Episode 3: Yelena Idelchik - Leading with Joy and Purpose

Yelena Idelchik shares her 25-year journey in the CPG industry, from growing up in the Soviet Union to leading brands at Nabisco, Colgate-Palmolive, Cody, and Reckitt, with powerful insights on authentic leadership and team empowerment.

• Learning the crucial difference: "A boss tells. A leader sets the vision, sets the example, and shares credit."
• Building functions and teams that didn't exist before her arrival
• The underrated power of joy in leadership – creating energy and optimism that's contagious
• "The grass is greener where you water it" – focusing on nurturing what you have rather than what could have been
• Using AI as a leadership development tool by analyzing meeting transcripts and practicing different approaches
• Leadership is not about titles but how you show up – sometimes leading from the front, sometimes from the side, sometimes stepping back
• The real test of leadership: whether people feel stronger because you were there

Transcript

Nathan 0:22

Hello and welcome to Life and Leadership Stories, episode 3. Today's guest is Yelena Idelchik, a true CPG passionista with more than 25 years in the consumer goods industry. She's led brands at Nabisco, colgate-palmolive, cody and Reckitt, often stepping into new spaces and building teams and functions from the ground up. In our time with Yelena during this episode, you will hear her passion for leadership, mentoring and helping people grow, along with a wealth of insight on how to empower teams, lead with joy and keep moving forward. I'm excited for you to hear from Yelena on today's show. Well, thank you for joining me. I think it's going to be a great conversation to talk through your leadership journey and kind of where you've been in your career and in your life, but would love to hear more from you about who you are, Yelena, and what your life is, kind of how you've gotten to where you are today.

Yelena 1:23

Yeah, perfect. Well, thank you, Nathan. It is such a pleasure to be here. And for a little bit of the background, I am definitely a CPG passionista and probably somewhat of a pro. I have been in the industry for 25 years and definitely have seen a thing or two when it comes to leadership and management years and definitely have seen a thing or two when it comes to leadership and management and it has definitely evolved.

Yelena 1:50

To give you a little bit of the background about my personal journey and what some people may not know about me is that I grew up in the former Soviet Union and came to the US just six months before the Berlin Wall came down. So that has definitely shaped me and my resilience and belief that change is constant and you just cannot take things for granted, but you should always aspire to do more. So when I came to the US, I went to University of Colorado in Boulder for undergrad, NYU for grad school, and I would say that both definitely gave me the confidence that I could literally thrive anywhere, in a small city, in a big city, in the rural US and, of course, relating very much to your background that I understand.

Nathan 2:37

So those are two very different locations, right, and then thinking like Boulder versus New York, how did you find those two experiences?

Yelena 2:47

Well, definitely very diverse, and I think that it just goes to tell you that you need to listen to your intuition and sort of your mental compass as to where you want to be. And for me, I always wanted to be in the bigger city where things were happening. And, interestingly enough, I fell in love with the brands and the CPG industry early. But I didn't even know that brand management existed as a concept, because I grew up with one brand of everything. It was government owned, right behind the iron wall, and so to me, having the abundance and seeing all of the items and beautiful stores was, you know, just in nirvana really when I saw it.

Yelena 3:29

And so one day you know funny story I am driving on a highway in Denver with a former colleague of mine from Accenture. At the time that's where I was and he said that he wanted to get an MBA in brand management and I said, well, what is it? So he proceeds to tell me what it is and I said, oh my God, that's exactly what I wanted to do all my life. And so, as life might turn out, I went and got my MBA and went into the CPG world, and he never did, but he set me up on that journey and that's where I went from there. But I absolutely love consumer goods because they tell everyday stories of people's lives and I love that human connection that continues to keep evolving.

Nathan 4:15

I love that aspect of like you talk about. Growing up you had basically one brand, government owned right, and now you get into the US where there is you mentioned an abundance and how shoppers make decisions. That's got to be a fascinating view for yourself to really think about. All of these options that are available, how do shoppers really kind of deselect or make those decisions at that shelf?

Yelena 4:41

Absolutely. But one thing just kind of going in, you know, with the theme of leadership a little bit I was kind of thinking about is when you come into the new environment and whether or not it's a new country or a new company or a new situation, I think many people start to feel a lot of pressure of being perfect. But I almost didn't have that pressure because for me I started from zero. The only way for me was up, and so even the mistakes I was thinking about are learning opportunities and I just kept moving and I always had a motto for myself that as long as you keep moving forward, even a small step away from the couch is further out than somebody who is sitting on the couch. So just keep on moving, keep on swimming and, just you know, try to be better tomorrow than you were yesterday. And that's literally something whether or not you come from again a different country or a different environment, I think could be very inspirational and very career-changing, even in small, incremental steps.

Nathan 5:47

I love that. Now, as you think about like you got into CPG right and so you moved into that what was one of the first roles that you did coming out of school and going into CPG?

Yelena 5:56

Yes. So my first role specifically out of grad school because that's when I opted to go into the more of the traditional world was a brand manager at Planters with Nabisco and you know, started in food and then progressed to Colgate-Palmolive in the personal care space, all staying in marketing. Then went to Cody Beauty to lead all of the Adidas portfolio of beauty products, went to build their first shopper marketing team and then ultimately category management and shopper insights. And then I went to build more of the shopper insight space at Racket Bank Heiser, where I spent 15 years of my life building out many different functions. My past six roles at Racket did not exist prior to me being there, so it was fantastic, definitely stepping up to the challenge. And then recently I have done some independent consulting work going and consulting anybody from CPG to even looking at AI, running some insights, training, consulting for the Category Management Association, and so it has been quite fun to dab in a lot of different areas and bring my expertise across many different industries and companies.

Nathan 7:25

I love that aspect of you talk about building a lot of new roles, right, a lot of different things that maybe didn't exist before you got into that space and you've had to develop that. I've had a few of those experiences myself and I can tell you that I've learned a lot, not only about myself and what I can do, but also leadership within those spaces. Can you talk a little bit about some of the leadership things that you took away from those experiences where you had to step up and build Because nobody's really leading you in those? You get some general guidance, but generally, from my experience, it's you have to pave that road before you go down it, and so when you're doing that, what are some of the things you learn about yourself and leadership capabilities that are effective in your career going forward?

From Boulder to NYC: Finding Her Path

Yelena 8:12

And it almost becomes that golden standard that you come to accept. Or if you, I call it, kiss a few frogs and learn from what you don't like and becoming a leader of what you don't want to practice. So early in my years it was rough. I actually had a couple of back-to-back poor managers who were order takers, who were tantrum throwers, people who never asked what motivated me, and it actually taught me exactly what not to do and I couldn't really vocalize it because especially and you said that yourself in your book a couple of years back or, you know, 20, 30 years ago that was the standard. It was almost accepted, that the boss dictated and you sort of went along with it and I couldn't understand how they couldn't understand on a basic human level that this was not really motivational. But then I hit a jackpot and that was my first great experience, actually at Nabisco. It wasn't my first boss, it was one of the bosses at the time or my manager at the time, but he finally became the person who gave me space and trust, even when I was still starting, and I felt like I got my first leadership wings and I saw that gold standard and I thrived and this is when I got my first promotion as a result, because all of a sudden work did not feel like a chore, it felt more like something I enjoyed. And then I got another boss and I left because of her and she actually at the exit interview said, are you leaving because of me? And I wanted to be polite and I said no, but it really was because of one person who could really make or break your experience and that also stuck with me. Person who could really make or break your experience and that also stuck with me.

Yelena 10:14

So later in life I met a tremendous leader. He was another one I feel like I had like three of them that truly made a difference. And that was the second person now and he was at Cody. His name was David Russell and I felt like he was just transformative to me. We just really clicked in style and I found him to be extremely inspirational and aspirational and he was the first one who gave me the basic kind of like fundamental maybe truth A boss is a leader.

Yelena 10:40

The boss and the leader, rather, are not the same. A boss tells, a leader sets the vision, sets the example and shares credit, and it was so profound at that time with such a basic truth. I remember exactly where I was in his office when he said that, because it was just so much of an aha and I started practicing that from that point on and it's sort of conceptualized and framed the understanding of why said people are good bosses or bad bosses. And what I also realized is that you can have the skills, but having skills and being a great operator does not make you a great boss, and that is not something that is trained in the industry. But I think that our entire environment is actually waking up to that realization now.

Nathan 11:35

I 100% agree. I think you can be a very good contributor and be an actually overachieving contributor, but that doesn't make you a good leader and you have to learn some things along the way. And you mentioned like a couple of different areas where you've had some challenges and you've had some really good ones. Can you think of just like really top line, what are things that you try to emulate from the really good ones and what are some of the behaviors that you try to avoid? You kind of mentioned one of them, which was a big experience that I had as well, which you mentioned many years ago was almost standard place, where it was a bit of bullying and dictatorship, like telling you exactly what needed to be done and kind of overrunning you a bit. But think about those things you liked that you try to emulate and things that you try to avoid today. What are some of those key examples that people can take away from your experiences?

Yelena 12:28

Yeah, absolutely. I think for me, you know, when I think about my leadership lens in the way, or my playbook, it's actually quite simple. The first thing I always try to do is listen and ask questions, both for my team, for people around my team, and really try to understand what truly motivates people. I think it's really important when you try to empower them. And the other really important thing for me is to give credit to my team. You sort of set the vision but you execute together, but you do give them credit as a result.

Yelena 13:08

I think mentoring individually is critical, because there will be different people on your team, of different age, different experience. You know different things that matter to them, give their life meaning. Able to work with them one-on-one to truly understand what makes them happy and where there are potential handicaps that I can aid to overcome are is super, super important. I heard from my team in the past that I'm very demanding but also fair, and that drives the respect and the motivation for people to want to be the better versions of themselves. One other thing I would say that is truly, truly important and I felt that more than ever during the COVID times is that we all got extremely overwhelmed with new tasks, with shifting responsibilities, and so I saw how that reflected on the stress level of my team and what I tried to do, you know, especially within that context but even you know before and subsequently even more so is to plan ahead. I don't want to make people around me feel like they're running around stressed out, because then it's always reacting and this just does not show you as a good manager. I think what is important is that planning ahead, possibly having the time to think things, because then it's always reacting and this just does not show you as a good manager. I think what is important is that planning ahead, possibly having the time to think things through rationally, with, like you know, maybe cold head a little bit, bring people on board so that they feel like they're participating and contributing to this, and then trying to stay calm through the stressful times, kind of talk people off the edge because they look to you as a leader to sort of be that voice of reason, even when the you know going gets tough.

Yelena 14:53

And so I guess you know what I also want to add is that when I try to work with my team, I always motivate them with three principles. The first one is be the change you want to see in others. It starts with you, and it doesn't have to be like somebody who is the boss, right, the top manager. You can be the leader, even being in the trenches, being one of the team members. Every person on your team matters. Every person is a treasure, and when I look at them, I don't look at, you know, kind of like the silhouette of a person. I look into their core, I look into their heart, into their motivations, and I think that when I share with them the fact that I see them as individuals, it motivates people differently. And then the third principle is probably, again, as I mentioned before, just keep on swimming, just keep on doing things together, because at the end of the day, you're going to be still further out than somebody sitting still and standing still.

Nathan 16:01

Absolutely, and you said something a little bit ago too that I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into, because I think it's very important for leaders to think about when they're managing a team, and that is you talked about making sure that your team is getting heard, that you are listening right that, how do you do that? Like my personal experience is, I've had a challenge of being a contributor and making sure that I was doing that and making sure because I tend to be a wallflower sometimes and I have to force myself to vocalize certain things but as a leader, trying to pull that out of those people on your team and making sure that they're contributing, how do you do that? And making sure that they're getting their voices, their input heard in a positive way. That really kind of gets them engaged.

Yelena 16:53

Great question. I think the best approach is always to just ask what do you think? And I think that for more experienced people it's much easier for them to articulate it because they have kind of practice, they have had the training. I think the challenge with the younger people perhaps is that they may not believe that they have enough experience to vocalize something and you know, whatever they say might come across as silly or naive. And I think giving people the permission to say what they feel because they're individuals who have had experiences maybe you know different experiences, maybe the younger filter of the experience still matters. And I think where I felt early in my career I didn't have that confidence and and I did not have that full permission that I could give myself to do something. So encouraging people to believe in themselves that they truly matter from the start and having them ask questions where there is no wrong question and understanding their assumptions and their perspective, and encouraging them to believe that they add value because of where they are in life, not in spite of it.

Nathan 18:13

Absolutely.

Nathan 18:13

I like that, and a lot of times it just takes something as simple as that hey, what do you think?

Nathan 18:19

And it could be in a room where they're a little bit nervous to give their input, but once you do that, I think what you hear from them is often very, very good and really helps the full team to move into something that was a challenge before for everyone, or to think about things in a different way, because you mentioned even those who are younger, maybe a little bit more experienced.

Nathan 18:41

Those are always so valuable, right? And you and I have both worked in the insight space, and one of the things that we've talked about a lot, I know, in the past is that when you have somebody new that comes into the insight space, they bring a different lens because they're still closer to being a shopper versus some of those who have been around a while. We get a little bit more jaded by. Oh, I know what this is going to be, or you have a different lens, but having somebody who is younger or having somebody who is maybe not necessarily younger but more inexperienced in that space to bring a different lens can be completely valuable for the team 100% agree, and that is actually the key reason why I love mentoring so much, whether or not it's the one-offs or it's something where you have more of an ongoing relationship, just the pulse check.

Building New Functions from Scratch

Yelena 19:30

And I definitely encourage people, especially the younger people who are entering the industry, to make sure that they have the courage to reach out to more seasoned industry experts and just ask for these, because people want to share their knowledge, they want to be heard, and I think that there is a lot of value that mentoring can actually have, and one of the big epiphanies that I had is when mentoring younger colleagues.

Yelena 20:01

They often have a lot of energy to make the difference. What they might be missing is focus, and so the experience and the ability of a great leader is to help the team focus on what truly matters and kind of sharpen that pencil, if you will, on so many different levels. And for me, I probably didn't know enough how to focus, how to ask the right questions. You know, why would somebody want to help me? And I am sort of catching up later in life by having more of that wisdom and creating my own personal role models whom I can ask questions, you know, win them over, bring them to create my own personal virtual boardroom with advisory, and today I draw my strength from my peer group of actually extremely strong leaders as a result, Absolutely, and I think that's always one of the things that I said.

Nathan 21:02

You know I wish I would have known earlier, right? Is that power of networking, that power of really having the ability to talk with someone and to get some ideas from them? I wish I would have known that earlier in my career, and that's something that I love getting the opportunity to meet with others, to mentor them or just have a conversation. What's going on? How do I help? Use me as a sounding board right? Have you had a person who you've worked with that was your mentor in the past that had maybe helped you? And what are some of the things that they've done for you or guidances that they've given you that have really shifted your perspective on leadership?

Yelena 21:43

Yes, I think that some of them sort of happened voluntarily, whether or not it was through the industry, conversations or you just, you know, kind of catch a ride to the airport with somebody that you work with and you strike a conversation and there is something about what that person said or experienced that completely moves you.

Yelena 22:05

And so I have had some people who have been there for my, you know, long career you know we're talking 20 years you know who started to see me more as a junior, you know manager, and then kind of saw me progress throughout my career, and they were there for me just to lend an ear, sometimes grass, throughout my career, and they were there for me just to lend an ear sometimes, and sometimes it's just asking the right question and motivating me to think things through.

Yelena 22:32

So I'm very fortunate. One of these people actually is Sheila Mulholland, who is now at In Context, but she has been my great friend for many, many years, through so many different ups and downs, and you come to appreciate that somebody can just be there for you, you know, not because they need something but because they want to be, and there is this mutual respect and admiration and ability to step in when it really matters and in my opinion, I believe that givers just to do better in life period. So, whether or not it's your knowledge or your expertise or you know any other way, you might be generous to somebody, even when it's not the immediate tit for tat, but that generosity always comes back to you one way or another and it is something that probably contributes to your personal brand, but to me it has definitely been the testament to building the best relationships in the industry.

Nathan 23:30

Absolutely. I think you're starting to hit on. My next question that I had for you is, you know, being that mentor. What do you feel like you take away from those conversations as being someone who's mentoring somebody else you know, not like do you get some of those things kind of value? But what are some of the other things that you found from those mentor relationships, that you have kind of gained from those experiences?

Yelena 23:54

Yes, well, I think it's actually two things for me. The first one is it makes you realize how far you have come through in your career, like how far have you gone. And I think that we are all so wrapped up and running, running, running every day. We take things for granted and we can sometimes lose ourselves a little bit in the process, and so when you provide somebody with perspective, in a way, you're talking to yourself, you're talking to probably the younger version of yourself in some ways, and you realize that you have all the gifts and the ability to be proud of yourself for what you have accomplished. But also you can now save somebody the angst to maybe not repeat the mistakes or to do something faster, and I wish somebody had been there for me in that way. So it gives you that tremendous sense of satisfaction that you are contributing to the industry in a better way.

Leadership Lessons: Bosses vs Leaders

Yelena 24:55

And I never know how it comes back to you, and it may never come back to you, but that's okay. Sometimes you don't even know what impact you have, right. It's kind of like that butterfly effect. You just don't even know, like, what impact you have, right. It's kind of like that butterfly effect. You just don't know, but somehow, somewhere it brings better good and it just gives me joy to be able to do this. I am, I'm all about the pursuit of joy and happiness, and this helps me.

Nathan 25:22

Absolutely, and I agree. And you hit on something that I found super valuable as a mentor to others and that is almost a forced reflection, right. It makes you take stock of what decisions did I make that got me to where I am and what things would I have done differently had I had an understanding at that point in time of where I would be right. And I love that forced reflection aspect because I think one of the things that happens with those younger folks who are coming in and I think, if I look back at myself right, being younger and really navigating through my career, if I would have taken time to reflect on even like the last couple of years what had happened, what decisions did I make, what got me to where I am, what could I have done differently. There's so much value in that and I think sometimes we wait too long to do those things and I feel like that's exactly one of the things from a mentorship that almost forces you to do 100%.

Yelena 26:28

And I would just add one more thing on joy also, because I know we have been talking a little bit about that. In my opinion, joy is underrated in leadership because we're all about checking the box, getting the next project done, but that energy and optimism that leaders can have is contagious and it is just as important as building strategy for your team. And I think that this has also been a little bit of my secret sauce, because when you come up with creative ideas again, you're not an operator, right, you're a vision creator, you are the inspirer of greater things. But if you can do that, it is actually just as important. And to me, this is probably one of the biggest lessons that I learned, that maybe I didn't realize as the fact you know and took for granted, but it really makes such a huge difference absolutely there's.

Nathan 27:26

We can all be miserable for things that we've gone through or going through, or are frustrated by something that's happening within the role that you're in, or you can choose to operate from a positive perspective, and what kind of environment does that create for those around you? What are you doing, especially as a leader, right? Is that moment that you're going through that's weighing you down, causing more stress for others because of the way you're carrying it, or does it show some opportunity and positivity because you are operating from a different perspective? And I think that's one thing that, like you, I've always tried to operate from that focus of look, there's always something we can do, things happen right, let it roll, it'll fine. So how do you set that positivity and that environment for your team to where they can say, okay, like yeah it's a little bit of a hiccup or a little bit of a hurdle right now, but we can get through it and everything will grow and everything will be fine and we're going to learn from this.

Nathan 28:28

I think that is so important and you were hitting on that with that joy aspect.

Yelena 28:33

And just to add to exactly what you're saying, I heard a really interesting phrase lately that just really stuck with me. I absolutely love it and use it now, and it's about the fact that the grass is greener where you water it.

Yelena 28:49

It's not trying to think about where could have, would have, should have. I think that that's also a sign of a true leader is working through the cards that you were dealt and dealing with situations and making the most of this with what you have your team, your challenges, your customers, your budget or the lack of thereof but working with what you have and still coming on top and still finding the way to rally the troops, to inspire them along the way, scoring wins, no matter how small, and then sharing the joy of those wins together.

Nathan 29:27

I absolutely love that the grass is greener where you water it, absolutely. What are you putting into it? What are you really growing right? What are you developing and how are you cultivating those situations and people that are within your realm? I like that a lot. One question for you, right? So again, you and I have been in a lot of different trainings and things over our time. Some are leadership trainings that are provided, some are not, some are other things. Have there been any leadership training experiences that have influenced your ability to lead others in a more effective way and, if so, which ones really kind of stand out for you?

Yelena 30:13

I think it's a very interesting topic because there have not been too many great leadership courses that exist and, interestingly enough, early in my career I had the ability to get a little bit more of those trainings. I think Dale Carnegie training course was a really great one and I don't know how many leaders have the privilege of taking it now or being nominated by companies to take it now. But one thing that I really liked from it it actually provided coaching where you went through scenario planning and those role plays were recorded, so you had the ability to actually look at yourself from afar and assess how other people could be perceiving you. It kind of goes into the realm of that 360-degree feedback that people give you objectively and certain blind spots get exposed that you may have not even realized.

The Underrated Power of Joy

Yelena 31:11

I think it is super important to have that done early in your career but then subsequently reassess, because life puts you through many different situations and it gives you the ranking of are you a good listener, are you bulldozing people over, are you a good compassionate leader or not, and what would be the areas of opportunity. That, to me, I think was transformational and I think that they can be done in skillful form, but I think that they are paramount and essential, especially at that really pivotal kind of critical stage in your career when you just get promoted into the leader, so that you can actually realize that the success that you had guaranteed coming through as an operator and being really great at your craft is actually very different. What would make you successful as a manager, as a leader, especially as a multi-people team leader? The fact that it takes very, very different skill set to demonstrate grit, demonstrate compassion, keep your self-pity in check, you know where you blame somebody and restrain from the temptation to take the credit absolutely.

Nathan 32:33

I love that aspect. You talked about the. I think that's actually a really powerful tool right, having yourself videoed through role play scenarios to see not only hear how you react, but see how you react, because I know one of my challenges always be my face tells on me a lot. I'm in meetings and things and you try to control that, but until you actually get to see it yourself, you may not always receive that as positive or negative feedback, rhetoric, as constructive criticism. So really having that ability to view that, I think, at least from my end sample of one right for me you start to think about okay, I'm going to get in and they're going to train me and I'm going to get all this training, I'm going to be really good because I'm going to learn all these things.

Nathan 33:24

But you had said, look, there aren't really a lot of good ones, and I think that's really powerful for people to understand. A lot of your leadership capabilities will come from mentoring from others, but also learning as you do, and that can be a very challenging thing. You're going to fail. You're going to succeed on some things, but that's where you're going to learn and grow as a leader is actually doing. So don't rely on too much of the training aspects that are available, because there aren't, as you said. I love that there aren't a ton of really good ones, but there are some that are available.

Yelena 33:59

And there is one more thing that I recently started to see more of and actually even practice a little bit. I think it's the benefit that we have gotten in the last probably two, three years at the most is AI. Ai, especially through the voice tool, can be an incredible coach for you to self-reflect, and it's all about prompting. It's about asking AI. You know here's the transcript of my latest team call. Tell me where my gaps as a leader were.

Yelena 34:30

What could I have asked differently for my team? Or putting in the objectives for your team and maybe some of the notes about your team's strength, individual team team members' strength and weaknesses. How can I develop my team better? What can I do? What are the best phrases that could motivate different people through, maybe, their personality assessment? How can I be working more actively on this and even practice back and forth role play if you need to? If it's not something that comes intuitively, ask it. Where can I demonstrate my leadership to a stronger degree? On everything, and different situations will require different levels and extremes of leadership from you, but I think that the fact that you are already asking the questions and focusing on this would already mean that you're a great leader. You know, or at least the leader with great potential, because you're already putting this as your priority.

AI as a Leadership Development Tool

Nathan 35:34

I absolutely love that and, transparently, the one that I would not have thought about AI as that kind of a review of a transcript from a meeting. I think that is so powerful, especially in these day and age right where we are all I shouldn't say all, but there's a heavy virtual presence when it comes to meetings and you have the ability to transcript those fairly easily. You have the ability to transcript those fairly easily. Dumping that straight into an AI would be relatively simple to do and prompt. So I absolutely love that because it is such a powerful way to utilize something that's new, newer in the market, but use that as a skill build. I absolutely love that. So, rapid reflections We'll move on to our last kind of section here. We'll move on to our last kind of section here. Wherever you're comfortable talking about, what is your biggest regret or failure as a leader? Is there a situation that you've had where you're like I wish I would have done that different?

Yelena 36:30

Yes, don't we all? I think that for me, it's trying to do it all, and it's probably more of a handicap of any manager, not just the leader per se, because the leader doesn't need to be a manager right. You can be the leader in your own right and maybe not step up to an occasion where you felt like you could have been the best person for it. But for me, being a manager and a leader probably trying to do it all, it's always easier for us to step in and do the work for somebody because we know we can do it well. But I think that the challenge and almost stepping back and taking a breather is determining.

Yelena 37:12

How do I still put the ownership on the person who needs to do the job? How do I motivate, how do I provide the resources in time and coaching for them to still learn? Otherwise, you will be hyperventilating and working weekends and working evenings and taking over and will be permanently frustrated. But the team senses this, because if you're tired, your team will know that you're not coming to work as 100% yourself and it becomes a lose-lose proposition for everybody. So that's probably my biggest one, and it's always easier to just say it than to always do it, but I think it comes with a little bit more of the experience and the trust that you have ultimately in yourself that you can lead and in your team that they can do a good job and follow well and still perform extremely well.

Nathan 38:10

I agree. Not only are you stressing yourself out, you're taking away a growth and learning opportunity from your team. I absolutely agree. Biggest success or most proud moment as a leader, what's something that you look back on and go wow. You know, I'm actually very proud that that is something that I was able to contribute or lead.

Yelena 38:32

I think, seeing my team win together against all the odds, I said the vision and sort of say, wouldn't this be great or wouldn't it be nice if we tried this? And then my team goes, yes, let's do it. And we together craft the approach and then they execute brilliantly and then we just see the success that then becomes your best in class stories, right, Like things that you can almost like frame on the wall or you know if it's something tangible do a selfie with.

Yelena 39:06

So I have definitely had some of these great successes. Some of them were at Racket. I had a tremendous team both in the shopper insight space and category management space and they were just so top notchnotch on so many levels. And it was just a discussion, but I know that it left people motivated to go and conquer the world and accomplish amazing things and it came back with such great success for us.

Nathan 39:33

Absolutely, and it's so important in those moments to share those successes and really celebrate them with the team Right and let them take that moment to say, oh wow, look at what we've done. What advice would you give your younger self to improve your career journey?

Yelena 39:58

believe in yourself. I know sometimes it's difficult especially you know we talked about this when you're younger but I think it is critical to know that really you can't really fail. You know you ask questions and I always tell people the worst that can happen is you can hear no for the answer, but at least you know you tried, because otherwise you will regret not trying and never knowing what could have been, ask more questions and never, ever give up.

Nathan 40:20

What about career advice to your younger self to improve your leadership ability? You could go back and tell yourself like hey, do this and to really kind of enhance your leadership ability now.

Yelena 40:32

I think, taking the time to build the vision for where you want to go, because otherwise you're just going to be wasting a lot of time and probably just turning things.

Yelena 40:42

So taking the time to build the vision.

Yelena 40:45

You know, albert Einstein once said if I had an hour to solve a problem, I would spend the first 55 minutes planning for it and then five minutes executing.

Yelena 40:54

I think that that's kind of like the advice I would give to myself. But also, once you have that vision, get the alignment from your team, get their buy-in, because they would be so much more likely to support you as opposed to be confrontational. And then finally, executing together and using that key phrase, executing together and then celebrating those wins together, definitely giving the team more credit, even you know, for it, which is super, super important. And then one other thing actually that I recently had a little bit more of the realization on is being a leader is also about managing up, yes, and making sure that your superiors actually also buy into your vision. What is the best way to manage different personalities with what they want to hear, what motivates them and which bosses you cannot fix, you cannot work with and therefore need to run away from, because there's just no win. But knowing that once you're in that process of leading and managing across makes a huge difference. Managing across makes a huge difference.

Final Thoughts: Leadership Is How You Show Up

Nathan 42:16

Very interesting because I think that is an. It is an art, it is a talent that you have, that you have to kind of develop for yourself is managing up not only for yourself and your sanity but for your team as well, and to make sure that they're getting the visibility to the leadership group, that the leadership group understands what they're doing, so that it's easier to promote them and to get them into those roles that they want to get into. So I think that is an art. You're absolutely correct. Well, thank you for the time I really appreciate it and being on with us and sharing your experiences and sharing the things that you've learned and really kind of helping others to really kind of figure out oh, maybe I want to do that, maybe I want to do this how do I avoid these kind of pitfalls?

Nathan 43:04

So I really appreciate that. But any final thoughts, anything else that you wanted to share that we didn't get a chance to?

Yelena 43:11

Yeah, I think probably my final thought would be and the leave behind for the audience is leadership is not a title, it is a way of showing up as an individual. I feel that sometimes you lead from the front, sometimes from the side, sometimes you're stepping back. You don't have to be again the person in charge and being in a managerial role. You can still be the leader early on in your career and in any position. The real test is whether people feel stronger because you were there, and to me, I think that's the ultimate deal breaker and the ultimate stamp that I want to make on the teams that I work within.

Nathan 44:02

And that is where we'll wrap up today's conversation with Yelena. She reminded us that leadership isn't about titles. It's about how you show up, how you listen and how you empower others to succeed. Her perspective on leading with joy and positivity really stood out, because the energy we bring as leaders shapes the energy of our teams, and I loved her reminder that the grass is greener where you water it. A simple but powerful call to focus on the people, opportunities and challenges that are right in front of us. At the end of the day, progress is about taking those small steps forward and choosing to invest where it matters most.

Nathan 44:44

As we wrap up episode three of Life and Leadership Stories, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for listening, thank you for showing up for your own growth. If Yelena's story resonated with you, I hope you'll come back for future episodes and hear from other amazing leaders. If this episode inspired you, share it with someone who needs encouragement today. And remember trust your gut, be kind, lead with purpose and never underestimate your impact. Until next time, I'm Nathaniel Norker and this is Life and Leadership Stories.