Promoting Yourself & Your Work with Dignity with Hannah McNaughton

Hannah McNaughton discusses the importance of creating a culture of joy and the impact of dignity in the workplace. She shares her personal journey of overcoming self-doubt and the influence of her upbringing in shaping her beliefs. Hannah emphasizes the need for self-respect and self-care as the foundation for giving dignity to others. She also explores the essential ingredients of joy in the workplace and the dangers of sacrificing oneself for the sake of others. 

Hannah highlights the importance of silence and self-reflection in finding one's purpose and aligning with it. She discusses the balance between humility and self-promotion, focusing on authenticity and serving others. Hannah emphasizes the importance of co-creating with clients and building relationships based on shared values. She challenges societal messages of materialism and competition, advocating instead for a mindset of abundance and giving. In this conversation, Hannah discusses the importance of questioning the beliefs and values instilled upon us and finding our own authentic selves. She emphasizes the need to be open to different ideas and perspectives, allowing ourselves to grow and evolve. She encourages listeners to seek joy, wisdom, and their own unique purpose in life.

Takeaways

• Creating a culture of joy in the workplace is essential for personal and professional growth.
• Self-respect and self-care are crucial for giving dignity to others.
  Silence and self-reflection are powerful tools for finding one's purpose and aligning with it.
• Balancing humility and self-promotion requires authenticity and a focus on serving others.
• Co-creating with clients and building relationships based on shared values leads to meaningful work.
• Challenging societal messages of materialism and competition allows for a mindset of abundance and giving. Question the beliefs and values instilled upon you and determine what truly aligns with your authentic self.
• Be open to different ideas and perspectives, allowing yourself to grow and evolve.
• Create a joyful and authentic work environment where people can be themselves and feel valued.
• Seek joy, wisdom, and your own unique purpose in life.

Exploring what it means to live and lead with dignity at work, in our families, in our communities, and in the world. What is dignity? How can we honor the dignity of others? And how can we repair and reclaim our dignity after harm? Tune in to hear stories about violations of dignity and ways in which we heal, forgive, and make choices about how we show up in a chaotic and fractured world. Hosted by physician and coach Jennifer Griggs.

For more information on the podcast, please visit www.thedignitylab.com.
For more information on podcast host Dr. Jennifer Griggs, please visit https://jennifergriggs.com/.
For additional free resources, including the periodic table of dignity elements, please visit https://jennifergriggs.com/resources/.

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Transcript

Intro

This is The Dignity Lab, a weekly podcast in which we guide you through understanding dignity, its violations, and its reclamation no matter who you are, what you’ve done, or what’s happened to you. 

Here at The Dignity Lab, we believe in the inherent worth and value of each person. We also believe that our dignity is vulnerable to harm–at work, at home, and in our communities. 

Hosted by physician, narrative medicine practitioner, and leadership coach, Dr. Jennifer Griggs.

Jennifer: Welcome to The Dignity Lab. Our guest this week is Hannah McNaughton. Hannah is the Founder and CEO of Metric Marketing and is a nationally recognized search engine optimization, or SEO, trainer, a member of Forbes’ agency council, and a public speaker. 

Hannah has taught over 5000 digital marketing professionals about the intricacies of SEO. 

In addition, and, as you’ll hear, even more important to Hannah, she has created a workplace culture in which people feel joy at work. 

In our conversation we talk about ways we can promote ourselves and our work while remaining humble. We talk about how Hannah has managed imposter syndrome, the role that having a purpose has played in her life, and her belief that we can lead with dignity only when we honor our own dignity. 

Jennifer 

Hannah McNaughton, welcome to the Dignity Lab.

Hannah McNaughton  

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you having me on.

Jennifer: Hannah, you’ve created a remarkable culture in your own company and have had stratospheric success as a consequence of fostering that culture.

Hannah McNaughton 

It's something that we were very intentional about from the beginning. And it's, I just, I'm just kind of humbled every day just to see the people that choose to give their time to what we're doing. it's what we've done and what it's become is just, for me, it's kind of hard to just let us think and sometimes, you know, because

You know, I am just not one who typically ever really believed that I could do much, you know? And so sometimes I sit here and I'm like pinch myself, like, what is this? You know, like all these people are here around something that, you know, I thought was worth creating and worth doing. And it's amazing that they feel the same way.

Jennifer

What do you think is the root of the idea that you were not going to do much in your life?

Hannah McNaughton

I think there's probably a lot to unpack there, I think a lot of it just kind of goes back to who I am and my background. I am from the middle of nowhere, essentially, kind of in the middle of farm fields and rural America. And so my family consists of farmers and factory workers.

And, you know, there were no diplomas on the wall. There was no higher education, you know, no one owned businesses. There was nothing like that. And so I think for me growing up, not that there's anything wrong with that, or it was a wonderful way to grow up and a wonderful place where I grew up and surrounded by amazing people. But I think there were things that I just not only didn't think were possible, but they weren't even in my realm of understanding.

And so, you my dad was, he was a mechanic and then he drove semi for a while. And then when I was younger, he started working for the railroad. And so, you know, he was just, you know, I thought those were the kind of jobs that, you know, that I would eventually do someday, you know, something like farming or factory or something around there, because that's kind of all that there is. And so, I don't know, you know, I think that that's, that's a big part of it for sure.

Jennifer 

You just didn't have a lot of role models or templates to follow. And it's so important to honor that work too, is being creative and essential. And I hear what you're saying. How would you describe what you have created now?

Hannah McNaughton  

The biggest thing that comes to me and comes to mind of what I'm trying to create is a culture of joy. And it's kind of as simple as that, but there's so much that ties into that. What we do is we're a digital marketing agency. And I think a lot of times people look at us and go, okay, you do digital marketing, you help people get found online.

It's so much bigger than that to me. For me, I will sometimes say like, I don't care about marketing and that sounds very surprising to people, but I'm like, we're in the business of helping other businesses grow. And for me, I'm so passionate about helping innovative businesses, positive businesses, businesses who put people first really like change the world and have an impact on the world. so...

The way that we're able to do that is through helping them grow their bottom line. But it's about more than just helping people make money and get richer. For me, it's about helping businesses provide more stability, not only for their owners, but also to create jobs that never existed before. And that's a huge weight to carry. so I think people have businesses for different reasons.

Making a living is certainly something that is a great bright byproduct of having a good business. But for me, I really understand the gravity of what we do and why people hire us. And it's because they are looking for a way to help them grow and help them to be able to create better opportunities for others. And so I don't take that responsibility lightly at all.

Jennifer 

You sound like a multiplier, somebody who takes what's out there and then grows it. I just want to return to the word joy. And that's, that's something we talk about a lot on the Dignity Lab is joy and what happens when our dignity is honored. And when we create an ecosystem where everybody's allowed to be the best they can be. What do you think are the, what do you think are the essential ingredients of joy in the workplace?

Hannah McNaughton  

I think, you know, first of all, it's about it starts with yourself. And I don't think that you can have that if you can have joy in the workplace if you yourself don't honor that within yourself. I think dignity is one of those things where, yes, you want to give dignity to other people, but you first have to do it with yourself. 

And for me personally, that's always again, like been kind of a struggle, you know, I'm one of those people who struggled with imposter syndrome and thinking like, everyone's gonna figure it out. And it's, you know, I think having that perspective also helps you to recognize like that you are in the place that you should be because you have that perspective of wanting to be better and wanting to do good for others. 

But yeah, I think having that self respect for yourself first and treating yourself well is the core of being able to then share that with others. You it's like you can't pour from an empty cup, right? So you can't give dignity to others if you don't give it to yourself first.

Jennifer 

I think it's underappreciated. A lot of people who are in helping professions, I think, feel they have to sacrifice themselves to the point of codependency, you know, where they have to give and give and give. What do you think happens when people live in that state long term?

Hannah McNaughton 

Yeah, I mean, and that's, that's definitely, I think the flip side of it, right, is sometimes people think that's what they need to do, but you're not giving dignity yourself. And if you're doing that, right, like, so I, again, I'm one of those people who absolutely that's, that's how I've lived for many years. 

And I've gotten to a point in my life where I've kind of recognized that and recognize that I can't be my best self. I can't be the person that my team needs me to be or that my kids need me to be or my husband needs me to be if I'm not spending time on what I need, right? And so I think we live in a culture where people think that they just have to keep running as fast as possible without ever stopping. They think that it's selfish to spend time on themselves, right? Just give yourself a break. Give yourself some...some solitude and sit in silence for a little bit, you know, or, know, maybe it's going to the gym, whatever it is to just kind of recharge and reenergize yourself is so necessary. and I don't think that I certainly didn't ever put enough emphasis on that for a very long time. And I mean, it just causes burnout. 

You can't give joy where joy doesn't reside. If you don't personally have something within you, then you cannot give that. And so whether that is peace or kindness or love or whatever it is, you need to be able to spend that time on yourself first before you can actually be able to give it to others.

Jennifer  

What helped you see that?

Hannah McNaughton  

I would say my husband has been a really, really big, just a big help my whole entire life. You know, I think he's a couple years older than me and he always seems to go through things like as I'm going like, my gosh, I'm going through this thing. He's like, I went through it a couple of years ago. So one of my, I would say very well, I'll start a couple of places. I started my business, I went through like a visioning class and that was really helpful. 

But I think the really biggest things have been just the past few years. I really started to try to understand more about why I think the way I do and how to really, I think, take control of my mind and recognize that all the things that are happening outside of myself are not things that I can control, right? So trying to figure out what is it that I can control and what is it that I can do and bring to the world. And one of my favorite authors that I've read so much of is Wayne Dyer. I think it's just a culmination of things, not only his readings, but being a follower of Jesus.It's not necessarily even Christianity or religion. It's looking at the way that Jesus lived his life and the dignity that he gave to others. Reading books, Stoicism and Marcus Aurelius and those kind of books and realizing that what we go through now is not new.

For all eternity, people have been going through the same things. They've been struggling with the same things. And there's so much wisdom to be learned from people who have gone through and walked the paths before us.

Jennifer 

Yeah, we don't have to reinvent wisdom. It's much deeper. 

Hannah McNaughton

And I think we live in a world where if you think about it, there's rarely any silence. 

Being able to embrace silence allows you to connect with your inner self and really listen to that intuition that you have. And I think it can be a really uncomfortable place for a lot of us because there's so much that I think we don't want to think about that we don't want to recognize. And we, just want to push it down and just say, I'm never gonna pay attention to that. But you have to get to a point where you can sit there and think about who you are and what you believe and why you believe what you believe and really start to unpack those things. you can't really do that without giving yourself that space to just sit and be and yeah, just let silence just kind of wash over you and just see what's there that you need to work through.

Hannah McNaughton 

Someone recently told me you should wait seven seconds after asking a question before like you saying something. I'm like, that feels like a really long period of time sometimes. Like if we're like in a meeting with clients, for example, and we ask something and they're sitting there, I'm like, even I feel it, you know, I'm like, I feel like I need to say something. 

Jennifer

One of the things I'm really interested in is how people who are humble can promote themselves. Humility is something that we want to foster and grow. And the minute you think you're humble, you're not. It's a big sign you're not if you walk around saying how humble you are. How do people, when you work with clients, how do you balance humility and appropriate self promotion we need to be able to talk about our accomplishments.

Hannah McNaughton 

I think that's that's a big thing that is very common to struggle with if you are someone who is humble and then if you say well I am humbled and it's then you're in that that space of well then am I not because I feel like I am. You know, again, I personally have struggled with that for I still do you know to this to this day and then I think the thing that helps me personally is recognizing that the work that we do is not for, it's not for self promotion. It's not just to go out and make a buck and cheat people. It's to make the world a better place. And so there are a lot of voices out there and it's really necessary to get your, to let people know who you are and what you're doing. No one's gonna know if you don't tell them sometimes it can be helpful to have someone else do it for you. 

And so like me personally, I have a writer on our team who I meet with and she writes a lot of things about me or for me because it's something that I struggle with because I know all the things that I don't know. But I think that if you're someone who feels that way, then that's more of a reason why you do need to have your voice out there. I think there are so many louder voices, you know, and that's the thing is we hear the voices that are loud and we think that that's a representation of what everyone thinks and who everyone is and it's not. It's just that those are the ones that we hear and so I think it's kind of a necessity. It's kind of, we are, I think, of required in a way, you know, to step up and say there are other people who think other things and who really, really want to approach the world in a different way and it's okay to recognize that in yourself that you have something to offer and also recognize that it's not about you. I think that's kind of one of the bigger things too that I've had to, I guess, come to terms with, right? It's not about me. It's about everyone else that I'm helping. It's about everything else that I'm trying to do. I'm doing a disservice to everyone else by not sharing that with them.

Jennifer 

You have a heart of service.

Hannah McNaughton  

Very much. maybe again, that's that's kind of how I was raised and you know, just saw, you know, in in everyone that I was surrounded by and I have so many wonderful, you know, examples that I've grown up with, whether it was, you know, my grandparents, my parents, the people, just anyone around me. And so very much so.

Jennifer  

It sounds like you work with people who have a heart of service.

Hannah McNaughton  

Yeah, that's really our goal. I think a lot of companies, they hire people based on what they know. And I take the perspective of hiring people based on who they are and recognizing that you can teach people anything if they're willing to learn. There are definitely some lines there, what we do and digital marketing, getting ranked online, understanding Google and the algorithms. There are a lot of technical things in there, right? So sometimes we need people to have some knowledge of it first. But the number one thing that we look for in anyone is just like who they are and do they also have that heart of service? Because for us as a company, that's such of a huge piece of who we are. We don't...treat people like they're just a customer, like they're just a number. I know what this company is for me. And so I know what our customers' companies are for them. I think when you understand the pain and the stress of having to make hard decisions, but also the joy that comes with being able to help someone and give them a raise or allow them to choose the right priorities without worrying about their livelihood.

You need other people who also have that same perspective in order to make that whole entire thing move in the right direction. So yeah, our team is absolutely built with, you know, people who truly, truly care about not just what we do, but who we are helping and who we're working with. And it just makes it so much more joyful, you know, to come to work. Not only when you work with people who are who are very service oriented and who have just a really wonderful heart as people. But also our clients are very much the same way. 

And so we don't work with everyone. There have been definitely some times where companies wanted to work with us and we're like, it's just not a good fit either because they want to kind of just tell us what to do and not have that relationship where we're having that conversation about what makes sense for them. It's about more than that, right? It's about building that relationship and understanding them and their priorities and being able to have those hard conversations with them sometimes when things aren't working. But being able to do that in a way that's really respectful too. with good people, again, good people who are doing amazing things and making great changes.

Jennifer 

It sounds like it's a co -creation process when you meet your clients. 

Hannah McNaughton  

Yep, yeah, it definitely is. And I think too, it's not as simple as just, you know, us saying, hey, we're gonna do these certain tasks for you. It's about understanding who they are as a company and how to even speak about them, right? And I think that goes back to like marketing, like if you're thinking about how to even market yourself with dignity. I think a lot of that is being very true to who you are and not, you know, not doing things that aren't in alignment with your vision for your company or with who you are. I think that, you know, it can be really, I don't know, tempting sometimes if you have opportunities come up or if you feel like the market is going a certain way you're like, maybe I should go that way too.

Jennifer  

That makes so much sense. What I heard so far is making sure that you're true to yourself, that you know you're, that you're authentic, that you really are talking about yourself in a way that aligns with how you see yourself and how you want to be…

Hannah McNaughton  

Hmm

Jennifer  

…and maybe how you don't want to be. And then also focusing on the fact that your success is also allowing you to serve other people. So it takes it away from the self.

Hannah McNaughton  

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think too, I have a sign up on my wall. And it says, you know, I'm not what I have. I'm not what I do. I'm not what others think of me. My purpose is to be found in service to others and to be connected to something far greater than my body, mind or ego. For me, that's something I put on my, I have a lot of different things on my wall. I think I went through a period in life where I think as my children were growing up, they're 18 and 19 now, but as they were little, it's...I think almost easier in a way to go like, okay, I need to provide for these kids. I need to make sure that we have food on the table. I'm working because I have to do this thing. 

And I think I went through a transition of being so focused on just doing just to make sure that we could continue to survive to getting to a point where I went, why am I doing what I'm doing anymore? What's the purpose of it? Seeking money or things, to me, I'm like, that's not enough. And I know that those are things, having a cool car or a big house, those can bring joy for people. And some people, that's something that means a lot to them to get to that point. For me,more of a struggle, looking at, okay, well, if I have money, then...why? know, like, what's the point? 

And I think realizing what I can do with it and how that ties to what I feel is my purpose in life, which is to be of service to others, to help others, has helped me to get that perspective back and, you know, really focus on, again, like, you know, it's...things that I think can be looked at in different ways, looked at as maybe being like selfish ambitions are not, they can actually be very selfless ambitions if you understand the purpose of why you're doing them.

Jennifer 

Purpose, authenticity, heart of service, just your face and the way you hold your body, make it very clear this is true to you. What are the things you think get in the way of joy and people being authentic and aligning with their purpose and focusing on others?

Hannah McNaughton  

Yeah, I mean, I think we're in a society where from the very moment that we're born, I feel like we're inundated with all this messaging that you need more. You need more, you need bigger, you need better, you need to be better than the next person. If you don't get yours first, then you're not gonna get at me. And it's just not true. 

And I think that when looking at how love and joy and sharing and giving continues to multiply, if you get into, I think, that sort of a mindset and start implementing those things in your life, you realize that you get back more than you give. You know, it's one of those things really, if you give your and you don't give just to get like, that's not the point of it. But it, I think goes to show that like what we've been raised to believe in our culture is not necessarily true. And, you know, when thinking about just who we are, and our thoughts and our beliefs in life, and, I hope, you know, always seeking to gain more wisdom and discernment  

I think embracing different ideas and different perspectives without being very rigid to what you have always thought was the truth allows you to grow and allows you to evolve in your thinking in ways that you just really can't if you don't just allow yourself that openness.

Jennifer 

You're talking a lot about non-attachment to ideas or things that we've been taught and it sounds freeing. There's also a level of courage that I'm hearing to question things we've been told from the outside world. Your quote on your wall is a sign of courage to me.

Hannah McNaughton  

Yeah, I, you know, like I said, I've gone through so many things in my life where I think I'm a different version of myself now. I'm definitely different than I was in my 20s or in my 30s. And I think, you know, it's one of those things like as you get to your 40s, you know, like that's where I am, you know, I'll give away my age. And does it have to be tied to age? No, not at all. You know, I think this is something that in raising my children, they just the way that they think and view the world already is just so amazing to me, especially my youngest son is 18 and the things that come out of his mouth, I'm like, where did you get this from? Did you read this somewhere? And he was like, no, I was just thinking. I'm like, that's very, very impressive. You need to go be a scholar or something. So I think there's so much hope for the world and for the generations now, the younger generations. I think you see it with a lot of them that are seeking this, they're seeking more.

I think that they're seeking truth. They're seeing that they've been fed a whole lot of information that maybe they don't necessarily agree with. And I love seeing that in them. You know, I love when people challenge what they've been taught to believe when they challenge the status quo. And it's funny because when we hire people, there's a test that we have everyone take. And it's a strength assessment in a way that really of helps us to reveal how they think and what things they're maybe going to be stronger at naturally and what things maybe we're going to need to focus on for improving. And one of the things that it shows on there is how they feel about authority. And so whenever I see that on someone's test it says that they really have an issue with authority, I'm like, that is a great one. And I know it sounds like so backwards, but I'm like, you're questioning things. And I love that questioning in them. 

Jennifer

What has surprised you in the work that you do?

Hannah McNaughton

I think one of the biggest things is that I think it's really easy to think that you have to be a certain way because other businesses are right. And as I lean more into being who I am, as scary as that is, that's when we see more and more you know, success, you know, I guess, and again, you know, success can be defined in a lot of different ways to a lot of different people. but for me, it's, it's seeing that joy from our team, seeing our, you know, our company continue to grow, not for the sake of growing. 

You know, people ask me, you know, how, how big do want your company to be? And, you know, my response is that it's not about being big. It's about being great. It's about being a place where we are serving people well, the people who are within our walls and the clients that we work with. I think as scary as it can be to just be yourself, that's I think what speaks volumes and really, I think that people identify with that and really find that very refreshing because they see the authenticity of who you are. 

And so it's been hard to allow myself the permission, I guess, to just like,, do this the way that you think that it should be done or say this the way that you think, or you can be a little bit funny or not super professional in this video or whatever it is. And I think, again, that's something that's just kind of refreshing that people identify with and that seems to work. Yeah, it's definitely allowed me to recognize like, yeah, who you are is perfect, you're the person that you're supposed to be and regardless of all the other, you know, constraints that you want to put on yourself, all the other, you know, things that you think, well, I'm not that person, you know, I don't think like that person. You know, we're all different and in different ways and all for a reason. And so, yeah, it's given me a lot of, I think, confidence through seeing how it's all been perceived and accepted by, you know, by the market, by our customers and on…by our team.

Jennifer

You mentioned earlier in our conversation that you’ve lived with imposter syndrome. What has happened to that construct over the years?

Hannah McNaughton 

There are still little bits of that. I don't know. I hope that that'll go away completely. think because I always, I know what I don't know. I think, well, I need to know everything. I think allowing myself to recognize you don't need to know everything because the beauty in not knowing everything is neither does everyone else. And so by having the humility to tell people I don't know also allows them to feel better about not knowing. So I've been speaking for, I'd say like the past eight years. When I started the company, that was a big thing for me, was like, I want to be able to educate people and not educate them because I want to be on a stage and I want to be everyone to see me as, you know, this like, you know, great mind. 

But because so much in digital marketing seems so...hard. A lot of it seems like, yeah, it's just like all the secret stuff that we do. And it's so difficult for anyone else to learn. you know, I recognize that that's not true. You know, there are some things that are difficult, sure. But it doesn't mean that you can't do it. And so I think through the past eight years of speaking at, you know, at conferences, I've been leading workshops with a series called the Digital Summit for for that time and speaking on search engine optimization, on content marketing, and through that time just saying, hey guys, like this, you know, this word that I'm going to talk about and explain to you, it totally used to break my brain for like a year. I didn't understand, but here's what it really means. And breaking that down for them. 

And then seeing the results from that, you know, seeing not only the feedback that I had written feedback, but people coming up to me afterwards and saying, this is like the best talk I've ever been in, you know, this has helped me so much because I felt so overwhelmed. I felt like I could never do this myself. And you've helped me believe that that I can do it. And so for me, it's like recognizing that I don't have to know everything. And it's actually more powerful, maybe not to and to just be that person who is brave enough to say it's okay, like, I don't know everything either, but I've still gotten to where I am. So there's a pathway for you to

Jennifer  

I think if we knew everything, I'd be kind of done with life. I'd be like, if there's nothing left to learn, I'm just fermenting at this point.

Hannah McNaughton  

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think it can be hard, know, when you're surrounded by people who are so smart, I don't need to remember all those things, all I have to do is just be who I am. And at the core of who I am as someone who, you know, like, like we were talking about who cares and who wants to help and who wants to, you know, build people and help them grow. And I think that that that's, that's really the thing that matters, not, know, whether I can pull facts and figures.

Jennifer 

If you had one wish for our listeners, what would it be?

Hannah McNaughton 

That they would seek joy and wisdom and really see like we were talking about earlier, just like sit in silence, you know, for a minute. It's really hard. But to recognize that you are not your past. You're not what other people say you are you're not what you own, you're not any of that. You are a divine being. You are a unique soul that is here for a reason. I think sitting and thinking through and just really, I think we all kind of know in our soul who we are and why we're here and what we're passionate about and allowing yourself to really recognize what that is in yourself. And if you can get to that place of recognizing like what it is that truly brings you joy and passion and you know, what you want to give to the world. I would say it's a really, it's a really wonderful place to get to. Am I completely there? No, not completely there, but I feel like I'm a lot closer than I've been at any other point in my life. And I hope to continue to get closer to that. So yeah, I would just say seek, seek, seek what is out there and you shall find.

Jennifer

How can people find you?

Hannah McNaughton

you can find me at, well, our website is metricmarketing.com. You can follow us on there. You can also find me at Digital Summit, if you happen to be at any digital summits around the nation. I'm not at all of them, but speaking at a lot of them on search engine optimization and just how to get found online. Also on LinkedIn. I think as someone who's in the internet marketing industry, I'm kind of all over the place. 

Jennifer  

Hannah McNaughton, thank you so much for coming on the Dignity Lab today.

Hannah McNaughton 

Thank you for having me.

Jennifer

We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Dignity Lab. I was struck by all the ways in which her purpose of serving others has helped Hannah navigate her path within in her own company, the way her team selects their clients, and how she thinks about self promotion. 

Have you struggled with talking about yourself and promoting your work in a way that helps you progress in your career while remaining humble and human? Can you think of a way to shift from talking about yourself to talking about those you serve? 

And have you noticed that many of our guests, like Hannah, have talked about how our worth does not arise from what we do? Have you noticed that Hannah talked about the importance of honoring our dignity on the path to leadership? 

What are your takeaways from this episode? We’d love to hear from you…you can contact us at our website, thedigitylab.com.

Join us next week for a just Jennifer episode, a dose of dignity. I’ll be talking about self-compassion, including what self-compassion is not.

This has been The Dignity Lab with Dr. Jennifer Griggs.

If you have experienced a dignity violation or have a dignity dilemma and want to be a guest on our show, contact us through our website, www.thedignitylab.com. Guests may remain anonymous. 

And If you’re a leader wanting to up-level your leadership with a small community of like-minded people, visit our website thedignitylab.com to learn more about the Dignity Lab (yes, the same name), our group program for leaders.

Our website also has downloadable resources that you can access from anywhere.

More information about our guests can be found in this episode’s shownotes. 

This season of The Dignity Lab is produced by me, Vanessa Aron. Pete Carty is our audio engineer and sound designer. Chase Miller composed our theme music.

Jennifer 

What a great conversation. You give off the energy that you want to. 

Hannah McNaughton  

Aww, that's so sweet.

Jennifer  

It's very clear that you truly are as you. We're seeing the real you.

Hannah McNaughton  

I think as my husband puts it, he's like, you're a wildflower. And as he said that, I was like, yeah, I think that kind of is, you know, it's kind of right. So, and being able to lean into that again, as you know, as I've gotten older and realize that I don't need to put a front on for anyone. And, you know, I just, I am who I am and, you know, take it or leave it, it's okay. Not good or bad. And, you know, I'm just gonna continue to try to spread joy wherever to everyone else.