Jan. 28, 2025

The Power of Caring Leadership with Traycee Mayer | RR295

The Power of Caring Leadership with Traycee Mayer | RR295

Leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about showing up with empathy, kindness, and genuine care for people.

In this episode, I sit down with Traycee Mayer, author of The Leadership Contradiction, to discuss her refreshing take on modern leadership. Traycee shares how her experience in the hospitality industry shaped her belief that caring for employees directly translates to better business outcomes. She emphasizes the importance of self-care for leaders, the power of connection, and how true leadership begins with being present and intentional.

Traycee also dives into the challenges of post-pandemic leadership, the value of in-person interactions, and how leaders can bridge the gap between professional results and emotional intelligence. Her message is clear: when leaders lead with love, trust, and compassion, everyone wins.

Highlights:

  • Discover how empathy and kindness aren’t just “soft skills”—they’re essential tools for strong leadership.
  • Learn why taking care of yourself is one of the most important steps to becoming an effective leader.
  • Explore the value of creating genuine connections with your team to build trust and long-term loyalty.
  • Understand how in-person interactions can strengthen team dynamics in ways virtual meetings can’t.
  • Gain insights into how intentional leadership practices create sustainable success for both teams and businesses.

Connect with Traycee:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trayceemayer/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theleaderpaths/

Book: The Leadership Contradiction - https://a.co/d/8OoM07a


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AND … Don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and be eligible for my

complimentary LinkedIn profile audit – I do one each month for a lucky

listener!


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http://JanicePorter.com

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Transcript
Janice Porter:

Music. Hello everyone, and welcome to this



Janice Porter:

latest episode of relationships rule. This as we record is our



Janice Porter:

first episode of 2025 I'm excited to have my guest with me



Janice Porter:

today, Tracy Meyer, welcome Tracy. First of



Traycee Mayer:

all, Oh, thank you, Janice. And I'm so excited.



Traycee Mayer:

Yes, it is the seventh of January, and we're getting used



Traycee Mayer:

to 2025 already. I know happy me. I'm so excited.



Janice Porter:

My pleasure. Tracy and I just met recently in



Janice Porter:

in the fall, and have had some great conversations about what



Janice Porter:

she does and what I do in our kids and our grandkids. And so



Janice Porter:

it's kind of, it's, it's kind of fun to have her on my podcast



Janice Porter:

and be able to share with you her expertise and her passion. I



Janice Porter:

think, for for what she does shows through. And I know that



Janice Porter:

Tracy wrote a book, had a book published last year called the



Janice Porter:

leadership contradiction, choosing a path of love and



Janice Porter:

kindness, and it kind of challenges, I think she



Janice Porter:

challenges the traditional leadership paradigms by



Janice Porter:

advocating for empathy, love and kindness as core leadership



Janice Porter:

principles. And I wanted to start there, because that's



Janice Porter:

actually in a way, yeah, against the grain, right? And so can you



Janice Porter:

talk to our audience about that and and what you think is it



Janice Porter:

like a path that you're leading to change people that way, or is



Janice Porter:

it something that you've noticed over the years, because I know



Janice Porter:

you've been in this industry of coaching for a long time. What



Janice Porter:

was it? How did that come to be? Oh



Traycee Mayer:

my goodness. So thank you for asking Janice. And



Traycee Mayer:

yes, I've enjoyed getting to know you, by the way, and it's



Traycee Mayer:

when we talk about our grand, grand babies. But so yeah, I



Traycee Mayer:

wrote the book that leadership contradiction was, which was



Traycee Mayer:

something I coined, kind of post COVID. I had been on a hike



Traycee Mayer:

during that time and doing a lot of reflecting, and at one point,



Traycee Mayer:

and I talk about this at the beginning of the book, I kind of



Traycee Mayer:

felt this, this something kind of caused me to pause and to



Traycee Mayer:

look kind of back where I had come from, on on the hike. And



Traycee Mayer:

then it was a canyon I had hiked for many years, and then look



Traycee Mayer:

forward and, and at that moment in time, you know, I was 55



Traycee Mayer:

years old, and, you know, I kind of felt like everything in my



Traycee Mayer:

life had, kind of like the decisions had been made and, you



Traycee Mayer:

know, my path was set, and there was this really incredible



Traycee Mayer:

moment where I thought, wow, the biggest decisions are still



Traycee Mayer:

ahead of me. And you know, it prompted me to start talking



Traycee Mayer:

about this thing that happened, and I had taken some notes for



Traycee Mayer:

myself. And you know, before I know it, you know, people were



Traycee Mayer:

saying, oh my gosh, you need to write a book about this, because



Traycee Mayer:

you do think differently about about the way leadership should



Traycee Mayer:

be. So I reflected back on on my many years, 40 years of



Traycee Mayer:

leadership, and I always have felt like it is important to



Traycee Mayer:

love and care for your employees. It's important to be



Traycee Mayer:

kind. It's important, you know, all of that is, is the driver



Traycee Mayer:

for success in business. Now, I know that there are other great



Traycee Mayer:

leaders out there, like, like Mary, Mary Barra, with, with,



Traycee Mayer:

with jams. You know, she's a huge advocate of kindness at



Traycee Mayer:

work and such. And there's some great success stories, and one



Traycee Mayer:

of them as well. You know, when I reflect back, my success was



Traycee Mayer:

because my employees felt cared for. They felt that, that I was



Traycee Mayer:

a leader and that they would follow me, you know, I didn't



Traycee Mayer:

have to look back and see if they were there. I cared about



Traycee Mayer:

them, and they knew I they, you know, I knew they cared about



Traycee Mayer:

me. And so, so that, that to me, is leadership. The leadership



Traycee Mayer:

contradiction, on the other hand, is, is a topic, or, I



Traycee Mayer:

guess, a title I coined, and I because I believe that leaders



Traycee Mayer:

disqualify themselves from being leaders. They can be called



Traycee Mayer:

managers or bosses, but when they don't really care about



Traycee Mayer:

their employees, and I mean, really take the time to know who



Traycee Mayer:

they are, you know what's important to them. You know how



Traycee Mayer:

they can help them succeed, you know, then, you know, don't call



Traycee Mayer:

yourself a leader, because they're probably not really



Traycee Mayer:

following you. They're probably just getting through their days.



Traycee Mayer:

You know, I know I've had a few jobs of that myself, even as a



Traycee Mayer:

leader, I've always had, you know, reported to the president



Traycee Mayer:

of the company, or whomever it might be. So yeah, it's all



Traycee Mayer:

based upon a path that I feel like I've been traveling, and I



Traycee Mayer:

have something new that I'm getting ready to release



Traycee Mayer:

probably next month, that I've been working on for a dozen



Traycee Mayer:

years, that exactly is tied into the pathways and how we how we



Traycee Mayer:

lead, whether that's a family or business. Business, a community



Traycee Mayer:

nonprofit, your neighborhood group, whatever it is. And so



Traycee Mayer:

yeah, that's a long answer to how passionate and excited I get



Traycee Mayer:

about leadership and and you know how we really can impact



Traycee Mayer:

other people's lives?



Janice Porter:

Well, I wonder. I'm curious about the fact I



Janice Porter:

know I think you were in the hospitality industry for many



Janice Porter:

years, and that's where your leadership skills were honed,



Janice Porter:

right in your path for doing that. And that, to me, seems



Janice Porter:

like that should be a place that that industry should be a place



Janice Porter:

where people care about people, because it's a whole thing about



Janice Porter:

looking after your guests, right? And is that true, or is



Janice Porter:

there a lot of the opposite that goes on, and so you had to fight



Janice Porter:

to make that change?



Traycee Mayer:

So I would say that that there's not a lot of



Traycee Mayer:

that like I wouldn't say that that is the overwhelming drive.



Traycee Mayer:

Yes, hospitality should be and mostly is focused in that way.



Traycee Mayer:

It could always be more, just like any kind, yeah, so in



Traycee Mayer:

hospitality, oh, I'm sorry. So it's okay. It's not only our



Traycee Mayer:

guests that are important, but I think that's, that's the part



Traycee Mayer:

that I want to talk about, that I think sometimes we are so



Traycee Mayer:

focused on the guests that we forget. It's about the employees



Traycee Mayer:

that make the success. So you So, as a general manager, for a



Traycee Mayer:

number of years in full service hotels, I said to my employees,



Traycee Mayer:

you know what? I will take great care of you. You take great care



Traycee Mayer:

of the guests. Because my job was really wasn't about walking



Traycee Mayer:

around, you know, with a big title and making, you know, X



Traycee Mayer:

amount of dollars or what have you, but, but at the end of the



Traycee Mayer:

day, I felt my my responsibility during that part of my career,



Traycee Mayer:

which is about 25 years of my career, that that it was to help



Traycee Mayer:

those people grow and help them feel appreciated and loved in



Traycee Mayer:

their workplace. So that is not always present, and I've heard



Traycee Mayer:

that today, as I as I continue to coach folks in that industry,



Traycee Mayer:

as well as others



Janice Porter:

well. You know, my daughter has, in the past



Janice Porter:

year, has taken on a role that's bigger than she's ever done



Janice Porter:

before, and she now has a team of about 10 people and that she



Janice Porter:

looks after. And so she's learning the next level of



Janice Porter:

leadership. And this was her first holiday season coming, you



Janice Porter:

know, with this group of people and everything, and she reverted



Janice Porter:

right back to what is her core, which is so lovely, which was



Janice Porter:

she had to make hand created cards for each of her people on



Janice Porter:

her team, as well, as, you know, and got them very thoughtful



Janice Porter:

gifts. And that is her to the core. And I thought, wow, Sarah,



Janice Porter:

you're going to put, you know, that's going to be something



Janice Porter:

that's going to stand out for each of them. I don't think I



Janice Porter:

said this to her, actually, because it was so thoughtful,



Janice Porter:

and it did mean, you know, something special. And so I was



Janice Porter:

that's what I think of. When you talk about what you're talking



Janice Porter:

you know, what you talk about. I think she's got that gene, and I



Janice Porter:

love that because, yeah, it's important to make people feel



Janice Porter:

special and important, because you give, they will give Right,



Traycee Mayer:

absolutely and, and I love that, and I'd love to



Traycee Mayer:

meet your daughter, because it is so true. You know, there,



Traycee Mayer:

there are so many schools of thought out there that that that



Traycee Mayer:

contradict what we believe is true, or what we see is true, is



Traycee Mayer:

because they say, Well, how can you, you know, spend your time,



Traycee Mayer:

you know, being so nice to people. You know, what about the



Traycee Mayer:

line? And it's like, you know what, we can't meet the bottom



Traycee Mayer:

line on our own, because that's not, you know that that is, yes,



Traycee Mayer:

important. That's why we're general managers, or we're



Traycee Mayer:

senior directors or leaders. But at the end of the day, it's the



Traycee Mayer:

employees who help drive that success of the company as a



Traycee Mayer:

whole, and and it does matter, and we can bring love and



Traycee Mayer:

kindness back to work. You know, for a while it had a bad name,



Traycee Mayer:

you know, I write about that in my book too. Love is not a four



Traycee Mayer:

letter word, you know, because, because some people did the



Traycee Mayer:

wrong things at work. And, and, you know, it became, you can't,



Traycee Mayer:

you know, you can't even shake people's hands. You can't pat



Traycee Mayer:

them on the back, but I'm here to say that we need to bring



Traycee Mayer:

that back, because you spend 40 hours a week plus with people at



Traycee Mayer:

work, whether or not you're, you know, virtual or, you know, on a



Traycee Mayer:

zoom all day, you're still spending time with those people.



Traycee Mayer:

And it does matter that you care for them and that you connect



Traycee Mayer:

with them.



Janice Porter:

You know, that's that's actually brings up a



Janice Porter:

thought for me, because since COVID, of course, there's still



Janice Porter:

a lot of people who are working in isolation at home, possibly



Janice Porter:

by choice, because it's just and maybe not on some regard. But. I



Janice Porter:

see in in some people that I know that that's hurting them,



Janice Porter:

because there's no social connection real people



Janice Porter:

connection with their organization and it I don't know



Janice Porter:

there's no love. There is what it looks like to me. Do you find



Janice Porter:

yourself talking to those kinds of companies and encouraging



Janice Porter:

ways to make that happen. Or, you know what?



Traycee Mayer:

I don't know? Yeah, absolutely. So you know, I



Traycee Mayer:

still do, because I moved across the country this this year, I



Traycee Mayer:

still do some virtual coaching, but I also I'll travel anywhere



Traycee Mayer:

in the world, and I like to do hybrid coaching, where, you



Traycee Mayer:

know, I can do a couple of sessions with someone online and



Traycee Mayer:

do some virtual coaching. And I think you can get, you know, you



Traycee Mayer:

can, you can, if you're, if everybody's open to being very



Traycee Mayer:

transparent honest, you can definitely make some headway.



Traycee Mayer:

But I like to also, when I'm working with teams, is after



Traycee Mayer:

I've done some private coaching online. Is, is go into the



Traycee Mayer:

office or, you know, meets, Meet the Team somewhere where we



Traycee Mayer:

could all meet in person. Because as great as we've been



Traycee Mayer:

able to get through virtual meetings, it is, it is true,



Traycee Mayer:

still, that that in person, contact is so crucial to us as a



Traycee Mayer:

human and, you know, there you can make even better headway. So



Traycee Mayer:

for everybody out there who is still stuck in the virtual



Traycee Mayer:

world, and there's, there's so many excuses, right? I know when



Traycee Mayer:

I was in California, it was traffic, you know, here I could



Traycee Mayer:

say because it's was six degrees this morning when I went to meet



Traycee Mayer:

for breakfast. But guess what? I got in my car and it was six



Traycee Mayer:

degrees and I went and met a client at a coffee shop about 10



Traycee Mayer:

minutes to my office, absolutely and I'm so excited and thrilled



Traycee Mayer:

that here in the Midwest, where there's snow, is crazy people,



Traycee Mayer:

even more than I've ever seen, love to meet in person. So snow,



Traycee Mayer:

rain, yeah, ice, we still meet. So I'm kind of joyful about



Traycee Mayer:

that. So yeah, it's time for us to continue, whether we're



Traycee Mayer:

networking or we're talking with a client, there is something



Traycee Mayer:

really special about looking at someone eye to eye. Yeah, that's



Janice Porter:

true. There is Yeah. It's been a while for me.



Janice Porter:

I tend to have become a bit more of a recluse since all of that



Janice Porter:

happened, but I'm getting better at getting back out there and



Janice Porter:

changes. It's changes things for sure. So there are a lot of



Janice Porter:

leadership coaches out there, and I know for me, I teach, I do



Janice Porter:

LinkedIn training. There's a lot of LinkedIn trainers out there



Janice Porter:

as well. So when somebody is looking at hiring you as a



Janice Porter:

coach, I pretty much think I know what you're going to say.



Janice Porter:

But what do you say is the thing that makes you stand out from



Janice Porter:

the crowd? What's your USP? What's your unique selling



Janice Porter:

proposition? Absolutely, so



Traycee Mayer:

I am trained by UC Berkeley, in addition to my



Traycee Mayer:

40 years of leadership, just to solidify the idea that I help



Traycee Mayer:

find heart and meaning and hold space for people to kind of get



Traycee Mayer:

unstuck and figure out where they're they're headed. I hear a



Traycee Mayer:

lot about that nowadays that you know, people aren't quite sure.



Traycee Mayer:

They don't have clarity. They don't know where they're going.



Traycee Mayer:

And I am a coach that you know has a lot of talent, like other



Traycee Mayer:

coaches out there, but with 4040, years of leadership and



Traycee Mayer:

this huge compassionate heart, I help leaders soften up a little



Traycee Mayer:

and find their inner kindness and focus on their employees,



Traycee Mayer:

because it really is about the employees. It's not about us.



Traycee Mayer:

We're lucky as a leader we get to, you know, make, make X,



Traycee Mayer:

amount of dollars, and, you know, be in a bigger office,



Traycee Mayer:

what have you. But it's really about the employees. So I help



Traycee Mayer:

leaders level up so that they can develop the people that work



Traycee Mayer:

for them.



Janice Porter:

So I think more about the business owner, the



Janice Porter:

entrepreneur, because that's more my audience than the big



Janice Porter:

corporations. However, it's leading. It's leading self,



Janice Porter:

first, right, and then being able to lead others. But when I



Janice Porter:

lost my training, thought I. Uh, something you said about the can



Janice Porter:

you teach compassion in people, or is that something you're born



Janice Porter:

with?



Traycee Mayer:

I believe that you can teach it. And I actually



Traycee Mayer:

spoke to a group of women entrepreneurs last Friday. And



Traycee Mayer:

first of all, what you said about, you know, being an



Traycee Mayer:

entrepreneur, you know, it's, it is Elite is a leadership



Traycee Mayer:

position. You're leading your business, or you're leading



Traycee Mayer:

yourself. And the topic of my talk was permission to love



Traycee Mayer:

yourself first. And that's directly out of my book. So I, I



Traycee Mayer:

had some things that I had developed over the years, that I



Traycee Mayer:

didn't even realize that I was doing, you know, or that other



Traycee Mayer:

people would care about it, I guess is what I'm saying. I did



Traycee Mayer:

this thing called, PS, I love you, where I would take a day



Traycee Mayer:

off in the middle of the week and just drive to Palm Springs



Traycee Mayer:

and stay in a really nice hotel, buy myself a really nice dinner,



Traycee Mayer:

go shopping, lay out by the pool, you know, that kind of



Traycee Mayer:

stuff. So this talk that I, that I'm giving to a lot of women's



Traycee Mayer:

groups right now is, you know, love yourself first. You know,



Traycee Mayer:

you may be a senior vice president at a large



Traycee Mayer:

corporation, you may be an entrepreneur and the only person



Traycee Mayer:

that you're working for. You may have a small staff, but you



Traycee Mayer:

gotta love yourself first. And so, you know, we come up with



Traycee Mayer:

with little exercise on ways that they can take care of



Traycee Mayer:

themselves. Maybe it's just going out and buying a bouquet



Traycee Mayer:

of flowers and a nice candle or a bottle of wine and taking care



Traycee Mayer:

of, you know yourself at night. Because I believe that if you



Traycee Mayer:

don't love yourself first, you can't love anybody else. You



Traycee Mayer:

just can't you get stressed. You get you get anxious, you know.



Traycee Mayer:

And a lot of times we get, we get hung up in that as leaders,



Traycee Mayer:

we feel like, you know, we got to just give, give, give to



Traycee Mayer:

everybody else, whether it's our family at home or it's our, it's



Traycee Mayer:

our, it's our neighbors or our community or or it's the



Traycee Mayer:

employees that work that's great. But I'm saying, you know,



Traycee Mayer:

take care of yourself first. And so, yeah, a lot, a lot of the



Traycee Mayer:

coaching I'm doing is directly out of my book. There's, there's



Traycee Mayer:

things that you can just, you know, tab the pages, which I've



Traycee Mayer:

heard people do a lot, and they, they just do something that I



Traycee Mayer:

talk about doing. And that's nice of them. Yeah,



Janice Porter:

that's really nice. So do you have an Do you



Janice Porter:

have an example of where applying those love and kindness



Janice Porter:

examples in a difficult workplace led to a positive



Janice Porter:

outcome, yeah,



Traycee Mayer:

absolutely, one of the things that that happened



Traycee Mayer:

recently, the client that I just finished up with the last year,



Traycee Mayer:

they they had five different locations in in a particular



Traycee Mayer:

county And and so different managers managing different



Traycee Mayer:

locations, and many of them had never met, and a couple of them,



Traycee Mayer:

and one in particular was, was the low, low person on the totem



Traycee Mayer:

pole, so to speak, right? They they weren't doing their job



Traycee Mayer:

very well. I actually often do test calls first, if it has to



Traycee Mayer:

do with sales or operations, which which, likely it is,



Traycee Mayer:

regardless, regardless of what business I will do a mystery



Traycee Mayer:

call first and talk to the person as though I'm a customer.



Traycee Mayer:

Oh, fun, yeah. And, and then I'll give a report back to the



Traycee Mayer:

client as part of the beginning of the coaching, so we kind of,



Traycee Mayer:

I can give them an idea of where I'm headed. Well, this one



Traycee Mayer:

employee, I called to book a nice piece of business with them



Traycee Mayer:

at their hotel, and I never got a call back. And so, so that was



Traycee Mayer:

on the report, and and then I, you know, I got to call the



Traycee Mayer:

person and say, you know, and make sure they took my call and



Traycee Mayer:

said, you know, this is not a, you know, gotcha. This is not



Traycee Mayer:

you're going to lose your job, but this is, we got to change.



Traycee Mayer:

You know what's going on with you, and find out what's going



Traycee Mayer:

on. Why didn't you return my call, etc. So I worked with them



Traycee Mayer:

and had a couple of individual coaching sessions, and then we



Traycee Mayer:

brought everybody together from all five locations. They were



Traycee Mayer:

all within driving distance. One was a couple hours away, but we



Traycee Mayer:

got everybody together, and we started talking about different



Traycee Mayer:

tools and skills to help them get better at what they do,



Traycee Mayer:

because they could all learn from it. And I didn't have to



Traycee Mayer:

point out nobody else knew that that one person had had that,



Traycee Mayer:

that really bad call. But I think, actually, I think they



Traycee Mayer:

ended up bringing it up to the group because they realized that



Traycee Mayer:

they were being treated with compassion, with kindness, their



Traycee Mayer:

boss cared about their success, and even though the boss



Traycee Mayer:

couldn't figure out what was going on, because they got boss



Traycee Mayer:

stuff, leadership stuff, to do, right? Yeah, that's my job as a



Traycee Mayer:

coach, is to go in and find out what's wrong and fix it. So.



Traycee Mayer:

Yeah. So, you know, several weeks later, I went and met with



Traycee Mayer:

the regional vice president, and the first thing out of his mouth



Traycee Mayer:

was, Tracy, everybody's talking about the success of this



Traycee Mayer:

person, that they were going to fire them, and now they're one



Traycee Mayer:

of the top performing persons in the company. So they invested in



Traycee Mayer:

me as a coach to invest in their employees. And I was, I had the



Traycee Mayer:

time because that's what I was there for, to find out what the



Traycee Mayer:

problem was, to inspire that person to fix it, and to inspire



Traycee Mayer:

them as a group and build connections with them. And yeah,



Traycee Mayer:

that was that was pretty awesome to hear that. And I had heard,



Traycee Mayer:

well, yeah, the owner of the company has been talking about



Traycee Mayer:

it too, so haven't had a chance to meet, meet that person yet.



Traycee Mayer:

But of course, I'm looking forward to it because, yeah,



Traycee Mayer:

people are talking about it. And I have, I have lots of examples



Traycee Mayer:

like that, thank goodness. But it's, it's fun for me. You know,



Traycee Mayer:

that's more rewarding than than what I get paid. Just to know



Traycee Mayer:

that people are succeeding, yeah,



Janice Porter:

for sure. And the fact that just the mere fact



Janice Porter:

that as an employee, one would feel that they're being cared



Janice Porter:

about, cared for by their their management team, is a lot. I



Janice Porter:

mean, there's a lot of people like me, though, that don't ever



Janice Porter:

want to work for somebody else. They want to be their own boss



Janice Porter:

and so, but they have to do all those same things. You have to



Janice Porter:

show people that you care. If you don't show them that you



Janice Porter:

care, there's no incentive, you know, right? Yeah, and you said



Janice Porter:

something else so earlier about and I think it was more in a



Janice Porter:

career perspective, but you said there's people who don't know



Janice Porter:

where they're going or what's next, or they don't have right



Janice Porter:

and is that really important in today's world? Because I also



Janice Porter:

thought when you said that, that we don't know what our next



Janice Porter:

thing's going to be, because we change our jobs, and we change



Janice Porter:

our careers, and we change our our businesses more often now



Janice Porter:

than we ever have. So,



Traycee Mayer:

right? So yes, and that's so profound in



Traycee Mayer:

itself, right? So what it was, yeah, absolutely true Janice and



Traycee Mayer:

that, and that's, that's really to my point of, yes, there's a



Traycee Mayer:

lot of coaches out there and of all different qualifications and



Traycee Mayer:

so on and so forth. But I really, I fully, believe that



Traycee Mayer:

people do need guidance today, and both the leaders and the Oh,



Traycee Mayer:

please.



Janice Porter:

I wasn't suggesting that they didn't



Traycee Mayer:

know. I mean, that we don't have to change



Traycee Mayer:

jobs. We don't have to change employees as much as we seem to



Traycee Mayer:

think that we do that with with a good reset of the leader as



Traycee Mayer:

well as the employees. You know, we can salvage these, these



Traycee Mayer:

people where they're not horrible, they're just having



Traycee Mayer:

had the right training, they have the right guidance. You



Traycee Mayer:

know, we do impact people's trajectory, you know, their path



Traycee Mayer:

and so, yeah, I'm so glad that you brought that up, because I'm



Traycee Mayer:

concerned about the rapid overturn of talent of people in



Traycee Mayer:

jobs. You know, my last example was, was that point exactly. It



Traycee Mayer:

cost them more money to replace that employee than to to buy, to



Traycee Mayer:

pay for a coach to go fix the situation and actually bring the



Traycee Mayer:

whole team up to a better notch. So it's a good it's a good



Traycee Mayer:

business decision. Your coaches and and I'm finding that more



Traycee Mayer:

and more, you know, I coach leaders, and they're having such



Traycee Mayer:

success, instead of them now taking the time to coach their



Traycee Mayer:

employees. I just got a call last week from another client



Traycee Mayer:

who said, Can you coach my senior team? You know, because I



Traycee Mayer:

got to do my job, and I thank you who you've helped love, you



Traycee Mayer:

know, bring, you know, bring me to a new level. But I can do the



Traycee Mayer:

same with their team, and it's going to be where, you know,



Traycee Mayer:

she'll come back and she knows what to expect, you know, of her



Traycee Mayer:

team being trained. So, yeah, I'm super excited about that,



Traycee Mayer:

because that hopefully I'm only one, one coach. I do work with a



Traycee Mayer:

lot of other coaches, though, you know. So you know, one, one



Traycee Mayer:

person at a time will, try to change, you know, the way that



Traycee Mayer:

things are going, but yeah, hopefully the message gets out



Traycee Mayer:

there. Yeah, investing in a good coach who knows what they're



Traycee Mayer:

doing. Yeah, yeah. That's



Janice Porter:

definitely, definitely more more out there



Janice Porter:

now than ever before. I know. Okay, so let's dive. Let's just



Janice Porter:

take a left turn for a second. And I know that you have a very



Janice Porter:

full life on your own. You're scoot your license, or whatever



Janice Porter:

they call it, certified scuba diver, right big time. And have



Janice Porter:

been many places in the world doing that. That's amazing. It's



Janice Porter:

not my thing. Amazing, but amazing nevertheless, yeah, and,



Janice Porter:

and you like to travel, right? A lot, yes. So what's the most



Janice Porter:

exciting place you've been scuba diving? Oh, gosh,



Traycee Mayer:

that's a hard one, because I think there's a



Traycee Mayer:

toss up between Fiji and the Philippines and the Maldives.



Traycee Mayer:

You know, they're all amazing in their own way, and yet, Hawaii,



Traycee Mayer:

on the island of Oahu, is still my very favorite place to dive.



Traycee Mayer:

The clarity of the water is better than anywhere in the



Traycee Mayer:

world that I've traveled. So



Janice Porter:

why scuba diving? What brought when did you start



Janice Porter:

that?



Traycee Mayer:

I started it. Let's see it's getting it's hard



Traycee Mayer:

to believe it's been almost 15 years ago now, I was managing a



Traycee Mayer:

hotel in Waikiki Beach, and it had been a long process of



Traycee Mayer:

buying the hotel, interviewing 180 employees, hiring them all,



Traycee Mayer:

training them, doing some renovation. The hotel is a



Traycee Mayer:

stunning hotel. It's they've done so much more since, even



Traycee Mayer:

since I left 15 years ago, but so Queen Kapiolani is the one of



Traycee Mayer:

the most beautiful hotels in Waikiki Beach. And at one point,



Traycee Mayer:

you know, I didn't want to stay there because I had other, you



Traycee Mayer:

know, still family, and I had rather responsibilities to other



Traycee Mayer:

hotels in California, so I didn't stay and then when I went



Traycee Mayer:

back to to help support the team, I had a lot of free times



Traycee Mayer:

on my hands because they were doing such a phenomenal job. So



Traycee Mayer:

I started scuba diving, and that's kind of it's really



Traycee Mayer:

simple, but today I do work my scuba diving into my experiences



Traycee Mayer:

as a leadership coach. And there's a lot of you know,



Traycee Mayer:

spiritual experiences, both with scuba diving and I do a lot of



Traycee Mayer:

hiking. I just came back from Spain recently, and, yeah, all



Traycee Mayer:

of those trips the last dozen years or so are actually going



Traycee Mayer:

to be part of my new Oracle deck, which will be yes next



Traycee Mayer:

month. Yes, finished.



Janice Porter:

Okay, yes, that. That sounds exciting. I want to



Janice Porter:

know about that. Yeah. So it's, is it? So it's a card deck that



Janice Porter:

you just will pick one as or is it's not like tarot cards. It's



Janice Porter:

like, yes, pick a card a day kind of thing and see what it



Janice Porter:

has to say exactly.



Traycee Mayer:

And so an Oracle deck is, is just gives you, it



Traycee Mayer:

gives you, like, a suggestion on the direction that you're going



Traycee Mayer:

in. And so the my, my deck is called the leader paths Oracle



Traycee Mayer:

deck. I'm working on getting it to the printer this week,



Traycee Mayer:

actually, and it's 7075, photographs of places I've



Traycee Mayer:

traveled in the world and through, like I said, hiking,



Traycee Mayer:

scoop. There's some underwater pictures. There are, you know,



Traycee Mayer:

just a lot of different, different things that are have a



Traycee Mayer:

lot of really strong meaning to me. So I'll be producing some of



Traycee Mayer:

the the photographs in artwork that people can hang on their



Traycee Mayer:

walls as well. So yeah, you know, but at the end of the day,



Traycee Mayer:

it's so each one has a message for your path. So as your path



Traycee Mayer:

as a leader in your workplace, your path is leader in your



Traycee Mayer:

family. You know, your local church. You know, whatever it



Traycee Mayer:

might be, we all need guidance on where our path is going. So I



Traycee Mayer:

hope it will be very inspirational to,



Janice Porter:

Oh, sounds like it? Yes, definitely. So just a



Janice Porter:

couple of random questions I like to ask. My favorite word is



Janice Porter:

curiosity, and so I like to ask my guests whether you think



Janice Porter:

curiosity is innate or learned, and what you are most curious



Janice Porter:

about today. So two parts to the question. Well, the



Traycee Mayer:

first part, I think that part of it is innate,



Traycee Mayer:

but but it you can be trained to go, to be more curious. I think



Traycee Mayer:

it's a good habit to get in for us to be more curious. And



Traycee Mayer:

again, that that comes back to leadership, that comes back to



Traycee Mayer:

coaching. I think I've always been a curious person, but I



Traycee Mayer:

think my time spent at Berkeley, the Coaching Institute, they



Traycee Mayer:

actually teach you about framing questions with curiosity to the



Traycee Mayer:

clients that we coach Yes, so that allows me to answer that as



Traycee Mayer:

an affirmative on both, both cases. Okay, and then, what am I



Traycee Mayer:

curious about today? I'm curious about how I can, how I will



Traycee Mayer:

continue to be creative and artistic in this way that I had



Traycee Mayer:

never imagined, writing a book, doing this oracle deck, doing



Traycee Mayer:

custom workshops for leadership, and especially with right now,



Traycee Mayer:

talking to women about self, love, all of those things.



Traycee Mayer:

Because I'm curious about where my path is going, right, right?



Traycee Mayer:

Because, because it's exciting and it's fun, and I feel like



Traycee Mayer:

I'm combining this, the Spirit and of creativity and my heart



Traycee Mayer:

of kindness with what I do for a living. So how lucky am I?



Janice Porter:

Yeah, that's really special. I feel the same



Janice Porter:

way, in the sense that I'm always talking about gratitude



Janice Porter:

in terms of the clients that I work with, and how are they



Janice Porter:

showing gratitude to the people that they work with? Because so



Janice Porter:

often we just go next and we keep moving, and we don't really



Janice Porter:

show that appreciation that people need to hear and see



Janice Porter:

definitely, do Are you a reader or listen like do you like to



Janice Porter:

read real books still? Or do you read on an on a digital path? Do



Janice Porter:

you listen to auditory books? What do you do? Do you do



Janice Porter:

anything? Yeah, I



Traycee Mayer:

do a little bit of everything. I kind of mix it



Traycee Mayer:

up. I'm not I'm not stuck on one or the other. I think from one



Traycee Mayer:

to the next, I still have hard copies. There's, there's a



Traycee Mayer:

bookshelf behind me, so yeah, and I haven't done an audible on



Traycee Mayer:

my book yet. It's available on Kindle, and it's also on Amazon,



Traycee Mayer:

and a soft copy and Barnes and Noble. So I'm, I'm debating



Traycee Mayer:

whether I should, should do an audible version of my book,



Traycee Mayer:

because I know people have different ways of experiencing.



Janice Porter:

I know I'm drowning in books. And, yeah, I



Janice Porter:

don't read them all, you know, yeah, and I haven't decided on



Janice Porter:

using Audible yet, because that's just one more thing to



Janice Porter:

have a subscription to and that, you know, anyway. But, and are



Janice Porter:

you a movie person?



Traycee Mayer:

You know what? I don't watch a lot of movies, but



Traycee Mayer:

I actually did Sunday, I told myself I had the day off, even



Traycee Mayer:

though I was working on my finishing my card deck. I



Traycee Mayer:

watched that new wicked movie and at home, and I thought that



Traycee Mayer:

was fabulous. I've seen it. I read the book. I read that book



Traycee Mayer:

in Okay, oh my gosh. 20 years ago, I saw the performance at



Traycee Mayer:

the Pantages in Los Angeles, yeah, and so watching that movie



Traycee Mayer:

come to life was was pretty cool. And I wanted to see a



Traycee Mayer:

great



Janice Porter:

message, yeah, okay, I need to see it, but I



Janice Porter:

don't know if I'm going to get to the theater to see it, but



Janice Porter:

did it still work on the the big screen at home?



Traycee Mayer:

Absolutely. So, so you know, it's I shouldn't



Traycee Mayer:

say this. I don't want to give this away, but this is my



Traycee Mayer:

perception. So nobody's confirmed this, but this is my



Traycee Mayer:

perception that green witch, Elphaba, yeah, she never really



Traycee Mayer:

was wicked. She was misunderstood. Okay, yeah, okay.



Traycee Mayer:

She has a huge heart of kindness. It doesn't matter that



Traycee Mayer:

she's green,



Janice Porter:

well, and yeah, okay, I must watch it. Actually,



Janice Porter:

I might go see it this weekend. Thank you. Well, thank you. This



Janice Porter:

has been delightful. I always like to ask my guests if they



Janice Porter:

have one piece of wisdom they want to leave with my audience



Janice Porter:

around business, and then we'll call it a wrap.



Traycee Mayer:

Okay, so what comes to mind, first of all, is



Traycee Mayer:

your next the next client, or or employee, or might it be



Traycee Mayer:

yourself that you look at. So maybe you'll look at yourself in



Traycee Mayer:

the mirror, if it's you, or if it's an employee or a client, or



Traycee Mayer:

maybe it's a family member, ask them how they're doing today,



Traycee Mayer:

and we'll stop and wait for the answer. Yeah, we're all we're



Traycee Mayer:

all in too big of a rush, and we need to stop and realize that



Traycee Mayer:

the person in front of us, and that might be us, is really



Traycee Mayer:

important, and we need to take a moment to listen. That's



Janice Porter:

great advice. Thank you so much, Tracy. And



Janice Porter:

where can my audience find you? And I will put it in the show



Janice Porter:

notes as well,



Traycee Mayer:

yeah, absolutely, well, and certainly on LinkedIn.



Traycee Mayer:

But the best way to get in touch with me also is just go to my



Traycee Mayer:

website, b, u leadership.com and it's B, E, y, o, u



Traycee Mayer:

leadership.com there's a place on there where you can book 30



Traycee Mayer:

minutes to talk to me. My phone number is on there, email and



Traycee Mayer:

all of my other links, like Instagram and YouTube and and



Traycee Mayer:

LinkedIn. So okay,



Janice Porter:

thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate you a



Janice Porter:

lot, and appreciate your wisdom. So thanks again, and to my



Janice Porter:

audience, thank you for being here and remember to stay



Janice Porter:

connected and be remembered.



Traycee Mayer:

Yay.




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