Driven Leaders Podcast
The Driven Leaders Podcast shares inspiring stories from successful individuals across industries. Tune in to discover their secrets to success and unique journeys, gaining valuable insights and motivation along the way.
Driven Leaders Podcast
Lead with Impact: Janine McClintock on Servant Leadership | Driven Leaders Podcast
In this episode of the Driven Leaders Podcast, host John Patterson sits down with Janine McClintock—leadership coach, CEO of J9 Leading Solutions, and author of Stir It Up! Stay Relevant. Together, they explore what it truly means to be a leader in today’s ever-changing world.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Why self-awareness is the foundation of great leadership
The power of servant leadership and how real leaders lift others
How to lead with curiosity and resilience through disruption and change
The impact of giving back and building community-minded organizations
The importance of continuous improvement (Kaizen) in leadership growth
📘 Learn more about Janine and her work:
Visit the Stir It Up! Stay Relevant website: https://www.stiritupbook.com/
Explore J9 Leading Solutions: https://www.j9leadingsolutions.com/
Buy the book on your favorite platform:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/STIR-UP-Relevant-Self-Coaching-Parable/dp/B0D31NXBBS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.bQ8_rJECkbUOMnkqEM_S2A.2YYRyj5ZofQv8xNL2vPSxz2lzkFmu27bFL1r-qK_m8g&qid=1715631016&sr=8-1
Barnes & Noble: https://tr.ee/6-ADit6Kum
Balboa Press (Publisher): https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/856253-stir-it-up
Whether you're a business owner, manager, or aspiring leader, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you grow as a person of influence—both in your workplace and in your community.
🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for future episodes with internal team members and influential leaders across industries.
#DrivenLeadersPodcast #JanineMcClintock #J9LeadingSolutions #LeadershipDevelopment #ServantLeadership #EmotionalIntelligence #SelfAwareness #Kaizen #BusinessLeadership #PattersonAutoGroup
A leader's role is to transform potential, that human potential. A leader that shines their light so that others can shine theirs. We're never done learning. We're never done growing. Pull out the mirror, look again and reflect on who it is we are as a leader and then decide how we're going to move forward. What you're aware of you can own. What you're unaware of owns you. You don't just get the title and that makes you a leader, and tough decisions are required and you know their ability to keep their employees engaged even when things are challenging. Keep their employees knowing that they're cared about, which is, I think, a big part of your culture and your environment. Here that we're having any challenges, we're going to help each other figure out how to overcome those challenges right.
Speaker 2:I'm Jon Patterson and welcome to the Driven Leader podcast, where we talk to driven leaders, leaders that are driven to do more, and each week we talk to our teammates internally and on a monthly basis, we talk to external influencers that make a huge impact, not just from our team but for the community at large, and today we are so lucky to have Janine McClintock, ceo of J9 Leadership Solutions and author of Stir it Up, a great leadership coach that is here with us. That has been a big part of leadership coaching for our team, stuff that each one of our managers have taken forward, but super excited for each of you to hear what is going to be discussed today. So, janine, welcome to the Driven Leader Podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I want to take you with me everywhere to introduce me. That was very exciting. I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 2:Thanks, john, I'm the front man, I'm the pump up music to start things out right. What I like to do with any of our guests that come on is get a good idea as to your background. You know you and I know each other real well, but the people that are listening don't know you, and before we get into work stuff, let's talk about you as a friend, a wife, a family person where you grew up and that type of stuff, so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'd love to share that. So I am a small-town girl from Northern California and my hometown was known as the wrist-wrestling capital of the world at one point, and for the production of eggs which would be really good right now, given their cost For sure. Business. My grandfather started a bakery. We sold sourdough bread in the Bay Area and so I grew up seeing what it meant to lead in the community.
Speaker 1:My dad was a great example and he really felt like the business provided for those 40 families right.
Speaker 1:He really felt an obligation, not just to the employees, and I was thinking about the fact that when he retired and sold the business, how many people that had worked for him at some point went on to have other businesses in Petaluma, and so that was, you know, part of his legacy. So, you know, growing up in a small town was a lot of fun. And then I migrated here to Southern California little time in Santa Barbara, go Gauchos for school and found my way to Orange County and I've been here for decades and love it here and had a first marriage and a son, connor, in that relationship, and then now a second marriage to your friend John John McClintock. So we're empty nesters now We've got our three kids all out in the world and working and you know we love spending time riding our electric bikes around and up in the mountains skiing, and I do a lot of yoga in my spare time as well, so really happy to have made my home here in Orange County.
Speaker 2:And your husband would even say that you are the better of the two skiers in the household. So I've heard from more than one person Wait a minute, janine is the real skiing expert in that house. So I'm looking forward to spending time, after both your husband and I have had knee issues in the past, so excited to get to know you even better in this discussion, and it's been a pleasure getting to know you really over the last five or six years. So let's kind of transition. So right, you're here in Orange County. Let's talk about your education, your career right out of college, and how did that experience morph into where you are today?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really. There's really two distinct parts to my career trajectory. I was lucky enough early on in Orange County to land a job, you know, as a young 20-something-year-old at a company the Merritt Companies at the time, and I built a career almost two decades there, working for a female CEO, which was very formative for me as a young working professional, and it was an environment where you could take risks, you could try new things. You didn't have to be the most senior, anything to raise your hand to say, you know, I'll open an office in Northern California, or whatever the situation was. And it was a really diverse sort of business focused on residential real estate development and management, and so I just learned so much in that career and under a leader that was a great role model, right, that's so important for all of us to remember how important are how we show up impacts so many other people, and I had that great example early on in my early boss, melinda Massone. And so from there though, you know, things happen. Life moves forward.
Speaker 1:Recessions kick in, her succession plan for divesting of the business and selling it went into place, and so, in 2008, I found myself with the decision before me about either staying in the company that we were acquired or really taking the chance at that point to leap and go down an entrepreneurial path. And I really I chose that because while I was at Merit I went back to school at Chapman University and got my master's in organizational leadership and I really knew that my path was to help develop other leaders. I did it internally in the company I worked in and I thought I want to really take that. My path was to help develop other leaders. I did it internally in the company I worked in and I thought I want to really take that and expand my impact. And being able to work with a lot of companies, including a lot of nonprofits and that was another great example that Melinda provided as well was our organization was very philanthropic minded. We did tons of community activity. So I almost didn't know that not every company did that right, but now I certainly know that it was very special early on in my career. So I decided to take the leap and start my own consultancy practice doing leadership, development and training.
Speaker 1:And you know, as I say in some, you know the rest is history. Here we are, almost 17 years later. It's been a really fun ride. Lots of met a lot of amazing people along the way, worked with a lot of really awesome organizations, both big corporations as well as local nonprofits here in Orange County, see leaders develop right, to see people have those aha moments and to really know that we all are capable of change and transformation and we can guide ourselves and we can take a lot of deliberate, intentional action to be better and show up more for ourselves and the community and our businesses. And so I absolutely found my place and plan to do it for all my years. That I can you know.
Speaker 2:So when you were working there, clearly you were given some opportunity to develop people. Was there an aha moment along the way, or did it just kind of gradually develop into, oh, this is something I'm good at. Or did you have one of those days, weeks, months, years, where you said, wait a minute, I'm good at this and people are responding to my direction?
Speaker 1:Well, I think it was kind of dual, like initially I was really early on given responsibility of managing a team and then multiple teams and then a whole division right, and I did notice that really where I spent most of my time was around talent development right, and coaching people and helping them do their job better.
Speaker 1:I was further and further away from the customer and doing the direct work, but my job was really to bring out their potential, and so that's really when it clicked in, when I had the opportunity to lead really a group of about 100 people at the time and really noticed that really what I do right is develop these people, develop their potential, and that's how we get the work done, how we meet our performance metrics and how we get our results. And so that kind of human-centric leadership, focus around developing other leaders has been really my core anchor in the work that I've continued to do with other organizations, because a lot of leaders at first don't necessarily see that as a primary role right, they think they have other roles, but I like to really anchor people in the fact that talent management.
Speaker 2:Talent development is really one of the most important things they can do for the overall success of the business. But when it comes out once a month, I really dive in and listen and there's so many nuggets I get. And what he defines a leader as is a person of influence, and whether that's a person that is managing just themselves or managing hundreds, if not thousands, of people, you're a person of influence because people look to you. How do you identify leaders and how do you pour into those leaders and what is your definition of a leader?
Speaker 1:Well, one of the things I like to say when I'm talking about a definition is you are a leader if you have followers. So that's one thing to keep in mind, and that's one of those areas where people who sometimes don't have the role or the title of leader maybe don't see themselves as leader when in fact they are leading right. And so there's so many people that have the opportunity to lead others. Ie, they have followers, so they really are leading, and so I think that's one thing for people to keep in mind. And I've really always kind of again anchored in this idea of a leader's role is to transform potential, that human potential, into performance for the business right. And so in doing that and also developing and transforming potential, could be having the creative business idea right.
Speaker 1:So there's kind of a dual application there, because one of the gentlemen I studied back in the day his name was Max Dupree, he was a CEO of Herman Miller Furniture Manufacturers, right, and you know he said the role of a leader is to, you know, provide that path of clarity, you know the purpose, the why of what the work is, and to say thank you to all those people doing that work right and fulfilling that vision and the mission of the organization. And you know, I think that definition, coupled with just the concept of servant leadership and Robert Greenleaf's definition right and I love his best test, which is are those I'm serving more healthy, wiser, autonomous, more likely to be a servant leader themselves? Particular definition has really what is my guiding kind of principle around if someone is being successful at being a leader, are they raising up other leaders around them that are willing to serve in that way, and not just the business but the community and those in need, whatever that might look like in times of disaster or what have you?
Speaker 2:Let's lean into servant leadership, because that is something that resonates with me. I love watching leaders that give others credit, that are humble, that have a level of humility to them. Walk me through maybe a few stories in the vast amount of coaching that you've had where you can give an example or two of servant leaders that have had a massive impact either on you or the company that they work with.
Speaker 1:Sure. So one of the to your point, it's often like you almost don't know they're leading because they're so everyone else is out in front. Right, they've created the opportunity, they've delegated the responsibility, they are there to support and help remove obstacles, but they're, you know, really able to allow others to shine. Right, you know a leader that shines their light so that others can shine theirs Again. That's that ripple effect. And so you know an example there I have a large healthcare client and the CEO there very much, whether it's the doctors or the nurses or whomever it is.
Speaker 1:He very much goes on these like listening tours and really listens to people and then identifies opportunities and ways in which they can contribute, not even just to the organization, but like should they speak at a conference and represent the organization instead of him? Right, like the C-suite leaders get the opportunities and he is always looking to give those to other people, to give them the opportunity to expand their network, develop their skills, represent the organization. And in doing that right, they get to, they are developing and they get that opportunity to shine themselves. Right, where he could say, yeah, I'll take that, you know, panel discussion, or I'll do that. Community representation. You know ribbon cutting, whatever it is. So it's really that idea of I don't need to be the face in the forefront of everything that I want to give my people that opportunity because he truly believes in the we of the organization right, it's not about him. And only through all of those people can they serve the patients in a quality way to provide the care that they deserve and they want to provide.
Speaker 2:Well, and in him providing that servant leadership, there's a sense of pride with the person that is being poured into right All of a sudden. Not only do they want to do a good job, but they want to respect him by being their best selves at these different opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they feel very representative of the organization right as a whole. And so in that environment, with a culture like that, you know they're really, you achieve the result, the results you're looking for. Right, that those, the numbers come right, I love that, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, you and I talked a little bit before about some of the biggest challenges, right, the biggest challenges associated with leaders developing up, and one of the things that you had mentioned to me was you know self-actualization, understanding, you know kind of who you are and I think that's such an important piece to being a leader, because not every leader is the same, right. I think about some of the best leaders that I know, some of my biggest mentors and it doesn't have to be that person that is the big, bold personality. Sometimes they are, but sometimes they're very methodical, maybe a little bit more reserved, but what do you see as that attribute that you see is essential for individuals growing as a leader?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this idea that. So I love that. You mentioned the stylistic differences. There is not one way to lead, right, there are many different styles and you know, and different situations call for different styles. So even if we have a particular style, that's our comfort and default mode. Sometimes we have to even flex and lead in a different way based on the situation, right.
Speaker 1:But all of us there are common traits, and one of the core traits is this idea of being self-aware, which leads to emotional intelligence. And that's back to the Jim Collins, you know good, to great work, a level five leader. How you get the difference is that delta in emotional intelligence that the leader possesses. And so all that means is, you know, we are always all growing and changing and learning. So you know, the leader I was at 35 is different from the leader I was at 45, which is different from the leader that I am now, and regularly checking in with yourselves and being reflective and thinking about what kind of leader am I right now? Right, and then projecting what kind of leader do I need to be going forward?
Speaker 1:Because it might require something different based on circumstance, or you might want to be a different type of leader. Your position might change and you know, maybe you have capacity freeing up and you, because you've got other great team members running things, and so it gives you more time the leader to be out doing other things, whatever that looks like. So we're never done learning, we're never done growing. And, in turn, in the context of self awareness, that means, I think, the most important thing to do is to remain curious, right, curious about yourself and curious about others. And so the concept of the book Stir it Up is around self-coaching that we all have the agency and the opportunity to ask ourselves these questions that can be very deep and we can have to sit with them for a while. Right, to really sometimes hear our own truth. And it's equally as important you and I talked about also soliciting others' perception and input as to how they view us as a leader. Right, because we actually aren't super great at accurately assessing ourselves. So it is a….
Speaker 2:By the way, sometimes, on the lower end or the higher end, you know, you might have a higher sense of self or not even the sense of self you should be depending on your you, depending on your willingness to lean into it right, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:So some of those core questions about what are my strengths, what do I value, what is my purpose those aren't gonna have the same answers year over year necessarily. And so the idea of pausing, reflecting, asking yourselves these questions and then intentionally making choices about maybe leading in a different way or showing up differently, because maybe your role for a long time as a leader a lot of leaders have that forward-facing role externally and they're doing a lot of the talking, so to speak. And now as a leader, a leader might think I want to do more listening and that might be a deliberate, you know, change that they come to, and being self-aware to know that if I'm a different type of listener, it might cause me to be a different type of leader, and I'm going to experiment and I'm going to try that right. So it's iteration, there's not a right and a wrong, and we have to factor in. We have our plans, our business plans, and then life happens and pandemics happen and recessions happen and all sorts of things we can't predict, and we have to then again pull out the mirror, look again and reflect on who it is we are as a leader and then decide how we're going to move forward. So I think that self-awareness piece and it's not just you can take. Let's take an example, because I think this is really relevant. So right now, there's just so much disruption going on, right, artificial intelligence is disrupting a lot of businesses.
Speaker 1:You know so many things and so, if you evaluate what your perspective is and relationship to changes right, as a leader, have you done that to know if a change comes at you from an external force, do you sit it out paralyzed, wait to see what happens, or do you jump in and take action, like what's your answer? And then, going back to root cause, where does that come from? Pivotal watershed moment in your life, did you kind of formulate that attitude towards change? And is that attitude serving you now in this situation? And because that's the one area that I think I'm universally working with all the leaders I'm coaching and all the teams I'm working with right now is their ability to better lead their teams and their organizations through this transition and change. And you know, a fairly universal one right now is that, again, AI is just another technology. We went through the change when the internet came, when cloud computing came, but this idea that again, another role of a leader is to be the one to guide others through this transition from where you are now to where you're going, and so I think right now, if I were to encourage people to take a few minutes is to sit with.
Speaker 1:What does change mean to them? How do they react to it? What are their triggers? What might they need to do in order to lead others better through change? Because, back to being a role model. People are looking at you. Are you panicking? Is your hair on fire? Are you indecisive because you're unsure, or do you involve the group, collaborate, get ideas, figure out what's best, try something and adjust accordingly right.
Speaker 2:You said a lot but it was great. Number one the Japanese is a phrase called Kaizen which I use over and over again in our podcast and with our team at all of our stores, and growing up in the corporate world of Toyota that was just ingrained into me. Kaizen, literally translated in Japanese, means continuous improvement, right. And so I just look at myself, the leader when I became a car dealer in my early thirties. It was survival, and so the leader at that time was got to work hard, got to show up, got to make sure that my 70, 80, 90 hour weeks probably not the most healthy for me at the time personally, but it was essential to show my team that that was what was needed at that time to learn and grow and develop.
Speaker 2:That was the person in the thirties, then in the forties. You know, you mature, you grow, and now the guy today, right In his fifties, trying to be a little bit more mature in my approach on that thing. That that's part one, kaizen. I hear that right. Part of being self-aware is having that desire for continuous improvement. Number two one other thing I just love what you just said was curiosity, your willingness to approach a challenge, a problem, a situation with a curious mind helps you to be more self-aware, because if that situation is placed on your lap and you're curious about it as opposed to fearful of it, you can use that inquisitive attitude, that inquisitive approach, to be more effective for yourself and those that you're surrounding right?
Speaker 1:I read a funny thing today. It was about why have a mind if you're never going to change it, right? Oh my God, so right so right. Well, and I also, when I talk about self-awareness too, I'll say to people you know what you're aware of, you can own Right what you're unaware of owns you.
Speaker 2:You are aware of you can own what you're not aware of owns you so good, yeah, right, if you're, if you're clueless on it, it's going to. It could dictate your program. Yeah, and you're fearing, right. You know Christians might say faith versus fear, you know, do you have faith that things are going to go, or the fear going to paralyze you? Right?
Speaker 1:And you know the idea with that is if I own it then I can change it, you know, if I need to. But much, you know, for people maybe in the audience who haven't maybe worked with a coach or had that sort of opportunity, a lot of what we do is really kind of peel back the layers and talk about what are the limiting beliefs, what are the blind spots, because in conversation some of that can be excavated enough to then have the person see, oh, wow, this and sometimes it's even the strength of mind that I've leaned on for so long that now is maybe a little bit overdone is actually getting in my way as a leader. So exposing those blind spots, which is those things we're unaware of, right, you know, can also. You know it can be done internally, it can be done with a peer or colleague in conversation, and then you know that's also what coaches can provide is that opportunity to really help dig in and dig under, so that you know it's only when we see that we can try to do something different.
Speaker 1:You know, if we really don't know how we're impacting others and that goes back to part of the definition of emotional intelligence, right, it's. How does the way I show up my emotion, impact others around me and, you know, am I able to regulate that in a way that suits the situation. You know I've got feedback, maybe 15 years ago now. So I've always been very high energy right and that was a strength of mine that enthusiasm really could rally people, inspire all of that.
Speaker 1:But, I was in self-development course where I was a student and not the teacher, and one day we walked in and the instructor gave me a little card and it had this word on it and it said equanimity. And everybody got a card and everybody had a different word. This word on it and it said equanimity. And everybody got a card and everybody had a different word. And it was her observation of that thing that might be a blind spot for us, a thing that we might want to do differently, show up differently. Is that what the definition of equanimity is?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, no, equanimity is really about a sense of calm, and so what she was sharing with me, her perception, was I needed to maybe temper that energy and that enthusiasm, not in every room I walked into.
Speaker 1:I didn't immediately need to take up that air, right, and could I kind of temper some of that in a way that actually would then allow others to feel like, you know, they could speak up and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:It was really in the moment I was kind of scratching my head too, like what does that mean and how do I do that? But I have spent the last 15 years with that anchor and a reminder about, you know, how I show up really does impact other people. And even showing up as my most enthusiastic, cheerleading kind of self isn't always what's necessary. And now, quite honestly, in the environments I'm in in these organizations, I do as a coach, I do a lot of listening. I'm not doing all the talking as much as when I was training people in front of groups all the time in that way, and so it's just interesting, when someone hands you a card with a word on it, even how that can really change your own perception of yourself. And it gave me something to work on and to think about, and I continue to think about that.
Speaker 2:Well, and all that is is somebody helping you with your own self-assessment, yeah, and whether it's a teacher, a coach like yourself, or one of your friends, peers, what have you? Being able to take that feedback and have a relationship where someone will be able to share that feedback with you, with it being a safe place to land, you know, the whole, two ears and one mouth so that you can do that? A friend of mine he had lost his son and he's a guy in my men's group and he said there was a lot of people that came up to me and tried to provide me hey, here's what I think you need to do. And he said the people that were the most impactful for me were the people that said I'm here for you. If you need a listening ear, I'm here for you.
Speaker 2:And I think that oftentimes we as leaders want to solve the problem, but oftentimes part of solving the problem is understanding it and internally for ourselves to have that self understanding of how. One, what the problem is, being curious about it. And, two, utilizing the resource of trusted people, mentors, whatever so that you can improve the situation for yourself, be a better leader for your teammates and be a better participant with those that you're working in. Yeah, absolutely, I like that. I like that a lot.
Speaker 2:Great nuggets, great nuggets. I want to switch gears a little bit and that is on the giving back piece. So you know, you did a great job of outlining different self-assessment areas and for anybody listening, we'll definitely provide notes associated with this so that you can take several of those nuggets whether it's curiosity, kaizen and the like to be a good person, of learning your self-assessment. But one thing that you shared with me, too, is that giving back piece. I know that you personally have been involved in a number of charities and I want you to talk about Make-A-Wish or some of these other charities that you've been involved in and how you believe that helps you as a leader and how you believe it helps other leaders look beyond their existing workplace.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love talking about this subject and, as I mentioned, I really was fortunate in my 20s to go to work for an organization that placed high value on giving back to the community and so in those days we were very actively involved in the United Way, which helps lots of nonprofit organizations. So, again, early modeling for me about the benefit of that to the community and how that all connects. That's part of the social response. Those were the days before corporate social responsibility term even existed and again, our leader there, that CEO, really lived that and we were all able to live that. Leader there, that CEO, really lived that and we were all able to live that. And in fact, as part of you know, I went on to develop a lot of the leadership programs for that organization and when someone was being considered for promotion from director to vice president, part of our criteria was that they had to be involved at a board of directors level in a nonprofit and that was boards are always looking for good professional board members, right. But we knew and we saw how much opportunity that those leaders had to grow in those roles because they might not have even had a chance yet in our organization to have a P&L or some financial responsibility or oversight or what have you, or be responsible for recruiting other members to the organization. So there are so many leadership opportunities to learn when you serve in a board of directors capacity or when you volunteer for any sort of nonprofit right, because you could be a court appointed special advocate right. You could be a CASA, you could work directly with those organizations and work with the volunteers.
Speaker 1:So I'll speak to Make-A-Wish, who I've spent many years directly supporting, and it started with me wanting to serve. I had been consulting with a lot of nonprofits, helping them with strategic planning, helping their leaders develop, but I wanted to serve at the level of the people receiving whatever benefit that particular organization providing. And so my son was nine at the time, so he was young, and Make-A-Wish came into my view as a possibility to be a wish granter, which meant I got to meet with the children who were in need of a wish and their families, and so getting to that level of who the organization is touching really was profound for me, which then made me ask what else can I do? Can you start a women's group? Sure. What else can I do? Can you serve on the board? Sure. What else can I do? Can you serve as the chair of the board? Sure, and so they kept me around as long as they could and then the bylaws required me to term out.
Speaker 1:But we're still involved and actually, you know, in my work I still have a percentage of my time dedicated to serving nonprofits and what I do now is I try to select one or two in a given year to do more focused work with like throughout the year to help their leaders, because, you know, coming in for one lecture isn't necessarily going to help move the needle for those organizations' leaders. And so I've done that sort of thing before. This year I'm helping a group called Radiant Health with developing their leaders. They've got like 15 leaders and we just spend a couple hours together every couple months and I provide them some, you know, things to try in between and we really talk about what worked and what didn't work, and it's really been great.
Speaker 1:But overall, I think organizations that do contribute to the community, both in not just kind of the treasure, the write, the check kind of thing, but in providing people to help, serve really well. There's research. They outperform their competitors that do not do that sort of thing, but, more importantly, all of the ones that I know, like your organization, like Patterson's Auto, they you don't do it to for that benefit, you're doing it for the altruistic good of the community. The business comes back around, but that's not the why, like so and that's a differentiator, I think as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that the other piece in that scenario is as a leader. People look to you and they want to see what your priority is. Is your priority just the P&L of your existing operation or are you using any profits or using any resources to make an impact in others' lives and in the process? Those people that are whether it's volunteering for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Orange County Rescue Mission, those people that are, whether it's volunteering for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Orange County Rescue Mission, whatever the charity might be, I find that our teammates, when they do it, their eyes open and they see a cause and effect relationship and they view the organization as much larger than whatever it might be Making household goods, selling cars, a law firm, whatever the deal is they see it as something much bigger than that and when what you describe is happening, you see that cause effect relationship. I can only imagine having a front row seat to watch a child involved in Make-A-Wish. It's got to be just so humbling and so life affirming, I imagine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know. You know, when we talk about the kind of activities that fill people's tank up, right, so when we talk about mental well-being of our employees, which is important as well another big topic right, this is a way it's like a multiple benefit, right, it's a benefit to the employee's well-being, because when you volunteer, when you serve others, that actually positively impacts your well-being, right. So that's a personal win, right for them. I mean, it's this idea. I know that from early days, like you get so much more from volunteering, you know, than you feel like. You know, sure, you give, but oh man, you know the reciprocal, that heart swell that comes with seeing the person.
Speaker 1:You know, and one of the earliest projects I managed actually was for Habitat for Humanities, where they built out in Rancho, santa Margarita some condominiums and I helped manage the. You know we provided the management service for that organization and that was back in the early 90s. And so you know, kind of organization by organization, I, you know, seen different ways that you know people are served in our community and there's so many ways, whether it's Second Harvest, Food Bank, whether it's Goodwill. You know there's so many awesome organizations that if you're looking for a way, this is another great team building opportunity right Like so, when a team serves together, that so many great things come out of that, you know, in terms of the relationship building and the trust building on the team and people seeing different sides of each other. So it's just another great, you know.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of organizations use the opportunity to really help strengthen their own teams by serving so many great things that we touched on today, from identifying how you can be the best leader by understanding what, who you are talking to mentors, talking to coaches, talking to your teammates, and having that great self-assessment, self-awareness of where you are talking to mentors, talking to coaches, talking to your teammates, and having that great self-assessment, self-awareness of where you are and using that self-awareness to impact others and impact the community, which is just great.
Speaker 2:Jeannie, my hope from this discussion is we lead to twice, three, four times a year where you can pour into me so that I can be a better leader for my team, and pour into our listeners several times a year with great leadership traits that they can use, they can emulate, because you've got a laundry list of different experiences from coaching large groups, small groups and that's something that I can benefit from and I think a lot of our listeners can as well, and we talked about it and hoping that I can get you to come back time and time again.
Speaker 1:Oh, it would be my pleasure and in fact maybe your listeners can help inform what we should talk about. So I don't know if anybody in the comments wants to, you know, suggest a topic that would be interested in. But you know we've talked a lot about. You know there could be we could spend time on talking about how do you be more resilient, how do you build trust, how do you have your teams be more cohesive, how do you build alignment in the organization? There's lots of fun topics that I would love to dive into for your audience. So you know we welcome your suggestions as we kind of plan that going forward right.
Speaker 2:Love it. That's great, and we'd love to take your expertise and utilize that so for you. You're working on a couple of different projects, so, as we close this thing out, anything that you're super passionate about right now that our group might be interested in hearing about.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, so I am really focused on speaking Now. I want to again increase my impact, get in front of more people to really talk about how do you lead yourself and others through disruption and change, whatever that might be, and so that's really the kind of focus of the work that I'm doing right now. I do have a passion around well-being, and so I give talks on how do we optimize our brain to increase our overall well-being. So there's lots of subjects I'm interested in, but where I'm looking to do more is really on large stages in speaking, and so I've got some great things lined up this year already and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to really reach more people, and which is why I'm really grateful to be on your podcast, because this is another way to reach those that you know might need a little catalyst or inspiration to you know work on their leadership, because it is work.
Speaker 1:You don't just get the title that makes you a leader Leadership really and you know, the more kind of contentious the time is in terms of you know things going on, the more true leadership is required. It's easy kind of to be at the head of the team when things are all going fine, you know, with the economy and everything else, when real leaders show up is when it's tough, right and tough decisions are required and you know their ability to. You know keep their employees engaged even when things are challenging, and to keep their employees really knowing that they're cared about, which is, I think, a big part of your culture and your environment here, that you know this idea of we're in it together and it is a we, and the success comes collectively. And if we're having any challenges, we're going to help each other figure out how to overcome those challenges right, Without a doubt, and I like your comment about leaning into disruption and change.
Speaker 2:And you don't have to look far. I mean, if you just think about the last five years between pandemics and different crises, tariffs, whatever that situation might be In the last five years in our professional career, some people haven't seen those levels of disruption in a 30, 40-year career in a generation and we've seen a lot of that in the last certainly five years in the automotive space. We've seen a lot of it even in the last three, four years. So I am excited to hear about your approach on disruption and change and resilience. You know John Elder just wrote a book called Resilient and it was fantastic. How are you resilient during turbulent times? And your guidance for our team, your guidance for any listeners I know, will be very much appreciated. So thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:It's been a pleasure, been a pleasure talking to you, listening to you, knowing your story even better, and I look forward to our next chat in person on the podcast and look forward to you educating me and educating our listeners on how we can be the best version of ourselves, be the best leaders and drive home, how we can be persons of influence and impact for our teammates, our friends, our community. Thanks so much, you're welcome Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Driven Leaders Podcast, where we talk to Janine McClintock, author of Stir it Up, head of J9 Leadership Solutions and a wonderful leadership mentor, not just to me but to all of those people that she coaches. She focused on so many great areas that I'm hoping you got a good takeaway on. Number one self-awareness. How aware are you of your leadership skills? Are you talking to others and encouraging them to pour into you? Number two Kaizen. Are you continuously improving as a leader? And number three, one of my favorites is are you curious? Are you curious to lean into a challenging situation and grow from it? And the better leaders always are curious and run to a challenging situation so they can absorb it, be aware of it and be able to own it and tackle it and remember. If you like what you heard today, please remember to like, share or subscribe to what you heard and make this Driven Leaders podcast the best resource for you and your friends moving forward. Make it a great day.