IAM350 – Executive Coach Empowers Professionals to end Overwhelm and Thrive at Work

Rachael is a transformation leadership and executive coach who empowers professionals to learn how to end overwhelm and thrive at work. For the past decade, Rachael's experience in sales and client services at Google has helped her have a pulse on what it takes to be a successful and thriving leader – meaning steering clear of burnout, staying on mission and feeling GREAT as you do so. Her book Pause was one of the top business books for your career and she's been featured in the NYTimes, WSJ and Harvard Business Review.

One fun thing about Rachael is back in grad school again, getting her MA in Transformational Leadership at the Wright Graduate University in Chicago and currently studying how to live purposefully – a fun subject!

She has a lot of helpful info for CEOs!

• CEO Hack: Upto four breaks in a day to be creative
• CEO Nugget: You don't have a victim, you can choose to be a creator and be you
• CEO Defined: Author of your own life but be conscious and authentic

Website: http://www.rachaelomeara.com/

Free gift – 3 Keys to Turn Overwhelm into Thriving Blueprint: Get it at www.rachaelomeara.com/blueprint

Full Interview

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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 Rachael Meara of Rachael O Meara. Rachael, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Rachael Meara 0:38

Hello, Gresh. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

No problem, super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Rachael so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Rachel is a transformational leadership and executive coach who empowers professionals to learn how to end overwhelm and thrive at work. For the past decade, Rachel's experience in sales and client services at Google has helped her have a pulse on what it takes to be a successful and thriving leader, meaning steering clear of burnout, staying on missions, and feeling great as you do so. Her book Paws was one of the top business books for your career.

And she has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal Harvard Business Review. One fun thing about Rachael is she's back in grad school again, getting her MA and transformational leadership at the right Graduate University in Chicago and currently studying how to live purposefully and a fun subject. She has a lot of helpful information for CEOs. And I'm super excited to hear some of this. Rachael, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Rachael Meara 1:40

Absolutely. I'm very excited to share more. Yes.

Gresham Harkless 1:44

Awesome. Definitely looking forward to it. So I wanted to kick everything off to hear a little bit more about your background. And what led you to get started with your business?

Rachael Meara 1:52

Yeah, so for me, I have been working at Google for over a decade now. I'm actually still there. And a few years ago, I really wasn't doing too super great there. Essentially, I was overwhelmed. I felt burned out. And I asked to take a three-month unpaid leave and fortunately got approved. I know a lot of companies don't offer that only about 14% of global companies offer any kind of leave. And only 4% offer paid leave. So that's an interesting trend, right? So anyway, I was very fortunate I took off those three months and really looked at who I was and what I wanted to do because what I was doing, which was in client services, managing a team, it just really wasn't working for me, I was told I wasn't meeting expectations.

And it wasn't for lack of trying for sure. So what I realized during those three months was I really wasn't aligned with the role that I was in. And so I did go back to Google, I went into a role that was focused and aligned with my strengths, which were things like relationship building, and networking. And that was in sales, which is where I am today. I also started my own company on the side as I began to study social and emotional learning. And this was just something I was doing on the side. But as I got into it, and the years went by a couple of years went by, I decided to attend the first part of their graduate school at right, which is getting a coaching certification. And I was super surprised that I liked it so much, I had no idea I would be a coach, by the way.

So this is a good example of just not knowing where you're gonna go, but you kind of follow a trail of instinct, or, or what you want to do. And I was just in love with it. So I actually started coaching people on the side, I volunteered internally at my company to coach others. And so now I have a group coaching program. And I'm building it out as I go. So that's part of my business. I also am an author and a speaker. So I wrote pause the book that you mentioned, and that was pretty much a labor of love that I did on the sides of my core role. For five years, I wrote that so that wasn't like my other company at the time. But I knew it would become something better or something bigger sooner than later.

Gresham Harkless 4:07

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And it's funny, like a lot of times, and you correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like there's never a time to actually delegate it to do that kind of discovery to understand who you are, what your passions are. And often that changes even if you do it. So I think it's important to have that opportunity to do that. It's great that Google's allowing you to do that and you've been able to start your coaching business and write your book all those things from that.

Rachael Meara 4:33

Yeah, and it's also something that I think we have to take upon ourselves so no one told me to look at myself like this was me just hitting the wall going, it can't keep going like this because I'm miserable. I feel like a failure. I don't like it. And I can't keep going like this I felt like I was in the mental Tailspin like drained every day and exhausted and now looking back, I realized I took that time out because I didn't have the emotional intelligence and the skills that I really needed to, if I didn't know that I was on that path.

And if I had any of that self-awareness that I have now that I've learned since probably would have avoided all of that together, and like six months before that would have changed course. And that's why I coach people on emotional intelligence, because it's basically, to me one of the most important skills of your own self-awareness so that you can really be the driver in your life to know what you want, and when you need stuff. Because, man, if you don't know, then you're going to potentially just go right by it. And next thing, you know is you're hitting that wall.

Gresham Harkless 5:31

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I always say everything happens for a reason. So I feel like, maybe if that didn't happen, you may not be speaking here today about emotional intelligence and business ownership. So I appreciate you for talking about that for being able to focus on that, and also to help many others do it. So, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what you're doing. What is emotional intelligence that people don't know? And what do you feel kind of makes you unique as well?

Rachael Meara 5:59

Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think the thing with that word, it's like a buzzword right now. Ei, emotional intelligence. It's all really a catch-all phrase for being self-aware. So that you can know at the moment what you're doing, how you're feeling, and how others are around you in the environment. But it's also in the present moment. So to me all of that chalks up to how am I doing at this moment, and being aware enough, no matter what's going on outside of me, whether it's a conversation, or a meeting, or a board meeting, or anything, I am aware enough to respond in a way that is aligned with my authentic self. And then I am a better leader, and for that, I feel more resilient and satisfied, moment by moment, and I can direct any way I want to from there.

And that's like the base of emotional intelligence. The actual science has only been around for about 23 years, it came out when there was some research published. And then Daniel Goleman, wrote his book, The emotional intelligence in 1996. So when you think about it, it's really new. We didn't have this back when we were talking about things 30 years ago, and business school and stuff like that. And even now, it's very new, and the research is still coming out. So that's what I think it is. And it starts with your own self-awareness. But then you can regulate your emotions, you can be with others and social in a social context, that's social intelligence, you can have more empathy and feel more motivated.

And all of those are really driven by that potential self-awareness that can be created. And it's a skill by the way, like we're not just born, emotionally intelligent, although some of us might be. But if I can really develop those skills and hone them, like how am I feeling in the moment, expressing myself having a positive outlook, all of those things can gear me up towards really optimizing my own leadership and feeling good every day and satisfied no matter what's going on?

Gresham Harkless 8:03

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's a huge thing. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I always feel like, if you're able to understand yourself, that's usually I don't want to say the highest level of mastery. I feel like that's a quote, but I feel like it could be because if you understand yourself, then that helps out a lot, largely because you understand maybe if you're angry, or maybe if you are feeling burnt out, maybe you get in tuned into those things before you hit those barriers. But if you're not as in tune, or know yourself, and sometimes that's when things happen.

Rachael Meara 8:32

Yeah, I think you're spot on Gresh. And, it's funny because I mentioned I was in grad school, I just wrote a paper on this recently about Wilton mastery, which was Alfred Adler's motivation for why people are driven in life, it's one of his beliefs that it's for you to master and it can be to master yourself, like what other opportunity? What other greater challenge? Could there be in life? Right? And by that, I mean, who are you really, you know, like without the masks without the things that you think can make you happy?

But like, who are you? And that is a really scary question. So I think I think mastering yourself starts with AI starts with knowing how you feel. It's paired with things like maybe being mindful at the moment, meaning I can know what I'm doing. But what the mastery skill there is, like, if I don't know how I'm doing, how can I be in a relationship with someone else, whether it's my peer, or my boss, or my or my, my team, and be in relationship with them so that we have a solid mutual report, and we trust each other. And if I'm not in that mode for myself, chances are it's probably not translating to others either.

Gresham Harkless 9:43

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And so you, you actually coach people on helping them out with understanding that or you help them. Can you tell us a little bit more on like, how exactly, yeah,

Rachael Meara 9:54

Yeah, so I feel like that's one of the things that I help a lot of folks with is just to learn about what's going on in what they are really hungry for. It could be figuring out their next career move, it could be what their next step in business is, like figuring out what they want. And I think a lot of people, including myself, with that point, when I burned out a Google, I didn't know what I wanted, I didn't know who I was, I didn't even bother to look, because it was super scary to have that courage and hold on a second. Like, if I don't figure this out, I don't want to just keep going down this path. And I feel like a lot of people stay on that path because it's easier. Or you may just feel like that's the default, and they gotta go that way.

And who knows, unless you really explore it and be curious, it's hard to know. So what I do is help people learn how to get out of overwhelm, or even take back their life, I would call it like, reclaim their life in a way that is for them. I think a lot of times we're on that treadmill, the hedonic treadmill is my mentor, Bob Wright says we're just spinning our wheels, thinking this is the way that we're supposed to be living. And the reality is, you can step off the treadmill, but you need to be in a place that feels supportive, and that you have the internal intrinsic skills to know. And the belief that you're going to be okay. And so that's what I help people with because that's what I think, I think coaches who are just facilitators for what people already know.

But we can help harness that and bring it out in others, so that you recognize it, if you're in that seat of being the coach EA, and saying, like, oh light bulb moment, yeah, I can do this, or this is what I want. But sometimes it takes facilitation. And that's what I enjoy the most about coaching. And I have a coach as well. I feel like we all need coaches in our lives. And it's actually something that I think is really, really exploding in our world, especially with entrepreneurs and CEOs, because no one can do it by themselves. And it's not about fixing you. It's not about having something someone different than you, but it's about how can you emerge into the person you were meant to become. And that's why I coach others.

Gresham Harkless 12:05

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Rachael Meara 12:16

Yeah, my hack is to do up four mini breaks a day, they don't have to be 15 minutes, they could be five, but make sure you're building in the time and the space to be creative. And this could be on your commute. You could be like singing in the car as your favorite song plays. To me, that's kind of fun, and it's engaging in play. And also, you are feeling creative. So that's my hack.

Gresham Harkless 12:41

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. Because I think that I always have to remind myself, especially I'm sure a lot of people that are driven as well to pause, take a break, or just break up whatever they're doing in order for you to even be better. So sometimes when you do take that break, you do take naps or do whatever all these different things that you can do to break up your regular task mode, I guess you can call it, as you call it, you can definitely be even more effective and efficient.

And then you get to tap into maybe ideas and creative juices that you never even know that you can tap into. Now I 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 be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business?

Rachael Meara 13:26

Oh, I love that. Yeah, like my two cents is you always have a choice. I think I've probably said that about 10 times and our time together. But know you don't have to be a victim. I think for me, I fell into that role a little bit. And I can choose to be a creator instead of a victim, I can choose to be personally responsible. So if I were to jump into that time machine and tell my 20 Something self when I was like being a great achiever and checking off a lot of boxes and being awesome. You can choose to be with yourself, be the being with you to know who you can become, instead of letting the wheels of life dictate that for you.

Gresham Harkless 14:06

Yeah, I definitely appreciate that. And I think it even goes back to what you kind of talked to as far as coaching because I think let me know if I'm completely off, but I feel like a lot of times you know the answer or you know that the quiet voice is telling you to go left instead of going right but a lot of times you ignore it or you don't think that you can actually do it.

But it's great, you know that professionals and people like you are able to tap into that and help people to understand that there is that opportunity. You just got to pay attention to it once and then to just follow it. 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 the show. So Rachael, what does being a CEO means?

Rachael Meara 14:45

Wow, I could go a lot of ways with this, but I think it's being the author of your own life. And that and as a CEO of a company, you are the author of your own life as well as the company but don't forget yourself. Don't forget that you are the author and Nick Creator's view. And you can choose anything you want anytime, but it takes consciousness. It takes support. And it takes being really, in your authenticity, like knowing what you align with. And that's hard work.

Gresham Harkless 14:47

I truly appreciate your time appreciate all the awesome things that you're doing. For anybody that wants to follow up with you. What's the best way for them to do that?

Rachael Meara 15:22

Yeah, so anyone can actually follow up with me on my website, and I have my website's rachaelomeara.com, you can probably just Google pause Rachael and pop up there. And I have a podcast as well called the Pausecast. And it's every speaker, I invite guests who are transformational leaders or people who I think are having changes in the world that we all need to know a little more about. And you can get a free gift on my site called three keys to turn burnout into thriving, and it's a blueprint, you can download it and start reading about how to avoid burnout. That's a Rachelomeara.com.

Gresham Harkless 16:01

Awesome, awesome, awesome. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes as well so that everybody can subscribe to your podcast to find out all the awesome things you're doing. But thank you so much again, for the work that you're doing and for sharing your story with us. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Rachael Meara 16:14

Thank you so much. It was an honor to be here. Thank you.

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 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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