The NorthStar Narrative
The NorthStar Narrative
Building Intentional Teams: From Corporate Wisdom to School Communities
Leadership coach Audrey Boydston shares how intentional collaboration and clear purpose transform teams, drawing from her 25 years of experience across corporate and educational settings.
• Moving beyond processes to focus on people and helping them do their best work
• Establishing clear purpose, mission, and values for any successful team
• Sharing knowledge rather than hoarding it to empower the entire team
• Creating supportive communities that help members regain momentum when they lose it
• Using running and physical activity as tools for creative problem solving
• Reframing "you are enough" to "you are more than enough" to tap into untapped potential
Hi, this is Stephanie Shafer and you're listening to the NorthStar Narrative, a podcast from NorthStar Academy. I want to thank you for joining us. I hope you're encouraged, challenged and motivated by what you learned today. Enjoy the story. Hey everybody, welcome to this week's episode.
Stephanie:This week's episode, I'm excited to share another new friend with you that I have met recently, right along at the same time, Stephen Carter, which was on the previous episode at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. At the conference, I was able to meet Audrey Boydston, and she is a seasoned leadership coach and master facilitator with over 25 years of experience in leadership development and product strategy. She is known for helping teams move from ideas to action through intentional collaboration, and she co-created a virtual edition of training from the back of the room and also trains offerings from Crucial Learning, the Table Group, and Lego Strategic Play, from Crucial Learning, the Table Group and Lego Strategic Play. Audrey is passionate about connection within teams, communities and classrooms, and she brings a wealth of wisdom from both the corporate and educational worlds. She's also a committed mentor, volunteering her time to invest in high school students and future leaders. Audrey, I'm so excited that you would sit down with us today to talk for a little bit.
Audrey:Yeah, stephanie, it was great that we met. What has it been like a month or so?
Stephanie:Yeah, it doesn't seem long though it's gone by so fast. Yeah, it was so amazing being at Cincinnati Hills, getting to meet you, hang out with all the educators there to learn about the entrepreneurship program, and then to getting to meet the students your son, Blake. It was so fun watching them in action. And, yeah, I'm just excited that we were able to share information and now you can share a little bit about your journey and what God's been doing in your life. So I can't wait for you to share a little bit of your journey. So tell me a little bit of how the leadership, the coaching, education all of that began to intersect and your journey through corporate life and now where you think God's going. Where have you seen a thread of just God's goodness through all of this?
Audrey:Lots and lots of threads. Let me try to find the steel thread that really connects all of them together. I think in corporate, I really started helping manage and lead projects, so helping get teams organized really the way of working, like how can they work best together, right? So many different personalities, so many different ways that you can make decisions. So many, just so, so much. I could probably go on forever about this. And then we really moved into the agile space, which is more about innovation, it's about experimentation, it's about incremental delivery.
Audrey:What I noticed, actually threading through both of those, is that I have a passion for people that I guess I didn't realize right away, so it was not about the process. It was never about the process. Yes, that seemed to be front and center of everything that we did leading through this, because businesses need to grow and thrive. In order to do that, you have to deliver. You know, deliver things, deliver on projects, deliver on initiatives and stuff. And so I started really delving into the world of why does it feel like this was so much more fun and so much more inspiring than this other one?
Audrey:Or why are these teams struggling and these other teams are doing? Okay, what seems to be. What are some of these common themes that are helping people be successful versus not? And what I found is that, when teams had leaders who believed in them, who spent the time cultivating their growth and development, creating the space for them and then teaching them some of these what you call just basic human skills, giving them opportunity to have offerings of. What does it mean to be a true team leader? What does it mean to have a team purpose? How do we need to interact with each other? How do we make decisions together? And so I realized that equipping people to be able to do the best work of their lives I know that sounds dramatic, but really enjoy what they're doing is actually translating into real outcomes, not just for them personally and professionally, but also for the organizations that they're a part of.
Stephanie:Yeah, that's good. At Northstar we talk a lot about our mission, alignment and our purpose and it really is cool that everyone understands and believes and so it makes a huge difference in how the team works, and I think that trickles down to the students here at Northstar Academy. But what have you learned happens when there is not a mission and purpose alignment within a team?
Audrey:That's when the fun begins.
Audrey:No honestly, that's where some of the really difficult conversations happen. So I've had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with leadership teams sitting around as they're creating the new strategies for Go Forward, looking at what brought them here, what they need to change, and I have a few different questions that I ask. The first one is what is your purpose? Why did you start your company in the first place? Why are you here? Some of them have it, some of them don't. Some of them will experience the, what we call the Audrey silence that I will give a space for them to start to think about. What does that mean if we don't have one? Or do we have one that we just maybe have not aligned on? So there's the purpose, there's the mission, Like what do we do? It's great that this is why we started, but what do we really do and who do we serve really as those customers? And then what your vision is going forward.
Audrey:The fourth, though, is the. To me, this is like the overarching. If you were going to have something in neon lights, it would be what are the values in your organization that drives everything in your organization that drives everything? And if I don't have any clear principles, then how am I really making decisions that I know are going to help move us forward? How do I act? And so I think those are really the four key things that I've really spent a lot of time on, and I'm glad that you mentioned that Northstar has those in place. To me, those are game-changing if you want outcomes, because it's a really great opportunity to align all of the teams and individuals, Because even though we're on teams, we're still individuals. How do I align everybody and help them really truly understand the impact that they're making and how that translates into moving us forward as a company?
Stephanie:Yeah, and how much better is it when you have an eternal purpose? So it's so easy to get behind NorthStar Academy's mission and purpose because we're eternally impacting the kingdom of God and bringing up these students and teaching them the skills in God's word and how you view the world through the biblical lens. And, yeah, what's the world teaching you and how do we navigate this? And it's so, so fun. So I know your son Blake has had so much fun at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy and then you've told me how y'all are just innovators, idea generators and love to get together and you're writing a book. So I want you to share a little bit of how you've seen him journey through this entrepreneurship program, what he's learning, how he's been challenged and then how y'all are able to take that and even move in bigger directions.
Audrey:So I was really excited when he I think I went to one of those parents' webinars at night when they were first talking about this program before Blake started high school, and I was like you are taking this Well, it's your choice, but I really, really, really want you to take this. And so, when he was taking perspectives, he took the online, the summer version, right before he started his freshman year. Right before he started his freshman year, and it was the coolest thing to me that he was hearing from leaders such as John Maxwell and he was hearing from, or there were references to, patrick Lencioni and all of these that are actually on my bookshelf back there. So here I am, teaching about this in the corporate setting and using all of these great thought leaders to help organizations move forward.
Audrey:And now I have my son in this entrepreneurship program, who's actually learning the same thing and like a freshman, yeah it was right before he was a freshman, and so that's actually how Stephen Carter and I met, because Blake started writing like oh yeah, my mom met Patrick Lencioni and all this stuff, and he was like I'm fully in, like help me understand more, like how do I get in that circle? So, um, so it was really interesting to me and the growth that I've seen in him. He's young for his, for his grade. I will just tell you that he's probably about a year younger than a lot of the students in his class. He's probably the youngest, if not, um, you know, the second youngest. And just the growth in him being a leader on the team and my husband always tells him before he goes to school anything, be a leader today, help influence others, help mentor others, be that person that's going to help move something forward when people are stuck, and I think he really internalized that. So we um, I do want to share just one quick story related to this he shared with me the other day. It actually is the full stories in the book, but they have this thing called I think it's called Thankful Thursday as part of the lacrosse team, and so they don't actually practice on Thursdays. They go to practice, but instead they sit around, they talk about teamwork and stuff. I was like well, help me understand more.
Audrey:The coach shares a message about teamwork and he always brings this back to the Bible and he gives a verse and he's like God created us for this. Here's something related to you as a team and how we can move forward. And he's like well, this was the message that Blake shared with me, he said, and he's like well, this was the message that Blake shared with me. He said it doesn't really matter what you're playing, it just. It just matters how you're relating with a team and how you help it I almost feel emotional when I'm saying this and how you help each other, build each other up and hold each other accountable for your actions.
Audrey:And you're doing this during the school year, the school day. You're doing this during your time at home. So, basically, the coach is telling them they want to take everything that they're teaching about teamwork and apply it everywhere. And I asked him about how the Bible then comes into play and he said there are certain passages that he will talk about how we are not created to just be individuals. We are created for community, and there's so much more that we can create and do together through some of those interactions. So to me that was a powerful moment how this together on the field, as well as in the entrepreneurship program and everything that we're trying to teach them here at home it all seemed to intersect quite nicely over the last couple of years.
Stephanie:Yeah, that's incredible. And what year is he now Sophomore, and so what has he been learning that you've seen really transform his mind and give him some real, tangible skills so far.
Audrey:Yeah, so there is an Eagle Pizza Kitchen and it's one of the internships that they have at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, and so this is his second year of doing it, and just the growth of he's like mom. I have another idea. I think that this is like another offering we could do, or this and and helping him, uh, coach him on how he can even present an idea, not just to the teacher but the entire team, cause there's a team of students that are working on this. And so during actually, um, it was the day I met you, stephanie, when we were in the greenhouse and then we were in the uh for the appetizers and hors d'oeuvres and stuff that they had one of the uh teachers in this program came up to me and said you know, well, we're really thinking of having Blake be a leader in the program next year.
Audrey:What do you think Like? What would he? What would he like to do? Would he like to really manage the operations, part of it? Would he like to be maybe responsible for coming up with new ideas and stuff? And, of course, doing Blake, yeah, that's the one that resonated. So I've just seen a lot of growth in him personally and being able to interact even with people on the other team. If he's on the lacrosse team, everything the joy that he has and the leadership skills that he's developing, he's using pretty much everywhere that we go.
Stephanie:So, cool to see so fun yeah.
Audrey:Being a mom and watching you flourish and blossom. Not that, in my opinion, is completely objective. Of course there's some subjectivity here too.
Stephanie:No, I was there on the campus. I saw all these students and heard from them and their testimonies and you could just feel the intensity of the joy and the fun and the learning and true engagement. Yep, I loved it, Loved every moment there. So you told us on the survey about running and you've run marathons. I know you've written a blog recently about that and that you run on the Little Miami Trail and this helps you solve problems while you're running. So talk a little bit about I know how important everybody tells us exercise is and how it helps clear your mind and the problem solving, but tell us a little bit of, yeah, how this really does help you. Some practical tips from it.
Audrey:Sure, I have found that sitting in front of a computer is not inspiring for me. I could sit here for hours like, oh, I have this new presentation or something that I'm writing a chapter in the book. Sitting in front of a computer literally does nothing for me, and so when I actually go out on my morning runs, that's when the ideas just start coming. And what I've learned to do which gosh, I wish I would have learned this a couple of years ago is I'll stop and I'll just talk to text or something and start capturing, and it could be even one phrase. That can become something that's way bigger than that when I get back. But I think sometimes, as humans, there's so much noise around us, even if we're sitting silently in a room by ourselves, because there's things that you're thinking about, like what I have this to do, I have this to do when I'm running to me. That clears my head and I can then start to think about gosh, I have no idea where to start with this Kind of you know those silent prayers like help me figure this out. And as the miles are going on, you know that kind of stuff is happening. And there's one thing that I want to point out that I use in this, that I think Blake is using as well.
Audrey:There is a book called Getting Things Done and thankfully there's a teenager version of Getting Things Done for Teenagers and there's something called a open loop, and I don't know if you've heard of this before, but one of the techniques is about closing open loops, which means I have something in my brain that's been I have to remember. There's something I have to do, there's something that I have to remember, that specific piece of data, it's an open loop and it happens over and over and over and over again, and so the tip on those is there's also the two minute rule. If I have an open loop and it's going to take me less than two, two minutes or less to do to close it, do it. I started doing that on the trail, Like, oh, I have to remember to call this person, I have to remember to do this. So what it happens, what helps, too, is it helps me close a lot of those open loops so that I can free up the space to think creatively and determine what I want to focus on next.
Stephanie:That's so good, so important, because when you have those loops just going, I know for me it exhausts you because you're always thinking about it. I'll do that, I'll do that, but then when you don't do it, yeah decisions and closing loops and you know how the alignment works together as a team. I'd love to hear more what we can learn today from you about that.
Audrey:Sure, one of the biggest things and I learned this from Sharon Bowman when I first learned about training from the back of the room and it's about neuroplasticity, and people think sometimes that you know, I can't keep learning. Like you know, I've got enough, I'm kind of full. But your brain can continue to expand and you can continue to learn new things. And, like I remember you know, a close family member a couple of weeks ago was like I'm done, I'm this age, I'm not going to learn anymore. I'm like well, actually, the science behind it is you can continue to learn and you can continue to make connections, but part of it is you have to want it, and we talk about this all the time, especially even on teams. You have to want this. If you want this win, then you have to figure out what it's going to take to actually get there. And I think what happens sometimes is people get stuck in their minds and it just breaks my heart when I see students that are like this, like well, this is really all I know or this is all the experience I have. There's so much more for them and there's so much room for them to grow, and the more that you actually you tried it once. It didn't work Awesome. What did you learn from it? You tried it twice. It didn't work Awesome. What did you learn from it? You tried it three times. The more you're practicing it, the more you're creating these connections, the better you're going to get.
Audrey:Whatever it is whether it's a specific skill set that you're trying to gain, maybe it's knowledge that you're trying to gain. Whatever that might be, I think part of it is we get in our own way, and so if I had one message for students here maybe even physically, step out of whatever box that you've put yourself in, like where you're standing now. Step out of that box, find out and explore what else. What else would you like to focus on? What else do you think that you're interested in that you haven't even tried before? What's scary about it? Sometimes that fear is the fear of the unknown. Okay, maybe something's not going to work out like I want, but maybe it is and maybe I'm going to have a really great story that I can share with everybody else. That's going to help them learn and grow as well.
Stephanie:That's good. A recent little phrase quote or something I learned or saw was are you scared? Like do it scared? Yeah, so sometimes we just do it if we're not scared, but sometimes you might be scared, but you just do it. So, thinking about that fear, fear can just completely paralyze you. Um, and then the fear of change. I know we see that. So students not wanting to try something new or even to challenge your brain to think through the questions you just laid out, right, so, yeah, getting in the way, that's so true. And so having people around you, how important is it to have that team that will challenge you if they see you stuck? You know accountability about things. What do you teach about really speaking into one another's lives?
Audrey:Well, I have a great example actually that I just witnessed it, um, a couple of of weeks ago at CHC. So I want to share that one and then and then share how it helped teams. The uh, uh, the cross country team, um, practiced at the same time. The lacrosse uh team was in a bunch. There's like five different teams going on at once. And there's this one day.
Audrey:I came early and I like to just watch the practices because that's where you can kind of learn, you know, about some of the dynamics and stuff. And so the cross country team think about it running is an individual sport, is it not? It's an individual sport. And yet, as they were ending their day, ending their practice, all of a sudden I see them all coming together and they're all like hooting and hollering and getting excited about each other. And nice job, john, you did better at this. Or nice job, you know, fill in the blank with whoever their name is. And it was amazing. And I saw the coach on the way out. I was like, wow, you created quite the team. And he said, actually, I have, but it's all them.
Audrey:But the most important thing is they hold each other accountable and they help each other if they're not doing as well as they wanted to. Maybe it's the form. I know I've had times where I feel like I run sloppy and I need somebody to look at my form and help me get back to where it's going, to help me be more successful and propel me forward. No pun intended on running, and so the same thing with teams. Sometimes I think the best growth happens in teams when they're open to share not just their experiences but their knowledge with one another. Holding knowledge to some people is power, but when you look at that from the other perspective, sharing that knowledge is also power, but it's power for that team and not just for that person that has it.
Audrey:And so as a team, if we like, say we're a team and here's our purpose and this is what we do on a day-to-day basis. Does that mean that's all we ever do? Is what we do on a day-to-day basis? Does that mean that's all we ever do? What's that growth and development look like? Maybe some of it is just organic from you know, some of the members of the team that are learning on their own Like, oh my gosh, I just learned this really cool thing that I want to bring it in and share with you. Maybe it's from external forces where they're bringing in you know other, you know talent, development mechanisms and stuff for that team.
Audrey:But once you look past that one, just as an individual, and you start to act more as we have a common let's let's bring that purpose word back in If we have a common purpose and no, and we know why we exist. We know why we exist. How does what we're doing help move that forward and reflect that? And so I think getting out of that space of it's just about me and as an individual. Yes, we're individuals, but we're also part of something way bigger, and so acknowledging that and finding ways to figure out how to navigate in those situations, I think is really crucial. And so that's another thing that I've seen with like, we're always talking about teams. I think my family is always like is it always about leadership and teams and mindset and all these other things? I'm like well, kind of it is.
Stephanie:Yeah, that's good. And you can't help to think about the scripture, the body, the church body, and how the eyes, the hands, the feet, you know, without each other wouldn't function and how and look at the energy that happens when you all come together. Yeah.
Audrey:I think the energy alone from that yeah.
Stephanie:Yeah, I could picture that story as you're telling it All the guys high-fiving each other, smacking each other you know woo great job. However, they all you know running together. Or girls there's girls on the team too, yeah.
Audrey:Some of them are faster than some of the boys.
Stephanie:Yeah, boys, girls, everybody just loving each other. Yeah, that's an inspiring story. And if we can remember to do that, because we know especially organizations that have that eternal purpose and they know their mission, how much can our flesh, our own self, get in the way, the enemy get in the way, you know, just the world get in the way. What do you share about that? About how to, because you might have a place that's really mission-driven, but you have to be intentional about keeping it right. You don't just get to a point oh yay, we're here, and then just be able to fall back.
Audrey:You do, and so I presented a number of times at conferences on intentional purpose, because purpose is one thing that's great I know why we exist. But intentionally embedding that into everything that you do, it's hard, it's not the easiest thing to do. It's like a tie back. How do I tie this back to why we exist? How do I tie this back even to where we want to be next? This, how do I tie this back even to where we want to be next?
Audrey:That, to me, is the most critical, I would say, role of any leader, whether you're in a school, whether you are a teacher, even if it's a social studies or biology or whatever. That is right being able to help grow these skills. Because I want you to think about even a geometry class. Grow these skills, because I want you to think about even a geometry class. They're doing projects together.
Audrey:Blake was just building a kite out of I think it was like garbage bags and straws and string and all this stuff. But they had to find ways to actually work together in teams to do this. They also had to know why they were doing it. It wasn't just hey, this is kind of cool, let's build a kite. No, this is the purpose of it.
Audrey:This is what we hope to achieve, and here's what your mission is to be able to create that, and I think to me you can do that, and especially in the educational system, I feel like there's so many different opportunities and so many different ways that you do it. That's how you grow people, that's how you grow as humans, and then the more different interactions like this that you can create. You're creating communities within communities, and isn't that why we exist? It's not why God created us. It wasn't to be. I'm on my own and I'm just Audrey and you're Stephanie, and we go about doing our own things Like how do we continue to form these connections so we can continue to grow and learn from each other and then pass on all of this to others as well?
Stephanie:Yeah, because that energy is contagious. It is. That's fun. Yeah, such fun, incredible, important stuff, beautiful stuff we're talking about and, yeah, it's much harder to actually go out and do it than to talk about it. But it's just that it's one moment at a time, the next right thing, the next right step. I mean just, you know, not trying to do it all at once, right?
Audrey:There's one chapter that we're working through, called momentum in the moment. Okay, how do you create that? And life is a series of moments, isn't it? Yeah, so how do you create momentum in each one of those? And how do you know how to regain that momentum if you've lost it? Because we've all lost it, probably millions and millions of times? If you've lost it Because we've all lost it, probably millions and millions of times, right, we lose momentum. How do we gain it? Rather than focusing on I lost momentum, okay, it happens to all of us and community.
Audrey:I think the power of community is helping people regain that momentum. And there's one. I see these signs all over. I don't know if you've seen them, where you are, for some reason, they just say you are enough. I like to change the dynamic. You are more than enough. We have more than enough to accomplish everything that God created us for. Sometimes we haven't tapped into it because we don't know how to tap into it. So that's another power of community. I might have a purpose and I'm like this is why I exist and this is why this is what you know, I have been tasked to do and these are my passion areas. Sometimes we tap out a little bit too soon Like I'm enough, I can. I'm enough to do this, that's it. So how do we then instill in all of the students that Northstar supports, that CHC supports, that, all of these other schools around the globe that they all support? How do we then instill that you actually have more in you and help them understand how they can tap into those reserves?
Stephanie:Yeah, so important.
Audrey:It is important.
Stephanie:And how fun it is when you watch students doing that with students. Yeah, just like back to the running team. Yeah, yeah.
Audrey:Because we inspire one another.
Stephanie:And I think one thing I've been telling myself because I find myself too sedentary, not moving enough, not doing exercise enough. You know, sometimes you get so busy and I do have to be in front of the computer a lot. But I think about the physics an object in motion stays in motion. Object at rest is going to stay at rest. I'm like, ok, if I've been at rest a long time, how do I get myself moving? Because once I get moving, you know that energy builds and then you're able to keep moving and keep doing stuff. You know whether I'm going on a walk and then I'm able to come back. Okay, clean the kitchen now or cook dinner, you know. And so I think we can help each other do that too, cause I feel sometimes stuck. Well, it's just easier to sit here, or it's just easier not to go do the exercise or not, you know, and I don't know. Do you see how that's a good picture of a team and just really helping each other stay in motion? Any advice on that?
Audrey:Sure, and it's interesting. I read a quote the other day. It said something about like, the days that you don't want to go run or you don't want to do something are usually the days that you need it the most. Yeah, now do I always take that advice? No, there's days when we get busy, right.
Audrey:I think being part of the team, too is we're all going to have our bad days. We're all going to have our days where we don't feel like doing it, where we don't want to do it, where there's other things that potentially could be weighing on us. Maybe it's things at school and there's just like huge projects coming up, things like that. Maybe in the corporate setting, it just feels overwhelming because you feel like you're an expert in everything and everyone's coming to you and yet you're not able to really move forward with your own even professional development that you want to do.
Audrey:Sometimes I think that's the role of the coach. I look at even teachers as coaches. I don't know if they all look at each other that way, but they are, and I just love all the teachers around the planet that are really embracing the fact that these are all amazing human beings, that you have the opportunity that you are given the opportunity to pour into your knowledge and it extends beyond what's in that textbook or are there even textbooks anymore? They're really all online but even more into like those life lessons and things that you can do. And so one of the things as a team, when the thing that I think is one of the most powerful moments in a lacrosse game or in any kind of a game is that when a player gets hurt, everyone on that team and everyone on the other team kneels down and they pause and they wait until that kid gets back up I get emotional when I see these things, because I can actually just picture it on the field and the support that's in place for that team member from that moment forward.
Audrey:if they can't be there for the rest of the game, or even if they can't come back for a couple of weeks, that support's there for them. And what the cooler even the cooler part is that team member that was hurt, that might not even be able to play. We have a few of them this year. They've come to every practice. They've come to every game, Everything that that team does. They come even though they can't participate in the way they want to. What a powerful team dynamic Can you imagine if we could, just you know, have this type of message, like everywhere, that you're part of a team, that, even if at that point in time, you can't contribute in the way that you are typically used to, you're not the one that's, you know, defending the goal.
Audrey:You're not the one that's, you know, the top person in one of those relays. The top person in one of those relays you're not. You know you're not able to be the one that's driving that project forward. In an organization you might have, there's another place for you and being able to find what that place is and help the rest of the team navigate through that specific situation, I think is actually another form of growth of that player, that person.
Stephanie:Yeah, and you might find it's more powerful to be that voice and that, you know, because if you're hurt and you can't defend the goal, but you could be that voice on the bench. That's encouraging and empowering and, yeah, can be just as exciting or more, so that's incredible. Thank you so much for all that you've shared with us today, that you've learned in your experiences and just excited for the good work you're doing and the fun things coming for you and Blake with the book. And do you want to tell people that want to find out more about how to get in touch with you and some things that you offer where they can find that?
Audrey:Sure. So we started Thoughtful Agile, I think like 2018, and we really expanded it to. I think there's three areas in people that are working in an organization profit, nonprofit, whatever it is. It could education, corporate, whatever, education, corporate, whatever. So, focusing on the employee experiences, the student experiences or their learner experiences and your customer experiences, and like connecting all three, that's what we focus on at Thoughtful Agile, so I would love to connect with anybody. I'm LinkedIn all the time, like I love LinkedIn. I learn so much like every day. I feel like that's my extra fun time when I need a break from whatever it is that I'm like I love LinkedIn. I learn so much like every day I feel like that's my uh, that's my extra fun time when I need a break from whatever it is that I'm doing from from work. So, yeah, I would love to connect with anyone who's interested in any of these areas, or even just to talk about running Cause we could probably talk about that all day.
Stephanie:Yeah, that's good. Um, okay. One last thing for the entrepreneurship program, the foundations class it's starting up for Northstar. Would you recommend parents get their students involved in this course and, hopefully, the bigger program that will be forming, and why, if so?
Audrey:Yes, absolutely, because the tie-ins that you're going to find in this program to what you probably do in some way shape or form working with teams and working with organizations like whether they're local or national or what have you really great lessons, like I remember when Blake was listening to some of the podcasts from some of the CEOs and I was like I want to know, I want to know, I want to hear, because all of these what it really boils down to. You can say we can bucket things into leadership lessons or into I don't like the word soft skills. I like to say human skills. You know some of these other. You can bucket them into all of these different areas, but at the end of the day, this is about us as humans and how we can interact together and how we can learn and grow together.
Audrey:And if they want to be an entrepreneur, awesome Like this is setting them up for success. To think about what unique gifts do I have that I could then rely on, to think about what my business could be, what would my offer be, and so that's my guidance. A lot of times when students come to me and say that you know I want to do this, or like why did you start your business and what made you decide what your business was about? And getting crisp on what your offer is what you truly enjoy doing, and my number one piece of advice for them is just enjoy it, learn from it, really enjoy the community that you've built around this and move forward. But yeah, I love it. I'm a huge proponent for it. Anyone wants to talk directly about this. I would love to Another one of those topics.
Stephanie:Hey, awesome, it was so good just to meet with you today and then to meet you at the conference to learn more, and so I'm so excited to see, yeah, where God's going to continue to take you and Blake, your family and Cincinnati Hills and NorthStar, and just as we continue all to lean into community and inspiring one another and, yeah, god's purpose for our lives. So thank you so much for sharing today.
Audrey:Absolutely. It was great to be with you, Stephanie. Thank you again.
Stephanie:Thank you so much for listening today. If you have any questions for our guest or would like information about Northstar, please email us. At podcast at nsaschool, we love having guests on our show and getting to hear their stories. If you have anyone in mind that you think would be a great guest to feature, please email us and let us know. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on upcoming stories.