Meet Lena Khais and the human side of growth

Jaclyn Strominger 0:21

Hello, everybody, and welcome to an amazing episode of Unstoppable Success. I'm your host, Jacqueline Strauminger. And as you know, on this podcast, we hear from amazing people who are in business, entrepreneurs, business owners, and they share with you and us their tips, their tricks, their insights on having unstoppable success. And I am so excited to share with you today's guest. So Lena Heist believes that every business challenge is ultimately a human challenge, and that sustainable growth takes more than better strategies or tactics. It happens when leadership, psychology, organizational systems, and human performance all begin working together. So Lena helps organizations grow by transforming the way the leaders think, the people perform, and the business operates. Her unique approach brings together organizational psychology, executive coaching, behavioral science, human design, and the universal law to help leaders build healthier organizations and create sustainable growth from the inside out. And I'm excited to explore how understanding ourselves and the people we lead can transform the businesses we are building. So please help me in welcoming Lena to Unstoppable Success.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Hi, Jacqueline. Welcome to have you here. Yay! So good to be here. So good to see you.

Jaclyn Strominger 2:01

It is so good. All right. So so first of all, you were in corporate America. And now you're helping corporate America. What made you make that leap?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

That's an excellent question. So one thing that all of us in corporate America have in common is we bring work home.

Jaclyn Strominger 2:26

Sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but yeah, it's so true.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

And I've been doing that for a long time. I would leave my office, I

Return on energy and Lena’s move from corporate work

SPEAKER_01 2:33

would come home, and I would immediately jump on a call with my friends who owned businesses. And I would continue untangling the same bowl of Christmas lights I have been working through every day, nine to five in corporate. What I eventually realized was that there was a difference in ROE. And when I say ROE, I didn't misspell it. I did mean ROE, return on energy. Because when I was doing my work within the corporate setting as an employee, I was pretty much part of a package. So when somebody would sign a contract and you know become the C-level executive, they would get a certain kind of treasure chest of stocks, bonds, and a mindset coach. They were typically more vested into stocks and bonds. When I was starting to work with people when I was on the other side, it was different. They were not only investing, they were investing. They wanted the difference. They felt that something was out of alignment. They were doing all the right things, and numbers wouldn't budge. So eventually I realized that while I loved the ROI being in corporate, the ROE trumped that for me.

Jaclyn Strominger 4:07

Interesting. You know, and I love what you just said, Lena, about vested in the stocks and bonds almost more than the work itself, right? And that's that's a that's a huge to me, like that was just a big aha moment for a lot of people. Because in my brain, I'm thinking so many people get stuck, and you could probably, you know, elaborate on this, is that oh my God, I need to build this business, I need to build this business, need to build, but I need to make the money, need to make the money, and you're so stuck on the outcome of the money that it actually becomes more of a block.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yes. And I would take it further and say it almost becomes paralyzing because not a single human can effectively control the direction of stocks, bonds, and just you know, securities overall. And when all the energy is outsourced to something we cannot control, it becomes an energy leak. And I work a lot with energy, and people are like, that sounds so woo. I'm like, it's actually physics, but okay. So it literally becomes this gushing experience where people are so attached to the tickler that it gradually sucks the energy out of them, and instead of them investing their time and effort into growing something meaningful, they're chasing the shadows.

Jaclyn Strominger 5:48

So in your work, like when you're when you were working with the like your friends and people like after after hours, like how did you like what was that thing that said, I would rather do that?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

You know, there is a big difference when somebody is a founder versus somebody who's a CEO. And I mean no disrespect to anybody who has those three letters on their business card. The truth of the matter is typically CEO in a corporate world is a hired position, it's a job. So it is a high-paying job, but it comes with the budget, with the team, with the goals, with the support. They actually have a lot of guardrails around them. Again, not minimizing their genius, just describing the structure. When we talk about people who are founders who started and owned their business, it's a very different energy and it's a very different mindset. You've got a lot at stakes, and the reality is it doesn't come with a manual.

unknown 6:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

There are no guardrails around, and you don't get handed the budget, you create it all. So I think that was exciting and empowering for me to be able to contribute to that very raw authentic energy of private sector compared to a very structured and almost sterile world of corporate.

Jaclyn Strominger 7:26

So now are you working with people in the corporate structure?

SPEAKER_01 7:31

So a lot of work that I do is with business founders who own a business that employs people, but not necessarily those who are trading on Wall Street and have the board of directors.

Jaclyn Strominger 7:47

Got it. Okay. So really

Founder identity and the “small business” label

Jaclyn Strominger 7:49

more of that, as we say, what I like to say, the businesses that run the country, which is which are the smaller businesses, the entrepreneurial businesses, not you know, not what's getting traded on the NASDAQ or the SP.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

And I try to give them all the credit in the world by calling them private sector, because I find that so many of them will almost get attached to the label of small business. Right. And once they embody it as part of their identity, it becomes really hard to break through that revenue plateau when you're thinking of yourself as a small business. You start calibrating your work, your potential clients, the opportunities, even the rooms you're willing to walk into to match your identity of a small business owner.

Jaclyn Strominger 8:43

You know, it's so it's so interesting that you said that because it's I so I'll share a little funny story. So and I when I I was opening up a bank account, okay, for my business. And this woman who was the banker, so she said, So tell me about your little business. Yeah, did she do it? And I'm like, little business. For those of you that are listening to us, I'm quoting little business, right? With my hands. And I turned to her and I say, I said to her, What do you consider a little business? I said, My business isn't little. And I just kind of like went in and just kind of said, This is what I do, this is my m my revenue. Is that a little business? This is what my sales are. I'm like, and I actually then walked out of the bank and did not open up an account. It did not because I'm like, if you just consider me a little business, I didn't, you know, but so I understand that like I love it. How you define yourself or how you define it, sometimes, right? It can be that that that block.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Well, and it is something that we carry with us because words are truly codes, right? And anybody who either works with neurolinguistics or at least have heard about it or like saw it on social media in the ad understands that we call it spelling for a reason. It casts spells. So if there is a word that you repeat to yourself over and over and over, eventually it starts feeling like it's a fact. Right, right? Because that's how believes a form. What is a belief? It is a practice thought that ran on repeat. So if you consider yourself a business, truly you can pivot any way you want. You can serve anybody who needs your services. But if you decide that you're a small business, well, chances are you're not going to offer to a certain audience, or you're not going to walk into a certain room, or you're not going to act a certain way because you are going to be in the identity of a small business. And I like to share with people my perception of identity as a capacity to receive.

Jaclyn Strominger 11:15

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

So if you think about it, and I'm a huge coffee drinker, so I I always use coffee analogies. Oh, look at that. You've got your coffee.

Jaclyn Strominger 11:26

I got my I got my coffee with me all day long. I usually I'm a two-cupper, but sometimes it depends on the day, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah. So then you will totally relate to this analogy. Think of us when we first start our business. We're kind of like espresso. We are bold and bullsey, and we've got the potential. We're a little bit bitter, and we have this teeny tiny capacity of espresso shop. Some of us don't even have a little handle to hold. As our business grows and we want to expand, we kind of start settling into like this goals of a cappuccino. Maybe with some cold foam on top, maybe a little bit of brown sugar sprinkled. Well, here lies the problem. If you're gonna try to fit that delicious cappuccino into your espresso shot, it's going to spill all over. You're gonna create a mess. It's not that the cappuccino isn't meant for you, it's just the capacity you're trying to fit in isn't fitting. So, what do we do? We want to expand the capacity so we have enough to hold your next level of goals and desires.

Jaclyn Strominger 12:51

That is a great analogy. I absolutely, absolutely love that. So, listeners, I want you to think about that nugget really, because right now, think about where your mind is right now in your capacity and where where you want to be. So really think about that. So, Lena, if somebody's listening and they think, okay,

Two questions for clearer business goals

Jaclyn Strominger 13:19

what's what are like two things that I could do or three things that I could do to help make that shift for myself? You know, if I'm if I want to go from the espresso to the cappuccino and expand my capacity.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

I would ask two questions. It's gonna blow you away. Nobody has ever asked those questions before. One is what do I want? And the second question is, what would having that give me? So let me give you a little bit of background on that. As adults, we measure our maturity level by clarity around what we don't want. I don't like this, I don't want that, I don't want this in my business, this is not working, that is not working. Well, if you think about it energetically, where we put our attention, that area tends to grow. So inadvertently, we create the whirlwind of problems because that is where we're directing our energy at all times. It is very rarely when I sit down with a client and I say, So, what would you love in your business? They actually can articulate it. They will immediately give me a list of things that are not working that they would like to improve. So they start with what they don't want, which is really odd because imagine going to a restaurant, sitting down, and when the waiter comes up to take your order, you start going through the menu telling them what you don't want. We typically don't do that. Yet that is exactly how we function in business. So the first true question is what do you actually want in your business? And then the changer is what would having that give you? Because that will get to the root of what you actually want. Let me give you for instance. I was talking to somebody who owns a large financial company, and just as many businesses right now, they're experiencing a certain flux. And so the answer to my what would you like was oh, I want my calendar busy again. And I said, Truly? Well, what would that give you? Oh, well, you know, the revenue will start growing and I will start bringing in more associates. And so that's not what you said. You said your calendar to be busy again. That could mean a whole host of things. It could be a lot of promotional activities, tire kickers, it could be your mother calling you, it could be your sister having a flat tire. Do you really want your calendar full? Or what are you telling me is you would love a different level of business flow that would generate a certain revenue, and so on and so forth. And you can continue chasing that because even when somebody says, I want to make more money, what would that give you? So, two questions. What do you want? And what would having that give you?

Jaclyn Strominger 16:50

You know, I think those are questions that we have heard, but we don't people don't necessarily dive into them. They really don't write out or say truly as you were describing what they truly want and what it will give them. And and it's funny because you know, I've heard people say, you know, oh, I want more clients. Yeah. That's a case of that. Great, maybe. Do you? Do you really want to? Like what you you know what I mean? Like, or they will say something like, I want more sales. What do you do? But they're also not defining really what does that look like? What is the what does it mean like to them?

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah. Well, because I think we sometimes make correlations when correlations don't exist, right? It's like people correlate money with freedom. Those two couldn't be further apart. Right? Or people will correlate abundance with wealth. Very different. They could come close, but they're not the same. And so I think in business, too many times we throw cliches all around us. But the truth of the matter is, you know, universe overall works like Amazon. And in fact, I'm convinced that the reason Bezos was so successful is because he truly understand universal laws. And he deployed them so flawlessly that it created such a momentum that the company just took off. So, to stick with the Amazon example, what happens? They will deliver what you ordered, but you have got to put it in the cart.

unknown 18:43

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

You have got to put it in the cart, and also you have to push the button. You have to be willing to receive. Now, what we don't do with Amazon that we do with our business is we don't actually keep checking the delivery status every 15 minutes like we do with our bank accounts. And also, we typically do not care which carrier delivers the package. It could be UPS, US Mail, or it could be a strange white van. But typically, right if they drop your package on your front porch and send you a little picture saying delivered, you're happy. Now, if we take that mindset to business, if you get clear on what you want, you add it to the cart, you click the button saying, I am willing, ready to accept. And then you let go and you just open yourself to possibilities of which care is going to deliver it. Isn't that going to be amazingly delicious? And put you into the state of not just loving your business, but also liking it.

Jaclyn Strominger 20:03

Right. You know, and it's so funny. It's, you know, as you said, and and I'm I I really want listeners, I really want you to take this because it's so important. Like this is a important nugget, which is basically, you know, Lena said, you know, we get what we focus on, right? We get what we focus on, right? So, you know, if you're not, and and I want to I want to define focus because you could say, like, this is where like you have to be doing the action. Like you could say you want more clients, or you know, but what is the action that you're actually doing to get more clients? Like, are you actually doing the work? Right. You could think that, but it's the same thing. Like, if you are focusing on something in your business and what you want, and you put it into the cart, and as you said, you have to be open to receive it, but you also have to be open to doing the work to get there. You have to press the button. So press the button, do the work, and keep that focus because it is so true.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

What we focus on, we will get all the time, regardless of if we want it or not, as long as we focus, we'll get it.

Jaclyn Strominger 21:24

Right. And it's it's it is so important. And if you want to, you know, put the the all the laws into action, so to speak, you have to be thinking about it and not just, you know, it's take the action. I am going to be working on it, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:51

One of my favorite phrases, and I cannot take any credit for it, and unfortunately, I forgot where I read it success is faith. Expressed in actions. And of course, we all need an element of faith. We need to believe that what we are reaching for is achievable, available, and possible for us. But if we don't take action, everything is energy. Energy requires momentum. You have to direct that energy somewhere because otherwise, even a little matchbox car will eventually stop rolling if you don't push it forward.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Now, unfortunately, what happens a lot in business is we start zooming into areas that are underperforming. And by default, we begin collecting the evidence of how much it's underperforming. And it sounds so logical, and yet it's completely counterintuitive. Because imagine if you took that energy and directed it to the areas of your company that are working well and chose to double down on what's working well and continued pouring into what's working well. It's truly an amazing shift and a very easy pivot once the business founder chooses to do that. Because it also requires an identity change. So many of us will proudly display on the resume that problem solver work great under pressure. Okay. Well, in order for you to practice your genius, it seems to be the environment that fits best for you, is a pressure cooker that is constantly a train wreck, and it offers you plenty of opportunities to fix problems. So you become Bob the Builder. Now, what is the alternative? What could be the difference? Well, you could actually be in a creative mode. You can be the visionary, you can help the company achieve something where they haven't been yet before. Now, isn't that delicious? Isn't that worth investing more into financially and energetically?

Jaclyn Strominger 24:26

You know, I love that because it's so true. It's and I I I want to, you know, say that this is where I like to say MMA. We won't, we need to be able to measure, monitor, and adjust, right? We need to be able to measure, monitor, and adjust what's working, what's not working. And we don't want to focus on the things that aren't working, but at some point, what's not working might be something that we just have to ditch. It might be that part of your business that you say, you know what? If A is working amazing. If I like, don't sometimes it's not worth fixing the leaky faucet. You just need to replace the faucet.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Yes. And also sometimes you are better off allowing the bridge to break off and fall so you can save the tree.

Jaclyn Strominger 25:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Right.

Jaclyn Strominger 25:15

Right. Which is so important. Which is so important. So let me ask you, as you're working with people right now and you're and people are are ultimately busy, right? And so, you know, how do you help it? And is this something that you would even do or helping people not get burnt out

Burnout, priorities, and performative avoidance

Jaclyn Strominger 25:38

or not deal with any of the burnout? Yeah, because we are busy and we want to be focused on stuff. So where does that come into play? Because we could be, we could work, work, work, work, work, and we might be focused, focus, but how do we stop that burnout too?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah. So burnout comes from overwhelm. Overwhelm comes from volume, volume comes from unclear priorities. Unclear priorities create scrambled signal.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

So if you think about it, we're all energy. And whether we believe it or not, it has been proven in the lab. If we take us and break to the smallest, teeniest, tiniest cell and look under microscope, there is a teeny tiny core, and the rest of it is just open space, which is energy. So we're actually more energy than matter. So where I'm going with this, we are on a certain frequency every single moment. What we cannot be is on two frequencies at once. That's what multitasking is trying to achieve. So that's why imagine a little energy level that is constantly bouncing up and down, up and down, up and down. It creates fragmented energy, it creates fragmented focus. So when somebody tells me I'm so busy, I'm out of time, I have too many priorities, it just basically tells me they have none. They have none. And how do I know it? Is because I can be talking to them and they would have a bazillion different priorities. And all of a sudden, they will get a call from school that their child is sick, and in an instant, the priority becomes clear. We end the call and they're en route to school to pick up their child. So we do know how to immediately set the priorities. We choose not to. Why do we choose not to? Because too many of us engage in what I lovingly call performative avoidance. We know what needs to be done. But there is some type of a secondary gain of avoiding to getting what we should be doing done. And so we keep ourselves super busy. Like our calendar is a full. We forgot to eat lunch. We're go, go, go, go, go. And yet we have nothing to show for it. That is performative avoidance where you're doing, you're performing, but yet you're avoiding the one thing that would actually create the result.

unknown 28:31

Right.

Jaclyn Strominger 28:32

I love that. You know, it just makes me think of that book, you know, Eat the Frog. Yeah. Right. If you haven't read the book, people, I'll put the link in the show notes. But Eat the Frog is also it's

Hard or heavy? A different way to examine resistance

Jaclyn Strominger 28:43

it's it's doing the hard thing first so that you know that you are getting the one thing done that's going to help you focus on your business. And it's so important. And it's, and I will tell you, I think sometimes, and Lynn, I would ask you, like, how hard is it to do?

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Well, actually, what I would love for people to get curious about is why is that particular thing a frog? Wait, oh, wait, what? Because something is making it hard. And I know everybody's favorite saying, you know, feel the fear, do it anyway, you know, no pain, no gain. But the reality is we are going to try and avoid the pain. We're going to try and find the easier way out. So, what is making it so hard? Because if we are avoiding something, there is a secondary gain that is greater than a perceived benefit of having it done, because otherwise you would have gotten out of the way. So that's where I deviate slightly from a traditional business coaching school. I actually want you to honor that feeling of hard. And I want you to get curious about what's in it that's making it so. And lastly, is it hard or is it heavy? Because sometimes when things feel heavy, that's energetically misaligned. Drop it like it's hot. If it's hard, it's possibly new. You might not know the how. We can figure it out. But be clear on whether it's hard or heavy.

Jaclyn Strominger 30:20

I love that. Hard or heavy. I absolutely, absolutely love that. You know being able to make those clear distinctions can really have a huge, obviously has a huge impact. So what so when you're working with people and they what is the biggest transformation that you've been able to see in, you know, in your claims?

SPEAKER_01 30:50

I think it's watching people go from existing by default to really stepping into leaning by design. Because we are whether you are deep in faith or you believe in universe, or you just, you know, subscribe to inspirational quotes on social media, it doesn't matter. We are co-creators with something greater, and co-creators mean you don't actually have a recipe, there is no manual. You get to create and you get to pivot in the process, but so many of us are so paranoid of failing. And so we kind of shrink and shrink and shrink our capacity to create where we become almost like nothing. And that biological existence is truly not why you traveled the entire freaking cosmos to come here. You actually cannot fail. It's a myth. The only thing you can do is quit, but that's a decision, and it still resides with you. Right. So the biggest transformation for people who I work with that truly, truly powers me up is watching them step out of that hustle and grind, being in the funk existence into life by design, where they actually get to create the reality that they're stepping into every morning.

Jaclyn Strominger 32:27

And as I would say, creating their unstoppable success.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Yes, that is true because there are no limits with the exception of the ones that we put on ourselves.

Jaclyn Strominger 32:38

Yeah. That is so true. All right. So, listeners, I could talk to Lena all day, but I want you, and each and every one of you listeners, to reach out and connect with Lena because she is truly amazing and has such a great gift. You know, it's transformation, change, growth, you name it, she is going to help you. So, Lena, how is the what is the best way for our listeners to connect with you?

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Well, I would love to invite people to visit my website. It's atlas-paradigm.com. And click on the button to connect with me. Because here is the biggest block from getting you from where you are right now to where you'd rather be. Doesn't matter how many testimonials I throw at you, until you believe that that success is achievable, possible, and available to you, it's not going to matter. So I would much rather grab a virtual coffee, whether you are coming with an espresso or cappuccino mug, or a tumbler or a red cup. There is no judgment in the world of energy. I would love to hear where you are in your business today, where you would rather be, and see if I can help you get there faster with less effort.

Jaclyn Strominger 34:01

I love it. So, listeners, I will make sure the link is in the show notes, but please do me the favor of and connecting with Lena. And then do me the other favor and make sure you share this episode with your friends, your colleagues, and your business associates and everybody that you know, because they need to hear this message. And then lastly, I would love for each and every one of you, besides subscribing, to actually become a supporter of the show. It's $3 a month. You get a badge, you get actually additional content, extra show notes, and little extra information and guidance from me and some of our podcast guests. So make sure you hit the support button today. Lena, thank you so much for being an amazing guest. This is the Unstoppable Success Podcast. I'm your host, Jaclyn Strominger, and our goal is to help you leap to your greatest success.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Thank you.

Jaclyn Strominger 34:56

Here's to your unstoppable success. You've been listening to the Unstoppable Success podcast with Jaclyn Strominger. Subscribe, share, and keep building your unstoppable life. We'll see you at the top.