Kristen Standish - Unapologetic Leadership

Authentic Leadership for Everyday People is the podcast where we investigate the connection between effective leadership and authenticity. If you are looking for inspiration and tips on how to become a better leader by being your true self, you are in the right place.

Today's guest is Kristen Standish, founder of RazHer, an accelerator agency, and member community for women founded and minority founded mission driven brands. Kristen started this company after a career of over 20 years in Boston media. She worked for radios, newspaper and for a long time she was the publisher of the prestigious Boston magazine.

Kristen is accomplished, fun and a true force of nature. Most importantly, she is fully confident in who she is, so she didn’t hold back. We talked about what it takes to be successful in sales. She also had great advice on how to build a passion driven business and the advantages of becoming an entrepreneur later in life. Finally she also talked very directly and openly about some of the challenges she faced as a strong and energetic woman who is not afraid to go against archaic practices.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[02:54] - Kristen, welcome to the podcast, it's great to have you. Let’s start by having you introduce yourself to our listeners. Tell us a little bit of your story and how you got where you are now.

[09:14] - How do you define authenticity and what does it mean for you to be authentic?

[11:53] - How do you think about being a leader of sales people? What qualities are you trying to model for them? How do you teach them? How do you train them?

[14:48] - What advice do you have to help people overcome their initial shyness?

[16:16] - How did you rethink your role as a leader as a publisher? And how did your sales skill help you in the new leadership position?

[18:54] - You mentioned, early on, a couple of challenges that you went through and I am wondering if you would be willing to talk to us about them. And share maybe the important lessons that you gathered from those experiences and how that shaped you into the leader you are now?

[20:14] - Owning who you are and being comfortable with who you are, I think is great.

[22:42] - It was almost like working for the Catholic Church, I have to say. I mean so many rules, regulations, you didn’t step aside, you didn’t step up, you never spoke up, you never said anything. So you can imagine I was not loved.

[26:00] - There is an organizational change, and all of a sudden the people above you who may have brought you in or who really believe in you are gone. What advice would you have for somebody who finds themselves in that position?

[27:10] - Let's talk about how do you start a mission based business? What suggestions would you have for someone who has a passion and they want to start a business based on their passion?

[29:47] - How does one get from “figuring out that's the mission they want to support”, to start thinking about “this is how this turns into a business”, but then take the right early steps?

[32:40] - You have mentioned relationships and experience, what are the things you think are the other benefits to starting your business later on in life?

[35:05] - In a trade off where you need to take investor money to build the next unicorn or not build a unicorn but keep full control, you would probably take the latter, is that correct?

[36:24] - What is a passion that you have outside of work? And how has that impacted your work and professional life?

[40:10] - Every era has expressions in business and jargon that at some point drive us crazy, which is the one that drives you crazy?

[40:42] - Food for the body or food for the soul?

Contact Dino at: dino@al4ep.com

Websites:

al4ep.com

razher.com

Additional Guest Links:

Razher Mind community: razher.com/razhermind

LinkedIn Corporate: linkedin.com/company/razhercollaborative

LinkedIn Kristen: linkedin.com/in/kristenstandish/

Instagram: @razehercollab

Facebook: facebook.com/razhercollab

Authentic Leadership For Everyday People / Dino Cattaneo

Dino on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dinocattaneo

Podcast Instagram – @al4edp

Podcast Twitter – @al4edp

Podcast Facebook: facebook.com/al4edp

Music

Susan Cattaneo: susancattaneo.bandcamp.com