96. Conscious Leadership at Work and in the World - Carley Hauck

4:54AM Mar 25, 2021

Speakers:

Becky Endicott

Jonathan McCoy

Carley Hauck

Keywords:

leader

people

companies

nonprofits

virtuous

conscious

world

women

men

happening

feel

create

ally

started

carly

conversation

love

cultivate

inclusive

community

Welcome back to The we're for good podcast. It's women of impact week presented by virtuous. It's day four. We're glad you're here.

Hey, I'm john.

And I'm Becky.

And this is the we are for good podcast.

nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

So let's get started.

Hello, everybody,

Becky, what's happening? I'm very excited. But he's been stalking our guests,

I have been stalking our guest online, because when you find someone who is an incredible writer, incredible human knows how to talk about things that are extremely complicated and tenuous in the sense that people don't want to talk about them, because they don't know how to respond. Our guest today goes bravely into those conversations. And I adore her for it, because the way that she says it is so humane, and really allows you to kind of learn and grow. And so I'm excited today because we have Carly halk on the podcast today. And not only is she an Ivy League, faculty member at Berkeley and Stanford, she is just this voice for conscious leadership in the world, and we are going to dive into what that means leadership and business. And I want to read a little bit of background for her. And I'm just so geeked out to get into the topics that we're going to cover today. But here's a little bit of background on Carley, she is a senior learning architect, leadership development consultant, author, speaker blog, I mean, just every title that is amazing that you could put there podcasters Yeah, podcaster. And she's really talking about and teaching the subject of leadership and business as a platform for positive change in the world. So she has worked with everybody from LinkedIn, genatech, Clif Bar, Pixar, Pixar, I mean, my hand goes to my heart when you talk about Pixar. And it's really just about like teaching people how to level up their leadership skills, how to be an inclusive manager, and just creating these very thriving workplaces. So she just shares that her passion for this topic, and just creating a workplace in a world that works for everyone. And prioritizes people and planet first led her to write this book called shine, and we're going to get in there into shine and what igniting your inner game to leading to consciously at work and at the world is all about it's dropping. February 23. But we have so much to talk about. So I'm going to stop and just say, Carly, welcome to our show. We are so glad you are here from Sedona in jealous about that as well.

That was such a beautiful introduction. Thank you. Oh, wow.

Well, thank you so much, because I really am curious about your journey. And how does this is conscious leadership conscious business is not like something you go to college to study. And so I'm really curious about your background and what led you to where you are today? Well, I

guess, you know, it starts off that I kind of have always been a little bit of a climate activist since I was really little. And I've just always had a very deep connection to Gaia to Earth, whatever you want to call it. And when I was growing up in Florida, I remember going for walks on the beach, where my parents were vacationing, you know, they were renting a condo in St. Augustine. And I'd see all this plastic, you know, and trash on the beach. And I immediately would start to find a bag that I you know, found just on the ground and I just loaded up with as much plastic as I could because I was really interested in marine life. And I knew that if sea turtles were going to eat this plastic and they normally would think it was jellyfish. So they would I just I didn't want them to die. And so I would bring these bags of trash back to my parents condo, because there were at the time I don't even remember there being like garbage receptacles on the beach, there was definitely not recycling. And my mother would go, what are you doing? Like, why are you bringing me all this trash? And I'd say Mommy, sea turtles are going to eat this and they're going to die. And that just kind of like started this, this path for me. And I had thought I wanted to be a marine biologist. And I realized I wasn't really good at being very gritty.

And I didn't

think that that might be the best Avenue and so what ended up happening is I started teaching a lot on meditation and how we can create our resiliency to stress because I've had a meditation practice, and a very deep spiritual practice since I was 19. And I was teaching a course on meditation in San Francisco. This was after grad school, and an HR director at littler Mendelson, which is a huge labor law firm all over the US. She saw this flyer that I had at this community center teaching a class on meditation, and she said, Can you teach meditation to lawyers? Can you teach lawyers how not to be so stressed, and my father had been a stressed out lawyer, which was actually why I started a meditation practice when I was so young, because I needed to find a different way and a different model to deal with stress. And I didn't want to, I didn't want to follow his model. And he didn't have the tools that I teach to so many leaders and companies at this time. So he was doing the best that he could, but I found a different way. And I got to go to this law firm, taught a bunch of these lawyers how to be less stressed. And it was great. And I thought, you know what, the best way that I can impact and influence the world in the most positive ways is working with people with power, and influence. And I really wanted to work through the path of leadership and business and really inspiring business to be a force for good. And I'll also just share that I haven't come out as directly as I am now about my reason for doing it, which is really to support more inclusion, more consciousness around how we're living in harmony or not in harmony with the planet right now. And I've kind of been brought in the doorway of like, let me help your managers, you know, be better, be more compassionate, be more generous. Let me create more well being and support more resilient. So there's less burnout, I'm we're really coming out more and more with the sustainability piece. And so it's nice to own that, because I didn't know how much companies were going to align with that. And I feel like now they are it's right time. That's a long answer to your questions like such an

answer to and I know Becky is thinking the same things I'm thinking we've got between us, I've got four little wins, Becky's got two that are very conscious of the planet too. And I think I love seeing their passions arise and get frustrated and not understand these topics, and really start to channel that, you know, we have a little Earth savers club upstairs, my kids because they want to get involved and take action. So I love I guess hearing kind of the zoomed out picture of what started as this passion in your heart before you even probably define it really carried you on this trajectory. Because it's such a powerful career path and understanding the levels at which you can really influence and make bigger, sweeping change. I think it's such a powerful story. So thank you so much for kind of diving into that I loved that narrative so much. Cuz you kind of you know, a lot of our listeners are in nonprofits, and they too have a cause that they feel very rallied around and they want to impact whether that is on climate change, something like that, or whether it's something real, hyper local, at a community level. I mean, where does someone start to bring conscious leadership into their organization, their boards, their team, etc?

Well, first, you want to have the leaders on board, right? Because they're, they're the decision makers, they're also going to be the people that are going to be modeling these new ways of being these new behaviors. So every company has a different culture and a different need. And so you know, whether it's that they want to have an environment where there's more psychological safety. And so being that people feel safe to really speak up to share their experiences, their views, there's no harm, there's no punishment. There's no reprimand. When there's more psychological safety, there's more trust, there's more inclusion, there's more belonging. Most companies want that because if we feel safe, we're going to actually feel safe to take a risk, we're also going to feel safe enough to say, hey, that idea is not a good one. Let's not put that product to market, because it's it's not actually going to be effective or successful. And so I think it starts again, with leaders. And then depending on what that particular culture or that leadership or company needs, there's lots of different interventions and trainings and programs that can be offered. But then what I would say is it has to be something they're committing to for the long run like it can't just be One, stop shop training and be like, okay, Carly just trained us on how to lead from compassion for two hours or now we know how to navigate our triggers, because we did a two day training on it. But how are you holding those new practices accountable? How are you all actually really committing to the behavior change over the long run. And so when I like to work with leaders and companies, I usually set it up for a year. And usually there's, you know, some individual coaching, and some group experiences, and I'm working more with senior leadership. But I've also created large scale manager development programs, implemented, like big mindfulness programs for the whole culture. And I also have done a lot around ally skills as well.

I love this conversation so much, and it completely aligns with so much of who we are as a company, and just this notion of making a seat at the table for everyone. And I am loving this phrase of psychological safety. Because we are in a psychologically tenuous place right now, I feel like not even just as a country, but as a world right now. And all of us, I would say, have some measure of anxiety of, of trying to unpack everything that's happening to us from, you know, an economic standpoint, a health standpoint, a political standpoint. And without having that psychological safety net. at work. I mean, I, I have seen people just completely go within themselves, and feel so isolated and alone. And when you have a leader that allows you to feel safe in that space. I just absolutely love what you said about the vibrancy that can flow from that the honesty that comes from that the trust the the willing to embrace risk. And to me, that is where really progressive nonprofits, organizations, businesses are going to thrive. So I love that you threw that out there. And I wonder if there's just someone that you have seen who's doing this really well, like a leader who is living this idea out? Is there someone that sticks out to you? Well,

so in my book shine, I highlight these qualities that we all can cultivate, to become a more conscious and inclusive leader. And I'll just say that leadership isn't about a title either. You know, you don't have to be a CEO, you don't have to be starting your own company. A leader is really just about, there's this thing that I feel really passionate about, and I want to do something about it. And I want to leave and be the change to make the world a better place. And so this can be applied to so many different areas, whether that's you being a mother, whether that's you being a financial accountant, a teacher, or that you want to start a business or that you're you know, leaving a nonprofit. And, but one of the leaders that I have highlighted in the book, there's nine that I really have gotten to know over time, and I really feel are embodying these conscious and inclusive ways of being. One is Marc Benioff. Marc Benioff is the CEO. I believe his title now is co founder maybe of Salesforce. And Salesforce is a huge tech company. They also started off with a foundation of generosity where they give a lot of charity to nonprofits to causes that they really, you know, commit to and believe in. So there's kind of that thread that I think aligns this this is actually a quote by Marc Benioff that I share in my book, we are part of an integrated holistic system, which is the global economy. And so Salesforce strongly believes that companies and CEOs have to be activists, as a CEO, if you're not doing that, in today's world, you're making a mistake. And what I believe he means by activist is really stepping forward, speaking up showing up holding things, countable when there could be hurt and harm, right, which could be around social justice, or environmental stewardship. And so in 2015, and this is a way that he has really shown up I think, in this authentic way, but also as as a male ally. In 2015, the then Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, who we knew who was just our vice president, he signed a bill that would allow companies to deny service to LGBTQ i a folks and when Mark heard about this He became very upset. And he took a really brave stand and threatened to withdraw his company's investment from the state of Indiana. Unless they overturn to this bill and how he put pressure on Mike Pence was he gathered a lot of his colleagues that were also CEOs of big companies, and said, we have to fight this bill. And so because of that, Mike did overturn the the ruling. And then LGBTQIA customers were not denied services just because of their sexual orientation. So that shows a big stand for what matters to him. And that creates, I believe, a lot more safety and trust within his shareholders, but also the people that work for him.

Hey, friends, women of impact week is presented by virtuous and they just happened to be one of our favorite companies. You know, we believe everyone matters. And we believe the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you see and activate donors at every level. And our friends at virtuous created a fundraising platform to help you do just that. virtuous is the only responsive fundraising platform designed to help nonprofit teams build better donor relationships and increase impact with confidence. Plus, their number one core value is team and family. So this week, we're excited to highlight a few of the phenomenal women and clients within their family. Today we're talking to one of virtuous his own director of customer success. nag Beltran.

Well, there's still work to be done in regards to women in leadership, I do feel encouraged and empowered by seeing women be successful in leadership roles today, they continue to pave the way for women such as myself, and to prove that we are valued, we are heard, we are appreciated, and we do make an impact. my female friends and family members are all heroes, to me having conversations about professional development with women where we know each other very well personally, our personalities, her quirks, allows us to be vulnerable and constructive with each other in a way that we can grow together as professionals and as leaders in the workspace. Generally speaking, powerful things can happen when women lift up other women. And we should all strive to do exactly that whenever possible. My favorite way that virtuous is able to serve our clients is by really understanding who they are, what they do, and then determining how we virtuous can play a part in that. We recognize that ultimately, they're here to do more good in the world. And unless we are able to build a relationship with them and truly understand their needs, can we begin to provide advice and solutions for fully leveraging our platform in the process, we focus on the why instead of just the what, which allows us to serve our nonprofits in a well rounded and in depth way. I

love that example. Because you know, I think it's so beyond just adding the check mark that we're inclusive, or just saying certain things or having these kind of talking points. It goes beyond even having the value and your company, but it's actually like living it out actually taking something that could be somewhat risky to business, and stand making a really hard stand for the values that you say that you're for. And so I love that you're lifting that example, I know, as CEO of a company here. I know so much of what we're faced with and trying to make decisions that are good for your business and good for the future. It's a lot about the inner work. And you camp out on this all the time of like, you know, what are you filling your mind with? What are your mindsets? What are how are you posturing yourself toward all of this. And I wonder if you would just kind of give some, I guess advice of where to start as a leader of how to do some of that internal work to prepare to make those kind of hard decisions that could be controversial in some regards, or cost you some business.

When I talk about the the inner work and I loved you, you brought that up, or I call it the inner game. And I'm not the first person to use that term, but the inner game rules the outer game. So if you are not aware, for example of your biases, if you're leaving from fear, and not from love, if you're not prioritizing self care, all of that has an effect on how you show up in the outer game. And so there's lots of different skills that we can cultivate. But I have found in my work with leaders and lots of companies in the last decade that there's six that I feel are really this recipe for a conscious, inclusive leader. And so that's self awareness, emotional intelligence, resilience, love. Yes, I'm using love in the essence of business, well being and authenticity. And so how do we increase those qualities? Well, we have to kind of just recognize where we are, and really embrace where we are. And from that place, then we can start to cultivate what we're lacking, right? What are our strengths? What are our weaknesses? How do we take care of our well being in the past year? That was really hard for many people, you know? How is our emotional intelligence, you know, are we able to really tune in to our feelings and needs, and then be aware of the other person's feelings and needs? Can we manage our own emotions when we're in the midst of conflict and trigger and, and calm ourselves down, so that we can be actually the calm in the storm, so to speak. And so there's, there's so many different ways that we can cultivate this. But what I've seen over and over again, is that, the more that we cultivate these, and we deepen them, they really have an incredible positive impact, and how we create safe and trusting cultures, how we're aligned with what really matters, which at the end of the day is people its planet, it's like, how are we surviving and thriving in this planet together? How can I actually be of benefit to you to your life, because we're all in this together, like, we've seen that even more than ever, what's happening in India, what's happening in China, we are not separate, we are all sharing the same resources, we're all sharing the same virus. We are in this together, how do we come together and really like love each other and support each other and support the planet.

This is such a timely conversation, and I am soaking all of it up. Because it also makes me feel that if you are someone who wants to subscribe to being a conscious leader, one of the first steps you have to do is come at it with a level of humility. And I really like that you say that we have to kind of do some self reflection on our own biases. And and the things that we don't even know or recognize that we do. And a lot of that, to me is about listening and about understanding shared experience. And what I am in is experiencing as a human is something entirely different from someone in India, and how can we, you know, bridge that gap a little bit. And you're right, the only way to do it is being kind being authentic, being curious. And being someone that says My way is not necessarily the right way or your way, it is just a way and we need to figure out how we can somehow find common ground because the second that we start to isolate the second, we start to create hierarchy, that that's when when harmony cannot exist, it really can't. And so I love this concept of leveling the playing field. And I have to I want to transition a little bit to ally ship. And I want to go back to this because I read this blog post, which we will include in the show notes. And I just and I just loved it so very much. And there are white men listening right now who are saying, I don't know how to act right now. And I look at someone like even my husband who had is a dad of daughters, and he wants to be someone that fights for their rights. He wants to fight for marginalized people. And, and he is feeling a little bit in this era of what do I do? And how do I show up in a way where I can I can use my position of power and privilege to help lock arms with women with marginalized populations. And how do I use my position for good? So please talk a little bit about that because you have a wealth of information. And I know there are people listening who don't want to feel like they have their white men have to, you know, I'm like if you can see me on the video, I'm crumbling myself down into a ball. We don't want them to go into a ball. Yeah, we want them to vibrantly to your book's title shine alongside of us. How can we help these men shine? Well, I

love that you love that article, because it took me probably four months of research to write it. A part of it was that in my writing of this book, I really realized that we could not create a more inclusive, just equitable world, unless we really enrolled with men, because men have the majority of the leadership positions in companies and organizations. And when we have a more diverse group of people at the top, those companies are also more successful, because they're seeing the perspective and experience and they're bringing, you know that view and that lens that worldview to the table we need everyone right now the complexities we have in this world. We need to have lots of different For views and, and people's, you know, opinions on that, I have been really kind of on trying to understand where did this toxic masculinity come from? Because we've seen the me to movement. And so what's the opposite of that? And why have we can down to this and allow this to be this way for so long. And I'll just speak frankly, I feel like women have a really strong role in saying, stop. That's enough. And I feel like we somehow lost our voice along this journey. And so I want to empower women, to, to stand up, to have the hard conversations that we need to have with men, and to enroll them to be allies, there are lots of men that say, I don't want to be that kind of man, I don't, I don't actually even get along with those kinds of men, you know. And so if you read this article, I speak to the man box, I speak to what I've learned about it, and why we've had this culture of men in our world. And I have so much empathy for also what men have had to go through like this the system in place that has said, it's not okay for men to have feelings. So there's been a lot of emotional suppression. And then the feeling that has been condoned is anger. And we see men expressing that know in various ways, or we've seen men not expressing that. And so how we can enroll men to be allies is by acknowledging their great efforts, when they do speak up when they when they do show that they want to show up for women for LGBTQIA. We invite them to these events, we appreciate them. And I want to just share an example of another male ally was sharing about Marc Benioff. But this is another man that is also highlighted in the in the article that you're going to be linking to. So this googly. I'm Betsy and I met at this conference called the better man conference, this has publicly claimed himself to be an ally, with his leadership team with his direct reports, he sees himself as a balance of masculine and feminine qualities. He says, I am my mother's son. And in his role as an ally, he is straightforward. Asking women people of color, and LGBTQIA, folks, how he can support them how he can be in service. And he will often say, I know you need my voice, how can I be your voice, and I still get just like goose bumps, he is inserting himself to really show up for people because he understands his privilege. He understands his power, as his identity as a white cisgendered heterosexual man who has a certain level of seniority. You know, whoever read that article, I hope will be inspired by his example of being a conscious and inclusive leader.

I just really liked that story. I appreciate it. And I love this just call to arms, you know, to just in in, I think you break it down. So well. And I mean, you talk about we've got to raise our expectations about education and inclusion, we've got to invite men to the table to to be a part of these conversations. We can't have conversations about women's rights without men being at the table. We've got to encourage more positive interactions. And and I just thank you for saying this and for going into this topic, because I have to tell you, we had a client, who looked at me back in September and said he's a Ed of a nonprofit. And he said, should I not be the face Should I step back and let one of my female board members start to be the face of our organization. And I appreciated that he said that. But that, to me is not the right thing to do. You are still the leader and you can still step into that space. And even Julie sent I thought a great quote to us the other day that a woman had even broken down our industry to say all the theory and development and fundraising I mean, the practicum the strategy was built in the 70s and 80s, for us to go and ask powerful white men for money and for these gifts of philanthropy. And so I very much feel that we're sitting in this space right now where the nonprofit industry is ripe for very bold thinking for people who want to have a table where everyone is included, feels empowered one we need to have conscious leadership. And I just think this is a beautiful conversation. So thanks for sharing that.

Well one of the qualities that you mentioned. stuck out to me is love. And I love that you felt like you needed to say yes, I really am talking about love in the boardroom, right. But to us that word comes up a lot when we look at the word philanthropy, you know, which just at its core means the love of humanity or mankind, whatever word you want to say. So I just wonder if there's a story of philanthropy that stuck with you, you know, something that's so much of a narrative of our podcast, what's a story of witnessing either personally, or an organization that has really resonated with you?

There's so many there's so many wonderful nonprofits, but one that I really respect and honor his Earth justice. And so their tagline is, the earth needs a really good lawyer. So what essentially they're doing is they're suing the federal government to enforce and hold accountable laws that protect the environment. And they had a 82% win rate in the last year with government appointed judges who are basically saying, Yeah, the government's breaking the law, and I'm a government appointed judge, and I'm siding with you, you know, you're you're actually showcasing what's real, and what's true. So they're a wonderful example. And we we need to have people supporting and protecting the earth when we're not actually staying in alignment with those commitments.

You know, Carly, we like to ask all of our guests, what is one good thing that you could impart to our community, it's maybe a piece of advice to hack, what's one good thing you would offer to our listeners today,

when we feel discomfort when we experience stress, when there's a challenge, we often are focusing on me, not the we, you know, we go right into survival. But when we can acknowledge the fear, and breathe, just breathe, like calm our nervous system down, relax, when we are in a more relaxed receptive state, we see the we, and that's where we need to really incline the mind. And the heart is this person who looks different than me, who, you know, has a different lived experience. That person, in many ways is just like me, they want clean air, they want clean water, they want to feel loved and accepted, they want to be in service in some way, likely that is benefiting the whole? And what if I could actually really see that this person is not so different than me? And then how do I act in service of this person? You know, how do I seek the good? How can I come from curiosity, because there is a lot of healing that we need to do in this country and in this world. And if we're still in this, I'm on this side, and they're on this side, we're not going to get there, we're in a very potent transitional transformational time. And we've got a lot of work ahead of us. And so I guess what I'm really saying is, we need to lead from more love. And that starts here. So when I feel the fear, and myself when I have been maybe attacked or criticized or that other person is coming from fear, right? They're coming from I know best because that happens to their othering me, how can I actually just turn towards that difficulty with love with compassion for myself? Because the more I can do that, and go, you know what, they're just upset. This isn't personal. They're having some experience? How can I sue that feeling? and myself, and then see the bigger picture of what's really happening for them? And how can I still show up with this conscious way of leading from love?

I mean, you were such an such time, late space, you know, with these messages when I think we're all looking for a way to rally together. So I love the narrative that you've shared with us today so much, and I know you already have a fan club, but you're gonna have a bigger fan club now, from today's conversation, how can people find you online and get a hold of your book.

So if you go to lead from light.com, you will get subscribed to my newsletter, which will give you a free Handbook of how to be a conscious leader. But you'll also have access to my bi weekly podcast, and all these wonderful events. So thank you, I really look forward to being in service to you and having you join my community. We all need to be leaders right now.

I just love this call to love that's really been the thread of this entire conversation. So I really thank you for coming into this community and spreading your light and encouraging us to shine. Thank you.

It's been an honor. Thank you.

Thank you, so lovely to meet you.

Wow,

thank you.

Thanks so much for listening to today's conversation. We hope Carly has inspired you to look within and channel your values to become a conscious leader for good. Did you know every week we share our best roundup of content, freebies and notes heard on every episode, head on over to weird for good calm slash hello to join our mailing list. You'll hear from Us Weekly with resources and tips to help you do more for your mission. And if you love what you heard today, would you mind stop what you're doing and hit subscribe? It really does help more people find us and join our community. Thanks so much friends. Our production hero is the most conscious leader we know Julie Confer Hello, and our theme song is sunray by Remy boys Ben direct this week do gooders