Kris Liebau 00:00:00  We are so focused on the product, the process, the project, deadlines and milestones that we forget about the people part. And it’s the internal mental process of the people that are working toward the solutions, creating the change, implementing the change. That’s the goal. And so it’s this ability to be able to flip flop between problem solving, troubleshooting, technical side of stuff and then turning around having that awareness, being willing to dance as a part of this conversation rather than having it all flow, charted out.

Chloe Dechow 00:00:38  Hi, I’m Chloe Dechow, and with more than a decade of experience working with thought leaders, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact of conviction combined with purpose driven entrepreneurship. This podcast shows you how to authentically bring together leadership, equity, and marketing to build your authority so that you can grow your impact and scale your business. This is a space for elevating women’s voices and redefining what it means to be a thought leader. Together, we’ll unlock the potential of our bright voices and create a ripple effect of change that resonates far beyond the realms of business.

Chloe Dechow 00:01:14  This is the Bright Voices in Business podcast. Now let’s dive into today’s episode. Welcome back to the Bright Voices in Business Podcast. I’m excited to introduce you today to Kris Liebau, who is a keynote speaker and the founder of Action & Ease Leadership Coaching, where she helps analytical leaders propel themselves and their teams. And 2023 Kris was selected as one of the top 15 coaches in Detroit and received the Emerging Business Award from the Great Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2024. Today, Kris is joining me to talk all about embracing yourself and being real and authentic and vulnerable in the way that we show up in the way we lead, both as a thought leader and as a entrepreneur. And I’m really just excited to have somebody who’s maybe a little more analytical than me, because I tend to come from a more creative background to talk through some of these topics as well. So thanks, Kris, for joining me. It’s great to have you.

Kris Liebau 00:02:18  Oh my gosh. So excited to be here.

Kris Liebau 00:02:20  Looking forward to the conversation.

Chloe Dechow 00:02:21  Absolutely. Before we dive in, I would love to kind of talk about your background and journey, because I do think it is, at least for my perspective, coming from more of a creative background, more unique. And so I would love to kind of talk about how you got to doing what you’re doing today, because I think that’ll add some really interesting perspective to the rest of the conversation.

Kris Liebau 00:02:41  Yeah, for sure. And I’ll just say full disclosure, if you’re into disc styles and all that type of stuff, I am a solid sea outer perimeter analytical person. So yeah. So backing up a little bit when I had to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, I decided I wanted to go into engineering and I was going to solve the world’s problems with math and science. We built stuff in the garage. We put additions on our house. I love working with my hands and doing the calculations. And I was like, right, I’m going to build things that don’t break and that kind of stuff.

Kris Liebau 00:03:14  So I got my mechanical engineering degree and went out into the real world and it’s like, wow, there’s like, there’s a bit more to this whole engineering thing, and there’s a lot of people these stuff, believe it or not. And the further I got away from that piece of paper, I was like, oh, like, there’s this whole nother level that I need to decode, right? To be effective in the workplace. And so I went for my master’s in engineering management, and I learned about emotional intelligence and all of these other things. I’m like, oh, okay. Yeah. Like this. This makes sense. And, you know, different twists and turns and I did I started doing a lot more in quality roles in manufacturing aftermarket like medical device, aerospace type stuff. So problem solving, you know, determining root cause. What’s really going on. And what I saw is that we are so focused on the product, the process, the project deadlines and milestones that we forget about the fourth PE and all of this.

Kris Liebau 00:04:26  And that’s the people part. The people were working with the people that are making it happen, the people that are executing the processes. And it’s the internal mental process of the people that are working toward the solutions, creating the change, implementing the change. That’s the goal. That’s the place where the magic happens when we’re really, truly able to have an honest conversation about an ugly baby or why something’s not working To really dig down. And that’s the place where we can take the ownership on stuff too, right? Because we all want to, especially in the engineering space and this analytical space, I see problem. I must fix it. I must go out and fix this thing. And the biggest place that we have control over to fix is ourselves and how we show up and how we come into the conversation. And so it’s this ability, right, the superpower, to be able to flip flop between problem solving, troubleshooting, technical side of stuff and then turning around, having that awareness, being willing to dance as a part of this conversation rather than having it all flow, charted out.

Kris Liebau 00:05:39  And so it was this realization that as somebody who’s truly dedicated to root cause, that this was the thing that was the most important, that was standing in the way in a lot of workplaces and is ultimately what led to Action & Ease coaching.

Chloe Dechow 00:05:55  Yeah. I imagine as somebody who is more analytical, well, I’m not even going to say just people who are analytical in nature. But usually when we think of things that are like math or science, there’s the problem. And then there’s a solution and there’s the in-between to get from one to the other. But with humans were pretty complex, and there’s a lot of variables involved. And what might work for one person or one way of doing things doesn’t work for everybody. And so I imagine kind of having that realization is kind of like a bit mind blowing when you take a step back and realize, hey, I can’t control, like I can control all these other things, but I can’t control how this person reacts in this situation or how this person feels about something that I’m implementing or whatever it might be.

Chloe Dechow 00:06:44  There’s kind of a more complex nature to the people aspect of things.

Kris Liebau 00:06:48  Yeah, 100%. And there’s the facts and data part of that, like little side tangent, right? People are always like, I hate story problems. I’m like, life is a story problem, okay? Like, right. First of all, what are you actually trying to solve for and what are the things that are valid inputs to that. Like what’s the signal, what’s the noise? What are the things that actually really contribute to moving forward with that. And so from the people perspective, right. The challenge is, is that we’re not fixing people. We’re not solving people. We have relationships with people. And so like I said, there’s the facts and data and then there’s this emotion and motivational side to things. And we need to be fluent in both of those languages.

Chloe Dechow 00:07:30  Yeah. And there’s what people are conscious of. And then also the subconscious pieces that they don’t realize either. Yeah. We can’t go on a whole podcast episode.

Chloe Dechow 00:07:38  Probably just about that. Yeah.

Kris Liebau 00:07:41  And don’t think that I’m immune to this as like, we all have our stuff that we are so close to. You know, it’s obvious to somebody else, and it’s not obvious to us. So I claim perfect, imperfect human being as we’re having this conversation.

Chloe Dechow 00:07:56  As we all are. Yes. That was super helpful. To learn more about your background, just to add some context to your perspective on this, I’m curious if you could share about your journey specifically around kind of embracing vulnerability and authenticity in your entrepreneurial journey, like, what has that looked like for you as you’ve created this business that is focused more on the people aspect of systems and processes?

Kris Liebau 00:08:21  Yeah, it’s a big uncomfortable step. I like my systems and I have my things, and when I talk to other coaches and speakers, I talk about the systems that I have that helped me keep things straight in the back and they’re like, oh my gosh, wow, that’s so amazing. So I have to be conscious to make sure that I’m not going and hiding in those places and in those systems, because I love to do that.

Kris Liebau 00:08:44  And so I think about it like this. It’s like in a play, there’s people backstage that are making the thing happen. They’re designing the sets, and then there’s the people that are out on the stage. And as a solopreneur, you have to be both. And so working and living in this live. I call it theater, but. Right. Being out and being live and thinking quickly on my feet, engaging in conversations, doing things like this. This is a lot of stretch for me in order to be able to do that. So there’s a whole aspect of self-exploration and being okay with being uncomfortable. And you know, when I first started out and trying to figure out, like, what’s my signature service? What does that look like? Like, I didn’t have enough data, right? I had, you know, I was working with clients and I’m kind of piecing it together. So this concept of building the plane and flying at the same time is not where I like to be.

Kris Liebau 00:09:43  And I’ve had so many people talk about like, oh, just messy action. And I’m like, you’ve got to be kidding me. Like, no way. So I have rebranded it as Curious Action, right? Like, I have my hypothesis. I think I know where this is going. I need to take these steps in order to get more data to determine if that’s correct or not. So like I said, because a lot of entrepreneurs, they’re not the systems engineering, I’ve had to rebrand some of those things so that it connects and lands with me.

Chloe Dechow 00:10:14  Yeah, that makes sense. I could see where, you know, messy action is more appealing to maybe those that lean, more creative versus curious action. I feel like that could resonate with anyone, really. At the end of the day, it resonates with the analytical minds. And also there’s curiosity and creativity. Yeah.

Kris Liebau 00:10:32  And I think there’s a certain amount it’s not just the analytical side, it’s what’s your risk tolerance for something as well.

Kris Liebau 00:10:39  Like if I’m conducting an experiment that feels a lot different than be like, throw it all out, throw caution to the wind. Let’s go. Go try this.

Chloe Dechow 00:10:48  Yes, absolutely. Because I feel like authenticity has been kind of a buzzword in a lot of ways more recently. And so I’m curious for you, how do you define that in your work and in your life? How do you know when you’re showing up with authenticity, or your clients are showing up with authenticity? Yeah, I.

Kris Liebau 00:11:07  Think it’s really. Being true to yourself is what really comes up for me. Like, is it push or is it pull? So I talked about having to go into this space. That’s not my comfort zone in doing that. Am I trying to push myself into doing that? Or have I created this pull system where I’m connected to the vision and the value of doing this, and how it supports my clients, and being able to connect with something and making sure that I’m doing the thing and aligns with my values and aligns right.

Kris Liebau 00:11:43  So it’s the flow, like it flows more easily rather than trying to force myself into doing something.

Chloe Dechow 00:11:50  Yeah, I know my experience in a lot of early entrepreneurs that I speak with, and I’m sure this shows up even when you’re 20 years in business, you might be a little bit better at managing it, but there’s a lot of solutions out there. There’s a lot of different ways to do entrepreneurship. There is no playbook, so to speak, that is one size fits all and it can be very easy to get distracted or try to utilize other people’s methods, or even have a shiny penny syndrome, right? Like there’s a sparkly thing over here. I’m going to try that next. And what I’m hearing from you is, it’s okay to stretch and try something that’s outside of your comfort zone, but kind of getting rooted in how does this serve the greater vision or the values of myself and my business is how you can really make sure you’re stretching in an authentic way versus kind of pushing or forcing yourself to do something away that might not work for you, might work for other people, but might not be the best method for you.

Kris Liebau 00:12:47  Yeah, there’s a million different ways to skin a cat. And really, again, connecting with the. How does this fit into my values? Is this something that aligns with where I’m going, what my clients need versus the oh, I think I should go do that. And so it’s the again, the assessment of how does this align with where I’m going, where my values are versus like, ooh, squirrel.

Chloe Dechow 00:13:15  Absolutely. So how did this become a topic. The vulnerability and authenticity topic. How did that become a topic you’re interested in speaking more on? Because you have this fantastic background and lots of different things, and I’m curious, what about this kind of sparks your interest?

Kris Liebau 00:13:30  Yeah, well, really, for me, it’s this concept of autopilot. And when we’re operating mindlessly, we’re not being authentic and we’re not being vulnerable. We’re just going through the motions. We’re not tuned in to what that thing is. We don’t necessarily know. Like we’re not consciously going like, oh, is this something that adds value? Is this really where I want to go? And again, like that’s the opportunity when we look at like what’s the root cause? We can only control ourselves and taking the time to say what’s really driving this.

Kris Liebau 00:14:08  Do I really want to do this? How does this support and seeing where we have all these choices? Because that’s a lot of the stuff that I do with my clients, whether it’s with themselves or in conversations. Right. The this person makes me so mad. Okay, well, they’re not actually making you like there’s something that’s bringing about that. And those are the opportunities to connect and check in to figure out what is it that’s going on here, rather than just being led around by our emotions, or write the latest and greatest sales thing. Email list, AI, whatever it is. Being intentional in what it is that we’re doing and how we engage with the world around us.

Chloe Dechow 00:14:52  Yeah, absolutely. That example of this person is making me mad. Kind of reminds me of an epiphany I had in my own coaching education journey, where I realized that I was at choice for just about everything in my life. I’m not saying like I have control of all the systems and all the structures and how other people are, but it was kind of this moment where I was like, If I’m mad, I’m actually choosing to be mad.

Chloe Dechow 00:15:16  If I’m mad or like disgruntled or whatever, it’s actually a choice that I’m making. And then that would annoy me even further because I was like, oh man, now I’m actively choosing to be mad.

Kris Liebau 00:15:28  So this is this layer of judgment that happens with things like, see how quickly that spirals? And so that’s a lot of what I do. As soon as you start to see it spinning out of control or like, okay, this is that opportunity to stop and reset.

Chloe Dechow 00:15:45  Yes, I know what I did love about this realization was how much freedom I actually have in all of this. I can choose how to relate to things, I can choose what I believe, and all of that has kind of a ripple effect on the results I have in my business, because what we believe impacts our thoughts and what we think impacts our actions and behaviors, and that impacts our results. But it was just kind of this moment for me that was both really powerful and also kind of annoying at the same time.

Kris Liebau 00:16:14  Yeah. So with this powerful insight you’ve had, how do you keep that at the forefront to inform your future?

Chloe Dechow 00:16:21  Yeah, I think a lot of it requires self-awareness. So really actually taking a moment to realize what you’re thinking and feeling instead of, again, that autopilot. Right. So when you are going through the motions, you’re not being in tune with how your body feels in a moment or what might be drove an action that you took. But if you take a step back and you actually give yourself space to get more connected to what’s those layers underneath, I think that gives you the opportunity. Like you’re, again, you’re a perfectly imperfect human and you’re going to make mistakes and you’re allowed to be mad about certain things, like, absolutely. But it’s about being aware that you’re making a conscious decision at the end of the day that I think it’s a big thing.

Kris Liebau 00:17:07  Yeah, absolutely. And it was about a year or so ago. I was like, you know, I think I’ve kind of given up on figuring out what it is I want to be when I grow up.

Kris Liebau 00:17:15  It’s more about how do I want to be in whatever situation I happen to find myself in, what’s the kind of person I want to be?

Chloe Dechow 00:17:24  Yeah, I love that. I’ve recently heard somebody talk. I was a different podcast. I’m called Sincerely Me, and I’ll link that episode in the show notes. But they talked a lot around. We put a lot of pressure on trying to find our purpose, and in some ways that’s really nice. Like we want to have like a purpose. We want to feel like we’re giving back and we’re connected and our life is meaningful. And yet that can be a lot of pressure for people. Like what is your one purpose in life? And instead, what if you took a look and said, hey, instead of trying to find my purpose? Like, maybe I just live with purpose? How much less stressful is that to just take day by day, action by action, to live with intention and purpose versus always being on this quest to find something that maybe you have multiple purposes, right? Like maybe it isn’t just one that you have out there.

Chloe Dechow 00:18:17  And I thought that was a really powerful reframe. I’m curious what your perspective is on that. Just working with your clients.

Kris Liebau 00:18:23  Yeah, I work with a lot of like managers and directors, and I’d say at that level and being an entrepreneur, one of the things that I can 100% totally relate with is there’s a delayed feedback cycle. And what I mean by that is, right. As an entrepreneur, you’re out there and you’re like, oh, am I doing the right thing? Is this the right thing? Is this am I am I helping my, you know, people? Is this podcast episode going to resonate with them? And sometimes we don’t always get the feedback or the validation or the verification that we know we’re doing the thing that we’re connecting with our people. If you’re a supervisor or director, you may not know you’re not connecting with your people until they leave. That’s not the situation that you want to be in. And so there’s this space. There’s like a vacuum. And we have to be okay with the not knowing in order to keep moving forward, living with intention, doing those things, even though we don’t always know if it’s having the impact that we want.

Kris Liebau 00:19:29  Yeah.

Chloe Dechow 00:19:30  And I know even with more of a creative background than not knowing can drive me crazy sometimes. I can only imagine for analytical people that that might be even more difficult from time to time because they are researchers and.

Kris Liebau 00:19:44  Show me the data. How do I measure this? What is my unit of measure?

Chloe Dechow 00:19:49  Yes. So as we talk about vulnerability and authenticity, I want to talk about something I hear about a lot. And I’ve experienced myself, and I’m sure you have in your own entrepreneurial journey, is when we think about being authentic and vulnerable in being in the front of the stage, to use your analogy earlier, being on the front of the stage and set up behind the scenes, you know, doing the background work. A lot of times there is a fear of judgment that comes up, and we might not call it that. It might be something else that we are afraid of, you know, posting or like whatever it might be, it comes in all shapes and sizes. It might be afraid to go on stage.

Chloe Dechow 00:20:31  It might be afraid to post that reel on Instagram. You know, there’s so many different versions of this, or even just the fear of telling somebody you’re interested in starting a business. That can be a fear in itself if you’re in your early days. And so when I unpack a lot of these, it’s really around a fear of judgment of people either criticizing, not understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing or what it might be, or even, just maybe, a fear of yourself, of not living up to some sort of expectation that you might have of yourself. And it really bottles down to a fear of judgment. And I’m curious how this has showed up for you in your business and how you kind of navigate, you know, working with a client who might be dealing with some of these fears as well.

Kris Liebau 00:21:16  Wow. I feel like we could have a couple episodes just kind of based on that. The thing that really connects, as you’re saying, that is the judgment that’s a part of the inner critic.

Kris Liebau 00:21:26  I remember very distinctly, many years ago, I had an employee. She had made an error. It was an honest mistake. And we were talking about it. And I could just see the look on her face, like how terrible she felt about it. I wasn’t trying to make her feel bad about it or anything else, but there was this realization I had where I was like, I don’t have to say anything. She gets it. She feels bad about, if anything else, it’s right. It’s my job to kind of pull her out of the hole here on this and say, like, there was a mistake, we’re going to fix it and we’re going to move on and we’re going to go forward. And so it’s that inner critic that can be so brutal with everything. And it’s actually one of the things that’s really led to where I’m at, because I always knew it was there. And we find the short version of this story. So a friend of mine, he and I, we call ourselves Certification whores, right? If there’s a certification that’s out there to be gotten, like, we’re going to go learn the thing, we’re going to master it, we’re going to dive in and and we’re going to get it.

Kris Liebau 00:22:29  And I’ve had a lot of great adventures. I’ve learned a lot of things. And I was on one of these journeys and kind of like, I’m in my third year of this, this is like the first thing I’ve really gone after. I’m like, I don’t even know. It’s within the National Ski Patrol, like avalanche and skiing and all this kind of crazy stuff. Like, I don’t even know if I’m ever going to be cut out to do this. There’s ten modules. I had one module left, and so I’m preparing for this, and I happened to be at an event and somebody mentioned something about imposter syndrome. I said, what’s imposter syndrome like? I’ve never heard of this. I googled it and I went, Holy bleep. This is the thing. This is what I have been pulling around with me for years. This is why I keep one of the things why I keep going for some of these certifications. I’m trying to prove myself to myself in going and doing that, and that was so mind blowing in there, right in the inner critic.

Kris Liebau 00:23:24  Like, it’s so close, like we’ve always had it. It didn’t just all of a sudden like show up one day. And so it’s understanding, right? Some of this auto pilot suffer talking about it’s understanding how that comes in and knowing that that inner critic is probably more brutal and has more impact on me than anything that anybody else can say around what’s going on. And so putting things relative to that. So my measure is if I’m brave enough, strong enough, whatever it is to go out and do the thing, y’all can talk whatever you want. Like I went out, I did my best. This is it. And so it’s creating that perspective in things and understanding what all, you know, like the whole signal to noise ratio, like what’s all this noise around you, what’s noise and what’s actually authentic and real for you?

Chloe Dechow 00:24:15  Yeah, absolutely. I love that story. It reminds me of conversations I’ve had with other business owners and coaches around entrepreneurship, and deciding when it’s the right time to walk away from a business, right? Because that can be a really, really difficult decision.

Chloe Dechow 00:24:31  And I remember once somebody mentioned that it would feel like a failure to walk away. And yes, I certainly understand and can relate to that feeling. But they said something along the lines of you’d have to deal with the shame of walking away from the business. And I had to take a step back and I was like, I get it. And I genuinely feel that the people who would judge me or someone else from walking away from their business, are the same people who judged and shamed for starting the business in the first place. I don’t think you’re going to have people who are full supporters of you who’ve done the entrepreneurship game, who know what it’s like are going to shame you. If you decided, hey, like this service that I’m offering isn’t right for me anymore, or this podcast isn’t right for me anymore, or this business in general isn’t right for me anymore. And I think kind of that realizing that perspective of like the people who are going to judge or the people who are already judging anyway, they’re not your supporters.

Kris Liebau 00:25:35  Yeah. And I think that that’s a challenge, especially as growing a business. Right. Because there’s going to be people out there that your message isn’t going to connect with. And maybe those aren’t your people, or maybe they’re not your people yet. Maybe they’re not in the right place. You know, it’s challenging to meet every single person where they’re at when it’s this big, massive thing. Like, right. As a coach, when I work with individuals, yes, I can meet people where they’re at because we have this relationship. And so I think that that’s, you know, beyond the workplace and, you know, being an entrepreneur, I think that that’s just a societal challenge that we have is we don’t know and we don’t have the context. And even if we do have all the context, we still can judge. There’s a book it’s called Si No Stranger, and it’s written by Valerie. I’m going to butcher her last name co-occur, and in it she says, you are a part of me that I do not yet know really, in this idea that we’re all connected in some way.

Kris Liebau 00:26:46  And I will admit, I would say that from a stranger perspective. Like that’s really easy for me to do it so hard. Like close things are close, right? Those are the things that push our buttons and stuff more easily though, right? Like when you’re at like Costco and there’s people lined up in there blocking traffic, eating the snacks. I’m like, you are a part of me that I do not know.

Chloe Dechow 00:27:11  Yeah.

Kris Liebau 00:27:12  Right. And trying to have some of that, that empathy and connecting with things. Right. Like what value, what value does that judgment have for anybody. It’s just like strapping weights on your ankles.

Chloe Dechow 00:27:28  Yes. Oh my gosh. I know this is going a completely different direction, Kris, but have you heard of the term Sonder? I came across this years ago and it’s a little melancholy, but it’s also, I think, very related to what you’re mentioning. And essentially the definition is that I’ll just read from dictionary.com. Okay. So the feeling one has on realizing that every other individual one sees has a life as full and as real as one’s own, in which they are the central character, and others, including oneself, have secondary or insignificant roles.

Chloe Dechow 00:28:04  So it’s this kind of realization that everybody has a story. Every light you see, you know, in an apartment building, every person on a train, like they’re all in this interconnected web, living their own full life may look different for them. But yeah, it was just kind of this. I think it’s a little lonely and also very beautiful. Yeah.

Kris Liebau 00:28:25  It is. I think it shows the vastness of, you know, humanity that we have and just how much like diversity there is, and even with all this stuff too, is it’s the perspectives around different facts and things that are out there and how people experience them. I’ve just been doing some different reading lately. I don’t know if anybody’s into this Kristen Hanna in her books, so I’m on my third Kristen Hannah book in like the last month, The Great Alone, The Nightingale, and I’m reading The Women Now and they’re historical fictions. And just taking a minute to think about this, whatever fictitious person like, what was it like to go through that? And how does that inform, you know, just the depth of this 700 page book I read that, you know, spread just a few different years.

Kris Liebau 00:29:20  It’s just right. Like everybody, whether it’s written or not, everybody has something like that.

Chloe Dechow 00:29:29  It’s beautiful and powerful. So as we talk about how we’re all living individual, beautifully complex lives and recognizing the compassion and empathy for everybody that’s also living their own beautiful and complex life. So I want to circle back to authenticity and vulnerability, and just having some practical go tos that people who are listening can use to make sure that they’re honoring themselves in authentic and vulnerable way, whether they’re telling their story, their beautiful, complex story, or getting on stage or posting the reel or whatever this looks like for them in their day to day lives. What are some tools or frameworks that they can use to just make sure they’re honoring who they really are at their core?

Kris Liebau 00:30:19  Yeah, there’s a few different things that come to mind. And, you know, the overcoming the fear. You’re talking about, the posting, the reel. And this is something that I work with all the time for myself personally and to connect to.

Kris Liebau 00:30:32  And we kind of get trapped down in the weeds with stuff. Right. These thoughts and all these other different stuff. And so like connecting with that higher goal. Right. What’s the value in this? What inspired me to do this in the first place? How is this going to support and serve right. What happens if I don’t go do that talk or have that podcast and somebody never gets to hear that message or that inspiration? So it’s really kind of, you know, it’s like, oh, well, well why this? Well, well why not? And really flipping it out. Right. Making the other column on that piece of paper to connect with, looking at the vision to overcome some of that fear in the moment is one aspect of it. The other part two from that authentic part. Right. Just because we’re introvert, extrovert, whatever that happens to be, there’s this connecting part of stuff and allowing other people to be themselves too. We don’t have to overpower everything. And so one of the things I talk about a lot in my keynote partners, not opponents, is how do I want to partner with this person to move things forward? Like if we want to be supportive and not fix them? Like, what does that look like? How do I walk alongside somebody rather than trying to mold them into something else when there’s conflict? How do I take control of myself to bring my best foot forward? You know, there’s a disagreement.

Kris Liebau 00:32:07  What’s the 10% we can agree upon? There’s got to be something that’s out there where we can find some common ground and take that and move forward with that and build on the commonality of things, looking for the similarities rather than the differences.

Chloe Dechow 00:32:23  It’s great advice for all types of conflict, really, as we kind of wrap up. Kris, what what do you like the key takeaway or what message would you like to leave with the listeners today?

Kris Liebau 00:32:33  I think the biggest takeaway here is embracing the who am I not to write? So often we ask ourselves, well, who am I to do that? Who am I to do this? Who am I not to do that? And embracing this other aspect of looking beyond this feeling of uncomfortable that we have about whatever situation it is, if it’s a conflict, putting ourselves out there, fear, whatever it is, and what’s the value of doing that thing that feels difficult?

Chloe Dechow 00:33:06  Yeah, I know what you said earlier. Spoke to kind of being in service of other people to you.

Chloe Dechow 00:33:11  Like if you don’t share your message, who misses out on learning something they need to hear? Yeah, yeah.

Kris Liebau 00:33:16  And embracing this idea of I get to do this versus I have to do this. So words are really powerful in how we embrace that. And so that’s a lot of that perspective taking that we have in there’s this thing that needs to be done. And which light do we want to shine on it?

Chloe Dechow 00:33:35  Yeah, I love that this is, you know, rather than a chore or a task. What if it’s a gift or an opportunity? 100% beautiful. Well, thank you so much, Kris, for coming on and sharing your background and perspective. Where can listeners find you if they want to learn more about you and what you do?

Kris Liebau 00:33:53  Yeah. Well, I’m always loved to connect with people on LinkedIn. You can find me at Kris, Liebau and I also at my website Action & Ease Coaching. Com you can check out I have a program for leaders called Level Up Your Leadership.

Kris Liebau 00:34:10  And it takes a little bit of a deeper dive into some of these things that we’ve really talked about today in. Right? When we think about leadership, we think about other people. And a lot of times it starts with self and feeling those emotions. And how do I move forward with that? How do I possibly lead other people when I don’t have all my stuff figured out?

Chloe Dechow 00:34:28  Yes. Oh gosh, I’ve definitely been down that rabbit hole of who am I to coach people when my whole life’s not perfect and having to remember? Maybe that’s the point.

Kris Liebau 00:34:38  Well, you know, people ask about coaching and stuff and I say, never get a coach who doesn’t have a coach. Yes, anybody can use a tuneup. There’s always value in getting that additional perspective, because when things are close, they’re close.

Chloe Dechow 00:34:51  Yeah, it’s hard to be a mirror for ourselves for sure.

Kris Liebau 00:34:54  And even then we see how we want to see it.

Chloe Dechow 00:34:56  Yes. Oh yes.

Chloe Dechow 00:34:59  Oh well.

Chloe Dechow 00:35:00  Thank you so much, Kris, for coming on.

Chloe Dechow 00:35:01  It’s been such a pleasure to have you on the show. Oh yeah, a great conversation.

Kris Liebau 00:35:04  Thanks for having me, Chloe.

Chloe Dechow 00:35:08  Thank you for joining me today. If you enjoyed this episode, invite your entrepreneur friends to tune in. Don’t forget to connect with me on Instagram at West Haven Coaching. I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on today’s episode and continue the conversation with you there. And before you go, be sure to download my free guide, Five Steps to Building Your Authentic Authority, which will walk you through how to grow your thought leadership in a way that’s true to who you are and what you stand for. You can find the guide at Westhaven coaching.com/steps or follow the link in the show notes. Thanks again for tuning in. Together we are changing the faces and voices of thought leadership. Until next time, keep leading with authenticity and impact.