EP 143 “Fierce, Resilient, Unstoppable: Connie Moorhead’s Journey in Security”

“Resilience isn’t about never falling — it’s about getting up one more time than you fall.”

🎙️ Episode Summary
In this inspiring episode of the Security Circle Podcast, Yolanda sits down with Connie Moorehead, CEO of the CMOOR Group, trailblazer, and lifelong mentor in the security industry. Connie opens up about her journey from being underestimated and dismissed — even called “sugar tits” in the early days — to becoming a respected leader driving change across security, fire, and life safety.

Together, they explore the power of resilience (“fall down seven times, get up eight”), the importance of male allies and mentorship, and why confidence is built not by never failing, but by weathering storms and learning from them. Connie also shares how her fierce independence and passion for giving back fuel her leadership and inspire the next generation of women in security.

This episode is packed with hard truths, bold insights, and plenty of inspiration for anyone navigating challenges in their career — whether you’re just starting out or leading from the front.

BIO

Connie Moorhead is a highly accomplished chief executive with 35 years of experience across physical security, fire and life safety, and professional development industries. As the CEO of The CMOOR Group, she leads the overall executive vision and oversees implementation of strategic plans to facilitate growth.

Connie holds a BA degree in Psychology and Philosophy. Connie served on the board of a 501 (c) 3 as the Executive Director of School Dangers Organization from 2017 to 2019. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Western Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (WBFAA). When Connie is not running her business, she serves on one of the many industry groups or volunteer committees in which she participates, including the SIA Women in Security Forum, the ASIS Women in Security Community, and the California Alarm Association’s Women In the Security Evolution (WISE). Connie is an active ASIS, SIA, TMA, and a Learning Guild member. She also serves as the Treasurer of her local ASIS chapter.

In 2022, Connie was honored to be included in the SIA Women in Security Forum Power 100 list.

Security Circle ⭕️ is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers

Transcript

0:01

If you enjoy the security circle podcast, please like share and comment or even better. Leave us a fab review We can be found on all podcast platforms. Be sure to subscribe. The security circle every Thursday. We love Thursdays. Hi, I'm Yolanda And welcome to the Security Circle Podcast, produced in association with IFPO, the International Foundation for Protection Officers. This podcast is all about connection, bringing you closer to the greatest minds, boldest thinkers, trailblazers, and change makers across the security industry. Whether you are here to grow your network, spark new ideas, or simply feel more connected to the world of protection and risk, you are in the right place wherever you are listening from. Thank you for being a part of the Security Circle journey..

Yoyo: 1:13

So I have with me a very special guest, Connie Moorhead. She is the CEO of the Seymour Group, and she's also on the boards of several other things, and she's a STEM mentor, one lifelong learner. What have we got here? Lots of things on her LinkedIn profile and, I have to give you a, an early disclaimer that we will be using a couple of words that could cause offense. Uh, in fact, I don't know if the word sugar tits has ever caused anyone any offense, but you might hear that mentioned a couple of times. Connie Morehead, welcome to the Security Circle podcast. How you

Connie Moorehead: 1:42

doing? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for welcoming me and for that great introduction.

Yoyo: 1:48

I charge for them on the side, but you could have one for free. Uh, I should do your voicemail like that. Hey, you've reached the voicemail, Connie Morehead. Uh, don't leave a message. I love it. I love it. Connie, let's go to the Sugar Tits Let's go to the sugar tit story. What on earth. Did someone call you names?

Connie Moorehead: 2:10

You know, I've been called a lot of names in my time in this industry. Some of them very flattering and some not so flattering. Um, but, you gotta keep in mind, I started in this business 25 years ago and things were radically different back then. And so I always like to tell the story of, how when we were still, you know, in 2000. When I started my business, we were kind of still in a time of equality disillusionment. I mean, this was a time when, a male prospect literally told me that. Um, he wanted to refer to me as sugar tits, and I was supposed to just smile and endure it. Um, we've had, um, companies that would not work with us strictly because there was a woman at the head of the table. Um, and I started this business at a time when Booth Babes, or promotional models as they prefer to be called, um, were, you know, frequent at most trade shows. And so. I'm just so blessed that I've seen this full, you know, kind of come full circle where we don't, I don't have to endure being called Sugar tits anymore. I don't have to, um, be afraid to let people know that there's a woman, the head of this company because the industry is really starting to embrace equality. We still got work to do, but we've come a long way.

Yoyo: 3:38

We have a lot of good allies, don't we?

Connie Moorehead: 3:40

Absolutely. You know, some of the people that have helped me the most in my career were my male allies and a shout out to them because, um, they ran the show when I first started, and if a couple of them had not taken me under their wing, I don't know that I would've been as successful as I've been.

Yoyo: 4:00

Let's talk about mentorship because I know that most of my, yeah, all of my mentors have been men. And I don't know that that's because there's a lack of women mentors during the journey that I had, the need for mentorship. But, uh, how, how important has, you know, mentorship been in your career? Or what would you have done differently?

Connie Moorehead: 4:22

Oh, well, it's been radically important, both giving and receiving. You know, when I was earlier on, and even now, really, I have mentors that I have run things past. Um. Because I don't, you know, knee-jerk reactions are the death of ingenuity. I mean, you just have to kind of think things through sometime. And I really, um, appreciate the times that people have said, you know, cool your heels. Think about it overnight. Don't respond to the email and anger or in frustration. Um, don't have the phone call when you're still heated and. Approach it from a more laid back thought through rational perspective. And a lot of times it was my male allies telling me that, not the women in the industry.

Yoyo: 5:12

So you told me in the pre-chat that you were raised to be fiercely independent. What does that look like?

Connie Moorehead: 5:22

Well, my mother was a. Codependent married to a severe alcoholic. Okay? So she did not have hardly an ounce of independence, but yet she fought for her children to have it. And she raised me to never keep my mouth shut, never have fear or speaking about what I needed to speak about. Um, you know, there's a saying that says, speak even if your voice shakes and. She taught me that, you know, just to really stand up for my beliefs. And so how that is manifested is in a woman who can anger people sometime or who can disrupt the status quo, but who likes to really get things done. At the end of the day, I want to get things done. And so to me, being fiercely independent. Really does not mean, um, anything negative. It's, uh, it's wonderful to be able to have confidence and courage even in the midst of being, you know, maybe second guessing yourself a little bit. So that's what I always, I always define lumen as fierce because I think we're all very fierce and I encourage them to have that self-confidence to speak out.

Yoyo: 6:53

A lot of people would say that to be resilient. They've usually gone through kind of life's journeys of hard knocks, but there's a choice isn't there about resiliency or isn't there a choice? Do you just end up being resilient or do you train yourself to be resilient or is that just how we turn out? What's your view on being personally resilient?

Connie Moorehead: 7:17

I think it takes a little bit of practice, um, to not let falls be a failure. So, um, there's a Japanese proverb that I like to refer to that says, um, and I'm going to butcher how this is spoken in Japanese, but it's Narobi Yaki and what that means is fall down seven times, get up eight. And so I use that a lot. In business and in my personal life because it speaks to something universal about the human experience, right? That falling isn't necessarily failure, it's just part of the process. So I think what makes that proverb particularly compelling, it's how it fra reframes our relationship with setbacks. So instead of viewing falls as something to avoid or be ashamed of. It positions them as more of the inevitable that even ne they're even, uh, a unnecessary part of growth. So the emphasis on getting up one more time than you fall suggests that resilience isn't about never falling, we all fall. But it's about your response to that and, um. So, you know, it, it really allows me to use resilience to turn those setbacks into strategic advantage, advantages and competitive advantages. Um, knowing that every failure has taught me something. So when people in my company make mistakes and it happens, right? I mean, everybody makes a mistake. Um, I always ask them. What did you learn? Not how are you gonna avoid it again? Or, that was so terrible, how could you have done that? But what did you learn? Because. In, in the midst of the mistake. It's sometime sometimes harder to see that, but at least with a little bit of thought afterwards, my hope is that they would've learned something, not even necessarily about how to avoid that same mistake again, but how to grow from it.

Yoyo: 9:35

So I have a, I have a, I have a, an opinion about failure. This has come up in a couple of conversations and I really want to hear your view on what I'm gonna say. Okay. And sometimes I've been to say, final stage interviews and I had a particular CIO, a very senior woman who my respected straightaway at a very, very prominent business, ask me at the final stage interview to explain. Where I'd failed and what my learning outcomes were from it. And, uh, I, I was quite adamant, I said, you know, and people have heard me say this before, you know, I, I was a dj, a professional dj, and I, I never knew another woman dj. Uh, and then I went into policing and I was one of 7% of minorities in policing as a woman. Then I went into physical security where I was a, you know, like a SIA license badge holder, and I was one of, you know, 10%. Of, of, of that industry where being in a minority from my personal perspective was never about failing. It was always about never failing because the minute you failed, you got branded, you got a reputation, you lost trust and faith in people or the majority. And so I kind of leaned into this conversation with her and I said, where do you think I failed? Step to be in that journey and then be sitting in front of you where, where do you think I could have possibly failed? And then I've had a lot of colleagues say that the failures in their life have shaped their journey and they've been enriching, and there's been lots of learning outcomes. I'm like, I'm sorry I don't fail. People have failed me. Circumstances have failed me. You know, I've had some dreadful situations where I've had to have all the resilience in the world to make sure I don't fall through the cracks in the floor. But I could never say that was down to failure. What's your view on that? I want to learn, um,

Connie Moorehead: 11:44

you know, I think that your position is very interesting. I dunno that I completely would, would side with it. Necessarily, but I do see what you're trying to say or what you're saying. Um, for me, my story is very similar to yours. I started out in forensic psychology and worked in a prison system where it was, I, I, I could count on one hand the number of women that had the, had a job back then, um, in the corrections and. Then moved into the construction industry, which was, you know, as, you know, highly male dominated. And from there, pivoted into the security industry. And I've been doing that for the past 25 years. And as we all know, women don't, you know, have equitable, um, positioning, at least not at high level jobs, um, in this industry and not really in the technical ones either the technicians and installers and so forth. So, um. With that being said, I know that for me, I have made some really poor decisions. Well, is that a failure? I, I don't know. Um,

Yoyo: 13:01

you make decisions based on what you know at the time. You don't go and make a deliberately bad

Connie Moorehead: 13:06

decision. That's right. But I feel like those decisions may have failed other people, you know? Mm-hmm. And there's been times where I've had to maybe let somebody go or. Um, uh, go to a customer and say, you know, we didn't do X the way we were supposed to, and kind of fall on my sword a little bit. But again, I don't know that I would harshly describe those as failures. And some of this is semantics, but I think it's important to, regardless of how you feel about it, whether it's viewed. Through your binoculars as a failure or not that you can't, you have to overcome them. You have to learn from them. You have to find the resilience, you know, that we're talking about and, and, and I think that evolves into a real authentic confidence. You know, confidence can be, um. There's this difference between untested confidence and that kind of deep confidence that comes from knowing you've weathered storms before. And so each time we overcome something difficult, we build more of that deep test confidence and, and that. Builds evidence for ourselves that we can handle anything that comes next. And so I would, I would say to you to kind of wrap all this up is 25, 30 years ago, I would've said, I have failures today. I probably look at it more like you do that. I've had a journey and a learning path, and I've learned a hell of a lot from it. But were they failures? I don't, I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe.

Yoyo: 15:00

I really wanted you to reflect on that because, I think almost maybe I wanna go back and study the word failure more because I've always thought that failure is about, the deliberation of doing something that you know isn't gonna be the right thing to do. And, and, and I just figured that as well as when one says I don't fail. Right. It can come across arrogant and it isn't meant to. It's just deeply honest and truthful from my perspective. Of course, I've made mistakes. I've made mistakes, but I wouldn't say I've made career failures or career mistakes. I, for example, I. I neglected my health. I didn't prioritize, you know, my health, and I realized I, I should have done so. I, I re, this is how I can draw the comparison, but I can't draw a comparison to Failures at Work because dual attitude was, there's enough shit that can go wrong without me adding to the mix. That's

Connie Moorehead: 15:54

very true.

Yoyo: 15:56

So, and the shit does go wrong and bad stuff happens, and you find yourself on the back foot not seeing things coming your way. And that's not a failure when you going in wholeheartedly into something. I just think, you know, there's a, there's enough I don't need to add to it. So therefore I was very conscientious about what I did do and what I didn't,

Connie Moorehead: 16:18

you know? I take that point very much to heart. I think that resilience and how we view it is a renewable resource, meaning that, unlike other resources that can get depleted, resilience actually grows stronger with use. So each challenge we overcome increases our capacity to handle bigger and better challenges. And so again, I would say that probably. Eons ago when I was young and maybe didn't and naive and didn't know as much, I would've maybe viewed some things differently than I certainly do today. When I was growing up, when I would bring home an A, my mother would say, why isn't an A plus?

Yoyo: 17:01

Oh, that's harsh con. Oh, I

Connie Moorehead: 17:03

would bring home a 99%. And she would say, why isn't it a 100? And

Yoyo: 17:08

how did that make you feel?

Connie Moorehead: 17:10

You know, at the time. I tell you what, it made me crack down and get those A pluses and the one hundreds. And to this day I really challenge myself. I mean, I really don't like to play it safe. And so you can look at that as harsh and maybe she made some mistakes, not failures, but mistakes in her parenting style. But I knew what she was trying to do. I had, uh, siblings. Let's just say as attuned to scholarly, um, approaches as I was and, uh, were more interested in partying through school. And so she was just, you know, I'll be damned if my third kid's gonna do that too. So she just really wanted me to succeed, but probably to a. A degree that was not possible. Um, every time at least. But it did, you know, to this day, I'm 56 years old almost, and I still think I could be a race car driver. I mean, you know, it's like I.

Yoyo: 18:17

I can't do that. I, I think, uh, opportunity means that actually with the right resources and the right running and the right availability, you can do pretty much anything you put your mind to. I think that's how amazingly resourceful we are as human beings, but

Connie Moorehead: 18:32

absolutely.

Yoyo: 18:34

I think your mom's given you a kind of skill there. She's kind of drilled it into you a little bit, but I've always maintained, I see. I chose not to have children, but I always knew that if I was, of that way, that I would've, you know, so fiercely managed them as children, that they would've hated me, but they would've been very successful. And I always know that,'cause I, I could see how controlling, you know, uh. How control was a big impact in my growing up as a child. But, uh, yeah.

Connie Moorehead: 19:06

Yeah.

Yoyo: 19:07

So, um, look at what stage in your life were you at when you realized I wanna be the top lady?

Connie Moorehead: 19:18

Oh, I was probably nine. I mean, you know, I'm not, I'm not kidding either. I, I took a typing class in high school. I'll just tell you one story. I. I came home infuriated that I had to take typing, and my mom said, why are you so upset about learning how to type? I said, mom, I will not need to know how to type because I will have people typing for me. And you know, of course now I type all day long and thank goodness I took that typing class and I don't have a, you know, an assistant that does everything for me. So, um, uh. Thank goodness for that class. But at the time I was just convinced. I mean, you couldn't have told me otherwise. I will not need to know a type because that's, you know, that's just, I'll have people do that for me.

Yoyo: 20:07

I mean, that's phenomenal because on the flip side, for example, I've never wanted to be the top lady. I've never wanted to be a CEO. I have a best friend who's always aspired to be a CEO. She has a first CEO role right now, and I looked at her and I'm like, oh, it's a lonely, lonely job, Connie, to be a CEO. I've always wanted to be someone's fabulous. Number two, do you know what I mean? The person that relies on, right? So I've never had that desire to be at the top of the tree and to have the overall accountability and responsibility. I don't have an alter ego. What is it that. Makes you wanna be a CEO. What is it that was in you at a young age that said, hell, this, this is gonna be my domain?

Connie Moorehead: 20:51

Um, you know, it, it, I think I, I come from a background that's probably very different than a lot of CEOs and so, um, uh, we didn't have a lot of money and, uh, I was taught to be very resourceful at a very young age. And I've already told you the story about being taught to be independent. And I think the third lesson that I take from my youth is how important, um, diverse perspectives drive better decisions. So. Not only did I want, it wasn't like I wanted the power or the authority. Um, I wanted to drive change wherever I was at. And I felt like the best place I could do that was, you know, sitting at the head of the table only. With a team of very smart, very qualified people around me. Um, now I, I know that more today than I did as a kid popping off, but you know, my success has not come. Just from me. My success comes from knowing that I had to hire people much smarter than I am because they fill roles within my organization that I'm just not great at. You know, I'm not a programmer. I'm not someone that can sit in a dark room and type code all day. I need to be on the phone and talking to people and at meetings and doing presentations and that sort of thing. I think that. I just, I feel most comfortable speaking to a room of a hundred people. One-on-one conversations are more challenging for me, so I just always envisioned that I wanted to be, you know, on the podium speaking to a large group, not doing the one-on-one day-to-day things that really require a lot more talent. But that, I just don't, I don't excel at that. So.

Yoyo: 22:59

But you put a coder in front of a large audience and they just go crumbly. They have no words. Trying to get someone technical to, to speak in normal language is hard enough, let alone it is speak to, to, so it's horses for courses, right? That's, you are the front woman. You are the voice and the narration of your business out front. Not a lot of CEOs are comfortable being out front. You see quite a lot of them doing a lot of things in the background. Like they don't really do the PR stuff. They have people to do that for them. That's true. So you're able to steer the narrative of the business as well. Right.

Connie Moorehead: 23:36

I like to think I am. I come up with some great ideas sometime and some ideas that don't pan out. We'll just say, but um. But I do like to be in the light. I like to be out in front.

Yoyo: 23:53

So at the moment, what have you, what can you talk to for your business Seymour group in terms of like, where have you taken the business? Take me through, the sort of the life cycle of its own journey under your leadership.

Connie Moorehead: 24:08

Sure. I mentioned earlier, I started my company in right at the end of 1999. So we were, um. You know, I had been in the construction space working for an organization that did data mining for that industry. And as you know, back then, securing a building was a construction afterthought. It wasn't like it is today where security systems are specified and integrated with the construction process. So the company I. Four, went through about$16 million in VC funding in nine months. I mean, I saw the writing on the wall that this company was going under and going under fast. So I started to negotiate my departure, and while I was still, you know, focused, I wasn't focused on starting a business at that time, but I knew I wanted to leave on my own terms. I wanted to protect myself. And so when the department was finally shut down and I was laid off. I did what a lot of people do, right? I had to do the unemployment office because I thought it's gonna take me months to land another job. And I was literally driving to that office when I turned my car around, did a U-turn, went home and announced to my family. We're starting a business, you know? And keep in mind, we did not have. A business plan or money or clients or anything. Um, but what I did is I called up five of the most engaged prospects that I'd been working with in my previous role and shared with them my vision. And my goal was to build an organization that was dedicated to one purpose, and that was to know my client's company, their business, their processes, as well as they did. So I knew that I had to have a strict niche focus, and that was the only way that I was gonna accomplish that goal. And so the Seymour Group was born by offering learning and development solutions. Exclusively to the security, fire and life safety market. And within three months we'd closed business with three of those five accounts. Um, one of them was our first six figure sale and within nine months we'd hired our first employee. Within 18 months, we had developed and launched the first e-learning course ever used in the security space. So it just started to kind of. You know, snowball and, and business started to pick up and we were able to do what we wanted to do. Um, now it, it wasn't easy, like I said at first. Um. This was a time when I could be called names or when, um, I was told that they wouldn't work with us because of my gender and so on and so forth. But more times than I can count. I've had people assume that I'm not smart or tough because of my looks or the way I carry myself. Or just because of my gender. But I love that'cause I love it when people underestimate me. Um, it's a, I love the challenge of proving them wrong. And so gradually, as these things tend to go equal treatment and equal playing fields started to sprout up and, um. A few other strong women and I in the industry were very vocal about the promotional models, for instance, that were used at the trade shows, and by two th, and this is specifically ISC West, but by 2010, some companies kind of started self prohibiting this practice. By 2016, the event organizers banned it completely, and then that started being reinforced a couple years later. Um, the way that what we did was we positioned women as a powerful buying group, and when they came into a booth to learn about a company or a product, they wanted to feel comfortable and feel, you know, and talk with a technical expert. So, um. We've had the pleasure also of working with some of the best and biggest players in the security space. Being a small business, you might think that we serve the small to mid-size market more, but we actually work with the larger integrators and dealers and manufacturers. Um. We've trained now more than 400,000 students in the industry and we've generated, um, a little more than$8 million in revenue for our clients. So that says a lot about a little company from Louisville, Kentucky. Yeah, and you know, when you skip ahead to today, I'm just so grateful. I'm in three different groups. That promote women in the security space and each of these groups serves to make inequality a thing of the past for women and other underrepresented groups. And that's a beautiful thing. So I'm I, I love every minute of what I do and I wake up every morning excited. For what the day holds. And so that I think, is a rarity. I think a lot of people don't get to love their jobs. So I think my biggest lesson for people is find your passion. I mean, find it and pursue it relentlessly.

Yoyo: 29:52

Even the most powerful male leaders are increasingly calling out. What's long been obvious that when women lead teams thrive, it's not just representation, it's results. So I'm gonna read you a couple here. Satya Nadella, who's a CEO of Microsoft, said some of the strongest cultural transformations we've had were led by women, empathy, clarity, and collaboration. Those are superpowers just in Trudeau. Uh, Canadian pm Former Canadian pm He had 50% of his cabinet as women, didn't he? And then the CEO of Salesforce, mark Benioff, you know, publicly addressed and corrected internal gender pay gaps. We can't be a great company, he said without great women leaders. And then the last one, general Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, US Military, said, well, you see women in command roles. You see discipline, cohesion, and resilience go up. It's not about fairness, it's about winning. Those are some pretty sound endorsements. I mean. I know that, you know that we are living that, uh, we're on a, we're in a good direction, aren't we? I feel like I've certainly left the ladder down for other women. I'm certainly mentoring and hopefully shaping the minds of young women professionals to be bold. Be brave. What's your message to young women professionals, Connie?

Connie Moorehead: 31:10

Well, several things. Um, like I said, first of all, when we were talking about resilience, you know, don't be afraid to speak up. To build that courage inside yourself, that confidence and, and trust your voice. Um, second I would say is that, um, you know, women make up nearly half of the consumers and workforce, so female leadership. Provides really valuable insights into what our customers need and our employee experiences and market opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked. So putting themselves in positions of leadership, and that could be leading a team, it could be leading. Department, it could be leading an organization, it really doesn't matter. But that voice of leadership coming from women is vital because, you know, my success as a woman, CEOI hope inspires other women and, um, demonstrates what's possible and encourages more diverse leadership pipelines in our industry. So, um. I think when I'm speaking to, especially the younger generations, I try to remember that it is a different time. Um, and that learning from those that have not necessarily more intelligence, but more wisdom is. Something that they should try to do and then pass it on, pass it on to the next generation or next group. Um, that's so important to give back, you know, to whether you find that in volunteering or mentoring, um, working with an association, there's a lot of different ways to give back and I find that to be another lesson I try to impart on other people is. To give back to an industry that's so benefiting you.

Yoyo: 33:23

Yeah. Um, Denzil Washington was the one who, who I saw say that the three stages in your life, one is learning, one is earning, the other one's returning. We're both at that returning stage. And, and I, he has been for some time, bless this. Cotton. Socks, yummy. Yummy. I mean cotton socks. But, he talks a lot of sense. Uh, it is about returning, but you do more than the average. Joanne, you know, you are, you are on boards, you know, you, you're giving back here, there and everywhere. I think I could probably say the same with myself. I don't give back in any one way whatsoever, but., It's something that's built in us, isn't it? I could never kind of turn, turn anyone away that wanted some mentoring or some advice. Right. I could never sort of turn down a good cause that I could really support and help benefit and give a good platform to,

Connie Moorehead: 34:13

I get the benefit of seeing people that could really need some help and are maybe, you know, flailing a little bit or struggling a little bit, and to see them kind of blossom. It doesn't stroke my ego. It makes me feel really confident about where we're going. That to me is a great thing because, I don't always feel that way, whether it's politically or, you know, gender relations or however you wanna name it. Things can be frightening out there. And so I love to see when people kind of blossom into themselves and find the way to then turn around and lead other people. I think more so than that is, you know, I understand that representation matters for talent and for culture, and so. Um, when I get to see that reflected in people of different backgrounds, shapes, sizes, colors, genders, it just, um, maybe I tie that back into my first thought, which is it just gives me a little bit of peace to know that we maybe don't have it so bad and that maybe their, they being the next group to lead is capable and able to take the baton and run with it.

Yoyo: 35:39

I've got two answers. Number one, I think, volunteering is giving and the more you give, the more life just gives you back good stuff, right? So number one, the more and, and the more inconvenient you give the greater the reward in return, I find. But, and that's a personal experience, but the way I likened it, just listening to you talking there, it's like being at the bus stop. Seeing a bus there and you see the driver's clearly not sure where he needs to go and he needs someone to hold the map for him and give him some directions. I'm like, alright then, so you get on you, you hold the map so everyone gets where they need to go. Even though it's inconvenient, you know, you enjoy the purpose, this great purpose there, even though you really need to be at the bus stop waiting for the other bus. That's how I describe volunteering. It is something that does take you away from your course of comfortableness. You know what I mean? Your course of Predictableness. You know, we could all stay at home, do very little, watch our favorite TV show, but ultimately volunteering is a way of coming out of that and saying, no, I'm gonna work. I'm

36:47

gonna do something inconvenient. I'm gonna

Yoyo: 36:50

but pay it forward. You know that. That's how I describe.

Connie Moorehead: 36:55

Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. I like what you said about, the more inconvenient the volunteer is, maybe the more you grow or learn from it be, you know, the more you get back. Um I kind of liken it almost to, well, I go back to programming, you know, garbage in, garbage out, right? So if all you're putting into something, into your career, into your workplace is that you're going to work from, you know, nine to five. And then, people speak so much about work-life balance, right? Where they're, they will not take calls after a certain time. They have rigid boundaries, and I like to think of things more as, work life harmony where yes, of course I'll take a call at 10:00 PM if a client needs me, but I may also take off at noon to go see my kids' volleyball game. I mean, it's just a, it's a harmony between work and life. Yeah. And I have to have it that way because my role requires me to work sometime around the clock. And so I think that, um. Finding the time to volunteer can be tough if I don't look for it and don't make the time. I think we all find time to do what's really important to us and ultimately, and so I think that it's very important that people try to kind of carve out initially. If you don't think you have the time, take it in steps, do something small. Um. My husband always says that I don't do anything without overachieving. So when I volunteer, I have to, you know, volunteer for three different groups and take on three different leadership roles for women in security. And, you know, the list goes on and on. And I'm not patting myself on the back. I'm actually saying that that may not be the best route because I wear myself fairly thin, but. Um, you know, if you've got something to share or something to say, or something you can help someone else do, then by all means do it because, um, there's too many other people out there that will make you feel small or insignificant for even asking a question. I like to make people feel bold when they've, you know, asked a tough question.

Yoyo: 39:24

Yeah. And I also love the fact that you've basically talked about, you know, finding the time to be where it's important, whether that is with the business and with family. There are times when, you know, it's important to be doing work things and there are times when it's important to be with family. I wanna go back to resilience just for a little bit because there are some folk that will be listening and they'll be like, okay, I could probably do it a bit more resilience. I don't know if I'm really resilient enough. The minute this happens, I go, on a wobble my head's not in the game. What life tips would you give to a young professional who clearly wants to be more resilient, would you say?

Connie Moorehead: 40:04

Wow. So I get to play therapist a little bit. Okay. Um, so life tips. Well, to. To not beat yourself up, right? So that when you do have a falling down, you know, pick yourself up by your bootstraps and ask yourself what I ask my team, which is, what did I learn from that experience? I would say also to realize that everyone faces difficulties. Everyone faces falling down. It can actually be a competitive moat to, recover. Well, and what I mean by that is, you know, our ability to persist through those tough times really becomes a differentiating factor. So while others might pivot away or give up, resilience lets us. Push through and to solve problems and turn them into solutions that others may not find. When someone on my team brings me a problem, I always ask them, what are three possible solutions? Because A, I don't want them just laying problems at my feet. I want them to think about it a little bit, and B, I think you grow so much from. Trying to kind of solve things yourself and your three solutions may not be one of the solutions we choose, but it's got us thinking differently about the problem, and that's what we need to do is think differently. So I guess that would be my third bit of advice is don't be afraid to analyze yourself and think differently to stand out from the crowd.

Yoyo: 41:45

I can't say that any better except for the fact, I think the only thing I would add is that especially young folk, a lot of people don't ask them what they think very often. You know, they don't sort of say, oh, tell me what you think about that. What's your opinion on this? In fact, I think generally as a population, we've gotten very bad in saying, what do you think? And just literally not saying anything and active listening and stop talking, don't you think? Right.

Connie Moorehead: 42:12

I think that's a real problem. This was many years ago. It was early, early on in my career, and I was working as an administrative assistant to someone who worked with the CEO of that company and the CEO, my manager who was in charge of sales and another. C-suite person in charge of marketing. We're in an office having a meeting and I had to walk in and deliver some papers or something. I don't really remember, but they were talking about a promotion they wanted to do. This was in commercial real estate, and so they wanted to offer something to entice people to rent properties. And I just without thinking, popped up and said, well, I've got some really neat ideas in that. Area and the CEO looked at me and said, if we wanted your opinion, we would've asked for it.

Yoyo: 42:59

Oh no.

Connie Moorehead: 43:01

And I just felt so, I just imploded,, I just felt so small and I don't ever wanna be responsible for making someone else feel like their point doesn't matter. I may have to reign them in occasionally. I may have to put some. Guardrails around the thoughts they're having, but I want, in the long run, for them to feel good about coming to me with ideas, concepts. It could be the next revolutionary thing that we do as an organization that could come from the. The janitor of the office, who knows? You have to listen to people, every person, every walk of life, every make and model of this human race has value. So to say that I'm more valuable because I'm the CEO, you know, ultimately at the end of the day, that's three letters, and a lot of people have much better insights than I do because they're working next to it so closely.

Yoyo: 44:05

I, I felt like going a little bit Mr. T from the A team. You, I pitted a fool that doesn't listen to your ideas back in those days.'cause look at you now. You know what an, what a prick is what I say. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, we, we've all had experiences like that, you know? I, I said this before, but, uh, so I apologize for those who've heard it, but I remember when I was in the police and my inspector walked through the room and he went, how you doing? I went, oh, yes sir. It's been a really good day. And I just started talking about my day because I thought he was interested and my sergeant was like, shut up. He, he had get out. You can't like what? You know, that was belittling and unnecessary for her to, to even be. He, he might just wanna know about my day. Um, because when you're an inspector, you are not out there on the streets and on the, you know, meeting the public and at the front line. And so, you know, we, I guess we've being there to a degree. Um, you have, uh, talked about some amazing things today and I, I agree with you. Everything. I think you're very sound. There's only one thing that I'm a little bit in question about, uh, is your taste in music, Connie? Metallica Really Absolutely.

Connie Moorehead: 45:18

My taste in me, and, and I did, I did recently go to both of those concerts. So, um, I, I, I have to tell myself, but, um, I love every kind of music except country. Or, or bluegrass, you know, I can't, and living in Kentucky, you would think I would love that stuff, but I just can't do it. It makes me feel numb in the brain. So I like, but you know, other people would say to me, how do you listen to that crap? You listen to? So, um, I, I think most solid musicians. Are either dead or in rehab. I mean, they just, you know, they were born in the, you know, fifties and sixties and that's what their life, you know, craft was. And I appreciate it so much that at the end of a long day I can, you know, bang my head.

Yoyo: 46:10

I think, well, I, it says a lot, but I also know you're in good company here. Liking that really serious music. I think for me, jazz, uh, it turns me, uh, a bit weird. I find the disorder. I find the disorder quite chaotic. My brain can't make logical sense of the notes and the irregularity and the lack of, you know, any kind of order in the music. Yeah, so jazz and jazz and me, I feel like jazz could make me go a little bit autistic. Yeah, like, you know, I think some people might get that. Some people will be like, oh, that's it, yoyo, I'm not listening anymore. That's a deal breaker for me. Connie, keep up the great work. Keep up the voluntary work. Keep up the articles you write for many publications as a guest, a guest columnist. Uh, and that's how I. Believe it or not, came across you, and I also came across you because you'd won yet another award. Have a great year and I look forward to hopefully meeting you in person when I come to the States one time. Thank you so much for joining us on the Security Circle podcast.

Connie Moorehead: 47:15

Thank you so much for having me. It was such a pleasure.