let's get her in here because she's going to do the best at it, building up that network crucial and you sound like you have absolutely become an expert at doing that.

Speaker 2: 38:50

Oh, thank you. I like to position myself as an expert through the questions that I ask, but at the end of the day, everything I say is a regurgitation of my panel of mentors that I have expertly crafted because I don't know everything and I don't have the time to learn everything. So I'd rather just ask somebody how to approach it and how to do it, which is how I even knew what question to ask. I'm like all right, I have all this information, no idea what to do with it. Help me out here.

Speaker 1: 39:20

It's the network of networks. You've got your mentorship network, you've got your referral network. It's all these things build up to better corporate citizenry and it's again how we all help each other, kind of raise all the boats simultaneously.

Speaker 3: 39:39

And selfishly. It's just going to help you. You know, on your trajectory, your salary, whatever it might be, whatever you and your goals are, you know all that will add into it. I 100% agree. So I was curious, monroe, do you mind talking a little bit about your role now? I know you know months ago in the Discord you kind of shared a little bit about what you do. But I'm curious, you know, since it's kind of a new role, you kind of got to establish what that was. What exactly do you do?

Speaker 2: 40:06

Yeah, so don't mind me if I sound slightly distracted. I just secured someone to do bus stop pickup. So the life of a mother. I like to advocate for that. If you have to take care of a kid thing, then you just have to. But yes, so yes, about my current role. So essentially I was the first person to be added onto this director's team, so I basically wore all the hats plus some when I first started. It definitely had more of a startup feel within the broader organization, which I liked. It was more familiar territory for me, a little bit scrappy, and since then he grew the team by adding another person which was able to take on some of the things that.

Speaker 2: 40:47

Could I do it and do it well? Yes, would I rather like poke my eyes out Also? Yes, so they came in and took over that side of the house. But I focus on two main uh work streams, so one being our okr work, so setting up our metric framework.

Speaker 2: 41:04

This is an organization who hasn't always um focused on setting like transformational shifts and then breaking those down into goals and objectives and key results. So bringing together leaders and facilitating discussion to help them make decisions and take ownership on that strategy cascade and we're in the process of setting up 2025 now and standing up a lot of our capabilities and always on functions, so that we can know what to expect and our stakeholders know what to expect as well. Our internal stakeholders expect and our stakeholders know what to expect as well our internal stakeholders. So that's the primary of it. But we also are recently setting up like a peer group across a certain layer of leadership so that they can, we can support cross-functional collaboration a lot more and get some clarity down to our teams to basically say, yes, this is our big shift from the ELT and this is what they want to happen.

Speaker 2: 41:55

But the teams teams are like okay, great, but what does that mean for me? And we help bridge that gap and make sure that the goals they're writing are clear and that peer group relationship is going to have a really solid understanding of how to manage them against performance and make those quarterly adjustments. So, with that project, I essentially do like the one-on-one conversations, one-on-one support, excuse me building relationships, establishing some relationships across the enterprise as well. As we set up our annual strategy planning and I like to think of myself as like Flo from Progressive, like the face that gets to go be like like our team. We're important and also you should. This is valuable to you and here's why, but also is what we're doing working, asking a lot of good questions and helping people feel value so we can bring the right information to the right group of people at the right time.

Speaker 3: 42:46

Absolutely. It sounds like you have pretty high career goals of where you want to head and I imagine this role just has tons of visibility. I mean, you get to learn business, what the goals are, and you're talking to all these super important people at your company. So I imagine this position is going to be very valuable to your career growth.

Speaker 2: 43:06

Oh, absolutely you would be. As a correct assumption, at some point in my life I want to be the CEO of a global organization no idea what industry yet, but that is how high that target is placed. And so right now, the middle ground of that, or my next milestone, is something in a chief of staff capacity, which my skip level is operating as a chief of staff, so that gives me access to see what that looks like with a closer lens. And then, you're right, there's a lot closer lens. And then, um, you're right, there's a lot of visibility.

Speaker 2: 43:37

Most of the meetings I'm in are VPs and directors, and for someone that is in an analyst role not a senior analyst, not any of that sort of thing that is not common, I would say, in general, much less necessarily in my organization. So it was very intentional to take on this particular role, to be able to have that visibility and just regular interaction as well. It's one thing to like oh, they see your name stamped on some things but sitting in the conversation with them, sitting in the messiness with them while they're working to make decisions together, and then getting to be that glue that brings them together and helps them feel seen and heard at these tables, um puts me in a place where they actually get to see me doing the work, which I feel like is different than being, like you know, brought to you by this team, and I happen to be on that team, very, very lucky in that sense.

Speaker 1: 44:35

You. You answered the next question I was going to ask, which was what's next. So instead of that, I know we're we're coming up on an hour and I want to be respectful of both you and Clark's time. So I know you're very busy, I'm not, but you know what can you do. Instead of asking what's next, I'm going to go back all the way to the beginning. I have a question for you. Since you sold Xfinity and Walmart and you've lived that role, you've been there, you've done it. You know the kind of person that you were. When you see those folks today, when you're in the stores and they're getting ready to walk up to you, make eye contact sell you something, do you engage or do you run away?

Speaker 2: 45:19

That's a great question.

Speaker 3: 45:19

So first of all, I'm ordering for delivery just to avoid the situation altogether.

Speaker 2: 45:23

But second, I also live in a four-generational household, so I am thankfully not the decision maker I make enough decisions during the day on our service providers but I am. I am the generation that gets to go like the thing isn't working or talk to so-and-so and it gave me the skills to be equipped to fill that role for my parents.

Speaker 3: 45:49

So I love it. That's awesome. All right, my last question. So you mentioned your, your CAC score in the very beginning. I'd love to hear your top two culture, autonomy, challenge, compensation what are your top two?

Speaker 2: 46:05

I would say compensation is definitely one of the two. I think that's just age and stage contributes to that, and then last year it was culture.

Speaker 2: 46:17

This year it's autonomy. Yeah, definitely, and leadership is a huge impact on that. Last year it was culture because there was such a huge lack, I felt it a lot more, and this year it's the best culture I've ever experienced, and so it's. I don't even feel like I need to measure it and it's more so like, okay, great, I need to build trust so that you can recognize my 10 years of experience, please, even though it isn't at this organization, and so just continuing to follow through and execute at what is a much faster speed than normal gives me a lot of downtime, but just showing my director like hey, you know, like you can delegate that it would be fine.

Speaker 3: 46:57

The world's not going to burn if we don't review this email a 10th time?

Speaker 2: 47:00

Um, but no, I say that lovingly because it is in a good space, but I feel like I'm just on the journey currently of increasing autonomy just by continuing to execute and do what I do well, so that they have the experience of seeing what that looks like.

Speaker 1: 47:17

I love that. Can I ask I know I said last question, but this is technically the Clark's question so cause it sounds like autonomy was ranked higher. So now I'm curious out of the two, if you had to pick, would you rather work in a hellscape that values autonomy or a hellscape that values culture?

Speaker 3: 47:38

values autonomy, or a hellscape that values culture. This is a. This is a double.

Speaker 2: 47:41

I don't even know how to answer. I feel like the differentiation is how much direction is provided.

Speaker 1: 47:46

So Ooh, good answer Okay.

Speaker 2: 47:54

Yeah, cause with autonomy, like I can be told I can own everything all day long, but if shit rolls downhill like that just means that you become a scapegoat.

Speaker 2: 48:01

So, assuming that in the perfect world everyone owns their own stuff and that there's a clear ask autonomy for sure, because I feel like I've just built the muscle now to better navigate that to navigate first of all, identify the culture and then navigate it, play the game. Well, I'm a lot better at that now, specifically within corporate, so I feel like I can figure that out wherever I go with the culture. If the compensation was there, then I think I would choose autonomy.

Speaker 1: 48:32

I love it. I do the same, so complete agreement Well.

Speaker 2: 48:39

I also want to say to like a big shout out to you guys, because a part speaking of being prepared for meetings, even though I was told to apply to this role, um, I binged this podcast trying to, because I had never been in a specifically corporate strategy type of function and I think I literally googled or like searched for like anything regarding corporate strategy and there's not that much out there specifically around that as a function and so that was very helpful in crafting a lot of my language, my positioning in the interview process to secure the opportunity. So thanks for being the preparation to help me meet the opportunity.

Speaker 1: 49:20

Oh, that just means the world to us. Thank you for saying that. We're just happy we were able to help in some way, shape or form, so that just brings a smile to our face.

Speaker 3: 49:32

I think we end the podcast here and we just say, hey, we're never doing another episode.

Speaker 2: 49:36

Monroe you took us all the way to the top. This is it.

Speaker 3: 49:38

Sorry, guys, go listen to the others.

Speaker 1: 49:42

After 137 of these you'd think we'd run out of things to say. But here we go, continuing on. And thank you so much, monroe, for joining us and literally flooring us with an amazing story and all the insight you have. I legit took notes. I know Clark took notes. It's always good when the hosts are learning from the guests, like that's the most we could ask for. So thank you for joining. Thanks for joining the discord and participating in there as well.

Speaker 1: 50:09

Just in case the listener doesn't know, you can get into our discord by going into the show notes, clicking our link tree. We've got an ability to join the Discord in there. You can find our website. There's a merch store with a Corporate Strategy, baby onesie. You can also donate to the pod and keep it ad-free. There's so much you can do in that one little link, so do check that out and get in here. And just one more big thank you, monroe, for joining us and thank you for your service in the military. It truly means a lot for us to have you here with us today. So one last thanks to you.

Speaker 2: 50:40

Thank you, it was a great time. It was very much a great time for a Friday.

Speaker 1: 50:45

Awesome. Well, we'll definitely bring you back, but until then, I do realize we're coming up on time here. So, as per usual, I'm Bruce and I'm Clark and you're on mute. We will see you next week.