1. Resilience and attitude as the keys to life's fulfillment | "Resilience" by Lisa Lisson

#1: Lisa Lisson, known for being the first female and first Canadian President of FedEx Express Canada, leads a team of over 10,000 employees coast-to-coast specializing in international and domestic courier solutions. Lisa shares her story to inspire others to find fulfillment, achieve goals, and navigate what curve balls life may throw. Her story proves that living each day with purpose and gratitude in the face of adversity is possible.

In this conversation with Renee Durepos, we will uncover how Lisa Lisson's "Resilience"  built our guest, Renee, that we know today. 

Prefer video or want closed captions?⁠⁠ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9dm9oyLyVBg

Did you enjoy the episode?⁠⁠ Please leave us a review! It really helps the podcast especially since we’re just getting started. Even just a sentence is perfect!


Thanks for tuning in and come back every other Tuesday for a brand-new episode! Make sure you hit the follow button to get notified.

Transcript

Shar:

when I talk to you Renee about, you know, the idea of this podcast and what book you wanna... talk about, I mean, I didn't even have to finish the sentence or the question before you jumped in and you said, resilience, resilience

Renee:

Yes.

Shar:

by Lisa Lissettres. And like, that's the one that we're going to be talking about. So I'm just so thrilled by your energy and everything that you bring to the table. And I'm so excited to jump into this book with you. Before we do that, I would love if you could maybe talk to our audience about who you are and what's the work that you do in this world.

Renee:

Well, thank you. First of all, thank you for having me, Shar. I'm thrilled to be here, excited and a little bit about myself. So my name is Renée Durepo or Durepo in English. I go by many different accents. I am French from New Brunswick, and I am currently a fitness instructor and the owner of Be Strong Fitness. We are a community of fabulous ladies, a woman only fitness boutique. And I like to say that members come to us because they are looking to make their physical self a priority, but they stay with us because they find in our community of women some like-minded, strong independent females that are really in search for making themselves a priority and finding their best self. And I have to say I have made my best friends through this community. And I'm very lucky because I get to do what I love and I love what I do, which is what I hope for every single person out there because that's really what passion is all about, right? So that's a little bit about me.

Shar:

I love that. And I know now why we connected because so much of what you do and so much of what I do is all about finding that best self, the

Renee:

Totally.

Shar:

best version of you.

Renee:

Yep, and that's one of the reasons, we'll get into this, but resilience. Lisa is all about that, all of her life, since she was a small child. So connected really profoundly with that book for

Shar:

Amazing.

Renee:

that reason.

Shar:

Amazing. I can't wait to jump in. And just for our audience members, like just a little vote of confidence for what you do, Renee, and the world that you have created. Like Renee and I met randomly through several sessions when I heard her speak at several seminars. And then I met her in person and your energy is just something else. It's like out of this

Renee:

Thank

Shar:

world,

Renee:

you.

Shar:

your energy

Renee:

Thank you.

Shar:

and your words and your inspiration, like you have the ability to touch the soul with the

Renee:

Thank

Shar:

words

Renee:

you.

Shar:

that you choose. Yeah, and you inspire action instantly. And so when you say that you've built a community that have turned into family and friends, I believe it, like

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

100%, if anyone can do it, that would be you. So

Renee:

Well,

Shar:

just

Renee:

thank

Shar:

a vote

Renee:

you.

Shar:

of confidence

Renee:

Thank you.

Shar:

for anyone who's listening and curious by what it is that you offer, check it out.

Renee:

Thank you. We have fun. You know what? You always come back to fun. Fun and passion.

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

And it's hard to find, but it's not impossible.

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

Right? That's what life's about. Being

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

in search of your true self and your happiness and joy.

Shar:

Yeah. And once you find that community, it's like it's worth its weight

Renee:

Totally,

Shar:

in gold.

Renee:

totally, yeah, totally,

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

yeah.

Shar:

OK, so we're talking about Lisa Lisson, and today we're talking about a memoir. So this is a very interesting book. It's a book about resilience and it's titled quite appropriately because Lisa is the president of FedEx Express Canada. And she got the job when she was 41. The interesting thing about her was that she's actually been at FedEx for a very long time. Like she joined the company as an associate marketing specialist and today is the senior VP, but previously held the role of president and senior VP as well. And so she is such an incredible human. And this book is called Resilience because it talks about her journey as she builds her career at FedEx Express Canada alongside this really traumatic event that had happened to her, which was the sudden passing of her husband at a very young age. And she was responsible for raising their four children as a single mother while, again, continuing to build this incredibly successful career. And for her, you know, she is so open and vulnerable and authentic with her audience.

Renee:

Mm.

Shar:

And she has this ability to just bring that open conversation and that frankness in how she's built her career around these extremely, extremely difficult hardships in her life. And the one of the really cool things about her is that she's local to us, right? And so

Renee:

for

Shar:

Renee,

Renee:

the.

Shar:

you've had the chance of actually meeting her, which is probably why you jumped to this book and jumped to her name when I was kind of talking about sharing this experience with you. So why don't you walk us through what happened there?

Renee:

So yeah, I was invited to a conference, a local conference in Burlington, and so fortunate that she was a guest speaker. And Lisa was there speaking, was an all female, it was an alumni for Western Ivy, and my sister-in-law, is a Western graduate and she invited me as a guest. You were able to do that. So it was a room filled with females and she basically spoke about the need to stay true to yourself and and she had just within the year authored Resilience, her book, her memoir, and she was presenting it as a gift to every single person out there and I have to say after walking out had that book not been given to me, my next stop would have been Chapters Indigo and buying it because she is an incredible woman. I mean, if you don't have the chance to ever see her in real life, speak, just her book, you finish that book and you feel connected to her. You feel like you would love the opportunity to go for coffee and just get mentored by this incredible gifted and talented woman. So it was an amazing turning point for me because I was at that point still in corporate life. So I've led multiple, I've been in entrepreneurship at 14 years old and joined corporate life and then joined our family business and was an entrepreneur with my father and mother and now I'm an entrepreneur alone. And at that time I was in the corporate world and as a woman in the corporate world in the meat industry, a very male-dominated industry, it was an eye-opener for me. And Lisa really gave me a gift that day, that to this day, it's been several years, I will be living things and I go back to resilience. I go back to Lisa. So my goal one day is to meet this lady again. I'm always on her social media, seeing where her next speaking opportunity is going to be. And who knows, life has this way. I live in Oakville, she lives in Burlington Oakville area. So. You never know if I'll meet up with her, but she's quite inspirational.

Shar:

You just never know. And I'm so happy that you put it into the universe. That's the goal.

Renee:

That's right.

Shar:

And you know what? It'll come.

Renee:

I hope so, yeah.

Shar:

Absolutely. I'm so thrilled that you shared with us the first time that you met with her and the impression that she left and the book itself was instrumental to so much of your growth, it sounds like. And so let's jump into the book, because this is why I have this podcast built to life in that when we read a book, we're just so in somebody else's story. And

Renee:

fully.

Shar:

studying something in theory or sort of living through somebody else's experience is just like level one really of developing

Renee:

Hmm. 

Shar:

ourselves. And level two is really taking what it is that we're learning from a theoretical standpoint and applying it to our world. And it shows up differently. And so I love that you introduced the idea that you... have used so many of some of these concepts in your personal life. Can you walk us through one or two that have really moved you?

Renee:

Yeah, so, you know, we have this lady by the name of Lisa who, you know, in theory, she's a pillar of strength, right, with all the hardships that she's gone through. And despite all her strength, I will speak to a point in the story in her book. It's right at the end where after... her husband is on life support for two years. So Lisa, you know, her personal life was such that at, I think she was 38, at 39 years old, her husband suffered a massive heart attack. And for whatever reason, after about half an hour, they were able to bring him back. And for the next two years, Lisa chose to keep him on life support. Now two years, that is over 700 days. And that is... in itself phenomenal that she kept that hope going. And she is a pillar of strength. Through that, she managed to go up the ranks at FedEx, raise four kids as a single mom, and nurse or try to nurse a husband that was on his dying bed. And there's a point in the story where she... It's at the end of the, it's almost two years, her husband has been on life support and she has to make a decision whether she's going to let him go. And she finds a necklace on the ground. She's in Toronto, she's out with her friends and she finds this golden necklace on the ground and it has a cross. And this woman of strength, where you would think has all the answers, is a successful executive… she finds this cross and she takes that as her sign and puts her faith and hope that she needs to do the biggest challenge in her life is let her husband go after two years. We all know when you put something off, it gets harder to act on. She's been having to let go of us in two years and she takes this as the single sign. She lets this one cross allow all her strength into this one sign to lead her into her next chapter in her life. And that's vulnerability, right? And for me, that stuck with me because no matter how strong you are, how resilient you are, you have to keep your eyes open on the little things in life. And they could be very small, but you need to keep your spirit open that life will give you challenges, will give you interesting... an interesting journey, but if you don't remain open and sometimes let go of things that you can't control, you won't live your full life. And that for me was a pivotal moment that even several years after reading that book, sometimes I look for that cross, for that necklace dropped on the ground because it's not always obvious what life has in store for you. And so... Three years ago after we I at that point in my life. I was 39 years old I had been working with my father and mother in our family business. It was a software business. It was 15 years and we had to make a decision We had to decide if we're gonna sell the company and that meant if I sold the company, what would I do? I didn't want to go work for anybody else and that gold necklace on the ground. I was looking for that golden necklace on the ground because sometimes you think the most obvious answers are in front of you but they're not. And so it's interesting that of all those 246 pages I believe it is, for me that golden necklace, the hardest decision in her life was encouraged or was she allowed it. by finding something on the ground and giving it meaning and saying, okay, I'm going to put this in your hands. I don't have control. I will let you go, Patrick, which was her husband. And what's feared her the most is what comes after. That was her biggest, in my opinion, her biggest moment of resilience when she was at her deepest. And that's what I think life is where it's about. When you're most, when you're things most at risk, when your loved ones... are most at risk of anything, your career, what you've put your heart and soul in, and you have to change or you have to make a decision to change the path when you don't know what the day or the second after is going to be, that's I think is where the biggest challenges lie or the biggest opportunities lie for us. And you know, look for that falling necklace, look for that necklace that somebody else dropped for you, for you to find. So... I always go back to that and when I made that decision with my father and mother to sell the company I had no idea what my next path was going to be but I have to tell you it was the Best decision for me not the easiest But I'm now doing what I love to do which is supporting women in their fitness to be their best version and that I mean that's gratifying.

Shar:

Wow. And so the golden necklace for you is a symbol

Renee:

Yes.

Shar:

of that inflection point. Because that's what

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

it comes to mind is that you're going steady and there's a change upcoming. And it's almost like you are maybe mentally ready for that change,

Renee:

Hmm.

Shar:

but your body or there's some resistance

Renee:

Your mind.

Shar:

either in your body or your mind. Yeah. And it's almost like this thing enables you to imagine a different future.

Renee:

Completely. Lisa talks about visualization, goal setting and writing it down, acting on it, but visualization is so important, is seeing it. Seeing yourself in that brand new house that is not for sale yet.

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

Seeing yourself in the role of president when you are in assistant marketing junior or whatever it is, is visualizing it. And I think that's where we, I think as humans, we limit ourselves because of the risk factor and the fear factor, right? We limit ourselves because we don't want to fail, but that is where we thrive the most. is when you do put yourself out there and you fail, which is resilience, right? This book is so brilliantly labeled and worded, resilience. It's exactly what this book is. Even if I'm not sure if the word resilience even made it in those 246 pages, I can't remember seeing it, but I come out with the clearest definition of what resilience is, which is the okay, the permission to fail. Permission to fail. In order to fail, you need to do things you don't know. You need to take risks. You need to fear, you know, and bouncing back. Bouncing back better, stronger, happier.

Shar:

And she

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

says this so beautifully, you know, she says, often people ask me, what's my secret sauce for success?

Renee:

Hmm

Shar:

Like, what is the reason, Lisa, that you have achieved and done all of these things? And she puts it so beautifully and it touches on so many of the things that you said, but she just simply says, I try, harder than anyone I know. I just

Renee:

I show

Shar:

go for

Renee:

up.

Shar:

it. I show up.

Renee:

I show up. Yeah. There's

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

a saying and she says it. She says, I go the extra mile

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

every single day. And I always say to my fitness members where we're in the middle of the class and they're sweating, I said, go the extra mile. It's always less crowded.

Shar:

Oh, I

Renee:

Right?

Shar:

love that visual.

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

I can see

Renee:

Right?

Shar:

that 100%.

Renee:

Right? It's good to be in good company, but you know, sometimes having a little elbow room is also, also breathy and you know, not everyone will go the extra mile. And it doesn't matter. It's okay. We need all kinds. But if you are the type of person that finds joy in pushing through, and always there's something else out there that you want to pursue or to prove to yourself, then go the extra mile.

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

And like Lisa says, it's the little things. Every day. You know, wake up five minutes earlier. Try something new. You know, be kind. Be kind to someone. Yeah.

Shar:

She says this one extremely helpful tip I feel for a lot of young professionals out there, which is whenever you meet somebody new for the first time

Renee:

Hmm.

Shar:

that you've never met them before, treat every interaction like it's a mini

Renee:

Yeah,

Shar:

interview.

Renee:

your first interview,

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

yeah. And she is very much a planner, but she's not allowed, I think in her hardships, she's learned to not allow to let the plan take over the joys of life. I always say there's power in the plan. There's power, extreme power in planning. But strength, true strength, comes from your reality. And so plan, but don't let the plan take over your life. And that's where you can have the best plans, and she had the best of plans in many things, but she also allowed life to take her to where it needed. And that's where her strength is. She, to your point, she was always prepared. Always, everyone she met always had a background agenda, but she, I think she's a true, kind individual, lots of empathy. And so she's never let that kind of take over her plan. And it's

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

humility, yeah.

Shar:

And I think the theme of control really shows up a lot in this book, right? For

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

somebody as high achieving as her, you would just kind of assume that, you know, she really very... carefully lays out all of her plans from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.,

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

which she does, as you as you discussed. But I think throughout this entire book, she's almost explained to us

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

how to not let control ruin your life. In fact,

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

I have this one, you know, part that I highlighted, and I put an lol next to it because it's just so funny the way that she says it. She says, don't get mad at gravity.

Renee:

Oh, I highlight that one too. Isn't that crazy? Don't get mad at gravity.

Shar:

Yeah!

Renee:

Right? That's just five words, you know? Okay, right. You

Shar:

Great.

Renee:

can't control what's out of your control. So you might as well just accept it, control what's within your power and move on to the next probably mad opportunity that's gonna present yourself. Yeah, I love it. Don't get mad at gravity.

Shar:

Yeah. Yeah. Don't get mad at gravity. And then there's several experiences that she's had where she's been promoted to a level that she has had

Renee:

Mm.

Shar:

no experience or exposure to. And I love how she just breaks down her formula for success for everyone

Renee:

Mm.

Shar:

to just kind of lean in. and take in that power. And she says, you know, it's very easy to kind of just sit in that seat and pretend that you know what to do, pretend to lean into the power that's been granted to you and call the shots. And she says, that's the easy thing to do and that's the wrong thing to do.

Renee:

Right?

Shar:

What's

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

better, what's better is if you are open about being vulnerable and saying, this is my first time in this place. And I'm going to reach out to a whole new network of peers who've been in my position time and time again. And I want to learn from them because I don't want to learn about, you know, putting the wheels on the car. I know how the car runs. I might as

Renee:

Thank

Shar:

well

Renee:

you.

Shar:

go to the factory and interview

Renee:

That's it.

Shar:

the mechanic and understand how cars can run better instead of doing all the work by myself.

Renee:

I think that's one of her, you know, when you said, what's your secret sauce, what's your secret recipe? And I think another one of hers is... She is a lifelong learner. I think she was born with that a bit, that openness. She also had an amazing, amazing community of role models that she chose to use as role models because of her openness and her humble, knowing that she doesn't know all the answers. And you know, it's funny because when you think about your own experience in your life, whether you were... you know, a five year old learning a new sport and you had a coach, whether it was your grade one teacher teaching you how to read, you know, whether it was your university prof teaching you a different way of learning because we all know university, whether it was your first boss, the one quality in all of those instrumental people is how they make you feel. It's not how they are. It's how they make you feel. However, the way they are makes you feel a certain way. And the more you can connect with them, which is true vulnerability, seeing their weaknesses or seeing that they're not perfect, makes you feel more comfortable. And so that's what, regards of all of her successes, that's what Lisa was able to do. Never let go of the fact that in order to touch people and to build an amazing family unit that's gonna stick through hardship, um, uh, put together a team of 4,000 employees is through humanity and humility and showing what kind of person I am, not what kind of person I think I should be to, to, to, uh, inspire you. She just stayed true to her roots. And there's not many leaders like that, really is not. But throughout her whole book, she continually comes back to that. I just kept showing my real self to people and she was not afraid how she looked, which is vulnerability. It wasn't about her. It wasn't about her being the best VP of sales when she had never done it. It was about her being the best for her team. And I mean, I can relate. I've taken positions on in my career earlier on than I felt my age and my experience probably allowed, kind of garnered it. And I remember feeling the most vulnerable. Some days, some moments or some opportunities, I didn't act as I should have. I kind of became more defensive because I thought that's how I was supposed to. But later on in my career and more so now. I realize inspiring is through showing your real self with all, and I call it, Flawsome. Your, you know, I call it, it's all your flaws, your flaws within your awesome personality. So, Tara Banks coined that Flawsome. And I will, you know, I'll be in the middle of the class and I'll be saying, girls, you show me your Flawsome self, cause that's all you got right now. You're full of awesomeness and work with your flaws. because that's what life's about. So it's anyways, going back to Lisa, that's what I think she is, flawsome in all respects, true and true. And it has worked for her.

Shar:

And you know, the call out I really want to make is often leaders in corporate settings they may dial into managing up, which Lisa, this is a perfect example of

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

reaching out to her new network of peers and sort of building a community around that, getting those mentors and sponsors to really support and encourage, nudge her and give her the advice that she needs to proceed forward. But what I think she does so brilliantly and she's so open about it is how she's able to manage down as well. So

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

she's inherited all these new teams, nobody kind of knows who she is or what she's about. And they know that she's not the technical expert that they are. And so she knows that she's going in blind and she's got to build trust and really work with all of these folks who are looking up to her. And all of the qualities we just talked about really apply when she's managing down as well. Because

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

she essentially has all of these meetings with everybody to say, what's holding you back?

Renee:

Mm

Shar:

And after getting all of that information down, she then presents her to-do list. And her to-do list is so in sync with getting her team to wherever they are to upgrade. And she

Renee:

movie.

Shar:

is so fierce in her commitment that her role is to make the lives of her team exponentially better. And I love that she says it with such ferociousness, not only to them, because that's who they're listening, but to everyone else in the organization, that's her stance. She says, my role is to be the system through which everyone

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

else thrives. And I'm going to dedicate myself to that objective. And she does it over and over and over again.

Renee:

Yeah, and whether it's in her personal life, whether it's in her professional life. And I think, you know, even in her inner life, her own self, right, taking time for herself. Because, I mean, I can just imagine even to this day, right, her kids are now growing up. I think her youngest is now at university. So imagine having had a full life, still a full life, but now her kids, four kids have kind of grown. And now... And I think that's something very important, is throughout your life, no matter how busy you are for others, you need to make time for yourself. Because at the end, everyone grows up, you get older as well, everyone gets older, and she probably has more time for herself now. And so had she not continuously invested in those relationships with friends and... But she managed to do that. And she, and you see her on her social media, her social life is extremely strong. She's got a community of friends. She calls them her sisterhood. And her sweet mom, right? Her mother is by far, I think, the biggest.

Shar:

The kindest person,

Renee:

Yeah,

Shar:

my gosh.

Renee:

yeah. They are like two peas in a pod from what I see. So it is important that no matter how busy you are in your life, professional, personal, you need to make time for yourself. And that formula of what that is, is different for everyone. Some it could be reading a book, you're right. Some it could be going to bed earlier to get that extra time. Some could be going for a walk. Some could be going out every Friday and with their friends. Whatever it is, it is so important. Because I think in life, We do get bombarded with all of our to-dos, you know, as Lisa says her to-do. It's so easy to make that list become what it's not about. And we have to check in. We have to check in. Are we happy? Are we doing what we should be doing?

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

And if not, it starts small.

Shar:

Yeah. Yeah.

Renee:

It's the

Shar:

Yeah. Yeah.

Renee:

little

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

things going the

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

extra

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

mile, making that hard decision, like she did. You know, having to let go. I mean, that's that... in letting go Patrick decided to take him off of life support. I mean I get choked up thinking

Shar:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Renee:

about

Shar:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Renee:

it

Shar:

Yeah. Yeah.

Renee:

after

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

two years of hoping and that's one of her I think her biggest strength is she's got extreme hope. She really believes in hope. She believes in fate and she had hoped that he would come out and he didn’t and after having to let him go that is as a critical decision. It's a decision that you I think she says that she never thought she could make it but she did make it. And that's what life's about is making those critical decisions, the ones that we fear the most. Because ultimately it leads us to, you know, she couldn't continue being in limbo. It would have impacted her life, your kid's life. She had to continue. And today, you know, I think it's been over 10 years

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

now. She looks back and she says it was the decision to make. So we all have those those golden moments where we have to capture and say, OK, what is the decision here? And if it's risky, if you're feeling uncomfortable, it's a sign that probably is a decision you should be contemplating.

Shar:

You should be thinking about, in

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

fact, I think one of her, you know, sage moments in this book is to even kind of have the awareness of when to not listen to yourself.

Renee:

Mm.

Shar:

There was this point in the book where she talks about, I don't feel confident. I don't feel...

Renee:

inner voice.

Shar:

Your inner voice is not in keeping with how it is 99... Whatever, 90 to 99% of the time, it's speaking to you in a negative way. It's telling you more of your fears than your hopes and dreams. And I love the part in the book where she says, I can not trust my inner voice right now. So I have to rely on other people. I have to listen to the inner voice of, or the outer voice of other people over the fears that are coming through in my inner voice. And I think the sage of when to tune yourself out a little bit and to tune somebody else in a little bit more is just so lovely, it's so required.

Renee:

And it speaks to, I think it speaks further to her openness and her lifelong journey as a learner, as a true learner. Because she, despite all her successes, she learns to tune out, like you said, that inner voice. Turn it louder on the positive, turn it down on the negative. It's pretty... impressive, pretty impressive. And she does that, obviously, in her moments of most vulnerability. And the thing at that point is she was given the role as a VP sales and she had never done sales. In fact, she hates negotiating. You know,

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

she says, I hate negotiating. She used the word hate, which is a strong word. She goes, I hate negotiating. My husband would always do the negotiating. And here I am. there's no VP of sales, you can't go higher in sales, and you're a VP, you're it. And I am gonna be leading a team of people that know how to do it, and I got nothing, and I don't know how to do it, and that's the inner voice. And yeah, it's pretty powerful to be able in that moment of pure vulnerability to say, okay, this is my negative inner voice, I'm gonna give complete control to my boss who's got good intentions. And again, she, you know, I very much admire her ability to have such control over certain things and the ability to let go of that control in others. 

Shar:

I find that there's this fluidity in how you exist that she embodies so well. And she even calls us out in her leadership style. She says her leadership style is situational.

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

In that. different environments, different people, you have to be or you have to act or be a certain way, or you have to treat people the way they wanna be treated. It's basically a focus on the situation. And this very much calls out exactly what you were saying about this fluidity in

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

which you have to either lead or be led professionally or personally.

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

And it's one of the really cool things about this book because she goes through this extremely personal difficult hardship, but she ties in all of these themes from a professional standpoint.

Renee:

Hmm. It is so intelligently laid out. You know, every chapter is, so every chapter is one part, either professional or personal. And she goes, she weaves in and out the professional person. What's amazing is to your point, the values, her essence is the same,

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

only lived differently between these two

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

lives. And she doesn't have to say it. She just recounts her life and

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

you see it. And you see how the same value of a strong work ethic, how that came into life on the personal side and also on the professional side. And I think that's what is, is she is a real person. She's authentic and you finish this book and you just don't want this book to end. You want to know where is she now? You know, chances

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

are you're going to end it, you're going to go and reach out and see where she's at now because you want her to be successful, you want to see this continuation of what she embodies.

Shar:

Yeah. And I can, I can attest to that. You started talking earlier about how connected you felt to her that if you didn't get the were heading right to chapters

Renee:

Oh,

Shar:

to

Renee:

100%.

Shar:

pick up a copy right away. And you know, I think that's unique to your experience because you saw her talking. But I can attest to the level of connection that you feel once you close this book, because there's so many things that she does, even in the middle of the book, there are all of these pictures

Renee:

Mm.

Shar:

of her and Patrick and the kids and their time together, the stories there, and you put a face to all of the stories and you cannot help but be rooting for her. You cannot help but feel like you are applauding her.

Renee:

Totally.

Shar:

Right? Like you are so connected to who she is. The essence of her, you know, is on every single page in every chapter.

Renee:

It is. Yeah. And it's very raw. And I think it's raw because she puts her heart on the table, on every single page. She doesn't try to hide. She doesn't try to be somebody else. She's just raw reality. And you know, we are all humans at the end of the day. We are all imperfectly perfect. Or perfectly imperfect, I should say. But... You connect with her and that's what I think books do and you said it so well at the beginning You know, that's that's what is captivating about books is you open a book and you see yourself in it and the more the book speaks of reality, I find the more you get connected because you see yourself in it you see you see how it's able to have an amazing day and then the next moment is just dark and gloomy and you wonder how you could in one moment be feeling all up and then all of a sudden you're down. Guess what? You're human. You're human. And until you can accept that and say, hey, I'm having a bad day. It's okay. Tomorrow's going to be better.

Shar:

Yeah.

Renee:

And if it's not, tomorrow's going to be the day after. Right?

Shar:

And I just want to call out, like I opened this book and there's a part in the book that I saw you, Renee,

Renee:

Oh.

Shar:

because your attitude and this, I would say a lot of this book is, it comes down to attitude, the perspective

Renee:

It does.

Shar:

that you choose to hold, what you choose to let go,

Renee:

Holy.

Shar:

what you choose to sort of... carry on with you. And I would say that a lot of that is attitude. And she calls this out so beautifully. She says, it is vital for your success. Like, you know, it communicates who you are. It signals to others what to expect from you. And

Renee:

Mm.

Shar:

it's so important to become aware of the mood that you're projecting. And you can choose your state of mind in the same way that you choose your outfit every day. And as I read that

Renee:

I love that one

Shar:

I thought of you. I was like, of course, this is the book that you picked, Renee, because this is your superpower too.

Renee:

Oh my goodness, it's so funny this you say superpower attitude. I always say, you know, when I hired, when I was in a corporate and in our software company, we hired for attitude and we built, we build for aptitude because you can learn anything, right? Lisa is the living proof of it. She did all the departments at FedEx and that's why she's president, right? But I love that. That great how she put in the outfit in there, you know? You choose your attitude like you choose, and I wrote that down, it's so funny, I highlighted. And it is, it's mindset. You know, your superpower, I always say, you know, I'll take a diversion here. They say when you're raising a child or you're communicating with your husband, it doesn't matter, your partner, that the three most important times in a child's life when you're upbringing them, is when what you tell them first thing in the morning, those three words you say first thing in the morning, when they come back from school and they've had a heavy day or a great day, and the last three things you tell them when they go to bed, before they go to bed and they go in their dreams. And I always tell my child, I try to tell her every week so that she understands it, I say your biggest superpower, my dear, is your mindset. It's that inner voice, it's what you choose to think. Because what you choose to think, you say. And what you say, you project out there. And that is what people's perceptions are of you. And I always say this. When I was nine years old and my mom started seeing in me this, I was lacking confidence, I was doubting myself, she gave me this paper. It was printed on purple, on a purple piece of paper and it said, it's not what others say to you. It's what you say to yourself after they stop talking. It's not what you say to your, it's not what others say to you, it's what you say to yourself after they stop talking. That comes back to mindset, it comes back to power of thought, comes back to your inner voice, and it comes back to self-confidence and self-worthiness. And I think in life, we will be always, always challenged on our self-worth and what we believe ourselves. And it comes to mindset, which is your biggest superpower and attitude. It's like choosing an outfit every day. And you know, nobody likes to put on a bad outfit and look bad. So why would you put on a bad attitude and look bad, right? So I love that you highlighted. I highlighted that one too.

Shar:

Not when you have the awareness that you get to choose what, who you want to be today,

Renee:

That's

Shar:

who you

Renee:

it.

Shar:

want to be and what you want to do in the world. That

Renee:

Totally.

Shar:

conscious choice. Oh,

Renee:

Yeah.

Shar:

what a beautiful note to end this on. I mean, I see so much of you in Lisa,

Renee:

That

Shar:

you know.

Renee:

is the biggest compliment. I got goosebumps. Seriously.

Shar:

It's true though, like what we sort of lean into is such a reflection

Renee:

leaning.

Shar:

of where we are in our lives. And I am so grateful to you, Renee, for introducing this book to me. This is one of the books that has built you. And I am

Renee:

Yes.

Shar:

so honored to talk to you and learn more about your story and how it's translated into your life.

Renee:

Well,

Shar:

For...

Renee:

thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

Shar:

Yeah. And so for everyone listening, I'm sure they're all thinking, what's another book that has changed you or built you into the Renee that you are today?

Renee:

Well, it's funny, you may have heard me speak of this one again in the past, is the book Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. So first of all, I just love the title, Eat That Frog, because who wants to eat a frog? But it is, you know, it's very, very different than resilience. It's not a memoir. I personally love memoirs because I just find it speaks truth and you learn best from what people have experienced in the past. But this one is very practical. And it speaks to what I struggle with, which is procrastination. I'm a perfectionist. I like to say a recovering perfectionist, but I still think I'm still struggling with perfection and self-doubt, you know? And procrastinating for me is a means by just putting it off because I don't have to deal with not being what I believe your inner thoughts. You know, I won't be able to get it done as perfect as I know I can. So it's all about time management and it is such a short read, practical. It makes so much sense and it gives you that oomph, you know, to just go at it and do your best and it's not about perfection, right? You know, I always say, you know, 80% is better than 0%. So you go for that percentage, don't go for the three digit percentage, just go for, you know, act messy. And so eat that frog, Brian Tracy has a way of saying things, complex things that you think are hard in a very simple way. So. Try that and I tell you it definitely makes you feel productive when you do your worst thing first thing in the morning. That's the best. It's the best.

Shar:

Side story, you did mention this and maybe the first session that you were presenting at, I remember either first or second and I remember you said that and it got filed into the back of my brain and I found myself at a bookstore with all of these titles and I saw Eat That Frog and I actually forgot who recommended it. But I bought it. I bought it

Renee:

You did!

Shar:

Yes, because I filed it away in a category of my brain where I'm like, somebody I trust and someone who I look up to has really told me that I need this book. And so I purchased it. And so thank you for reminding me that that was you. And

Renee:

I'm the frog lady

Shar:

You're the frog lady. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm so excited to read it and thank you so much for that recommendation. That's amazing. I have had such a great time talking to you today Thank you so much

Renee:

Ditto, it was the best from mine as well.