00:00:00
It was just like, gosh, something's not

00:00:01
lighting me up anymore.

00:00:03
And my own husband, who is now retired

00:00:05
lieutenant in the fire department, he

00:00:07
came home one time and it stuck with me

00:00:09
and it actually changed the trajectory

00:00:11
of my career. He said, "If they didn't

00:00:14
pay me, I would still show up to work."

00:00:16
And I'm like, "Yeah, never felt like

00:00:18
that. I I'm curious what that feels

00:00:20
like. Tell me more."

00:00:28
Today on the servant leadership podcast,

00:00:30
we welcome Tia newcomer. Tia has led at

00:00:33
the highest levels across consumer

00:00:34
packaged goods, technology, healthcare,

00:00:38
venture-backed organizations, and the

00:00:40
nonprofit world. Her career spans

00:00:42
leadership roles at iconic companies

00:00:44
like Revlon, Clorox, Pepsico, and Huelet

00:00:47
Packard, where she spent nearly a decade

00:00:49
learning what it means to lead people

00:00:51
globally at scale. She later moved into

00:00:54
healthcare and private equitybacked

00:00:55
organizations before stepping into the

00:00:58
nonprofit sector as CEO of Caringbridge.

00:01:00
Join us as Tia talks about navigating

00:01:03
major career transitions, leading across

00:01:05
radically different organizational

00:01:07
environments, dealing with imposttor

00:01:09
syndrome, building culture that actually

00:01:10
shows up in behavior and learn why

00:01:12
curiosity may be one of the most

00:01:14
underappreciated leadership disciplines

00:01:16
today.

00:01:18
Tia, thank you so much for joining us on

00:01:20
the servant leadership podcast.

00:01:22
Absolutely. I'm so glad to be here,

00:01:24
Chris. I'm glad you cold called me and

00:01:26
it all worked out.

00:01:28
I I can't believe you said yes. Reading

00:01:31
your background was just awesome. And

00:01:34
then I've gotten to hear you multiple

00:01:35
times since then. Tell us your career

00:01:37
journey because it is an amazing career

00:01:39
journey when people look at all the

00:01:41
amazing Fortune 100s that you actually

00:01:43
helped lead and work at. And we'll get

00:01:45
into more of the recent stuff later.

00:01:48
Yeah. Well, humbled. Thank you for uh

00:01:51
labeling it as this uh career that's uh

00:01:54
you were impressed with. I I'm humbled.

00:01:57
Um I will tell you there are many

00:01:59
purposeful

00:02:01
choices along that journey and also I am

00:02:04
not uh I am very or I attribute a lot of

00:02:09
the decisions to luck, faith and being

00:02:13
in the right place at the right time. So

00:02:15
with that as context, I I started and

00:02:18
this is one of those things where when

00:02:20
you look out for the people who you may

00:02:22
not have noticed before, they are there

00:02:24
watching you and waiting for you to not

00:02:27
only guide you but offer the help that

00:02:29
you may need in that moment. And that

00:02:31
started right out of college when I was

00:02:33
sitting with three offers in front of

00:02:34
me. I graduated with a degree in

00:02:36
journalism and mass communications from

00:02:38
the University of Nebraska and

00:02:41
advertising was my emphasis. So, I had

00:02:43
these great, again, three offers, but

00:02:45
there's something, you know, that fire

00:02:47
in your belly you feel when you're

00:02:49
looking at jobs or when you're working

00:02:51
and I was just wasn't feeling it. I went

00:02:53
to my adviser and she said, "T, I've

00:02:56
watched you over the last, you know,

00:02:58
four years and there's a company called

00:03:00
Revlon coming on campus and it's a sales

00:03:04
position. I think you should go." And I

00:03:05
was like, Sales, what? Rest is history.

00:03:08
I won't go into all of it, but she was

00:03:10
the person, you know, the first person

00:03:12
that I can look back and say, and it was

00:03:14
Professor Stacy James, my adviser, who

00:03:17
really saw something that I didn't. And

00:03:19
so that theme has continued through my

00:03:21
career. Happened to start out at Revlon.

00:03:23
It was a Fortune 250, I think, at that

00:03:25
point. Amazing start. Went on to other

00:03:28
blue chip consumer package goods uh

00:03:31
companies like PepsiCo, Freo, Clorox,

00:03:35
and I call that my first pillar. And I

00:03:37
the way I describe my career is around

00:03:39
four pillars. The first pillar, the

00:03:41
first stop is this consumer package good

00:03:43
kids which was just again amazing blue

00:03:45
chip companies that do a phenomenal job

00:03:48
of rotating you through different

00:03:50
experiences around marketing, sales and

00:03:53
really business analysts. That was what

00:03:55
it was called back in the day. Uh very

00:03:58
many iterations since then. I think

00:04:00
we're now into AI which you know

00:04:02
technically if I look back there's a lot

00:04:04
of that going on but in a different

00:04:06
fashion. So consumer package goods was

00:04:08
where I started. amazing start to my

00:04:10
career carrying a bag I will never

00:04:12
regret and has carried through my

00:04:14
leadership up until this day to really

00:04:17
relate back to what I'll call feet on

00:04:19
the street like how are how the

00:04:21
decisions that are being made at the top

00:04:22
how do they actually happen on the

00:04:24
ground so phenomenal experience I then

00:04:28
the second pillar is technology

00:04:31
uh I started you know technology was hot

00:04:33
in the early 2000s and hila packard

00:04:36
happened to be in my backyard I was

00:04:38
living in uh Portland, Oregon,

00:04:40
Washington area and I had to do a hard

00:04:43
cell to translate the experience that I

00:04:45
had had in consumer package goods. But

00:04:47
rest is history that hard cell worked

00:04:49
and I actually spent almost a decade at

00:04:51
Hillet Packard where I will say three

00:04:55
things at Hillet Packard which were

00:04:57
amazing and again influence everything I

00:04:59
do today. One um the garage where

00:05:03
everything was invented. Uh Dave and

00:05:06
Bill had a philosophy called management

00:05:07
by walking around and that's where I

00:05:10
learned and I I mean I've I met every

00:05:12
CEO at at HP. Every senior vice

00:05:16
president because they would literally

00:05:18
walk around our you know 300,000 people

00:05:20
across the world. They would purposely

00:05:22
walk around the floor. And so I learned

00:05:24
like how again back to that feet on the

00:05:26
street. How do you connect? How do you

00:05:28
really lead people? You've got to

00:05:29
understand what's going on. So wasn't

00:05:31
uncommon that CEO or an SVP would be

00:05:34
coming by your cubicle and sitting down

00:05:36
and saying, "What are you working on?"

00:05:37
"Oh, hi. Nice to meet you." So that was

00:05:40
influential. I think also they do a

00:05:42
great job of rotating you through global

00:05:44
positions. So really getting to know how

00:05:48
different cultures work, how different

00:05:50
how different the strategies that we may

00:05:52
create in the US apply or not in other

00:05:55
countries and other cultures. That was

00:05:57
hugely important. And then of course you

00:05:59
get really big businesses to run. So uh

00:06:02
the playbook's created but you know you

00:06:04
can't break that playbook. So learned a

00:06:06
lot. Um and then I took a pause

00:06:11
actually. It was it was more of like

00:06:12
what's you talk about really listening

00:06:15
to what you want to do and that fire in

00:06:17
your belly that you need to listen to.

00:06:20
It was growling really at me at that

00:06:23
point. I had this amazing career at HP

00:06:25
and it was still growing and you know up

00:06:27
up but I was just like gosh something's

00:06:30
not lighting me up anymore

00:06:32
and my own husband who is now retired

00:06:34
lieutenant in the fire department he

00:06:37
came home one time and it stuck with me

00:06:38
and it actually changed the trajectory

00:06:40
of my career. He said if they didn't pay

00:06:43
me I would still show up to work. And

00:06:45
I'm like yeah never felt like that. I

00:06:48
I'm curious what that feels like. Tell

00:06:50
me more. And so the rest is history. I

00:06:54
did a lot of self-introspective

00:06:56
like listening to what I'm good at, what

00:06:58
I like, talked to mentors and that

00:07:01
catapulted me into the third pillar

00:07:03
which was which was really healthc care.

00:07:04
I started in women's health and I've

00:07:06
done everything from VC back to private

00:07:09
equity

00:07:10
um in that space and just really fun

00:07:14
stuff where we're actually impacting

00:07:16
lives and that really has filled my

00:07:18
bucket. not only the impact and the

00:07:20
mission behind what we were doing but

00:07:23
also the pace. I got to tell you I love

00:07:25
rocking and rolling and building things

00:07:26
and transforming teams, cultures

00:07:30
and really leading and uh building

00:07:33
organizations the type of organizations

00:07:36
I always wanted to work for and many of

00:07:37
them I did work for but I wanted to take

00:07:41
all of that and mash it up and start

00:07:43
leading in different ways. So that you

00:07:45
know next decade was really special to

00:07:48
be in healthcare.

00:07:50
I then found myself with an opportunity

00:07:53
that came across my desk that said hey

00:07:55
Caringbridge CEO and I'm like wow this

00:07:59
is my moment to like actually define a

00:08:01
culture and lead through. And at the

00:08:03
bottom of that job description a friend

00:08:05
had sent it to me. It said it was a

00:08:08
nonprofit and I was like oh that's you

00:08:10
know it never really been on my radar to

00:08:12
lead or work in a nonprofit. you have

00:08:15
preconceived notions about what that

00:08:16
might mean, what that might look like.

00:08:18
So, long story short, I clearly took

00:08:20
that leap and I've been the CEO at

00:08:23
Caringbridge over the last almost five

00:08:24
years and it's been the privilege of a

00:08:27
lifetime. I'm getting ready to

00:08:29
transition out and find that next impact

00:08:32
generating uh position, but it's uh what

00:08:36
a great mashup of taking the ability to

00:08:39
build culture, technology,

00:08:41
health care, mashing it all up and

00:08:44
really leading forth and leading the

00:08:46
charge at Caringbridge to help more

00:08:48
people as they go through pretty

00:08:49
significant health journeys.

00:08:52
Wow. It it's such a fascinating career

00:08:55
and the breadth of experience is just

00:08:57
unbelievable when you think of what it

00:09:00
looks like to lead at a Fortune 500, a

00:09:03
Fortune 100, what it looks like to lead

00:09:06
in startup world, and then what it looks

00:09:08
like to lead in a nonprofit. What do you

00:09:10
feel like were some of the big takeaways

00:09:12
on the leadership side from each of

00:09:14
those stages? I know you talked a little

00:09:16
bit about feet on the ground and in

00:09:18
actually being present, but what were

00:09:20
some other takeaways?

00:09:22
Um, I'm going to go back to so three.

00:09:24
I'll start with the first one, which is

00:09:26
that I'm going to label it maybe, yes,

00:09:28
it's feet on the street, but I'm going

00:09:30
to label I'm going to steal from Walmart

00:09:31
because it also all played into this,

00:09:33
but they call it eat what you cook.

00:09:36
And I will tell you, they are successful

00:09:39
year after year, decade after decade

00:09:41
because they have mandates and it's a

00:09:44
culture. It's not even a doesn't feel

00:09:46
like a mandate that you are out

00:09:48
experiencing what your customers are

00:09:49
experiencing. Eat what you cook, right?

00:09:51
we cooked up this strategy, let's go see

00:09:53
how it's working actually at the point

00:09:56
of where our customers are interacting

00:09:57
with the thing that we are selling or

00:09:59
doing. And so that has stayed with me

00:10:02
through. So that's one learning that I

00:10:05
still do today, right? Whether it's with

00:10:07
our current customer care team and

00:10:09
understanding the calls that they're why

00:10:12
are people calling, what are they

00:10:13
saying? and actually listening in on

00:10:15
those calls to going out with sales

00:10:17
teams to really understand what our

00:10:19
customers want whether that be a

00:10:21
business customer or an actual end user

00:10:23
a person like all of us. So that's one

00:10:26
learning.

00:10:28
I think the second is culture comes from

00:10:31
the top

00:10:33
and that's probably why I love being a

00:10:35
CEO and I think anyone can impact

00:10:38
culture and it has to be from the top.

00:10:41
So I've seen it done well and I've seen

00:10:44
it done not so well. Right? Many leaders

00:10:48
delegate culture building to a HR person

00:10:52
or a person in their organization and

00:10:55
you have got to be the master of that

00:10:57
because culture if you're not modeling

00:10:59
it and if you're not walking the talk

00:11:01
it's not going to permeate throughout

00:11:03
your organization. So that's second

00:11:05
culture at the top.

00:11:07
The last I would say is I I I alluded to

00:11:11
it earlier, but do what lights

00:11:14
lights you up. And you know, you may

00:11:17
think, "Oh, that's easier for you to say

00:11:18
you've been in the CEO seat." And I even

00:11:23
now as I'm exploring what's next for me,

00:11:25
I can tell in conversations or reading a

00:11:28
job description or reading about a

00:11:30
company that I might be interested in

00:11:32
working with or for, I can just pay

00:11:35
attention, right? It's like it's like

00:11:36
that age-old adage of listen to your

00:11:38
gut. It's there. And so I think just

00:11:41
follow that fire and you will do good

00:11:44
things.

00:11:45
Wow. As you've stepped into so many new

00:11:47
leadership roles over the years. Uh I'm

00:11:50
curious, you talk about feeling that in

00:11:52
your gut.

00:11:54
A lot of people might be listening and

00:11:56
thinking they've been in a role that

00:11:58
they aren't thrilled for. You know, you

00:12:00
talk about your husband being willing to

00:12:02
work doing the job without even being

00:12:04
paid.

00:12:06
How does somebody even go through the

00:12:08
process to get to that point

00:12:11
to find what's what's that fire back or

00:12:13
re rekindle or find the fire?

00:12:16
Yeah, like what steps could they take?

00:12:18
Yeah, it's a great question. Um I was

00:12:21
posed with two questions uh that I think

00:12:24
are really helpful. One, what are you

00:12:27
doing when time stands still? So, you

00:12:30
know that feeling when you're like, "Oh

00:12:32
my gosh, two hours just passed, right?"

00:12:34
versus tick- tock, I'm watching the

00:12:36
clock. When am I done with fill in the

00:12:38
blank? Right? So, if you pay attention

00:12:40
to what you are doing when time stands

00:12:43
still, notice that. Write it down

00:12:46
because that's the thing. That's either

00:12:48
the job, the type of company you want to

00:12:50
work for, the type of work you want to

00:12:52
do. Pay attention to that.

00:12:53
So, that's one. I think the

00:12:57
second thing I was asked by a mentor

00:12:59
early on. I was probably late 20s maybe

00:13:03
and I got a phenomenal opportunity to

00:13:05
have a car ride with our chief marketing

00:13:07
officer at HP and he's like so Tia you

00:13:11
know what what do you want to do? What's

00:13:13
what are you

00:13:15
what's your career look like to you in

00:13:17
five years? Where do you want to be? And

00:13:18
so I went on this diet tribe with all

00:13:21
the positions and titles that I wanted

00:13:24
to have. And he was listening,

00:13:26
listening, driving. And then he looked

00:13:28
at me and he goes, "No, like those are

00:13:30
all titles. What do you want to do?" So

00:13:33
it kind of ties to the first thing like

00:13:35
what what what are you doing when time

00:13:37
stands still? But that to me, if you can

00:13:39
answer what do you like to do? What do

00:13:42
you want to do?

00:13:44
And you know, surround that with what do

00:13:46
you want your life to look like? How do

00:13:47
you want to bal balance your family with

00:13:50
your work with your outside interests?

00:13:52
Right? That if you have a very clear

00:13:55
picture, then I think your boundaries

00:13:56
become clear. The types of companies you

00:13:59
want to work for become clear and the

00:14:01
culture that you either want to create

00:14:03
or be a part of becomes very clear. So

00:14:06
that's how I would start with those two

00:14:07
things.

00:14:08
Did you ever deal with imposttor

00:14:10
syndrome jumping from each of those

00:14:13
pillars? because obviously you knew you

00:14:15
had amazing experience that most people

00:14:17
in the world have never had. But moving

00:14:19
from industry to industry and moving

00:14:22
from pillar to pillar, did you ever

00:14:25
experience that or did you were you

00:14:26
always confident jumping into those new

00:14:29
directions?

00:14:30
Oh, Chris, I'm having imposter syndrome

00:14:32
right now. So, I will tell you that it

00:14:36
is we don't talk about it enough as

00:14:38
leaders and we should. So I'm really

00:14:40
glad you asked the question because

00:14:41
there is uh yes imposttor syndrome all

00:14:45
the time and I think you know you have

00:14:47
to quiet it right to lead and to be

00:14:49
decisive and all the things but

00:14:51
absolutely and I think what I learn or

00:14:53
leaned on in order to quiet that

00:14:56
imposttor syndrome is there was kind of

00:14:58
a m two mantras I used one

00:15:01
you know we all get nervous I will tell

00:15:03
you I may show up not nervous everyone

00:15:06
thinks oh my gosh you must you know you

00:15:08
don't get nervous nervous about anything

00:15:09
you present to all these people. I'm

00:15:11
like every time before I am nervous. I

00:15:13
might be nervous at the beginning

00:15:14
always. But I'm all there's kind of a

00:15:17
mantra in my head that I'm telling which

00:15:19
is be yourself.

00:15:21
Be yourself.

00:15:22
And so it quiets a little bit of like if

00:15:24
I show up as myself then anything I say,

00:15:27
do act like will be true to me. One,

00:15:30
I'll be proud of it. I'll be able to

00:15:32
sleep at night. Um but I also I think

00:15:35
you just show up better, right? If

00:15:36
you're be so be yourself. I think the

00:15:39
other thing to quiet imposttor syndrome

00:15:40
which again happens all the time is

00:15:45
you I just had to keep remembering the

00:15:47
things that I had done and of course I

00:15:49
don't know everything so there's

00:15:51
probably two things here is I know a lot

00:15:53
lean on that I know what I'm doing and

00:15:56
then on the flip side it was really and

00:15:58
has been continuously important to say

00:16:00
what I don't know and admit it and ask

00:16:04
for help from either my team or from

00:16:06
board members right that it's okay to

00:16:09
say, "I don't know." And I think that

00:16:10
frees a lot of people to feel less

00:16:13
imposter

00:16:16
and honestly build a safe space for that

00:16:18
kind of culture.

00:16:19
I like all of that. One of the things

00:16:22
that makes me wonder is you had some

00:16:24
really high standards in some of the

00:16:26
roles you were in. Probably every single

00:16:28
role you've in, but those standards

00:16:30
looked a little bit different when you

00:16:31
talked through big corporate verse

00:16:33
startup and VC back companies versus

00:16:36
jumping to the nonprofit world. uh how

00:16:39
did you transfer not just the skills

00:16:42
like of your mind but the skills of

00:16:46
the experience you know across all of

00:16:49
those in terms of standards and

00:16:51
expectations.

00:16:53
Yeah. I think fundamentally when you

00:16:55
think about any organization or company

00:16:58
there are kind of

00:17:01
I'll call it four things that people

00:17:03
look at or measure right whether

00:17:05
whatever industry or type of business

00:17:08
model you're in. So people process

00:17:12
technology and I purposely put culture

00:17:14
last but it's at the top if you're

00:17:16
thinking about it as a pyramid. So um

00:17:19
and I separate people and culture they

00:17:22
are this is all part of the system that

00:17:24
creates your culture in my opinion. So I

00:17:27
think um if you look at any industry if

00:17:30
you look at any job you're going to have

00:17:33
to be a part of andor lead change

00:17:35
innovation across all of four of those.

00:17:38
So people right do you have the right

00:17:40
people in the roles? Do you are you

00:17:42
coaching and developing those people?

00:17:45
Are you so there's so many things under

00:17:47
there right but people is a really

00:17:48
important part without people you have

00:17:50
none of the other things actually you

00:17:51
have it's why it's at the bottom people

00:17:54
because without them you don't have

00:17:56
technology you don't have processes and

00:17:58
you don't have culture so people's a

00:18:00
really important one but again

00:18:02
translates you throw out a company or

00:18:04
you throw out an industry it all starts

00:18:05
with people um process you know

00:18:12
every company organization needs process

00:18:15
But you can't do too much process.

00:18:17
Otherwise, you actually tie down and

00:18:20
don't free up your people to innovate.

00:18:22
So, but without process, you also then

00:18:25
don't have

00:18:27
really tech techn I say technology, but

00:18:30
you could put anything in there that

00:18:31
you're creating, right? Technology,

00:18:33
products, um, go to market, right? So, I

00:18:36
say technology because I think

00:18:38
technology fuels pretty much everything

00:18:40
and anything that we do. So people

00:18:42
process technology and then culture to

00:18:45
me is it's it's my passion because the

00:18:47
culture is I said to someone the other

00:18:50
day culture is what happens when no

00:18:52
one's looking.

00:18:54
So culture a lot of times means the

00:18:57
posters on the wall in a company or an

00:19:00
organization. And for me the magic

00:19:02
happens when those posters actually show

00:19:05
up in behaviors across the organization

00:19:07
up and down. And that's when you know

00:19:09
you truly have culture and it's

00:19:11
supported by those other pieces.

00:19:13
When you jump into a new role or a new

00:19:16
company,

00:19:17
what are some of the first things you're

00:19:19
looking at, especially as it relates to

00:19:22
that pyramid? Or is it things you're

00:19:24
looking at separate like KPIs and goals?

00:19:26
And how do what are you looking for

00:19:30
themes? So let me unpack that themes

00:19:33
because without themes you cannot

00:19:36
diagnose what's going on with people,

00:19:38
what's going on with uh processes,

00:19:41
technology and culture which all have

00:19:43
metrics, right? You can look at the

00:19:44
metrics but the themes underneath that

00:19:47
is what will tell you how to solve andor

00:19:50
amplify anything that's going right.

00:19:51
Solve what's going wrong, amplify what's

00:19:53
going uh right. So I always what I have

00:19:57
done in the last couple roles is I do

00:19:59
purposely skip levels through the whole

00:20:01
organization. Um and that include you

00:20:05
know if it's a very large organization

00:20:07
there is kind of a max out where I can't

00:20:09
get to everyone in the organization but

00:20:10
I go pretty deep in the organization and

00:20:13
I have four standard questions that

00:20:15
uncover themes. Um and I wish I would

00:20:18
have printed those. They're they're

00:20:19
something like this. Um what's going

00:20:22
really well?

00:20:25
what's not going well? If you could

00:20:27
change one thing, what would it be? And

00:20:30
then if you were me, what would you

00:20:32
focus on?

00:20:34
And it's surprising that those the

00:20:36
simplicity of those questions create

00:20:39
themes across

00:20:41
huge organizations to small

00:20:42
organizations that you as a leader can

00:20:45
look at and go, "Oh, okay. There's

00:20:47
there's a theme that we need to go

00:20:49
tackle that's not working today."

00:20:53
Wow. That's good. And I love that.

00:20:55
That's such actionable steps for people

00:20:57
who are listening to to think through

00:20:58
those questions as it relates to people

00:21:00
that might work for them or even if

00:21:02
they're in a role, things to talk to

00:21:04
their boss about. Um really, really

00:21:07
helpful. We talk a lot about servant

00:21:10
leadership.

00:21:11
When you think of servant leadership,

00:21:14
what comes to mind and how do you define

00:21:16
servant leadership differently than just

00:21:18
leadership?

00:21:20
Love that because I think servant

00:21:21
leadership is thrown around a lot,

00:21:23
right? And I I do think it's

00:21:24
personalized and it means different

00:21:26
things to different people. Uh but the

00:21:28
first word that comes to mind is

00:21:30
curiosity. And I use that purposely

00:21:34
because without curiosity you are if

00:21:38
you're a leader and you're not curious

00:21:41
thereby you are not learning or open to

00:21:44
learning and you're just telling. So

00:21:47
curiosity is one open to learning

00:21:50
because we all learn every day trust me

00:21:52
every day. Um two I think curiosity

00:21:57
slows you down as a leader. I know the

00:22:00
way I slow myself down is to get curious

00:22:02
start asking more questions than talking

00:22:05
because I'm learning more and it slows

00:22:08
me down from coming up with the answer

00:22:09
and telling. So I think that's servant

00:22:13
leadership allows for curiosity from CEO

00:22:16
down to your individual contributor and

00:22:20
allowing that curiosity from any level

00:22:23
of the organization is really really

00:22:25
important and to me that

00:22:28
um that is a key tenant of of servant

00:22:32
leadership. I love that when when people

00:22:35
look at your resume,

00:22:38
they see head of this big company

00:22:40
they've heard of, head of this big

00:22:42
company, they've heard of, leading this

00:22:44
role, CEO of this, board member of this,

00:22:46
and they're probably like, she has

00:22:49
everything all together, and it must

00:22:51
have been a very easy ride. um which I

00:22:54
know it wasn't, but what parts of

00:22:56
leadership come hardest to you after

00:22:59
leading in so many roles in so many

00:23:02
different verticals over your career?

00:23:04
I love that question because no, it's

00:23:06
not easy. Um and there are always

00:23:08
trade-offs. I think my mom said it best

00:23:10
when I was very young. She said, "You

00:23:13
can have it all, just not at the same

00:23:14
time."

00:23:17
So I think what comes hardest for me is

00:23:23
um I'll characterize it as speed. And

00:23:26
what I mean by that is I can see point A

00:23:29
to point B very clearly.

00:23:32
And very early on I was blessed with

00:23:34
mentors and managers that really coached

00:23:37
me and said Tia I I'm with you. I see

00:23:39
it, but I don't see it like you. One,

00:23:42
and two,

00:23:44
you are going to be leading larger and

00:23:46
larger teams. And therefore, remember,

00:23:48
the faster you go without really slowing

00:23:51
down to get curious, hear different

00:23:53
points of view, bring people along,

00:23:55
you're going to look behind me, and

00:23:56
there's going to be no one there. And

00:23:58
that's not leadership. And so, again, I

00:24:02
feel very blessed that early on I had

00:24:03
great mentors that pointed out a

00:24:05
strength that had this blind spot. and

00:24:08
so that I could really slow down and uh

00:24:11
so for me action and the speed at which

00:24:14
action happens is my hardest um yeah

00:24:19
speed. I'll I'll tell I'll tell you a

00:24:21
story I have um and I I love Roger. He's

00:24:23
still Roger is one of my very early on I

00:24:26
was promoted to a manager at HP um

00:24:29
director level I think and Roger had

00:24:31
been at HP for a very long time and he

00:24:34
was on my team and he was one of those

00:24:36
very thoughtful very quiet people well I

00:24:38
am typically not I've learned to be more

00:24:40
so again curiosity listening all of

00:24:43
those things which I worked on and Roger

00:24:47
I'll never forget we we had just stood

00:24:50
or we just had IM functional I don't

00:24:52
remember what it was it certainly wasn't

00:24:53
teams but you know the early days HP we

00:24:56
had some IM capacity so he's in Fort

00:24:58
Collins Colorado I'm in Portland Oregon

00:25:01
we have a meeting we get off the our

00:25:04
virtual meeting actually it was probably

00:25:06
conference call and I hung up and he IM

00:25:08
me he's like hey Turbo can we talk and I

00:25:10
was like Turbo and so I call him and I'm

00:25:14
like hey Roger and I go Turbo and he's

00:25:16
like okay I need to slow you down I need

00:25:19
you to think about this this and this

00:25:20
right and so what he taught me in that

00:25:22
moment moment in such

Quiet Voices Matter

25:24
an wonderful fun

25:28
and way was like

25:30
the people who are being the quietest

25:33
often have the most important thing that

25:35
you need to listen to. Now, thankfully,

25:37
Roger raised his hand and said, "Turbo,

25:38
slow down. I need to tell you

25:40
something." And he gave me, you know, to

25:41
the he gave me such important

25:43
information I needed to know to guide

25:46
our team and and the decision at hand.

25:48
Um, but it taught me again back to that

25:51
curiosity, slow down. Um, that that was

25:53
a a story that I love telling and

25:55
Roger's still still out there and still

25:58
still connected.

Leadership and Transitions

26:00
I love that. And that's a great reminder

26:02
for every leader for sure. Um, I think

26:05
people are so hard charging and so

26:06
excited about what's going on that

26:09
sometimes the people who are in their

26:12
wake uh feel damaged maybe and maybe

26:16
also um just aren't as on board because

26:17
they just haven't been brought into it

26:19
as much. I'm curious. You've gone

26:21
through a lot of different transitions

26:23
where you've set up people into

26:25
extremely important leadership roles

26:29
that followed you uh filling your shoes.

26:31
How do you do that? Well, because you

26:33
always hear about transitions going

26:36
poorly.

Effective Transition Strategies

26:37
Uh I love that because I'm in the middle

26:40
of one. Um,

26:43
I mean, transparency,

26:45
honesty, but I think importantly, I'm a

26:48
big fan of documentation and really

26:50
sitting with someone and saying, "Okay,

26:53
and it's not a here's a binder, read

26:54
this, and call me if you have

26:55
questions." That's not what I'm talking

26:57
about, right? I can document everything

26:59
and it doesn't matter to the person.

27:00
Because oftentimes, I'm sure you've been

27:02
in roles where you've been on boarded

27:04
and you're you get the barrage, the

27:06
proverbial drinking from the fire hose

27:09
and then 10, you know, 10 months later

27:11
you're like, h, I kind of remember, but

27:13
what was that thing? And it was all

27:15
there. But it's kind of like until you

27:17
need it, you don't know. And so I think

27:19
really allowing,

27:21
yes, document things, but really sit

27:24
through purposefully here. When this

27:26
happens, remember this. When this

27:28
happens, remember this. Right? and kind

27:30
of giving them a road map for when the

27:33
thing happens because giving again the

27:35
proverbial fire hose no one remembers

27:37
all that stuff. So it's almost like

27:41
giving time for the person to

27:43
ingest the fire hose but then come back

27:46
and say remember when this happens

27:48
here's where you want to look or here's

27:51
the thing to look at. So um and then I'm

27:53
a big fan of keeping the door open. you

27:56
know, my time particular. I mean, of

27:57
course, at some point I'm going to be

27:59
I'm gonna be on the other end with the

28:02
proverbial fire hose, but I'm a big fan

28:04
of always take the call. You know, I can

28:09
always find 15 minutes, 30 minutes to

28:11
lean into someone that I have done a

28:13
transition with or

28:15
um I mean Chris, we kind of experienced

28:17
together. If I if people are brave

28:19
enough to reach out and they want

28:21
advice, they want

28:24
I am known to take the call uh take a

28:26
call. Let's call it that because I just

28:27
think paying it forward so many people

28:30
paid it forward for me

28:32
and without question that I just think

28:35
that's a great way to pay it forward for

28:37
others.

Measuring Success Beyond Titles

28:39
I love that outlook and I've benefited

28:41
from it personally uh that you have that

28:45
outlook as you think through success. A

28:48
lot of people are working towards

28:51
many of the titles and roles that you

28:54
have already achieved at the companies

28:56
you've already achieved them at

28:59
and people are aspiring for that and I

29:01
know that that is extremely successful.

29:04
But what else do you measure success by

29:05
when you look at where you are in your

29:07
career in your life outside of just all

29:09
these roles and titles that most people

29:10
are working their whole lives to

29:12
achieve?

Impact Over Titles

29:15
H what I love about this question is

29:17
early on in my career I'll tell you as I

29:19
shared that example it was more about

29:21
the title and then when I realized it

29:23
had nothing to do with the title that's

29:26
where my mind shifted and what's

29:30
most important for me is who have I

29:32
impacted truly impacted I've been

29:34
approached by people that I don't

29:37
remember the conversation we had but

29:39
they do and it's and that's when I say

29:42
like take the conversation right and So

29:46
I think for me it's um

29:49
I I'll call it maybe two things. Leading

29:50
with authenticity, right? I can only

29:54
show up as me and that is the only way

29:55
you can show up. So anyone that's

29:57
listening like if people are of course I

29:59
want you to listen and I have listened

30:01
to hard feedback, right? And how like

30:05
the blind spot that I had, right? Um,

30:07
but I just think you have to show up as

30:08
yourself and then you know take the

30:10
feedback and mold it to the way you

30:14
uniquely show up. But I think the other

30:16
thing is again when I look at the people

30:18
that I've truly impacted that means more

30:21
than anything. And I I remember uh you

30:23
know we've all lost people that we have

30:26
worked with to diseases or sudden

30:28
accidents and those are very tragic and

30:30
hard and I remember in one of those

30:33
instances in the middle of my career it

30:37
really shook me to realize that

30:39
we were a very close-knit team and when

30:41
I watched who showed up at that funeral

30:44
memorial service

30:46
and this gentleman was hugely impactful

30:48
to many people's lives behind the scenes

30:49
quietly

30:52
And that's when I think about his life

30:54
well-lived and going to that memorial

30:56
service, I was like, that's what I want

30:59
to be. No one knew all these lives that

31:01
he had impacted

31:04
quietly behind the scenes. And to me,

31:07
that's where um that's what matters

31:11
honestly the most. Not the titles, but

31:13
if I had just sat at a director level

31:14
and impacted, you know, hundreds of

31:17
lives, that I think is the measure of a

31:21
good good run.

Living a Life of Impact

31:23
As people are listening to that, I think

31:26
that for sure they'll agree with it. Any

31:28
tips on next steps to start being a

31:30
person that lives a better life of

31:32
impact?

31:35
Yeah. Um, you know, don't forget your

31:37
families first. Whatever your family

31:40
looks like, families first. And I often

31:42
tell my husband and I talk about it. I

31:45
talk to I have two daughters.

31:47
There were many times early that I

31:50
rearranged my family life because of

31:53
something urgent at work. And to this

31:55
day, I can tell you what I missed at my

31:57
family, but I cannot tell you what that

32:00
urgent thing at work was.

32:01
So, just keep that in mind. And again,

32:03
there are urgent times. I'm not I mean

32:06
I'm a big fan of accountability and I

32:10
move with speed and all the things. So

32:11
don't don't get me wrong and you can

32:14
create boundaries and you should family

32:16
first. So that's one. I think the other,

32:20
you know, I'll go back to my take the

32:21
call. Um, really, well, let me let me

32:25
expand on that because not everyone is,

32:27
you know, not everyone ha is having

32:28
people call them and saying, "Hey, I

32:30
want your advice on this." But if you

32:33
are a leader or if you're a peer to

32:36
someone,

32:38
truly take the time, I would say, to to

32:40
listen. And I I think about all the

32:43
times you're interacting with your work

32:45
with your work uh mates or your you know

32:47
people that may report to you like get

32:49
to know them on both a personal and a

32:51
professional level. One of the ways I've

32:54
done that because I have a propensity I

32:57
will share with you guys like I want to

32:59
dive in. Let's get this done. Like let's

33:02
dive into the agenda and go into so back

33:04
to that theme of like slowing myself

33:05
down. I'll start one-on- ones purposely

33:08
with like personal and business best.

33:10
This is not new. This is out there in

33:12
many books, but that slows me down to

33:15
really understand what is that person

33:17
bringing into the room, whether it's our

33:19
one-on-one, a big meeting. Everyone's

33:20
walking in with something that we cannot

33:23
see, something that happened that

33:24
morning, something that's going on in

33:27
their lives. Like, not that you may find

33:29
out all of that, but at least you can do

33:31
a check-in of like what's going on

33:33
outside of the four walls that we are

33:35
sitting in or collaborating in from a

33:37
work perspective. And I think that's

33:40
really important.

Balancing Speed and Care

33:42
Well, it's so interesting because you

33:45
talk about going fast, right, as that's

33:48
some of who you are and then how you've

33:51
learned to go slow and care for people,

33:52
you know, at a whole different level.

33:55
What would you say to somebody that

33:57
hears that like go slow and actually

33:59
care about people and things? That's

34:00
just soft leadership. That's what we

34:02
shouldn't waste time doing that. That

34:03
doesn't matter as much as whatever XYZ

34:05
objective. How do you help people and

34:07
maybe even you've led people like that.

34:10
How do you help them realize what's

34:11
really important?

Importance of Soft Leadership

34:13
That will only last so long. Like it

34:15
will always at some point fail you,

34:18
right? How many times have the best

34:19
leaders in your organization, your top

34:21
performers left?

34:23
And when you ask them why, it's not

34:25
because they're not making good money.

34:27
It's not because they're right. They may

34:29
say, "Oh, I'm making I got an offer

34:31
that's better here." But when you really

34:33
dive deeper, it's really usually a

34:35
conflict with who they're working with

34:37
or for.

34:39
And so I and again I learned that early

34:41
on. HP was phenomenal. I think they were

34:43
one of the first adopters of the Gallup

34:45
StrengthFinder and really focus on

34:48
strengths and how do you manage people

34:50
better to focus on that. So I do think

34:52
that um

34:55
yeah that's I just I just think that's a

34:57
that's the way I would lean in a little

34:59
bit more.

Advice for Transition Seasons

35:00
I love that. And as you're thinking

35:02
through now transitioning and what's

35:04
next? There might be people listening

35:06
who are thinking through I'm in a season

35:09
of transition,

35:11
what are some of the tips you would give

35:12
people in trying to figure out the next

35:15
thing?

Purposeful Pause in Transition

35:17
Yeah, I have done a lot of this

35:19
purposeful pause I call it in between

35:22
the in between and again I feel blessed

35:24
that I can do that but even if you are

35:27
you need a job like next week take the

35:31
time to to really think about what is

35:33
your value proposition and that extends

35:34
across two things your value proposition

35:36
that you bring to a company or

35:38
organization right what are you really

35:40
good at get really crisp at it almost

35:42
like you're pitching yourself right

35:45
there's tenants in

35:49
But also, what are your values? So,

35:51
there's value proposition to the

35:53
organization or company that you're

35:56
going to, but what are your values? Um,

35:58
I've done fun things. For example, you

36:00
can search up online, what's my spirit

36:02
animal? And you take this little quiz

36:06
because I love stuff like that. And then

36:08
it tells you what your spirit animal is,

36:11
but it gives you a lot of like reflects

36:14
back the values that you you that you

36:17
bring to the table and that are

36:18
important to you. And so the value

36:20
proposition helps you sell yourself. The

36:23
values helps you anchor in what kind of

36:26
company do I want to work for and making

36:28
sure that you stay true to that as you

36:31
go through the next interview process or

36:33
seeking that next role.

Rapidfire Questions

36:35
Wow, that's so good. And I think a lot

36:36
of people are going to be trying to

36:38
figure out their spirit animal after

36:39
this too.

36:41
Um, I want to hit you with 10 rapidfire

36:43
questions before we close out where you

36:45
just say the first thing that comes to

36:47
mind and there's no right or wrong

36:48
answer. Uh,

36:50
oh, this is going to be fun. Okay,

36:54
first question. Who's the first person

36:56
you think of when I say servant

36:58
leadership?

Rapidfire Answers

37:00
Jeff Cross, my old CEO.

37:02
Love that. Five words that most describe

37:04
you.

37:06
I'm counting because I have this saying

37:08
in my head. Uh, okay. I'm going to say

37:11
the saying, "What you do today is

37:14
important because you exchange a day of

37:16
your life for it."

37:19
Wow, that's that's deep and good. Uh,

37:21
favorite book or author?

37:23
Seth Goden. Um,

37:26
uh, lynchpin. That changed my life two

37:29
decades ago.

37:32
Favorite food?

37:34
Dungeonous crab from Oregon coast.

37:38
Oh, all right. Favorite thing to do in

37:41
your free time.

37:43
Oh gosh, so many things. But I love

37:45
walking my white lab Luna. No podcast,

37:48
no headphones. The pure joy of watching

37:50
a dog

37:51
in there off leash is it's grounding for

37:54
me.

37:56
Love that surprising fact about you.

38:00
Uh surprising.

38:03
I am well I am a uh daughter of a first

38:07
generation immigrant from Latvia.

38:09
Wow. All right. Favorite place you've

38:11
been?

38:15
Uh Interlock in Switzerland.

38:19
Is there anywhere in the world that you

38:21
want to go and you have not been? Oh my

38:22
gosh, so many places. Uh, I would say

38:25
top of the list

38:28
is

38:33
Oh, this is a tough one. Turkey.

38:36
Oh, yeah. All right. Best advice you've

38:38
ever received

38:40
from my mom. Back to the top of this

38:42
conversation. You can have it all, just

38:44
not at the same time.

38:47
So good. And finally, we talk a lot

38:49
about servant leadership and a lot of

38:51
people listen to the podcast because

38:53
they're trying to learn about servant

38:55
leadership. Why do you think they should

38:57
care about this?

Importance of Servant Leadership

38:59
Because it is the only thing that will

39:04
make your organization thrive in chaos

39:07
or tough times.

Closing Remarks

39:11
Well, Tia, thank you for sharing some of

39:13
your story and a lot of wisdom. I'm

39:16
excited for people to get to hear from

39:18
you and follow the stuff you do next.

39:21
Thank you, Chris. I really appreciate

39:22
the opportunity and conversation.

39:24
Thank you for listening to this episode

39:26
of the Servant Leadership Podcast. If

39:29
you enjoyed what you heard, please give

39:31
it a thumbs up and leave a comment

39:32
below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit

39:36
the notification bell to never miss an

39:38
update. Be sure to check out the

39:40
servantleershipodcast.org

39:42
for more updates and additional bonus

39:44
content.