IAM1856 – Founder Helps Teach Women Leadership Skills to Enable Positive Change

Why it was selected for “CBNation Architects”:

• CEO Story: Lynn, who has served in various executive leadership roles throughout her career, leverages her extensive experiences and successes to foster positive change for women.
• Business Service: Petite2Queen is a platform known for guiding women to tap into their intrinsic strength, making its services pivotal in the personal development of women professionals and leaders worldwide.
• CEO Hack: Lynn is a staunch believer in affirmations and their power to stimulate positive outlook and change.
• CEO Nugget: Being open to different approaches and perspectives is essential, as per Lynn. She encourages pursuing an active approach to gaining a variety of viewpoints.
• CEO Defined: For Lynn, being a CEO means being a thought leader, change agent, and peacemaker.

Transcription:

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Lynn Whitbeck Teaser 00:00

It's really about focusing on those leadership and power skills that are universal and can be applied in any industry in any career. They're designed to minimize the learning curve to get quick wins that you can apply.

Right now, today, that is the most important thing about learning.

Intro 00:21

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:48

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, or what I like to call the CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focused on leadership, management and coaching. When we think of leadership, management and coachig, we often think of doing all of the other things, but often it's a person that's able to build up their team, that's able to cultivate a creative and innovative culture so that people can excel and actually be their own leaders. So that's why this month we're focusing on those three big topics because they make a huge impact on the organizations that we're a part of.

Now you'll hear some of those topics this month, of course, some really great perspectives on how people are even defining leadership, which I think is extremely exciting. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Lynn Whitbeck of Petite2Queen.

Lynn, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Lynn Whitbeck 02:08

Hey, Gresh. I'm really excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 02:11

No problem, I'm super excited to have you on. What I want to do is just read a little bit more about Lynn so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Lynn is the founder and CEO of Petite2Queen. She helps the world by teaching women leadership skills to live richer and fuller lives. Lynn is the co-author of the highly regarded book, Practical Wisdoms @ Work. Building on her successes and experience in executive leadership roles, Lynn shares the lessons learned along her journey, enabling positive change for women.

Lynn, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Lynn Whitbeck 02:43

You bet. Let's get to it.

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Gresham Harkless 02:44

Let's do it. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about your background and what I call your CEO story and what led you to start the business.

Lynn Whitbeck 02:52

Yeah, I know. You'd asked me previously, like why I started Petite2Queen and how I got down this road and there is a story behind that. So I was at a crossroads in my life. My husband had terminal cancer and that was horrible, but it gave me a gift and that was the ability to look at things through a new lens and it was the ability to reframe and to look at where I was going and where I wanted to go.

So, when I put that in context at the same time, my nieces and my daughter, we're all in that college phase and would be entering the workforce some imminently. So, that was part of that context. Then, when I look internally and about who I am at my core, it's my internal driver is about being of service and whether it was in my corporate executive roles or in the C suite, it was startups. That's where I really live. It's my passion. So it just with that circumstance in that frame, it all came together. That's why I found a Petite2Queen.

Gresham Harkless 04:09

I'm definitely obviously sorry to hear that. You know what happened with your husband? I know that could be definitely something difficult, but I also think, sometimes things happen for reasons. And like you mentioned, the good that came out of it was that you were able to reset and it makes you cherish life, cherish loved ones around you even more and make you do something.

Sometimes it helps you to recharge and relook at things from a purpose field perspective than sometimes just going along day to day.

Lynn Whitbeck 04:37

Absolutely. Some tragedies are not meant to be understood. But you can you absolutely use all that precious time. So it was filled with great memories. So you're absolutely right. Let's keep moving forward.

Gresham Harkless 04:53

Exactly. That's all you can do. Everything keeps moving forward, whether we wanted to or not sometimes. But I know you mentioned that pushed you into starting Petite2Queen. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and what you're doing for the people that you're working with?

Lynn Whitbeck 05:06

Yeah. And you hit on that, but Petite2Queen helps the world by providing women with programs and tools to achieve more faster. It's virtual mentoring. We deliver it through to broaden your career skills, build those power skills, transform your habits and emerge a leader.

We're an equal opportunity. All of our audience is actually 25 percent men. The content is universal regardless of your gender identity. So come on in.

Gresham Harkless 05:38

Exactly. Exactly. So is it's all web-based where people can go online and do that? Or do you have to be at a specific location? How does that work?

Lynn Whitbeck 05:46

Everything is yes, Virtual. It's all web-based content. So podcasts, like we have podcasts like you have. In fact, I'm super excited about your being on our podcast. So we have webinars and webinars are actually great tools for business leaders and entrepreneurs to review them, find content that they feel would be useful to push their team forward, have their team review it, come together in a sales meeting, and then talk about it. And then how they can apply that right there today to their own organization.

So it gives them great tools to access. There's just a wealth of materials and when you join our community, we also provide insider bonuses, and I'm gonna share those with your audience.

Gresham Harkless 06:29

Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about that. It always helps to be able to exactly tap into mentors or tap into people that have specific skills or expertise that you're able to tap into so that you can be a better you.

Lynn Whitbeck 06:43

Absolutely. Every day is a journey for personal and professional development.

Gresham Harkless 06:48

Absolutely. So what would you consider to be like your secret sauce or that kind of sets you apart and makes you unique or it could be for your organization too?

Lynn Whitbeck 06:58

I'm going to talk about Petite2Queen and it's because there's a gap in traditional education and on-the-job training. When we think about how women specifically are socialized, we're taught to be quiet, to be polite, and to sit in the back seat. So, we have skills that we need to learn and Petite2Queen does that. We empower women to try new things, to take on more responsibility to achieve greater success in their lives. It's really about focusing on those leadership and power skills that are universal and can be applied in any industry in any career.

They're designed to minimize the learning curve. To get quick wins that you can apply right now today. That is the most important thing about learning is taking something, even what they hear from today and applying it and incremental steps. You're not going to transform overnight, but every day you can make a better you. So it's about pushing forward. It just gets me really excited about that. So why reinvent the wheel? Why should women have to go through this learning curve every time? So let's cut to the chase and make it easy.

Gresham Harkless 08:17

Exactly. I appreciate you for creating that easy button, so to speak. To be able to make it a lot easier for women and, even men to be able to do that because I think a lot of times there's, especially I've read and I don't even know what the statistics are. But I just know that especially with younger generations, we're starting to move to different professions at a higher rate than previous generations.

I'm sure it goes, on back, that it's more kind of volatility or turnover or change. Maybe it might be a better word, but to be able to learn and happen to those specific skills that regardless if you're in this position, you could still use it in another position because that's like what's happening, with society. I think that's huge.

Lynn Whitbeck 08:56

Yeah, absolutely. And those power skills truly can be applied in any industry, any career, any position. So that's so important.

Gresham Harkless 09:08

I definitely would agree with that. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. That can be an app, book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Lynn Whitbeck 09:21

Okay. Yeah, for me it's affirmations. So, Gresh, I don't know if you know this but 70 percent of our spontaneous thoughts are negative. And when you think about it, it's because our brains haven't evolved for 40, 000 years so we're still in this survival mode, and so we're hardwired and in it. When you get into this negativity, it drags you down, drags your team down and it drives down your aspirations into this dark shadow and I'm not talking about the latest reboot shadows. Okay. So affirmations give you quick wins. They're easy, they're fast and they are super powerful. So you pick whatever it is, the topic, the item that's weighing you down, or you want to change and you write it out in a simple sentence about putting that in a different framework. Then every morning you get up and you say it out loud. That's really purposeful, like you're starting your day that yes, I can. So it's really important.

I'm going to share an example because here we are we're doing this video interview right now. I was struggling with video because we've been getting more and more into video in the last, I don't know, four or five months. It doesn't matter if I was trying to, I couldn't remember, memorize a script or what I was going to say, or if I was ad-libbing on a Facebook live and I had this negative thought that you know what? I can't do this. I'm not an actress. And I went, wait a minute, I can do anything. So I'm going to write this out as an affirmation. I wanted to write, I don't have it anymore. I went to write it beforehand, but mine was, I can learn to speak with assurance in front of a camera and acquire this skill with preparation, practice, and confidence.

I'm not gonna say that I'm great at this, but you know what? I get better every time and I'm way more comfortable doing this now. That was the power of an affirmation. And, for me, affirmations, are so strong. They work in a few days. I can reframe and reform a habit of my way of thinking. I can banish that negative thought because I just said, I own this. So there are a lot of great apps out there for affirmations. We actually do provide a bonus, an insider bonus as a member of our weekly wisdom audience and you'll get that. It's also about positive thinking and how powerful that is.

Gresham Harkless 12:13

No, I absolutely love that. I think affirmations are everything. One of the reasons it's I AM CEO is because I am are the two most powerful words. When you put them together they pretty much direct your future and your destiny. So you have to be careful about what you're doing. I love the fact that you touched on about the 70 percent piece. I think that a lot of times we beat ourselves up even more about having negative thoughts. Oh man, I keep thinking negative. I'm so whatever and you get further down in that rabbit hole, but understanding that's quote and quote normal.

But just like any muscle or anything that you do, you could exercise it and work on it on a daily basis, have those small wins and it starts to create that momentum towards where exactly you want to go. So I appreciate that.

Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Lynn Whitbeck 13:02

Oh, wow. I do have a thought on that. And it's about the ability to change. So if I was going to say anything to everyone out there is actively seek different approaches and perspectives.

Gresham Harkless 13:18

I would definitely echo that as well. I think sometimes you get into that mindset where you become a little bit more of a victim and you don't believe that you can actively make a change in your life. You can basically say an affirmation and that starts that energy towards the actions that end up changing whatever you want to change.

I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show.

So Lynn, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Lynn Whitbeck 13:46

Gresh, it means being a thought leader, a change agent, and a peacemaker, I really believe it's about embracing a culture and an environment that's inclusive, that gives everyone the ability to grow and to move forward in their lives.

That's what being a true leader is all about.

Gresham Harkless 14:08

I appreciate that, because that's right in the line with everything that you're doing. I imagine people that are on your team as well too embrace and understand those small wins so they create that energy and propel themselves into making those changes and making that impact that you've been able to have as well on so many people.

Lynn Whitbeck 14:22

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 14:23

You're welcome. You're welcome. I definitely appreciate your time. Appreciate you for taking some time out with us. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And then, of course, how best we can get ahold of you.

Lynn Whitbeck 14:38

The only thing I'm going to say is I am so excited about Gresham Lynn part two when you're a guest on our podcast and I'm really looking forward to that. This has been a great conversation. I really appreciate you having me on the show and everything you're doing Gresh. It's so inspirational.

Gresham Harkless 14:55

Thank you. I appreciate you and I know you're doing loads and loads of information and content for people as well, too. I think you might have had an offer as well for people.

Lynn Whitbeck 15:04

Yeah, absolutely. So, we do and I don't know how you want to provide that, but we have, my book, if you'd like to get access to my book for free we can provide that link to Gresh so that you can go and get it. It's a real quick read a great resource and it's got 5-star reviews, which is great.

Gresham Harkless 15:25

I appreciate you for providing that book and doing the podcast and all the information that's helping out people. If people want to follow up with you, what's the best way for them to do that, Lynn?

Lynn Whitbeck 15:34

They can find me on petite2queen.com. If you go to our team, all my links are there for my LinkedIn, for my Facebook, my Twitter channels.

If you send us a message through there, you can also ask us questions directly. I choose a question every week to answer. So I have a really fun one I'm doing this next week is about, My boss is wrong. What do I do? You know how to manage up right?

Gresham Harkless 16:02

Nice. Again, I appreciate you so much Lynn, we will have those links as well as I mentioned in the show notes so that anybody can follow up with you, see all the awesome things that you're doing. I appreciate your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Lynn Whitbeck 16:15

And you take care.

Outro 16:17

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, subscribe and leave us at five-star rating.

Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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