IAM364- Founder Helps Teach Women Leadership Skills to Enable Positive Change

Lynn Whitbeck is the Founder and CEO of Petite2Queen, and 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 experiences in executive leadership roles, Lynn shares the lessons learned along her journey enabling positive change for women.

• CEO Hack: Affirmations
• CEO Nugget: Actively seek different approaches and perspectives
• CEO Defined: Being a thought leader, change agent and peacemaker

Website: https://petite2queen.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/petite2queen/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/petite2queen/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/petite2queen/
Book: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/tu2x9p5gvf

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/petite2queen/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/petite2queen/
YouTube: http://p2q.link/youtube
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/user/petite2queen
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/petite2queen

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

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 0:29

Hello, hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Lynn Whitbeck of Petite2Queen. Lynn, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Lynn Whitbeck 0:39

Hey Gresh I'm really excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem, I'm super excited to have you on, and 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 Whitbeck is the Founder and CEO of Petite2Queen, and 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 experiences 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?

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Lynn Whitbeck 1:15

You bet. Let's get to it.

Gresham Harkless 1:17

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

Lynn Whitbeck 1:24

Yeah, I know, you'd asked me previously, like why I started to teach the queen and sort of 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. I mean, 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 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, were all in that college phase, and we'd be entering the workforce some imminently. So that was part of that context. And 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, and it's my passion. So it just with that circumstance, in that frame, it all came together. And that's why I found it Petite 2 Queen.

Gresham Harkless 2:48

Well, I'm definitely obviously sorry to hear what happened with your husband. I know that can 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 your 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, and sometimes just going along day to day.

Lynn Whitbeck 3:17

Absolutely. I mean, some tragedies are not meant to be understood. We used all that precious time. So it was filled with great memories. So you're absolutely right. Let's keep moving forward.

Gresham Harkless 3:38

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 Petite 2 Queen, can you tell us a little bit more about that? And you know what you're doing for the people that work?

Lynn Whitbeck 3:51

Yeah, and you hit on that. But Petite 2 Queen helps the world by providing women with programs and tools to achieve 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. And we're an equal opportunity, all of our audience is actually 25% men and the content is universal, regardless of your gender identity. So come on in.

Gresham Harkless 4:25

Exactly, exactly. And so is it. 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 4:33

Everything is virtual. It's all web-based content. So we have podcasts like you haven't been back but 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 how they can apply that to their own organization. So it gives them a great tool to access. And so there's just a wealth of materials. And when you join our community, we also provide insider bonuses, and I'm going to share those with your audience.

Gresham Harkless 5:17

Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about that. And all the awesome things that you've been able to build because I think when we're going through this, I think I could call it a maze called life where you don't know which way you're going, it always helps to be able to see exactly what's happened to mentors or tap into people that have you noticed specific skills or expertise is that you're able to tap into so that you can be better.

Lynn Whitbeck 5:43

Absolutely, every day is a journey for personal and professional development.

Gresham Harkless 5:48

Absolutely, absolutely. So what would you consider to be like your secret sauce or things that set you apart and make you unique or can be for your organization too?

Lynn Whitbeck 5:59

I'm going to talk about Petite 2 Queen. And it's because there's a gap in traditional education and on-the-job training. And when we think about how women specifically are socialized. I was taught to be quiet, to be polite, and to sit in the backseat. So we have skills that we need to learn and teach Queen Deus, that we empower women to try new things, to take on more responsibility to achieve greater success in their lives. And it's really about focusing on those leadership and power skills that are universal and can be applied in any industry in any career.

And 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 and taking something even what they hear from today, and applying it in incremental steps, you're not going to transform overnight, right? But every day, you can make a better you. So it's about pushing forward. So 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 7:25

Exactly, exactly. I appreciate you for creating that easy button, so to speak, to be able to hear 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 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 might be a better word, but to be able to learn and tap into those specific skills that regardless, if you're in this position, you can still use it in another position. Because that's what's happening with society, I think that's huge.

Lynn Whitbeck 8:08

Yeah, absolutely. And those power skills are true, they can be applied in any industry, any career. Any position. So nice. And that's so important.

Gresham Harkless 8:20

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

Lynn Whitbeck 8:34

Okay, for me, it's affirmations. So Gresh. I mean, I don't know but 70% of our spontaneous thoughts are negative. And when you think about it, it's because our brains haven't evolved for like, 40,000 years. And so we're still in this survival fight and so we're hardwired. And 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. And 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. And a simple sentence about putting that in a different framework. And then every morning, you get up and you say it out loud. I mean, that's really purposeful. Like you're starting your day yes, I can write.

So it's really important and I am 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 four or five months. And it doesn't matter if I'm trying to, I couldn't remember or 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 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. And 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 I get better every time.

And I'm way more comfortable doing this now. And 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. And I can banish that negative thought, because I just said, I own this. And so there are a lot of great apps out there for affirmations. And we actually do provide a bonus when you 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 11:36

I absolutely love that. And I think affirmations are everything. One of the reasons I am CEO is because I am, the two most powerful words, when you put the words when you put them together, they pretty much direct your future, your destiny, so you have to be careful about what you're doing. And I love the fact that you touched on too about the 70% piece, I think that a lot of times we beat ourselves up even more about having negative thoughts, like Oh, man, I keep thinking negative, I'm so whatever. And you get further down that rabbit hole. But understanding that's quote-unquote, normal. But just like any muscle or anything that you do, you can 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 wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And 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 12:28

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

Gresham Harkless 12:44

I would definitely echo that as well, I love it because they both are aligned, the actual hack with the nugget, especially because you do have the power to make a change. And 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. And that can be from a multitude of different reasons, whether it be your business, or you're trying to figure out a different avenue or its finances or whatever, you can basically say an affirmation, and that starts that energy towards the actions that end up changing whatever you want to change. Now, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So Lynn, what does being a CEO means you

Lynn Whitbeck 13:29

Gresh, CEO 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 13:51

And I appreciate that. Because that's right in line with everything that you're doing and the small wins, that you're helping out. The people that are going to your site are also I imagine people that are on your team as well to 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 14:10

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 14:11

You're welcome. You're welcome. Well, I definitely appreciate your time. Appreciate you for taking some time out with us.

Lynn Whitbeck 14:17

Yeah, no problem.

Gresham Harkless 14:18

And 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 out of it.

Lynn Whitbeck 14:26

The only thing I'm going to say is I am so excited about Gresh Unland 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 your having me on the show, and everything you're doing Gresh is so inspirational.

Gresham Harkless 14:43
Thank you. I appreciate you. And I know you're doing loads and loads of information and content for people as well too. And I think you might have had an offer as well for people.

Lynn Whitbeck 14:52

Yeah, absolutely. So we do and I don't know how you want to provide that but we have my book combined, 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 really quick read and a great resource. And it's got five-star reviews, which is great.

Gresham Harkless 15:18

I appreciate you for providing that book and 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 15:27

They can find me on the petite2queen.com. If you go to our team, all my links are there for my LinkedIn, Facebook, and 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 and so I have really fun when I'm doing this next week is about Yo My Boss is Wrong. What do I do? Yeah, know how to manage up right.

Gresham Harkless 15:57

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

Outro 16:11

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 a 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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