360-SYB-Tenice-Wehmeyer-Cherie-Mylordis.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
You know how important support and accountability are to achieving bigger things. What if you saw potential competitors as thought partners? Instead, listen in to my conversation with Tenice Wehmeyer and Cherie Mylordis on this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Hi and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox. Do you sometimes wonder if what you talk about and you’re speaking, or what you do in your business is unique? Well, most likely it’s not that unique. There are lots of other people who do what you do in your business and who talk on similar topics. And that’s okay, because as they say, there’s nothing new under the sun. We all do similar things, especially within our particular industries. But now, have you ever collaborated with someone who is in your same industry who does similar work? Now, at first glance, it may seem counterproductive to do this because maybe they’re kind of competitors. Maybe you could be going after similar clients or similar types of work. But what if you could change your perspective on this and see them not as competitors, but as collaborators that can actually boost both of your businesses in the speaking and work that you do? Well, my two guests today went through the Thought Leader Academy about a year ago, in the fall of 2022.
Carol Cox:
They’re both executive leadership coaches, and so again, they might seem like they do the same type of work in the same industry, but as they discovered, they can actually help each other quite a bit. Tenice Wehmeyer is the founder of Wehmeyer Leadership Coaching, where she focuses on helping cultivate vulnerability based trust and courage for brain friendly collaboration. She has over 25 years of experience in corporate, HR and leadership development, and she has delivered numerous impactful workshops, virtual sessions, individual coaching, and lots more, influencing thousands of leader leaders. Using her strategic three step framework to create dynamic ripples of influence. My other guest is Cherie Mylordis, who was on this podcast earlier this year. Cherie is based in Sydney, Australia, and she’s a business transformation expert at leadership coach and a speaker. She’s the founder of Next Gen Wi-Fi, where she helps future focus leaders innovate, transform and thrive with a unique contemporary approach. When she was on the podcast back earlier this year, we talked about her experience planning the Sydney Olympics that were held back in the year 2000. So definitely go back and listen to that episode as well and let me chat with both of you, Tenice and Cherie about this idea of collaboration over competition. So, Tenice, as I mentioned, you and Cherie met when you went through the Thought Leader Academy together. Clearly, you’re both in the leadership coaching space. So I sent you both an email while you’re in the Thought Leader Academy, suggesting that you two connect and to see if there were any, you know, synergies to use a business speak between you two. And what did you find?
Tenice Wehmeyer:
You know, it was quite interesting because you recognized that both of us were in similar spaces and that our messages were indeed kind of aligned as well as our target audiences being aligned. But what was really neat about connecting with Cherie was the fact that we do have similar thoughts around thought leadership. Our messages are somewhat aligned, but as a solopreneur it gets kind of lonely out there, which I think most of us can recognize. And so being able to have that thought partner to bounce ideas off of, to think about our strategies and to to be a safe space to kind of partner. And we we think about our clients, we take our own learning experiences and share them with one another in order to help each one of us grow.
Carol Cox:
Tonight. I appreciate what you mentioned about having a thought partner, especially someone who is in the same industry as you, because obviously you have an understanding of the challenges not only that your similar clients face, but also within your own businesses. So, Cherie, what have you found working with Tenice as a thought partner?
Cherie Mylordis:
Well, I think we just built an instant connection and it was really that generosity of spirit. I think we we felt that you had connected us for a reason. And so we were just all in from the beginning. We started by sharing our draft signature talks. So we used each other as a bit of a rehearsal buddy when we were preparing for our upcoming calls. And, and, you know, the next step in our thought leader Academy journey. And it just evolved from there. And we decided to keep in touch afterwards because we felt that, well, firstly, we had a common language because we had been through the Thought Leader Academy together. But secondly, we were just sources of support in our work and so we saw only upside to it, to be honest.
Carol Cox:
And then, you know, obviously, as I mentioned earlier on, even though you’re in the same industry and, you know, have the same umbrella topic, obviously you have very different angles, different methodologies, different approaches that you take. So, Tenice, can you talk a little bit about your methodology, your approach that you work with your clients and tell us a little bit about who those clients are?
Tenice Wehmeyer:
Absolutely. One of the things that’s interesting is my primary business. I do a lot of one on one coaching, but also do programs. So I facilitate leadership development programs where we’re looking at teaching an entire group of leaders. And some of the research that Cherie has done about the future of work has actually been extremely powerful in helping me, not only in my one on one coaching, but as I’ve designed my workshop in looking at how India leaders are the future of our leadership, and we have to be comfortable with our own leadership and know that our leadership and our vision for leadership success is what’s going to help make us successful. And so knowing that the research is there, that there’s, you know, all of the leaders in that research document that are looking at the future of work differently, it just helps all leaders really realize they’re not alone and that they are having similar challenges that many of the other leaders out there are doing that in itself, you know, kind of ironically, but it’s a sigh of relief to say, you know what? I’m not the only one that’s having this challenge with my team or with communication or feedback or whatever that particular challenge is that they’re having when they see that other people and other leaders are having that same challenge, there’s almost an ability for them to lean in and say, okay, I’m not alone. Help me get to where I want to go.
Carol Cox:
Cherie, Tenice mentioned about this future of work, study and project, and I know when you were on the podcast earlier this year in episode 317, you talked about a research project that you had done, and we took some of those case studies into your signature talk. And then I know that you did. You did an a follow up to this. I think it must have been a few months ago, well, over our summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, your winter in the southern hemisphere. So talk to us about the update of your project and how that informs the work that you do with your clients.
Cherie Mylordis:
Sure, yes. So I did interview 120 leaders in your summer of last year, and then I decided to follow up and just see if anything had changed because, you know, we were in quite unusual times trying to emerge out of the pandemic. So I was really interested in following up. So I did a follow up survey. And so all in all, I have input from 200 leaders around the world who talked about whether they were able to do their best work and the reasons why, and really, nothing much had changed. And it was also very interesting because I had input from leaders across 24 countries, and there were no specific differences really, depending on what country they were in. And I think for the first time, the whole world has been emerging out of this chaotic few years and looking to the future. And so the themes were very consistent across country and industry and and even across a whole spectrum of leadership levels. So the really key themes that came through were purpose and strategy, whether that was there or not, really had a profound impact on whether people could do their best work, because it was it set the scene for everything else. And then the second piece was the leadership and culture. Really, people don’t want to be micromanaged. They don’t want that traditional, you know, top down command and control leadership.
Cherie Mylordis:
They want more autonomy. They want more trust. They want that clear purpose. Some direction, and then they want that space to to figure out how to do that. And then finally the work environment and wellbeing came through. People’s thresholds and levels of tolerance have profoundly changed since the pandemic. They are not prepared to tolerate things that they were putting up in the past, and some really alarming things came through there like, you know, bullying and toxic work cultures that really shouldn’t have been in place anyway. In some cases they’re breaching, you know, workplace laws. But people are now saying, my threshold has changed. And so I turned all of that into a white paper and very happy to share the findings of my research. And that has led to some very interesting conversations with Tenice. One that comes to mind was when she had recently been to a conference and watched a speaker who talked about Gen Z, and the fact that some Gen Z professionals don’t want to be leaders. And what we unpacked on that was, perhaps they don’t want to be the leaders that they see, but perhaps if they can be in a more progressive culture with more autonomy, that might be a different proposition for them.
Carol Cox:
Oh, that’s so that’s a really great example of this thought partnership. Right. Like changing this information and kind of helping each other develop in areas where one of you maybe has done some research or has worked with clients in that particular area. Now I have a question. Let me start with you, Tenice. I’m going to ask both of you this. You work, you know, you live and work in different, literally opposite sides of the world. Tennis. You’re in Texas, Cherie’s in Australia, you know, almost opposite time zones. So you could say you’re not really competitors in that sense because most likely clients who are based in Australia or in that part of the world are it’s going to be hard timezone wise, much less, you know, in person wise to do that. So Tenice if Cherie lived in the United States, would this partnership have been as likely to have formed?
Tenice Wehmeyer:
You know what, Carol? I really think my answer is yes because of the connection. And so it didn’t really. Our biggest challenge is, you know, are you. I need to I need to move our call a little bit. Is this too early for you? Is this too late for. You mean that’s our biggest challenge? But the when we connected it was that trust and that rapport and just that partnership. And what I think is interesting is anytime I’m engaging with a leader on a one on one coaching engagement, one of the most, if not the most important aspect of our coaching partnership and our coaching relationship is that rapport. Do we feel like we can trust one another? Can we be open and honest and transparent and completely? You know, the leader has to be willing to be vulnerable with some of the struggles that they’re having with me. And so you have to have that relationship. And just as I would not take on a coaching client if we did not have that trusting relationship, I believe that Cherie and I have that relationship. And, you know, the fact that we’re, you know, in different time zones or across the world is is really kind of irrelevant. This is a global workspace.
Carol Cox:
Cherie, what about you?
Cherie Mylordis:
I agree 100%. I don’t think proximity had anything to do with whether we wanted to connect and think boundaries are blurring. You know, clients work in global organizations, and so it’s not such an issue about where someone is located. And often our work is virtual. I think also we’re trying to amplify our impact. So developing our signature talk, perhaps developing other more scalable programs, our clients could be anywhere. And so I think it’s about recognizing that we have certain styles of how we do our work. We have a certain niche or a niche, as you would say, that we work in. And so it’s about acknowledging that and recognizing that. And if we come back to what really drives us, I think we have common ground there. So I think we’re very purpose driven. I think we’re very values aligned. And I think we’re also very outcomes focused. And, you know, there are plenty of problems to solve out there. There are plenty of organizations that need to evolve their leadership and perhaps look at more contemporary, more authentic ways of leading. And so it’s more that generosity of spirit and that abundance approach rather than that scarcity mindset. I think that that fuels us.
Carol Cox:
Well, want to ask you next then, is about what for the for those who are listening. And if they are, they too want a thought partner, an accountability partner to help them, whether it’s someone who’s in the similar industry or maybe even someone who’s not, what are the things to look for? So we’ve talked about trust and rapport and values. Is it should we put together like a dating profile or a questionnaire like, or how, you know, how how how would you go about finding someone? Tenice I’ll start with you.
Tenice Wehmeyer:
You you know, I think the trust and rapport and those type of things that you mentioned are definitely top of mind. I think one of the things that connects and keeps Cherie and I connected is the place we are in our businesses. We are both in a place where we are really looking to accelerate and grow our businesses. And Cherie talks about her, you know, big, hairy, audacious goals that she has. And and we share those goals. And I think because we’re at the same kind of stage and being aggressive, that accountability piece of it. So we can really check in with one another on those goals that we’re trying to hold each other accountable for and make sure that we, you know, are are really staying true to those. And I think that’s one of the things that’s really important is are we at the same stage in our business?
Carol Cox:
And, Cherie, you know, thinking about this idea of where where listeners can go seek out or find or kind of get to know potential thought accountability partners.
Cherie Mylordis:
Yes, I think well, something like the Thought Leader Academy is a perfect example because we’re like minded people. We are women who have something that’s purpose driven, that we’re trying to amplify, and we’re doing this program for that reason. So there’s an affinity between the people that we’re we’re joining the program with. And so there’s an instant connection. So I would suggest in addition to that, you know, where might people like you show up, what forums might you join? There could be online meetups. There could be other groups, other, you know, chambers of commerce or other networking groups. So I would encourage your listeners to seek out places that people that they might have an affinity with, might go to and get to know people and just see who you form a connection with and just, you know, informally get to know them and then see perhaps whether that relationship might evolve. I think when you’re a solopreneur, it can be quite lonely. Sometimes you don’t necessarily have that. A team to bounce ideas around. So finding someone that you can do that with and that will hold you accountable and vice versa is a really helpful approach to set up.
Carol Cox:
That’s a great point, Cherie, about looking for groups that have like minded people in them. So thinking about like, you know, what’s. What’s driving you your values. And then to Tenice’s point, where are you in your business? You know, what stage are you at? If you’re brand new, that’s going to be a little bit different than if you’re further along into your business journey. So I think those things to keep in mind are really important. All right. So I would like to know I’d like to talk a little bit about the accountability part. So we talked about, you know how your your brainstorming and maybe bouncing ideas off of each other and things like that. But there’s also the accountability piece. And you have big audacious goals that you want to accomplish. So, Tenice, what are some ways that Cherie has helped you to maybe even set bigger goals for yourself and then to work towards achieving them?
Tenice Wehmeyer:
You know, I think one of the the biggest things and when I think about accountability, I think a lot of times we are responsible for holding ourselves accountable at the core and simply sharing what you plan on doing and sharing your goals is a piece of holding yourself accountable. So what we have set up, and I don’t think we’ve really mentioned this, is we have monthly calls set up. So that’s the cadence that we typically have. And I’ll come up on planning my goal and or planning the call. And I’m like, okay, what did Cherie and I talk about? Have I done what I told her I was going to do? And sometimes simply that is enough to get me refocused in the direction that I need to go in order to make sure I committed to her, that this was what I was going to do, and she’s going to ask me about it, and I want to be able to give her a good answer. But I do have to even say we’ve adjusted some of our shared goals, because we’ve realized in the very beginning we kind of had some goals that we weren’t quite ready for yet. But together we we were able to say, you know what? I think we need to do these other few steps. And some of it was, I’m just going to go out there. Our very first thing is we’re going to be on a on the Ted stage. So we are both going to be on a Ted stage at some point in time, no matter what. But what we realized were there are a few steps that we needed to do before that. So we shifted our goals to let’s make sure we have one, two and three done. Then we’ll move to the goal of the Ted stage.
Carol Cox:
Okay. Yeah, that’s a great, great practical example. And I love this idea. I agree, just having to show up for a call with someone and knowing that now obviously they’re not going to be disappointed in you, but you’re going to be disappointed in yourself. Yes. That’s right. All right. Cherie. Big goals. Tell us about them.
Cherie Mylordis:
Yes. Well, Ted is one of them. And Tenice and I, you know, we both built a signature talk and that was something that we fine tuned and evolved together through our our catch up sessions. That’s one of the things that we wanted to hold ourselves accountable for. And I recently went to TEDx Sydney, which was an amazing experience to actually be in the room with incredible speakers. And I really wanted to get that new feel, that energy, rather than just watch the talks online. And so yeah, we both decided we would like to, you know, seek out TEDx events and use that as a stepping stone to, you know, our big audacious goals and support each other in doing that. So, you know, we share tips, we share resources. Because, again, yes, we’re in a similar space, but it’s a very broad space. And our our talks are very different. And so again, it’s that spirit of support and helping each other succeed. And there are different times, you know, when we need different things from each other. And so there’s often a question during a call which is, well, how might I help you. What do you need? What’s going on with you? And so it’s that check in and then making sure that we’re using the time well. And sometimes, you know, one person might take more time than another, but then it might be different in a subsequent call. So yeah, I think it’s about the Ted and scaling our businesses further to again attract clients and impact leaders beyond our physical proximity. As we mentioned earlier.
Carol Cox:
Let’s talk about a little bit of the practical aspects of these monthly calls, because, you know, again, like I’m thinking about it for myself and for those listening that you obviously don’t want it to feel too kind of loose, because then you’re less inclined to keep up with the cadence if it doesn’t feel as being useful. So do you have an agenda ahead of time? Do you kind of know, do you have like a set things like at the top of the call, we do this and then we do this and then we end the call with this. Do you have an agenda like that? Tenice.
Tenice Wehmeyer:
It’s probably not that structured. We probably could use a little more structure around it to. To be honest, it’s not that structured, but one of the things that we do is we do kind of a general check in to start with. And because a month has typically gone by, sometimes there is something completely new that surfaces. And so one of the things that as Cherie was just talking that was extremely helpful for me is she submitted a speaker proposal a few months ago, and she had an extremely creative way of writing the proposal. And so the call actually started out with kind of just the what’s going on? And she said, well, I submitted a speaker proposal to this and said, oh, tell me more about it. I said, I really am trying to find out creative ways to write my proposals because you’ve got to be creative to get selected. And so she actually shared that structure with me and shared her creativity around how she wrote the proposal. And it was tremendously helpful. And it was it really was one of those kind of more on the spot ideas that came into our call. So there are some times we could probably use some structure that we don’t have. But you know what? There are also times where we say, you know what, we may not have months. Let’s just check in and then we don’t waste each other’s time to continue. We may go. That’s enough. We’ll talk next month.
Carol Cox:
Okay, that makes sense. All right, I like that. And also, with just the two of you, you probably don’t need as much structure as you would if there were multiple people involved.
Tenice Wehmeyer:
True.
Carol Cox:
All right, so both of you went through the Thought Leader Academy. Cherie, let me have you share with the listeners a little bit about your experience. Why did you decide to join in the first place, and what do you think was the most useful aspect of it for you?
Cherie Mylordis:
Sure. Well, I discovered you through your podcast actually was really just looking for new content to listen to while I’m out and about walking and etcetera. And I found your podcast and I just really became quite, you know, obsessed almost with all of the, the episodes and all of the tips and your generosity of what you share about speaking, because it was really the next thing I wanted to master. So I’m a very accomplished and experienced facilitator presenter, but that’s quite different to getting up and giving a signature talk. And so I knew I wanted to fine tune that, and I wanted to learn from someone who was an expert in doing that. There was a little bit of a concern about the time zone, but but that all worked out. And so yeah, the podcast was a great way to find out more about what you did and felt like I had gained as much as I possibly could. But then I wanted that coaching and that support with my own talk and to help get that help with evolving it. So that’s why I joined. And yeah, I really found this wonderful community of women who were all passionate about something, and it was a wonderful way to to learn more about what, you know, these other women are doing and how they’re trying to amplify their voice through speaking.
Carol Cox:
Tenice not only did you go through a thought Leader Academy, you also attended our in-person client retreat, Speaking Intensive, that we hold in February in Orlando. You did the 1 in 2023. We have another one coming up in February 2024. Why? So you went to the theater academy. You decided to come to the retreat. Why did you decide to come to the in-person retreat? What were you hoping to get out of it, and what was your experience like being there with us?
Tenice Wehmeyer:
It was an amazing experience. I’ll just start off with that. But really, what I was hoping to get is, as Cherie talked about, really working on your thought leadership message through the online Thought Leadership Academy is fantastic. And one of the things not only learning or listening to similar other thought leaders like Cherie and I are, but listening to someone who is in a completely different industry and how they amplify their message. That in itself is also extremely helpful. And so part of what I wanted to be able to do is take my notes away, be able to be on the stage in front of the audience and deliver my message without the notes, without the prompts, and just truly in a form or a way that, you know, I would deliver it to a real audience, and being able to do it in a space, in a community. And that’s what I really think about all of these, whether it’s speaking your brand, the Thought Leadership Academy, The Retreat, they’re all communities of women who are wanting to amplify their voices and being in that space where you can practice and learn and grow during that time was a fabulous experience. I think a lot of times people practice in their minds, but they don’t practice out loud, and then if they practice out loud, they don’t actually move and use the stage the way that they need to. And so it just takes you into that true experience. And learning that, you know, I learned that I moved too much, you know, or whatever. And so it gives you the opportunity to do that. And that was fantastic.
Carol Cox:
Well, it was so fun to have you to meet you there in person. And Cherie, hopefully one day maybe I’ll make it to Australia or you’ll make it to the eastern side of the US or to Tenice in Texas, and we can all meet in person. All right, Cherie and Tenice, please share with the listeners what is the best way to connect with you. Cherie, I’ll start with you.
Cherie Mylordis:
Sure. Via LinkedIn is very easy. I’m the only Cherie Mylordis, on LinkedIn and also my website. www.nextgenify.com Very easy ways.
Carol Cox:
Tenice.
Tenice Wehmeyer:
Wonderful. Mine are the same. I’m also the only Tenice Wehmeyer on LinkedIn, and that’s where I spend most of my social media time. And then you can reach me actually at wehmeyerassociates.com on my website.
Carol Cox:
Fantastic. I’ll include the links to all of that in the show notes. And I am not the only Carol Cox out there, by the way. If you Google it NSW not safe for work. It is not me. It is the other Carol Cox who I cannot outrank on SEO because she’s been on the internet as long as I have. So it’s. Funny story. You can just go Google it later. All right. So if you are if you’re interested in joining us and our thought leader Academy, that’s our online program, you get both group and one on one coaching. Our next start date is in January. So we are enrolling now. You can get all the details and you can schedule a call with me at speaking your brand.com/academy. Our in-person client retreat is coming up at the end of February 2024, in Orlando, Florida. You can get all the details for that and apply as speaking your brand.com/retreat. Denise Sherry, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, and thank you so much for being such valued members of our Speaking Your Brand community. You truly make the community what it is. It’s women like you who are so supportive and so collaborative and so generous with each other. So thank you so much.
Tenice Wehmeyer:
Thank you Carol.
Cherie Mylordis:
Thank you Carol. It’s been great.
Carol Cox:
Until next time. Thanks for listening. You.
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