Strengths On Fire

Do you love setting long-term goals—or do you just want to survive the week? In this insightful and refreshingly real conversation, Gallup-certified coach and educator Kay Markovic joins Sarah and Bill to unpack the Futuristic strength and how it plays out in the classroom, at home, and in everyday decision-making.

If you’ve ever struggled with staying present while planning for the future—or you live so in-the-moment you forget to vision cast—this episode is for you. Through laughter, coaching insight, and lived experience, Kay offers a candid look at how her futuristic mindset has helped shape young leaders, inspired curriculum innovation, and sometimes run faster than others can follow. You’ll walk away understanding your own time orientation better—and how to work better with those who don’t share it.

Takeaways

Futuristic thinkers often bring vision and momentum—but without self-awareness, they can unintentionally overwhelm others.
Living in the present doesn’t mean lacking ambition; it often means grounding vision in what’s real and actionable today.
CliftonStrengths can transform classrooms by helping students and teachers understand how they naturally learn and lead.
Ideation paired with Futuristic can generate endless ideas—but without a container, it risks burnout or chaos.
Group energy, connection, and facilitating change often activate Kay’s most fulfilling moments.
Personal growth sometimes requires slowing down, stepping back, and learning how your strengths impact others.
Understanding your time orientation—whether future-focused or present-centered—improves collaboration, communication, and compassion.

Sound Bites

“My brain moves faster than my mouth—and that’s how I know I’m deep in my Futuristic.”
“I used to teach like a squirrel on espresso… now I use Scrum to slow my pace for the students.”
“Ideation is like popcorn in my brain—once it starts, I can’t stop the popping.”
“You don’t need to daydream about everything—sometimes, you just need to do the thing.”
“Connectedness is my personal guidance system—it’s the one strength I’d never give up.”
“Futuristic is a gift—but without regulation, it can bulldoze people in the present.”
“My students would say, ‘Wait, do you actually want us to finish this?’ And I’d say, ‘Yes, yesterday.’”
“The future pulls me, but the classroom grounds me.”
“Being a visionary leader is great—unless no one else knows where you’re going.”
“I was burning out because I lived in autopilot with my top strengths.”
“You can’t force people to take your advice just because you’re excited to help.”
“Present-moment people keep me anchored—they ask, ‘What do we need right now?’”
“I realized I was living a curriculum built for 1995, not 2025.”
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears… even if the teacher has a million ideas.”
“My futuristic wants to plan my daughter’s entire college career… she just wants a backpack.”

Bill's Top 10 CliftonStrengths

1) Individualization

2) Developer

3) Activator

4) Woo

5) Restorative

6) Empathy

7) Harmony

8) Connectedness

9) Relator

10) Learner

Sarah's Top 10 CliftonStrengths

1) Positivity

2) Woo

3) Communication

4) Harmony

5) Activator

6) Developer

7) Input

8) Individualization

9) Responsibility

10) Arranger

Official Strengths On Fire Website: https://strengthsonfire.transistor.fm

Creators and Guests

Host

Bill Dippel

Bill Dippel is a certified, professional Strengths coach with a 35-year career in nonprofits and higher education. His passion is working with organizations, teams, and individuals to ensure they are performing and communicating at the highest levels. As president of Bill Dippel Strengths Coaching, he travels frequently for large events and public speaking, as well as working with whole companies through their management teams.

Host

Sarah Collins

Sarah Collins is a certified CliftonStrengths coach and founder of Collins Collective, with over 12 years of experience in strengths-based coaching and leadership development. Her passion lies in empowering businesses, teams, and individuals to communicate and perform at their best by focusing on what they do well. As the leader of Collins Collective, Sarah combines engaging workshops, high-impact keynotes, and in-depth coaching to foster growth and connection. Based in Nebraska, she partners with businesses to drive meaningful change and create high-performing teams.

What is Strengths On Fire?

Strengths on Fire is where dynamic strengths coaching meets real, relatable conversations. Hosted by Bill, a Gen X with a wealth of experience, and Sarah Collins, an elder millennial with fresh perspectives, we bring together our shared CliftonStrengths—WOO, Activator, Developer, and Harmony—to ignite engaging and entertaining discussions. Whether we’re laughing, learning, or diving deep into our guests’ top 10 strengths, we’re here to show you how to turn strengths into your secret weapon at work and in life. Expect professional development with a twist—because growth should be fun!

Sarah Collins (00:01.136)
Good morning, good morning, good morning, Mr. Bill Dippel!

Bill Dippel (00:03.854)
There she is. There's the Sarah. love singing so much. I think that's great. I love it. I've mentioned before I love it when you sing. I think it's actually really fun and engaging and then you're always like no you do not want me singing. I don't think.

Sarah Collins (00:08.668)
Sarah Collins (00:15.664)
Thank you. Yeah, you're like the only person in the face of this earth that loves it, but that does not stop me. And that says a lot about my personality.

Bill Dippel (00:21.954)
I don't think, I don't think that's true. We got brow beaten into being on karaoke together and somehow we got out of it. It didn't happen. So I didn't either. I was super excited, but they planned it at a weird day that you and I were already on the way out. So I blame me.

Sarah Collins (00:30.17)
I did not want to get out of it. I wanted to do it, but like, timing.

Sarah Collins (00:40.636)
You know what though, this is such a good segue to my question for you today. I didn't even plan this, but. So the original question was, if your career had a theme song, what would it be? But you know, it's a big week in Swifty land. We're recording the same week that Taylor Swift went on a podcast for two hours on new heights. She's announced life of a show girl, her new album and living in that vein.

Bill Dippel (00:44.238)
Thank God.

I can't wait.

Bill Dippel (00:53.197)
Mmm.

Bill Dippel (00:57.159)
hahahaha

Sarah Collins (01:08.762)
and you're probably panicking knowing that I'm gonna ask you, if your career had a Taylor Swift theme song, what would it be and why?

Bill Dippel (01:18.388)
Interesting. I'm going to start with Cruel Summer. And I'm just going to hit Cruel Summer because I've had a couple of moments where it, you know, my summers have been really good coaching and then I've had some Cruel Summers where I've had some moments, right? I've had some moments. But if I had to choose the one theme song like the Taylor, the Swifty theme song on the coaching side, it Shake It Off.

Sarah Collins (01:22.627)
Okay, tell me more.

Sarah Collins (01:34.95)
Hello?

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (01:47.804)
that's so good! Yeah!

Bill Dippel (01:49.868)
Nah, it's Shake It Off. don't, you know, we've highlighted on this podcast before there are times I've been like, my staff has to remind me, you can't care more than they do. You got to shake it off. there are, I have, have moments in my heavy, heavy, our guest will joke about this today because we spent a lot of time together a long time ago going over this. I have a lot of relationship themes, so there are moments I need to shake.

Sarah Collins (02:01.212)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (02:15.801)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (02:18.809)
it off when I get that personal, fluffily, know, what just happened moment. I, you know, it's not her absolute best song, but it is, it's catchy, it's great. It's one that I have on repeat fairly regularly. so.

Sarah Collins (02:26.064)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (02:36.614)
You know, I'm really impressed. You, honestly, I thought we're gonna struggle more with that, but you came out of the gate swinging, and I love it. Kudos to you. Right?

Kay Markovic (02:42.911)
I'm so impressed right now too. Two song titles that you knew, absolutely.

Bill Dippel (02:48.589)
Sarah Collins (02:48.72)
Yeah, I didn't even prep him at all, I just came in hot and look at this is a man who is actually a Taylor Swift fan. That's how you know.

Bill Dippel (02:56.543)
I am. I am. Well, and your theme song. What what would be your Swifty based walkout hype music?

Sarah Collins (03:06.426)
Well, I was going to say we haven't heard it yet, but on the life of a show girl, her new album, there is a song called eldest daughter. And while I'm not necessarily the eldest daughter, I am an only child who is a daughter. So I have a lot of eldest daughter energy and I feel like whatever this song is going to be, I'm going to resonate with it deeply. But if we're talking about songs that are currently out, I think I have to go with the man.

I feel like in my career and as an entrepreneur, I feel a lot of like, if I were an old dude, no offense to anyone here.

Bill Dippel (03:32.743)
it's a good one.

Bill Dippel (03:41.259)
Wow, wow, why would an old man be offensive? I don't know.

Sarah Collins (03:48.092)
I just think like if I think that especially in a lot of business spaces, in a lot of entrepreneurial spaces, there's a lot of credibility that gets given to men. And I sometimes think being a young, fun lady of the land, it can be harder to get in certain rooms. And there are certain things I see people getting invited to who are more seasoned men. And I think, why did I get invited to that?

than that person and I think like the other men in the room probably thought that I wasn't as good or serious because I'm a woman and maybe I'm being totally biased and maybe that's not what they think at all but I'm gonna have to say the man energy.

Bill Dippel (04:31.383)
Maybe so maybe I'll maybe you're gonna like this comment. Maybe you won't I don't always know Sarah's filter is broken as we've discussed I agree with you. I think men get an unfair An unfair ramp into many situations and many available Coaching things or maybe false credibility

where I know some of the women that should be in those positions would be better at handling what they do. I actually agree with you. And have I been a recipient of it myself? Maybe. Absolutely. For me to make that comment, I have to throw myself in that ring. I am an older white male. So have I I benefited from this? Probably. Absolutely. And do I know women that are?

Sarah Collins (05:12.624)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (05:26.839)
better than me in certain coaching aspects or overall or in business or in life in general? Absolutely. So I would, I don't disagree with you on this. I like it.

Sarah Collins (05:39.887)
But I also think that there are instances where women hire me and maybe they hired me because I am a fun lady of the land and not a man. So, you know, it could work on both ways where I could miss opportunities because of it and I could get opportunities because of it.

Bill Dippel (05:46.379)
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well.

Well, and since this is a debate show, I would also say, would you agree that there might be some instances where, he's not as good on stage as you are, but there are other things you don't see and know where that's why he's up there. And so while you may have been better, right? I mean, we can't just instantly say, you know, he may have a better system to get in. He may have a better. There might be something else other than he's just a man. I just pointing that out. But I.

Sarah Collins (06:12.271)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (06:26.736)
Yes.

Bill Dippel (06:27.208)
I think both of these can be true. So, yeah, yeah.

Sarah Collins (06:29.369)
That is true. That is true. And I think that I have seen more often than not, men can get by on a lot of karma. And in the past, because I have this eldest daughter energy as an only child, I used to be striving for A's, doing everything like they would say, like in academia, following all the rules. And I would see oftentimes mostly boys

who were not following the rules, but were standout students, but they were charming and charismatic and they could show up late and everyone was so enamored by them. They'd be like, you're the best student. And that used to make me insane. And I felt like it was so unfair. And then I realized I am charming and charismatic. What if I can show up and be that? I'm still gonna show up on time. I'm gonna do things I said I was gonna do, but also.

why not use the charm that these men seem to be able to use to like get this upper hand. So I've been, I've been trying that in the later years of my life.

Bill Dippel (07:27.828)
I'm I'm glad you I'm glad you jumped into that point because I was going to point out the years you and I have known each other I find you pretty charming and charismatic and I've seen it I've seen it work a room I've seen it and talked to you about it opening doors for you While I get that it may be a little more automatic for men to have that opportunity

Sarah Collins (07:42.715)
Well, thank you.

Bill Dippel (07:57.031)
I would say you benefit from the charm quotient before sometimes you get credit for the skill quotient.

Sarah Collins (08:06.329)
Yes, I think sometimes I actually surprise people that I actually also know what I'm talking about.

Kay Markovic (08:13.152)
know you very well, Sarah, but I love that you picked that song and just hearing you guys debate this out and share your points of view. am feeling like you embody the energy that this song is really talking about with empowerment and taking control, like the boss lady energy. I wish you want to rename this song.

Sarah Collins (08:33.517)
Yes, I know. I need to get a sparkly blazer.

Bill Dippel (08:36.268)
Sarah is a boss lady.

Bill Dippel (08:43.757)
I got called a sparkly octopus, I think, two episodes ago. yeah, the sparkly blazer is, yeah, you would wear it very well, Sarah. Yeah.

Kay Markovic (08:44.792)
I

Sarah Collins (08:49.388)
Mm-hmm. There we go. Well, Kay, you've got me feeling like the man. That's an heiress to a reference.

Bill Dippel (08:55.66)
So well, Kay, since since you have come in starting to make Sarah feel like the man and we are talking about sparkling personalities, I am overjoyed to invite on the show today Miss Kay Markovic. Kay is a fellow Gallup coach and I have a very special place in my heart for Kay because we actually went through Gallup training together in Omaha, Nebraska for the same cohort and

Sarah Collins (09:22.203)
Whoop whoop.

Bill Dippel (09:26.164)
Kay and I have kept in touch. We've talked business. We've talked coaching. We've talked schooling Enough about what I think about Kay Kay. Can you tell us one your top ten strengths? But can you also kind of give us an overview about how you got where you are what you do what you're doing now where you use the strengths profile and How that looks for you?

Kay Markovic (09:47.641)
Sure. Well, like you said, we met at our coaching training and I had been using CliftonStrengths inside of my classroom for about eight years before that. I had maxed out on all the free resources I could find online and my students just wanted more and more. They actually asked me to bring this on after we went to an entrepreneurship conference with adult professionals.

And they were in a breakout session and told each other about it. They visited the breakout session, came back and told me that I had to run this. I had not been in that session, but the second we started to it really transformed my relationships in the classroom. And as you know, brought them into more of an awareness around their potential and their uniqueness. And I saw amazing things happening.

with team dynamics inside of our business classroom environment, where I set them up in different groups and teams based on what they were interested in. And that led me to Gallup and that certification because I needed to know more to bring back to them. But it's an amazing engagement tool in the classroom that I've felt has kept kids in my room. During COVID, they weren't home. They were coming to class when we were open.

I think what it does for them is make them feel valued and seen and heard by an educator, which is they would describe probably kind of rare at school from a day-to-day perspective. But really the outcome was helping students find their passion for business, but also their best fit and using their profile and getting to know each other's talents.

Sarah Collins (11:22.959)
Hmm.

Kay Markovic (11:40.449)
activities from our training, things that worked well within our group when we were there at the Gallup corporate headquarters back then. And it's just been amazing. I'm now teaching some adjunct classes at our community college. I'm also bringing CliftonStrengths into that piece and it just, works with every audience. And I love it. It's one of those things that brings me back over and over again to conversations like this with good friends like you.

So my top 10, my number one is ideation. Number two is futuristic. Number three is connectedness. Number four is learner. Number five for me is arranger. Number six is positivity. And seven, eight, nine, 10, I have self-assurance in there. I have to look at my list.

Sarah Collins (12:09.956)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (12:37.973)
Significance, Woo, and Activator. They're all right there.

Kay Markovic (12:39.404)
Thank you. Yes. So a lot of the influencing. Yes.

Sarah Collins (12:40.227)
Yeah, you rounded out with those influencing themes.

Bill Dippel (12:44.811)
Now you know how I got so influenced at our ASC class. and I were sitting next to each other for a couple of the events and I was like, you are pretty darn amazing. Look at you, glom onto it, teach it, know it. Speaking of the teaching side of it, we know that Gallup's 34 themes, we tend to look at those as an adult-based

Kay Markovic (12:48.169)
Hahaha.

Sarah Collins (12:49.775)
That's right.

Bill Dippel (13:13.949)
assessment, but you're teaching kids, you're at a certain level, how old are the kids that generally you're running this process with?

Kay Markovic (13:27.16)
15, 18 years I've been teaching high school juniors and seniors. And this year I'll be teaching sophomores through seniors. So yeah, I saw so many applications. I took a few years off from the classroom to help launch my own children into college and career selection and things like that. And I spent a little bit of time at an elementary school. Six months I was translating for students that were newcomers to the country who needed translation service.

him helping them out. That was a big change for me, but I could see kindergartners sorting markers instead of getting their baggy books out and reading. And it was like they had to get the arranger arranging done or they had to go and be woo in their woo element and and talking to others and sort of getting that energy to go move and do the next thing that they had to do. So you could see different

Sarah Collins (14:02.747)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (14:12.773)
Yeah.

Kay Markovic (14:29.683)
autopilot, things that they were gravitating to at a very young age. Then I spent the last three years at a middle school in the library area where I had a very disconnected job in the classroom and more of a support role. And I was helping students and teachers in that element using some my marketing background there as well. And you could see at the middle school level, if they had known these Clifton strengths.

Sarah Collins (14:34.586)
Yeah.

Kay Markovic (14:57.314)
pieces. They do use the strengths explorer tool inside of this school district, which I thought was really interesting. I wanted to try to bring some leadership workshops together to see if kids could tiptoe into career planning before high school and align their courses to their interest areas. If that would maybe help engagement with at-risk students or even leaders.

Sarah Collins (15:01.765)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (15:24.485)
Yeah.

Kay Markovic (15:26.762)
knowing what to do to give back as leaders within the school building and the school environment. So I could see applications all the way through where freshman year is very pivotal as far as getting going on competitive college applications and opportunities to be able to shine there. And then getting into those upper high school years where it really matters whether or not you understand yourself and have that awareness to make those decisions for college and career.

beyond.

Bill Dippel (15:56.863)
Yeah, so so smart. And I think you knew exactly where I was going with this, because I'm actually really excited to hear from you. We've had some of the students I've worked with on this podcast previously, but in your age group that you've worked with both, we know that it sounds like you used to explore when you dropped down to the middle school. as as juniors and seniors and now maybe sophomore, junior, I've heard some arguments that they're using the thirty fourth

Full-blown report and some people prefer to drop down and use that even though that's a bit early for moine gallop would say maybe that's when it gets Distributed as opposed to Explorer. So can you tell us because we're leading towards the debate question today of Futuristic versus the here and now are you futuristically putting them in the 34 Building into that or is or is there something else at play there?

Kay Markovic (16:54.132)
Yes, so my own children took Strengths Explorer because I gave it to them after going through our course at Gallup. I learned a little more about what it was. I met some people who knew about that tool. So I had my own kids take it in middle school as eighth graders. And my son, this is one story that if you knew him, you would kind of see how this has played out in all of his decisions. He's not a sophomore in college, but he really showed

Sarah Collins (17:11.675)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (17:23.192)
a career area that that report gave that was an event planner. And when I just kind of let it alone, he didn't want to talk about it. He wasn't interested. But I sort of watched and observed over the years. And he became part of what they call student senate at this school. He was the treasurer. He led homecoming and prom planning.

He is now at a school where he's studying automotive management and marketing. He's involved in their big international auto show where he has a luxury brand of automobiles that he is given each year. And it is putting on like a trade show tent or event for that particular brand. so event planning has continued to pop up in his go-to things that he just finds himself doing.

And really seems to have a passion for but I've never quite labeled it for him now if you listen to this podcast, you'll understand. But I've been, it was kind of a test for me to see how does this look? How does this play out? And does it resurface naturally and organically in the young adult that way? But I prefer the 34 if I have the budget to pay for the vouchers. That's the big sticking point.

Sarah Collins (18:34.629)
Right.

Kay Markovic (18:48.702)
This year, for example, I can only afford the top five. I love having them see their bottom five at the high school level. And I would do this with freshmen if I had them in my courses. I would definitely do it with sophomores. Because sophomore year, you have to decide what colleges you're going to be focused on for junior year. And if you are looking at top 10 elite colleges, there's no way my daughter was this kind of student.

Sarah Collins (18:53.915)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (19:18.108)
really you have to start at that middle school level and know that you are academically excited to do school and you love the process or the challenge of learning. depends. Some people are really interested in learning because they're high in learner. My daughter's not. She's number one command and number two competition and learner falls really low on her 34.

Sarah Collins (19:30.095)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (19:38.546)
Oof. Oof.

Kay Markovic (19:42.585)
But what gets her up in the morning is the idea that she can blast that goal and get 100 % on that quiz or that test. So she looked like she might be a high achieving, learner, but she's actually extremely competitive and loves to be in charge and in the lead of projects in her life and her decision. So for her, it took me a while to figure that out, but it started with, again, with Strengths Explorer.

And then my students obviously don't have that at such a young age at their disposal. These students now at my new school, be interested to play around with that a little bit and see what they remember from taking that tool. If anybody used it with them, what it shows, and then maybe I'll give them their top five vouchers, get them through that test and see where they fall in their top five. But I do think there's something to be said for letting a young person know.

the insights that come in that 34 report, having them see the bottom five, comparing, getting them to work on their self-confidence and self-awareness around what they do best in the classroom, reaching out to teachers and having them also share observations before building resumes and college applications and get that feedback because a lot of them don't know what they do well. They can't label it.

They don't think they do anything well. There's nothing that helps them stand out. And so I feel that teachers see them working all the time. So we're the best place to be able to give them that feedback like an employer might give you in a work evaluation.

Sarah Collins (21:09.147)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (21:25.955)
Yeah, I think it's so incredible you have that futuristic, which is one of our talking points today at number two and the way that you see the students through where they're going to be. I think that's like so inspiring. You know, you're thinking about we need to give the students this tool, this knowledge about themselves, this confidence in who they are because they're going to need it for college, because they're going to need it for career. Like you're futuristic. can.

And correct me if you think I'm wrong, but like, feel like I can hear you projecting the, to do, for these students to do what they need to do and to do it well, they need to be prepared today. So it's almost like you balance the futuristic with the present moment. Do you think that's true or how do you see that?

Kay Markovic (22:13.368)
Well, that's an interesting question. really, it's taken me some years, but what is at the core of my own self-awareness journey with this was going to my coaching certification course where Bill was my coach and he coached me. So having that flipped on me, really, it was like mind blowing. I was a different person when I came home. I was able to see...

that me living in my futuristic talent area created some situations in my classroom where some students were really stressed by that because I think that unless you have some anchor points and you're very aware of how this feels to someone in your learning space as a teacher, for example, or if I was a manager with employees.

I think it would work exactly the same way because they are my employees. We run a school store, so we have a school based enterprise inside of our classroom going at all times.

I would jump ahead to projects that I knew would help us scale our business. And I would jump ahead so quickly that there were students with obviously different sets of talents that needed to take their time to roll out a marketing campaign. And I was already on the next four or five levels ahead. And they would, can remember students saying to me, do you want us to finish this? We don't have time to finish that.

Bill Dippel (23:48.307)
Hahaha.

Kay Markovic (23:48.825)
And I was like looking at them like, well, yeah, I mean, let's get it done. Like let's get it done tomorrow, yesterday. And I would be rushing them through a pace that works for me, but does not work for many others within that space. So once I started to like, to see what I brought to the table, what the impact it was leaving on others and just learning more about each of the strengths, I started to,

Sarah Collins (23:53.69)
Yeah.

Kay Markovic (24:18.456)
I'm even doing it right now. I'm talking so fast that my mouth is not keeping up with my brain. So this is surrounding my brain. And so I started to kind of go, okay, I need something to keep me reined in. And I joke about it in the classroom. I call it my squirrel brain. And I say, I'm sorry, guys, let me just backtrack now because I have to catch myself and be so, it's exhausting. have to be so aware and bring myself to a space where it works for the group. So I discovered Scrum.

methodologies and project management. And we had a local corporate project manager come in and teach us how to use Scrum methodologies in our workplace. And I am now the Scrum project manager. And that keeps me going in a work routine every two weeks, where I can have a backlog of my ideas. And if students pick them up and want to roll them out,

Sarah Collins (25:08.411)
Hmm.

Kay Markovic (25:14.186)
It's not me leading the charge any longer. It's them using their interest areas and their strengths to do what they do best. And I am there just helping them solve problems, helping them get through situations where the workflow has to stop because they need help or support or resources. So it's a much better place for me to be where I can feel like I have control because I know where I'm taking them ultimately or what projects I approve.

I have a place for my ideas to go in the bucket list of that blog. And then the pace keeps me constrained for their sake too.

Bill Dippel (25:53.694)
Wow. Wow. What a powerful way to look at how that comes in. If we can break that down a little further with you, maybe not just from a teaching point of view and with students, let's think about your outside coaching, maybe your personal life, you know, that, that futuristic has activator in that top 10 too. So there's, there's that, Ooh, you know, yeah, let's go. But

Sarah Collins (25:54.384)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (26:14.7)
Mm-hmm. You can hear it so clearly.

Kay Markovic (26:18.232)
Ha

Bill Dippel (26:21.789)
If we're looking at the other side of that equation, you have connectedness and learner connectedness drawing you into, we're all we everything here has a connected reason. There are reasons that this happened, that this happens, that now leads to this. And maybe I need to step back a hair and learn something. I might want to step, take that partial moment to absorb rather than activate. And that's a common.

Assumption around connectedness and learner. How does it play out for you both maybe in your personal life or in your teaching? Are those the ones you lean on when you feel that you're way out in front or is there another combination that that feels like it's it's effective for you?

Kay Markovic (27:06.376)
think that combination of futuristic connectedness and learner work together for me all the time. And it's something that today, where I am in life at this point, I need to be very mindful of self-preservation because what it looks like is I am constantly getting

patterns that I see. I feel like I see the patterns that are unfolding, whether it's fashion or business instruction, being a business teacher, marketing never stops. it's by the time I got to four years ago, where I left the classroom, I was really burned out. I was really tired. It wasn't the students. It wasn't the practice or the craft of teaching. It was I think my combination of that learner.

connectedness, futuristic, on autopilot. And we did have a big tech boom. had everything happening in the time of COVID and all of the changes with practice of teaching, the business of marketing and economics and all the things that are involved within that. I left and I thought to myself, I love being a strengths coach.

maybe I can do something with this. And if you watched what happened over the past four years in my career, I really kept taking more and more steps backwards to slow things down to kind of disconnect. There's like a moving train that you really can't stop when you're in the flow of a program within the educational setting. And so to unwind that to recoup my energy, it's taken me a little while. And so I'd say maybe last year, year and a half.

I have felt more re-energized, more self-aware. I've learned so much about myself and the way that I operate within these three talent areas and domains. So as a coach, I didn't find that I was maybe ready for being a business owner, being a coach, juggling all of that. I needed to figure out what type of business owner and entrepreneur I was first.

Kay Markovic (29:26.136)
In that process, some opportunities came up and I've really just felt much more at peace, kind of settled in my teaching. And I really think that that is where I'm going to stay. Giving my students all of these tools to be able to see them grow as managers and leaders is really where my passion is versus being an entrepreneur and business owner. So my coaching practice, think,

For me, here on out will be more as an instructor giving staff or people within the educational space the tools to be able to do what I do with students to grow their their strength base before they move on out of college or out of high school. So I'm looking more for opportunities within staff PD, professional development that the teachers all get at all levels.

to be able to give back that way and give back to the organization that I work for that way. So that's kind how it's affected my coaching. I like the classroom group setting as well. So I've got my workshop kind of laid out and refined and fine-tuned for those groups, large or small. And my one-to-one coaching wasn't as...

fun for me as the bigger group. And so, right, right. And I think there's something about the group dynamic when you have a bigger group and the energy, there's a group size that feels too small to me, like nine or less feels really small. And I like the energy that I get from my connectedness when I'm in front of a group as a facilitator versus the one on one. So that self awareness, like I said, it's taken me some years to kind of figure out where my best

Bill Dippel (30:55.666)
Fulfilling. Great.

Sarah Collins (31:10.553)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (31:21.642)
niche might be.

Sarah Collins (31:23.745)
Absolutely. And you can see you've got that woo, significance, positivity, all of those things I think can cause you to gravitate toward the group setting. I'm also curious, I feel like from everything you're saying, can, your futuristic seems very goal oriented. Sometimes when I work with people with high futuristic, I will ask them, are you more goal oriented of like, this is what we're going to do?

or and or is it daydreaming of like this is what could happen like dreaming about you know all of the possibilities so i'm just curious how does that futuristic show up for you do you find it one way or the other a little bit of both

Kay Markovic (32:09.302)
I definitely forced myself to keep it goal oriented because between the learner, the connectedness and the futuristic, and I don't know that I explained how it works for me, I will pick up an idea and I'll go, huh, I wonder how that works. So I really like the true colors tool. For example, I'm a green, I'm a scientist researcher. I really like that part of.

Sarah Collins (32:28.955)
Hmm?

Kay Markovic (32:34.612)
my three within that top five realm. And then I have to really shut off number five, the activator to get things moving and going because I have to remind myself to stay on tap and stay focused. So I do try to keep it goal oriented. And I like to evaluate and research a lot. I like to take it and digest with my learner. And then connectedness for me really feels like, like the universe wide open, just infinite black space with like,

Sarah Collins (32:46.457)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (32:53.531)
Mmm.

Kay Markovic (33:04.758)
literally things that kind of connect in categories or spaces or information nuggets. And then I was at a middle school most recently working and this girl said, she wrote something about me in a classroom and she said, Mrs. Markovich knows everything. And I was like, I love this. Self-assurance, like significance in me.

Bill Dippel (33:28.008)
hahahaha

Kay Markovic (33:34.359)
That's what I get up for every day. And I said it, I sent it to my family group chat and I was like, see, this young lady knows, like she knows that I'm, I'm wise and you people should really pay attention to that. So much, my kids were laughing. but I like to kind of jump into conversations and meet people and share what I know and give them tidbits on things that I've learned about. And so it's.

Bill Dippel (33:48.712)
Perfect.

Kay Markovic (34:01.768)
That part is really fun for me with connectedness and being social and maybe that woo that pops in there. But I spend a lot of time wanting to listen to podcasts. I have a collection of emails and folders where I sign up for email newsletters and I'm like, I've got to read that. But I hardly ever have time to do that because I have to prioritize all that research and knowledge gathering.

Sarah Collins (34:29.818)
Right.

Kay Markovic (34:31.184)
And then I come back to my futuristic and kind of go, where are the goals long-term and what do I have to let go of? So I like to kind of rearrange and plan. I hate being stuck in a to-do list. So that daydreamer piece between my ideation and futuristic always wants to take over my entire life.

I did learn because I gave myself about six months to just do whatever I wanted to with this business idea of being a strings coach full time. And, I didn't have the structure that I needed that I was used to and locked into after 20 years of being an educator. And so that was incredibly hard to retrain myself on patterns and ways of operating. And I'm happy to say four years later.

Sarah Collins (35:20.635)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (35:23.8)
being an administrative assistant within a library gave me so many ah-hahs. And I would say to the librarian that I worked with, I never realized I did this. My poor student. So I feel like there's been a lot of personal growth, but I kind of had to stop everything, take some time to then get to know myself in a different way. And now, again, I'm back in the classroom, but as a very different person, I think.

Sarah Collins (35:35.513)
Mmmmm

Kay Markovic (35:53.194)
with all of those checks and balances for myself.

Sarah Collins (35:53.37)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (35:57.564)
You, you brought up systems. took you a while to step back into the system idea, the routine, the regularity of certain things, but your consistency, deliberative and discipline are all.

Kay Markovic (36:13.634)
Right. What am I doing as a teacher in secondary ed? I asked myself that a lot before.

Bill Dippel (36:13.775)
I mean, the very

Bill Dippel (36:18.791)
That's my question, right? And it sounds like you fuel on the new learning, the child pointing out that, hey, I like this stepping in and knowing we can do this together in a new and exciting way, which means you don't want to do the consistent deliberative teaching method. So.

Kay Markovic (36:37.772)
No, no, I love an innovative classroom. I really like new, unique scenarios. If I have the same routines, I get bored quickly and I'll only do them three times. I figured this out three times and then I'm like, nope, we've got to mix it up completely. So I'll scrap entire unit plan and just start over because it's more fun to do that and piece together the just the right arrangement of new modern.

Sarah Collins (36:49.381)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (36:56.206)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (37:08.084)
Useful practices or technology or whatever it might be, which is also exhausting. So I have new rules for myself around certain baseline things that will not change and then areas within my curriculum that I can play around with.

Sarah Collins (37:23.961)
Now, Bill, I have a question. I know your context is low. Where is your futuristic? Do you know? Right. So where's your futuristic though?

Bill Dippel (37:29.255)
Context is 34 for me somewhere I think right at mid 20s 26 maybe 25 and yeah, it is Futuristic's 26 for me and I I Don't I don't resonate either way. I really don't it's the the assessment very accurately depicted that I live in the most

Sarah Collins (37:36.579)
Middle.

Sarah Collins (37:55.631)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (37:56.239)
So for instance, when we went through the accelerated strengths coaching together, Kay, I was all in on us in that room, being together, learning it, knowing it. I wasn't thinking for a moment about what was going to happen in two weeks when we left and whether I was going to start a business and whether this happened. And I also wasn't worried about what it meant from my past. My past, because my context is so low, is always a distant memory.

The past is very rarely comes up to recreate or do where I go So I think that's why Kay when you reached out and said let's talk more and we called that ASC a specific name on Facebook I can't remember it was will do or what was the what what did we have with willpower? That's right willpower And and we did that because at the time I was working with a group that called me will Because we had a lot of bills on staff so that

Kay Markovic (38:42.424)
Willpower. The willpower.

Sarah Collins (38:51.643)
Mmmmm

Bill Dippel (38:55.396)
My name was will and when I came in we the asc got together and we said let's call it willpower because we spent most of the mornings doing some breathing exercises that I led and some stretching and some fun and and let's move on But again that highlighting your question sarah, that's about in the moment, right? I wasn't worried about what was going to happen in the future About that that strengths where it was going to go what I was going to do with it I just knew I needed it at that moment to handle some of the things that was in my

Sarah Collins (39:11.951)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (39:25.306)
very quick future. yeah, hopefully that does that touch on where you're going with that.

Sarah Collins (39:31.319)
Yes, so I'm just thinking about this as I'm listening to Kay talk and I was thinking, I was thinking, Bill, that you are a present moment person, which you have just articulated. And I, I just looked it up. My futuristic is 32. I am not the person to think of the future either. Like that sort of thinking is not mine. have context at 11, which I do feel like I utilize not, I'm not like a huge history buff. Like I wouldn't say it's one of my main core themes, but I definitely

Bill Dippel (39:40.102)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (40:00.998)
can pick it up off the floor. And I was thinking about my husband who has more futuristic than me. And when we are talking about our family and our plans, I think it's funny because we're talking about putting in a pool and he will say, he wants like vision cast what we're gonna do. we could do this and this and this. And I like hate listening to him do this. I almost am like sitting there and like going, uh-huh, uh-huh. And I am in my head having a whole different conversation because I'm thinking,

you don't know that you're not a contractor. How would you know that? But I have high input and you know, and so I'm always wanting to gather information from other people for like the here and now. And I'm like, well, let's talk to a contractor and then decide what we want to do because we need more more more information to have to make a decision on that. And I, I just think it's funny because I can't, it's hard for me to get myself into a future base.

Bill Dippel (40:41.574)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (40:57.369)
Like in a way I'm feeling jealous of Kay right now for having some of this insight because I just like can't get myself to go there. In graduate school they had us line up and we were talking to incoming students and they said, everyone go around and say what your future, like your dream career is, your future, like what are you working toward? And I went to school for a master's in higher ed student affairs. And so all of my classmates were like, I want to be a vice president of student affairs one day. I want to be a president of the university. And they got to me and I was like,

I just wanna like my job. Like I literally have no idea what kind of job that will be. I don't know if I would like that job. I just wanna like be in a job I like and I'm good at. And I always think of that story to think about that push and pull of the future casting versus the present moment. You know, as we think about like...

Kay Markovic (41:43.992)
Yeah, this is so insightful for me to hear you describe that. I love it.

Bill Dippel (41:49.253)
Yeah, and and Sarah, you're it's like you're describing my life how often I'll be listening to my wife or others in my world, my my business strategist talk about the future. And I'm I'm thinking about what I got later today. You know, I can't I like you, I can't follow it. I just really struggle to push that far out. And like you said, I'm not always thinking, well, you're not a general contractor. Sometimes I'm thinking, well, you don't know what's going to happen between here and there. Right.

Sarah Collins (41:58.575)
Hmm?

Sarah Collins (42:02.872)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (42:17.013)
Right, yeah.

Bill Dippel (42:18.85)
Everything's going to change. Why are we worried about what that is going to be? Kay just I think Kay just passed out on the podcast. She she

Kay Markovic (42:18.936)
You're cool.

Sarah Collins (42:26.344)
She's like...

Kay Markovic (42:26.52)
I am like, you're blowing my mind, or both of you, because I'm like, but now you're trapped in my classroom. And I'm like, do it, get it done today. you're like, what? Why? And there are all these learner things popping in my mind where I'm like, no wonder. Sometimes my students that are like you, Sarah, will say they need to go do the research themselves. And I'm like, no, no, no, here's what we're going to do.

Sarah Collins (42:37.498)
Right.

Bill Dippel (42:37.776)
Yeah. Yeah.

Kay Markovic (42:53.472)
And they're like, you're crazy. Like, that's not going to work out. I'm like, yes, it is going to work out. And so we do have this friction that comes up sometimes a lot. My kids have that with me and yeah.

Sarah Collins (43:03.301)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (43:04.846)
Of Well, and we I mean we point out We need those people in our lives Sarah you you will Corey will Corey will set a direction you're gonna and you'll realize gosh We didn't need a GC. Thank you for pointing that out. We needed that Renee in my life will say this is exactly from a futuristic point of view here's where we're going and We need to follow the rudder in that direction because this is where we're going to get to so k

Sarah Collins (43:11.866)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (43:20.078)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (43:32.998)
for your students, you're that rudder that Corey and Renee provide for us. And we thank you for that. And by the way, we're happy to be the other side of that. We're happy to be the one that says, hey, hold on. We need to think about this in a different way. They're both very valuable.

Sarah Collins (43:38.019)
Hmm?

Kay Markovic (43:49.101)
This is why my strength coaching friends are my most favorite people in the world because I feel very accepted and part of the team in that sense. But that's not always the case. I've been in professional organizations where if I'm in a leadership role and I hate doing it now, but if I am the president of an organization or if I'm in charge of a group of people, I will then hear comments like,

Sarah Collins (43:51.567)
Yo, yeah.

Kay Markovic (44:18.858)
I don't understand like why this is necessary. I don't think that people would be interested in that kind of workshop, for example. And I remember thinking when I was in, it was a professional organization where we put on conferences for other teachers. I remember thinking, how are they not ready for this? Like this is what's happening in the next two months. It's rolling out and this is where we should be going to keep people ahead of the game with AI or

Sarah Collins (44:21.691)
Mmm.

Sarah Collins (44:48.441)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (44:48.632)
new marketing tools that were available out there. Why are we teaching kids how to make a poster when that's not what's happening out in world? But I'm also, I think that connectedness piece and relationship building strengths that I have in different ways. So I'm not very high on relationship building in that particular like domain area. But right, right. So I can tend to get like locked into my work mode.

Sarah Collins (44:55.738)
Right.

Sarah Collins (45:11.365)
Now you have two relationship building in your top 10.

Kay Markovic (45:18.23)
and just move on by myself, but those types of dynamics I have found are not my favorite to be in. So I don't really volunteer for that kind of activity or project any longer. I will keep myself going and I'll share it with my students in different ways. But again, I really feel like people knowing what this tool is and how it works and supporting each other in that way is just such a beautiful thing.

Sarah Collins (45:28.154)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (45:47.746)
So it's amazing. Yeah, you end up being my favorite people.

Sarah Collins (45:51.268)
Yeah.

Well, we love being people's favorite people. Don't get us wrong. The woo in here is...

Kay Markovic (45:56.28)
You

Bill Dippel (45:56.421)
Yes, yeah, I live for that.

Sarah Collins (46:05.213)
She's fine, she's here, don't worry everybody.

Bill Dippel (46:05.518)
no.

Uh oh, she came in, she came back. So I don't know, it jumped. It jumped. It's all right. It's all right. That's why we have at it. And by the way, your mic shifted to.

Kay Markovic (46:08.504)
you

Sarah Collins (46:12.381)
Hold on, she will fix this.

Sarah Collins (46:20.381)
you

Bill Dippel (46:23.779)
and they just changed your track too. So it's all right. I'll edit all this out.

Sarah Collins (46:23.933)
Thank you.

Sarah Collins (46:28.797)
Sorry everybody.

Bill Dippel (46:30.181)
Today's an edit day.

Sarah Collins (46:32.281)
my gosh, you're really gonna have to edit.

Bill Dippel (46:35.161)
Yeah, you're still on your computer.

Sarah Collins (46:36.957)
Mm-hmm. Sorry.

Bill Dippel (46:45.189)
Try it again. Nope.

Sarah Collins (46:45.691)
You can mute while recording, but you can't switch mics. it won't let me switch mics while recording.

Bill Dippel (46:52.313)
So you disconnected it, it jumped to the other one, and now you're going to have that moment. Jump out. Jump out and come right back. OK.

Sarah Collins (46:58.109)
what you want me to do.

Okay.

Kay Markovic (47:07.616)
You're bouncing in and out. You know what you're doing.

Bill Dippel (47:10.379)
Yeah, yeah, so we're it's not I mean I'm gonna keep the recording going and then I'll have to snap it all together I'm not certain how I'm gonna do it with someone leaving and coming back. I've never edited that much So we're gonna find out how that looks in a minute. So but yeah

Kay Markovic (47:24.056)
Okay.

Bill Dippel (47:29.529)
So, but yeah, there it is. Now you're back.

Sarah Collins (47:29.617)
Bye.

Sarah Collins (47:33.727)
Hold on, she wants me to close my other Riverside windows real quick.

Sorry, sorry, man, today just wants to be a technical difficulty, right?

Bill Dippel (47:44.985)
Boy, you hit that mic by accident and your world just went offline. I don't know. I don't know what that one was. All right. So let me jump. Let me think about let's let's go this way. I'm going to count down and then we'll I'll use that as an edit. You guys ready? Three, two, one. So, Kay, I want to ask you on this front.

Sarah Collins (47:48.925)
Whoa, yeah

Sarah Collins (48:01.104)
Okay.

Bill Dippel (48:11.513)
We're talking about a lot of students and working with them I want to talk about your personal life for a second because you just came back From I think what all of us would consider a rock star vacation Can I can I say that is that is that a fair is that a fair assessment? Where was your vacation and by the way where I'm going with this is

Kay Markovic (48:24.62)
Yeah, sure. Sure.

Bill Dippel (48:32.389)
Did you plan it? Was it a futuristic let's go, go, go? Did you have to live in the present moment where you freaked out by things that happened that weren't planned futuristically? Where did you go and how did it play out?

Kay Markovic (48:46.282)
just got back from Croatia and we go there. Yeah, yeah, I would highly encourage everyone to get there. It's beautiful country. We go there every summer because my husband's from there. And so with he was an exchange student when he first came to the state and ended up staying and has been here almost 30 years, his entire family is back there. So if we didn't go back now that we've

Sarah Collins (48:48.271)
Wow.

Kay Markovic (49:14.296)
our kids are now in college. But if we didn't make it back there, the kids would never really know the Croatian side of the family. So that's where we were for, I was there for a month, the kids are in college, they're joining us when they can now. They're not really kids anymore, they're adults, but they are hopefully going to be able to manage coming and going and want to do that and stay connected as a family long term, we hope. So yeah, that's where we've been.

And it's funny that you ask if I worried about unexpected. Yes. Is that what that is? Yeah, all the time. I didn't know if we have trouble getting in and out, you know, with everything going on in the world right now and the conversations. I didn't know what was real. What was it? I just wasn't sure. Everything was fine. It was a nice trip. had a wonderful time. It was really relaxing. But there are

always things that I'm planning for and aware of. And in my personal life, my kids would just be rolling their eyes right now looking at each other laughing in the background if they could hear me. Because I'm always the like doomsday, okay, make sure that you have you're moving to Chicago and Nikki, that's my daughter. Make sure that you have pepper spray and you have like, like one of those whistles and what else do we need? If I turn my camera around right now.

You would see that in between travel, we've got this dorm hall, like growing over here in the background of my dining room. And I'm thinking about everything this young lady could possibly need for the next maybe 30 years of her life. My husband is just like, she's just going two hours away. It's not like we're not going to see her again, but she will be the most well-prepared college freshman I've seen.

Sarah Collins (51:09.113)
And you can hear your futuristic in that and what I love because you have positivity and I feel like positivity gets a misconception that people are always rose colored glasses. But listen to the realish. She is like, we need pepper spray because the futuristic is overriding it. Like you can say it with a happy bubbly personality, but you're like, you're not going to die.

Kay Markovic (51:30.616)
I was like, no doubt. mean, there are so many serious conversations that we need to have. Like, you're not going to go dabble with drugs and alcohol. Like, we cannot do that in 2025. Do you all the risks? They're just like, where do I get Narcan? Like, how do I buy that? Who do I call?

Sarah Collins (51:43.62)
Yes, they're putting fentanyl in everything, okay? Stay on the straight and narrow.

Sarah Collins (51:50.844)
You're right.

Bill Dippel (51:53.284)
How do I find my insurance? How does my insurance card work in Croatia?

Kay Markovic (51:58.017)
Yes, I told her and I refused to do it. You need to flip that card that I gave you over and this is where I get into my mom mode. Like this is serious business. Flip that card over and call that insurance company and make sure it works in Illinois because we live in Michigan. Has she done that? No, because she has a present moment. Girlie, like she is not thinking about the future the way that I am. So, you know, they love her dearly, but I am the biggest nag, I'm sure, for this 18 year old heading off to college.

Sarah Collins (52:27.356)
Well, I will tell you what, you are not alone. think we hear this push and pull the tension between futuristic and the present moment. And I want to go to our LinkedIn poll. When it comes to your mindset at work, where do you naturally live? That's what we asked the people on LinkedIn. And here's what they said. 27 % said that they are focused on today's task. 20 % said they're vision casting the future.

Kay Markovic (52:28.268)
that.

Sarah Collins (52:56.06)
27 % said they're balancing both and this was like in a good way and 27 % said they are pulled in both directions and that was sort of like in the chaotic way. So a lot of 27 % here today. We had Brittany Downey who is a minimalist CMO here out of Lincoln. She said hardcore always living in the future. It's exciting and it's hard because I don't often stop to appreciate what I'm doing now.

and all I've accomplished up until this point. And I think I see that with some of our futuristic people. of course it can vary depending on the other themes that they have, but I can see them not celebrating the accomplishments that they have and not really feeling like, okay, we've been working so hard to get here. They're just like, okay, and next and on. Like we got here, but what is happening tomorrow? What's happening next month? Kay, do you fall in that trap yourself?

Kay Markovic (53:55.171)
And yes, and I have to work on that. Yes, all of the above. As a teacher, if you look at my application and resume, it's like beyond. And sometimes I do take a moment, like when I applied for this newest position that I'm in and I was like, wait, on I'm tired. But it's funny because I don't do it for myself.

but I see it in my daughter, she's a high futuristic as well. And I keep saying to her, please, please do not do what I've done in my life. You must enjoy the day for the day. And then we're also, and I are both very hard on ourselves and perfectionistic tendencies come up all the time. And we're very detail oriented, which is nice if you're in a trade like marketing, but if you're doing other things where you have to be.

Sarah Collins (54:43.29)
Yeah.

Kay Markovic (54:53.282)
present moment getting tasks done, you don't feel like you did great every day when you don't stop and take a moment to really recognize and give yourself that.

Bill Dippel (55:02.391)
Celebrate yeah, yeah Well, so we've we've touched on futuristic in the present moment with you We've kind of hit on how you look at the future how you're kind of that guiding post for a lot of students Providing that futuristic and how maybe sometimes students are like Sarah and I and we need a moment to not get there Just saying okay. I'm just making an assessment Can we talk about when?

Maybe one of your themes has been a dumpster fire for you. Maybe it's futuristic and you're seeing that at this second. Maybe it's one of the others. When do you think one of your themes really gets in your way?

Kay Markovic (55:43.065)
Great question. I would have to say the one that gets in the way the most is my number one ideation. And the ideas, I've heard this reference for it it does fit so I like to use it. The ideas come like popcorn when you're at like a minute to two and a half and the whole bag is really popping out at the same time. And

I'm so glad, again, I'm so glad that I went through this class with you and that group bill because I didn't know what that was in myself. I didn't recognize it. I couldn't put a label on it. It's just everywhere all the time. And so if I'm at home with my daughter or my son or I'm at work at school or I'm in a professional organization, anywhere that I am,

When I hear that someone's struggling, I want to help. And here come the ideas. And I have found that like, my husband will say to me, and he loves me dearly, but he will say, nobody cares. Like, they didn't ask you, so don't tell them. And it does sound kind of harsh, but like over the years, I've cried about this. I've been heartbroken. I've been hurt. I question friendship sometimes because of the way that it has that impact of being just too much and too...

But I think that what I've learned in my ripe old age, I'm all the feels with my kids being gone now and being an empty nester next week. I think that what I've learned is the saying of when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I don't know if that makes sense. You can't bring this to

people is what I tell myself now until they're ready for it. So finding that patience to let myself have the ideas and an outlet for them that is safe for me as far as trusting people, friendships, professional dynamics, and then finding a place for it all within my life. So I do feel that's the one that has been much more challenging.

Sarah Collins (57:41.434)
Hmm?

Bill Dippel (58:01.069)
Wow, what a great breakdown of ideation and how that might play into that and how that might lead you to there. But we don't want to just leave a bad taste in your mouth about when one gets in your way. Give us a firework moment. Give us the one that when you're fully in the flow, that's the one that is really pushing the bright, shiny moments.

Sarah Collins (58:02.874)
Yeah.

Kay Markovic (58:23.136)
Yeah, I think that's my connectedness for sure. And the people connections and the energy that I get from meeting people. And I'm sure that comes from a blending of other other talents too in there. But I really feel like connectedness is the one that I'm grateful for just in my day to day life, like from my soul for like for all time. And I like what it gives me as far as my personal intuition, trust in myself.

Sarah Collins (58:42.288)
Yeah.

Kay Markovic (58:52.12)
personal guidance system, and just a love of humanity and people for who they are, and now pair it with being a strengths coach. And it is the greatest find really. And I did come back from that coaching course, a whole different person realizing I wasn't just like, I was the only high school teacher there. But I was like, my word, people do this for a living?

Sarah Collins (59:04.112)
Mm-hmm.

Kay Markovic (59:17.034)
and they are coaches and they're helping people all over the world in these huge corporations. I had no idea any of that was going on. So it was really a dream to uncover.

Bill Dippel (59:27.191)
Yeah, I'm not certain I knew it was happening that much too. I was there to be an embedded coach for somebody and then it's all it's all gone for me to be not embedded and loving it. Absolutely. Yeah.

Kay Markovic (59:33.272)
Kay Markovic (59:36.888)
I've loved watching this evolve in you. I have loved it.

Bill Dippel (59:42.473)
It's and you have been very helpful and supportive in the times we have communicated and talked. I would say I get probably more when I try to help you to do what you're doing. I learn more from you than I think you've ever learned from me and in being supportive and helpful and backing. So, you know, for that, I have to say thank you.

Kay Markovic (01:00:03.735)
Oh, yeah, thank you. I'm in awe. And I saw that you're using ClickUp. I was happy to see that.

Bill Dippel (01:00:11.442)
I am, how did you know I was using, I don't even look so.

Kay Markovic (01:00:14.24)
I don't know where I saw that. Something that you sent me had click up and I was like, yeah.

Bill Dippel (01:00:20.162)
yeah, does. Yeah, I am. Click up is the is the organizational tool we use internally among the coaches to keep us all straight and moving. So, yeah. So, well, Kate, I it has been unbelievably great to get back together with you. I have missed you so much since us being together in the physical space, but I've been so grateful the times we've been able to communicate and touch base. I

just miss the fact that we need to get together again and I need to come visit you or you need to come visit me. I think one of those has to happen.

Kay Markovic (01:00:53.432)
Thank

I agree. I agree. I would love that.

Bill Dippel (01:00:59.348)
Yeah, and your insights today, the idea that there is a real component between being futuristic and being present, how that plays for the other people in your life and how that plays for you has been really well put together today for you. So how how you how you live in that moment versus how sometimes you spot it? No, I've got to bring some other themes into this. So really powerful the way you've put that together for us today. So we want to thank you for that.

Kay Markovic (01:01:29.496)
Thanks for having me. This has been such a treat, such a pleasure. I appreciate it.

Bill Dippel (01:01:33.986)
No, I couldn't. Yeah, we. Yeah, we love having we love having great guests on and you're you've been a great one case. So thank you for that. So and with that, we're going to back out today, give Kay her day back and I'm going to go play golf, Sarah. So I guess I think I'm going to go do that. But with that, we're going to say goodbye to our arsonists, to Kay, to Sarah.

Sarah Collins (01:01:34.23)
Yes, thank you so much. We appreciate having you.

Kay Markovic (01:01:39.986)
to get into.

Sarah Collins (01:01:52.828)
Of course you are.

I hope you do.

Bill Dippel (01:02:02.361)
and we will talk soon.

Sarah Collins (01:02:03.868)
Bye!

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