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I've been in roles as a COO

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where they're like, oh, but you don't know how to be a

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you're not a data analyst.

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I don't need to be a data analyst.

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it's about the people. It's about how you make them feel.

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And will they follow that? Will they believe in that? 

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How do you make them feel about the safety of

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of failing or the safety of bringing up ideas

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that may not be super popular? Like,

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I feel that I've created that environment,

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that I continue to work on that environment

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and I want everybody

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else to do the same, because that's the key.

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The solution doesn't lie with me.

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Right, I lead an organization.

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The solution lies in every developer, every marketer,

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every customer success -

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they have ideas. You just have to find a place for them

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to to lay them out.

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My name is Stephanie Johnson I'm the CEO of Acklen 

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Avenue.

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I've been a COO for a while, and so to me I'm

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in the back of the leader

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I'm supporting the leader from behind the scenes.

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And that's where I was and I was okay with that, because

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I love being a COO because they know everything.

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They can see things ahead of time, that foresight

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that like being able to put things together

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ahead of most people, right.

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To keep us from getting into a bad spot.

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But Nashville is welcoming, it's a welcoming place and

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since I become CEO a year ago,

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yesterday actually, a year ago yesterday

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I was appointed CEO.

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It's really even opened up even more for me, and people have been welcoming.

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Because it's a different role, CEO

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is doing different things than a COO, but I would advise

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that most CEOs need to be COOs first.

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We're here to talk about technology and innovation, and

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what we end up talking about is people stuff,

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It's always people. People stuff right. Yes. So

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what is maybe the, what's one of the biggest

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lessons you've learned recently?

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We talked about this a lot. 

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You have to provide

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clarity to your team, from the top down.

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And once you can do that, once they can understand

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where you're coming from and the vision, and like

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you know just clarity.

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Like I think one thing that I left out of here with an

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idea of what I wanted to do, and I was so gung ho

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about it. I was like let's like, I wanted a meeting

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the next day, I was like let's talk about this I am so

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excited.

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When I got back to the office to tell my SLT though,

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they were looking at me like I was completely

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mad and crazy. I didn't have.

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You just got back from a Tony Robbins seminar. Yes.

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Now you're

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crazy. I'm I'm hyped. When's this gonna wear off.

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So I mean, but it wasn't their fault it was mine.

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And it's like I had to provide clarity of what I was

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thinking of, and they would help me with the rest.

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But as long as I made them feel comfortable,

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and you always, there's a psychological part to rolling out anything

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and especially now with AI,

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right. There's a lot of psychological things,

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you have to make people feel comfortable that we're not replacing

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you. Like they have to be part of the solution,

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they have to be part of

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us getting here. And my whole entire team

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is part of the reason why we are prepared today.

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Wow mic drop.

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That would be the end of a normal session, but

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for this this isn't normal at all this is so exciting.

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You have the ability to communicate

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an excitement and I just keep

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I keep listening to your voice, and

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hearing the spirit that's in there

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and I wanna follow you too. So where do

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where do people find you, and follow you? Yes.

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LinkedIn, I'm on LinkedIn like everybody else, 

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that's probably the main

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main place. I don't have any secret websites, or

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social media accounts.

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But like LinkedIn, I'm on LinkedIn

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you can reach me anytime.

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And the thing is like you cannot,

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it's authenticity for me,

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this is what you get every day.

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I've been to people's homes met their husbands or wives

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and I think they're all like is she like this all the time?

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I'm pretty much like this all the time, sometimes

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it may not be just as cheery

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depending on what's going on. But you can't, I'm very

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if you feel it, it's because I feel it.

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And so that's what I want, is like I'm telling you this is I'm very

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excited about it. And anything that I, any initiative

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that we come out with I

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I bring that when I'm when. Because I really truly

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feel something about it and I want

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people to do the same thing if they feel

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strongly about something. You'll know,

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you'll know, because you can listen to their voice

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and they, and how they present the idea and

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all of those things so, thank you.

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It's true, it's a true feeling.

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I've listened to podcasts and I've heard a

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statement that kind of falls

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under the category of AI is going to allow us

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to do more human things.

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That always sounded a little silly to me and I don't know that I fully

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understood what that meant.

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You made me feel that in the way that you answered

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that question, I think I'm getting a better

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inclination of what that actually means.

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Some of it's very much people

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stuff, but I think that was the

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the first, that was an aha

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moment I just had with you. Well that's amazing,

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it's all about people, I think that's where,

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you know, I'm a non tech I'm considered a non technical

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CEO.

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Whatever that means, I kind of I don't like the phrase

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non technical CEO.

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But I have been in roles as a COO,

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where they're like, oh but you don't know how to be a,

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you're not a data analyst.

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I don't need to be a data analyst. It's about the people,

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it's about how you make them feel.

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And will they follow that. Will they believe in that 

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How do you make them feel about

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the safety of

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of failing or the safety of bringing up ideas,

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that may not be super popular. Like we create.

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I feel

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that I've created that environment

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that I continue to work on that environment

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and I want everybody

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else to do the same because that's the key.

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The the solution doesn't lie with me,

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right. I lead an organization.

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The solution lies in every developer, every marketer,

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every customer success.

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They have ideas, you just have to find a place for them.

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To lay them out, and talk about it. Express it.

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Yes, and some of those are gonna be great, and some of those are gonna fail,

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but that's okay too.

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Well there might be incremental movements

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towards a massive success, I hope so. Congratulations,

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thank you for coming today.

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Thank you guys for having me, thank you.