Ep 42 - Rewiring Leadership: Growing People, Growing Purpose with Sarah Strickler

What if the greatest leadership strategy isn't about managing people...

...it's about growing yourself?

In this episode of Rewired, Tiffany sits down with Sarah Strickler, co-founder and Chief Community Officer of Grown Rogue, to explore what it really means to cultivate people, culture, and leadership from the inside out.

Together, they discuss why companies can't outgrow their leaders, how trust and ownership become the foundation of healthy organizations, and why creating the right environment matters just as much for people as it does for plants.

Sarah also shares the surprisingly simple practices that keep her grounded through the demands of leading a growing company: breath, movement, journaling, time in nature, and the discipline of returning to the present moment.

Whether you lead an organization, a team, your family, or simply yourself, this conversation is a reminder that sustainable leadership begins long before the boardroom—it begins with how we care for ourselves.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why leadership is ultimately about growing people—not just products

• How self-awareness becomes a competitive advantage

• The role trust plays in creating high-performing teams

• Why culture compounds over time

• Simple daily practices that help leaders stay grounded during uncertainty

• What it means to lead with presence instead of pressure

Sarah Strickler is the co-founder and Chief Community Officer of Grown Rogue, a publicly traded, flower-focused cannabis company rooted in Southern Oregon's Rogue Valley. Since co-founding the company in 2016, she has helped scale Grown Rogue into a multi-state organization known for disciplined execution, intentional culture, and craft-quality products. Sarah is passionate about leadership development, community engagement, and creating environments where people feel safe, seen, and empowered to thrive.

Learn more about Sarah and Grown Rogue:

• Grown Rogue

Recommended reading from Sarah:

• Female Founders: Sarah Strickler on the Five Things You Need to Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder (Authority Magazine)

• How It Started: Sustained Excellence with Sarah Strickler (BudsFeed)

• What I Want My Kids to Know About Cannabis This Mother's Day (mg Magazine)

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who's growing—not just a business—but themselves.

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Empowered people empower people. Live intentionally. Lead thoughtfully. Grow through awareness.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Rewired. I'm your host, Tiffany Grimes, with Empower Coaching and Training. Welcome back to Rewired, where neuroscience makes real life change. I'm your host, Tiffany Grimes. I'm here for episode 42 with you. And today we're talking about something that every leader eventually discovers. And when I say leader, I want to clarify, I'm talking about not just leaders of organizations, but parts of family and of community and of different types of relationships. So all of us are leaders in our own right. So take that word and apply it to yourself. And one of the things we learn as leaders is that growing people isn't all that different from growing plants. Now stick with me here. You can't force either one. Rather, as a leader, you really focus on creating the right conditions, tending to the soil, noticing the environment, right? That is the role of a leader, is really looking at and taking care of the conditions that the plant requires to grow. And today's guest, Sarah Strickler, co-founder and chief community officer of Grown Rogue, a company that has grown from a small medical cannabis operation here in Southern Oregon into a publicly traded multi-state organization known for its craft quality products, disciplined execution, and intentional culture, knows all about both growing plants and certainly growing people. But this conversation isn't just about building a successful company, it's about building yourself. Sarah shares a line that has really stayed with me since our conversation, which is you can't grow a company faster than you grow yourself. And we really explore what that means to lead through uncertainty, knowing this about ourselves, that the work is inside, learning to let go of control, to trust other people, and to recognize that sometimes the biggest bottleneck in an organization isn't the strategy, it's us as leaders. And again, really think about leadership in that broad sense. It does not necessarily mean leading an organization. If you are part of a family, part of a community, this conversation will speak to you. What surprised me most though was hearing Sarah describe the daily practices that keep her grounded because they're not flashy, they're not complicated, they're not remarkably human. It's not an app that one has to subscribe to or a membership that one has to have. It's prioritizing and making things like breath, movement, journaling, time outside, intentional pauses, non-negotiables. These are part of a leadership practice. The kind of practices that help regulate our nervous system before we ever step into a meeting or make an important decision. As Sarah reminds us, leadership isn't about pretending pressure doesn't exist. It's about learning how to stay steady with it. So we're expecting it and then building a relationship with ourselves so we're ready to be there for it. Whether you're leading a business, a team, a family, or simply trying to become a better version of yourself, I feel really confident that you will find wisdom in this conversation with Sarah today. So settle in and join me for my conversation with Sarah Strickler. Well, if you're ready, I'm ready, shall we? Let's do it. Okay, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Sarah, welcome to the Rewired Podcast. Thank you, Tiffany, for having me. I'm so excited to be here. As you know, I'm such a fan. Such a fan.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

You know, I think about you with this podcast because you and I were just chatting one day and like, wouldn't it be fun? Oh my gosh, I want to be on a podcast. I want to do a podcast. And then now look at us. Look at us manifestors.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

It's all about manifesting. I totally remember that conversation too. I remember sitting there. I mean, it was so clear. Such a blind.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah, so cool. Well, before we hear about your, you know, business and your leadership and all of these things, I just want to kind of touch base with Sarah, the human being. And we always start the podcast off the same way, which is to really think about the word empowered. And, you know, at empower, coaching and training, our belief is empowered people empower people. And certainly you are an example of that in many ways, personally and professionally. But I'm curious, when in your life have you felt most empowered? And how has that experience shaped the leader you are today? Wow, I love this question.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

I knew you were gonna ask me this. It's like so heavy, and I love it. You know, when I was thinking about this question, I just had to reflect upon things and it's not super grand in any way, but for me, what I feel is that when I take action about a thought or a dream or a vision, it's that action that I take in that, right? So like it's actually doing the thing that's going to help move it forward or conquering that fear. And it can be just one small thing or it can be really grand, but it's the action when I feel empowered through the action that I take is when I feel really like I can do this. I I can see the progress, I can start to see and feel and recognize what's being established. It's pretty powerful.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Yeah. Oh, I love that. We just did an episode a few weeks ago and it was about worry. And that was kind of what it landed in is building worry itself isn't a bad thing. It's leading us, it can be hinting towards an action that we need to take.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

And so it was this idea of like, how do we listen? Not let it run the show, but really listen to the worry and think, what do I need to do? What do I need to say? What action is this calling? Because it feels so good to take action as you're mentioning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah. And I think sometimes we just have to, you know, listen to it. Cause sometimes we can talk ourselves out of it, right? Like I think that's part of the problem. Like you may not even start, right? You talk yourself out of the whole you have the whole conversation in your head and go, Well, I just can't do it. Yeah. But if you I don't know if you've ever done that, but I'll just sit and worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

I'll just keep thinking. That's what I'll do. I'll just keep thinking. That's helpful.

unknown 6:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

You know, but then that compounds over time, those actions that you take, even if they're small in the beginning, they start to build upon themselves. And that's where you get the confidence. And it becomes more clear what you're doing because you're just one action builds upon another.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

And all of a sudden you have a habit or a company or yes, yes. I love it. And let's talk about those habits and the actions you've been taking because you have founded, co-founded this really beautiful company that is doing so much more than just selling a product. And, you know, I I've had the opportunity to hear the story of Grown Rogue and the roots of that. And, you know, these conversations that started at your kitchen table and are now national conversations. For the listeners who may not know Grown Rogue or know your story, know the roots of it, take us back to the beginning. What was the vision? What was the conversation around the kitchen table? What is Grown Rogue today? And while we will focus on Grown Rogue, what you know, what we're really talking about today is something special that you're doing within Grown Rogue, which is really thinking about leadership and taking thought-based action in leadership and building culture around it. But let's just start with the beginnings. What is Grown Rogue?

SPEAKER_01 8:27

I love this. So yeah, Grown Rogue is a flower forward cannabis company. We often, you know, we're in multiple states. We're in Oregon, Michigan, New Jersey, soon to be Illinois and Minnesota. You know, we have for a THC, like I said, cannabis flower forward company with a with a variety of strains and genetics. Our portfolio is vastly growing all the time. That's where our heart and soul is, is in the plant. But simultaneously to what you said, is we're also growing people and we're also growing leaders at the same time. Plants and people, they're not much different, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

As a gardener, I would agree with you. And science backs it up, right? You talk me into a plant versus giving it love, it you're gonna have a different outcome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Right. So Obi and I, Obi is the co-founder with alongside me. He's my husband, my partner in life, and probably one of my greatest teachers of all time. But we started the company in 2016. So that's when Grown Row was officially formalized. And like you mentioned, it really started our kitchen table. It was just a dream, it was a vision, it was something that we wanted to take forward in a really meaningful way. You know, we came from the medical market, kind of the legacy, if you will, of cannabis. And when we stepped out in 2016, when we decided to take that leap into the recreational market, we really wanted to build something really special, something we could be proud of, our girls could be proud of, our community could be proud of. You know, obviously we knew we had a product that we could, the consumers were going to really love and appreciate just because we had crafted that for so long. So it was much more than just the product. It was the whole coming out of stigma, legacy, while simultaneously, you know, bringing this craft of flower that we had been curating for so long to a new market, a new industry. So it was just kind of this beautiful really unfolding of that. And in that first year, there was massive just undertaking of taking that action, right? Of build out and operational kind of execution, if you will. We literally built our first indoor bro here in Medford, you know, hence the Rogue Valley, hence the name Grown Rogue.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

It was just an empty shell. It was a 17,000 square foot, you know, facility that was an old printing press, you know, warehouse. We worked with the city of Medford. We they had been told that you could never build an indoor facility up to code. We really wanted to work with them and be good community stewards to what we were trying to do and build that out with thought and intention, intentionality and just see it to what it could become. And simultaneously, you know, we had our outdoor gardens and we were transitioning those from just 48 plants into hundreds of plants. So a lot of growth, a lot of just belief in what we were doing. We were also at this time raising capital, which was really humbling. And, you know, and coming from an industry that doesn't have traditional banking, you really were having to share your story and put yourself out there because you were asking people to believe in you and to your vision and your dream.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Yeah. Amazing. A couple follow-up questions. One for those of us not in the cannabis world, what does flower forward mean? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 12:01

So flower forward means that we own, we, we grow just the flower, okay, the plant. So we that's our our consumer. So really our who we're selling to is the dispensaries. Gotcha. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

The other thing. So that was my technical question. My other uh just I guess observation is, and you hinted towards it, is that you're really starting this, not it's a business, but it's a movement. You're in the middle of a time where it's just transitioning out of, it sounds like the medical community, where even that was kind of a new cultural shift, right? And then it moves into more recreational. And your choice is I want to do this in community. I want to do this with the city. I want to bring people in. I want to have this, I want to be a responsible, community-minded, successful company. And I love that. You know, it wasn't just go in, I'm gonna start my business. It's this vision around just again, not just the product. It's like this vision, this deeper vision of who we want to be as a company.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Yes, I love that. It was really, really from a place of taking away the stigma and really at the heart of it was education, really just educating not only our consumers about what our product was, what our ethos was, and you know, what our end product was, but also educating our community about what this industry is, where it has come from. Yeah, you know, allowing people into our facilities to really understand how this product is created or grown, if you will, to see that change can happen. You can, you know, through discipline, through hard work, through just your passion and your love, you can create something really special. And I'll go back to the environment, right? Like the environments in which you create, like anything can grow. And that's true for people and for the plant. Like you can tell when things are happy, you can tell when people are thriving, you can tell when the plants are happy because they're given the right food, the right love, the right care. You know, you talk to it, it's you it's just this symbiotic, like beautiful kind of relationship that gets created. And same is true for our team, right? Like where we how we surround them, the tools that we give them, how we set them up for success really plays a role in the end product. I mean, you can't go wrong there. You just can't.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yeah. And I think for our listeners, maybe who aren't running, you know, national programs or businesses, this is also, and you're you're noting it, this is a metaphor for who we are as human beings. You got to believe in it. You gotta believe that the change is possible. You gotta show up and do the work, you've got to be in community, you've got to like all these things you're saying is it's a metaphor for not just growing this business, but who we are as human beings, which is really the flavor you're bringing into leadership is who I am as a leader matters. It impacts this company. Yeah. So I can't wait to talk a little bit more about that. So we know that, and you mentioned, you know, Grown Rogue is doing what it does. It grows, it is growing significantly across the United States, which is so cool. It's been a couple of years in this growth, and you've worked hard to maintain a strong connection for community and culture. I know you and I have talked about, you know, your involvement in local community projects and speaking and sharing. How do you grow a company nationally without losing the values and the identity that made it successful in the first place? When you started again at that kitchen table, how do you keep that now that you're in these, you know, these states that you're mentioning? How do you keep it? Yeah, this is such a great question.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

I'm gonna take you back. I I think I've shared with you before, Tiffany. I grew up playing basketball sports with like my identity team. That to me is really what set me up for success, I feel like, and gave me the confidence to execute is because I learned discipline. I learned how to work with others through that teamwork. I learned that you have to show up even when it's hard, right? Like you just you have to keep doing the hard things. You're gonna win and you're gonna fail. You're gonna lose. That's just the enigma bit. Like you're gonna make mistakes, and how are you gonna recover? Same is true with growing and creating culture. Like you have to be disciplined, you know, you have to be disciplined and you have to lead by example. And so you have to be the example for what you want out of others. And so by leading and doing the action through discipline, through hard work, through execution, those are all the reasons and what set you up for that culture to exist. But also to your question around the community, it's it's building those systems and those people around you to support you who can build confidence again in you, not just you, but within others. So creating that environment, creating the systems, creating trust and and staying true to who you are and not losing sight of the mission and why you're doing what you do.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

In a recent article that I know hasn't yet been published, but it's on its way out. So I'm excited for listeners to be able to find it. You were writing about just, you know, these beautiful lessons that you had learned and really, you know, letting go, like some of these greater lessons of just like letting go, trust, all of these beautiful lessons that like you can't stay the same leader that you were when you started if you're really growing a company. And that really spoke to me and how important it is to continue to grow yourself, to really surround yourself with excellence, right? And then let them be excellent. Yeah, let them be excellent. Yeah. And I just I really loved your reading or your writing in that. But you wrote specifically a statement you cannot grow a company faster than you grow yourself. And so and again, it just like it really spoke to me. And the facts, research, neuroscience backs that up, you know, you can't fake it. And companies, staff know culture tells the story of leaders. And so, what have been some of the biggest ways that you have grown personally in order to keep pace with the company's growth?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, it's such a powerful thing, right? Learning to let go again into what you said has probably been the biggest lesson for me. It's been one of the biggest like obstacles or or or or unfoldings, if you will, to really lean into. And I think for me, how I've had to move through that is again surrounding myself with people who support and love and who ultimately I just am so honored to be surrounded by, right? Like when someone wants to come and buy into your vision who has a greater skill set than you, like you might have taken it so far, right? You might have thought, okay. And then someone comes in with this tenure, you know, acumen of like education and skill set and knowledge, you're like, wow. I mean, thank you. Like it's so humbling, but so honorable. Like it's just I can't describe it. And then you you let go, but then you realize it's just a reflection of like you and your work and the dream and the it's playing into that bigger vision and ultimately creating what it was that you wanted to from the beginning. And again, I'll come back to trust. You know, you do have to rely upon your disciplines and the things that give you the strength to move forward. So you really, I think, through the process of my leadership growth is leveling up with people who are around me, right? Continuing to build that environment, but also leaning into and finding strength with the disciplines that have been created already. Because that's what compounds over time to then you get confident in that. And in that confidence, you get to like take the next leap, do the next action, right? So through that, so you have to really lean into that discipline to be like, okay, I've got to practice, I got to do these things habitually every day, but I'm gaining confidence all at the same time. So when that next moment comes, you're like, I'm solid. I got this, I've got this foundation, the structure that I know. And I can rely on that, but I'm also capable of taking the next leap because I've gone through what I know, right? But also in the downturns when things get heavy, things get hard, you have to lean into those disciplines too, because that will expose so much of your vulnerabilities. And how do you pull yourself back to that, you know, that regulated state when it sometimes it can feel so extreme, right? When you're kind of in that urgency or panic or what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Yeah. Yeah. So I want to talk about that a little bit. How do you stay grounded as a leader? And I, you know, again, I want to kind of paint this picture of you're now far from the kitchen table. You're across many states. And so, you know, again, these ideas of letting go and trusting and building the teams and all of those things. And also you've got to come back to you and ground and you. Know in that same article, you do talk about really knowing the difference between urgency and emergency and where what how do I, what does this need require of me, which is almost always going to be thinking, brain, grounded, creativity, problem solving, solution focused. So how do you how do you do that? What is a how do you ground as a company that is growing, growing, growing, and a leader who is feeding, feeding, feeding that growth? How are you staying grounded? So you're asking about the secret sauce. What's the secret sauce, girl? I will say I have also found so Sarah and I live in the same community. I have found Sarah at the gym just like running headphones on as though we're about to cross the marathon line. And I'm like, where's my little bicycle that I could pedal on? So I know some of your secret sauce is just physical movement. But yeah, what's the secret sauce?

SPEAKER_01 23:01

No, so your spot on physical exertion is really for me, yeah, has been, and that's been it all throughout my life. It was kind of, I have these kind of non-negotiables, if you will, like, and that's just a non-negotiable. Like I am gonna have my athletics or or my movement, that that is going to be something that is just a non-negotiable that's gonna stick with me because it's gotten me through a lot of seasons of my life and on this journey explicitly with grown rogue. But sometimes, you know, when I'm really in that state of overwhelmed, or this is really complicated, or this feels so far out of my comfort zone, or I really have to come back to things that are so like grounded in just you know, one action leads to another. So maybe I need to drink water, you know. Maybe I just really need to lean into what my body physically needs in that moment, right? Like I really have to listen and lean in and go, I'm gonna take a deep breath. Okay, next I'm gonna like maybe I need to step outside because I need a different hit of air or energy. Maybe, maybe I'm hungry. Maybe I'm just feeling weak or tired because I need some nourishment. So, really first listening to what exactly does me, Sarah, actually physically need, right? And then again, taking that action towards, okay, if I do this one thing, it's gonna compound to the next thing. It's gonna take me to that next, the next thing that I need to do that I know to be right.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Again, going back to those disciplines around, okay, if I just take this one step, if I just, if I just put on my tennis shoes, I'm gonna be able to like, you know, put on my jacket to go run outside. It's just those things just compound. And the more you practice those types of habits, they then lead to all the other things that you do and the the version of you that you want to show up as that leader because you're doing the hard thing to get through the hard thing.

unknown 25:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

You know, and you say that. And again, I think about our listeners who aren't running businesses but are maybe running families and households and the logistics of just what it takes to get through a day. And I think, you know, what you're naming are boundaries, really, these boundaries around my physical self. So all of that work for you, it's the leadership, you know, role. I think about again, the the people who are running their families, whatever it is, it's like all of those are heady things that are so we're like running around kind of disembodied, just being brains with ideas and culture and you know, good conversation and all these things that we're having to do and produce, but we are attached to these bodies that when we come back into them. I mean, that's that was your messaging is like I move this body, I nourish this body, I give it oxygen, I rest. And that is for you, use the words non-negotiable. And I think it's so critical for us to see that as not something I do at the end of the day if everything else already got done, or if I have time, or even a luxury, like letting go of that belief system and instead building it in as this is the foundation of the good work I'm bringing into the world, right? Like sustaining this and reconnecting my brain to my body and prioritizing, even if it's a 10-minute walk, stop saying you don't have time and instead say this is my 10-minute walk, and everything else kind of has to go around that. And I know that's I think hard to hear sometimes, but it's also nobody else is gonna do it.

unknown 26:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

It is our responsibility as great leaders, as great parents, as great community members, as great friends to put those boundaries in place and hold them with love, knowing that it magnifies who I am. It magnifies the good work I do. And nobody else is going to make that happen for me. There will never be a time where we just have the time.

unknown 27:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yes. Ever. There will never be a time where we're like, hmm, gosh, now today I have time. It's like this, I make the time and it's foundational to what I am. Yeah. Yeah. So true.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

And I think in that, there's so many other ways too that you can, you know, not just for the listeners and for others, but you know, maybe it's picking up the phone and actually calling a friend, you know. Maybe it's reaching out to a team teammate, taking that pause to be like, man, I just really need to talk this through. Or can you just listen to me and hold space with me for you know, that five minutes? It also could be I'm a big journaler. I journal a lot. Just to put it out there, just to flush it out, like think it through. And there's no rhyme or reason to it. You know, you just you just put it out there. Yeah. And it that that really helps.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Or maybe it's huge. It's a huge science-backed method of, you know, with the two things you just mentioned, talking and writing are the ways that we can get what's in our head circling around out. Those are the two ways, right? Between talk to ourselves, we can talk to somebody, we can journal. But yeah, just literally the process of doing it. You don't even need anybody to respond to you with some brilliant answer. It's let me get this out of my head.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Yes. Yeah. 100%. And and it feels good once you release that, right? There's just this undoing that you're like, oh, it doesn't just feel so heavy anymore. It it doesn't feel like it's my own thing to bury or to carry, you know. Yeah, yeah. Um, that weight of that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And I do I'll highlight this and I'll move on to the next question. But I think this, you know, obviously I get excited about this idea, but you know, we called it the secret sauce, and it's not a secret. It's basically it's it's basic taking care of who we are. Like it's the most basic, simplistic thing that we can do for ourselves. And I think it's the thing so often skipped over, right? Like, like the answer to success is in the book, it's in the podcast, it's in the degree, it's in the whatever, but it it's it's here, it's right here inside of us, and we have to tend to it every day.

unknown 29:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

You are so spot on every day, every day.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Yeah. So, okay, well, let's I'll get off my little soapbox about that. But boy, it's it's just I love it. I love that kind of work of when leaders really, I love that that was your answer of just like grounding body work. Fit, you know, it matters and it makes a difference. And the research just backs it. Like get into this body and get out of your head every once in a while, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Yeah. You know, and for me, Tiffany, and I I this I think this plays into what we're talking about. But I come from health and wellness. Not only was I a division one basketball player, but I also was a massage therapist. And I learned and I wanted to go on to acupuncture school. That was the journey, that was the path of learning this kind of holistic way of healing and staying connected through kind of that mind-body relationship that we have. So for me, that, you know, that's ultimately how cannabis came into my life was I saw it as just another tool, just another method of healing. And so for me, that has been a guiding principle around figuring out that ultimate truth around your body and what it can do. It's such a vehicle for telling you, you know, what's off, what's on, when can I accelerate, you know, when should I retreat? So that's always been my kind of barometer for a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Yeah. And I know, you know, you're bringing a lot of this growth into the company, kind of this ethos of caring for ourselves means we care for the company even more, right? With this work. And and I know that because I get to come in and do some of your professional development, which is so fun to meet all of the teams and all of the folks. And, you know, you are the company, Grown Rock, has really invested time and energy and funding into the professional growth of not just the executive team, which is what I love, is that I also get to spend time with your managers and shift leaders and, you know, these amazing people that are out doing the work every day. And so I'm just curious on your end, why has leadership development become such an important part of your culture? You bring people together multiple times a year, you come together in person and really connect and grow together. And so tell me about that process and how that became, you know, a value for you all and what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yeah, I love this. And I love that you've been a part of this, Tiffany. I'll just back this up with, you know, when I asked Tiffany to come to one of our first leadership and be our trainer and to kind of guide us, it wasn't because there was a problem or some horrific thing that was- I loved that about this.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yes. I didn't come in trying to needing to fix anything. There was so great.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

It was actually being really on the offensive, if you will, instead of the defensive. It was really being proactive in the thought around, hey, we're building this, but how can we make it better and get tools for when it's gonna get hard? Because it's gonna get hard. It's already been hard. But you know, we're growing, we're in this growth mode mindset. And what are we gonna need to carry this forward? And so when we came to you, when I came to you and said, hey, I have this idea, like how can you help us develop this kind of programming that really speaks to who we are, what we're building? You know, and so when things do hit that, you know, derailment where it feels like, oh, this is to go off the tracks, you know, we're equipped with the tools, the skill set, the knowledge to move forward and in like in a together cohesive way, where we're all kind of speaking the same language, if you will. So we're all, you know, speaking to one another, we're problem solving, you know, that's what we do at Rono. We problem solve. You're gonna have problems. It's that's inevitable. Like there are problems, there's problems every single day, but it's how you overcome and what you do with that. That information, it's it's all information, right? The problem is information. So what are you gonna do with that information? Yeah, love that. Yeah. So it's what are my tools? What do I have? How am I going to equip my team so that we're all prepared to go to battle, if you will, right? To go and do what we do best. And so that was one mindset. That was one shift. But I also, again, coming back to this industry, I, you know, being a visionary, you know, a founder, what have you, I knew that I was going to need tools. I knew I was going to need equipment to move forward because I didn't come from a traditional industry, if you will. Yeah. Systems were built long before there was ever any kind of this, what do you want to call it? Just kind of this in structure, this influence by the regulatory bodies, right? That kind of direction. So a lot of that had been instilled already. But I knew I needed more tools, I needed more help, I needed more people to help guide and help produce that. So and I just thought it was such a gift to give to our team. Like even if they're at Grown Rogue or not, they're going to take this skill set to whatever next is for them. And that like what a gift, right? To give people the opportunity to grow and learn about themselves and to manage, you know, to be amongst other people. Like I, it was, it was a no-brainer for me. It was like a no-brainer. It was, you know, how can we help others be the best versions of themselves and be equipped to handle the hard.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Yeah. Yeah. Love that. And I want to just highlight a couple of things you said. One is that you really took a proactive approach to building culture, knowing problems were all around you every day, right? The knowing that that is the expectation is that together we are going to need to address these things. And I want us all to be have access to these tools. And I just, yeah, I loved that. So this proactive approach. And then the second thing I just wanted to note is, you know, that it's it's giving people this shared language, you know, which I think is so great about the way that you're doing training. It's like we can talk about this through the lens of, you know, what we can control and what we can't control. And we we all talked about that. We did that circle in the training. And so let's bring it into this meeting, and it isn't one person. The load of problem solving or creativity isn't one person's burden to carry when you invest in skilling up everyone around you. It's like everyone has these tools, everyone has the inspiration from that conversation they had or the deep connection that happens in personal development or you know, leadership retreats or whatever it is, being able to go deeper with somebody, it builds that relationship. So now when the problem comes, we've already got these deeper connections and understandings. And yeah, it's such a wonderful way to invest in in human beings. You know, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

I I love it. And, you know, just to add to that, you know, you've you've been with us now for gosh, I think four years. I don't know. I think so, yeah. And we've added so much talent, you know. I mean, just it's the gift of when you grow, you get to be surrounded by these beautiful humans that I just never thought that I could meet or be exposed to. I mean, and to give them the opportunity, it's just been so rewarding. And for me, that's that's the highlight. That's that's the win, right? To watch people grow into, you know, and I'll just take it a step back, Tiffany, to watch teammates, you know, maybe they started out as a trimmer, which is, you know, all of our product is hand trimmed. And but now they're taking on these managerial roles. Now they're moving into these leadership and they're equipped, right? They have the access to the tools, they've been given the opportunity to move forward with us as we continue to grow and expand. And we have folks who have been with us since for 10 years. I mean, that says a lot, I think, about what you're building. When people stay with you and can really trust and believe in what your your the mission and the purpose is. It's yeah, I I can't tell you. It's a it's so rewarding as a founder. It's something I just I can't explain because to watch people move their lives forward, it probably means everything to build something where someone can move move forward, right? Like that's that's gonna probably make me cry because I could think of about 15 people people on my team right now that I've just you know, you touch people's lives and not only through the what we're creating as our end product for our users, because you're essentially creating experience for them, right? But we're creating experience for our whole team and creating an environment where they're thriving and they have opportunity and there is a path forward.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah, I was going to say, as you're, you know, you're talking about these teams that come together. That's been really fun for me to witness as you've grown. You've added a couple states, I think, in those years that I've been working with you. And it's like, oh, the team, you know, we need two more tables this time, and now we need a bigger room and we've got to, and there's always a core team that's like, oh, I've been with you in every training, right? Because of that investment when we make and we make that in human beings. There's, I want to stay, I want more. It creates longevity. And again, the the data backs that up when we invest in people, we get you know long careers to work with them and and get to grow together. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

I mean, it's a beautiful investment, yes. And it just pays off in dividends. I mean, you just see it. And again, you asked the question earlier around, you know, what do you keep coming back to? You know, how do you create and keep that culture as you move forward and navigate? It's this, it's doing things like this, it's doing these team building exercises, investing in the team to influence the next movement or the next thing that you're going to take on. That's how you stay true and remain, right? It's the familiarity, the trust, the discipline that then allows you to move forward.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So beautiful. I love, I think about, you know, as you talk, and again, we because you and I have gotten to do some work together, I know a little bit about this path of yours. And I think to go from massage therapy, which is just like you. It's just you, Sarah, right? Like all the work is you. It's in these two hands. The room is set up because of you, the table is for you, everything's for you, to running a company, you know, with so many employees and uh investors and, you know, all of the people that are part of Grown Rogue and the customer who gets the the product and the experience. It's just an amazing growth zone to watch or to witness you on this end and to be sitting here with such it's like you have an MBA. It's like you have these, it's like you've been training for this your whole life. And yet when you think you were in a, you know, you were doing, it was just Sarah, but this whole, like running this business with such profound wisdom of leadership. That's those are the words I'm trying to get out of my mouth of like what is hidden within all of these people doing these jobs out in the world by themselves? If if they were unleashed to a company, you know, what wonderful new ideas could we have? And I love the just rootedness that you bring into this and the groundedness that you bring into leadership. There's just, it's just wisdom. I mean, it's really just this deep, it feels like a deep ancient wisdom. It's an understanding of people. That's what it is. It's an understanding of people and a love of people, right? Just so beautiful. Yeah, really love that.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

I mean, what a compliment from you, Tiffany. I mean, I'm kind of just speechless. I'm like, well, how do how do I answer that question?

SPEAKER_00 42:15

You just absorb it. You don't have to. You can just nod and say thank you.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

You know, I'm six foot two. And so I'm a very tall drink of water, if you will. I've I really never have fit, and I've been in this body for a long time, for a long time. I've been this height since very early on. And I feel like I've never been defined or put into a box. And you know, why would I ever want a title? Because then it it defines me. Yeah. And I want to be undefinable, right? I want to live outside the box. And if I'm stuck in a defined by a role or a position, then I'm limited. But if if I don't, I can be anything I want to be and grow up to be whatever I want. So that imagination creation. You know, but if you'd asked me if this is what I'd be doing at this stage of the game in my life, no way. Not where I'd this is doing this, this is not I mean and yet it's like you were born for it.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

That's yeah, that's it's it's beautiful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

You know, again, it's about the people you surround yourself. And I'll just keep going back. I've had coaches and mentors. You ask, you know, the question around what kind of led me to wanting to bring in that part into grown rogue and you know, cultivating our leaders in that way. And for me, I've always had a coach. I've always had people who instilled belief in me. And I don't think you should ever stop surrounding yourself with that, right? Like that, I think has been one of the beautiful things as a as a leader to watch and and know about like that kind of blind spot of oh, this. Has been with me the entire time. These people who I've surrounded, listened, they've guided, they set forth a vision, and then I executed upon it, right? They said, you know, here's the play, here's what we're gonna do. I need you to go and then it's like, okay, I'm gonna go execute the same, same thing at ground rope. Yeah, we have a plan, we paint the picture of what we're gonna do, and then we go out and execute upon it. Those same habits of discipline, they just transfer over. And it's just so, you know, we talk a lot about how I think in that article too about how we're all connected. It's all connected. Your work, your life, your parent, it it all translates. So the things that you do and those disciplines and habits, they just carry over into everything that we do.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's been here. I'm hearing you use those words habit and discipline throughout. And I think those are the principles that I really want to highlight as well. And it kind of comes back again to this idea that I was saying, you know, the secret sauce isn't really secret, right? It's the basic leaning into our humanity. And I think what you're mentioning too is like the path to success. Well, obviously sometimes it's easier for others and harder for others, you know, yes. And also there isn't always a secret sauce with that, right? The habit and the discipline and doing it again, and even if it's raining, and even when it's cold, and even when you're sore, and even when, you know, it's doing it again and again and habits and surrounding yourself with people who celebrate with you and challenge you and help you grow and reflect with you. And yeah, and that's what what I love about what you're identifying is that these are people can take these nuggets and apply them to their lives, whatever you're doing in it, whatever you're trying to be the best at. Yes, we can we can wake up and take these lessons and do them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

Yes, yeah, yes, and I think also as a leader, you know, that self-awareness, self-awareness around, you know, these are my strengths, this is where I need work. Yes, this is where it, you know, that self-awareness helps you to become, okay, man, like this is not my wheelhouse. This is not, you know, again, going back to leaning into your body and being like, oh, this doesn't feel, you know, not to say that you can't grow into that or become that, but it's a real sign of just, okay, where do I need to work and where do I need to accelerate what I'm really good at? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Yep. Yeah, that self-awareness is everything. Yeah. Which is also a skill that we can develop. There's no secret sauce to it, right? It's just every day, practice it, practice it, do the journaling, do the reflecting.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Yeah. And stay curious. I think that's another beautiful thing that correlates into ground rogue as well and just leadership is that we constantly stay curious. We're never, we're always learning, we're always having to adapt, we're always having to change. You know, the markets that we're in, they tell us what we need to grow and what they want. And so we have to stay nimble in that way to keep up with kind of that craft niche that we're building. And so that keeps us curious and the demand and puts pressure on us to create and keep growing and be the best version of ourselves. So it's it goes both ways for our our our talent and for what we're creating for the end user. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Well, tell let's talk about the future of Grown Rogue. And, you know, I know you said 10 years ago maybe you would have never seen yourself here, but when you look forward for both grown rogue and for yourself as a leader, what are you currently learning, stretching into becoming? Talk to me about the future, Sarah, the future grown rogue. Oh, I love it. Great question.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

I think it's more of the same. It's more of the same on purpose.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

It's more of refining, practicing the disciplines while simultaneously while leaning into those, right? To go deeper in that, also putting myself in places where I am going to take that action to become a better version, a better leader, to be like, I have the confidence because I have my habits, I have my things that I will default to, but it's also allowing me to put myself into situations where I'm gonna have to be uncomfortable. Yeah, I'm gonna have to stretch, I'm gonna have to live with that discomfort of that curiosity around I may fail, but I may wildly succeed. Right. And living in that mindset, I think I've gotten comfort. I don't want to say I got comfort, I find that that's where I exist. That's my vibration in life, is to exist in places where I might, I might, you might not make the shot. Like you might not, but you might make the shot because you practice it so much, that discipline, right? Yeah, yeah. And and even if you fail, you're gonna land on greatness because you've developed such beautiful habits and discipline that that's what we're built for.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

That is what we're built for. That's what we're built for, yeah. And you have this belief, you said it earlier, that you know, the failure isn't it's not loss, it's data, it's information. And so it right. So even just taking this idea of like if I leap and I don't make the basket, let's say, if we stick with this basketball, I will always stick with women's basketball metaphors. I love them. Same. We've learned a lot. Okay, so this is what I need to strengthen, or this is we need to talk about the rebound, or we need to write, like we it it is if we don't take the shot, there's also no lesson learned. And so we've gotta have, we gotta be willing to be vulnerable and do do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Yeah. And it takes practice. You gotta keep, you gotta keep showing up. You gotta keep you gotta keep doing a podcast with your friend. And that's right.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Stretching it, learn it.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

Well, let's um, let's in my final question and kind of beginning to close up today. If someone's listening today that is again, you know, maybe not leading a company, maybe they are, maybe they're leading a team, they're building a business, they're just navigating the season of the growth and change that's within their life. What's one message you'd want them to carry with them?

SPEAKER_01 50:39

Keep trying, keep going, just keep going forward. I think for me, that's one way that I've I reflect upon everything. I've just continuously moved life forward. Like just keep going, just keep going forward, don't go backwards, don't go sideways, keep just keep going forward, forward mentally, keep trying. Get up every day, talk to yourself. I have to talk to myself in reminds like literally talking to myself, literally saying today is going to be a great day. And then maybe I have to write it down ten times. Yeah. Like literally, today's going to be a great day. Today's going, I'm I'm going to do great things.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

I I am I am good enough. I am going to succeed. It's literally telling myself it is going to all be okay.

unknown 51:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Yes. So beautiful. I want to again just highlight there's no secret, right? It's like nobody's holding a secret or a or one tool. What you just described is human-centered personal growth. I have a relationship with myself and I tend to it. Like that's the daily work. Yeah. And so I love that. I love sending that off as a message to listeners. It's the answer isn't out there, it's always in here.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

Such a deep knowing in all of us. There's such a deep knowing if we just tap into that channel. And sometimes you need others to help bring that out in you. Yes. You know, which is where you might find coaching or you might find whoever that person might be, or maybe you're the one, right? That knowing, that deep knowing, it's really that self-awareness is is critical for moving things forward.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

Yeah. My uh self-coaching moments are in the car when I'm those are like that's my self-coaching office. If I don't have the kids in there, I just like you. I'm just talking to myself, giving my best motivational speeches.

SPEAKER_01 53:00

I mean, I kid you not last night, Tiffany. I I was laying in bed thinking about today's interview. I had the whole thing down tap in my head. I I mean, I I heard your voice. You know, I was answering the question. I had 2 a.m. I had a great conversation with you. I was, you know, doing all the things, all the work that you all the tools you've been giving me.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

Yes. Well, I hope we matched that today, your vision of it. Sarah, thank you so much for your time and your energy. And we'll link to Grown Rogue in the show notes. And while the article that Sarah and I were talking about isn't out yet, there are some beautiful writings that she's put out into the world. So we will definitely link those in as well. We appreciate you, Sarah. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

Tiffany, I'm so honored and I'm such a fan. And I will continue. And you are just a magnificent, magical unicorn. My love overflows for you. I quite honestly, as a leader, as a mom, as a friend, like I could, I'm probably gonna cry right now, but like I I really just you've been so impactful. And I hope everyone can find people in their lives that can bring impact for them. And my only hope is that I will create impact the way others have left imprints on my heart and on my life. Go forward.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

Yes. Thank you. Thank you. I love today's conversation. Thank you for joining me, everyone. Be sure to join me next week. It will be a solo episode, and we are going to focus on the science of failing forward. So join me next week. Be well, y'all. Bye. Rewired listeners, if this episode resonated with you, I'd be so honored to stay connected. Follow the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and iHeartRadio. Share an episode with someone in your life, and leave a five-star review. It helps people access these tools and this work and grow our community. At Empower Coaching and Training, we believe that when you understand your brain, you gain the power to change your patterns, your relationships, and your life. If you're ready to go deeper, you can always learn more about coaching and resources at yesempower.com.