They Came for the Chat: Sara Valentine Interview!

In this episode of Grossly Competent, hosts Steve and Patrick welcome HEART Leadership creator Sarah Valentine! Through her incredible story and lack of buzzword enthusiasm, Sara takes us on a journey to being open to possibilities and what it means to be fully and truly authentic. We dare you to not be inspired by the work Sara is doing with Give Kids the World by the end of this must-listen episode.

Want to connect with Sara?

• LinkedIn
• Podcast - Heart Leadership 
• Give Kids the World

Here's some other stuff you might like too (based on the conversation):

• Brene Brown - Empathy & Vulnerability 

Come for the chat, stay for the laughs, and run from our faces: we're Grossly Competent!

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• Give a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts,
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We appreciate you for listening!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hello, and welcome to Grossly Competent, the learning, development, and adulting podcast that does not claim to be pretty. No, but will happily pretend to be slightly competent. I am your host, Steve Counsel. I'm joined by my co-host, a man rich in looks that could quite literally kill Mr. Patrick Ailshire.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Well, thank you, Steven, as always.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

I felt really good about that one.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

I was like, you're back. You have returned with the good quips. But it does sound like in this production you'll be playing the part of Grossly, and I'll be playing competent.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

As always, right you are, Mr. Patrick. Uh, folks, we've got something really exciting to get to this week. Uh, but listener land, we must know Mr. Patrick, who is our sponsor of the week.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

I'm pretty pumped about this one because it resonates so much. This episode is brought to you by social battery miscalculation. You said yes to plans you shouldn't have. Social battery miscalculation. Now you're here and it's too late.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Yes. Uh that does resonate. Uh thanks, big social battery miscalculation. And uh thank you so very much for giving us all that opportunity to regret the decision that we made to come in the first place. Like, what a treat. What a treat. That's wonderful. Um I I sympathize, man. I'm with you. How many times has that been where you make a plan like a month in advance, and then it's let's say for like a Saturday, and then it's Thursday, and then it's Friday. Like, oh you know what would be really cool is if I didn't do that. That would be so neat. But then you feel guilty. I can't I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Or it's the uh the the verbal commitment over texting with someone else, and you're and then you're you're you're waiting to see if that other person's gonna confirm like a day or two out, like hey, we're still meeting up, and you're kind of like, I hope they don't text.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Oh I uh I have really pushed myself because like in the past, uh there's times I've been like, I'm just I know I'm not doing it, but I will actually push myself, like, no, I made a commitment. It's important that I hold to that, and then I end up having fun anyway. Like of course, so be it. Or as my wife and I like to do, we uh dip, we do da dip as we say it, where um we will say bye to whoever is near us and then just slowly kind of exit like the Holner Simpson meme where he like slips into the bushes. Yeah, yeah, we just kind of woo disappear, and it's that's exactly the way it should be. All right, enough of my banter, enough of it, enough of it. Folks, uh Patrick and I have a special treat for all of you out in Listener Land. We have heard your cries, we've heard them, and we are returning with answers because today we are fortunate enough to be graced with the presence of a true talent in the industry.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Boasting a career that started in the late 2000s, our guest has witnessed a great deal of change in the professional landscape. Armed with this experience and her unyielding capability to see the good in others, she uses the gifts given to her to help others see their true potential by embracing the heart and human side of professionalism and sharing that on her podcast for all to listen.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

And when she isn't slaying the foundation of how people view HR and leadership, you can find she's laughing, you can find her enjoying good food, her faith, and creatively working to make a difference in the lives of families and children in Central Florida. Although this intro is full of buzzwords, she is not. So please welcome to the program the magnificent, delightful, and always classy Sarah Valentine.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Thank you. That was an incredible introduction. I hope you know up to it.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

I think you will. You're being see, the classiness just oozes. It's not fair. It's not fair. Um, no, we are so happy to have you on the show. Sincerely, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

I was so excited when you reached out. So thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

I'd like to l uh know a little bit about how that how that all happened. How Steve reached out to you and like, ooh, this guy, I mean, did you see his picture first or was it?

SPEAKER_02 5:39

I did. I actually I was the one not on video. We were on a webinar together, an executive webinar that it's like a monthly webinar thing, and and he and I were chit-chatting in the chat and we had our opinions.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I uh I specifically remember, Sarah, that in the chat you put like your uh LinkedIn link. I don't know, whatever. Um, and then you also said, by the way, I have a podcast for anyone that wants to listen. And I responded to that and said, But only if you listen to mine too. Yep. The thing is though, you lost in that in that arrangement. Because I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

You guys in the morning when I'm driving into work and haven't had coffee. I'm like, oh, okay, this is funny.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

So you can't think straight. You're not thinking straight. You don't have the coffee to fuel your critical thinking skills. So that's that's when we pounce. That's when we do that.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

You do well. You bring it to the you bring it to the people, like leadership and development. You bring it to the people.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Oh wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

That well, you are too wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

It's very funny.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Oh, and a uh side note, uh, Sarah has been paid by the compliment. So we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

No, no, no payment. I mean it. I mean it.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yep. We just need to get your Venmo uh at the end of this so we can make sure we're we're squaring you away with all the sponsorship cash, right? Um because uh social battery miscalculation is really giving us a dupe. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and basically, isn't that the point of podcasting? Is to just start rolling in cash.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Being recognized on the street.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Oh, without a doubt. I don't know if Sarah's aware though that we do things differently here. We actually have to pay our sponsors. Oh, yeah. So it's fine to suffer.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

I get it, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

What a what a nice sponsor, though. Like you have that direct link. How cool is that? Of course. Very generous, very supportive in all my entire I love it, I love it. Well, uh, Patrick, I believe you are starting us off your good sir.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Let's do it. So, Sarah, we're gonna throw you a softball to start here. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, whether that's personally, professionally, a little of both. Up to you.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Sure. So uh I like to believe I'm the same in person at home and at work uh because I can't help myself. Uh been in HR for 18 plus years, and I'm currently at the most wonderful place in the world at Give Kids the World in Kissimmee. Um I uh am one of those lucky people that actually love going to work and love what they do uh because I've been called to do it. I I truly believe that. And what started as me as a single mom, just trying to earn a living for my kids, turned into a fantastic career. I've been very blessed to meet incredible people, and I hope I just I have impact, a good impact on folks that are just trying to live their lives day to day, getting through the day, taking care of their families. And that that's what I'm here for.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

That's what I do. That what an awesome answer. Like, I I don't know. I'm what I got, Steve. Well, I it resonates with me. Like you hear that all the time, or you hear it frequently, I should say, where someone's like, you're never working a day in your life if you love what you do, that kind of thing. And I think a lot of us kind of say it tongue in cheek, like, oh, you live in the dream or whatnot. But yeah, just from what you say right there, and from the little bit, we're gonna get into it because I want to talk about like give kids the whirl, like I want to have those conversations, but I genuinely believe you when you say, like, I love what I do, like and and it's I didn't say I didn't have days where you know you drink the bottle of wine to go in the next day, it happens. Oh, like an adult.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

I love HR. And I love I love what I do.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah. Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

I'm lucky. I'm very, very blessed.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

That's so cool. That's so cool. Um, I think you you've actually I don't know if you did say something or mention any of these things. I'm trying to recall back now, but like what uh what what are your hobbies? What what are the what does Sarah like to do when Sarah isn't doing her favorite thing in the world and that is working in HR?

SPEAKER_02 10:34

This is this was actually the hardest one of your questions for me to answer.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Oh whoa, whoa, whoa, we we wouldn't script anything for this show now. Come on.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

No, no, no. Uh it was uh like when I was thinking about what I wanted to tell about this, and I always struggle with this question. I actually married someone who's a hobbies king, like he has he does so many things, and he's all about doing things. And I never really had anything because I was a single mom just trying to get through the day and trying to build my career. But what I do love doing now that I've had time to reflect, um I love a good restaurant, I love a good meal and just talking to people. Um, I love to read. Like I probably blow through 80 to 100 books a year.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Like as a read. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Uh and I love spending time with my family. They are my core, they're the reason I am here, um, outside of you know my job, and then just spending time with God, and that sounds really cheesy, uh, but that's what I love. And I love to write some I spend a lot of time writing for the podcast. I'm still like two years into this book I'm writing. It's going great.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

But oh, no way. Can we uh eventually would you want to give us a little uh sneak peek or an idea of what it is that you're writing about?

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Sure, sure. Sure, absolutely for you. Sounds great.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

For you then oh listen to this, listeners out there. This is hard-hitting journalism. My professors at at college would be so proud. Like, who are you again? Oh, you are that guy. That's right. Yeah. They can't all be singers. Um, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

And of course, you know, I love a good glass of wine.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

There we and what are what are we featuring uh right now?

SPEAKER_02 12:33

I have no idea. My husband poured me a glass.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

So okay, okay. If I was hey, that that is good. You should trust him. Um so you're having some some nice white wine. Um I'm rocking a uh delicious uh water. Um Patrick, what are what are you featuring right now?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

I have a uh bottled water as well. Wow, bottled whoa, bottled. It's not it's not bottled, it's it's it's my my nail gene.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Oh, I I thought maybe this may be the wine because I need it because I'm detoxing from Brazil the last seven days with a bunch of executives. So maybe I need it to wean it off before I go tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

No, uh, cats out of the bag. So you mentioned this off the air. Um, this this trip to Brazil, and then you come back and you're like, you know what I want to do? I want to go on to a podcast with two chuckles from Wisconsin. That's what I would like to do. Um tell us if you don't mind, would you walk us through like what was this whole Brazil trip?

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Amazing. So I'm I'm in the middle of completing my uh MBA through Kramer Rollins in Winter Park, Florida. Okay, and part of their coursework is an immersion, global immersion program. I got to go to Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is incredible. Wow, huge city, huge, like huge, bigger than New York, but uh, it's crazy huge. Um, but I went with 14 other of members of my cohort, and we had a good time in Brazil during the nighttime, and then during the daytime we learned lessons and we got to tour these amazing companies, including Unilever, Natura, um, and I'm gonna butcher this name. It's the airplane maker embrer E M B R A E R. They make planes, they're number three in the world. Um airplanes were made. That was super cool. The last one we went to was a chocolate factory. And sounds awesome. Yeah, it was inc it was an incredible experience. Um, that's so awesome. Yeah, seven days. Like so you know, it's been it was it was incredible. I had a very blessed to go. And it was the first time I've ever been out of the country. So doubly special for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

I uh well, I will not be going that far south. I am going to be getting on an airplane in a few days to head to Aruba.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

So yes, I'm looking forward to some uh not Wisconsin weather.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Is it bad if every time you've said that to me, Patrick, well like you're gonna go to Aruba, that I instantly want to start breaking out into the beach boys? Oh my god. Yes. Right? How do you not like how do you how do you not do that?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Um that's if you're not in 80s or 90s child, probably not.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

For some very good point.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

They don't know. Gen Z doesn't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Like, come on. I like how you're covering your tracks too, Sarah. Like, no, no, no, seriously, you're you're like the best ever. Gen Z is great. They are. Gen Z is wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

They are. I have three of them that belong to me, so I have to claim them. They are great.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah. Well, good.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Good, good. All right, Patrick, I'm sorry I interrupted you. Yeah, no, of course. Um well, Sarah, it sounds like you have an incredible background, but as a current well, uh talking with a couple current HR peeps, what led you to yourself get into human resources?

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Divine intervention, number one.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

It wasn't it wasn't the fame and the fortune.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

It wasn't HR is the loneliest job in a company. You can't have friends. Yeah, you don't get to go to happy hour because the minute you go to happy hour and somebody gets promoted, oh, there's favoritism. So it quite literally is very lonely. Um your peers could be fired any day. You could be I mean, it's it's hard, it's a hard job. But I actually fell into a job at the District of Columbia Bar when I was in DC, totally not qualified. My boss hired me and she said, I'll teach you whatever you want to know. And I said, I want to know everything because I'm gonna be a VP before 40. And she taught me everything, and I fell in love with HR, I fell in love with helping people, hiring people, getting people jobs, and seeing the impact on their lives. Um, I've had the pleasure of helping people get the job, and that's been very rewarding. And then if someone's been in trouble or not succeeding, I've had the pleasure of helping them turn it around and become the best performing employee ever. So that too has had great times. I've also had to terminate people, and it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to them. And not many HR people can say that. No, no, so I I feel HR, God gave me HR, and through my career has taken crazy twists and turns to get me where I am today. Um, because there are tons more people in this profession that are way more qualified than me. I can tell you that. Oh there are brilliant people out there, just brilliant people. Um, and I am probably the most unconventional HR per person people meet. Uh, because I'm a person first. I like to tell people there's an H before the R. I'm a human being. Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Right? I've been married, been divorced, had kids, been single with kids, like been in the in the checkout line and the debit card doesn't work. Like I have been a human being. Yes. And I think people need that at work. They need a safe space to go to. And I think a lot of people think HR is the devil. Or there are people that are like coming in with the clipboard. That's not what that should be. And that's that's kind of how I try I try really hard to to lead my career by that. Like be that place people can land.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I love that insight. I think it's really impactful and important. I mean, coming from at least from my perspective, I'm in learning and development, but we are part of human resources. So 100% you try to have well, and I and I've shared this on the podcast before, and I've said this to a coworker once who was in employee relations, and I was telling her a story how I tell would tell the audience sometimes, uh participants on a training, like, okay, I I know you you realize I'm from HR, but L D is like the least HR of HR. And I've told someone in employee relations that said fun HR. She said, Don't no, don't stop saying that. You're making the rest of us look really bad. And I was like, Okay, yeah, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

It is what it is. And if you're really good at L D, you get complaints live in action that you're like working through during the training.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Oh, yeah. Um and depending upon how uh how comfortable your audience is, yeah, sometimes those grievances are just like, okay, you got me, hold my beer. This is we're we're having this conversation right now. Like, oh good.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Yes. Often you all have no idea what the backstory or the context is. You just know they put you in the fire and you're like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

It's like here we go. I'm gonna get beat up in front of an audience. This is fun. Oh, so what a treat.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Uh facilitation is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

I before I because I know Patrick is dying to ask ask his follow-up, but I I sorry, I have to say this. I am with Patrick in that I love your approach. Like, and that's I I think you and I have kind of had this little chat in our little LinkedIn chats and whatnot. Is I really appreciate that genuine nature. And um, any of our listeners that have listened to more than a episode, or maybe if this is your first one, well, you're gonna get a little treat, and that is there is a uh recurring theme I feel like we hit on in this series, and that is authenticity, just being genuine, being who you are up front and having some fun with that if you can. And that that's the whole intent of this podcast, right? Just grossly competent. We're making fun of something that happened to us 20 some years ago, and we've just never let the joke go. But we're just being authentic about it. We're just having fun at the expense of nobody but ourselves. And I like that I love, I shouldn't say it like this. I genuinely I love your approach to it being like, I'm a human being. I've been in your spot, I've been in those very tough situations, and yeah, um I Your comment of HR being the devil, I think, really is something that a lot of people still to this day think. My sister thinks that. Like when I'm told, like, yeah, now I report to HR, she's like, that must be the worst. Like, it's whatever. Like, I don't know. It's not that big of a deal. I and as I say, like Patrick does, I'm the least HR of the HR. It's like I don't know what to say. But um, that's my long, convoluted way to say, I know I certainly appreciate your approach, and I bet there are hundreds of others that do the same. So just that's that's my my compliment to you.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

Well, I I appreciate it. I I do try, and I I always try to, and this is because of my first boss, Cynthia Howell. She always told me, You gotta treat them like a human being, doesn't matter what they've done.

SPEAKER_05 23:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

And if I was in that situation, how would I want to be treated like a human being, even if I messed up?

SPEAKER_01 23:42

No, correct me if I'm wrong. Um, Cynthia, you interviewed her really early for your podcast. She's like your second or third episode.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

She is, because she is my foundation a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Yeah, that was a really fascinating listen. That was that was a really cool one.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

She uh gave me so many opportunities to fail. That's great again and again. Yeah. Um it's so funny because I have someone on my team now that I'm like, oh, I see you God. You're giving me uh they're fabulous, but I'm like I'm seeing what Cynthia must have gone through with me. And I'm like, uh, I get it now. Wow. Wow, she really did so many good things for me. Um because I'm not a natural HR person, I'm not robotic, I'm not super polished in front of people. I am who I am, and it's taken me decades to be okay with that. Because I'm I'm not gonna be a stuffy HR. This is the report we have this weekend. That's not how you do that, that's the policy. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. These are human beings, and quite frankly, when I've been at the executive level board, they either like it or they hate it. And I'm here for it, so this is who I am. Yeah. Um, and I believe human resources needs to be more human.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

There was a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

I have a a friend of mine that I worked with for years, and he told me a story. Um, he I I'm gonna butcher it. Carl, if you're listening, which you might be, um, I'm sorry, but I'm butchering your story. He made he told me that he was talking to at the time it was the CFO of this organization who for some reason oversaw HR. And his word he said, CFO, this CFO, because it was a smaller company, this CFO said to the group, like, Oh, and I guess HR is here too. I have neither found them human nor resourceful. I'm like, oh my every time I tell this specific friend of mine, I'm like, oh yeah, I work with HR, and he's like, I have not found them human, nor he says it tongue in cheek, knowing. Yes, but yes, I I I hate to say it, I think that type of mentality is probably more pervasive than we would like to do.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Oh, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

You having that wherewithal and just be like, no, we need to be more human about it. What a breath of fresh air. That is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Oh, it was really interesting when my new hire came on board. They she did this tour, and she comes in and she's like, Yeah, people are really afraid of you. It's like, mm-hmm, because they don't see Sarah, they see the VP of HR, right? That's it's always gonna be that way. And as we go through her journey, she's like, But you're so cool. I was like, I don't know, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Like, you're not terrifying at all.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Right, but that's just you know, the title, and HR is very it's a it's fearful for people, and people are afraid of it, and I get why. I get it. Um But I'm trying to hopefully change that. That's awesome. One person at one person at a time.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Yeah. I I love that. I think that's the best the best uh approach to take. So I've got the next question, and this is gonna be kind of a two-parter, so bear with me while I fumble through my question here. Um could you take a moment and tell us about Give Kids the World Village? It sounds like an incredible charity and a life-changing organization. So a couple parts to that. How did you get involved and what are future goals and plans that people in our listener land can assist with?

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Oh yes, I I love talking about the village. So give kids a world is an extraordinary place. Um, it's an 89-acre resort where we fulfill wishes for critically ill children and their families. So we work with wish granting organizations. The most famous is probably Make a Wish, and we fulfill the wishes. Um we're a dedicated partner to the wish granting organizations. Some of these children come in and they don't have time. We get rush wishes. Um, we also get the other half of the wishes that they're through chemo, they made it through, and they're finally together as a family. We give six nights, seven days on our resort. We are a theme park hotel and nonprofit, all rolled into one. We have extraordinary partners like Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Davidson Hotels, Hasbro, and many, many Perkins, and many, many more. Many, many more. And we are 40 years old. Our founder, Henry Landworth, was a Holocaust survivor. Oh, came to America with$20 in his pocket, got into hotels, moved to Florida, became the manager of the Starlight Hotel, and became friends with the astronauts, like John Glenn. Like, kid you not, kid you not. Uh they like flew a flag up into space and all of that, yeah, all the things. Oh, yeah. So he um would give hotel rooms to children. And one day a little girl named Amy ran out of time. And Henry was like, that's not gonna ever happen again. I have plenty of hotel rooms. And so he got these amazing people, people like Walter Conkrite, people like um the Walt Disney president at the time, uh, holiday in, and they all came together and built this village out of nothing without a single contract being signed. And so since then, since 1986, we've had over 200,000 children come in.

SPEAKER_05 29:46

Wow, 200,000 children. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

And this place, uh, I tell people you can go online and look at the pictures, until you step foot on the property, you don't get it. It's amazing. It is I could have the worst day, but if I go into our castle where we have all the stars on the ceilings of all the children, and you see that impact. Um, I work for an incredible CEO, Caroline Schumacher. Uh, the team is just extraordinary, and and I truly believe the village as God, like hovering over it all the time, because there are too many coincidences. We call it serendipity, one of which I believe is why I'm at the village. I I started my career at the bar in DC, then moved into La Tienda, which is a global corporation, then got to Colonial Williamsburg, which is a nonprofit museum, hotels, and restaurants with a union environment, high union, which led me to Busch Gardens, which led me to SeaWorld. Found out I hate private equity. I am not in it to win it for the shareholders. Okay, it's not, don't hire me for that. And then this position came open, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. And I always wondered why God was like, hey, Sarah, here's a nonprofit, here's a theme park, here's a hotel. This is why, because it's all here, all in one. And it's so funny. Uh my biological father died when I was nine, and I never got to know his family until about 2019. I met my aunt Bev and my cousin Johnny. And so I we moved to Florida for SeaWorld. I get this interview and I get the job. My first day on the job at Give Kids the World, I see this picture, and it's an iconic picture for Give Kids the World. It's on our website, and there's this little boy. And I stare at this picture, I'm like, I I never forget a face. I'm terrible with names, but I never forget a face. I'm like, I know this dude, I know this guy, and it just stuck. A couple days later, my aunt Bev reaches out to me and she's like, Sarah, are you at Give Kids the World? I'm like, Yeah, it's this amazing place. And she's like, Yeah, your cousin Johnny was a wish child, and he and Henry were like best friends, the founder. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's the picture. And she goes, Yeah, and I was the executive uh housekeeper for 10 years there. That is the stuff that happens at the village. So when I tell people my career was given to me by God, I am not kidding. Like every time I was not the most qualified, and here I am, and like the village is just an extraordinary place. One of the first wish children I met, his name is Zach Doyle, eight years old. Oh gosh, went through so many things. He was a rush wish. I got to meet his family, and I I I'm from Virginia, and I got to go to a conference. I drove to their house and gave him an offer letter to come back to the village as the mayor Clayton, and he passed. We lost Zach um December 15th, and I was in his eulogy by his dad. Oh my that impact like you can't you can't recreate that, and so I take my job very, very seriously of helping the employees at the village because they do extraordinary things every day. They have a we don't say no concept, yeah. And our per our guest service rating is like 99.5. Like, what? That doesn't exist. And so I I take my job very seriously, and being the one to help these storytellers, that's what we call our employees storytellers because they tell the stories of the families. Sure. And just be there for them. You know, we lose children sometimes on property, and we have to help those families through it. I I don't personally, but the managers on duty and like our employees fulfill these wishes, and it's just an incredible experience and and a privilege. So that is Gift Kids World. We are celebrating our 40th year. You can go to our website, donate, you can come down and volunteer. We have 200 volunteers a day, like a day. Oh, awesome. Like we we could use your help.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

So and you're and it's located in Kissimmee, right? Kissimmee, Florida. Okay. Yes. So any listeners out there, if you're in the area, you know where to go. Um, and Sarah, we'll we'll put information in the show notes too.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

And if you're having a vacation and you want to take a day to volunteer, you can do that too.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

You can also do that. No, that is serve ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Kids get to eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the village.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Oh, that's incredible. Oh, are you trying to get me to take my kids?

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Is that like I am totally trying to do that?

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Oh my god. You know, I I I have to when you are telling this story, because it is truly remarkable, and giving your background and everything else, all I'm thinking in my head is how much better you are just as a human being than I am. Like, man, that is that is fantastic. And I'm not saying that, like, I'm saying to jokingly be self-deprecating.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

There it's incredible. There are so many other people that just make these incredible things happen. Like we had a little boy, his name was Luke, and he liked to climb stairs. And this this staff member was like, Okay, Luke, climbing the stairs. It was a little odd. But he was saying he wanted to fight Darth Vader, and Disney um got him to meet Darth Vader and all of that, but he didn't get to fight him. So this employee, this storyteller, made all of these calls and had Darth Vader come to the village and fight Luke on stage. Yes, like do you get to do that in your day? Because I don't like that's an awesome day of work. And this story just did it. She just did it.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

And it made that child like it was a thing. Yeah. And that kind of happens all the time at the village. All the time.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

I will definitely add to what Steve said. Uh, yeah, you are definitely better than Steve. You know.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Which I might add not a high bar. But still, but still, um, no, Sarah, please take the take the compliment as it is because it is and I would be impressed if our listeners don't walk away from this thinking the exact same thing. Like, wow, what can I do to start like hitting up on that that kind of the ladder rungs of what you are accomplishing? Because that is that's amazing. What an amazing thing. I am a firm believer that you have to be open for opportunity in order for opportunity to be open to you. And it sounds like that sounds like what has driven you to give kids the villa or the world. Like you I I like the way you kind of piece all together. Like, why was I a part of this industry?

SPEAKER_03 37:19

This industry, that oh and I never understood it.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

Yeah, and I was always yearning for something else with each job. Like, I was like, it's not it's not quite there yet, it's not quite there, and now I'm like, oh, I'm here. Oh, this is great. Oh, this is amazing. That's so cool. Every company has stuff.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Um sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

But you go down and you see the stars and you see the families, and you're like, all right, I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

You go back, stop complaining.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

It puts things in perspective, I'm sure. It's even more so than maybe.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

Yeah, it resonated with me for sure when I interviewed. Um, I almost lost two of my children. I almost lost my son when he was 18, and then I almost lost my daughter when uh when she was 15. And I would never want any parent to go through that, and these parents do. And just to be a part of the mission of keeping the employees happy and healthy so that they can fulfill these wishes for these families. I take that personally and I just want to do a good job about it.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Well, and I think isn't that really the whole crux of HR? And and I'll throw in learning and development too, I guess, because otherwise we're gonna feel left out. But the the whole idea of HR is that you're empowering other people to be the most successful version of themselves. And although you said yourself, like, no, am I the one that's um like on the front lines doing these things? No, but I think having somebody like you in the background that they know is a support mechanism that can help them do the job they need to do is what makes things work so eloquently at give kids the world.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Yes, but I mean and the L and D part is so vital. So after COVID, so many companies lost people, right? Oh they didn't come back, they didn't come back. They said, you know what, you're not gonna help me through a global pandemic without healthcare, I'm gone, right? Valid, valid points all of it. Uh totally we have a lot of young leaders at the village, they've been at the village, but they haven't led. And so we're at this like crux of I need to develop them, I need to give them the tools, I need to teach them so that they can be better leaders because the weight they carry is tremendous and they stumble. And so that LND is vital. And anytime I see uh a company cut LD or training, it maybe that's what I should have said for what drives me nuts, because that drives me nuts. Um because things spin out of control because people aren't given the tools to do their jobs, and L D provides that. It's so important.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

It's this weird cycle, right? Like, oh, well, that's it's the like the arts programs of high schools and like elementary schools, like ah well, let's give the football team more money, like that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Yeah, the horse first, guys.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

Like the studies, the studies show that uh whoever, you know, kids that get involved in music show this amount of potential, but you know what? The football field needs some new turf, you know.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

It's really crazy. Here's half a box of crayons. Go at it. Yeah. Well, I think you touched on it, and I think this is a great segue for us to get into this because you were talking about leadership development. Now you host your very own podcast, uh, and that all deals with heart leadership. And I was hoping you oh, I'm sorry, I didn't do that you know what I do the card. So, um, listeners out there, uh, this since this is an audio format for your own protection, um you you couldn't see that we were using our hands to make the the heart thing. My daughter just did something. What how did she do it this morning? Um, it was this like she did it like this. That's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Oh, that's cute.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

And at first I was I I was like, oh, so okay, let me let me explain it. Let me explain to our listeners what I just did. I took both of my hands, I put them as like upside down, like I'm giving you like you know the thumbs down, and then you just connect them at the knuckles and your thumbs, and it makes like a giant, really weird-looking heart. And at first I'm like, why are you giving me the thumbs down? She's like, No, dad, that's a big heart because I love you so much.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

Oh god, now you feel total jerk.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

I know. Well, it's not the first time I felt like a jerk in front of a chance.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

I will share this then. Anytime I see people doing this, it it reminds me of a student I used to have uh when I back in my teaching days, who was moderate to high functioning autism uh at autism, and he was always doing in the child's name was Drake and great kid, and he'd always would do this like to show you that he really appreciated you and loved you. Oh but uh when you would when you would annoy him, he was very quick to go oh that's awesome. And and then he would do this, he would do this. Nice. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

You know what? He's expressing himself. Good for him. It was great.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Yeah, it was great. I loved it, yeah. All right, so sorry about the tangent, but um, yeah, Sarah, would you mind walking us through heart leadership? What is it? Yeah, what's it all about?

SPEAKER_02 43:03

So um, I think I mentioned earlier I'm a I'm an avid reader. And after working for a lot of companies, I would read leadership books and be like, yeah, get really pumped up, you know, you're feeling good, and then you go back and you try to implement it and it doesn't work. It doesn't work. And so as my time at the village, I just watch the storytellers and what they do to make this magic happen for the families.

SPEAKER_05 43:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

And I'm like, gosh, they do it right. Like they don't shy away from a child who's dying, who's hooked to oxygen, who's in a wheelchair. They they listen, they're they have so much empathy and compassion. They're just like they acknowledge, they respond, they think, and it's in the scores. It's in the scores. Yeah. So as I was walking the path through this book, I I just after COVID, I hit a spot where I'm like, leaders at the top don't listen and they don't care. And as an HR person, that's really hard to be in that place.

SPEAKER_04 44:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Because you're seeing the turmoil on the front line and with the middle management, and you're seeing the decisions at the top, and you're screaming at the top to fix it, and they don't listen sometimes. And so that led me down this uh road on the book Fixing the Foundations, which led me to I was having conversations by the hour on how to teach leaders to just talk. To their employees, the same leaders that are talking to these families and doing these amazing things. I'm like, it's the same. It's the same.

SPEAKER_05 44:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

So the heart framework came out of that. Like, how do I have a basic conversation with a human being that I'm responsible for and hold them accountable or praise them or help them through whatever it is they're going through. And then it just coincided with my last name being Valentine, which is the best name ever. It just evolved. It organically evolved to this. And then I got invited to speak at the Sisters Leadership Conference in Portsmouth, Virginia of last year to share my story. I think it's the bonus episode in the heart podcast. It's a speech.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Oh, you know what? I I have to admit, I skipped that because I was like, no, I want like I want the meat and potatoes. But now that I know it's okay, well then I'll go back and listen.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

It's my very first speech in front of anybody.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

No, okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

What I've been through in my life as a as a sexual abuse survivor, as a single parent, as a divorce, like and and how the village kind of pushed me to do this heart thing. And it had such a visceral reaction from people that I was like, there's something here. And I had been thinking, I'd really been stumbling through my book. I'm still kind of there. Um, about what how do I want to pull this all together? How can the leaders who read this book or and take it back to their organization? How do I keep it simple and and easy and yeah, but important? And so I was like, maybe podcasting. But it helps me, it helps me break it out because you have to break out each episode, right? You have to write it and you have to understand like what you're presenting. And that's how it came to be. And now it's a thing. Yes, it's a thing, and I'm like, uh oh, okay. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Yeah, that is so awesome.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

That's how it came from the village. Just watching how those employees treat the families at the village. That's where I got the idea.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

That's that's really incredible. I mean, the just observing and then being able to kind of take all of those lessons learned, the lessons they've learned, the lessons that you've learned and you've experienced, and just kind of create some brand new thing to once again help people is really that's a really powerful thing. That's that should not be understood.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

Which I'm gonna be sending to you guys, so don't you worry. Oh my goodness. Of course, you of course he lived that way, but he lived that way for these children. So it I can say that, uh oh my gosh, my dogs are barking. I'm so sorry. Um I can say, like, I created the heart, the village created the heart. I just observed it and documented it. Yeah, really, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

Really an amazing thing that sometimes you just kind of wake up and you're like, oh, this clicks. Like this just works, and it just is a really remarkable thing. And once again, I think it's just being open to that possibility of just seeing those things, having the wherewithal to find how the pieces connect and just kind of go with it. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, that is really, really cool.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

It's been it's been very rewarding so far, and I feel like I'm just getting started. Um, my most recent interview is with Dr. Mark Hartling. Now, Dr. Mark Hurtling is on CNN and MSNBC, and he was a retired um lieutenant general for the army. He is like the expert in the Ukraine war and everything, and he's my also my professor. And so he just wrote a book. Yeah. He just wrote a book called If I Don't Return. It's a letter, it's a series of letters he wrote during the Kuwait War. Um wow. And he's like, You have something here, Sarah. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna finish this book after your EMBA, we're gonna get this done. I was like, oh, that's so exciting. Yes. I'm very excited about heart and what it could bring to organizations or anybody. It's really anybody. It's yeah you talk to your wife or your spo or your partner or your kids. Like it's not just work.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

I get a uh um are you familiar with Brene Brown?

SPEAKER_02 49:38

I am.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

I see I I love I I love Brene Brown.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

And she's great.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

When because I've I have listened to the podcast and like and now just having conversations with you, like I I get this like Brene Brown-isk kind of piece to it where you have to I will take that complex. Yeah, I I mean I mean it was like I I love her, like she is just she's my spirit animal. I love her, but um there's this this genuine authenticity that we talked about earlier, and then you have these these complicated and complex systems that you're trying to make simple to help other people, and on top of that, the fact that other people are also going, I like what you're doing. Like I this is a really fascinating thing. It was one of the things that when you in the chat said, I have this podcast, cool. Like, I you and I listened to each other.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

So does everybody in America exactly right?

SPEAKER_01 50:41

But I started listening to it, I'm like, there's you're right, there is something here. This is a really fascinating thing. Like there it makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 50:52

I truly think, and I'm I'm saying this uh sincerely, that your story as far as even getting the the podcast going is really incredible. You know, if someone now were to ask, well, Steve and Patrick, how'd you get your podcast going? Well 20 years ago, some attractive woman pushed us aside to go talk to a more attractive person, and that's that's about it.

SPEAKER_02 51:19

I heard that episode that was actually really funny. I la I was laughing, but it's good content that you have, though. It's real and it's relatable, it's relatable.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

Oh, it's relatable on that.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

Oh my gosh. They lived it too, they're just not talking about it for everybody else to hear.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

So, how relatable is it um when one of the hosts on a podcast talks about getting locked in a bathroom? Is that pretty relatable or looking at a solar eclipse for too long?

SPEAKER_02 51:52

Is how relatable that's that the second one is very relatable for me because I did that by accident. It wasn't intentional.

SPEAKER_00 52:01

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

It happens to the best of us, Steve. Correctly.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

You're taking the teeth out of my making fun of Patrick argument. You're killing me here.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

Um blocking a bathroom? It's happened a few times, but I don't think that's appropriate content for this.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Fair enough. Fair enough. Can I ask one more question, Patrick? Are you cool with that? Yeah. All right. This is a super soft ball. Super duper softball. And you've kind of touched on it already, but let's just let's just put it out there. And that is if you were to give advice to anybody that's up and coming, whether it's HR or somebody that is interested in like the philanthropic side of the nonprofits, or like what is what is your bit of advice that you would want to give?

SPEAKER_02 52:58

I think no matter what people do in their lives, whether it's you know, L and D or Finance or I don't know, running podcasts, I I think the most important thing we can do as people is to pay attention how you respond to people. Okay. The the most I think potent advice I ever got was uh Sarah, you know, every relationship you have is made up of the micro moments you've had with that person. And that got me thinking about in my position as a leader, if I pass someone in the hallway every day and I'm looking down and I never wave to them and I never speak, their impression of the VP of HR, Sarah, is man, she doesn't talk to anybody. I don't trust her. That's some of that relationship.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

So responding in moments with people is really, really important. And trust is built over time in small moments. Whether you're chasing a title, right? If you're trying to move up, or you're trying to grow and develop this way, or you're running a team every day, you have so many small moments that you can use to build that relationship. And the other pieces, you have to have integrity in everything you do. If you don't, you're dead in the water.

SPEAKER_05 54:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:25

And that means owning it, you know. Four best words a leader can ever say is man, I screwed that up. Maybe that's five. I screwed that up as four. Right? Taking ownership when you mess up, having integrity. Don't take credit for other people's work. Uh, do the right thing when people aren't watching. Yeah, like just those two things. Be in the small moments with people and have integrity. You can never go wrong. It will never fail you because what is done in the dark always comes to light.

SPEAKER_05 55:00

I tell managers that all the time.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

All the time. I'm like, if they're doing something, it will come out. But you as the leader or and the person, you need to be have integrity and work on those small moments with people.

SPEAKER_01 55:17

Absolutely. That's awesome. Patrick, I'm sorry. I feel like I interrupted and you probably had a question or two. I'm I'm gonna leave the floor to you if you have any. I will stop and I'll shut my mouth.

SPEAKER_00 55:30

No, I I think that's that's that's great. I I definitely aligned with that point as far as the integrity goes. It really reminds me a lot of what I like to practice as the stoicism. So it's just you know, be able to be able to do the right thing, you know, and uh I think that was great. It's just it's it's true. It it it like you like you said, you know, what happens when no one's watching, you know, it's doing do the right thing. You feel like so that's great.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

It was what happens in the dark will always come to light. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02 56:04

100%.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

I have got to steal that. Um, I mean, give you credit for it totally.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

I'm pretty sure it was was a it was Jesus' then, so don't give me too much credit. What's done in the dark always comes to light. Always.

SPEAKER_00 56:22

Um, Steve, you can borrow that. I'm gonna I'm gonna borrow the uh not human and not resourceful. So I might just use it in my next training just to like lighten the mood a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Is that just not the most savage of burns? Like, oh, oh, it's like a double whammy.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

I haven't heard it put particularly that way before.

SPEAKER_01 56:44

Yeah. It's just brutal. Well, that's good. Patrick and Sarah. Yes. Do you know who should have led with heart rather than their hands and thrust us so powerfully off to the side all those years ago?

SPEAKER_00 57:02

Sarah, it's a little thing we call the spinnerouski.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

The spinnerouski! For all of you out in Listener Land, if you are unaware, um, each episode we spin the spinnerouski, which we claim is a very, very wooden wheel. Um, but it is a wheel of names that might belong to a woman who so generously shoved Mr. Patrick and I into the Ugly Club all those years ago. And the goal is hopefully we'll land on her name so we can thank her properly. So uh with that, Mr. Patrick. Do you have were you able to finagle the wheel so it's nice and set, so we can give it a good, nice price is right spin.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

Uh, we polished it up over the last week, so it's it's ready to get some good.

SPEAKER_01 57:55

Yes, good, okay. Okay. Some varnish on this wooden wheel. All right, Patrick. And Sarah, you have to say it with me. We're gonna say spin that rooski, okay? So on the count of three, we'll do it. One, two, three. Spin spin that rooski. Rooske. All right, we're going around. Ooh, whoa, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 58:20

I'm not sure. Now, Sarah didn't have to trust that I do have a spinner on my screen. Maybe some devil will share this.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

No, no, not on your screen. I'm surprised they let you have that giant wheel in your apartment. Like, that's crazy. Your neighbors downstairs must love you, by the way. It's pretty annoying, I will say.

SPEAKER_02 58:42

I need this on my show.

SPEAKER_00 58:46

You can borrow it.

SPEAKER_02 58:48

You know what?

SPEAKER_00 58:49

He landed on Leah.

SPEAKER_01 58:52

Leah? Yeah. Oh my goodness, Leah. Wow. Leah is potentially the name of the woman that shoved Mr. Patrick and I into the ugly club all those years ago. Well, at least it's possible. Anyway. The idea is that eventually we're gonna land on her name for one of these episodes, and we're gonna thank this person without really realizing we thanked her. Um, Patrick and I love to think about the fact that this woman has lived rent-free in our heads for 25, 20, over 20 years. Over 20. So um, Leah, uh, you're a delight. Thank you. Thank you for living rent-free in our heads. Thank you for going to Boomers in Pewkey, Wisconsin on that fateful summer evening. And thank you for choosing the basement uh rave scene upstairs country bar. Right, yeah. I mean, you had a you had a big choice there. It was either watch NASCAR and uh listen to country music, which is fine, or you decided of all things, you went down to like the the DJ Club thing, which really wasn't much. But thank you. Thank you for doing that. You are just you're a delight. Whoa! You take that back, you take it back. All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:26

I mean, I've seen some people, and you guys are not ugly.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:31

What we failed to mention is that these maps, the masks that we're wearing.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:37

They're like the real nice form-fitting ones, yeah. Okay, it's a mess underneath this. I mean, it's just a mess.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:45

Um you know, and Leah, you know, I I understand that the Silver Fox Joe, our friend, you went and talked to, you know. But if you did happen to see who broke into my car at Boomers and stole my CD deck, but left all the CDs on the CD.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

Who does that, by the way? I heard that. I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

Someone with that was just so gobsmacked by my amazing taste in music. Like, I can't take this. This poor guy's got great taste. I need the CD deck, though.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

Like, I I already have that copy of Rusted Root. I'm good. Like, don't worry about me.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:24

It was probably Rusted Root at that point. You know, maybe a little hobby day, Dave Matthews.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:29

Oh, I mean, why wouldn't it be? But of course. Oh, Sarah, you are too nice, though. Oh my gosh. You are you are too pure of heart for this episode. I I am definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

I am in HR, so that pure of heart thing doesn't exist. But I call it like I see it, guys. I call it like I see it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:49

Oh, that's a too good to us. Um Steve, do you want to do some shout-outs? Uh yeah. Okay. Do you want to go first? I'll start. Yes. Let's do it. Okay. I would like to shout out all of our new listeners that are in a multitude of countries. Um, I'm at quite a loss, actually. Just a few weeks ago, Steve and I were talking about it on the podcast, maybe a month ago, that we had been heard in like 10 countries, and that was like super exciting for us. Like outside of the United States. Great, awesome. Uh Steve texted me last week and he's like, Have you looked at the stats recently? And he's like, We're we're showing up in other countries. And I took it as other countries, like, cool, maybe we're at 11 now. It's awesome. Uh 39. Yeah. I think the uh there is either a glitch in the matrix or either we're kind of neat to listen to or fun to make fun of. But either way, it this is this is great.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:54

Yeah, it's either we are just it's our delightful personalities, um or VPNs. Yes, we can't rule out the VPN, but it is it is seriously crazy sometimes to see something like, wow, in wow, that's fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:15

So although all of you have listeners, we did have sorry to interrupt Steve, we did have some South America listen. So, you know, I'm sure Sarah was passing around the podcast on their travels.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:25

Yeah, I like every day. I'm in 24 countries, you know. Oh my god. One person in Japan really loves me.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:36

Yeah, yes, we have the same person that listens to our podcast. Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:43

Yep. We've had uh yeah, uh let's see what's here. Yeah, Japan is a regular uh Thailand, oh there's Singapore.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:51

Singapore is another uh I don't have oh, I have I have Singapore.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:56

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:57

Four. I got four in Singapore, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

There you go. Oh my god. Amazing. I have a feeling that we might be running in the same circles internationally and we don't even realize. Well, my shout out is uh I think it's gonna be pretty obvious, but my shout out is to you, Sarah, for joining us today. No, sincerely, and um we talked about it earlier um about how you and I even met. And I like telling people that because something we've talked about on the show uh at least two, three handful times, something like that, is this idea of the importance of being authentic and being genuine and what that means to connecting with other people. You had no reason whatsoever to follow up with me when we were just doing our little chats on the executive forum, but you did. And you shot me a message like, Oh, I'm listening to this episode, it's funny. Like you didn't have to do those things, but it I think was uh it really resonated with me. And I think it's when when people say that word networking, it gets that kind of like oh, like I have to like always be on. No, this was not working. This was just us just bantering, like, oh, you have a podcast, I'll listen to it. And then sure enough, you were so kind to even join us today for this. So thank you. You are my shout-out of the week. I I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:26

I appreciate being here. You're both my shout-out for the week.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:30

Oh, you didn't have to give a shout-out, but you did anyway. Talk, see, above and beyond every time.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:39

Well, Sarah, you definitely uh please don't put me on a pedestal.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:46

You're gonna come off of this episode and you're gonna walk over by your husband, and he he's gonna be like, Wow, they really talked you up. You're like, Whoa, like my head is it's big now.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:57

Well, really done. I'm in 24 countries.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

Yes, do you ever throw that one at him? Do you know who you're talking to? No, I don't either. I don't either because my wife doesn't listen. And uh I actually played her a little snippet.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:14

I think he did before. I don't know if he does now, but it's okay. He's always like, good for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:20

As my wife says, I get to go.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:23

Number one fan.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:24

Yeah. Yep. My wife's comment is I listen to you every day. I I don't need to listen to you on the radio too. I'm like, hey, you know, that's a valid point. It's a valid point, fair enough. Um but oh, that's awesome. Well, what do you think, Patrick? Is it that time? I think it is, yeah. Well, uh folks, that's it for this episode. Sarah, we're gonna put all of your information uh so people can connect with you. They can look into uh give kids the world and anything else that you feel like you want to share with everybody, folks. I can't recommend it enough. Go check out her podcast, Heart Leadership. It is also a Buzz Sprout podcast, so it's nice and easy to find. We'll make sure we link to that in the show notes as well. But um that's it for this episode, gang. And uh oh, before I before we fully adjourn, Sarah, you since you're an avid listener, uh you know the way that we exit out our episodes is to sing Ugly Out. But we never sing it on like it has to be just sporadic randomness, non yeah, non-singing. Sometimes it's beach boy, sometimes it's techno, like you know, whatever just happens to pop in your skull. So with that, everybody, we'll see you next time. Uh ugly, you gotta sing it with me. Come on, ugly, ugly. Oh ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:06

Yes, it's going.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:08

Coco.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:09

He's all cocoa.