Coffee and Camouflage Part II: The "C" Word (Change)

Change. The word everyone avoids… until it shows up on your doorstep, your desk, or your deployment roster.

In this second installment of our Coffee & Camouflage series, Kelly and Terra sit back down with Chief Courtney Strickler for a raw, real, and unexpectedly funny conversation about leading through change — the messy kind, the personal kind, and the kind that hits before your coffee even cools.

Together, we explore:
 • Why the brain resists change (hello, amygdala 👋)
 • How leaders can create calm in chaos
 • What healthy change looks like at work and at home
 • Our biggest personal transformations
 • And a hilarious detour into smartphones, AI, and “how did we survive dial-up?”

This episode blends neuroscience, leadership wisdom, and misfit humor for a grounded, relatable take on navigating the C-word.

Whether you’re leading Airmen, leading a team, or just leading yourself through a new season of life, this one will leave you laughing, reflecting, and remembering that change doesn’t have to break you — it can build you.

Grab your mug and hit play. ☕

Transcript

0:00

Hey everyone. Welcome to Trail Talks, the podcast where we talk about growth, the messy, the beautiful, the funny, and everything in between. And sometimes we take a few fun detours along the way. I'm your co-host, Tara Ette, leadership trainer, recovering perfectionist, caffeine enthusiast and founder of Leading people LLC, and joining me as always, my good friend, partner, and growth mother of the misfits and the heart behind Kelly Michelle Coaching the one and only Kelly Krueger. And please welcome back our very first guest on Trail Talks, returning for coffee and camouflage. Part two, powerhouse Air Force. Chief Maintainer personnel is First sergeant, recruiting chief, senior enlisted leader, mother, spouse, and a freaking chef. So let's welcome back. Courtney Strickler. Thank you. Yay. Yay. Having me back. Welcome back. Thank you so much. How are we feeling today? Motivated. That's a good, yeah. Love it. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling inspired. Yeah. This is a good topic. I'm really excited to. Nerd out as we were saying. Oh, I, so I rarely listen to our episodes again'cause I don't like listening to my voice, but I do recall I listened once to the last one and Courtney is a natural. I will say she just. So comfortable. And then Tara and I are here with our gear on and headphones and microphones and we just spazz out'cause we're so nervous. Yeah. But Courtney, when you were explaining your coffee, you said a Harry Potter creamer and I was like, am I hearing that right? There's a Harry Potter creamer. Yes. There was a Harry Potter creamer. It was for Halloween. I think it's until, yeah, it's like a Okay. Butter cake situation. It's so good. Oh, well, I, yeah, two things. I love butter and cake, so I mean, how can you not, I mean, butter and cake and caffeine. Like what a great combination. And Harry Potter. And Harry Potter. Yes. Wait, we have to induct Courtney. We have to induct Courtney as an honorary misfit. Are we allowed, should we contact the functional to do that? Are we allowed to, like honorary services? Misfit? We're gonna do it. I'm gonna write up a package and I'm gonna, I'm gonna submit a waiver. Thank you so much. Oh, you waive everything, so it's all good. Thank you. She totally should be. She totally should be. Hey, I wanna give a shout out to a few friends of ours, Wendy, Amy, and Jen. I know you're listening. We will make you outta your misfits too. But thank you for listening. We love you ladies. Absolutely. And I've got my coven out there. You know who you are, ladies, love you all. Oven. I love it. I love it. But yeah, as you were saying, we're gonna talk about that C word, the C word change. And we're gonna talk about leading through change today, in today's episode, right? Yeah. I mean, what other C word would there be? Well, I could think of a few, but yeah, you're right. And yeah, I definitely thought cancer first. Coffee. I, I Coffee. I'm not ready to talk about cancer, guys. No, no. I thought, I thought maybe coffee, but Okay. We're gonna talk about change, change. We're talking about change. Where do we start that? We don't like it. We don't like it. It freaks people out. It literally freaks people out. People out. But what we need to understand that it hits our nervous system before it even hits our logic. Mm. Yeah. We've said this in a couple episodes already, our brains are. Wired to keep us safe, which is consistency, stability, predictability, that is what we need. And if that is disrupted, then our nervous system gets jacked up. So when we talk about the neuroscience of it, it's under understanding, like it's sometimes it's not the change itself, it's the uncertainty that comes with the change. So it's understanding how our brain works is the first thing. And that is that our brain is wired to keep us safe and it's there to protect us and give us predictability and stability and consistency, all those things. And when a change happens and we don't know how the brain works, our brain is saying, oh my God, Kelly, this is not good. Be careful. This is dangerous. And if we don't know, you know how that works, how the brain works, then we tend to. Allow our nervous system freak out. Yes. Freak out. Okay. Freak out that reptil, the reptilian brain kicks in and it's fight or flight and that changes fly away fast. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So we have to try to keep that nervous system, calm and grounded. We actually have to stay confident in the change, if you will. I know right now I'm going through some pretty big change professionally speaking. So we're, we are consolidating, within work and it is causing a lot of fight or flight. People are fighting it, people are flying away from it. And it is considerable, the one thing that I have learned going through such a big change, people get scared. Because they don't have control, which is understandable. So how can you respond to that? Right? So what I've noticed in a leadership position is including our people in how we wanna make the change and empowering them to do so. I found the teams that I work with, to be a lot more accepting and excited. Yeah. Oh yeah. So she just own it and stay confident in yourself and, be able to communicate that change, and it helps other people feel comfortable dealing with it. A hundred percent. And if you walk into it in a leadership capacity with a negative attitude, then that is exactly what the team is going to absorb. And that's what they're gonna mirror. So if you can come in with some sort of excitement, that's really gonna neurologically help change the mindset, right. People say if you are faking a smile, you can fake that smile enough and it's gonna become real. Yeah. They're gonna model your behavior and they're gonna look at you first. When we talk about change in writ large, professional, not just military, but any company going through change mm-hmm. Any business,, it's a, people change. It could be a new boss, right? Mm-hmm. It's a, people change, a program change, process change. So if any of those shift and there's uncertainty with your employees or your team, they're gonna look to you first, and, they're gonna model your behavior. They're gonna want answers. So, Tara take us through, when we talk about the neuroscience of it, and this is anything in life too. The change curve, right? The change curve? Yeah. What happens if a change happens? The first step is that shock denial, is that what you're gonna share with us? Yeah. First I wanted to say about the change curve. I think one of the. Biggest leadership lessons when it came to change for me, and learning about the change curve was that, and the most interesting is that the change curve was actually created for grief first. So the same, you lose, if someone loses a loved one, you go through that exact same curve as if there was a small change in your life. So you go through that shock and denial, the anger or bargaining, the frustration, the depression acceptance. You can go back and forth on that change curve. I just thought it was interesting that, it's for grief, so you go through the exact same cycle as if someone was going through change. And then on top of that I can land anywhere on that change curve depending on how the change affects me compared to you. Remember I taught a class over leading change and did an exercise with the change curve and I told them to give me a few changes in life or a few changes within the Air Force that happened. And then mark on that change curve where you fell when that change came down and everyone was on a different part of that change curve. And then we talked about why were you there instead of here, why were you in the shock denial and you're in the acceptance phase. So you don't have to start from shock all the way through acceptance. You can go back and forth or start in the middle. You could start anywhere and it might not be where we spend the same amount of time in each stage of that curve. So if we go through the steps, it's shock denial, right? That's the, that's number one. That's oh my God, what just happened? This can't be happening. Then anger, frustration. This is unfair. Why me? Bargaining and fear. Depression, disorientation. The next one is acceptance. That's when we start accepting, so we start being curious. Number six is experiment, problem solving. And number seven is integration. But I just remember personally, major changes in my life, which one was post-divorce and I was like, oh my God, this, my life is about to change. Everything about my life is about to change. And, I was familiar with the grieving piece of it and knew that you can't escape pain. None of us can escape pain and bad experiences. And we really can't e escape the grieving and we shouldn't. I mean, where you're supposed to grieve, you should grieve. We can't, just be happy all the time. There are things we need to grieve about. And that was so terrifying.'cause I know my whole life is about to change and I know there's a lot of grieving in this and I have to go through the steps and I just gotta let it naturally happen. And I remember our buddy Julie, said grieving is both beautiful and brutal. And that just stuck with me.'cause it is so personally, it's the same thing. You're still gonna go through the steps. You might start at a different stage. You might be in one stage longer than the other depending on, the impact of your life. But that is how change curve works. You're gonna go through those steps and if you know that, then you accept it a little bit more and you just be patient and know how you can navigate through it. And then the second you hit the curiosity okay, I think I'll be okay, then you know, you start showing up a little bit better. Yeah, because change isn't something that you manage at work is within your personal life. You can't get away from it really. Definitely leading through change I think is. Hard. Mm-hmm. I mean, I guess it's hard to lead yourself through change too, but leading other people, because like I said, it's going to affect me differently. And then me having the knowledge that I have with the change curve and all the tools and all the classes I've taken about it makes it easier for me to accept depending on what it is. And now I have to get these people within my organization to accept it as well. And I think that's the hardest part really. Okay. It truly is. I find myself when going through moments of big change, having to become the cheerleader. You know, guys, this is gonna be great. I promise this is gonna be awesome. Sometimes I might not even agree with it. However, oh yeah, this is where we're at. You know, we need to ride this wave. And so it's one of those things where, okay, are we gonna be happy through this? Or miserable? We get to choose how we wanna react to this. We can choose to walk into this with a little bit of positivity. Then we're all gonna have a better time because you can't always push back against that change. I love the change curve. Because when you think about going through a loss or going through a major life moment, that is applied to all big changes and the loss somebody is a major change. Whether that's through a divorce, whether that's through a death, whether that's through a breakup, anything. I love that and now I can see myself applying it. It's really awesome. When you think about it anything, even in work is when something changes, it is a loss of something. Even even if it's like a programmatic change, because you're so used to having this program or this process and now there's a new one, it's a loss. And that leads to that first and second step of the change curve. And as a corporate training manager, my nine to five job, part of my job is helping, employers lead through change. For example, the company that I worked for was bought out by a larger company. And one thing that I noticed, in the military, when we get change and it comes down from the very tippy top, the new administration and it trickles down into our organization, we are at a completely different. Step in the change management cycle than if I was a regular employer. For example, when we got bought out by a larger company. The assess and the developed phase, which are the first two phases, were at a higher level, but. The way we deploy it is different. It goes assess, develop, deploy, go live, normalize, and exit. In the military, a lot of times we end up in the normalized phase'cause we don't have a choice. In the civilian sector, when you are working for a larger corporation, you're usually in the deploy phase. So even though we knew we were being bought out. By a larger company, we would go to each of our locations and talk to people about the changes that are to come like, Hey, we're already bought out. This is happening. But we spoke to them about it, made them understand it was happening. Listened to their gripes and complaints even though those changes were gonna happen. So they had an opportunity to feel like they had some buy-in. And so that helped lead through the change. Yeah. And that seems to be one, one of the number one things with'em, wasn't it for me. How is this gonna benefit me? How is this gonna affect me? And so learning how to answer those questions early on is vital. Yeah. And Courtney, you said earlier, it's. Presenting some sort of optimism. If we know it's something that, it's not at our level. We can't influence that change. To go back to what it was that's the first piece of it is where is my influence in this? Then it's, okay, how do I reframe. I remember when I was a squadron in SEL and if it was program. Process people, manpower, cuts, mission change, gaining, gsu, all of that. It was reframing and if we didn't have a choice, it was, we're gonna learn to work smarter and this is gonna make us better, and having them be a part of that change to get them excited and, looking forward to it versus, we don't wanna accept the change and. We just stay stagnant, you know? Whereas we reframed it into let's work on our processes, let's work smarter. Just like we're asked to do work smarter and leaner. So how do we make that change a positive?'Cause the change inevitably is going to make us stronger. We have had to deal with so much change throughout our lives, throughout our careers, and each time we get a little bit stronger, a little bit better. Right? One of the second questions I had for all of us was how we can model healthy change for people. But I think we already talked about that. Can we just recap what we said, one of them was own it. How can we wear the change? What else did we say as a good way to model the change? Communicate, reframe, turn it into a positive Yes. Lead the way. And then linking change to purpose, I think was one of'em that we said linking change to purpose. Yeah. One thing I will never forget when I was an instructor, this one instructor, every single day we would talk to the class. And every single day he would go through the long list of things we have to do. It sounded like it sucked. It really did. But every day he would say, too easy, pretty easy day, not too bad. Don't have much to do. It's really easy. And every day he really convinced me that this was an easy day and it really wasn't that much to do, but so much to do. I will never forget, Sergeant Lopez, if you're listening, I will never forget that. And I think I live by that. I always wake up and say something positive to myself. Super helpful. And I think just really anything that we wanna be good at, it's practice. So how do you get better at change? You keep changing, you keep improving. Sets, reps, baby sets and reps. Yeah. Yeah. Don't be complacent. There's always a better way of doing things. Just always a better way of showing up and change is inevitable. So are you ready to take a detour? Yes, as always. Yeah, and then we'll give, and then we'll give a couple tools after. All right. Detour. Detour. What are we doing on the detour? We're talking about how old we are. Oh my God. It's the truth. Says the youngest one here. Okay. Yeah, you probably don't know, but we didn't have cell phones. No, I didn't know that. No, I did know that, but I've always had one. Have the computers in our hands to tell us where to go. Yeah. Yeah. So now we have smartphones. Yeah. Smartphones. We were talking earlier, I cannot tell you, north, south, east or west, and my mom to this day, she's about to turn 70 plus her. Every time I go to her house, she's like you gotta take the 75 to BeltLine. And I'm like, mom, I got this new fun thing. It's called a phone. I'm totally good. Well, in case it dies, let me write it down for you. I'm like, oh my gosh. Aw. Or when somebody starts to give you directions and you're like, I don't need directions, I just need an address. Oh yeah. But yes, for anybody listening, please don't give us direction. Please don't give us north, south, east, west, like to any of us. We don't know what that is. No, absolutely not. I don't even know if the compass in my car works, I'm like, why? Why is it on here? I feel like I'm going north. I don't know. My friends. Make sure you're off giving. Locate, like McDonald's will be on your left. You go two lights down and you make a left next to the Publix. I don't know, but Northeastern and West, absolutely not. So yeah, when I was stationed at Dobbins, the landmark was the big chicken. And in Marietta, Georgia. And you have to see it to know it. But whenever we gave each other directions,'cause that was what, back in 2005 to 2009? It was, all right, you're gonna take a left at the big chicken, you're gonna take a right at the, because it was like the first Kentucky fried chicken ever built. Oh my gosh. I think what's funny too is we're talking about smartphones, right? And so even when the Apple iPhone came out and. It was probably really popping off around 2008 is like when it was like really starting to get really hot. And I was like, I'm not getting that. Like I was trying to be too cool for the iPhone. Like, what? And now my iPhone is stuck to my hand basically, right? This is what I'm recording on. This is my, key to life at this point. So even in that moment, me trying to resist change, like for what? To make your life a little bit easier. Embrace that cord. I remember, I thought I was cool when I had a portable phone when you didn't have the cord, so my brothers wouldn't find me and I'd be on the phone all day and I will say cell phones, smartphones, have probably saved a lot of fights between siblings because we would beat the crap out of each other to get that phone. To get the one phone in the house. No, it's my turn. I wanna shoot the duck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a Blackberry that was my first cell phone, and I thought I was so cool. Or directions, like pages and pages. I would just really go on what, two interstates going from Buffalo to Charleston and then Buffalo to Dobbins, 20 pages of Yahoo Maps printed out. Oh my God. And really it's only like the 90 to 2, 75 to 75, I think. And I'm like, Nope, I gotta follow all the directions. That is unsafe. I was just about to say that you're reading your book while driving. A hundred percent very unsafe. Or the r McNally. I mean, I've done cross country road trips and I would break out the R McNally, oh my God. Oh my gosh. I, my favorite thing to gloat about is the teachers were wrong. They said, you're not always gonna have a calculator in your pocket. Guess who has a calculator in their pocket every single day? We saw the vision and you didn't. That's what somebody invented that calculator on the phone because of that teacher absolutely shout out to them. Do I use it almost every day? Seven times 14? Absolutely not. Hold on. Exactly. Don't even attempt. We had to use it the other day to, to add up our years of service. Oh yeah. Goodness. And then getting into AI and chat GPT and we're all losing our critical thinking skills and I mean, it's fine. Everything's fine. Do you think we are losing our critical thinking skills because of it? I don't, I think if it's used correctly or not. I agree. Yeah. I do get lazy and I let it write my email sometimes or I don't feel like. Thinking or typing full sentences. So I'll just type whatever, or heck, you can even just talk to it and then tell it to make it sound better. And it does it for you that there's no thinking involved, but if you use it correctly, you actually gotta think critically to use it correctly. Exactly. I still think, I think it's okay to use it to, for emails. You're still learning, the way that you wanna come across in that sort of communication. And it's a productivity tool. Use it as a productivity tool that you're saving time and energy on typing an email word for word, and now you could put that time and energy into things that you really need to. Absolutely. I've even used AI for parenting. I mean, mm-hmm. These tea waters are crazy. Y'all oh my gosh. I'm like, I don't know who I'm dealing with today. I gotta put in how do I hype up my daughter who's going through the seventh grade seventh grade is brutal, right? Yeah. Now it's a different time from when we went through the seventh grade. It is the access to social media and everything else. So how do I navigate this chat, GBT, help me out? And it's been actually very helpful. It's almost like, oh yeah, get a how to book in the back of your pocket at all times. It's awesome. I just recently created a budget well chat. GPT created me a really good budget, and it helps with trip planning too. If you wanna take a trip somewhere and you're spending two or three days and you've never been to that city, and just put in things you like to do and it'll create an itinerary for you. There's so many great things about it. Oh, and then there's some dangerous things about it too. Very dangerous. That's with anything, right? Before we hopped back on the trail, Kelly and I used chat GBT and AI for a very large project we had to do. We finished it in two and a half days when it really should have took us like 30 days. It was amazing. It's the best thing. And quite frankly, I feel like a bit of an imposter sometimes because when I do use it to create what I need to be successful, my bosses are like, how did you do this? Like you said, in two days, they were like, I spent weeks on this. And I was like, Ooh, I had a little help. I never deny it. And they're like, yeah, I'm very honest about it. But the information in there for it to still populate what you need. Like you said, it still takes critical thinking to have the appropriate prompts to get a great product just a little bit better, a little bit more polished. Yeah we haven't even tapped into any of this. We use it at probably the most basic level compared to what it offers, and that's why I say get on the train'cause it's not going away. And it's billions of dollars being poured into AI and who's gonna get there fastest. Use it for what it helps you with. Invest your time and energy into things that you value that keep you grounded, like family and experiences and all of that. And use this as a productivity tool. Oh, I love that. Really making sure that it goes along with your values. It helps you with parenting. I had a dinner party and I needed wine pairings for my menu. It makes all of those amazing moments better. So making sure that we use it for good. Yeah. Tariff it, have it write a bedtime story for SIR I worked with at, at, civil Air Patrol, had told me about it. He had it write stories, like nighttime stories for his kids. And I was like, oh my God, that's such a good idea. So I've done it where Jordan and I have gone to Monster Jam or the zoo, places like that or we go and visit the dragons and we ride dragons. So you can put it in there, whatever you want, how creative you want it to be. And then you have a really cool story that he'll connect to, Aw, that is a good idea. That is beautiful. And Tara's, Tara's son's name is Sir. I didn't know that was his real name. And I asked her yesterday, I said, what is his real name? I thought sir would be a nickname that he's so used to that everybody calls him. It's sir spelled SIR. Yep. Nice Sir Amir, he's royalty. I mean, how regal is that? That is phenomenal. See, it's awkward when you're on a military base though. But other than that, turning around looking. Yeah, he's the boss, sir Amir. Oh my god. That's really beautiful. I got real lazy. My husband's name is Corey. I'm Courtney. So we're like, well, we'll stick with the Cs, Colton and Chloe. We just didn't get past the Cs in the book, so that worked out well for us. We say we're C four, we're dynamite. Oh, that's awesome. Oh yeah. That's cool. That is cool. Yeah. For somebody who's talking to you and Corey, you almost have to wait until the second syllable to know who's talking to you.'cause they're gonna go core and then you're both gonna look and then. Oh wow. Yeah. C four. I like it. Phenomenal. I love that. That is funny though. Speaking of C words. Back to change. Speaking of C words, I guess we should hop back on the trail. Back on the trail again. We're back on the trail. So now that we've talked about tech and world changing, what about us? What's one way that you guys have changed personally in the last few years? For me, I have more clarity in my life. I would say that, going through that change curve for what, two years, two and a half years, and just going through that process. Understanding, I needed to change, that version of Kelly two years ago, two and a half years ago, could no longer be that same version to be a better leader, be a better parent, and be a better partner. Like I knew that I needed to change. So the first one. Was, obvious removing alcohol from my life. I think that gave me so much clarity and then just gaining more confidence and self-esteem and who I am and sitting with myself, which is a very scary thing to do. And understand that sometimes it's okay just to be okay and get rid of the ego and chip on your shoulder and figure out what grounded looks like and what your values are. So for me it was going through that. I wanna say growth, but it's, it was really transformation. Professionally I would say, I'm more independent in making decisions. That was an area I know I had scored low on in certain feedbacks. And so I think just being more independent and making decisions. Still working on the assertiveness piece. And that goes back to the work I did on myself, which was that clarity and being more confident in who I am and appreciating myself versus all the negative self-talk I did for many, many years. I'm so proud of you, and it's just been an absolute joy and has brought more value to my life, watching you evolve and transform. So I just wanna take a second to say, oh God, you Oh, thank you. All right. You turn court. For my change, it is personal. So my change is now accepting, going through acceptance, right? I'm not that spot. The fact that I'm retiring from the military, for so many years, people are like, you can't tie your identity with your career. And I don't know how not to, it affects everything. And there's been so many amazing benefits that have come from that. So now, like taking a step back and knowing that I have to actually do this, I have to go life on my own, and it's time to make really big changes. So much like I was saying before about you just keep smiling until you actually start smiling. I am excited. I do find. A lot of opportunity that's gonna hit the family and myself. And we are all excited to take a new step, to go to new places, and to possibly start new opportunities, new family business together. It is stressful. It is stressful. You have to move your whole family, your whole life. That is change. But leaving the military is, that's one I'm gonna be boo-hooing at my retirement ceremony because, I was at a retirement ceremony and the gentleman that was retiring, he looked at his wife and he said, I have to apologize to you because. I have had a 33 year long affair and I was like clutching my pearls. And he said with the air, oh my gosh. Oh, thank God. I was like the drama. And he said, with the Air Force, and I got that because there was. There was so much that I was fulfilled with because of my career, I did miss a lot with my family. And I'm so excited to pour back in. And I'm ready for that change in the best way. And I can't wait to see, what's gonna be on the other side when I actually have to be a big girl, be an adult. So that's my change. It's gonna be an amazing chapter. I'm so excited. Yeah. Thank you. And you get to, I'm jealous, right? We say, we have to. We have to. But, you get to, because there are so many opportunities and you are so driven, you are a powerhouse. You are. So I'm excited to see what's next for you. It's gonna be awesome. And the family, it's gonna be awesome. Just like you said, reframe, it's always reframing. We have the authority and power to reframe however we want. How are you, Tara? Well, I actually enjoy change. It doesn't really, bother me as much. I literally packed whatever fit in my car and drove to Tampa and stayed here on a whim one day. So, really change's not, but, as far as the growth one way that I've changed personally throughout the last few years is, learning to pick and choose my battles. I am a fighter and sometimes things do not need, your energy. Everything is not worth battling. Right. And really getting into my mindfulness practices, being more present and aware of my thoughts and my feelings and how I talk to myself. That's incredible. And presence is everything. Presence is everything. Yeah, you are bold. I remember when I went down to Homestead and you were down there, and I'm thinking, did she just move from Ohio to Florida and she has a house. And then you go to, where do you live? St. Pete. Is it St. Pete or Tampa? Oh, I live in Tampa. I live in Tampa. Okay. And, yeah, just very impressive. I hardly had a job too on my way. I think I got the job on my way down. They was like, Hey, by the way, with a whole baby. No. He came later in life. Okay. I would've never, change is a little harder for me now that I have a child. Because he doesn't enjoy change and I don't want to disrupt his life because if it was up to me, I wouldn't even live in this, in the country. I would live somewhere else working from home. So, do you know, stretching my money a little further. But what's funny with you saying that is we're sitting here talking about change and how it's so important, for growth. I was very much in that mindset and I didn't wanna move the kids. And then all of a sudden I was like, think how much they're gonna learn from this big move. To be honest, like in the moment they're like, oh my gosh, it sucks here. This is terrible. But I promise you, the minute we leave, they're gonna be like, oh, remember in Georgia, remember this? Remember that? Because we moved from Colorado. I mean, they hated the snow in Colorado. And the minute we get to Georgia, I miss the snow. So it's all the change we need to grow. So I understand absolutely where you're coming from, but now being on the other side of it, I think that it's been good for the kids. Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna happen. I can't sit still. He'll be okay. It's gonna happen. It's just not the time right now, it does make me think about it. Where before I wasn't thinking. I just did. That's fair. You're putting a lot more analysis to your changes now. Instead of being so spontaneous because we do have a lot more at risk. I respect that greatly. Thank you. Alright, so what about some tools? What are some tools we can give them? What are some tools we're gonna give them for their change toolkit? So I have one, so when we talk about like the change curve and, understanding how the brain works and how we react to change. There's tons of books, there's tons of frameworks out there. One is John Kotter is known for his famous, change management framework. So I'll mention any Kotter. Book, or Google, John Kotter's change management framework is great. But what I wanna talk about is like the leader and how the leader approaches it with the team. So there's an acronym and I was playing around like last night. I'm like, okay, how about calm be the acronym?'cause it is so important for a leader to be through change and leading people through change. Like Courtney said, they're gonna model the behavior that they see. So I was like, okay, calm Coach was one. Pace was one. And then, so then I just came up with the mind. So the leader's framework for guiding people through change. MIND'cause you wanna change their minds and mind the change. So the M is mapped the brain, so it's understanding what's happening when people face change. And that's knowing. How this thing between our ears works. There's fear, uncertainty, and loss, that trigger the amygdala, the brain's alarm system. The I is informed with truth. Communication, very important. Being transparent, even if you don't have the answers, say that. Be real with them. They want communication. Uncertainty breeds anxiety and clarity will create that calm. The end is navigate resistance with coaching. You are gonna have resistance as a leader, but people may react or resist a little bit different. Courtney had mentioned earlier it was really about having them be a part of it. So they might either want. To be involved in the change. Like the change agent or they may need education and training on it. So it just depends on that person, how they're resisting and your approach to it. So it's navigating that resistance with coaching. So ask before you assume, and then the D is demonstrate adaptability. Like we said before, that change and how we react to it is modeled. So your calm becomes their courage. So MIND map the brain. Inform with truth, navigate resistance with coaching, and then demonstrate adaptability. Show them what grounded and flexible leadership looks like. That's amazing. I love that. Mic dropped. That was incredible. Literally. All I had was a Jay-Z quote to give you. Gave a whole time. Oh, perfect. No, Jay-Z. Okay, perfect. Yeah. So my favorite change quote is by Jay-Z, and it says, people look at you strange saying you've changed, like you've worked this hard to stay the same. Hmm. That just, oh yeah. It just lets me know that change is okay and that this is what we're supposed to be doing. Was that from a song or was that like a quote in a speech or something? It is from a song. Oh, okay. What song? Oh, I know you was gonna ask that. I can't remember. Oh, okay. Yeah. They don't love you no more. Oh, okay. Playing Jay-Z. All right so I guess I'm the nerd with my acronym Mind. You are not a nerd. I love it. And the reason you're not a nerd, it's very funny'cause I just wrote down one word and it was mindset. Oh yeah, you walk through every bit of anything I could have ever articulated. I'm just gonna, I'll just say mindset and your acronym is nominal and I look forward to using that and implementing it. Thanks, Kim. Oh, oh, thanks guys. Yeah, I, it starts with the mindset and the mindset is really how you approach anything. That's where we're gonna leave it today. Change isn't a strategy problem. It's a human one. It's messy, it's emotional, it's uncomfortable and invites every part of us to the surface, our fears, our habits, our hopes, and our growth edges it could become powerful instead of painful. Change isn't something we survive, it's something we can shape. When you understand the brain, when you communicate honestly, and when you coach yourself through resistance, you can lead with intention. So as you head into your week, remember this, you don't have to control everything. You just have to stay curious. Stay present and stay committed to the best version of you that's trying to emerge. Thanks for walking this trail with us today. If this episode helped you rethink, change, share it, send it to a friend, leave a review or tag us on social media. It helps us reach more people who are ready to grow. Until next time, keep leading. Keep learning, and keep choosing your journey. See ya.