Coaching can take on many forms, it’s a bond, a connection and it does not end with one-on-one training, as we imagine it to be. Depending on the project, company, team, or individual, any of these coaching approaches can be beneficial and the most effective leaders will use all of these ways to confidently take on leadership roles.
Our guests, Laura Bennett and Kellie Jenkins, founders of “Her Brilliance,” are both accomplished leaders. These two bring out the best in women by providing a safe space for them to connect, form deeper bonds, and gain the confidence to transform their leadership. Her Brilliance sought to apply the same coaching competencies to a group environment, so they could gather a powerhouse of women and motivate them to step into their full leadership potential.
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A Community for Women Leaders With Laura Bennett & Kellie Jenkins
Welcome to Action’s Antidotes, your antidote to the mindset that keeps you settling for less. Something we’ve talked about quite a bit on this program is coaching. When a lot of people think of coaching, they probably think of a one-on-one, an individual relationship where a coach listens to what you have to say, assigns you a bunch of exercises, and gives you advice on what to do next, or gives you questions, and hopefully, you’ll come up with the answers. However, there are multiple approaches to coaching and I want to give every approach its fair due.
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Today, our guests are Laura Bennett and Kellie Jenkins, who are the co-founders of Her Brilliance Community, a community of women leaders. Kellie, Laura, welcome to the program.
Thanks, Stephen, for having us.
Definitely. First, I always like to orient the audience. Tell us a little bit about Her Brilliance community, what your system is all about.
Sure. Kellie and I founded Her Brilliance a couple of years ago now. We are an organization-focus that uses a women-centered group coaching approach to accelerate the development of women leaders. We’re all about helping women really access and tap into their authentic natural strength as a way to amplify their leadership impact and influence.
Yeah. I think I’ll just add to that. The idea of community comes from this group coaching approach where it gives women an opportunity to learn in that peer-oriented community environment.
This group coaching approach, you describe it as a community. How does that manifest? I know a lot of people in America and probably a lot of other countries too are missing this idea of community after social media first ripped it apart and then the pandemic ripped it apart even further. What does this community look like?
Yeah. It can look very different ways. Obviously, over the last couple of years, it’s been mostly virtual, and has been just as effective as an in-person environment. You’re really looking at a small intimate group of peers who have come together around some common theme or experience. It could be, they all belong to the same organization. It could be across industries. They’re all at the same level and experiencing the same sorts of challenges. What we’re doing is bringing that group together. Instead of learning through this one-on-one executive coaching, we’re applying those coaching competencies into the group environment. It’s not training where we’ve come in as experts and share our leadership knowledge.
What did the group sizes look like? You found a way to make it work virtually. Is there a certain size of the group or make-up of the group — as you mentioned, shared experiences? Are they all from the same industry, or all in the same level of leadership, or something like that?
Yeah. It can look in a number of different ways. As Kellie mentioned, we tend to go with a more intimate size. One of the core tenants of our approach is around creating a really safe place without judgments, creating that psychological safety. It can feel a little intimidating if you’re coming into a group of 50, expecting to show up and be open, so a smaller size is what we generally see. Also, because of the nature of the level of discussion and reflection, there needs to be enough space and time so that each person can really have the airtime to share their perspective. Possible to do something in a larger group also, then with a subset perhaps of smaller groups, really to create that psychological safety and the intimacy where people feel like they’re comfortable to be able to show up and really be open.
Is there any magical parameter around that group size? You seem to say 50 is too many. Obviously, you’re not one-on-one. There’s some number in between. I know people who read the Bible a lot will cite the number 12 as the optimal number that comes out of that book. What are your feelings on that? Is there a lot of variance? Do you gauge it a little bit based on the personalities of the people in the community, how some people may be a little bit shier and some people may be a little bit more outspoken?
I think the research would show you that group coaching sessions generally fall between four and 12 people. Once you get beyond 15, the International Coaching Federation doesn’t consider that to be group coaching anymore, that tipped into the realm of training. Six to eight is the sweet spot. That is small enough that we can all fit on the one Zoom screen and really connect as though we’re sitting in a physical circle. It gives that time and space that Laura was talking about for each person to have their air time for us to break off smaller groups in different constellations. That’s really where we like to play — in that six to eight group size.
Yeah. I know that feeling of being alone. It’s actually interesting, I spent 10 years believing that I was some kind of an outlier or alone in the fact that my preferred work style was what I would refer to as the 90-minute power session. I would really focus on something for 90 minutes. I’d want to practically lay down in the office and socialize. All of a sudden, around four or five years ago, all kinds of research started coming out saying that that’s actually the normal human state. It was just like, “Oh my gosh.” People just don’t even realize it. I feel like it gives some validity to people’s experiences when they say, “Okay. I’m going through this,” especially with things like imposter syndrome, which I know is pretty common.
It really validates and normalizes those feelings.
I think what it also does too though is that when you share that, that is your experience, and somebody else can identify with that, you can then exchange your experiences with, “Well, here’s what I tried and this is what worked for me,” and somebody can take inspiration from that and then think about applying in their own work or in life, or perhaps thinking about this situation differently.
It’s like a permission. You finally give yourself and each other permission and normalize those feelings.
A part of what you were saying about creating this is creating a safe space, a place where people feel comfortable sharing what they need to share. I don’t want to say you’re not going to be judged, because I do honestly believe people are judging at all times in one way. You’re not going to be reprimanded, mocked, any of these other things. People are going to validate your experience no matter what it is. Is there a key formula in these groups whether they’d be as small as four or as big as 15, and your magic spot of six to eight, that helps make sure that no one feels uncomfortable sharing whatever it is they need to share?
We put a lot of effort into creating that safe space and there’s a number of different aspects to that safe space. The first thing that we do when we come into a group coaching session is help everybody to arrive. We go through some sort of grounding exercise so that they can leave behind the stresses of the day and really be present to what is going on and the collective energy in the group. We use a check-in process to help people feel comfortable sharing. We ease people into it. Here’s some sharing at a fairly non-threatening level. We may then do the next exercise in smaller breakout groups, in pairs or triads, before we move into the bigger group space.
We also put a lot of effort initially into designing the alliance. Let’s agree on how we want to show up for one another in this space — how do we want to be? It’s amazing to us and continues to surprise us each time we host one of these sessions, just how quickly particularly women can go deep with each other. It really doesn’t require all that much setup at all. People can be complete strangers coming in. At the end of an hour, they’ve shared some of their most vulnerable thoughts. I think there is something too about sharing in that kind of environment where these people, they’re not invested in your life in the way that your colleagues or your family are. If there is a level of judgment, which we do try to store, it’s at a different level. People feel free to share more vulnerable in those spaces, which sounds counterintuitive, but it’s certainly been an experience.
Yeah. I actually do know that experience. I think I experienced it first when I was 18 years old and I took an Amtrak train from Chicago to the Wisconsin Dells, and I told my life story to a complete stranger. That’s when this light bulb went off. It’s like, “Wait. I’m not comfortable telling my parents this stuff. Why is that? Oh, yeah, this girl on the train has no vested interest in how my life turns out. I’m just on a train.”
Exactly. We’ve heard anecdotal feedback that everybody feels a little nervous coming into it., but then, within the first five minutes, because of the things that Kellie mentioned, our experience has been that women just let their guard down, open up. Like Kellie said, we take a lot of pride, and we put in a lot of effort in creating that space. I think, first and foremost, that is the most important piece. There’s so few places in our lives where we have that space to truly explore, reflect the things that we wouldn’t say to our family members. It really is a very sacred place for women to show up.
I think there's something about the women-centric environment that creates that sense of safety. Click To Tweet
I’m sure there’s science behind it. I can’t tell you what it is, but we know intuitively from the work that we’ve done that the way that a group of women only can dive into that deep sharing and reflection is so different to a mixed gender group.
I think we also know that women face very specific and unique challenges in the workplace and even this idea of leadership identity and what research does show about how women feel like they sometimes need to fit into a model of leadership that feels very inauthentic. Perhaps it’s more traditional. There is something to be said about bringing only women together because of some of those challenges that women face uniquely, that makes them feel more comfortable, more safe, and they can truly explore their own leadership identity in ways that they may not be able to do anywhere else.
Based on just looking through your website, it feels like this unique leadership identity is a major part of what you’re promoting through your program. There is this standard old fashioned leadership model. Sometimes, I refer to it as a taskmaster more than a leader, especially in middle management traditionally. What does this look like? How much variance are you seeing? You’re saying that women face challenges that men generally don’t face at work, but they’re also cultivating their own specific leadership identities, which could be very different from the traditional model, but also very different from one another. I imagine everyone in your program has their own leadership identity that they’re trying to cultivate. How much variance do you see in the leadership identities that people are developing?
What we are trying to do with our work is to help women feel confident in their authentic leadership identity. This idea that rather than trying to fit into the model that you’re seeing, the leadership ranks within your organization, that you get really clear on who you are. We spend a lot of time working with the women’s values, what’s important to them at their core, what are their strengths, and really helping them to recognize that those leadership qualities that kind of innately exist within them are valuable and valued within organizations and the research is showing that the leadership qualities that are gonna be required to address the challenges that we’re all facing, you know, in this increasingly global and complex environment are those that are much uniquely feminine or traditionally feminine, collaboration, empathy, relationship based, trust, all of those things, and so a lot of the work is really helping women to recognize that those strengths that exist and that they perhaps have dismissed, because maybe they’re not valued in the leadership models they’re seeing or perhaps they just don’t recognize how important those skills are in the workplace, to really lean into those strengths and to develop their leadership identity around who they are naturally.
And I think the other thing that we see is once women access that more and allow themselves, again, the permission to accept those and really lean into those and leverage those traits and qualities that make them uniquely brilliant, to use our term, they find that their leadership impact and influence really just magnifies. Things become so much easier. They operate in sort of this state of flow and things just feel more natural and they’re able to lead in service of things far bigger, you know, than things that they were doing when they were trying to fit themselves into a model or into a type of leader that felt really inauthentic.
Yeah, it actually is so much easier, and I said this on another podcast episode earlier that I’ve witnessed people who are misaligned and, therefore, they’re only working 30 hours a week but they’re burnt out. And I’ve seen people who are so well aligned that they’re working 60 hours a week but they’re not feeling any burnout because they’re just being who they really are. You always wonder how the American song contest is going on right now, I don’t know how many people care about it, but it reminds me that Snoop Dogg, for example, has the potential to be everywhere and collaborate with everyone that’s ever been known, I don’t think he’s collaborated with Olivia Rodrigo yet, but you get the point, yet, like you never see him yawn. If anyone’s ever seen Snoop Dogg yawn on TV, I’d like to talk to you about that experience. But, you know, you’ll imagine that that when you’re aligned, it really goes and your energy is so much better and then you have so much more energy for the people who you are leading, the rank and file employees, as some people refer to it. And so, as these leaders get developed, you’re imagining a better situation for kind of everyone at these work environments that you don’t have these grumpy leaders trying to be someone they’re not. What are the talents that you see that are most undervalued that people tend to just dismiss as, okay, like, “I’m good at this but no one cares because they say it’s a soft skill, not a hard skill,” or whatever else you’re seeing out there?
That’s a good question. I mean, I think some of the things that we’ve sort of mentioned already in terms of the skills and qualities that are gonna be needed in the future, things around relationship building, connection, sort of focus on whole leadership or heart-centered leadership, leading from a place of heart and purpose, I think sometimes those have the perception of being some of those more softer skills, but certainly with the pandemic and everything that has changed with COVID and what employees are looking for and need from their leaders, this idea of really meeting employees where they are and being able to connect with them on levels that are more personal and more emotional are absolutely essential for the future. And, again, I think our sometimes undervalued leaders who exhibit those are seen as soft or not competent. They’re likable but they’re not competent.
Yeah. And I think, you know, the research again, would back that, the women in the workplace report is showing that women leaders are disproportionately taking on that burden of supporting employees, particularly over the last couple of years, and it’s taking its toll. And I think mostly it’s taking its toll because it’s unrecognized. That work is not valued and recognized and seen as leadership work and so women are taking that on in addition to everything else that they’re already doing within the workplace and that’s contributing to their standard burnout.
So they’re taking on this burden of supporting people emotionally and I think we all know that this country is kind of in a mental health crisis right now. So, you’re saying that these women are taking that on in addition to the work they need to do to meet numbers, whatever it is, I have this idea that traditional leadership only cares about numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers, and not being recognized for this. And is this part of what inspired you to start this community? Is there an aspect of this community that support in a lot of other women leaders saying, okay, you know, I’m supporting this person, one of my employees just lost her mother or something and I’m really trying to support her and bend over around some of the grieving process there and talking with each other about those experiences and kind of supporting that whole aspect of what it means to be a leader?
That’s exactly the value of bringing women together in community. It’s about sharing experiences and being able to learn from one another, but it’s also about that level of support. We had one woman leader just recently talking about how this is a huge strength of hers, and yet, in overusing it, she risks burning out herself. So we asked her, you know, where do you get that support in your own world? And she’s like, well, that’s a great question. And so, you know, these group coaching sessions can provide that level of support, the friendly ear, the encouragement, the ideas for how to do this in a way that’s not quite as burdensome for women. It’s, again, that validation but also that support and encouragement that is really so valuable in that group community.
And also to your question around sort of the — I think you asked about the origin or the COVID, the pandemic, related to kind of how we started some of this, I think we started this a little bit before the pandemic and, to be honest, I think Kellie and I saw some of this in ourselves, what we were going through ourselves that we felt sort of this, I don’t know if it was a misalignment, but there was like a greater purpose that we both felt for ourselves that we wanted to be more aligned with. And so as we continue to talk with one another and explore some of this, we started talking with other women. We were like there’s something here and then COVID happened and it was like almost just emphasized the need even more.
Laura, Kellie, what were you doing before you found each other and founded Her Brilliance Community?
Yeah, I mean, I guess we both have similar stories in many ways. We both had professional careers, mine in professional services, Laura in the corporate sector, we had children, we took some time out, having had those children and that really kind of caused us to reassess, you know, what we wanted out of our work and our lives and we both became drawn to coaching, a way of aligning what was important to us with the work that we were doing. And so we were introduced by a mutual coach friend and just immediately connected over the shared journeys that we’ve had and then this desire to support women. And I think, at its core, we saw in other women that we were coaching and probably, if we’re honest, recognized it in ourselves that there were amazing women out there who just didn’t always see how brilliant they were. And we really wanted to help women to be able to recognize that unique brilliance and to really leverage that, to find this ease and flow that we’re talking about in their work and for that to then flow over into their lives in the way that they are able to then show up for their families.
And I think, for Kellie and I, this kind of work truly leverages our own brilliance. I mean, we just talked the other day, we had a session and we both were just, you know, our hearts were overflowing and how excited we were to have this session. It doesn’t feel like work so much is our way of using our brilliance.
It’s always wonderful to hear people, whether they describe it as joy, hearts overflowing, getting that level of satisfaction out of their work, because I recently saw a graphic that claimed that there’s an 84 percent of Americans have some form of dissatisfaction with their job so it is pretty rare and it’s something that, I mean, part of the reason I started this podcast is to try to put a dent into that number. And I’m assuming that you’re helping these women also get into that, whether it’s that 16 percent category, and I didn’t look at the statistics and look at the specific survey to know that’s the exact number so that number could be wrong, but you are helping people get to that better place and you said that you started it just before the pandemic and then the pandemic hit. What were you thinking as that happened? Was there any level of panic? Like, oh, my gosh, this is gonna ruin my whole plan? Or did you kind of just go with it and say, Wait a second, okay, you need to transition this to Zoom, let’s figure out how to do this and let’s actually work through how do we make, as you said before, the Zoom community just as effective as the in-person community?
Yeah, I think quite the opposite, actually. I think Kellie and I both were doing a lot of our coaching already virtually, whether on the phone or through Zoom. I know for me, personally, when I became a coach and the idea of coaching virtually came up, I was like, no way, how can you coach somebody, you know? It’s not in person, you can’t feel their energy. And it has proven to be extremely, extremely effective. I think the other piece is, again, the pandemic only illuminated and uncovered a lot of the challenges that we sort of were innately seeing or we were suspecting that women were facing and it really just exacerbated the need and the opportunity and we just kept saying to each other, “We need to do this, this is needed now more than ever,” so that there wasn’t a panic, it was more of a catalyst for us to just get our things together quicker so that we could be a support to the women community.
And I think for a lot of women, the Zoom environment, although people are still hankering to get back in person, but Zoom meets people where they are. As a woman, you don’t need to find childcare and then drive downtown and park and you can turn on your camera and if the kids are running in the background, it’s really not a big deal. When the pandemic first started, we were having sessions at 6 AM in the morning because that was the perfect time for women to wake up, the rest of their house was quiet, and they had this hour to themselves and so we brought them together and community in that way and it’s really just exploded from there. And we’re more than happy to continue doing our work via Zoom. We don’t find that it’s an impediment to creating that sense of community and intimacy. It’s so much easier for a lot of women to meet that way and allows us to bring people in from various walks of life and from geographical locations.
That was what I was gonna say too is we have people who join sometimes from Pacific to East Coast or Australia. It really allows the flexibility and it just increases the amount and different types of women that can join, not just one, you know, location.
Yeah, I was like looking at all the Zoom stuff and I imagine people starting companies around time zones where you could be in like New York or Brazil and the only thing that really matters is how many time zones off. Now, of course you mentioned bringing in women from Australia. I know they’re almost the exact opposite so there has to be some level of combination, but it’s interesting because I did read a lot of statistics, because I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of work now that we’re coming out of the pandemic or people keep thinking we’re coming out and we’re not and people disagree as to how much we’ve come out of it, but post-pandemic, what the future of work is gonna look like and I actually have read studies that have talked about what people’s preferences are on whether they work remotely, in person, or some form of hybrid and it did seem like there was a slight, women being slightly more likely to prefer more time remote versus in-person than men, and particularly white men in this particular survey.
I’m not surprised to hear that. I mean, certainly allows for some greater flexibility. What’s interesting about that is we literally just posted on LinkedIn about an article sort of talking about that very nature of the hybrid work environment and actually the potential for women to be at almost like a double disadvantage. So while we think of it as a positive, because it helps with flexibility and work-life balance and some of the other things that generally women might be more interested in, potentially, it almost limits their ability to be heard and to use their voice because they’re not maybe physically in the office with some of their colleagues and also could potentially limit their exposure to mentors and sponsorship. So, interesting, because it’s like this double bind, really. There’s no right answer for women.
Yeah, it’s a challenge. How do you integrate the people that are physically in the room with you as well as the people who are online and integrate together so it’s not like this two-tiered system where, and I’m sure a lot of people listening have been at a meeting where you’re in a room with six people, say, and there’s three people online and those three people turn into some kind of an afterthought. And so we’re also talking about the future of work, some of these hybrid environments, and you also mentioned the future of work also involving a little bit more importance placed on some of these skills, such as relationship building. What do you see as a work environment that you’re trying to help build, say, 10, 15 years from now that hopefully has less than 16 percent of all people satisfied with their jobs and has a lot more people in this flow state that you were talking about with some of the women in your community?
Yeah, I mean, I think where things are going, given the increasing complexity and interdependencies of our world is a much more agile work environment. And so I think that’s where the relationships at the core are gonna be so valuable, because we’re moving away from this hierarchical leadership structure into a much more networked structure, you know, both within organizations and beyond. And I think there’s a couple of pieces to that.
It’s not necessarily a nine-to-five in an office anymore and people can choose how they want to bring that side of their work, you know, their life into being. And so I think, again, that’s where it’s really important to get very clear about what’s important to you. What do you want in your work, in your life, and taking that time to be reflective and introspective.
How we build relationships is going to look and is looking very different. Not your typical team building activities or you go away, you know, again, because people are all over the place. And I hear that often as a challenge for people right now is how do we connect in this new type of environment? I think the other thing we would hope for or wish for is, you know, again, just greater representation. A lot more different types of leadership models in place so that, no matter who you are and what your strengths are, you see yourself in the role models and in the leaders of your organization so it’s not just one type or two types of leaders but there’s really a multitude of leaders and great leaders that you can look up to and admire and see yourself in those leaders.
Yeah, as opposed to just seeing one mold, one type. I think is what the world of the 20th century, generally was, you think of the stereotypical 1950s society. Everyone was trying to be the same person or be the same family or be the same thing and we’re now recognizing that, well, that doesn’t work for everybody. Everyone has different work styles. I’ve read books about circadian rhythms and how some people naturally great at it, like, “I woke up at six and I got everything done before noon,” and other people have told me, “My best work is done like after I finish cleaning up after dinner at 7:30 PM,” right? And just kind of leveraging some of that in a much more effective way than even what you were saying with leadership before that all the leaders were trying to be the same person. It’s like, okay, we’re trying to be that standard, quasimilitaristic style, hierarchy, leadership. And a lot of people in my generation came to work and looked around and says, “Wait a second, we’re not fighting a war, we’re not trying to crush the competition and run everything up and down a chain of command. This is just weird.”
And I think as Kellie said too, the world then looked very different and the level of volatility and uncertainty and complexity now is just so much greater and so what’s needed from leaders is so different.
Yeah, it is. Everything’s changing so much quicker. I mean, how many people are using the exact knowledge they learned with their college degree in their job every day, right? So the last thing I want to cover kind of back to your origin story, you said you were both coaching a little bit before you decided to found Her Brilliance Community and then like you met each other, you came together. So when you were first introduced to one another, what made it click? What made you decide that this is the person that I’m gonna start this business with?
Part of it was just that shared journey, right? So we immediately between the two of us had this sense of, “Oh, I’m not alone,” you know? I’m not alone in having taken time off to have children and then wanting something more and feeling like there was a calling or a purpose, a bigger purpose that we wanted to serve, so certainly that aspect, that shared experience and shared dream and vision certainly brought us together to do the same kind of work.
Yeah, and then I think it’s an alignment of values and, you know, what’s important to us and what we’re looking for out of our work and how that fits into the bigger context of our life and I think that really is what’s making it so easy to continue to do this work together because we are just so aligned on what’s important.
Whether you’re looking for a co-founder, looking for the right job, looking for any other proper connection is something that historically has been also undervalued is how well your values align as opposed to just like matching skill sets, like you’re piecing a puzzle together. And then, when you started Her Brilliance Community, when it first came together, what was the initial response you got from people, both before and after the pandemic hit?
I mean, I think there’s just been a strong resonance right from the beginning, which is what’s given us the motivation and the encouragement to keep going.
I think everywhere we go whenever we share that story and just that sense of, you know, something’s holding you back from letting your brilliant shine, people are like, “Yes, yeah, you’re right.”
When you talk about letting your brilliant shine, I’m wondering how much of it is about recognizing these skills as really important skill, some of these ones that have been historically overlooked? How much of it is that versus developing some of these skills, developing the ability, finding the best way to build relationships? It’s something that I’m working on a little bit now that I’m 53 episodes in, like how do I contact people at the right cadence to continue all these relationships I’ve built through this podcast. But, you know, it’s kinda like this developing skill development versus recognizing what skills that you already have and how that they’re like much more awesome than you’ve been thinking about it because a lot of people, I think you mentioned on your website, because it comes easy to someone, they tend to underestimate how valuable it really is.
I think it’s a little bit of both, you know?
Everybody has their sort of innate strengths and talents, qualities about them that come naturally. Click To Tweet
And so the first piece is recognizing and accepting and really accepting that part of you and then, sure, there may be need to develop and upskill in those areas in service of what your organization needs from you as a leader. I think the difference is not trying to be somebody you’re not but leveraging those innate natural qualities in order to be the kind of leader that you need to be.
Yeah, and I think we start generally with what’s already inside you, you know? We have a very strengths-based approach to our work and I think that is driven by this need that we hear in a lot of women to just feel more confident in who they are and in themselves. And so we like to start there. And then, once you’re operating from a place of strength and confidence, then you can be looking for what’s next. Where’s my growth and my stretch from here?
And then if any women listening out there are interested and wanna contact you about joining the community, what would be the best way to go? On the website or email or anything else?
Yeah, you can find us on our website, herbrilliancecommunity.com and there’s a way to contact us there. We can get in touch that way.
Excellent. And then one final question, just a quick question about community. A lot of people want to form a community, a lot of people need community, whether it be better connections with the friends they have or finding new connections. What is the number one thing someone can do from a mindset approach to be opened to improving the community that they have or finding a new community?
It’s a good question.
That’s a good question.
I think, with all of this, I like to trust my gut. I mean, almost in the same way that Laura and I did when we met, there’s just this intuitive sense that this is a place that you feel safe and it feels like home. And I think, again, that is the foundation from which you can then launch yourself into the world. But I would say it’s an intuitive sense and feel.
I think too, coming from a mindset of possibility and expansion. There’s so many communities out there. There’s so many different ways that you can join communities or create community. I think sometimes it can feel perhaps a little intimidating or scary to think about joining a community with a bunch of other people and maybe some of those impostor syndrome feeling will come, how am I gonna measure up to everybody else? And if you can think about it from a place of what would be possible for you by connecting with these women or these people? How can I expand in this way? There’s so much to be gained and so much opportunity that could exist.
That makes sense. Well, Kellie, Laura, thank you so much for joining us today on Action’s Antidotes, providing your story, providing some inspiration, and giving us some ideas about how to create better communities and create a better world of work and I’d like to thank everyone out there listening and encourage you to, however you decide to do it, to develop your own unique leadership capability because, regardless of your position, what your job role is, or where you are in life, you are a leader in some capacity, whether it’s just leading yourself or whether you’re, say, eight years old and have a six-year-old sister that looks up to you, you’re still a leader in some capacity. I’d like to encourage you to tune into some more episodes of Action’s Antidotes where I will interview more people who are doing what they really wanna be doing in life and finding that purpose, finding that heartwarming joy when they actually do their job, which is what a lot of people are unfortunately missing today. Thank you once again.
Thanks, Stephen.
Thanks for having us.
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About Laura Bennett & Kellie Jenkins
Laura is a coach, facilitator and consultant in leadership development with experience coaching individual leaders and groups and designing and delivering leadership development programs. She has supported clients in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, in industries including restaurant, professional services, technology and international education.
Prior to her dedicated focus in coaching and development, Laura has had over 15 years of experience in leadership development, talent management, organizational effectiveness and corporate communications. She leverages her organizational background to encourage clients to raise selfawareness and take meaningful action toward stepping into their full leadership potential and achieving their goals. Laura holds a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from the International Coaching Federation. Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) from the Co-Active Training Institute.
A Midwesterner at heart, Laura grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and now resides in the sunshine of Denver, Colorado. She values authenticity, deep connection, adventure, health, and family, and she and her two children enjoy all that the outdoors has to offer out West. Laura has been a volunteer “Rally” coach for The Mom Project, an organization that connects women seeking careers with women-focused companies and takes an active role as a parent coordinator in her children’s school.
Kellie Jenkins is a leadership coach and leadership development consultant. She designs and delivers leadership programs around the world and coaches, both one-on-one and in group settings. She has worked with organizational and executive clients across corporate, government and non-profit sectors and has experience in a variety of industries including finance, professional services, higher education and transportation.
Prior to working in leadership development, Kellie was a Chartered Accountant. She has more than 15 years of experience in global professional services firms and brings the structure and detail orientation of her accountant roots to support clients to create sustainable shifts in mindsets and behaviors. Kellie has a Masters in Management and Organization from the University of Colorado and completed the Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Program. She holds an ACC credential from the International Coaching Federation.
Originally from Australia, Kellie has lived and worked around the world and embraces her identity as a global citizen. She currently enjoys life with her husband and daughter, in Denver, Colorado. Kellie serves as President of the Colorado Chapter of the International Coaching Federation and has previous board and volunteer experience with Girls on the Run of the Rockies and several local animal-focused nonprofits.