Proven Not Perfect
Proven Not Perfect
Authenticity - Leadership and Life with Chief People Officer Kim Seymour
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What does it truly mean to lead authentically in today's corporate landscape? Kim Seymour, a seasoned executive with decades of leadership experience, breaks down this question with refreshing clarity and hard-won wisdom.
"Leading people in a way that is sustainable for you, that you can believe in" forms the cornerstone of authentic leadership, according to Seymour. But this isn't just about showing up as your unfiltered self. Throughout this powerful conversation, she reveals the delicate balance between bringing your authentic voice to the table while understanding the ecosystem you're operating within.
Drawing from her impressive career journey, Seymour shares three essential unwritten rules that have guided her success: "Relationships are everything," "Always stay curious," and "Feedback is not optional." These principles aren't just platitudes—they're practical guideposts for navigating complex organizational dynamics while maintaining your integrity.
Perhaps most valuably, Seymour challenges conventional wisdom about the crucial first 90 days in any new role. Her counterintuitive advice? "Go hard for the first six months, then you never have to go hard again." This approach establishes your reputation and creates what she calls a "flywheel effect," where your initial investment continues generating momentum long after those intensive first months.
The conversation takes a particularly meaningful turn when discussing vulnerability in leadership—a quality that emerged as a superpower during pandemic challenges. Seymour reflects on how leaders who could blend strategic thinking with emotional intelligence created psychological safety while still delivering results during unprecedented uncertainty.
Whether you're just beginning your career journey or sitting in the C-suite, this episode offers invaluable insights on defining success on your own terms. As Seymour powerfully states, true success means having options—the freedom to choose your path forward rather than feeling trapped by circumstances. Subscribe now to continue growing as an authentic, effective leader who remains true to their core values.
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What Is Authentic Leadership?
Speaker 1Kim Seymour, good morning. Good morning, it's so good to be here with you and we're going to get right in because there is not a moment to waste with the drip that I know that you have to offer. Look, we will see and I will, we will prove. We will prove what I just said. So I want to ask you this question, just to start and just to anchor our thinking. When I say authentic leadership, what does that mean to you? What is authentic leadership?
Speaker 2leading people there in a way that is sustainable for you, that you can believe in and that you think is really in line with where you and the people that you are leading is trying to go are trying to go. The opposite of that is doing things that is only aligned to what the company wants yes, instead of taking into account not only the people who are impacted by it. That could be your team, it could be your peers, but also doesn't make you feel good if you wake up in the morning or when you put your head down at night. So the gut check for authentic leadership is am I doing this in a way that feels good to me, that I can be proud of?
Speaker 1How would you know that? So here's the thing. So we're going to roll it back. When you first took your first footsteps into corporate, you showed up with all of the vision and all of the excitement for what you were about to start as your career. Right, you put in the work to be there. You had all the accolades. You are, you're starting. Who are you then? And do you look back and say I was playing it completely authentically, or has that changed over time?
Speaker 2look for me. Yes, I was playing it completely authentically. We can have that conversation, because at that point and this is going to be controversial at that point, had I earned the right to be authentic in the space that I have? I'm not quite sure and I do have some opinions about that, but what I did show up as is curious and humble and completely in learning mode, and so I took every role, as there's something I'm taking away from this that is adding to who I am becoming as a leader Every interaction. There's something I'm taking away from that good or bad, positive or negative that is going into who I'm trying to become as a leader and from and from an authenticity standpoint. I was very much me from the very beginning, but I was the me that I was then.
Speaker 1So let's click into that, because this is graduation season when this is being taped, whether you're listening to it at that time or not. When this is being taped, this is graduation season. I had the privilege of going into the graduation of Florida A&M historically black college and university and cheering and screaming for all the babies, including mine. That being said, they all heard messages from the dais about you know, you've got it, you're there, go in, be white All the things that I think you know from my Jesuit education. Loyola University graduating. I heard the same things. I look at them and I say how will they do that? Will they be allowed to do that completely, completely? Is that something that I had the authority to do immediately or not?
Navigating Corporate Culture as a Newcomer
Speaker 2Did I have to grow into that? Similar to you, I didn't even know what to do, yes, yes, what the what the landscape looked like. Yes, Know how to play, and I posit now. I say it a lot we don't teach people. We teach people how to get a job. We don't teach people how to be in the workplace right or how to navigate a career. Yes, Because that's more important at some point than your actual knowledge base. Yes, Because that's more important at some point than your actual knowledge base. And I focus a lot on you know you've heard it a million times the unwritten rules, or the what your mama never told you, or the you know. Fill in the blank what you want to call it.
Speaker 1What are your three favorite ones? You got to tell us what are the three favorite unwritten rules that you focus on.
Speaker 2Relationships are everything. Relationships are everything. So, and really from that you can offshoot to all these other things, because even when you talk about authenticity look, I want you to be authentic the one thing I do appreciate about this generation is at least they think they know what their boundaries are at this particular time and they are very attached to them. Yes, we probably should have had a little bit more of that.
Speaker 2I agree, but at the same time, that has to be blended with the, the understanding that you can show up however you want to show up. You're opening doors and closing doors when you do that, and do you understand and appreciate what that means? Show up however you want to show up. Does that work in that environment? Is it distracting from your message or your goal or your whatever it is that you're trying to achieve? Yes, message or your goal or your, whatever it is that you're trying to achieve yes? Um, if the answer is yes, it is distracting and it's an obstacle and you're okay with that. No more discussion to be had. Yes, but if you are trying to work within someone else's corporate environment because that's important, until you have your own thing, you're answering to somebody and you're fitting into someone else's ecosystem.
Speaker 1All the way up to the top, which is what I think about at the top.
Speaker 2I just told someone this other day the CEO can do whatever. The CEO has a box.
Speaker 1That's right.
Speaker 2On a board of directors.
Speaker 1So, anyway.
Speaker 2So I want people coming in to figure out how to work in that lane. How much of it, how much of yourself can you bring that still allows you to be effective in whatever it is you're trying to do, because I think there's a way to do that. Believe it or not, I think we did it back then. We didn't know anything from anything. Do that, believe it or not, I think we did it back then. We didn't know anything from anything. I know I did, that's right, but I didn't know, I didn't know how to be anything other than myself. What I needed to do was understand the, the environment, that that had to be effective within. Yes, yes yes, yes.
Speaker 2Girl, I don't know if I gave three, but that's one. I do think you always stay curious, always stay learning. The minute you think you have it figured out, all figured out, and there's nothing else for you to learn, you've lost, in my opinion, and nothing makes that more clear than the advent of AI right now. That's one example. What else do I say? Feedback is not optional.
Speaker 1Say that for the cheap seats girl.
Speaker 2I do think that, and some of it is cultural, and I think we have to acknowledge that we some of us, yeah feel like we have to show up with all the answers immediately. Right, all the education and all the whatever you're according to us, but we're still learning, yes, and so how do you know whether you're making the mark or missing the mark if people are around you 360, are not telling you? Now there's something to be said about. Well, how do you make sure you're getting this information? By giving people permission to be honest with you. You're getting this information by giving people permission to be honest with you. Yes, but feedback is always going to be your help, not your hindrance. So that's. I mean, I have more, but those are the ones I'll talk about.
Speaker 1I have to tell you, though, honestly, there's a podcast literally on each one of those, each one of them For sure.
Relationship Building and Career Navigation
Speaker 2Well, a lot of it. This is the business I'm in now. I have a playbook for each one of those. I just talked about self-advocacy earlier this week. There's a whole art to that. There's some tips and tricks and all that, but there's also an art and some nuances to that. I'm going to be talking about relationship building. How does one go about that in a strategic yet authentic way? So, yes, all of these things are necessary for career navigation, if that's what's important to you.
Speaker 1So let me ask you this, because someone is going to absolutely just bring your phone off the hook to understand more about that playbook. I think each lane is incredible and amazing. Tell us a little bit more about how you built the understanding of who you were authentically, and was there any moment that you acknowledged the not so perfect parts of who you were being? Is there any one moment where you acknowledge that you were proven and becoming? Oh?
Speaker 2yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Like I said, not just because of how I was raised, but also training. You know law school, business school, but mainly law school where you're taught to speak in declarative sentences, not interrogatories, right? So that's how I communicate, or at least you know in the beginning, and still most of the time, depending on the situation you have not changed and I've known you for a whole lot of years.
Speaker 1We ran up this hill together and there've been moments with tears where I have contacted you with I showed up exactly who I was on, exactly the assignment that I was given Right. And because I've always been blessed with a trusted circle of wise people, my wise people would always look me in the eye and tell it to me straight Right. But what was going on around?
Speaker 2you For me, I understood. You know there was a, there's a certain self. What is the word? Righteousness and being your authentic self, if, to be honest, if we're all being honest, and so I got a lot out of showing up as exactly in all my kingdom, but then I would get the feedback flashes of like you.
Speaker 2You don't even I, just I'm like yes because nothing is much change and that that's okay, but you do. You have to have your surround sound, as you just said about people that will say, okay, now I was in that meeting. How do you think that went? You showed up in all your chemists, but did you get what you needed out of that? There are moments along your journey where you stop and you think, okay, I can.
Speaker 2I remember my girlfriend. If she's ever watching this, she very much remembers this conversation. It was actually about a personal relationship that she was having and she was like this, this, this and this, and I gave it here and I told him this and I was just listening and I said, well, you can be right or you can be with him. Which one of those is more important? Your rightness. That I'm not even convinced, was right. You are, you are, sit in that, or you could try to make this work. So it was the same thing, believe it or not.
Speaker 2Uh, early in my career, I can be as righteous as I want to be about showing up and you know making my point and whatever, but did I bring people along with me? Did they feel like they had the right to give me input to the to the already conceived conclusion that I thought I had. That's not helpful. That's not helpful for the overall goal of the team, the company, and it's not helpful for me it's my brand. So that was one of those moments, for sure, where I had to think well, you can be all that you want or you can figure out how to be, how to gain followership.
Speaker 2Yes, I really had to have that conversation with me, isn't it for me? And what matters to me at my core? Making other people successful is very important to me, which means that they've got to feel like they can be honest and and vulnerable or whatever it is. So intimidation is not helpful to that goal. So how do I combat that with people? And I still do that. I have little tips and tricks. I do it myself when I know I'm going into a conversation with someone that I keep my eye on. What is it that you want them to walk away from you with?
Speaker 1so and this is excellent. Okay, so that's the not perfect part. When did you know you were becoming the proven?
Speaker 2part. Well, for me, I'm always becoming, I think. But well, I think there are a couple of things that come to mind. I always have an opinion about most things and but you know, you grow and you learn. Okay, this is just from my perspective, this is just my lens. Take it for what it's worth. But when people started calling me off the record you know often people I work with long ago who have gone on to bigger and better things or whatever thing or no thing, and they would still call and still value my opinion, or or the steer, or sometimes they just needed a girl.
Speaker 1You sound crazy, you know, whatever the thing is, or they just needed a listener to a cry, because I remember I've done that with you. I'm not that great. Here's why you were the one, because I have been blessed. Like I said, I started my career with thoroughbreds and we all knew the assignment and we ran hard and we're very successful. So I know that God has gifted me with the community, but I know who to call for what season. Right, right. I don't call you for you to cry with me. I call you.
Speaker 1I call you because I got the ones I could call the girl Can you believe. Blah, blah, blah. I got the ones who will literally cry with me. Look, I got the ones who will literally cry with me. Okay, uh-uh, I call you. My spirit knows to call you for stop crying. What? Let's roll this back and talk about the scenario and really what's going on.
Learning from Feedback and Self-Awareness
Speaker 2It's. Or now, what Right? I don't mind the crying. I'm much better at dealing with other people's emotions than I used to be. And what's going to, what's going to drive the tears? That's right. What's next? Or I am the one that's going to be like we need a plan. So that's what we're going to, that's what we're going to focus on, that, um. So that was one way that I value that, that people still value the relationship that we built, because we put a lot of effort into that, some more than others. Um, the advice or sounding board, because sometimes I really don't have the answer, but I usually know the right question to ask yeah, but that's there.
Speaker 2Another I mean another time when I was like, oh was when I was given responsibility in a job that nothing in my background indicated that I was ready for that heft of a role, and I can look back on it and say me and my team did it really well. That role came to me. I hadn't been there long, I had been building my brand reputation. I was very authentically at myself at that point myself, and they saw something in that, in the way I showed up in the opinions that I had. That said, you know what, she can, run this, and over other people who thought they could run it, or going outside, which which is something they was the original plan, I think. So that that was like, oh OK, and I could, and for doing that, that role. Well, they gave me another role that's a cautionary tale At the same time. So I had two jobs at one time.
Speaker 1Two big jobs. That's a whole other conversation.
Speaker 2Oh, another podcast.
Speaker 1I only find that my women C-suite Ascension successors have gone through when we get the multiple jobs.
Speaker 2Yeah, or the clean it up, the fix it, we're always cleaning, we're always fixing, we're always yes.
Speaker 2All of those things, that being said, I listened to. I learned from them too. I listened to another podcast. I'm not a big podcast listener, believe it or not, but I I only saw this because it was going around and she said the three most important words in her career that have propelled her career, her whole life was. I'll do that, and she's not wrong. She's not wrong, but there is a way to found it wrong, but there's a way to bound it. Yes, Boundaries.
Speaker 2Outcome or time or boundaries, something that doesn't have you spinning in it forever, and also get you credit for it, because it's often not the fact that you were given more, it's that you were taken for granted. In that number one and number two, you never got the credit for how you turned it around, credit being visibility or money or title or whatever it is. So, having that conversation up front, your exit strategy it's not not doing it. That's not the point.
Speaker 1It's what's on the other end of it and how long, because you said boundary, and I think that's right. Even in, even in taking a new role, a lot of times I think people misunderstand that that same energy that goes into taking that new assignment is expected to stay at the same level and cadence for the next nine months. I have always been a three-monther okay, Three months. Any new big thing, whatever it is, gets three months to get full on, 360, figure it out, all the energy. When I get to the 91st day, it's time for me to put me in check, put everything around me in check, articulate what is and what isn't, define what that outcome looks like solidly and be good with it and make sure that everybody else is. So what would you tell me? Is that a wrong way to do it or not?
Speaker 2The caveat to that. I'm not mad at that at all. There's a couple of caveats that come with that and I've been thinking about this lately because, as I'm advising you know, c-suite people who are going into new roles we all want to get in there and make an immediate impact. No idea the context, the environment, history, the, the culture, the anything and you come in there breaking glass immediately. That might not serve you. So what I'm telling people right now is, yeah, there are some things you're getting going on in that first 90 days, but I wouldn't make any big decisions or change it. You need to work on, to me, relationships and followership in the first 90 days and learning Right Learning, learning what you're walking into, because we all know what they sold you is not what it is.
Speaker 1It never never First thing, the second thing is anybody listening? Because that is a myth. People think well, they told me, the job was that, that, that Right and honestly it's not that anyone is trying to mislead you.
Speaker 2It's just that the mission was to capture a great asset and that was you so be excited about that?
Speaker 1They were in sell mode.
Speaker 2They were in sell mode. That's why it's up to you, whoever.
Speaker 1Yep.
Speaker 2The one thing I will do is ask a question, ask the right questions. But back to your 90 day thing, the caveat that I have on that and I tell people which is good or bad. Truthfully, I'll tell you the flip side of what I'm going to say in a minute. But at the beginning, you are now training them in that 90 day what to expect of you. The way vibrating up here like this 91, uh, I feel like you need to signal the, the turn or whatever in some kind of way, or think about what is sustainable. I love that right. So if you're, if you meet somewhere in the middle that way, when you, you know, smack up, it's, yes, you know, uh, overachieving.
The First 90 Days: Setting Expectations
Speaker 1It's, it's uh, exceeding expectations of what you're basically saying You've defined, unless, unless you have audibly indicated what your style of learning is and what your style of integration is, unless you've audibly which you should, which you should and which I do because I learned the hard way you want to do assimilation.
Speaker 2That's all I'm asking.
Speaker 1But let me tell you this I learned the hard way exactly what you're saying, because before I learned how to understand my boundaries and define what my 90 looks like, right, I did. I was vibrating at such a level that that was the expectation, so there was no going down from there.
Speaker 2It's not sustainable, for you it's not going to be achievable for others. I'm not saying don't do it. I think we, we more is expected of us. You got to figure out how to do that in a in a way that is sustainable. Now, here's the flip side of that. Yeah, in a way that is sustainable. Now here's the flip side of that. Yeah, I usually say I do say go hard for like the first six months. Go hard, then you never have to go hard again. So that's the opposite of what I just said, and the reason I say that is we tell this story way back when I was in college actually, I was an intern at the state capital in Tennessee and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2Something was going on. We had a bill to get on the floor, but I was always who I was I think I was 18, 19 at the time and the representative that I was supporting had a bill that needed to go to the floor the next day, but everything wasn't done. We had some things to tick in time. He turned the corner in the off to his office. It was five 30 in the morning. I was already there and I proceeded to be there five, 36 for the for, you know, the next month or whatever. It was.
Speaker 2Now the second month I wasn't coming in at five, 30 or six, but to this day now he just somewhat reasonably passed away. But to this day now he just somewhat reasonably passed away. But to this day there are people who still know me as the person that will be there at six o'clock in the morning, even at every job. I'm an early bird anyway. It's nothing for me to get there at seven for the first six months and stay until whatever that's. You know that was before remote work and all this and that's a whole nother conversation as well. But you are setting the stage for your brand of what people think they know about you in that beginning. So figure out what you want that to be and then at a certain point you really don't ever have to do that again because you've already set.
Speaker 1Well, I want to think about it this way and honestly I think this is a principle that for sure, for sure, starting in finance risk, but GE just took it all the way there. When you start off, it's almost like a flywheel. When it gets going, that energy is there and it starts to work for you. So when you do the start, it's you being the flywheel and getting the energy going and figuring it out and understanding the people and understanding the assignment and checking in with your network and all the things right. But at some point that energy starts to take on a life of its own and it's the people around you.
Speaker 2Yes, um, and you don't have to lift that load by yourself, not by yourself, right?
Speaker 1Because you have followers.
Speaker 2You're not taking a walk by yourself. You look behind you and there are people behind you. So they know what you expect, yes, they know what you need. They know the bar yes, that they have to perform to.
Speaker 1And here's the thing the thing that I would say and I'd love your feedback on. But what I've learned in my leadership journey is, before the not perfect seasons, I used to think that I needed to figure things out in private too Kind of back what you're saying of back what you're saying. When I'm owning a new team, my comfortability with vulnerability has really served me because now that flywheel effect and that energy to learn and grow and acknowledge that, if nothing else changed, if I'm the only new pebble to this old sand, the assignment still has changed because there's a new pebble in the sand. So now how do we form? We understand the assignment collectively because it's a new voice in place and we them in to. We're figuring this out together that I think, once you really start to know who you are, what your center is, what you're good at, there's no threat in the not knowing and there's so much goodness in the vulnerability in the right way, people respond to that.
Speaker 2And they I mean I think the, the pandemic really brought that out and made it more important. I say a lot of times the that comfort with vulnerability. That was not a thing at GE. That was not Okay.
Speaker 1Now, now, now let let me be clear. Never, ever, ever, ever in a day of my GE life would I have even spelled the word vulnerability. In fact, if anything, my ability there became the ability to command with confidence externally and so much imposter syndrome internally, sometimes because we were always in new situations.
Speaker 2That's a whole other podcast. I just do not subscribe to that, but I hear what you're saying. Yes, now I think the people who were more successful in that horrific, chaotic time of pandemic were people who had been in an environment like General Electric, where you just had a very solid foundation of what I'll call the harder skills. Yes, had had evolved enough along the way where now they can marry that with this comfort more vulnerable, because you had to stop for a minute and take stock so it was better to come into it than to grow in.
Finding Balance Between Strategy and EQ
Speaker 2It is what you're saying well, I don't know if that's what I'm saying, but what I do know is you gotta have both break it down. Break down, I think if you, if you are just someone who brings the, the strategy, the, the finance, whatever functional expertise, without an understanding of how people, at whatever juncture that juncture of the pandemic happened to be, we were all in the same boat, trying to figure it out, needing a North Star. It became a superpower to be able to stop, take stock of the people around you, check in with them, check in with yourself, figure out what do they need from me now and today, and then get people oriented to the path forward, which was about strategy, which was about delivering, which was about outcomes. So the people who could, which was about strategy, which was about delivering, which was about outcomes. So the people who could do that to me rose above the people who could not, for sure.
Speaker 1I think it's the people with a lot of EQ. I'm be honest with you. I truly believe.
Speaker 2EQ vulnerability.
Speaker 1All those traits that probably in times where my Achilles heel in my GE journey and we're not talking, I don't know what G is like. Now I'm talking way back to Jack, oh my gosh I say that out loud, because if you don't know, you don't know. There's an alumni base of Jack Welch GEers that is a whole different MBA program that if you did not participate in that GE, you do not know what we're talking about.
Speaker 2OK, I think they know, though, because we all, we all, by equal parts, are like proud of it but can't believe you survived it. Yes, tell people all the time if you can call me successful, it is 100, because I built on that. That's right.
Speaker 1100 percent, um, and I it showed you your cracks and you knew what to fill. And for somebody else the cracks was way the hard side. For somebody else the cracks was way the hard side. For somebody else the cracks was way the soft side. For somebody else it was navigating, because they knew how to immediately do the middle and all the things right. You had to operate at high intellect. That was a non-negotiable and you had to before there was a word for agility in the workplace. You had to have that as your first muscle, because the minute you figured something out, somebody like Kim Seymour was tapping you to take the next thing.
Speaker 2You're like well, damn I just figured that out. I mean all of it, six Sigma, just a mind for process excellence and all of that, and it applies to things that are not process.
Speaker 1Yes, yep, all right, take us all the way back, because we look, I hope you figure out the theme. I'm not letting you go. We're going to talk again because I love you and your voice. The gems you are dropping, I know are blessing. I know are blessing.
Speaker 2Well, you know, it's so interesting when you know thank you. But I am convinced that I am not saying. I never, or very rarely, say anything that you don't intrinsically know True Somewhere within you, or maybe you just need someone to say it out loud, maybe you need permission to do the next thing, or whatever.
Speaker 1Somebody doesn't even know why. They tapped into this podcast today and now they're learning.
Speaker 2Right, I mean I, you know, I'm just not convinced that we're so brilliant and nothing is new under the sun that that I'm pretty convinced about. So do I have some different perspectives? Because I've sat in different seats and at different tables and heard brilliant and stupid stuff. So you know, all of that comes into the mix when I'm when I'm trying to think about what's the path forward for myself or someone else.
Speaker 1All right. So, look, we're going to do rapid fire because I All right. So, look, we're going to do rapid fire because I uh, I acknowledge that you are given your time and I want to hear a couple of things that allow folks to unpack a little bit more. Who? Kim Seymour is All right. So rapid fire is just that, like you, just answer first answer comes to your mind and we'll just keep it flowing. Okay, Morning routine must have. Oh, really All right.
Defining Success and Final Thoughts
Speaker 2Coffee and oh, you know what, I listen to radio. First thing, I still listen to radio.
Speaker 1No, like a turn it on radio.
Speaker 2Well, you know, I heart radio is radio now, but I'll listen to either Hot 97, because I live in New York, or I'm from Memphis. I listen to K-97, you know. So, yes, I do radio and I do coffee. No, my coffee is not black. By the time I get through with my coffee, there's very little coffee. Actually, today's flavor is horchata. I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that right.
Speaker 1Oh, ok, all right, the biggest myth about success and I know you've been through some hard things. My sister and you are doing them beautifully, thank you. What is the biggest myth about success?
Speaker 2I don't know if myth is the right word, but the biggest fallacy is letting somebody else define what that means for you. Now, those things that I've been through health-wise, that I've come through for me, success means options. I have, and I want people to know that they have those. You're not stuck. You might be stuck right now, but you're not stuck forever. You don't have to be. For me, it's options to do exactly what I want to do with people that I want to do it with, or to not do anything at all. Options.
Speaker 1All right, and here's the last one In box zero. Is it dream or reality? Because, girl, the struggle is real.
Speaker 2It's not, I don't know what it is about my personality that does not allow me to delete anything my. So every couple of years I get on a let me do the mass delete inbox. I get on a let me do the mass delete inbox. But then I start. Well, what if there's a you know some attachment somewhere deep that I might need to refer to that I've just forgotten. Right now, my inbox is unbelievable to to the to the tune of thousands.
Speaker 1Oh, wow.
Speaker 2And people who know me probably will hate to hear this my text, I never delete a text, oh Lord, oh Lord.
Speaker 1Let's see when when our last oh.
Speaker 2Lord, I'm going to say what it was, but it could have been, if you like, had a new phone.
Speaker 1Oh, this is not even right because it says May and that's not right. No, that's definitely not right.
Speaker 2It might be just on this phone, but anyway, Matter of fact, it says May 5th and I know that's not right. See that upsets me. I got to be able to. You never know what you might need to refer to. What did she say? Her sister's name was yes, yes. No, I don't delete and that's horrible, and my mom would say, or my grandfather would say, that that's the sign of a messy mind, and so that spurs me sometime to go through and try to clean out.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2But more you never know.
Speaker 1Yes, I think I feel that you never know. I feel that I feel that and I think that's a cultural thing too, because I feel like in my GE upbringing, that's where that you never know came in, right, I never know when I was going to be called to the carpet on the thing that I forgot about, right, yeah, I don't know if that's my thing.
Speaker 2It might just be I'm a hoarder. I don't know.
Speaker 1Well, look, maybe you don't have the trauma that I do, but in that regard and honestly I'm poking fun for sure there's so much more goodness there than there is trauma. I need everybody in the ethosphere to know that I had no trauma.
Speaker 2I had no trauma at any of my roles. That's what I mean by options. Yeah, that's right. The option is oh, I can stay here, I can deal with this, or I can go do something else. That's right. That's right. Let me make things align to that purpose.
Speaker 1Well, I have to tell you this has been an awesome conversation. I know for sure that someone needed to hear these words deposited in their spirit today as a reminder, as you say, and for some it was the first time that they were held up a mirror and told to look and straighten their tie. Okay, and that's important. Both of them are the not perfect moments make us proven, and I'm so grateful that God would trust me with Proven Not Perfect as a community and a share and a blessing to others, and I thank you for blessing me with your friendship for so many years. I'm telling this to you in front of the cheap seats. I'm giving you your roses. You have been literally a text or a call away for me and for my family. I can't give you enough love.
Speaker 2You're welcome, I appreciate it. That's it.
Speaker 1All right, all right, y'all, you got it. You heard it here. Proven not perfect. See you soon.