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You are a business owner who wants to prioritize people and planet over profits (without sacrificing success). That can feel lonely—but you are not alone! Join host Becky Mollenkamp for in-depth conversations with experts and other founders about how to build a more equitable world through entrepreneurship. It’s time to change the business landscape for good!
Becky Mollenkamp (00:01.026)
Hi Faith, how are you?
Faith Clarke (00:02.599)
Good morning. I am I'm good. I was telling you that I am recovering from my bout of ear crystal vertigo, which is not fun, but
Becky Mollenkamp (00:11.822)
I and I'm dealing with some cramps, which is also not fun. So this is us showing up real because we do want to get this episode out on time and honoring that we're not 100 % so we're letting you in on that listeners and giving ourselves permission to only record one of the two episodes we had planned today. that is, think, in a way, what some of these things we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks. Like that's a bit of what it looks like.
Cause today we were gonna talk about, we've been telling you all these pieces of the framework, individually kind of what they look like integrated, but what does it mean when you go through this whole process and integrate it into your business? What feels different? What looks different? What changes? And maybe just try to give you some real world examples and just some thoughts about that like integration process. And also just a little note about how you can get help in doing all of that. But I think kicking it off, just saying like, you sometimes you're not feeling a hundred percent.
not able to give 100 % and allowing yourself to say, where's the urgency? Why do I have to do this? What does it have to look different? And I feel like we're modeling that a little bit for ourselves today.
Faith Clarke (01:22.601)
Yeah. I mean, I think that there is no day that I feel like I can give a hundred percent, but we have been schooled to feel like we should pretend that that's case, know, fake it till you make it. I wonder, isn't it really great, generative, authentic business to give ourselves this permission every day and therefore to give the people that we are with every day, you know, just our clients, our team members. Cause this is just real life, you know, most of life is this not 100%.
Becky Mollenkamp (01:49.932)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (01:53.25)
Well, and I think the being transparent, upfront, vulnerable, whatever word you want to use with, in this case, our community is the listeners. And I know part of this shift in the way you're approaching business when you integrate this framework is the invitation to invite others into the vision. And I think it's often easy for us to do that when we're inviting them into the like what we what culture typically perceives as the positive parts of that.
But I think it can be difficult to invite people in on the parts that feel still challenging for us because they are not what we've typically been told are okay, such as reducing our capacity, not feeling 100%, giving ourselves more space for rest, those kinds of things. Often it's harder to invite people in. And so I think the fact that we're saying upfront, we're each having these physical issues and being honest with each other first, and then also like inviting the listener into that instead of just sort of, you
pretending it's not happening or skirting past that. That to me feels like a little bit of what this looks like in practice too is that invitation to say, hey, we're trying to change things. We want you to be a part of that. And that also includes when things are hard and we want you to know about that. We're inviting you into this change perspective in all the ways.
Faith Clarke (03:10.325)
Absolutely. mean, it is self-compassion in action, right? It is, this is a human experience. It's, and can we all just be having human experiences together as we kind of create community and create work and all this stuff together? And I think maybe part of our own, as we go into vision, is just to think about what does that look like on a day to day? Like how...
So I have a rule that I've implemented. Everybody who knows me now knows this. Don't ask Faith, how are you? Because she's not going to answer fine. No, and actually it's a great question because I actually know as part of my own practice, take it as a real question. I take it as an invitation to myself to check in. How am I? And then you get the real answer, whatever it is, ear crystals or whatever.
Becky Mollenkamp (03:41.62)
And yet I always do it at the beginning of all these episodes and as soon as I do I think oops
Faith Clarke (04:00.881)
And that for me is part of my, it's my vision of the world and it is now part of my practice. A daily, regardless of who, and I said, do you really want to know? Cause it's an essay question is now how I respond, regardless of where I am. And people will sometimes just change the question cause they're like, yeah, no, no essay responses today.
Becky Mollenkamp (04:21.442)
Well, that's fair too, right? Because maybe they don't have the capacity for holding space for that, but you're now letting them know, which I think is lovely. Yeah.
Faith Clarke (04:27.849)
Yeah, more than anything else, it's just about the authenticity for me, you know?
Becky Mollenkamp (04:33.986)
Well, because I think part of what we talked about for our vision is this honoring of a person's full humanity. And we can't do that when we're hiding, shielding the rough parts. have to, that really, if we're truly gonna say our vision includes a world where we honor everyone's full humanity, it means we have to give as much space for the rough parts as for the shiny, nice parts, right? And so that I think is part of the vision that we hold.
together and that we're trying to invite others into. And I think that's the stuff that I always see people fighting challenging is it's easy to say that's the vision we want and we want others. But when it comes time to actually show up as leaders, know, that vision and that leadership piece, the way they go together, when we show up as a leader, we often think it somehow it means we are exempt from that or like it's not okay for us. It's okay for them as those.
at the others to show me their rough spots, but I can't show them my rough spots or they won't see me as the leader. And again, part of our vision is eliminating, consolidating, collapsing that hierarchical structure, which means we have to be able, it has to be reciprocal or it's no longer hierarchical, or then it's hierarchical.
Faith Clarke (05:44.549)
Right, absolutely, absolutely.
Becky Mollenkamp (05:46.924)
Yeah. Are there things when you think about like just putting this stuff into practice? Because when you look at each component and we've talked about we each component can like look in practice. But when you think about having really put this all together, is there anything that just comes up for you about how it shifts for your own business or your clients businesses? Like just kind of the overall integration process and what that means for the way things change?
Faith Clarke (06:11.925)
You're asking about at the end of the day how it changes or just how it feels in the day-to-day process.
Becky Mollenkamp (06:17.602)
Yeah, just sort of day to day after you've gone through this whole framework process, what's different? day one you sat down, you did a whole day's worth of like, you've listened to all these episodes, you've written it all out for yourself, you've been thinking about the integration of those individual components. Day two now, where you're showing up fully with this all in place, what feels different? What is different?
Faith Clarke (06:39.679)
I think the first thing that's different is the discomfort. Because the moment you decide to be different, even when you've inked it out in paper and you've thought it through and you've gotten a bunch of support to feel clear, the practice isn't in your body yet. What's in your body is the stuff that you were doing. And so what shows up, I think, almost immediately is this being confronted with, don't know. And the moment you feel that I don't know in your body, then there is a...
Is this the right thing? Did I make the right decision? What do I do? all of that kind of, can get noisy and that kind of questioning. And I like to think about it the same way I think about my 100 decisions to get fit or to drink water. That there's a way that I know I'm not drinking enough water and that the decision to have my 64 ounce container or whatever.
is super uncomfortable. Not only that, but my environment is not suited to the change I want. I have no space to hold my new 64 ounce container. It is inconvenient to swing it while I'm driving. there are, right after the discomfort is the logistics, the tiny logistics that you couldn't have thought about that tends to show up as well. And I think the combination of emotional discomfort and your environment just not being designed for the change.
Everybody kind of think it's easy for people to back up at that point. And so I think, day two is a day to remind yourself why the moment you hit upon the weight, what then it has to be, what's the world am I creating? Why do I want to do this? Why is this worth it? What was I creating before when I was living this thing out? You know, what am I participating in? to just kind of help us settle in to perhaps day 40.
when you find yourself, I at least know how to, even if I'm not super practiced in it. I do know I want to invite people into the authenticity, even though it feels uncomfortable. I do know that I'm gonna give more space to dialogue instead of commanding. I do know that I'm not gonna lean into marketing strategies that take advantage of people. I know.
Faith Clarke (09:04.277)
Consent is a part of the marketing I want to do and I know how to do that even though it's slower, you know, but there's a But it doesn't happen a day too
Becky Mollenkamp (09:15.086)
Well, think that's so important because I think that's the difference between what we see all the time in corporate America, where they go through these exercises. Anybody who's worked in corporate America has probably experienced this. There's all these meetings, you go through all these exercises to like think about corporate culture, to set the values, to do whatever. And then it lives inside a binder or on the website and nothing ever gets integrated because it's like there's this false belief that doing the practice of writing the things out, having the meeting to discuss it, whatever, will now somehow match.
Faith Clarke (09:43.85)
The change.
Becky Mollenkamp (09:44.918)
Yeah, like that's going to create the change that will magically embedded in our cell, your cellular at a cellular level. And we'll just now know it and do it. And there's never any sort of like ongoing communication about it. You know, the work that actually has to happen to make it integrate. And I think that's the mistake we see. But then again, because we're all in these waters, we end up often doing that ourselves as solopreneurs or small business owners. We sort of do a similar thing where it's like, yeah, but
I just assume my employees know the values are on the website. They should know why are these things happening? And it's like, well, that integration process takes more than a singular effort, one exercise, one change. It is a process that again, involves a lot of messing up, getting it wrong, making mistakes, right? That's why in that discomfort part we talked about what does that look like for harm restoration and repair and those kinds of things because
Faith Clarke (10:25.247)
Right.
Becky Mollenkamp (10:39.96)
to actually get this where it becomes you're rewriting the neural synapses that are used to doing things one way, that is not a small process. That is a long process. So what do you think when you think about some of the corporations and companies you work with, the integration process, the getting it from paper, the exercise that you do at the start, the things you do with them on what it looks like to create this new culture, this new way of being, to actually getting to a place where
It's starting to become automated habit. It's just happening. Like I'm assuming there's communication that has to happen and other things like that.
Faith Clarke (11:19.253)
Yeah, I think that like for all of us, we need to choose a practice spot. Like again, back to my water, when am I drinking it? Where am I? Choose a place where you're gonna practice the new skills needed. I encourage people to practice that in meetings because you're already together and this is so, I encourage people to design, redesign their meetings so it includes elements of practice for the culture that you want. And then,
Becky Mollenkamp (11:24.184)
Mm.
Faith Clarke (11:46.997)
take be willing to upend the meeting agenda to practice. And if that means setting having twice as many meetings, let's do it. Because if meetings are the place where you're choosing to practice, because it is like getting the, I call them reps, the repetitions, how many sit ups, how many pull ups do we need to actually have strong muscles, whatever that is, you need that number.
before people are going to be automatically doing anything. And I think not only that, but since culture is caught, when you're redesigning culture, you want to redesign it so thoroughly that when a new person walks into that meeting, they know, oh, this is how we are here. And so that means I choose a practice ground wherever that is. And yes, there's communication, but there's also as the leader, if you even know, we've talked about what should the leader be doing. The leader has ears open.
for all of the places where this thing needs to be practiced and is willing to stop and say, hey, let's do it this way, either to model it or to call somebody in or to redirect or whatever it is. And you're willing to do it every single time until, and then everybody knows, everybody's in on it. No one is feeling blindsided. You're like, we're gonna practice our stuff and we're gonna fall down and it's gonna feel uncomfortable, but we're going to practice this not telling stories.
not saying you are doing this, but actually practicing the I feel and practicing how it feels in my body when you said whatever. And I'm gonna practice speaking that way. And I'm going to be willing to be called in each time that happens. So it is deciding on a practice place in the life cycle of your business and always doing it there.
Becky Mollenkamp (13:36.066)
Yeah, I mean, I've been in communities where there's one community I'm in that I think of where every call starts with reading the community values every time, even though by the 80th time you're like, I know these, it is always there. And it helps us all get into a similar place of like, okay, that's right. This is what we stand for. This is who we are. I've been in other communities where every kind of meeting starts with a grounding exercise, something that brings people into the present moment.
And that feels very aligned with what a vision might look like for a culture of people who are really fully present. So those are just a couple of examples I can think of, of where you're starting to create some of that habit of like, what does it actually look like to take this vision that we've cast and say, how do we turn that into tangible habits, right? That start to get it embedded in our culture. Because you're right, I mean, how many of us have the experience of showing up at a new job?
and going into your first meeting and you're like, they do things differently, right? Or it doesn't have to be a job. mean, my son's Boy Scout meetings or, you know, whatever it is, the baseball meetings I go to for him. It's like every, whether you are intentional or not, there is a practice that's happening and a culture that's being developed out of that. So the goal is to make it more intentional. And I think, like you said, do it so much that it's like, honestly, it seems like it's the kind of thing you just always do. Even once it's become habit, then that's to reinforce the habit.
and for new people coming in.
Faith Clarke (15:04.009)
Right. So for example, curiosity, if the value is curiosity, what's the practice in a meeting? If the meeting is your practice place, right? So, the practices around curiosity are great for short circuiting some of our other practices, which is like assuming. So, in a meeting, being willing to have, is there a phrase that we use to signal our curiosity?
So I tend to say, you know what I'm curious about? And that's, I'm hoping that that's my signal, but it's also a signal to me. You know what I'm curious about? I'm wondering, blah, blah, blah. Or I'll say, you know what I've noticed? Or I'm, and I'll ask those questions to myself, but I'm asking it in the room. I think as a community, whatever the value is, there's always a practice that is relevant to the practice place.
Because a value like curiosity is practiced all across the business. But what I am kind of dialing into is since we've decided the meeting is the practice spot, then there might be one particular version of this practice that's relevant to a meeting. What is that? And how are we doing that? So once we've even set the meeting container up or the community container up with our agreements and our values and our guidelines, then there is a
language that we use to signal, I'm practicing this thing now. I'm practicing that thing now. And then as a leader, when we see something is not being practiced, you know what I felt? I really felt that you were doing so-and-so. If the group is safe enough, feels the container is intact enough, then I can say, hey, know, Becky, can you say that again, but just kind of tap into what you're feeling? We just want to hear, you know, just like, how is this feeling in your body?
Or I might send them a message in the chat. If it's a virtual meeting, say, hey, you you were saying so and so, can we use such, such tool that we said we were going to use? And that feels all kinds of uncomfortable, but let's do it. And we'll do it until the interruption. It is essential to interrupt our old practices for the new one until the interruption feels natural, until we are like, yeah, that's what, this is just what we do. We catch ourselves slumping.
Faith Clarke (17:28.637)
We catch ourselves not drinking enough water. We catch ourselves judging. We catch ourselves assuming.
Becky Mollenkamp (17:35.138)
Well, doing it in practice with others, I have found for me anyway, when I do it in a space where there are others and I can sort of have my meeting agenda and incorporate it in there so I don't forget it, it becomes part of that habit, what I find is when I'm alone, then it becomes something I start to do for myself. It's harder for me to do it the other way.
to get it where I am now doing it so well for myself that I bring it into other spaces. That can happen, but often for me it helps to do it in the other space. And then it starts to become this habit that even as a solopreneur I'm doing. So thinking about where the communities you can do that, I think it's great.
Faith Clarke (18:09.503)
because we need agreement too, right? And the reason it's hard to switch from individual to communal is because it involves other people and their own agreement and their own meaning making. And so back to how we're designing at the beginning, that place where we're sharing and inviting people into the vision, that's where we kind of get, are you all in on this? Do we agree that this is what we're creating? And then it's easier to, yeah, to call people on what they've already said they want.
Becky Mollenkamp (18:35.308)
Yeah, and you mentioned the discomfort because I've experienced that. And as a leader, it can be exceptionally hard because there does feel like there is more of an onus on you. Of course, it's everyone in the community should be getting to a place where we're calling each other in and reminding each other of our shared values and agreements. And yet often the person who's holding the space, it is more, a little more incumbent on them until it becomes more habitualized. And it can be very challenging.
were the first few times that you have to remind someone of what our expectations are because that is not what we've now agreed to. And that can be hard when you're somebody who maybe struggles with confrontation or just don't, you you want harmony and it's hard when people are, when you're having to call someone in and find a way to do that that feels loving but still also very clear and firm. And because you know that it can bring up in the other person embarrassment or shame or guilt.
and it can be hard or in defensiveness, right? Often when they feel the guilt or the shame or the embarrassment, they may react with defensiveness or, know, challenging you or anger or a million other ways they can show up. And that can feel really hard. Again, like you said, once you do it enough, then people start to understand, this is just how we're keeping this space. And often people will even come back with, oh, thank you. Thanks for that reminder. I had forgotten. Let me rephrase. But it can be hard to get through that discomfort. And I'm curious if you've experienced, because I haven't.
but you may have in working with some larger groups where when you make a shift like this, trying to create a more intentional culture that aligns with your vision, where some people just can't get on board and end up having to leave and the discomfort of that, because again, it's a shift in the way you're showing up. If people are used to being able to kind of...
Railroad a conversation, show up the way they want, not being called in. When they have that experience, it can be really hard. And for some people, I wonder if that's ever like, just, can't, I don't want to be a part of this new culture.
Faith Clarke (20:40.605)
Yeah, I'm going to reflect on something that you said just before, which is the, first of all, even the practice of calling in that feels hard. and just to say that I think it's important for leaders to model that first before. that first time that day to on day two to day four, I think it's really important to model being called in. and so whether that's by calling yourself in by catching yourself doing the thing.
and saying, okay, I just realized, you I said so and so, and it could be, I'm, you know, and we just agree to whatever the calling in process for yourself is. But often it's also you and somebody in the room already have a certain kind of relationship. You pull them aside and say, hey, listen, for the next week, I want to model this. So I want you to just listen to me and this is the way I'm inviting you to call me in, right? Cause we want to practice this for other people. Because
People, we all are wounded. Our trust has been, like we said, massively violated in other workspaces. And so there's no guarantee that when I'm modeling this new culture, people aren't seeing the old culture that they're from and that their hackles get raised and their masks drop into place when I am calling them in. I just have a note here about trying to reconnect. Are you hearing me still? because my wifi has been acting odd. Yeah, so people can...
Becky Mollenkamp (22:00.972)
Yeah, I hear you. You're fine.
Faith Clarke (22:07.391)
feel called in and interpret it as being reprimanded or shamed. And I think that part of how we handle that is to model it's safe here to be called in by letting ourselves be called in. And I think that what, yeah, there are a lot of times when people can't engage with the new culture, whether that's because they can't build the trust, because honestly, we're all, it's messy. All of real life is messy.
So there are to be times when I'm living into this new culture and there are going to be times when I'm not. I myself as leader, I'm going to slip into old patterns. And the reality is that the trust violation, when I've told you I'm going to be different and then I am the same as your old boss, that hurts more than it hurts with your old boss. So what people have told me repeatedly and what I've seen repeatedly is when I've let my shoulders down and decided to trust you and then
you did something similar, now it's even worse. And part, and that's why also modeling what the repair looks like is essential, right? So that we have these processes and in spite of all of that, it just may not work out with a person and your normal off-boarding process, you know, redesigning your off-boarding so that it reflects your new values. And then just honestly having that dialogue.
Becky Mollenkamp (23:15.96)
Mm-hmm.
Faith Clarke (23:33.609)
with the person and what's happening and how, then releasing them to their new opportunity. That's different from, you're not a good fit here. You know, and I want you to be somewhere where you feel generated, where your hackles are not up. And if this doesn't feel good to you, I'm in a, with a client right now where the person, the staff members definition of professional is just in complete conflict with this new culture that the organization is trying to build. And
It's difficult. It's been very hard and this person is, it's not an off-boarding situation, but it's been very hard to integrate this person and trust is now not in place except with one or two people. Everybody's hackles are open. So there is a question about how do we, the team can't be the way it needs to be with this person, even though there are no obvious problems, but it's obvious that this person is unhappy because they feel like everybody is not being
is not being professional and for them that's not being effective. And for them it's not valuing their own professionalism. And so sometimes as we love people that we kind of said, it feels like you're not happy here. It feels like this is good for you, you know? And so, yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (24:45.122)
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (24:49.046)
And I mean, hopefully when you're bringing new people in because they're coming into a culture that exists and you will have done the work to make your hiring process reflect all of that. Hopefully that's not as frequent with new folks coming on who are like, this culture isn't right for me. I would imagine sometimes in that transition process from a culture that looked one way to something new that that can happen. And I think part of it is just to know that that can happen. I know the goal is to invite people.
all the stakeholders in on the process of devising the new culture. But sometimes there may just be people who can't get on board with whatever, with the majority of people are wanting and that just can happen. And so that's like not a failure necessarily. It's just an evolution of like what works and doesn't work for some people. And speaking of evolution, I think the other piece I just wanted to say is like with this, when you're integrating a new culture, a new process, I think part of the...
Faith Clarke (25:21.002)
Right.
Becky Mollenkamp (25:42.946)
thing with this feminist founders framework and with any framework is to remember that it's living and breathing and can evolve and change, right? Not to look at this as like we've implemented this new framework. This is it forever. This is the way we are and we can't ever change it, right? Things change. The people within organization change. The needs change. The world around us change. And I think it's important to revisit.
what you've created and look for places where where's the opportunity here for growth and for change and to make this function even better, to feel even better for all of us, right? How often are you, I try to do that with myself and I'm just a solopreneur, but I try to do that least once a year. Although I think it would probably be beneficial to do it a little more often, but I try to do a really thorough kind of look at my processes, my systems, my vision values, all of that about once a year.
Does that feel right for you and or do you like to do it even more often?
Faith Clarke (26:40.341)
So I think my process is a little bit more, it's definitely more often. I see it the same way I see the map in the mall. I'm always asking, especially in relationship with discomfort, with my own discomfort, because again, that's a signal. Just like with the body, you're like, oh, I feel a little pain, I feel a little tightness. What's going on there? I feel a little a twinge here. What's going on here? And my first question is always,
What's my medicine? Where in my medicine does this fit? And then I'm like, is that, this feels like it's about leadership practices. So then I'm asking, have I already designed something that I'm not implementing? Or is this pain a pain I just didn't think about? It's in response to something new. I'm older and there's fewer hormones in the body and therefore, you know, the framework doesn't fit the 50 something body.
Becky Mollenkamp (27:39.31)
Thank
Faith Clarke (27:40.039)
It fit the 40 something body, right? But for me, it's a constant, I feel a thing, where does this thing fit? And do I already have something that I am supposed to be engaging with to support this thing or does something need to be designed? And I'm always, is it here or do I need to tweak something or I need to redesign? The moment I start with redesign, then I'm like, ooh, this is a signal that the
overall thing needs to be looked at, right? The moment my system wants to design. there's also, to be absolutely honest, I think different ones of us are, you you can kind of own your own way in this. One of my strengths in the Kobe is I'm a high, very adaptable person. I'm onto plan B and onto plan C and onto plan D in a second. Makes me really good in a crisis. can improvise on the spot.
I will abandon beautifully made systems and make something new when I'm in a problem. So I have to know that about myself. I know that am I feeling uncomfortable here because I just haven't practiced enough or is this something that needs to be designed? Right? So I check answer your question. I'm doing it often for every single discomfort I'm checking, but I'm also tempering my desire to recreate, because that's me.
Becky Mollenkamp (28:52.462)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Becky Mollenkamp (29:07.544)
Well, you skipped ahead to where I was gonna go next, because when you were talking about that, I was like, the idea being more fluid and flowing and not having it just like an annual check-in, but like just sort of constantly doing this check-in, I think is great. But exactly the same thing comes up for me where I'm like, I'm worried that if I do too much of that, then exactly what you said can happen because I'm similar, where I can be very reactive in a way, like to, well, and lose sight of, is this just because I'm feeling really like today?
not feeling great, right? And so of course my relationship with my work today or with anything is gonna feel different than it might yesterday or tomorrow if I just give myself a little space. And I do worry about making decisions about things, especially if I have a team, I worry about making decisions about systems, processes, know, whatever in a moment where I'm not fully resourced. And so I think there is that cautioning of like, while I totally agree,
I think it's lovely to be a little more fluid with this and say, I don't have to wait till an annual check-in to evolve our systems or whatever the thing is. But, and also to be mindful of how am I showing up today? What is the spirit I'm showing up with today? Is this the energy that I want to be in when I'm making decisions that might affect others or, you know, my business in a bigger picture? And that can be hard. That can be really hard, I think sometimes, because in the moment you think like,
Yeah, I'm burning it all down, right? And I really mean it. And then tomorrow you might be like, no, that's not at all. That was, I was really not in the right space to make that choice.
Faith Clarke (30:43.347)
Yeah, I think in one of our episodes we talked about nature as a model. I don't know if it was one of ours, it always my own. So I do use the idea with nature. I think in our body systems and in our nature systems, we're constantly getting data and doing these micro responses. And I think building our ability, the old systems, supremacy systems have not built our ability.
to micro attend and to micro respond. Sometimes it's just, you know, and that micro attend is just gives us a bunch of data, but that's different from when are we making decisions to change the whole system. And I think having a rhythm of some sort for our, my small business and small organization clients, I'm just like, what's the rhythm back to your practice place of meetings? You need different types of meetings. So.
What's the rhythm of your strategic meeting? For some of my smaller clients, I say that's monthly. And so you're collecting this data all along and doing these micro tweaks and you're putting them somewhere and then asking the question, is there something here that should be looked at in our strategic meeting, which is different from when we're doing our operational work. And then, then you bring only two of those. You make sure you figure out what's a priority. You only bring two of those up. So it's almost like this micro attending and fluidity.
as constrained by bigger system processes of like, how are we making decisions and when are we doing big changes? And then of course, that will help you know when there's an emergency. You're like, there's an emergency, something needs to be changed now. But you already have built the habit of building or collecting the data, looking at it, knowing that you have every two months, you have an opportunity to look at it and see if something needs to be changed.
Becky Mollenkamp (32:18.434)
Mm-hmm.
Becky Mollenkamp (32:29.356)
Yeah. And you mentioned like with your clients, being able to do this work with them. And I think for some folks who are people who aren't working with you, who don't have, you know, a coach like one of us working with them, who are maybe solopreneurs or small business owners and trying to navigate all of this, it can be hard.
right, to do this alone, to do this visioning kind of work, to do the understanding of all of the like integration of it and the ongoing integration and evolution. We're really challenging on your own. And so that is why we're offering a container coming up, which our next episode, we're going to tell you just that's the whole conversation will be really get into the details of it. But just to say that you don't have to do this alone and there are spaces and we're going to be offering a space for doing this kind of work because it is really hard to do alone and it is much
easier when you have folks who are, who can help you step out of outside of yourself. Because as a coach, it's not that I think that you, that anyone can't, can't do the work on their own, doesn't have the answers on their own, needs someone else to tell them what to do. I don't think that that's it. It's that because of the waters we swim in, right, and how deeply ingrained we are in things, it can be hard to step outside of yourself to see another answer. Because again, I think we've talked about this before, but like your brain convinces you that the story that you're telling is real.
And it can be really hard to step outside of that unless you sometimes have someone else there to kind of help you get outside of that. And so having folks like us and then also a community of peers that are engaged in the same work, who are trying to do these same things in application, gives you more examples, more space, more support, more brainstorming and ideas that just is very hard to do on your own. So I think the container we're going to be talking about is really valuable in
making this happen and that ongoing piece too, because it's gonna be a longer container to give you that kind of support through some of that initial implementation piece.
Faith Clarke (34:30.119)
just you I lost you for a second and I'm losing you again still
Faith Clarke (34:49.247)
My wifi is coming in a note, I'm not sure why. you there?
Faith Clarke (34:58.581)
Are you back? Hello? Am I back? My wifi is coming in and out. don't know why.
Becky Mollenkamp (35:06.904)
Well, we're finishing up right now, so, and I can hear you now.
Faith Clarke (35:09.141)
All right, so I think it's hard whether you're alone or if you have a small team or a large team. I wonder if I'm recording on my side anyway.
Faith Clarke (35:27.795)
You hearing me?
Faith Clarke (35:33.397)
I'm going to, when we're finished, I'm going to restart. think it's hard whether you're doing this on your own or if you have a small team, because when you're doing it on your own, all of the elements of your business are under your skin. Everything is mushed together. There is no difference much between leadership practice and marketing and client, you know, it's, it's all together and it's hard sometimes to hold, okay, this is how I'm doing in this area. And what I found coaching can do.
for those times is just to help you see what the unified integrated product needs to be for you as an individual. Whereas when you have a team of some sort, it feels like chasing cats. How do we get everybody together? Everybody's thinking their own thoughts, everybody's had their own history, everybody's interpreting the thing in a different way. And again, you feel like, my goodness, I'm such a bad leader, these people are not following what I'm saying. So it's either way, being suppo-
to create the thing you want is, can just be, makes a whole world of difference.
Becky Mollenkamp (36:37.742)
And it's part of our vision is having entrepreneurs, business owners feel supported, right? I mean, I think that's part of the vision that we see with Feminist Founders. And I think for you listeners to allow yourself to be supported and the gift that that is and the way the first step in this bigger vision for the world we want to create. So again, we'll be back next episode to tell you all the details.
We're trying to give you a little cliffhanger, leave you wanting more about what that is. So we'll be back to tell you about that in a couple of days. And in the meantime, thank you for listening and thank you, Faith, for doing this. And I think we're both going to go hopefully rest our bodies a little bit.
Faith Clarke (37:19.957)
I'm gonna eat food, I'm gonna nourish myself.
Becky Mollenkamp (37:23.116)
and drink water.