.jpg)
Overcomers Approach
“The Overcomers Approach” podcast showcases stories of resilience, where individuals transcend challenges to achieve personal and professional success. With a focus on spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and financial growth, the podcast inspires listeners to embrace their potential and thrive in all areas of life. Join us to learn how overcoming adversity can lead to evolution, healing, and lasting success.
Overcomers Approach
Inspiring conversation with Katherine Lazarick on embracing authenticity, balancing whole presence, and transforming leadership through self-awareness and emotional well-being
Katherine Lazarick, a professional presence expert with a fascinating journey from music to leadership coaching, joins me on the Overcomers Approach podcast. Katherine’s journey is a testament to breaking free from societal norms and embracing the philosophy of whole person, whole presence. Together, we uncover how to empower ourselves and others by integrating our entire skill set, moving beyond compartmentalization, and seeking environments that truly align with our identities. Discover the importance of authenticity and how small, purposeful actions can be as impactful as grand achievements.
Join us for a conversation that challenges societal conventions by advocating for kindness, community, and accountability in leadership. We delve into the transformative power of therapy and the ongoing journey of self-awareness, highlighting how past experiences shape our behaviors and leadership styles. Katherine shares insights on the importance of emotional well-being and how somatic therapy can address stress's physical manifestations. Embrace the balance of masculine and feminine energies as we explore how personal growth requires understanding one's motivations and the negative impacts of workaholism.
In our exploration of creating a fulfilling life, we imagine workplaces that foster trust, autonomy, and deep connections. Katherine discusses the unique contributions of introverts in environments that often celebrate extroversion, along with the therapeutic nature of music as she reclaims her musical voice. Through her book "Executive Being: Humanizing Business, One Leader at a Time," Katherine illustrates her multifaceted approach to leadership in today’s business landscape. This episode invites you to envision a more balanced life and workplace, where meaningful relationships and purpose-driven environments are paramount.
To learn more about Katherine and to inquire about her services, please go to her website for more information at https://lzrkconsulting.com/
Thank you for sharing and listening!
Nichol Ellis-McGregor, MHS | LinkedIn
Facebook
Mrs. Nichol (@mrs.nichol_7) | TikTok
Nichol Ellis-McGregor (@mrs_nichol) • Instagram photos and videos
HOME | Nichol-Empowerment Life Coach (nicholkellis-mcgregor.com)
Thank you for listening!
Good day everybody. This is Nicole Ellis McGregor, the founder of the Overcomers Approach podcast. We meet with different people from different experiences, different walks of life, different expertise, different lanes. What I love about the podcast is that we show people how we can overcome, get to the next level, be our whole selves, be organic, be true and be a leader, and not only for ourselves, but with team members as well, because we're all a part of a community and it's partnership and collaboration comes along with that and with that.
Speaker 1:I just want to welcome Catherine Lazarick today. She comes from a performance and education background, with a bachelor's degrees in music and education from the University of British Columbia. She's a professional presence expert, helping leaders and teams walk the walk, talk the talk and look the part. I love that. That's amazing. She has a philosophy is whole person, whole presence, meaning that you can't be fully present, fully expressed or fully seen unless you know yourself well and help others know you too. She firmly believes that helping people becomes the best possible version of themselves. It's one of the greatest things that we can do to create change in the world, and she definitely wants to see change in her lifetime, and I do as well, and I know my listeners do too.
Speaker 1:Catherine, welcome to the Overcomers Approach podcast today. I'm so happy to have you here and please tell me how did you get to the place that you are today as a presence coach and someone who has a wealth of experience. Please share more, because I know there's more to your bio. You've done a lot and I know that music is in your background and I have a bias towards that. My husband has been in the music industry for 30 plus years and I love his creativity. I love him merging logic with creativity and just what it brings to our relationship and how he walks as a leader when he goes into those spaces and how it impacts me. And we have different backgrounds I'm in human services and public safety but I believe that when we merge those, we become greater. Catherine, how did you get here today and tell me a little bit more about yourself and your background?
Speaker 2:Okay, well, first of all, thank you for having me. It's always lovely to meet new people and to be interviewed and to be heard by all the people that are listening to the podcast today. So I also want to thank all those people for tuning in, because there are lots of choices as to where you could spend your time, and you've chosen to spend some time with us, so thanks very much for that I agree, thank you.
Speaker 2:And it's funny. It's the. How did I get here? I'm like god, how much time do you have like really right?
Speaker 2:so funny because whenever anybody reads a bio out loud it sounds so great like you know, have this certification, that certification, this degree and that degree and all the things that I've done in my life, or I'm not a, I'm not a linear person, right? I know sometimes my clients really resonate with that because they're also not linear people, or they have been very linear, linear and haven't in their journey and haven't felt very comfortable in it. And so for anyone out there who is trying all kinds of things like you're going in one direction, trying it, going in another direction, trying something, going in another direction and trying something I want you to just remember that, even though it drives all the linear thinkers who progress from A to B to C in your life crazy, all you're doing is creating spokes on the web and eventually you're going to be able to connect the dots and all the things will come together. And the work that I do now was really born out of a desire to just use all my skills all the time instead of having to segment my life into music or work or teaching or, you know, personal growth, development journeys. And now what I love about all of that is I have it's been a long road. Yes, it's been like 20-some years now of the first spiritual awakening.
Speaker 2:Slash break Like, oh my God, I'm stuck in the matrix Right, right when I had that and suddenly realized, oh, there's another way to live. I don't have to listen to everything my parents told me about how the world worked, because their world doesn't work like my world does. That's right and that's true for everyone. Like, you are the star in your own movie and your world is not going to work like everyone else's world, particularly if you've cultivated a perspective that anything is possible, right, right, and then grounded it down into action, right. So, like, what was your purpose? If you know who you are and what you're meant to be doing on this planet, that's super helpful and so the it's interesting because I never thought I would be here.
Speaker 2:I just had this very sincere desire to use all my skill sets all the time. So now in my work I use my performance skills because, of course, here I am yes On, you know I do keynotes and things like that. So I use my performance skills there. I use my professional development, personal development journey to offer experience, strength and hope. I use all of my certification stuff in education to create great training. Well, I use all of my corporate knowledge from my experience in the corporate world, to help people either find a corporate place that's really great for them or to exit the corporate world altogether, because the age of compartmentalization is finished and the age of being your true self has arrived. We're not going to wear masks anymore to show up and work for some corporate overlord and be unhappy. It's not worth it.
Speaker 1:I so agree. I so agree with that. I love the fact that authentically taking pieces of yourself, your expertise, your skills, your certifications and that journey and bringing it forward to help others, to help teams, to help people find out where they want to authentically be and where they could best serve, and where they can have a true connection.
Speaker 1:Which leads me to my first question, because I know what is the whole person, whole present and why is it important. How does that fall in line with what you present or how do you help people get in touch with that?
Speaker 2:That's really a philosophy that I've developed over the last more than 15 years in this world, because I started out in straight image consulting, which is a beautiful field, but it can be very judgmental and very rule heavy. Yes, and I always struggled with that. I always struggled with this idea of needing to present a certain way in order for people to think certain things about you. Yes, and while I love the results of alignment like if who you really are on the inside matches who you are on the outside, it's way easier. Like, once you accept who you are at, four is who you are at 104, like the core of you, and then figure out how the environment's going to work with you. All of that just makes your life so much easier.
Speaker 2:Um, I love the results of that and I love the self-expression of that for people. Yeah, what I don't love is using my power for evil. We'll do right. You can make somebody think anything about you just based on how you show up, because that's the way human brains are wired. Um, so over the years, what would happen is I was really into express your true self, but at the time when I started, not a lot of people were really into that, like now, I'm so relieved that the world is finally catching up exactly world is suddenly going hey, wait a minute, we don't need fakers anymore.
Speaker 2:We need people to be who they are in all different facets and show up in real ways. Yeah, um. So yeah, it's kind of interesting with the, the whole person, whole presence. What I think is you are a complete and whole person, regardless of how many challenges you've had, regardless of the challenges you're having now. Our job, I think, in this mystery school of life, yes, to deeply understand who we are now in this incarnation and really deeply understand what it is we're meant to do here on the planet.
Speaker 2:And I think people make the mistake of thinking, oh, I have to figure out my purpose and it has to be some big, amazing thing. I don't think that's always true. I think sometimes your purpose is just to be there for somebody else in a moment when they're having a challenge. Or maybe your purpose is just to bring joy into the world. If you're an artist, maybe your purpose is just to bring joy into the world. If you're an artist, maybe your purpose is just to help people understand themselves better through your art. Yes, you know, and and I think it doesn't always have to be this big, capitalistic, expanded thing that we think it is because if you look at people who have everything, who don't have all the money in the world, have all the power in the world. They have all the power in the world. They're not don't appear to be super happy people to me.
Speaker 1:I agree because, yes, with that becomes a lot of pressure and it becomes there's stakeholders that are involved. You're out here as your own person, but you're representing the brand, you're representing the company. As we see, if there's a political shift or if anything happens, it could sway how you present yourself, you know, sway how you show up, and then it's always, you know, really being meaningful about it doesn't have to be this large, like big thing, it's just really, whatever our purpose falls in alignment in yeah, and we don't. We could show up in a room with somebody that has probably power and impact, you know, but how do we show how to present ourselves? Because we don't know who's in that room, we don't know who, who we're connecting with. Oh, we, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say it's interesting because so. So the first part of the whole presence piece is definitely know yourself. Like who are you? You're a complete and whole person, and the whole presence piece is I don't think that you can be fully present anywhere if you are not whole. That's right, an acronym for the word whole, which is wonder.
Speaker 2:We need to have this curious sense about people and a curious sense about the world and a sense of wonder because I mean everything. Well, I mean what's that phrase? You can look at everything as a miracle or nothing as a miracle, but personally I think if you look at everything as a miracle, you have a much nicer life, it's much better. But there needs to be a sense of wonder, right, even even in a conflict situation. It's like what's really going on on the other side, what's going on on my side, and how do we, how to find the middle ground on it? Um, and then I think you need to be here. So, whatever moment you're in, you need to be here. Yes, you know, if you think about being oh, and oh is for open, yes, open to other perspectives. Which sidebar? I find the paradox of tolerance very interesting. That's a total sidebar. That's a whole other conversation, but I get it. I get it. Yes, we need to be open, we need to.
Speaker 2:And then the L in whole for me is lead. You need to learn to lead yourself first and then lead others. Because I mean, if you had amazing parenting and you've got great inner dialogue and you're good at figuring out how to keep yourself moving in a world that will challenge you, fantastic. If you didn't have those things, it's not your fault. It's not your fault. What you were born into, right, it is your 100 your fault if you don't do something about it to change it. That's right, I agree, we have. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And then, finally, the E in whole is evolve. You need to be able to change, because if we don't change and adapt, you just die, you fall behind. So I think about that as the whole person, whole presence, philosophy, like, keep those principles in mind, and then that enables you to find the right people for you to be with, to navigate situations with people that you don't really understand, like, in a weird way, the politicians that are in power. Now they're also trying to change the world. That's right, in their own strange way. That doesn't necessarily. I don't see it. I'm like everything Right Therapy.
Speaker 1:But you know, you do you know there's a little bit of that going on.
Speaker 2:But I do. I am very hopeful for the world to change. But when people are like this is just the way society is, I'm like, well, who do you think makes up society? That's right, that's right, yes. So you know, if we get to decide and it's all arbitrary anyway why don't we just decide something better? Why don't we just decide to be better to each other, decide to build more community, decide to be kind?
Speaker 2:yes, decide to hold our leaders to account, yes, possible and say you know what? I don't think. I really am down with this behavior, right, let's try to do it. Try to do it differently. It's it's very. Our leadership right now is very unbalanced, right? Yeah, about being a whole person and having a whole presence, that means you're balanced in your leadership. You have, you have enough sort of the masculine structure, that kind of archetypal energy. You have enough of that to stay functional and you have enough of that feminine archetypal energy to be kind and be flowing and to look ahead and to look past and to sort of hold the container right. Whereas that masculine energy is sort of the do, do, do, the feminine energy is the see ahead and be and hold the space.
Speaker 1:Wow, that really speaks to me and that's the place that I'm also in just kind of in my life and I really love the balance and being able to use that masculine energy and the feminine energy to bring some type of balance to it. I love the whole acronym, you know, um, where you talked about having a sense of curiosity, being open, leading yourselves, evolving. I think that's so important for growth as us as professionals and as people. Um, if someone struggles with because, like you said, some people are born with those or they were in a family that really supported that and really was very open to that and nurtured that, and then there are some people that may find their self in leadership or find their self in places that they didn't come with that, so they're just kind of figuring that out. Now, what do you think is important for people to if they struggle with finding their whole selves? What guidance or what suggestions do you give to people?
Speaker 2:I'm a big fan of therapy. Reason for it, I mean yes, you can be in therapy for a long time and never get anywhere right Based on your willingness to do the work. But my belief is your past can and does affect you.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:What happens sometimes for leaders is there's actually sort of childhood needs and childhood reactions driving their current behavior. Yes, so the first piece is you know if there's something going on where you find yourself oh, I'm not really getting the results I want, or I'm not really happy, or I have this hole inside me that nothing can fill. Yes, go get some therapy. Yes, figure it out and be willing to do that internal work to change. And it's a consciousness piece, like you have to. You have to become aware of your patterns and sometimes the only way to do that is to crash into a lot of walls. That's right. Maybe this isn't working so well. I agree, crash into the walls and get some therapy is the first thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I like that. You know I'm a very I'm an advocate for therapy you know and. I always tell people, because sometimes I bump into people, they're like oh, I tried, it didn't work out. I'm like you. It's like finding your doctor, it's like shopping for a doctor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, find the one that fits for you. There might be a couple of hiccups, but your person's out there, so I encourage people to you know if the first one doesn't work out. It's kind of like you're building a relationship, this person is invested in you and time is very, very important and there is someone out there to help guide people in the right direction. And, like you said, we might crash into some walls in the process, but all of it has a purpose. And then, yeah, you wrap that therapy around it.
Speaker 2:It brings a whole nother perspective to that it does, I think when I first started looking for well, when I first started looking for a therapist for my first kind of go round, I think I went through five yeah, the right person for me. And then I stayed with her for a couple of years and I used to be so impatient yeah, I'm like, ah, I just want to get in the crash course and get it over with. And she would look at me and she's like honey, you're in it, aggressively, pursuing your health, like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a long road, but it's also a worthy road to take and you're never finished, like when I hear somebody say, oh, I'm fully self-actualized. I'm like, uh-huh, sure, okay, if you're not done, get on.
Speaker 1:No, no, I agree with you and I love thank you for your transparency, for sharing that. It was five With me, it was three, yeah, and I love the fact that you said you're never really people. Sometimes I hear people say, oh, I do the work, I'm done with that. No, no, no. Something's going to come up, something is going to a childhood wound, a band-aid is going to get ripped off and you're going to thought that you arrived, but you know, this is a whole new chapter that you need to go through.
Speaker 2:Because with every, every new level, there's a new devil. Yeah, it's like a video game, you're like, you get to the next level of video game and it's a little harder like there's going on.
Speaker 2:You've got to figure it out, right, I think, when and there is time to rest too, like you can't just be pursuing your healing all the time, like you do have to go in seasons, right, that's right, um, and so it's funny. So therapy is a big one. And then I also think for people that are having trouble with figuring out who they are like, figuring out what their drive is Like, are they being driven by their own unique desire or are they being driven by society, like what their parents told them they should want? You know what society thinks is excellent? And I mean it's difficult because workaholism is the most rewarded addiction in our society. I agree, number one, rewarded addiction. And and the. You know, the wins from team no sleep are bossy.
Speaker 2:I've been listening to Worth Ethic by oh God, what's the, what's the artist's name? I can't think of it now. Anyway, she does this whole thing. I think it's grown out. Grown out for affirmations, for grown ass women. Okay, yeah, she's like the wins from team no sleep are bossy, but it's a long-term strategy. As a leader, it's not going to serve you. So I would say that. And then the second, the second, the other important piece is it's not just the mind, it's also the body. Yes, so I encourage people to actually look into somatic therapy, like body work.
Speaker 2:Yes, because your body sometimes remembers things and has reactions to things that are somewhere buried back in your past and you don't know why you're reacting so strongly to your boss giving you feedback. You don't know why you're freaking out when you have to go speak in front of the board yes, and it's usually something that your body is remembering. It's your nervous system just trying to keep you safe.
Speaker 1:Yes, I completely agree with you on that and I, as a transparent moment, I had something like that with me at work. It was like I just learned something and they're like do it, do it now. And I'm a process thinker. I have to like, okay, let me take it in, not and I don't need a long time, I just need a moment to assess, like, how am I going to approach this, and I know there are times where you do just have to dive in, but there was opportunity for me to process it.
Speaker 1:So when I feel, forced, my body starts doing things like I can't breathe. You know, I start sweating and they're like why aren't you doing it, why aren't you doing it? And it's just like but then again that's some childhood stuff. But you know, when you have the awareness, then you have some coping strategies that you can work through.
Speaker 2:Exactly and it's interesting, our awareness continues to expand around that, because I'm actually learning from a woman named Kate Northrup right now. Okay, her work. Her mother actually wrote a really groundbreaking book, women's bodies, women's wisdom, like in the eighties, christiane Northrup, anyway. So Kate's doing her own work and her work is really around helping people be aware that we need to reset our nervous systems, that if we grew up in in some kind of you know chaotic, but some dysfunction, that your nervous system is going to be messed up, and so I need to do some healing work to actually re-regulate.
Speaker 2:Yes, system and I. I love that things are coming up now in the general discourse like trauma-informed counseling or emotional regulation or other things Like I'm like oh man, humans can really benefit from all of this. So I think there's a mental piece, but there's also a spiritual and an embodied piece in there. I think if you're plugged into like money is your reward, or you're plugged into relationships as your only source, you're going to be in trouble when those things fall away because they don't last. If you're plugged into your beauty, supply it doesn't last.
Speaker 2:So it's like getting really connected with nature, source, universe, whatever you want to call it, or even just getting connected with a community of like-minded people can be so important for you to be grounded as a leader and as a person. I agree.
Speaker 1:Don't do anything alone.
Speaker 2:Doing things in isolation is really hard.
Speaker 1:I agree and you speak to just some of the listeners and some people that I've connected with in life, like you said, and I think people are hitting these shifts where, if they totally depended on a job, or if they totally depended on a job, or if they totally depended on their beauty, or if they totally. Sometimes corporations are downsizing and you've been a leader for 20 years and they're like I'm done, we're done with you. Do, yeah, what else do you have to rely on?
Speaker 2:you know, yeah, I was doing I've just opened up a membership called the seasonal sessions, which allows people to do a co-working session for their planning, like for the year in review, and then to do once a quarter to come in and say, hey, how did I do this winter, and what am I looking forward for for spring, and so on. And in that session one of my people said, yeah, you know, I don't think I know who I am outside of work. Right, I'm like honey. That's a problem, that's right. Yes, I know who I am outside of work. Right, I'm like honey. That's a problem. Yes, we need to.
Speaker 2:It's an identity piece. It is Because you can't really think your way or behave your way into something. Necessarily. There has to be a deeper shift than that. Who am I when nobody's looking? Who am I when I don't have this flashy title? Who am I when I'm not driving this car, in that house or wearing these clothes? And it's really coming to a deep sense of I'm fine Just as I am right now. In this moment, I am the most perfect version of me that has ever existed, and maybe I'll be more perfect tomorrow, but right now I'm perfect as.
Speaker 1:I am. Yes, oh, I love that. Listeners, did you hear that I'm perfect just as I am? You're perfect just as you are where you're at in this journey. I really appreciate that. That really resonated with me, and I know my listeners as well. I have. What are some of the things that your clients are facing? Because I love the fact that you have this working space where people can check in and, if that's what they want to invest in, I think that's a great opportunity for them. What do you think some of their main issues are today?
Speaker 2:I think I work primarily with women and a few brave men come and work with me, but only very brave men. One of my clients said I really love the way you kick me in the ass and pat me on the head at the same time, like your tagline should be making people cry since 2006. I'm like I know, I know, but it's the profound when people come to work with me and they meet themselves. Often people come to me and they're struggling with this identity piece. They're like they're super successful, they've worked really hard their whole lives. They're they look amazing on the outside but on the inside they're like damn, I still I'm not. This isn't quite it. And it's not like they're not despondent. They're not. They're perfectly functional. But they want more, yeah, and they don't want more because they're broken. They're not broken, they just want to feel better. They want to feel like every part of them is expressed. So sometimes they struggle with the identity piece.
Speaker 2:Sometimes they struggle with the emotional piece because we don't make a lot of room right now in our society for emotional life. That's right. And the problem is is when you cut like you're, basically if you're just acting like a head running around on a meat suit and you're kind of ignoring your body. Right then, you and your emotions, you're cutting off a huge mountain of information that you could be accessing to make decisions with your whole self. Wow, so sometimes people have trouble with that emotional piece. They're like they've either learned not to feel and to numb out, they've learned to bury their emotions in work and they're burning out. There's there's a great seat I don't know if it's um, it's emily nagoski and amelia nagoski that wrote burnout. Yeah, their theory is that burnout is actually not created by the volume of stuff you have to do, necessarily, but the number of open emotional stress loops you still have running in your body. Oh, that's good, right, like having your browser run with 85 tabs, right, it takes energy.
Speaker 1:Exactly, we're energetic beings.
Speaker 2:So just imagine, yes, so some of my clients are struggling with that emotional piece and how to integrate that into their lives and into their work lives. Some of my clients come and struggle with confidence a little bit. They're sort of caught in this idea that you know of imposter syndrome and I'm like, first of all, that's not a thing. Yes, because, if I may, it was based on a study done in the seventies on women academics who are like PhDs and just like they're pathologically unable to accept that they're good enough, despite all their achievements. Like it's pathological Right. I thought all their achievements like it's pathological right. Media thought it was a great idea and so they grabbed it and ran with it. And now we're all running around saying imposter syndrome. I'm like it's not a thing, it's normal human insecurity. Right, you haven't done something. You might not feel totally confident doing it. Not a syndrome, it's not real, it's totally. And everybody at some point or another in their life is going to feel insecure about something because we are human.
Speaker 2:Yes, right, that's totally normal so this idea of like pathologizing things that I really get annoyed by. So some of them struggle with just confidence. Some of them struggle with the fact that they don't quite fit into their corporate world, Like either the company isn't quite the right alignment for them, the values of the company aren't working, or, more often, the company says we value these things, but then they don't really practice it Right. There are many, many people that I've worked with from large, large, very seemingly successful companies that say oh yeah, we really are people first. Oh yeah, we really value. You know human.
Speaker 2:I'm like no, you don't value here, you schedule meetings back to back to back to back to back, so people can't like I did a post on LinkedIn the other day, but one of my poor clients who hit bottom when she was like cramming half a sandwich down her face and peeing at the same time like time to eat or pee or even breathe I like what is happening. This is nuts, yes, nuts, yeah, so, yeah, so they struggle with that. So I think over the years, I've compiled it all into this kind of idea that that not only do we need to be whole and have whole presence, we also need to humanize business, because nothing unless you're a surgeon, like you're in a health related field, and someone is actually going to die yeah, construction, and someone's actually going to die like what you're doing is life and death. Most of business is not life or death. I agree it's not life or death and and money is driving a lot of things, but but money is just a tool.
Speaker 2:Yes, the people behind it that are thinking I need to make this much profit or I need to get the loan paid back in this amount of time, or you know, I need, I need, I need and I'm like, yeah, but what about all the people that are working on that project. Don't they need a break? You could get a lot more work done doing a lot less, and I think this sort of hustle culture, industrialization, piece, the ways that we have behaved in the workplace, like it made sense because this the bolt had to be in the same place same way every time for the machinery to function. Yes, but we don't live there anymore. That's right. I think it's the thing.
Speaker 2:One other thing that my clients sometimes struggle with, or my very experienced leaders struggle with, is the cognitive dissonance. Yes, like everything I've done up until, this point was working and now it's suddenly not working. And they want to blame gen z and they want to say nobody wants to work anymore and they want to say work and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all these things, and I'm like it's not them, it's you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like you're clinging on to these old ideas of how, how the world works and that ship has sailed yes, I love the fact that you said that, because you're, I'm definitely in alignment with that and that's something that I, I um just kind of think the process, you know those thoughts. And then you know, I have conversations with my you know some of you, know some people that I know I'm just I'm also like the ship has sailed. We don't want to blame these generations, like you know. Um, let's just look, let's first, let's look at self, let's see what's going on with self first, you know, because it's easy to point the finger and blame it and generations, you know. But let's just do some internal awareness processing first, and then let's you know, then let's take a look out. And then I also believe that we need to humanize business and just slow down sometimes, put the book on it. Yeah, I'm super good. Yes, humanizing business, one leader at a time, I know one team at a time.
Speaker 2:I know it's just this idea of of production like, oh my god right, nothing in nature does that. Yes, and now actually I I wrote a little bit about it in the book about the rise of ai. I'm like we have machines to do like things. So our task now is to lean hard into being human, which means making more time to do things making more space to do things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, feeling our feelings, helping other people feel theirs, working in collaborative structures as opposed to competitive or hierarchical structures. Yes, going with the seasons like going with nature. We are animals. Right, we need to work in a cyclical way.
Speaker 2:The moon is there for everybody like there are certain things that are going to be easier at certain times. I mean, there's a whole side I don't know if you've delved in at all to cyclical living but the hormone, hormone patterns, like for men, yes, their hormone patterns are on a 24-hour cycle, so it makes total sense for them to do the same thing, the same way, the same time, every day.
Speaker 2:Exactly they have the same energy yes, you get a bad rap for being unpredictable, but women are super predictable on a 28 cycle and every week of that cycle has a different energy, and so, as women, if we're able to align with, that, makes a huge difference in our productivity and guess what everybody needs?
Speaker 2:to rest. Yes, our society expects us to be all the time and produce, produce, produce new ideas, produce, produce, produce, harvest, harvest, and there's never any time to just chill out. Yeah, it's rest. And I think if businesses can also look at and leaders in businesses can say, how can we make these projects, how can we make them more cyclical? Yeah, allow time for our idea phase. How can we allow time for the actual production, how can we allow time to sort of look at, get the rewards of those things? And then how do we allow time to rest, reflect what did we learn, synthesize, you know, integrate the learnings and then you go back into the idea stage.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that and I have, as of recently, been looking at hormones and the cyclical cycle, especially in the work that I do in human services, and how to engage with other people, other departments. I work in a male-dominant mainly space and I'm a super feminine woman, but I know how to lean into my masculinity too as well. But I am starting to take a look at even when we deal with our members in the community. Like you know, we have to humanize this process first. We have to understand that if we're engaging with men and women, you know sometimes there could be gender spectrums and that's fine.
Speaker 1:But just have that awareness when we step into other people's spaces to respect that and really understand that. Respect that and really understand that. Especially, you know, if a woman's you know in the midst of her cycle and I might be, we might be operating on two different planes. You know, we have an awareness of that then we could step into it from a more human level and really use it as our superpower if we lean into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, funny, like I think about, like women who don't cycle or men who don't cycle, the moon is still there for everybody. That's right. And it's the thing about, like I think about. I love men. So do I. I love them so much. But I also just look at it and go, oh honey, aren't you tired Like, wouldn't you like a container built for you? Wouldn't you like women to build this structure that you can just run around and do all your production in? Right, but it's like you only want us to feed you and front you. And that's not all that women are designed for. Women are designed to hold the container, to build the community, to build the home, to build in the workplace, to build the structures and hold the space for then men to run around and do all the production that they need to do. Oh, I love that. Yeah, you wonder why you're lonely and sad. It's because you destroyed your containers, you dummies.
Speaker 1:That's right I love that. I love it, and I do have a bias for men because I'm the oldest of like five boys and and I have two sons, you know um, and then me and my husband have a blended family of six, but so I've been around men a lot and my grandfather was like a major presence in my life and influence. So it's not, I love men too, yeah, but I get what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Like you've gone and just made it so hard on yourself.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've made it hard on everybody. Now you know, these men are out there running around wrecking things and I'm like what are you? Doing. I'm just say they, you know, they identified their whole self, and they're doing the work.
Speaker 1:What are some of the positive impacts that come out of you know, yeah, that come out of that, Because I think we need to know that. You know, like, there is a beautiful side to this. There's a beautiful side to this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So the power of knowing who you are means that you can identify the situations that are really good for you.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Which means that you get into companies or jobs that really work for you. Yes, and then the joy of being in a place like can you imagine I'm just going to paint the picture being in a place like can you imagine I'm just going to paint the picture? Can you imagine going to work every day to a place that saw you, heard you and valued you, where, if you were a parent, maybe you had a flexible work day? So, like, spend time with your kids in the morning and then come in a little bit later.
Speaker 1:yeah, go home a little bit earlier.
Speaker 2:But then maybe you did an hour at night, or maybe you came into a workplace where they're like you know what? It actually doesn't matter, we're not looking at the time that you invest, we're looking at the results that you provide. Right, and you're an adult and we trust that you can manage your time. And if you came into a workplace where, when you walked in, people were like, damn, you look good, there's like even on the yeah, sort of the image consulting routes, if you wear what represents you, yeah, well, first of all, you can get dressed in the dark because everything goes with you. That's right together, so it's super easy and fast that way.
Speaker 2:So there's like I could get up in the morning. I could follow a routine that really works for me. I could wear things that I feel amazing in and look amazing on me. I could go to a workplace where I feel supported, where I love the people that I work with, where we're all purpose driven, we're like trying to do something good in the world, and then the money that follows is a great benefit of that, and I'm well compensated for my work. I'm paid a living wage, yes, for the time that I'm spending. Spending I get to talk to people in my workplace I get to.
Speaker 2:If I'm an introvert, I get to be my introverted self and that's okay and my contributions are valued in a different way. Yes, I get to be in relationships with people that understand me and my relationships are deep and meaningful. I'm not spending a bunch of money numbing myself out on tv and junk food and booze and drugs.
Speaker 2:I'm connected yes, I'm connected to the world on a deeper level and I'm connected to my work and my purpose and then I'm connected to my families and I go home and I treat them with the love and respect that I have for myself. Yes, they treat me with love and respect and and if there's conflict, we're like, oh okay, that's a pinch point, let's figure it out. And once we have access to that, then we have access to the skill development.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because if you're running around wondering who you are and you're miserable in your job and you don't look good and you don't feel good, it's very difficult to then go. Hmm, how do I manage this conflict effectively? You don't Right Whatever survival pattern you learned as a kid and it doesn't always work very well, you know, as we see playing out in the macro of our world and also on a micro level daily, like just these small little pieces, like I'm just thinking of one example where I was down in san francisco recently, the bay area, seeing a client and I was in I was going out to get some. I needed some food. I went out to get some and then I went into one of the grocery stores and I was just had.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm aware, right, I'm on this 50-50 vibe and it's a little bit magic, which is kind of fun. But anyway, I walk by this woman who's standing in the checkout aisle like with everything piled up, like she's got 18 items, like right, just looks so hard, yes, and I walk by and I'm like, oh, there's an empty basket. I walk, grab the basket, I walk back to her and I'm like it doesn't have to be so hard, do you want to do? Would you like a basket? And she's like thank you. But you know that moment of like she's in there, she's got everything. She can't see a basket. She doesn't want to go get one right, like if you could just step in for one second and go. I see you, yes, I see that you're struggling with this small thing.
Speaker 2:Let me help you with that yes it's gonna take like one, you know like two minutes, and the look on her face was like oh, thank you. And I'm like, where did you come from? I'm like I don't know, just magic, I guess I love that. I love that a lot more access to all of the beautiful moments and you, you can take the challenges, yes, with way more grace yeah it's not hard.
Speaker 2:it doesn't mean that I don't, you know, cry in the shower because I do right, but I don't stay there forever, and the river of sadness that I used to live with just is like, like it's healed. Now it doesn't feel the same way. So it gives you way more capacity to live life on life's terms and on your terms, like in a nice collaborative dance, and if you don't know yourself and you don't know others, you can't do it.
Speaker 1:I love that. Oh man, that is wow. That that is amazing. And just the positive outcomes of of knowing that and knowing how to it has far-reaching effects. Just how you showed up in community and help somebody, you know how you may want to show up at work or the environment that you want to be in. That celebrates you. You spoke to introverts. I am naturally an introvert. I'm selectively extroverted when it comes to things I'm passionate about, or if I got to do a presentation, but then I need to go back in and like, conserve my energy, and so I you know, and there are some spaces where I think if you're so extroverted, like it's just it's very celebrated and introverts you can get in your head what in?
Speaker 2:the world, and there's nothing wrong with you.
Speaker 1:No, exactly, exactly Nothing wrong with you. I want to tell all your listeners right now, right today.
Speaker 2:Yes, nothing wrong with you. Yes, the way that you came onto this planet is exactly the way you need to be in this world, and whatever shadows got thrown on you, whatever muck you had to dig yourself out from under, who you are at the core is who we need you to be, and it's just your work to start uncovering yes, rediscovering, reclaiming and saying, yeah, who am I Like? How? Do I bring all this into my life.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that, that I received. That was a message for me. Yes, I love that. That I received. That was a message for me. Thank you, yes, and I know listeners is celebrated too. As we close out, one last question and then I'll give you an opportunity to give your web link for people who want to maybe purchase your book or purchase your services. So I want to make sure we run past that before we end. You told me kind of the journey that got you here, which was a lot, and the music part. I want to know, like, how do you incorporate that in your life? Because I didn't want to lose that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what it's interesting? I have been singing my whole life. So I was singing in a competitive children's choir when I was 10, and I got paid for my first wedding gig when I was 12. So I've been singing a lot and I gave it up as a career because I believed that I couldn't make any money doing it. And my parents also believed that and I didn't know any better. And at the time when I was doing it as an opera singer, there wasn't Google. I couldn't go look up things. I couldn't see an example of how anybody was doing it. So I just believe that and I believe that I maybe I wasn't good enough or maybe you know, like all those things. So that was really difficult.
Speaker 2:And then a few years ago I wanted to write a business book and I contacted my friend who is a writing coach, tina Overbury. She's fantastic and I went. She's like oh yeah, I have a writer's retreat coming up like the next month. Do you want to come? Sure, so I went and then it turned out that I had two other artistic books of poetry that I needed to write before I wrote the one I just showed you, the song of being peace, yeah, and at that time I was like you know what I really need to reclaim my voice, like I was singing jazz with a vintage big band and it was it's okay, but it's not really. But this classical piece, this big voice yeah.
Speaker 2:I just needed to reclaim it, and so I started adding more music in and I did a. I did a competition. I'm like, hey, can I still do this at the competitive level? Yes, I can. It was fun, and now I. And so for my second book, I did like a show where I pulled significant songs from my childhood all the way to now, incorporated pieces of the poetry and then did a whole, hired some jazz musicians and did a show at one of the great jazz clubs here in Vancouver. Yeah, and just was like you know what? I don't need to hide the fact that I'm an artist. So in this book, executive being, there's poetry in it. Okay, there's prose in it and there's some hard hitting data in it. And I don't recommend you read it front to back because it's too crazy. Like, don't do it.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. I love it. But you speak to me like all those pieces that I can identify with the creative piece, you know, the data driven piece, because we need data. You know there's some logical, there's everything that you that spoke, that you are, you put into that book and that speaks to other people that are in that space, and so I definitely appreciate that and the fact that you didn't hide that piece of you, because I have a brother who sings and he's done some great things. He travels the world now and my husband is also music and if that part of them got tampered out or stamped out, they wouldn't be happy.
Speaker 2:They're not who they are. It's not. And I find and recently I had a bit of a transformational experience with the same where it's like, oh, I need to be singing all the time because it's like medicine for me. Yeah, it's medicine for other people too. I've it is. Yeah, I've done this, this weird thing now, where I've like I'll meet somebody and a song will occur to me and I just start singing part of it and then they're saying things like oh my god, like that was my grandfather's favorite song. How did you know? Oh my God, like that was my grandfather's favorite song, how did you know? Oh, my God, it's like my mother is speaking to me, right?
Speaker 1:now, or like it's super weird, it's like I don't know what's happening. Music is healing. It's universal. Here we go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it speaks to everybody over the world we need yes, I'm not an executive coach for everybody, that's for sure. Definitely for all those people that are like realizing that this current system isn't really working and they want to try something different. That's right.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, catherine. I want to give you an opportunity to leave your website. If they want to purchase your book or your services, or just find more out about you, where can they reach out to you at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm easy to find. There are not very many people named Catherine Lazarik in the world. Okay, one is a geneticist, I think, living in Iowa, which is kind of. But you can find the book executive being humanizing business, one leader at a time, on all of the major platforms. And I you know, if you want to order it from your local bookstore, you want to support local, you can, they'll order it as well. There's distribution throughout North America and the audio book is going to be coming out soon. I uploaded it to Authors Republic so that'll be coming out on all the Audible and Libro, fm and other places.
Speaker 2:And if you want to connect with me. I'm easy to find. On Instagram, it's just my name. Linkedin, it's just my name. I'm easy to find, so come find me.
Speaker 1:Well. Thank you, catherine. This has been an amazing connection on my podcast. I greatly appreciate it. I know my listeners will be impacted as well. I know in this short time you gave me great nuggets to just move forward in life and my podcast is starting to have some far reaching people. As I check the analytics and the more people that we can reach and connect with, the more empowered we can be and make this world a better place. One leader, one person, one team at a time Excellent. Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. Thank you.