071 - Carolyn Regan - SVP of People, Leadership & Organizational Expert

Carolyn talks with us about finding her calling, building a life that works for her, the power of perspective and creating a work environment that lifts people up. 

Carolyn Regan is a leadership and organizational expert with a strength around building relationships with people at all levels. Carolyn builds employee engagement programs that lead to positive, award winning work environments. She works with leaders to engage and develop people, strengthening the overall organization. Carolyn helps create work environments that attract the engaged, inspired people who build great companies. She is currently the SVP of People with Racepoint Global, a leading communications agency.  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynregan/

Transcript

Carolyn Regan Take Two

[00:00:00]Jolie Downs:Today we are speaking with Carolyn Regan. Carolyn is a leadership and organizational expert with a strength around building relationships with people at all levels. Carolyn builds employee engagement programs that lead to positive award-winning work environments. She works with leaders to engage and develop people, strengthening their overall organization, and she helps create work environments that attract the engaged, inspired people who build

[00:00:29]great companies. Carolyn is currently the SVP of people with race point global, a leading communications agency. And I'm really excited to learn more about your story. Carolyn, thank you for joining us on fresh blood. Could you please tell us a bit more about your personal story and getting to where you are today?

[00:00:47]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, thank you. And thank you for having me on I as we've shared, we have had an excellent rapport and I really just enjoy your energy and it's it's so welcome to be here. My story, I I started, I came out of college as an accounting. It. Major 

[00:01:02]Jolie Downs:very different.

[00:01:04]Carolyn Regan:absolutely. And what happened is I ended up going into a technology development program when I came out and it was a two year work program.

[00:01:12]And halfway through, I realized that I liked what the consultants were doing with us around building teams and really fast tracking us in the skills that we needed. And so somewhere after that, I really was started to. Just talk to people within my company and outside of my company about really the organizational development space and realized that was truly my calling for. 

[00:01:36]Jolie Downs:especially recognizing that and going after it seen that's something that appeals to you and starting to ask those questions and going after it, not everyone does that. So what happened did you, how did you make the switch?

[00:01:47]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. So I

[00:01:48]Ashley was able to, the company that I worked for at the time was really large and I was able to On all my way through the consulting gig that I had at the time into working for the CIO in his HR group. And from there, I went on and got my master's in organizational development at Boston college.

[00:02:07]And from there from my first full-time HR manager role I managed learning and development in an agency and I worked for the Weber group 

[00:02:16]Jolie Downs:Oh, wow. Okay. That's a big group. So then, so was that your first PR experience then?

[00:02:22]Carolyn Regan:That was the first PR agency that I worked for. And at the time it was small, it was the Weber group. And then?

[00:02:27]eventually they merged with Shandwick to become Weber. Shandwick. 

[00:02:31]Jolie Downs:And we with them during that time? Okay. That's a big thing. The Mo when the merge happens, there's a lot of culture, shakeup. I'm super curious. How did you deal with that? To bring it cohesively to.

[00:02:43]Carolyn Regan:Yeah the first merger there was with Shandwick, which was a Minnesota headquarter. And so the camaraderie between those two agencies were not dissimilar. Where we were a smaller agency and Larry still was at the helm at that point. And that murder was actually a really incredible learning experience to.

[00:03:03]See they were much bigger, but we came in overseeing and I found an amazing mentor in that program to, to really talk about and learn from.

[00:03:12]What to do and from a culture shift and what worked, what didn't work, then what happened a year later is a Weber Shandwick merged with BSMG, which was New York headquarters, which is now the latest, the biggest Weber Shandwick. And that was much more of a culture. To go to BSMG, which was very New York, city-based headquartered.

[00:03:34]And that was really an interesting learning experience. And so I would say that so much of my, where I am now, I look back on what worked and what didn't work and the lessons learned through those two different murders of what worked really well and what didn't work really well. And took those lessons. 

[00:03:52]Jolie Downs:Oh, I'm curious what worked really well, because look, I, as a recruiter, I know that when there's mergers that happen, there's definitely shaken. There's definitely some turnover that happens. People get a little nervous, they get a little, not sure what's going to happen. And so there are people who jump.

[00:04:06]And I know that. There is a lot of changes within companies and that you have to, you have to make those shifts. So I find this interesting and I would love to know what you learn from it because where we are right now in the world with this whole great resignation, and there's all of these other different shifts happening and people are leaving and there's a lot of organizations having to figure out how to fix their culture, if you will.

[00:04:31]What did you learn during that time? That really helped them.

[00:04:34]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, I think what helped both with, when I said we weren't sharing and found a mentor and the same thing with VSM, she is, it's more learning yourself with the people and finding are there those key people that you can you admire him learn from? Really life is just about learning and growing and figuring out what.

[00:04:53]Helps you as an individual move forward. So with the BSMG merger, with the difference there was who I think she actually still is the head of human resources and people there today is Abby gold. And when we merged, she was actually second in command and she was just something that I really admired.

[00:05:09]I loved the way that she built relationships and was really strategic and I just loved the way that she showed up. And so I think really with mergers and acquisitions, Do you align with the people, like let everything else fall away and really look at yourself and how do you see yourself fitting into that new environment.

[00:05:28]And again, who can you learn and grow from and really aligned from, really what even, to fast forward today. It's really about who you working with, who you work in for and how do you align yourself with that leader? And is there respect when you're being truly honest with your.

[00:05:44]Jolie Downs:I love that. I love that because I feel like I've spoken with a lot of people in that are organizational experts and it's like they start with the organizational aspect first and try to fit everyone into that where it sounds to me, like you're starting with the people first and making the organization work for the people.

[00:06:07]Carolyn Regan:yeah.

[00:06:07]absolutely. And it's, and it is it's top to bottom, right? It's we fast forward to race blank global. Today. We have a new president that came in April of 2020, and I look at the values that he represents and really lives by and that's really become our culture. And then it's about how do we help create a new language for every employee and how do we.

[00:06:31]Them really embrace the things that we're talking about. Both when, where I'm a little bit slower paced. And when we're in this fast paced frenzy, that can be an agency life. And so we really try to live those values and, but it's important to have them represented at the top. And then talk about how do we, how does that all translate and how does that work for everyone? 

[00:06:52]Jolie Downs:That's really big right now, too. We're really, we're seeing, we've seen over the course of these past few years, what it looks like when you don't have those values represented at the top. And I can tell you that as a recruiter, talking to people, this is a big thing that they're looking for. It is they want to know that those values are being represented in their leaders.

[00:07:12]So that's a very big thing 

[00:07:14]Carolyn Regan:absolutely. 

[00:07:15]Jolie Downs:And. So I'm curious. So how did you go? So you were with Weber Shandwick. What happened to between Weber Shandwick to Ray's point?

[00:07:23]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, I embarked on the biggest job of my life is becoming a mother. And so what happened is when I had my second child, I have three, I took a step back and stepped out of the. Traditional work environment and consulted for a number of years. And that brought me to raise points, which started as race point group.

[00:07:47]But we. I came in just consulting and doing learning development because it was a lot of the people that I had worked with in the Weber Shandwick world. So Larry Weber and came back and founded Raceland global. And I knew a lot of the senior leaders at that time, and it was a, an amazing environment to just really be able to help build an organization from a cultural standpoint, really support kind of the things that they were doing and building at that time.

[00:08:13]Jolie Downs:Yeah, that's great. Now I'm curious. What do you feel because you've you, even though you took a break and took a step back in that middle you and you still consulted, you've continuously moved up through the ranks in this industry and hold, one of the most senior positions you can, as far as operations people go.

[00:08:32]So what do you feel has been as contributed to your success and your ability to continue to grow in this field?

[00:08:39]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, I think that some of the really kind of foundations of my successes just really. Focused on what works for being, and I think anyone's career path is not straightforward. It's really, I feel like there's these levers in life and everyone talks about work-life balance and it's really about embracing work and your health and your relationships and your wellness all at the same time. So you have these different levels of what's most important at different phases in your life. And at that point I needed to dial up my. And work a little bit, but I still wanted to stay connected and involved. And so it's really about thinking what works for me and what works, what opportunities are out there and where can I do the best work that I have, and not be, not really be afraid.

[00:09:26]We talk about fear and I just really think that gets in the way so much of people making certain decisions. 

[00:09:32]Jolie Downs:Yes, it does.

[00:09:33]Carolyn Regan:You know if in in the coaching. If I put that on, if you take that fear out of a decision that you have to make, how, what would you choose? How would you move a fear and failure when not on the table?

[00:09:45]What decisions would you make for your life? And I think that's really been such a learning for Dean and moving forward in my role and growing and really the other side of it. Yes. At race blink global now, but where we're employee centric, we're focused on the employee. And again, I look at our values of authenticity, belonging, compassion, and I think about, that really is it rings true to me as a person.

[00:10:10]And so I just think it know. A natural extension to try to figure out how do we create that environment for our employees and how do we make it work for them, regardless of whether they're with us for a year or build their whole career with us, how do we really help them grow and find their true self. 

[00:10:29]Jolie Downs:Oh, I love that you knew so, fear. Fear, it stops us from everything in that question that you asked is it's one of my favorites. It really helps you get to that core of what it is that you. Would you want to be doing and what you're stopping yourself from doing too, that's, if you don't always realize what we're stopping ourselves from doing.

[00:10:45]So I love that and I love that you're applying that to the people in your organization and helping them figure that out too. That's a gift. 

[00:10:54]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, absolutely. And I think the other thing that, COVID has been there's been such downside to that, but there's also been such gifting from the COVID experience. Is how do we embrace flexible? And I go back to those levers, right? At certain points we can embrace flexibility with work is like we're dialing upward because that's the most important thing to us.

[00:11:12]Or sometimes we need to dial that back and take care of ourselves and our mental health and our physical wellbeing. And how do we dial that up? And I think that's with embracing flexibility as well is so important and something that we truly value at recent global. 

[00:11:26]Jolie Downs:No, you're so right. The pandemic, the pandemic has been incredibly difficult, but there have been these glimmers, if you will, that have come through and this is one of them and it is something where I think we've all as a people have realized what it is that we don't want to put up with anymore.

[00:11:42]We've come, we're like, I don't think I want to do that anymore. The it's everybody, 

[00:11:47]Carolyn Regan:yeah. 

[00:11:47]Jolie Downs:so the organizations and companies are having to react to this and they're having to change and become more flexible and change their cultures in different ways. And I think this is a beautiful, wonderful thing that is is needed across the board.

[00:12:01]Carolyn Regan:Absolutely. One of the things in just even that you had, because we had talked about before this was, what's a regret. And life. And one of them, it was interesting when I was reflecting on that was I regret when I was much younger now that we're like in our over forties, really. And I could go a little higher than that.

[00:12:16]I wish that when we were in our twenties, I went and lived in a different part of the country. I'd never really have lived outside of the Northeast. And that's a regret I have. And now I think. COVID and what that's done as far as the flexibility that we have with choosing where we live and where we work.

[00:12:33]And with our embracement of flexibility, I feel like that's a whole benefit to our employees, including myself. So we have employees actually right now, like who have went home to different states on different time zones to work in their family environment for through the holidays. It's not even a blink, we're just like, Yeah.

[00:12:54]We don't even have to really know. They don't, it's not really, that's something that's discussed unless there's a time zone shift that they need to talk about it, man. What a benefit of that. And I think in the coming years, like I can come to the west coast and work there for a couple months? if I want to, or,

[00:13:10]Jolie Downs:rental for a 

[00:13:11]Carolyn Regan:Yeah,

[00:13:12]And so what an amazing outcome positive 

[00:13:15]Jolie Downs:really? It just opens up the world for 

[00:13:17]Carolyn Regan:It does. 

[00:13:18]Jolie Downs:It's exciting. 

[00:13:20]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. 

[00:13:20]Jolie Downs:It gets me all excited.

[00:13:24]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. 

[00:13:25]Jolie Downs:I'm curious. Cause you've done a lot in your. What do you feel has been, one or two of your greatest successes and why, and what did you learn from it?

[00:13:33]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. I think thank you. I think I think one of my greatest successes honestly, is being able to build a career while parenting and enjoying and really. Being forefront in the idea of what is flexibility, what is a different type of work look like for the, and not really having a fear to make that choice.

[00:13:52]So I think that was one and I would say my second success was right now, like working with our senior leadership team and our community at raise plank global. We have an amazing, smart, kind, compassionate group of workers who work really hard. And we're starting to really see. So much success for them individually, as well as us as an agency.

[00:14:14]So That's been pretty incredible to help I would talk, I would say this is like a new phase for Reese global that we're going after. And so I would say that that this is one of them right now that I'm living and I'm loving it. 

[00:14:26]Jolie Downs:And I love that, it's not, you can hear that. It's not only about the F you know, cause agencies are all about making the results for their clients, and that's the big message. And what I'm hear is that yeah, you guys are making the results for your clients, but you're also making sure that your employees are reaching their dreams and gain their hands on their goals too.

[00:14:44]And I think that's pretty awesome.

[00:14:46]Carolyn Regan:Yeah.

[00:14:47]absolutely. I think in my role too, I bring, I, thankfully I do, I have, an accounting it background, which is. Staying righteous from, but I think what I what, we come to the table with his employee first for me, but with holding, what's the right thing for our clients.

[00:15:03]What's the right thing for us financially as an agency. But really come at it with a people perspective. And, I had a finance comes at it like, okay, financially is my number one. But thankfully he really embraces an employee centric environment. And Bob really sets the stage for those three perspectives. 

[00:15:20]Jolie Downs:this is the message that companies need. They really need to be employee first. An employee said that this is the, this is where everything is going. And as we know, it's the strong talent that creates strong companies. So you need to be appealing to them. Yes.

[00:15:34]Carolyn Regan:absolutely. 

[00:15:35]Jolie Downs:Now there's so much to learn from the flip side of that question.

[00:15:38]What about a time of perceived failure or just a monster obstacle, huge challenge or big mistakes? Something, it didn't quite go right, but you learn from it. Can you tell 

[00:15:49]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, absolutely. There was an environment that I worked in for a while that was very toxic. And I think that when I think when I look back at what mistakes did I make, it was letting fear or just tension or. Accepting status quo as the noise. And man, like what would have happened if, we just had better conversations around what could change or where we all could find common ground.

[00:16:20]There's no place for toxicity in the workplace, right? We're all showing up trying to do the best thing that we can do. And it's one of the things that we talked about race blink global all the time. Are you coming at this with the best intent? And that's where I think that's, I do see that as a personal, I wouldn't, I don't know, failure's too big a word, but definitely a a point in time where I felt like I was much too passive and sitting back and letting that happen and being part of that environment.

[00:16:45]Jolie Downs:God, that's something I think that can resonate with a lot of people. That gave me a little chill too. That, just that, being okay with the status quo, not questioning the status quo not being brave enough to go ahead and push that to the next step to make it better. And that happens a lot and yeah, we need to have that bravery to to push the envelope when we know something's.

[00:17:05]Carolyn Regan:absolutely. 

[00:17:06]Jolie Downs:sometimes that takes a little experience and grab a toss to get there. It doesn't it.

[00:17:10]Carolyn Regan:It does. And I think, when I think about your podcast and really looking at where we are, I think, what a gift that I would love to be able to share with the lecture younger generation is that we have a saying RPG that there are no hard conversations. There's just conversations where we can come at it with the best intent and talk through and, really come to some level of playing. 

[00:17:33]Jolie Downs:And really the whole important is to apply that to life everywhere. Everywhere. If we could just all have those conversations, just have the ask, the hard question. That's hard inside, but it's not hard once it's out there and you're able to talk about it. 

[00:17:47]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. 

[00:17:48]Jolie Downs:hard when it's just sitting there and you're not able to deal with it.

[00:17:51]Carolyn Regan:Absolutely. I early before I came into Raceland global full-time, which happened in the spring of 2020, actually got my coaching certificate through AIPAC and really one thing that really applies to the way I think of life now is suspending judges. Of myself as well as others. And so if we, we get, we can get into these conversations and be emotional, right?

[00:18:14]If we think there's going to be a hard conversation, you get, you have this emotion and. Try to notice that the emotion is just a red flag to say okay, what are you feeling? What am I feeling myself? And what am I, who am I judging others? Am I judging myself? And how do I suspend that to really get at the crafts of the conversation?

[00:18:32]And I think those are like really a habit that I've put in places. What's my intent. Is it positive? Or am I being not so positive in this moment? How am I showing up? How do I suspend judgment of myself and. And how do we just move forward and having a great conversation with the best intent 

[00:18:51]Jolie Downs:Yes. Yes. Is that the quote, be curious, not judgmental it's I, because 

[00:18:56]Carolyn Regan:Oh, I love that. Yeah. 

[00:18:58]Jolie Downs:I know exactly what you mean and I try to remind myself of that. When I go in with that little bit of judgmental and this isn't life everywhere with my teenager, 

[00:19:07]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:19:09]Jolie Downs:ask him, I can ask a question in a judgmental way, or I can ask it in a curious way and I'll get two completely different responses.

[00:19:17]Life is always better when you go in with curiosity is what I'm finding 

[00:19:22]Carolyn Regan:absolutely. 

[00:19:23]Jolie Downs:the board.

[00:19:24]Carolyn Regan:And I feel like you've placed that in, because we talk about our core behaviors of cure and curiosity leads the way. How do we ask the right questions? How do we become curious about whether it's our client's industry or the problem that they're having, or their new product? How do we get curious about influences?

[00:19:40]How do I get curious about employees and what do they need to be motivated and more engaged here? What's going on with them at this time. But we talk about our core behaviors as being curiosity, growth mindset and having a service minded approach to everything. And right. If we put others first, along with our.

[00:19:59]Again, that's like the best environment that we're building. 

[00:20:01]Jolie Downs:No, all of that makes me want to get up and share. I just yes. All of that.

[00:20:06]Carolyn Regan:Yeah.

[00:20:06]And it's not perfect. I always say we're a work in progress. And these are the things that we aspired. When you talk about your questions to your child, I feel like the closer you are to someone, my husband, my children I will throw that attitude in there more. And it's a give out, like how do you come back at it with that curiosity question? 

[00:20:23]Jolie Downs:Exactly. Exactly. 

[00:20:24]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, that's great. 

[00:20:26]Jolie Downs:So now I'm curious, because this is, this podcast is a bit of a study of what is success to different people. What is that topic? What does that mean? And I'd love to know what your personal definition of success is. And based on that, what you believe is key to having continued success throughout life.

[00:20:44]Carolyn Regan:Yeah.

[00:20:44]I would say that it's changing. I think when I approached I'm 51 sharing my age only because I think it's, I'm proud of it. And I feel like the, when I started to get closer to 50, I started to think about, success differently right in. And I actually read this quote, not even too long ago, a couple months ago, that was like up until your forties at some point it's about the ego. And after that, it's about these. It's about what can you give and how do you participate in? So I do think success like I'm right in this weird in between where, whereas the flip of saying success to me is about building relationships and connections. And I think there's nothing more important to life than that.

[00:21:26]And who I don't know if you've ever read the book blue zone and it's it's. Studies the five places in the world where we have the oldest people in existence. And so they boiled It down to the. I think there's nine criteria, but one of them is social interaction. And they were saying that the research shows that over the last two decades, people's personal connections have gone down.

[00:21:51]So where, 15, 20 years ago people would say they had three people in their lives, every person on average that they could call at any time to have that. And now we're actually down to one, right? And so when I think of success now, and if you asked me this 10 years ago, it would have been But if you ask me now it's about connections and build relationships. And I think that's where I think about, I bring it back to work, to raise link global. It's like, how do we build a community where people enjoy showing up and they really enjoy each other. Again, whether they're with us for a short-term or a really long term, how do we make sure that they're really making those connections to the people. 

[00:22:31]Jolie Downs:That's amazing. Because that is that's health. That's mental health, which turns into physical health. And I, yes, I haven't read that book, but I actually, the blue zone, I have studied all the articles all around that. I'm fascinated with it. Yeah. And all of those. Yes. All of those little pockets, they all have the octogenarians.

[00:22:47]They're all. Connected with each other. They're all social. They have their like social group that they are fully active in. And we, as humans, we need that. We 

[00:22:57]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. 

[00:22:58]Jolie Downs:Yeah. It's making me think. I need to maybe step up my own game in some other areas.

[00:23:03]Carolyn Regan:I think about even you and I, we met not too long ago and there just a connection there. And I feel like you've helped me grow in different ways. Just thinking about what else can we do? How else should we approach our employee perspective? Or when we think of what do we offer. As we recruit and what do we offer you bullies that, what kind of environment are we in and what do I stay in?

[00:23:24]Is that authentic? We say one of our, one of our core values is authenticity is like RV, and I think I think even some of the questions, the conversations we've had it's holding me accountable to who we want to be as we are, in 

[00:23:37]Jolie Downs:Oh, I love that. You're asking yourself that question. Just to set, you're saying, are we? Yes, it does. That's how 

[00:23:44]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, 

[00:23:45]Jolie Downs:you got to ask yourself those questions.

[00:23:48]Carolyn Regan:right, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know the other thing that we do is, we embrace transparency and so many different ways, and again, nothing holds you more accountable. There'll be a transparent with data and having to repeat and we share that information. And so I think it's another way to show up authentically and build trust to. 

[00:24:06]Jolie Downs:I'm what about through all of this change? Is there any one piece of advice that you would give someone who is maybe looking for that right. Next opportunity. And Because you're in this space. You do a lot of hiring, he know what's what works. So if someone is struggling to find their right next opportunity or even the right path or anything, is there a piece of advice that you would give them to help them grab that.

[00:24:35]Carolyn Regan:Yeah.

[00:24:35]I think there's two things I think about from that one, it goes back to my biggest thing is, goes back to don't let fear or failure. Cloudier view, if you took that out and really just write it down, what are you afraid of? And put that on one piece of paper and put it to the side and then think about what decision would you make for if that wasn't part of it.

[00:24:59]So that's one, but the other part of is agency life, right? Like when you find people who can do the job, but it'll be the right place for you, are we the right environment? And that's that's the second half. We can we want people who can be successful and feel like this is, they can be part of this community and they want to be part of this community.

[00:25:18]Again, we embrace belonging and do they feel like we're a place we're not going to be the best place for. And that's okay, too. And so it's this two thing is this the type of work that you want to do? And is this the environment that you want to be in? Do you connect, it goes back to like my whole success criteria of relationships and connection.

[00:25:36]And is this a place either? And it's the client's right, as well as you spend as much time with your clients. So do you, are you going to feel connected? These clients are going to feel connected to this community, to the leaders, do your due diligence, Ask the right questions.

[00:25:49]ask to have conversations. And just feel like you want to be part of that environment is really just so important. 

[00:25:57]Jolie Downs:What are the questions you like to hear as a hiring manager that, that make you just feel like, okay, this person knows they get it. They know what they're looking for. And I know that hiring managers, like people who know what they're looking for. 

[00:26:09]Carolyn Regan:Absolutely. Absolutely. What do we look for? We look for the things that we talked about, right? We want curiosity. We want people who want to learn, and we're not. I look for people who self. there's different. It's through the questions that they ask. And it might be around, what kind of clients and whether it's the right response or not what kind of clients will I work on?

[00:26:30]What's my team look like? What kind of roles would I like? Will I play, what do we do? That's not what works for them. How do we stay connected, especially in this virtual world. Actually someone that you recently, we have a recent hire that you helped bring in, and she just had so many great questions to talk about.

[00:26:46]How would she feel connected to this community being virtual, and how do we make this and what do we do about communication and connection. And I just loved that because That's so important to us. And so if this is a person who's looking for that, what great questions that she has. 

[00:27:02]Jolie Downs:Those are really good questions. 

[00:27:04]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. 

[00:27:05]Jolie Downs:I always suggest people ask about the hiring managers background too, just because it gives you insight as to, why did you choose to work there and why do you stay? It was like, you can tell, you can always feel, how someone's feeling about the company and that always gives good insight.

[00:27:19]Carolyn Regan:absolutely. Absolutely. And really about what energy do they bring into the conversation? And what was their response to the people that they met from race? Like globally? It's So, important to have a debrief. 

[00:27:30]Jolie Downs:Yes. Is there something that you find appeals to you in the interview process? That's just good advice in general to people and in the interview.

[00:27:39]Carolyn Regan:You know what I think show up authentically, we have conversations a lot that interviewing is a skill in and of itself. And so I think there's people who can just interview.

[00:27:48]their way into a position, but where's that guy. Where does that get you and the Lima one. And so when you're, if you're really truly looking for A place that you can connect with and being engaged and motivated to do your best work and really be a great stop on your career path just show up authentically, bring the right energy and ask the right questions.

[00:28:08]That really truly means something to you. Not what you think everyone else wants to hear. And I think that's something that we've tried to work with our interview team on our side. To really feel it like, do they want these people on their team? Would they fight to have them on their client team?

[00:28:21]And that's the question.

[00:28:21]I asked my interviewers. I'm like, if you hire them, in a fair oh, I don't know. It's just not, there's something that's not quite there. Something that's not quite right, but I just really, it's a short term view. If you're just interviewing to get the job 

[00:28:37]Jolie Downs:Yeah,

[00:28:37]Carolyn Regan:versus interviewing to find the place, that's a good thing. 

[00:28:40]Jolie Downs:right. And that, that right there is the key and interviewers can feel that when you're just trying to interview us to get any kind of job, but when you're actually wanting to find some this right for you, and you're asking questions, they can feel that as well. And that's, you know what, those are the people that get the job.

[00:28:55]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:28:57]Jolie Downs:Yeah. So now what is something that you've learned throughout all of your experiences that you feel has brought you the most benefit to your life?

[00:29:06]Carolyn Regan:Yeah,

[00:29:07]Good question. Gosh, the most benefits my life, I think one, I'm a learner. Like I would've continued on, I, I, if I could have afforded, I would've continued my education even beyond my master's, I just love to learn and I think that's really. What's been the best benefit. I feel like here I am, in my early fifties, still learning every day from, we look at RPG and our average age is mid to late twenties.

[00:29:31]We'll they teach me stuff every single day about perspective and how smart they are and what's, a good environment to work in. And so I just think I'm learning from them. I'm learning from the team that I work with who are my peers I just looked to. Learn from every person that I interact with and every experience that I have.

[00:29:50]And so I would say that's one learning. And then the second thing is, we're right where we're supposed to be. So I maybe to a fault, I believe that things happen for a reason and that we're on this path and that everything's going to teach us something, whether it's, a positive experience or what did we take from that experience along our journey.

[00:30:07]And I think that if we really think, think about how do we embrace that and know that we're okay where we're at. And that we can choose every day on how we show up and what does the state look like for us? And so I really believe, everything's happened to me along the way for

[00:30:22]Jolie Downs:I completely agree. I completely agree. And it's, and when you look back, you can see those reasons and it's, it gives you that insight and being able to go through those experiences also helps you realize when you're going through tough times. That it is a learning experience, which can help.

[00:30:35]I can think of times where I've been like, can we just get to the point where I'm at the light learned my lesson. 

[00:30:41]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:30:43]Jolie Downs:I just want to get to that point,

[00:30:44]Carolyn Regan:The other thing with that too, you just prompted this thought is that I always think of, if I get stressed about a situation or something, some something that's going on. I always think is this real right? Are the real things that I try to. Share this with my kids who are two of them are called and they're going through finals this week.

[00:31:01]And there's a lot of stress in their system. but I think about okay, this isn't, this is a, you're going to get through this. This isn't like real in the sense of life-changing, we've talked about our health, we talk about our wellness. We talk about our relationships that are so important to who we are and how we show up.

[00:31:17]And it's, so it's really about perspective. It's just so important to, and so it's just really questioning, I love it. Someone, it was one of our employees is like, Hey, this is PR not ER, 

[00:31:28]Jolie Downs:Yeah.

[00:31:28]Carolyn Regan:And I know that's kind of industry-wide, but it's okay. Take a breath and we're going to work through it.

[00:31:33]And, we can come to some conclusions and work together 

[00:31:36]Jolie Downs:It's really important to be reminded of that really. And it's really important to have people around you to remind you of that. We can all get caught up in our own. What we feel is, ER, but it really is not.

[00:31:50]Carolyn Regan:COVID world. It's so important to think about how do we embrace self care and wellness and being able to identify when people need to take a step out of that world for a little bit, to just get themselves to a healthier place is just so important. 

[00:32:05]Jolie Downs:completely. And I came, I agree with everything you said. And I was curious, is there anything that you do personally that helps you get through times of struggle or times of feeling helpless?

[00:32:15]Carolyn Regan:Yeah.

[00:32:15]it's so interesting. Cause this kind of happened, there was a situation that a couple of weeks ago that felt like it brought me stress and the first thing I do and I don't, I'm not always sure that this is positive, but I like withdrawal. And I need to take a stock and like what's going on and why do I feel this way?

[00:32:31]I don't actually get stressed super often. And so I I, becomes a learning, so it's really assessed. And then it's thinking about okay, where do we go from here? And really kind of level set is this real, is this something that we can make choices and changes? And they created an actual plan from that.

[00:32:48]And then I start, I actually do Schaeffer. I really like my husband will say to a fault. I really do to ask. I find people who I feel like can give me really good advice or just even talk through a problem. And I am definitely a I like to just really have those conversations around different perspectives before take an 

[00:33:06]Jolie Downs:Yeah.

[00:33:07]no, that's great. And so you mentioned the blue zone. I'm curious, is there any other book or talk or video that you. Read watch the had a really big impact in your life that you think would benefit other people as well.

[00:33:19]Carolyn Regan:Yeah.

[00:33:20]I am like, Yeah,

[00:33:22]I just eat up any type of content, but I think right?

[00:33:25]now, so there's an older book that I think set the. Tone when I really started to embrace organizational development. And it's a book for I think it's like right around the nineties. So it's really old one, but Peter Sangay was he spearheaded an organizational development world and he created this.

[00:33:41]He had this book called the fifth discipline and it's so important now, too, because it's really about looking at. Systemic thinking and how we're all part of a bigger system. And it goes just being service-minded right. You're part of this big system, but it talks about shared visioning.

[00:33:55]The five disciplines are shared visioning team learning personal mastery. How do I show up in my best way mental models, which is really unconscious. It's like the modern ma the Moran in term for mental models. It's whatever I past experiences that are helping shape our conversations and then the system how's that all, how do we all work?

[00:34:14]So I really feel like even some of the learnings from that back when I first graduated college really comes forward. So that's, that kind of helped from a from an OT perspective,

[00:34:25]Jolie Downs:the name of that again? 

[00:34:26]Carolyn Regan:the fifth. 

[00:34:26]Jolie Downs:The fifth different way. The fifth 

[00:34:28]Carolyn Regan:yeah.

[00:34:28]Yeah. And so it's so interesting. That's something that's so old from a time stamp is really all those concepts are so important right now.

[00:34:37]How do we really create something that we're all a part of, but from a personal standpoint, and again, going in, I feel like there's two podcasters that I love. One's Jay Shetty. He has a podcast called. 

[00:34:48]Jolie Downs:Love. Yes. 

[00:34:49]Carolyn Regan:I love him. I just feel like he is, he himself is just so kind. And when I talk about positive intent, every question he asks, but there's no, I speak a little too much sarcasm.

[00:35:00]I think myself, but she there's nothing to hit. Like everything is just like he exudes goodness and kindness and curiosity. And I feel like he's such a good role model, but he also has amazing guests on to the interview him, and then from a health perspective, when I think about just being healthy my latest is Dr.

[00:35:19]Mark Hyman, who has a podcast called Farmacy, F a R M. And it really talks about how food is the medicine that we all need these days and in whatever we put in our body. 

[00:35:30]Jolie Downs:Interesting. I'm gonna check that out because 

[00:35:31]Carolyn Regan:yeah, those are my two modern day. 

[00:35:34]Jolie Downs:Educating myself and I love Jay Shetty. I second that he's 

[00:35:37]Carolyn Regan:Yeah.

[00:35:38]And so I actually, I heard about mark Hyman cause Jaysha interviewed him. 

[00:35:42]Jolie Downs:Oh, 

[00:35:42]Carolyn Regan:are, yeah, that's the connection. 

[00:35:45]Jolie Downs:I love that this has been wonderful. Now, Carolyn, if people are interested to learn more about race point, because they've been hearing you talk about it, is there a good way for them to get in touch with you check you on LinkedIn or is there another way you prefer.

[00:35:58]Carolyn Regan:Yeah, absolutely. Connect with me, reach out on LinkedIn. I love to, again, connect with people and make that one-on-one and really talk about our community environment. That's Great.

[00:36:09]Yeah. And then our you can find me on our website and our blogs. 

[00:36:12]Jolie Downs:Yes. And I'll add the links on to the show notes as well. But before we go, I want to ask you my last question is, cause I'd like to know what the answer is. What are you sure of it?

[00:36:25]Carolyn Regan:Wow. What am I sure of in life? It all comes back to relationships, but it?

[00:36:30]starts with me. So I'm sure of I've learned to trust myself. So I'm sure of myself and my perspective on things and my belief that we are here for a reason, whatever that is. And then I'm sure of the people in my life that are my go tos and those relationships that I've built and that are so important to me. 

[00:36:50]Jolie Downs:Love it. Thank you so much 

[00:36:51]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. 

[00:36:51]Jolie Downs:time with us. I 

[00:36:52]It, Carolyn 

[00:36:53]Carolyn Regan:Yeah. Love connecting with you.

[00:36:56]Jolie Downs:right.

I so enjoyed talking with Carolyn. I love the way she found her calling – she was in a technology program but found herself intrigued by what the consultants were doing around organizational development. She acted on that curiosity and started asking questions, learning as much as she could about what they did, their goals, their results and she soon realized this was her true calling, getting herself switched over to the HR group. 

I love that Carolyn followed her curiosity and because she did, she found a career that she is passionate about. Too often we ignore our curiosity, for many, they have been taught to squash their curiosity from a young age. Most of us have been told how curiosity killed the cat at some point or another. Which, I have to say, I have always hated that saying. 

Curiosity killed the cat is a proverb used to warn of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or expirementation – but the origin of the line is actually – Care Killed the Cat and Care meant worry during those years therefore, Worry Killed The Cat. That’s right people, take it in, WORRY killed the cat – let that be the lesson you take away. 

But people in charge really prefer that everyone below them do not investigate nor experiment so changing the line and perverting the meaning has served people in power for many, many years. Now that you know the truth, I hope any nuggets of belief about curiosity being bad that may have taken sprout because of this abomination, will have vanished. Let your curiosity bloom and anything that sparks that light inside of you, you owe it to yourself to follow. 

What are you curious about that you haven’t followed up with? 

What can you find out more about today?

As they knew back in 1912 when they added the final line, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. So go ahead and scratch that curious itch. 

Carolyn had great advice around career success, she suggests aligning yourself with the key people for you – who do you admire? Who do you want to learn from? Life is all about learning and growing and learning from the people who went before you, the people who have blazed the trail and figured it out, will allow you to bypass countless mistakes yourself. Open yourself up to the lessons of others. We can choose to grow in life through pain or through insight – learning from the lessons of others is a much easier and more pleasurable way to grow.  

Carolyn shared that the foundation of her success is staying focused on what works for her. This is so important, no career path is straight forward and there is no one ‘right way’ about living your life. What is key is that you are in touch with what is important to you and that you create the life that works for your own needs. 

As Carolyn suggested, ask yourself, if you take fear out of the equation what would you choose?  If failure was not an option, what decision would you make in your life? In all aspects – your work , your relationships, your experiences, your goals and desires? Find clarity in what you want and when it comes to your work, find those companies that align with your values and purpose. 

I appreciated that Carolyn shared one of her regrets, not living in another country – I felt her on this as this is one of my personal regrets as well. I like learning about peoples regrets because I think it’s important to look at them. Regrets are usually around something that sparked a light in us, that ignited that curiosity and I find you can do two things with regrets. You can either allow them to wither you from the inside out making you feel brittle and cold, or you can take those regrets and use them as motivation for making your life even more colorful and wonderful. I have taken my regret of not living abroad and turned it into a driving passion for travel and an absolute devotion to wonderful vacations. My family has been blessed with incredible travel experiences because I took the broken shards of that dream and turned them into diamonds on the soles of my shoes, that regret has left a sparkle throughout my life. 

What regrets do you have? 

Is there anything you can do to take that regret and turn it into a sparkle in your life? 

Carolyn shared how she made mistakes based on fear in a previous role. She worked in a toxic culture and she accepted the status quo as the norm. She knows now that that was a mistake and has learned from it, now she knows there is no place for toxicity in the work place. She has learned what can happens when you have better conversations, when you ask the hard questions and she has turned this regret into a driver to create the healthiest most fulfilling organizational cultures possible. She is making that personal regret sparkle for so very many people. 

This is how we eliminate our regrets, we learn. 

Really quick PSA – there really is no room for toxicity in the work environment. If you are experiencing toxicity, it’s time to stand up and make a change in your organization if you have the capability. If you are not in a position to make a change, then it’s time to find a new job. And now is the time, the jobs are out there. Take some of Carolyn’s advice and go after the opportunities that align with your values and goals. Show up to the interview authentic, curious and ready to learn. Ask smart questions around the company – such as, what are their core values? What are their goals over the next five years? Ask smart questions about the position – what kind of clients would I work on? What role would I play? What would you expect me to accomplish in the first six months to a year? Ask questions about the team/hiring manager – how do we stay connected? Why did you choose to work here? Why do you stay? 

When you find that place that really connects with you, you’ll find yourself easily engaged and motivated to do your best work.  

For hiring managers, building an accepting, authentic, flexible and transparent culture is the best thing you can do to help with your success. Strong talent creates strong companies and the best talent is demanding a positive culture. 

Finally, I’ll leave you with one last thought from Carolyn – the importance of perspective. As they say in the office, this is PR not ER – and this is an important sentiment to remember. We can so easily get caught up in the little trials that trip us up in life – the mix up at work can feel like a downright emergency – but is it? I love Carolyn’s suggestion – when you are feeling stressed, ask yourself, is this real? Is this an ER moment or do I simply need to take some deep breaths, figure out what is going on and make a plan from there. It is a choice. 

Just like the other morning for me as a minor example, when I was frantically trying to find my keys while being desperately late – I just could not find them anywhere and I’m getting super frustrated, I begin running through the house, throwing things right and left, cursing and panicking more and more as every second ticks by when I finally stopped myself. I took a moment, I Sat down, took a deep breath and calmed my thoughts, finally thinking logically about the situation. I found my keys moments later. 

So this is my wish for us all, that when you are feeling frazzled or stressed and you find yourself simply reacting to the volatile emotions. You will Make the choice to stop. To Breathe. To Settle yourself and then move forward from that calm and centered space. 

Until next time,

Jolie