It's Time to CEO Your Health | Always Lifting Ep. 12

Today’s guest is Krisna Hanks: Director of Employee Wellness at Ovadia Heart Health, co-owner of Square One Wellness, author, international executive coach, and metabolic health expert. We talk about what it means to “CEO your health” and why leaders must make wellness the priority.

In this episode, we discuss:
• What metabolic health really means and why it matters beyond weight
• Krishna’s personal health transformation and paradigm shift
• Why leaders often neglect wellness and how to change that before crisis hits
• The ripple effect of prioritizing health in workplaces and families
• Rethinking workplace wellness through performance and metabolic health

Krisna’s expertise is a powerful reminder that health is not separate from leadership. When we prioritize our metabolic health, we elevate our performance, our impact, and the lives of those around us. Investing in your health is one of the most strategic leadership decisions you can make.

Krisna Hanks LinkedIn Profile
https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisnahanks/
Square 1 Wellness Health Coaching 
https://www.square1wellness.com/
Ovadia Heart Health Wellness Programs 
https://ovadiahearthealth.com/wellness/
Link to Employee Wellness White Papers 
https://ovadiahearthealth.com/whitepaper/

Subscribe for more episodes and remember to always lift.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Today's guest is someone who lives at the intersection of leadership, health, creativity, and personal transformation. Kristina Hanks is the director of employee wellness for Ovadia Heart Health, co-owner of Square One Wellness, an author, an international executive coach, and a metabolic health expert. Her journey from coaching global CEOs to healing her own metabolic health gives her a uniquely powerful perspective. She believes, as I do, that all of us must CEO our health, making it our number one priority. Ladies and gentlemen, Krishna Hanks.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Yeah, and I think the best place for us to start this conversation is with a definition of what is metabolic health.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Great way to start. It's a hot topic these days because we're trying to broaden our knowledge about what it means to not only be healthy, but age with vibrant health. And part of the definition for metabolic health is recognizing that there are actually five official markers of metabolic health. And those come from the National Institutes of Health, from the CDC and organizations, and those include waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, uh triglycerides, and HDL. The triglycerides and HDL being from the cholesterol profile. And this broader definition of these markers really breaks us away from just looking at what used to be a category of importance was body mass index or weight. And we want to just make sure that we're talking about really how the body metabolically performs. People will often think about a metabolic rate, thinking how many calories do you burn, that something like that. But these markers sort of indicate, not sort of indicate, they really do indicate is your body performing metabolically, so on the inside at an optimal level. And it it just makes more sense when we talk about aging well and really looking at the body performing.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

It's great. It's like a whole picture, right? Versus just one little piece of of the puzzle. I really like that broader, broader perspective. And you know, you you've come from being an international leadership coach to now being a coach around metabolic health. You know, how did that journey happen?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

That's a great question. So um I had just to back up just a little bit, I had a long and extensive uh career as a professional dancer, which actually started at the age of 15. And fast forward to, you know, in my early 40s, and that was some time ago, uh I transitioned into coaching. I'd always been teaching and uh doing personal training, involved in different things. And um I segued immediately right into executive coaching. There was something always that attracted me about the performance side. And as a CEO, as a top-level executive, you're performing all the time. It's a different level of performance, say the creative arts, the performing arts, but it's high-level performance. And uh the company I started working with was very interested with in hiring people who had performance backgrounds because they were used to that intensity, that level of uh training, and having to, I like to use the word just be on, as you know, Karen, being a CEO. You know, the buck stops with you. And that's the same with a performer. And I just loved that. And I just transitioned into it, worked internationally for several decades there. Um, and that was my transition.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

And then now, so so learning the stuff at the dancer, which I actually think is really fascinating. You're so right on the on the performance piece and people having to be on and and knowing and having that stage presence that you had from your years of training, and then now helping others to to uh understand that is so so critical. Um, and now that you're in the metabolic health space, this came from your own personal transformation, right? I I think you had mentioned that you were a vegetarian for almost 20 years and had some health stuff emerged. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Absolutely. And there's sort of two things I think that pushed me really from the executive coaching level, and though I I do miss the travel that's associated with that, I have to say, um, is my own personal health journey, which I'll definitely share. But also seeing, um, and I know this is something dear to your heart, that many executives were in some ways fantastic at what they were doing, and they were just awful, just to put it bluntly, at taking care of themselves. So seeing that, and then my own personal health attorney, yes, I um not unusual maybe for performers or different people thought at one time that the vegetarian nutritional lifestyle was the way to go, that this was the quote unquote, I used my fingers here, air quotes healthy way to eat. And uh of course, as a dancer, you know, weight is always something you think about. Um for me, it wasn't something that I had to really worry about, but you're always wanting to be at the top of your game. And I thought that was a lifestyle, and I did it for about 20 years. And unfortunately, the reason I changed was due to health concerns. So I started having various things, digestive issues. I started getting some very strange joint and inflammation issues. And for me, as a professional dancer, uh in my background, having limitations on my movement, that was quite shocking to me because I felt like I was doing everything completely right. Um, took what I would call a two-year journey in the medical hamster wheel, being tested for this, tested for that, no real conclusions. Everybody had an opinion, whether it was an autoimmune disease or it was some rare form of lupus that they couldn't diagnose, or rheumatoid arthritis. At the end of those two years, really nothing conclusive. Um, had dinner with a very good friend of mine who happened to be a physical therapist. He said, you know, this is something beyond what we I see in my practice. Have you ever thought about your diet? Gobstruck. I thought, well, what no, my diet's perfect, you know, very bristly, very defensive. However, went home next day. First thing I did was call him and say, I'm sorry, I was a little um a little bit of a jerk. But I'm listening and I'm thinking, okay, maybe what I've been doing for the last 20 years isn't working. What do I have to lose? I could try this. I've tried the medical route, did not work out. Um, long story short, within a few months, things started to improve, my skin issues, my joint issues. And then I, thanks to my husband, he found an article from science journalist Gary Taubs about what if it's all been a big fat lie, which was really kind of strongly with good research debating this whole idea that you know nutrition is really and particularly uh a hormonal issue. It's not just a calories in, calories out theory or the eat less, move more. Um, and we went down that rabbit hole, and we've been practicing this some version of the low carbohydrate, low sugar, no processed foods, now becoming much more in the kind of carnivore uh spirit, we're not totally just a meat uh-centric, for about 18 years, and it's worked out great for us.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Wow, and to to have you have the results that you had is such, I'm sure, an affirming a voice on making sure you're teaching others all about all of this. And and parallels a journey that I've had myself. Uh, for those that are listening, over the last uh three to four years, you know, um, I've lost over 85 pounds and and changed my health on all of those markers, right? Because that's to say the weight wasn't the most important piece of it, but my health was awful. I was that CEO who was great at her job and was absolutely not taking care of herself and shifting that focus and um was so huge. And number, and I think the reason I'm in the healthy space, and I I was blessed to find Dr. Ovadia's book, who we'll talk about in a a bit, but um, I think that it was nutrition that is showing up and being this big game changer in what we're doing. And uh I I really applaud you for sharing your journey and for all the work you do coaching all of us, because it is a paradigm shift, right? Like this is a big deal. It's hard. We get kind of almost religious about what we eat and how we do it. It's it's hard to make changed minds.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Absolutely. And first of all, congratulations, Karen, on your journey. Super successful and a lot of hard work, and uh kudos to you. Um, it is a paradigm shifting. So, as I said, my husband and I would dove down the rabbit hole when we went through all this, but you know, so much, and you've seen this in the workplace, so much of health in the US, and I'm thankful I had decades living outside for a different perspective, has been focused on weight only. And it is great, your weight loss journey is that, but there's so much more. You gained your health, and that's where the metabolic health piece, I think, is really important. Um, and especially for women, um, women leaders, and that, you know, so much has been focused on the weight piece. And I think when we step back and we really want to be metabolically fit, that just opens up the door for a whole other paradigm shift. Um, and it's important also to know because, for instance, in my case, I was ill, I didn't have a weight issue, and that happens to many people. Doctors will look at your reports and say, Oh, your weight is fine, your blood look okay, but yet you're not feeling well, um, or your energy is low, you're not sleeping well, those kind of things. All of that matters. And when you apply the metabolic health lens, you can do that. Um, and I think uh you mentioned coach, and I'll just throw a little tip in the in business. We accept you need coaches. There's a whole market, executive coaches, and sports. We accept you need coaches of all kinds. Look at any team, how many coaches are on the sidelines? Um, when we want to uh uh achieve higher levels in education, you'll get mentors, you'll get coaches. We also need that when it comes to our health. And you know, a 15-minute visit with your doctor or your nurse practitioner on an annual basis is not really gonna help you become vibrantly healthy. And I think when we can also embrace that um and find a good team like you found for your your health journey, then you know, the sky's a limit on that.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Definitely. And it and for me too, it was it was taking the um the idea that I had to give all of myself and that I I was putting myself as a lower priority versus my business and all of its needs. And by the mindset shift of what I again use as saying, you know, CEOing your health. So in in my life, the number one priority is my health. Like I want to live and feel vibrant, have be vibrantly healthy, like you um you were talking about, right? And um it takes just being realizing it's okay to make yourself a priority. If you can fill your cup up, right, then you can fill the cups up of other people. Um, and I think that leads me into one of the things that we we talked about a little bit uh that I'd like to bring here onto the call is this idea of we as leaders not only, you know, focusing on our health is good for our own health and for living our best lives and doing our best work, but it can be have such a ripple effect on those that are around us, right? And our companies. Can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Uh absolutely. And, you know, uh, lead by example, you know, there's been countless business books written about that um for decades on that. Um and that's the true way. Now we know from coaching intrinsically, people are only going to change when they are ready to change. However, if the CEO is CEOing their health and leading by that, it's a one of it's a there's a trickle-down effect. I mean, we're working with a manufacturing company in Pennsylvania with the Ovedia Heart Health Team. We also finished up working with a small dental practice in Oregon. And in both cases, it's not only the people working there, but it's the family members. I have um whether it's a parent or it's a child, um, and that ripple effect then goes out into the community. So, you know, I know CEOs say all the time, your your employees are your biggest investment.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Well, if you're if they're not healthy, that investment is of a lower quality. And the best, absolute best way is when you can model that. And there's no perfection. I think that's one of the hardest things, maybe for someone in a leadership position like you've been for for a long time, is you're you have that goal to be perfect. Um, and health is a little messy. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

We're humans, right? We make mistakes. It's gotta you gotta fit that in there. That's gotta be part of the game here.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

100%. And if we can also embrace that a little bit too ourselves, that that it is again the journey, and it's all about practicing, right? And you know, certainly having had a career on stage, some of your performances are gonna be like just dynamite, some of them are gonna be less, but you hopefully with each one, you learn something and you take that forward.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Yeah, and and this this ripple, um, being brave enough as the leader of the organization or or the CEO, as we're saying, but also like this ripple that you're creating um is going into the families. I mean, we've got you could be the leader, you'd be listening and be the leader of your family, you could be the leader of your group of friends. Like the type of uh ripple and spark that can happen from this is great. And I hear a lot of what you're saying is showing, you know, yourself some kindness and love in this process uh and being open to it and just not giving up, right? Keep continuing wherever you are on that journey, you you know, just keep keep moving forward and keep investing in yourself and investing um in your people. Uh, I think it's it's awesome perspective.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

It it really is. And I I people um highly respect also vulnerability. Um, you know, I know we've broken through the age where you know you would never show emotions and things like that, but health is a is a great bridge. Like even, for instance, we had a how-to-quit group and one of the manufacturing companies we've been working on. But the how-to-quit group, it could be anything you were wanting to quit. It could have been smoking, vaping, sugar. We had people wanting to quit sugar, we had people wanting to just quit processed food. Um, we had one person wanting to quit gaming on their uh phone. And it was wonderful because everyone was a little bit willing to share their vulnerability there. And when it comes to our health, that can be a good bridge for people to see that it isn't perfect. You aren't, you're, you're not gonna hit all your markers all the time, but we can move forward together as a group.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

And did you do you think there's any underlying reason why we, you know, if we go back to the CEO lens on that, and you know, we're we've talked through this, but it does tend to be like we need some, or maybe even not just leaders. We have this catastrophic health event, you know, which is that's what happened for me. It was this game-changing moment where my father had had a health scare and I had calcification show up in my heart, and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm only in my early early 40s, I'm on my way to a heart attack. Why does it take that to get us to change? Like what what can we, you know, what what's what what causes that? And do you have any insights from all of your work?

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Um yes and no. It's maybe it's the human condition.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

It's continually evolving. You know, we uh we have quite an all-or-nothing mentality, particularly in the US. And I think a lot of that is also in the global workspace. Um, and uh that that's unfortunate. Um, for instance, my European friends will say America revolves between crisis and complacency. Um, that factor figures into it. Um and sometimes we just have a bucket of energy, we can only put so much into it, right? And maybe we've put it all into the work and we think we keep thinking, well, once I get to this hurdle, then I'll go to that next one. Um and unfortunately for many people, it will take that crisis. I think there's enough glowing and you know, sort of talked about concern that people are recognizing that that's not a great philosophy. Had a a client um who talked about that sadly, I think, and anyone can, you know, check this out on Grok or Google, but the lifespan of someone who works for UPS, I think was like talked about as in their 50s, right? Um, that they had this terrible record of you know heart attacks later on or stress. So the newer ones are at least paying attention to that. Um, so uh I think it's it's changing. It has. There is an awareness of that. Um, but for many people, it still might take that crisis moment. Um, and hopefully we can do something about it then.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Well, I feel like your story and and what we're sharing today is we we give people permission to invest in themselves and take the moments for self-care, um, especially in the space of your metabolic health and um being aware, uh, awareness is the first step, right? And being open to, as you had, your challenge, the people challenging the beliefs and what you were doing. And and that that's hard for us as humans as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

That's a really great point. And I think those individuals who do have someone who thinks differently, critically, and maybe challenges you are really important people if you're in a leadership position to have around you, right? Even if if you even go back historically to the concept we talk about with Abraham Lincoln, that he put some of his adversarials in his cabinet. Uh, we need those. Oftentimes people will surround themselves with the people who say yes. Um, but we need those who say, Well, have you thought about that? And that's where I think coaching and getting those people who are also challenging you about your health is important in the workplace, whether you do have a wellness program or maybe you just have a mentor who keeps reminding you, prioritize your health.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

That's such good, good advice. Um, and if if we spin now a little bit into that, that that workness, workplace wellness, uh, is there any practical sort of like, you know, if if if somebody had a step one or step two on how to think differently about workplace wellness um or how to take some steps towards what you're doing, uh, maybe even sharing, you know, other other items from the work you have with the Ovadia Heart Health Group. Um, what what would you say is like step one or two on that journey? Because we talk about wellness all the time, right? We have a lot of us have wellness programs, but maybe we need to be thinking differently. Challenge us.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

All right. The challenge I would say first and foremost. Is your wellness program working? Are people getting healthy? And if it's the same model you've been doing for years, and the answer to that question is no, we need to rethink. And certainly, you know, there's opportunity costs in business, right? I have a business degree. And if you're spending money and it's not, you know, getting a good investment, it's time to think uh differently, think critically. And I would say first step is how we started this call. Look at metabolic health. Um, step back away from a lot of, let's say, at least over the last 10 years or so, much of workplace wellness, work site wellness, whatever you want to call it, has been in the medical insurance model of disease management. Let's identify those individuals in your company who have maybe diabetes or pre-diabetes or uh hypertension, and we're gonna focus our issues on them. Well, you have a whole workforce. And what about focusing on metabolic health of all the employees, not just those that you're sort of tagging and you know, putting a disease uh label on them or an ICD9 uh uh number? Um, that would be a challenge I would look at. And then to broaden also the the idea of if we want people in the workplace to perform well, we have to look at all those issues, right? Are are they having time to focus on the things they want to do? Um, is the nutrition in the workplace actually fueling good performance? Or is it acerbating what we call the blood sugar roller coaster, right? What do you have in your vending machine? What do you have in the break room? Um are we teaching them about good protein and healthy fats? Um Are we helping people learn how to delegate and outsource and not just micromanage everything? Um so it's performance in general, and particularly um, you know, something that we're passionate at the Ovade Heart Health Team is uh performance nutrition that managing, understanding what your fueling, your foods are doing to your blood sugar, understanding what it's doing to your metabolic health. Can we optimize that? Um and I think the last piece is helping your workforce understand why they want to be healthy and elevate. I I like to say elevate your why. Every company has a mission. You've got a mission now. Your mission now is to make Karen healthy and strong for as long as you can, right? And to encourage the rest of your workforce to do the same, prioritize their health. However, we have to know why we want to be healthy, right? I'm I'm kind of one of those ones, I want to be independent. That that's something very important to me. Um, and that motivates me. Just like when I was a performer, I wanted every person in the audience to see the best they could that night. So I wanted to give 100% every night. Um and I think tying into the why helps people understand that it is more than just the scale you're standing on.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Oh, definitely. I love this elevate your why. I think that's so, so great. And there's so much, you know, studies out there in longevity and and whatnot going on too, like right, like what where you are and how healthy you are now is how healthy you're gonna be and having vibrant health as you age, right? And we want to be able to do things as we get older, the the better off we are now. We can kind of keep that slope as high as possible for that best quality, quality of life. Um, I think that's such a great, such a great message. Um, yeah, what's the way I like to work with Dr. Ovadia? I have to say, for those listening, Dr. Ovadia has a book called Stay Off My Operating Table, and he's a cardiac surgeon. And the book has this compelling story of really rethinking everything that we've been talking about here today and give some great insights. And I just um I found it so like, you know, wow, like it did have quite a quite an impact on me. And to have somebody in his space talking to us about this, I think it's a gift that he's willing to share that because it you certainly stand up when the cardiac surgeon is saying, you know, this kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Yeah, absolutely. It's very refreshing for some people, it'll be mind-blowing having a cardiac surgeon tell you, enjoy that piece of steak. Um, and um to look at your metabolic health. And he's a perfect example of someone who did hit that crisis moment um and made a complete revelation in his health, lost close to 100 pounds, and really took a 180 away from, let's say, current standard, particularly dietary advice. Um, as you mentioned, he wrote about it in his book, Stay Off My Operating Table, his his own personal journey. And we're trying to keep as many people off his operating table as possible. And that's why we're now doing our programs in the workplace because not everyone has the means to work uh privately health with uh a cardiac surgeon, even those not just going to infrary, but per preventative care, as you did. Um, and we can reach more people in the workplace. Um, and that uh is something that we're all very passionate about. Pretty much everyone in our company has had their own personal journey, um, as well as just tons of experience um with multiple degrees, uh, both medical degrees, certifications. We've all just gone down that rabbit hole of the metabolic health and want to keep sharing our passion with that. Um the exciting thing is, you know, we have clients of all ages. We have them across the country. Dr. Ovedia is now licensed in all 50 states, which is really exciting. Uh, we can work across the globe with individuals. And, you know, we have all these ages. I have an 89-year young uh client right now who's just doing fantastic, been with us for now the last three years. We also have younger people, you know, in their 30s uh who are not waiting till that crisis moment, thankfully, who are trying to take um their health uh in their hands and invest in it. Um so it's extremely rewarding, both on the workplace wellness side, but uh on the in individual. Um and I'll just share one little anecdote of a couple recently that reached out to us um that I've been working with as a coach. Um he lost around 45 pounds, she lost around 25 pounds. But more importantly, is they both got their health back together. And this, what you mentioned earlier, trickle down the fact that's doubly uh exciting.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Oh, it's wonderful. And you know, what you're doing and sharing, it's really like changing lives, right? And and you know, that's probably was transformational for those two uh individuals for sure. Do you have any other great like stories, any other like you know, transformational stories of of anybody you've worked with that you're able to share of just um you know, results and things that that just kind of make you smile? Uh Scott, I'm sure you have a lot of them actually.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Well, um just in general, we have multiple people over the age of 80. And um what I um, you know, whether they have you know reversed their diabetes, um, they've taken their fasting insulin from the double digits down to the single digits. And again, not everything is about weight. Um, you know, we've had individuals who, you know, are doing um, you know, have switched from a kind of low-fat diet to a more protein focused and are competing again in their favorite sports, whether that's cycling, running, or uh competitive pickleball. I didn't know, but that was a thing, but I found out it is.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

It definitely is a thing.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

It definitely is a thing. Um, those are really exciting. Um, and then, you know, also just from uh our own company that I own with my husband's Square Wim Wellness, we had someone recently who did her third New York City marathon. Um after, you know, kind of revamping her nutrition and having had come through a burnout phase. So those kind of things are are really exciting, both from the work with Dr. Ovedia, but um my own work with my husband and I. Um another, you know, sort of, you know, knock-on effect, we've had spouses see, you know, their cancer markers improve um through the dietary changes. Um, and these are kind of the things, you know, we know the ketogenic diet is in combination with traditional cancer therapies is working really well for many individuals. And those are the stories too that um really touch your heart.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Oh, yeah. Wow. That's um that's awesome. Awesome stuff. It's got to make you feel good. You're giving people the ability to to have joy and do the things that they love, right? And that's that's what health is all about, like being able to enjoy our lives. And and it is such an important part of of being successful and and performing in our work, but also performing our lives. And you know, we we only get one life. We should live it as best we can, right? Absolutely. Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

And and I think that the that is the key word that I would, if I would help anybody would take anything away, is think about everything in a performance lens. You want your you want to perform well uh in your work, you want to perform well with your loved ones and your family and life. And you want to perform well when it comes to your health. And that takes looking at all, again, the lifestyle pieces. You know, the medical system is great for some things, but when it comes to vibrant health, that life, those lifestyle factors, right? Your nutrition, your exercise, your sleep, getting sunshine, uh, managing your stress, those are all equally important. And those need your performance attention.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

Absolutely. So well said. Um, just to kind of, as we get closer to wrapping it up, I do have one question for you. Just, you know, from your experiences being a global leader all across the world. Uh, and and I know when we had a chance to talk before you came on, I asked you, what is leadership life across the world? How what do we what do we look like in the US versus Europe versus China where we're all over? And you had some really interesting things and uh to share. Um, I think it was around this idea of cultural stress. And I I think this is a good awareness for us. And I'd love you for you to share some of the thoughts of the trends and things that you saw.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Yeah, absolutely. Or see. Um, so for any of you, Lysis, I I lived uh my home base was Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and that's where you can probably detect a little funny um trickling of uh Dutch accent in there. Um, but however, I worked uh globally uh all over Europe, also worked in China and Asia, and there are some very distinct differences. I think the global workforce has sort of um, you know, made those classifications less distinct. However, they're still there. Um, and I I think some of the things too to just always be aware of, just from a language, even though I I speak Dutch, I I speak I can manage in French and I can manage a little bit Italian, even when individuals speak your own language, this can't this came very apparent in working through a merger between a company in the UK and a company in the Netherlands, the Dutch are amazing with their language skills. They speak English. However, even though both in this sort of merger acquisition speaking English, there were many times they didn't understand each other, even though they understood the word, but there are cultural uh let's say backstory issues with every language. Though I think having a little grace and appreciation when you're working culturally is to not always take it at the face value, maybe also take more time, let people pause and think, and not be afraid to ask a little more questions to get closer to really what the true meaning is because the word itself may not be exactly the word they meant to use.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

So interesting.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

I think there's also many, um, let's say, having worked certainly in Shanghai and China, there's um much more of a hierarchy. Those things may have changed, right? Only certain people can answer questions than that. There's a delegated hierarchy, whereas Europe, and again, I'm gross generalizing here, but these are just some of the things you pick up on and you want to be culturally savvy about, you know, Europe, and we can see this now with the UE, is a lot on consensus. Countries like the Netherlands, where they have, you know, 10 or 12 political parties, they can't even sometimes make a cabinet because you know there's too many opinions in there. And that can frustrate a lot of American people trying to do business, is you know, sometimes it takes forever to make a decision, and you need to be a little quicker on your feet. So I think it's always interesting to try to understand on a more colloquial way some of the subtleties within uh cultures, even if those people do speak English in your language. Um, and it never hurts to at least learn a few words in their language, like hello and thank you, and teach me a few of your phrases. Um, but understanding that culture, even in the food you eat, that can be a great, you know, sort of let's say icebreaker to share a meal with people and be more casual with them than just the business transaction.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

So interesting. Thank you for sharing sharing those insights for us. You know, so you're doing all this great work, uh, really a gift to to uh everyone out there, and I really appreciate the message that you're sharing. How do you keep yourself motivated and and what is lifting you right now?

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Well, um, I have an uh an amazing partner. First of all, he's an incredible cook, so I'm lucky in that.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

That's great. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Um helpful. Um, and I think the things that keep me going, I love being active. Um I I can't imagine. Obviously, I had a long career as a professional dancer. I'm not dancing on stage, but I love hiking. We live in Arizona where you can get outside pretty much uh all year round, um, even though right now we think it's cold. Um and I love what I do, you know. Maybe um I had a father who um was a very successful basketball coach uh for a long time, both at the high school and collegiate level. And when I at a young age said I wanted to be a professional dancer, and he said, you know, it's a very risky career, you know, you're not gonna make any money. Um, you better love it. Um and in fact, he said, you better love anything you want to do as a work. Um, and he said, I love to go to work every day, even though some days it's more challenging than others. So that's kind of stuck with me. Um, I can't imagine doing something that I didn't wholeheartedly believe in.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Well, that was some great advice from your dad. Uh I think that's fantastic. And really, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today and reminding us that leadership, health, creativity, all of this, it doesn't have to be um, you know, they're there, they are inseparable, right? They're not things to be put in their separate buckets. We need our health to be creative, to be leaders in our businesses, to be leaders in our lives. And your journey really shows that when we CEO our health, we can really create ripple effects to all of those around us. Uh, and your work lifting individuals, teams, organizations. Um, really grateful for your voice uh shared here today. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Thank you so much, Karen. And I had to say, your title of your show, Always Lifting, is inspiring in and of itself. So keep doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Thank you. Krishna's professionalism and expertise in balancing health and career is truly inspiring. And a great reminder of how important wellness is in our everyday lives. To learn more about Krishna and her work, be sure to check the show notes below. And don't forget to subscribe. Thank you for listening in today. And remember, always lifting up.