Teresa Page

Speaker A: Are you ready to take your business to the next level? Every day there are countless books and articles that are published offering the key on how to make your business a success. It's easy to feel overwhelmed trying to keep up and run your business. That's why Deb Krier created the Business Power Hour. Keep up on the latest trends, best practices and techniques for how to make your business a, uh, success. Let the Business Power Hour do the heavy work for you.

Speaker B: Good morning. Good morning. I am Deb Krier and I am passionate about giving professionals the tools that they need to make themselves and their businesses as successful as possible. And I love the subject that we're going to be talking about today. That's a hint as to what we're going to be talking a little bit about. Um, but I'm talking with someone who is an expert in this particular subject and how it can really help businesses. So with that teaser, please join me in welcoming Theresa Page to our podcast today. Welcome Theresa. How are you doing?

Speaker C: I'm doing wonderful, Deb. It's such an honor to be able to spend some time with you on today and I'm looking forward to our conversation and trust that we'll be able to leave some valuable nuggets for all this listening. So thank you for having me.

Speaker B: Great. I love it.

Speaker C: I love it.

Speaker B: Well, let me tell folks a little bit more about you and then we will jump into this. So, as a leadership empowerment advocate, coach and author of the My Journey to Wholeness book series, Theresa Page is passionate about renewing transformational leadership mindset with fresh fire and purpose to effect true impact change in our communities to domains of industry and the global economy. Through her company, TK Page Enterprises published works and Love the Success Factor leadership incubator, she employs the effective power of love as the ultimate success factor to inspire, motivate and equip leaders to realize their own greatness, reprioritize their unfulfilled goals and re energize the leader they are, always were. With an open globe approach. Her vision is to deliver leadership empowerment solutions to support the success and upward mobility of women owned, nonprofit, faith based or professional organizations. So again, Teresa, welcome.

Speaker C: Thank you so much. Really excited about this.

Speaker B: Great. Well, I kind of gave it away. We're going to be talking about love in business, but tell us a little bit more about how you got to where you are today.

Speaker C: Absolutely. Well, not to take a whole long time. I think for me, um, after working some time in the public education, um, higher education and federal, um, government spaces, one of the things that I learned, especially around that time when I was in higher education, um, I attended a women's event, um, some time ago. I believe it was in 2015. And so it was this women's history event that was downtown Atlanta. And it was such a powerful event. And this is pretty much how I think a lot of my purposes started. Um, so in that space, it was a panel of different business leaders from different parts of the world, different parts of industries, um, that was doing such great, amazing things as far as on the business front. And so the room was just as diverse, where it's a whole lot of women from different parts of the world, different parts of ethnicities, and all those kind of things. And so essentially, we were there to speak specifically to talk about business and women in business. But there was a particular question that during the Q and A that a young lady stood up and she asked the question of all the things that women, we as women are capable of doing. M. Um, it seems like there is still something to. That's holding us back. It feels like that way. So it was during that moment, because that particular question then created this big debate, um, where we as women were hollering out different reasons why it felt like things was holding us back. So, you know, Ms. Deb, all of the things, you know, whether it was the negative self talk, low self esteem, imposter syndrome, you know, all the things, genderism, racism, all these things that has definitely been reasons or different types of systems of oppression that has held women back. But I remember during this debate, I was scrunched up in a corner, literally pressed up against the wall. And that was when my purpose hit me, um, that, oh, you know, as far as what is holding women back. And it was like my purpose then was revealed to me that I was then going to be a instrument in helping to take the lid off of women's capacity at the time. And I thought this was, like, awesome. So at the time I was like, but this is perfect, because I was in the process of publishing my very first book, My Journey to Wholeness, the Sojourn continues. And some of the things that I was discussing in the book, uh, I was like, this will help. I feel like this is going to help women. And I was like, well, this is it. You know, I got this book coming. I have all of these things coming. Um, at the time, I had already had my bachelor's, I had my master's. I knew how to, uh, plan events. I'm like, this is perfect. I got all of the Things, and I'm getting ready to move forward. But what I didn't know is that when I left that event and I was so gung ho about everything, and I immediately jumped in on this newfound purpose, this newfound experience. And so, um, everything that I was doing, I think, was the right thing to do. Let me just stress that it was the right things to do. But what wasn't accurate was that it was done out of the sequence of time. Because what I did not understand was that even though everything that I was doing was genuinely the right things to do, um, or the good things to do, let me say that they were good things to do, but it wasn't the right time to do those things. And I guess you say, well, why? Well, it was because in order for me to be able to help women take the lid off of their capacity, I had to go through the process of taking the lid off of my own capacity. And that was the part that I missed in all of this. That was the part that I missed. And in the midst of doing all of these good things, um, I ended up, you know, diverting my resources that was meant for my present life into this. Into this new purpose, and eventually just started and lost everything, uh, lost everything because I was running after this new purpose, but out of the sequence of time. But what I understood was that even in the midst of losing everything, it was then I was put into this space of what I call purpose development, where then I then had to be the first partaker of this experience of, uh, what it looked like to take the lid off of women's capacity. And during that process, there was so many different elevations and so many lessons that I had to learn through that time that I had to deal with myself and discovering myself and actually becoming the message that I needed to become to help women to do this. Um, I began to understand, um, back to that question that I learned a couple of years earlier. It wasn't necessarily what was holding women, that it was then what. What women needed, which was more of a fresh revelation of love. And the reason why I said that women needed a, uh, fresh revelation of love, because oftentimes, right now we use love more so as an emotional, sweet feeling, you know, and all of that. And while it's beautiful there, it's so sweet there, it's so cuddly in that space, and it's supposed to be used for that. But what I learned is, is that in this process is that love can actually be a skill set. Love can actually be a function. Love can actually be a leadership technology that we can actually open up a little bit more beyond an emotion to ensure our, uh, everyday success regardless of what it is that we're doing. So through my process of development and going through some of my own spaces of adversity, I learned that one of the answers to it wasn't necessarily what was holding women back. What do we need to move forward? And for me, I found that that particular message is love. And so these past few years I've been developing that to be able to demonstrate what this love look like beyond that emotion so that we are able to practically utilize it in our personal lives and our professional spaces, and even in our faith based spaces. So that is the work that I'm now doing with TK Page Enterprises, where I do employ love to be able to help transformational leaders, um, to renew their leadership mindset with fresh fire and purpose. So I know we're going to get into a little bit more in our conversation, but that was the genesis. Um, and so, yeah, so, yeah, so I'm looking forward to how we're going to discuss this project.

Speaker B: I love that, you know, and, and oh, so much there to unpack. One of the things that struck me when you were talking was the self talk that we do. You know, whether it's men or women, I tend to think women are harder on ourselves. Um, you know, and, and, and some of that comes from when we were really little, right? And somebody said, oh, you little girls don't do that. Now you're a different generation than I am. Um, and I was really told that, um, a lot girls don't do whatever. Um, you know, I'm right at the end of the baby boomer generation. And, uh, we were told that. And sometimes people were telling us that because they wanted to protect us, right? You know, they didn't want us to get hurt. They didn't want bad things to happen. And so, you know, they would say, you know, little girls don't do that. But the self talk that we do as women is horrible. Um, you know, and I love how you talk about kind of reframing things. Just yesterday I was having a discussion and you know, somebody was talking about that, you know, she tried something, it didn't work out. And so it was a failure. And of course all the rest of us jumped on it and said, don't use that word. Because I think the word failure is. It has such negative connotations to it. And you know, you, you had something that didn't work, but it was not a Failure, it was a learning experience. And so talk to us a little bit more about how our self talk. And, and really that is part of the love. Right? Because we're not loving ourselves. Um, you know, and, and so talk to us a little bit more about how that self talk needs to be reframed to something positive.

Speaker C: So. Okay, so thank you so much, Ms. Deb, for that question on what we need to do as far as being able to the way that we speak to ourselves. Um, from my own experience, I would have to say that, um, when I failed in everything that I failed at, especially losing everything, when you talk about failure, when you're talking about failure to the point where you absolutely lose everything, even to your own home, your own domicile, um, that could definitely put you in a mind space, right? Where it was like, well, maybe I didn't hear what I thought I heard

Speaker B: and I'm the problem.

Speaker C: Yes, and I am, um, the problem. And maybe somewhere I misunderstood something. And so what I learned much later was that my zealous mistakes, my failing at everything was actually a part of my, the plan for purpose development. Because what it did is that it put me in a space where, um, I'm going to use the word incubator, so to speak, so then I could become the solution to the problem to help take the lid off of women's capacity. Right? And during that particular process, when you talk about learning how to talk sweeter to yourself, that was something I learned that was so special about love because it's the way that we're built, um, understanding that we are love personified. And I think that is so special. And so the way we are built, we need to understand that we are engineered for leadership or we're engineered for our purpose. And one of the parts that's so sweet about our engineering is our intelligence, our system of intelligence. Um, and when we understand how our brain works, and I think that's something that we as human beings, that we don't necessarily take into consideration just how much how powerful that the human brain is and why it's so important that we do speak to ourselves so sweetly. One of the things that some of my study is that when I actually went back to, to, to study, um, in this whole love thing, when I understood more so about our system of intelligence. Our intelligence is perceived in our brain. Of course we know that. But our brain operates best when it's in a space of sweetness or in a space of enjoyment. One of the things is, is that because we don't know the way that we are built, um, because we don't understand especially how our brain is designed. That I believe beyond. I believe that one of the most powerful things in the universe is the human brain, specifically for how that is made up. Contrary to popular belief, human beings use 100% of our brain every single day. We've always been taught, oh, we only use 10%. Not true science.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's not that it's up there not doing anything.

Speaker C: Exactly, exactly. I now understand that human beings, we do use 100% of our brain. I also understand what's so powerful about our brain is that the way that it translates information up to 250 miles per hour and the fact that human beings have the capacity to think up to 60,000 thoughts a day. So it's important that when we understand when our brains are in a position of either sweetness or in kindness, and when we're talking sweet to ourselves, then it allows us to be able to create, to invent, to innovate, as well as to develop solutions. And so what we need to understand is that we have three levels of intelligence. Whether it's knowledge, whether it's information that's learned or understanding, whether it's the comprehension of what we have learned or, or being able to maximize upon wisdom, where we're able to then use this complex way of thinking to create something that's so much higher, much more innovative, so much more profound. So it's important that we give our mindset, um, the gift of sweetness in order for us to be positioned to think on those things that are so that we're always positioned to come up with solutions not just for our own personal life, but then for solutions either for our domain of industry or for a particular or the world at large. A lot of us have ideas in us that will support the human family across the board. So I would say that in order to keep our brains and to prevent ourselves from, from being so negative with the way that we talk, some of the practical things is to keep our mind in a position of perfect peace. Um, and to actually kind of go back and to refrain things. So that means thinking on things that are honest, thinking on things that are true, thinking on things that are pure. That's lovely, A good report. And also understand that even if we feel like we have failed, it's okay. Mhm.

Speaker B: If we fail isn't a bad word.

Speaker C: Not a, uh, bad word because it's part of the process. If we don't fail, we don't. We are not positioned to elevate and to learn how to really to be able to perfect. So that even means that if I fail, what else do I need? I might need to increase my knowledge. I might need to upskill a little bit. So whether it's higher education, more professional development, or even taking on stretch assignments so I can learn to be what it is that I'm trying to accomplish at. Or if I need additional guidance, do I need a mentor, do I need a professional coach, do I need a business coach? Or even if I am struggling with some mental challenges, which is growing even now on today, um, then we need to be able to seek the help that we need, whether it is, um, counseling or if it is therapy. So my thing is, is that negative thoughts, they're going to come. They're going to come. It's inevitable. We can't escape that. However, if we practice giving ourselves the gift of sweetness so that we're always positioned to come up with new ideas and new solutions and how to do things better, then we, um, we're positioned differently to become greater and to become, um, and actually to rectify and to course correct what we thought we failed at initially. But that initial failure, it is absolutely part of, um, the process. And we need to learn how to adopt that.

Speaker B: Think how boring it would be if everything always worked right.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, and you know, the nice thing is it doesn't. We have to learn. I mean, you know, let's go all the way back to learning to walk, right? You're itty bitty little baby, and you're learning to walk. Well, you fall down, you bonk into things. I mean, sometimes you get hurt, um, you know, and all of these things. But what that teaches you is how to walk better. You know, you don't stop, you know, just because you, you know, now you might stop temporarily. But, you know, you, you think, well, hmm, that didn't work. So maybe let's not run. You know, maybe we're gonna walk slower. Maybe we're gonna use, you know, a table to help us walk all of those various things. And then, you know, when we expand that into the business world, we've all worked for those negative, nasty people who, you know, their, their way to teach us. And I'm using that word, you know, making a face at the same time is to be nasty about it. Um, you know, I worked for a guy who swore. Oh, my heavens, did he swear? Um, you know, we all kind of use those words on occasion. But, uh, no, that was just the way. And he yelled, he threw chairs, he threw Things, I mean, all sorts of stuff. And even if he had said something valuable, we weren't going to pay attention to it because it was so nasty, you know, and, you know, when, when we have people who are supporting us in a positive way, it is so much easier and better to learn from them. Um, you know, and, and, and, and yeah, and so why aren't we doing that in our own brains? Um, you know, and, and, but it's, you know, it's, it is something that, right, is, is an ongoing challenge like you said, you know, it's, it's always going to happen. We're going to do something and we're going to think, well that was stupid, that was silly. But then of course the thing to do is go, okay, what am I going to learn from that? You know, and, and um, you know, and, and, and it really does come back to love. Loving yourself, loving the others around you, all of those things. And, but you know, how do you deal with the people who go, oh well, that's such a fluffy emotion. It's an emotion, right? That's so fluffy. You know, all of those various things. How do you, you know, how do you show them how? Ah, and you know, let's be honest, can't always show everybody. You know, there are those that. Nope, nope. And so. But for those who want to expand but they're not quite sure how love is, what is, there's a song, right? I think love is the answer and somewhere there's gotta be a song like that. Um, but how do you show them just how beneficial love is?

Speaker C: Absolutely. I personally, I personally believe that love is the most powerful, diverse, effective and high performing resource available to the human family. Um, and love can leverage whether it's inequities in our business spaces or just in a social culture and all of that. My thing is this is that if we can reimagine love beyond an emotion and understand that love is just not this woozy, warm feeling. Um, but we have to also understand that love has nature. Love has a nature, love has character. Um, and love actually has knowledge, skills and abilities. We've always heard it in a workplace, whether it's KSAs. So my thing is that for one is that if we can understand that love is powerful, m love is all powerful. So then if love is all powerful, then love also has the capacity, it is also unlimited in authority or influence. And so if you're trying to bring this into the workplace, then if we understand that love is all powerful and it's unlimited and influence when we have access to power like this, then love becomes a game changer for us. And so it gives us a competitive edge in the marketplace. So if love is all powerful then that allows us to be powerful in leadership. So it allows us as business leaders to either build cohesive relationships between our C suite leaders, our middle managers, as well as our direct reports, as well as our stakeholders. So um, and that is demonstrated, could be demonstrated by either mentorship or leadership development. And what this does is that it can help close operational uh, gaps of communication, it helps us to boost our team performance, our operations, our revenue and profitability altogether. But it's also understanding that love is also um, is all present. So, so that's another thing that love is all present. And so if love is present, um, and present in all times, in all places, then it allows us to then be present for our teams. It allows us to be fully present for our stakeholders. So if we are fully present and if we can bring, adopt this into our business models, then it allows us to cultivate a culture that is rich, um, again in either equal promotion, that is rich in equal opportunity. It gives our teams the opportunity to be autonomous where we can actually trust them to do their work and also making sure that we're providing a livable wage and safety. So what this does is that it can help us to enhance team um, engagement, morale as well as um, loyalty. Another thing is also understanding that love is the creator of all. And so if love is the creator of all things, then love is unlimited in creative power. So this gives us again it is a game changer so that we're uh, able to either to develop and to improve on our goods and our services so that we can create high value uh, proposition towards our customers. And this will help us to foster long term repeat business. Another thing is, is that love is all knowing. And so if love is all knowing, then that allows us to believe that love is infinite whether it's in awareness, whether it's in understanding and whether it's in um, unlimited also in uh, insight. So again, love did in the workplace or in our business models, it gives us the competitive edge so that we can uh, become knowledgeable in our industry trends. So if we're knowledgeable in our industry trends, then we are able to um, stay up to date with our technology. We can stay up to date with our policies, our processes, our procedures as well as industry guidelines. This allows us to remain compliant and it also allows us to remain competitive as well as relevant and I would probably say for those who would say that love is so too fluffy for the workplace is also understanding that love is perfect in all goodness. Mhm. And so if love is perfect in all goodness, then love then becomes unlimited in uh, our benevolence. And so again, this allows us to use love as a game changer so that we could be benevolent in all of our passion projects or our community service. So it allows us to enhance upon our philanthropy or to keep our sustainable promises to our local or virtual communities. So this allows us to boost, um, our brand awareness, um, and our surrounding, our surrounding communities. So those are just five ways to understand that love is all powerful. It is the most unused in some ways, in a lot of ways we haven't learned how to maximize upon the power of love. And I think those are five particular ways to understanding that love is all powerful. It's all present, it's all knowledgeable, it's all creative and it's all benevolent. And we can actually utilize those things in the workplace for our greatest success. Right.

Speaker B: You know, and for you, um, it is very faith based. Um, you know, and, and um, you know, and, and so I'm going to read a little something that we hear a lot. But think about how this could apply to business for everyone who is listening. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always, always perseveres. Love never fails. Now of course we hear that a lot at weddings, Right. But again, if we utilized all of that in a business setting, it is only going to benefit us. You know, when we're looking at people saying, you know, um, they're, they're my competitor. Ew.

Speaker C: Ew.

Speaker B: No, you know, um, you know, competition is good. I mean, that's. I, you know, we don't. But, but yeah, it's. I, you know, I especially love the patient kind. Right. You know, because how many times have we thought oh, you know, and, and but yeah, you know, you mentioned it keeps no record of wrongs. We don't need to keep that tally. You know, and, and so, you know, I think that is something that. Yes. You know, that is obviously very faith based. Very faith based. Um, that is First Corinthians. Uh, you know, and, and um, but you know, those can be very strong business practices.

Speaker C: Absolutely. And I totally agree. And a Lot of that is in the heart of my work because the, what you just listed there in First Corinthians, that is actually creating a metrics m um for business leaders to be able to utilize, um, to actually help to make better decisions. And that's something that we as leaders need to become more skillful at, is being able to translate love not necessarily from the scriptural point of view. You don't have to freak out because.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I know for everybody who just went,

Speaker C: you know folks, it's okay, just hold your mule and hold your, you know, it's all right, we'll be okay. If you're able to translate that into the workplace place, uh, where you then um, can then utilize some of those, uh, proponents to actually, um, to become the intelligence that we can apply in our organizational frameworks. It can actually help us to influence our culture. Like for one of the things that you mentioned, which I also include in my book, my Journey to Wholeness, Love to success factor, um, is that love has the ability to believe all things. That was one of the things that you mentioned there. And when we can apply this into the business model, you're now then looking at your set of ideals. Uh, your set of ideals are, which are your mission, your vision and your core values for your organization. So when these set um, of ideals actually understanding that love has the ability to believe all things, you're now expressing what you believe your organization can be possibly. And you demonstrate that with your vision, your mission, your core values and your overall goals. And so if you can do this, you ensure industry buy in so that um, to confirm that everything within your organization is in alignment with what you say you believe in, what the organization believes in. So that translates in your culture, does your culture align with your mission and your vision and your core values? Does your pool of talent, does that represent what you say that you believe? Does your action plans, does your services, does your target market resemble what you say that you actually believe? And so being able to use some of those components, that's just one example. I would say another example is that love has the ability to be kind.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker C: So then the question is, is that kindness is nothing but good oldfashioned respect, right? So do you respect your brand? Do you respect your team? Do you respect your team holders? And so if you can maintain, quote unquote, kindness being able to implement love into your space, then you want to, it then demonstrates whether or not you have the right policies in place, the right trainings in place, the right reporting measures in place. So that the expected outcome is creating a safe environment, um, that sets boundaries to protect, to establish accountability, as well as to defend when it's necessary. So taking some of those components from First Corinthians and being able to actively to, um, put an action behind it can be a, uh, metric that your business can actually follow to make sure that you're doing business with the right people, that you're doing business the right way, and also that your organization is structured in a way that you say that you want it to operate in your industry, in your domain of industry. So absolutely, call it fluffy, call it what you will, but these are powerful, uh, dynamics that you can actually add into your business model to make sure that not only are you successful as a business leader, but that you're also providing a safe environment, um, that your team can believe in and that they can trust in as well. Right, right.

Speaker B: You know, and it does flow into everything that you do, um, in, in your business. And like you said, all those things have existed. We've had mission statements, we've had vision statement, all of those. Those are good, solid business practices. Um, but, you know, we, we don't really stop to think why. Why was it. And, you know, that's. That's going to bring up one of the other things, and that's the golden rule.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: You know, how, you know, treat others as you want to be treated. Uh, it's funny, in my Facebook memories popped up something yesterday that, you know, I, I got a kick out of, and it said how not to do customer service. And I had called and, you know, so I was reading this on Facebook, and, And it's funny because I don't remember the incident, but I had called a company and was, you know, I had an issue with something and the, the customer service person I was talking to, you know, well, that's the way this is done. You need to do this, you need to do that. And basically kept talking down to me and using words I didn't understand, you know, and I'm a pretty smart person and, you know, all of these things and, you know, was. And. And, you know, I ended by telling them, I'm canceling my account. So I don't know what it was, but, yeah, it was like. And, and so, yeah, when this person could have totally reframed it and said, how can we help? Right. And that comes back to being kind. You know, when you talk down to somebody, you know, they're not going to want to work with you. Uh, you know, and, and whatever it is and, and you, and I'll be honest. I mean, you know, one of the things that we're hearing a lot about is AI, right? AI, at least right now, is, does not have that capacity. You know, it, it, it's, it doesn't know how to be mean, but it also doesn't know how to be nice. It just knows what is, is put into it.

Speaker A: What.

Speaker B: And that's, you know, that is where we as humans excel. You know, we can show somebody kindness. We can show them the things, um, you know, that, that are important. And it's funny, one of the other things we hear a lot about is that millennials want to work with, with companies that do good. I don't know why people think that's a negative. You know, when I hear people saying that, I'm like, yeah, so, um, you know, and, and of course, you know, the baby boomers, you know, or not the, the millennials don't, you know, the millennials raise the kids to think, hey, you know, we want to, we want to work with companies that do good. And you know, again, why not? Why don't we want to work with companies that do good? And there are things that companies, that companies do that might be, you know, not always the most positive thing, but how do they do it? You know, um, company can be doing something that we're not thrilled about, but do they have great environmental practices? Do they treat their customers and their clients well? I mean, you know, you can tie all of those in. And I think that's something that we don't always think about is, are we doing good? Um, you know, and let's be honest, you know, one of the things you talk about is the fact that doing good can bring wealth. And there's lots of different ways of wealth, but it's okay to make money, because when we make money, then we're able to do more good. Whether it's with our philanthropic efforts, whether it's tithing to the church, whatever it is, it's okay. But again, keep that thing in mind without, um, being selfish, without being self centered, all of those things. Um, but it's okay to have wealth. And it kind of leads into this. You've mentioned it several times.

Speaker C: Absolutely, I totally agree. And just going back to the customer service aspect, um, because I spent majority of my career in customer service. Whether it was students, whether it was parents, whether it was leaders, whether it was organizations, you know, just being able to be able to do customer service. And I would, from the customer service perspective, you are supposed to position yourself to help. Mhm. Right. And if you bump into someone and as far as in customer service, that's not rude, uh, or that is rude or disrespectful or that's not meeting the need or even going the extra step or going the next step further. Then again it goes back to what the organization believes to be true or how they want to present themselves to the world. And a lot of times what I'm finding is, or what I'm um, discovering especially I don't know if it's just been one of those things as a result of the pandemic or COVID 19 I'm finding that a lot of organizations are just doing mass hiring. And especially when we were coming out of a lot of organizations from federal government on down was just doing mass hiring. If you could pass the background check, it didn't matter. But then you didn't take time to evaluate exactly who you were hiring. So it then goes back to your pool of talent because your pool of talent is a reflection of the leaders of the organization. I truly believe that um, and so we do have to from a customer service, uh, perspective, um, I believe that as leaders that we can't get so far up that we don't know who's working in our organization, um, or understand how the processes going on in your organization or where you might just leave it to other people to um, to then just manage over certain parts and you not be totally involved. Because the reality is our organizations, we are the personification of our organization. Whether you're the CEO, you're the executive director, whatever your position is, your organization is, you are the personification. So if you as a leader ultimately suck as a leader, or if you're great as a leader.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker C: All of that translates into every facet of your organization from um, again from your belief systems all the way down to your procedures, even all the way down to your talent. So I think that leaders at this particular time, when they're discovering that they don't have the right kind of people to assist, assist um, their customers, that they either need to take time to either upskill that individual or have the courage to go ahead and cut them loose because again, it doesn't align with what they said that their organization believes in. It doesn't align with their mission and their vision. And so um, I'm not sure that answers that question all the way. But I just think from those of us who have been in that customer service space, our goal is to make sure that that customer leaves our Experience completely satisfied as much as possible. Right. And I've always taught my teams in the past, I don't know is not an answer. Mhm.

Speaker B: Well, actually you can say I don't know, but I'll find out.

Speaker C: Right, Exactly. That was the next follow up that I don't know. Or I would always tell them, you know, to kind of rephrase that. Instead of saying I don't know, just basically say, you know what, let me look into that further for you. And even if I. And to prevent you from having to hold for so long, let me get your contact information and I will get, uh, the right answer for you and then I will follow up with you before the end of business or no later than abc And D. That is a way to be able to work with your customers. Now we'll also have to say that customers have a responsibility too. Mhm. Not to be so much of a butthole out. Yes, yes.

Speaker B: Don't be a pain.

Speaker C: Don't be a pain. Because one of the things that I have learned, especially from the position of leadership, one of the positions that I had is that I worked specifically for business accounts, which meant my customers were CEOs, my customers were executive directors, and

Speaker B: um, powerful people used to be in control.

Speaker C: Absolutely. But sometimes they are the worst.

Speaker B: Yes, yes. Because they're used to being, uh.

Speaker C: Right. They are the worst. And so what that demonstrated to me is that if my experience of you, Mr. Or Mrs. Leader, from my customer service perspective, and I'm here to help you, but if you don't know the basics of your organization, you can't answer some of the simplest questions about your organization, um, or that you feel like you are so, um, above it, that, oh, somebody else takes care of that. But guess what, dear sir or dear Madam Leader, that if something was to go awry, whether it was from the IRS perspective or something else, they're not coming for the people who do it for you. Right. They're coming for you. So I would just, just say from, um, altogether that we just need to learn how to be better from the, uh, leadership perspective. That we do need to be better as leaders. And if we are better as leaders, that is demonstrated in all the facets of our organization, all the way down to our customer service. Right.

Speaker B: You know, and one of the things, I don't know who first said this, but, you know, it's been around for, you know, a very long time. The customer is always right.

Speaker C: Huh?

Speaker B: You know, I don't know about that. Because the customer can be wrong.

Speaker C: Right?

Speaker B: You know, but the important thing is that you have treated that person with respect, that you have treated them not like an idiot. Um, you know, and you still might be telling them no. You know, it might just not be something you can do, but you want to do it in a way that they don't feel insulted and all of those things. And, you know, and a big part of that is, you know, empowering your customer support people to make some decisions and things. You know, I, People know that. I'm here in Atlanta. One of the biggest companies that is based here is that little company called Chick Fil A.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: And it is faith based. Anybody who doesn't think it's faith based doesn't understand why they're closed on Sundays. But, um, you know, but they also always. Their, their employees are empowered to make decisions. Can they always make the decision? No, they might have to go talk to somebody else or they might, you know, have to say, I'm sorry, that's just not possible. You know, one of the things that. And, and I do this every once in a while just to check is, you know, you, you go in and you order one chicken nugget, right? Because it's. They come in like four, six, I don't know, whatever. They, you know, and, and they will, you know, they, they are empowered to sell you one chicken nugget. Um, um, you know, but they also might be saying, I'm sorry, we can't do that, but here's what we can do. Um, you know, and all of those things. And so it really is important if you're having to tell somebody no, if possible, give an alternative, um, or if there is no alternative, you can say, I really wish we could. It's just not possible. Um, but if you have treated that customer with respect, with dignity, with love, they're going to be okay with that decision.

Speaker C: Absolutely. And I totally agree with that. And when. What I hear, or what I've heard out of your, um, explanation there, or the question or whatever we was. All of what you were just sharing is that when you're talking about a team that is empowered, it is because they have been developed and they have been trained, and someone that leader, the leadership, or either someone in leadership, has spent quite a bit of time with that particular, um, with that team to empower them to be. So to me, that is a demonstration of what we call transformational leadership. I know you've heard of it and all of that. And that was, um, a lot of where my work is. As far as when you're talking about love and leadership. It is shown through that vein of transformational leadership. And that type of leadership, um, style of leadership is where I love the most. Because that leader is taking everything that's within them, all of their expertise, all of their knowledge, all of their temperament, all of that, and they're placing it. They have, uh, imparted that to their team. So essentially when you're talking about empowerment or giving your teams autonomy, you can afford to do that if you have spent a considerable amount of time developing them, training them, almost to you have multiplied yourself, uh, essentially so you now have miniature versions of yourself when organizations take that time. So I absolutely love that when there are teams that are empowered to make a decision and not have to run back to that manager or run back to that particular supervisor. Um, so I absolutely love that. And uh, yes, giving people to say, yeah, no, we can do this, but yes, we can do that, or you know, being able to provide an option, I think, for customers again, so that customers do not leave you satisfying. And also I will say this is that even as an organization, if you know you can't provide a service, if you have built strong relationships with other organizations, you should not have a problem being able to refer that customer to say, you know what, we don't offer this or we're not able to fulfill. However, um, I do know of an organization that is able to meet your specific need, you know what, and let me give you that information, or even better, let me give you a point of contact on making that connection. So even though that person is going to leave you for something else, when they actually do meet what you have to offer, they remember, they're going to remember you. And so that to me, uh, when you're empowering your team to be, um, to have that kind of autonomy, that is the demonstration that they have been thoroughly trained, um, to be able to provide either the follow up or to be able to refer. Right, right.

Speaker B: You know, and, and they need to know that when they are empowered, they might make decisions that are wrong. Okay. You know, but they need to know they're not going to get in trouble, they're not going to get fired. Uh, you know, yeah, there might be an extreme. And so, you know, we're not talking about those, but it's going to come back to what we were talking about at the very start. It was not a failure. It's a learning experience. Um, you know, and, and so take that and say, okay, well you maybe shouldn't have sold one chicken nugget. To every single person who came in. But let's talk about what you could have done. You know, so then they know, okay, don't do that again. But they have to know that, you know, it's. And really most things are fixable. Um, you know, and, and, but, you know, and it's funny, I was talking to somebody and, and he didn't want to empower, he didn't want to delegate. And I said, so that means you didn't do a good job hiring. And it kind of brought him up short, right, because, oh, uh, he didn't want to admit that. And I said, you hired smart, intelligent, knowledgeable people. Now let them go beyond smart, intelligent and knowledgeable. And if there is a problem, it's like you said, maybe they need to be retrained or, you know, shown. You know, shown the door. And that happens. Right. You know, we've all interviewed somebody that was a little bit different when things actually, you know, were working out. But it's okay, you know, but do it in a way that is not going to damage them either. Um, you know, back to that, you know, be kind. You know, just be kind to people. Um, you know, and, and so that's, that's the thing. Well, oh my gosh, Teresa, we've only got a couple minutes left. And I, you know, this is why I set a timer, because we could continue on this forever. Um, you know, I didn't mention your podcast, which I was delighted to be a guest on. It's the Women's Leadership Mindset Series podcast. Um, you know, and so, you know, there are so many things that you do, but for people who are saying, okay, Teresa, I need help, I need to talk to you. How do they find you and what are the services that you provide?

Speaker C: Absolutely. Well, um, anyone that's listening who need my service, I trust I was able to leave some, um, matters of, uh, value, um, or at least a curiosity, where people want to learn more about love and how love could be implemented into the, um, into your business framework. Um, they can contact me on my website@teresakpage.squarespace.com um, there they're able to learn, um, everything about me as far as the work that I provide. So the top service that I provide for my organization is love. The Success Factor Leadership, uh, incubator. It is an opportunity for whether women's, nonprofit, faith based, um, and professional organizations that really do support transformational leadership development. Um, and it's something that's written, I would say it's not necessarily novel, but it's definitely a unique way to be able to implement love into their business models so that it can help more uh, towards decision making, um, as well as development of leadership in addition to um, just being able to uh, enhance their culture altogether. So they could definitely go to my website, teresakpage.squarespace.com where they're able to submit a ah, consultation so we can um, talk about how we could bring um, this love to success factor into their business models. In addition on the website they'll be able to learn more about my books and my Journey to Wholeness book series. All three books, but especially the newest book which is uh, connected to the uh, leadership incubator, My Journey to Wholeness Love the Success factor. Um, it is a demonstration of how love um, empowers women, um, as well as leaders to lead, to create and to generate wealth in the fullness of our equality purpose in business. So they're able to also check out more of my books there. In addition they're also able to learn more about uh, the Women's Leadership Mindset series, uh, the podcast which is my opportunity to be able to shine a light on uh, women leaders, entrepreneurs and authors as well as men. I'm bringing, have brought men into that space, men of influence, men of uh, influence and affluence to bring them into the conversation about love. Um, so they're able to learn more about that as well as how to connect with me on LinkedIn and all of my other social media platforms. So yeah. Theresakpage.squarespace.com come on over. I look forward to being able to, to serve you as well as to meet you.

Speaker B: I love it. And of course we will have links in the show notes to your LinkedIn profile, the website and your most recent book. So nobody can say, hey, I didn't know how to find you. Um, but. But yeah, yeah. Well, this really has been a delightful conversation and we have to do this again because now more than ever, right? We need this. It's a cranky world, um, in a lot of ways. I mean, you know, and so we need to, even if it's just for people to think. Pause. Right. You don't need to respond and you especially don't need to respond with nastiness, with anger. Maybe you don't respond at all, um, but you know, more importantly, how can you respond with love? And so, you know, I will definitely have you on again. But until then, Teresa, what final thoughts do you want to leave everyone with?

Speaker C: Well, I just want um, to leave with everyone is how important, especially now with us living in such bumpy. In such a bumpy world, um, in such extraordinary times, where it seems like there's, like it almost appears that the world is on fire. And in some ways it is. But it's important that we are convinced of our own greatness. Um, if you haven't taken time to. To take inventory of your. Or to take stock in your personal inventory, now is the time. So that you know what is inside of you. There is an ability, there's a calling, there's a gifting, there's a solution inside of you that, um, can actually. That is belongs to all of us to relieve a particular type of angst in our world. And so, more than ever, more than ever, all of us, every last one of us, we have a responsibility. Whether you're we, the people, whether you're a leader or you're entrepreneur, you're a content creator or you're an author, it is time for us to tap into our, uh, ingenuity. Because we do need to revive confidence in true transformational leadership. We do need to be able to produce new, tangible goods and services that's going to deliver solutions to the pain of our nations. We do have a responsibility to help to reduce unemployment rates. We have a responsibility to replicate new enterprises to come into the marketplace in addition to level up our generation, um, our generation of wealth, um, amongst the general citizenship. So we don't feel like we're all just in a billionaire's playground. We have that responsibility, and every last one of us has the capacity. So take whatever is amazing about you, what's great about you. Figure out how you can package it in something that's tangible, whether it's a good or a service, and deliver it to your niche. Because we are waiting for you. Your giftings doesn't belong to you. It belongs to us. And we're waiting for it.

Speaker B: Oh, my gosh, Such wise words. I'm Deb Krear. I've been having so much fun talking with my friend Teresa Page of TK Page Enterprises. And until next time, everyone have a great day.

Speaker A: Tune in for our next program for even more trends, best practices and techniques for how to make your business a success. The Business Power Hour, hosted by Deb Krear, is proud to be part of the C Suite Network. This podcast is a part of the C Suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit C Suiteradio.

Speaker C: Com.