Knowing When To Walk Away As A Leader With Jennie López

 

Elizabeth Bachman dives into a powerful conversation with Jennie López on mastering leadership skills and making bold decisions. Jennie shares insights on recognizing when it’s time to walk away from a situation and how understanding your leadership superpowers can guide you through those pivotal moments. From filling your energy cup to taking courageous actions, Jennie highlights the importance of self-awareness and intentional leadership. Tune in to discover how to navigate transitions with confidence and lead with purpose.

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Knowing When To Walk Away As A Leader With Jennie López

Welcome To The Show

Welcome to the show. This is the show where we talk about leadership, authenticity, and embracing your superpowers so that you can show up and be recognized as the leader that you are. Before we get started with the description of my wonderful guest, I’d like to invite you to see how your presentation skills are doing by taking our free four-minute assessment at SpeakForResultsQuiz.com. That’s www.SpeakForResultsQuiz.com. 

That’s where you can see where you’re showing up as the leader you’d like to be seen as and where perhaps a little bit of support could get you the support you need, the results you need, and the recognition that you deserve. My guest is the wonderful Jennie López. Jennie was my guest on Speakers Who Get Results two years ago, where she had first published her book, Intentional Unicorn. She’s now gone out on her own to do her full-time coaching. Her official bio is that she embodies, Bring Yourself to Work in everything that she does. 

She empowers diversity and engages employees and organizations to achieve new highs. Her superpower is her authenticity. You’ll see when you see the interview, what she’s like. Her strengths are combined with her Latinx heritage, her passions, and her learnings from being a mom, and she intentionally uses her strengths. That’s been her secret towards her personal and professional successful growth journey. She’s a business owner. Her mission is to empower Latinos, immigrants, and women to unleash their authentic superpowers and thrive in life and in careers. 

She’s originally from Puerto Rico and moved to the U.S. to complete her master’s in chemical engineering. Her engineering career includes roles in both manufacturing and quality, including being a site head. That’s the head of a manufacturing site. Her last role in her 23-year career was one of the most rewarding ones as the VP head of global recruiting and talent acquisition for Eli Lilly and Company. She’s been on numerous boards and she’s done many, many other things. 

It’s much too long to read here. Now, let me just say that the things that you wouldn’t notice from her corporate background are that she’s also been a backup dancer for artists like Julio Iglesias and Ednita Nazario. On TV shows, she’s a Super Bowl-winning NFL cheerleader captain, fitness instructor, presenter, Zumba master trainer, and the author of the recently launched book and Amazon bestseller, Intentional Unicorn. 

She’s also a featured author in the book Hispanic Stars Rising and is frequently known as a guest presenter. This year especially she got the special recognition of the 2024 Women of Making History in Indianapolis awarded by Telemundo Indy. She’s a devoted mom, a marvelous entrepreneur, and great fun to talk to. I know you’ll enjoy the interview. On to the interview with Jennie López. 

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Jennie López, welcome back to the show. I’m so happy to have you here. Welcome. 

Thank you. I am so excited to be back and talking with you, Elizabeth.

Who Would Jennie Interview From The Past?

It’s so much fun because I found you, you had just published your book Intentional Unicorn. When we first spoke and then at that time you had a full-time job and you were doing all of this. I just said, “Wow.” I’ve been following you ever since. It’s great fun. Anybody who’s not following Jennie López, you should, she does really fun things on social media. Before I get into the questions though, let me ask you who would be your dream interview. If you were to interview someone who’s no longer with us, who would it be? What would you ask them and who should be listening? 

That’s a beautiful question. I will say, and not to get into religion, but I will say Jesus. I’m recently learning more about the faith and things like that, and having two teenagers now, being a mom of two teenagers. I would love to have an opportunity to ask him, “Please let me know in words that I can understand how to continue to empower them to follow your teachings in this complex world that we live in.” I will say that will be my question and it will be all ears.

I often think about it, it was a 30-something rabbi, and in those days 30 was old. Here he was a rabbi and he was preaching this heretical stuff. How much of what we think of as modern Christianity is what has been glued on top of what he originally said or interpreted? We certainly know a lot of it was interpreted by the men who followed him and so forth. That would be fun. It would be an interesting time. It would be interesting to go back and actually listen in, assuming you could understand the language and everything. The reality was.

I led a Bible study. This is a whole story that I’m not going to go into detail for Latinos in my church. It was the first Bible study for Latinos. We’re reading the Bible and it’s so easy now to say, “White people reacted that way. They should have known better.” We know now because we have read the Bible. At that point, like you said, it was very something that the teachings were so radical. In nature. You cannot judge what you know right now on how people reacted. Anyway, it’s just that it would be an incredible thing if that was an opportunity. 

Very interesting. I’ll be at that, like that interview. Absolutely, I’ll be in the audience. Jennie, last time we spoke, you had a full-time job, as we said, and you’d written the book, Intentional Unicorn, and you were talking about it, but you were still working in your corporate job. I’m curious about how you applied the unicorn principles in your former career in HR. Let’s start with that. Talk about what your principles actually are. 

I think it comes down to two things. It’s really having and growing an inner confidence in who you are. What are your superpowers and what do you bring to the table? How you can help others. Then have an understanding that nobody drives your journey but you. You are creating your journey. With that lens, that’s how you make these bold decisions. You mentioned my career in HR. Actually, that was the end of my career. I’m a chemical engineer. Most of my career was in manufacturing quality. We talked a little bit about that in the prior episode. 

Your journey is yours to drive. Nobody else can make the bold decisions for you—own it and take control! Share on X

After 17 years, I’m thinking, “I am ready for something new. I feel stuck, not in position, but I just was not growing.” I felt like a little bird trapped in a little cage. Then I could offer so much more, but I felt that somebody clipped my wings. I knew it was time for me to change. I will say these principles were what people told me for that first career change. I went from 17 years in manufacturing and quality to the business side. The way I did it is like, “What are my superpowers? Things that I can bring don’t matter if I’m in IT, business, procurement, or sales, it doesn’t matter. 

I know I can add a lot of value with these superpowers.” When I mentioned that I’m not talking about everything you do well because then we dilute ourselves in those things where you’re in the flow and you do an incredible job and you have an incredible impact with that. That’s one piece. Then the other one is that people forget that when we create our journey, it’s a two-way process. 

People are interviewing us, but we’re also interviewing them. Having clarity into what are the things that that role has to have for me to thrive because I can leverage my superpowers and it will be great because have something that I’m going to grow as a professional, as a leader, and it’s going to be more tools in the toolset, but also more opportunities in the future because I’m expanding myself. Then what are the non-negotiables? These are different depending on who the person is. Is it work-life integration? Is it the culture? Is it the supervisor, etc? 

With that triage, you lead into driving into what’s your next role. After having that first boat, I went from manufacturing to the business very successfully. The cool thing is that you get this confidence after the fact, because you say, “If I was able to do that and bring it on,” so when the HR role that you’re talking about showed up, I was like, “Let’s do it.” I knew that I didn’t know what I didn’t know, but I was very confident in what I brought to the table from day one. It’s having that nice balance. I will say the same principles of starting my business in 2020, the same principles of how I ended up living a very successful career to fully dedicate to my passion and my mission. 

Just quickly, are there things about being a chemical engineer or a quality specialist that you use now? Things that inform the way you live your life now.

Interesting. I never had that view, but I will say, and I love the whole engineering career background, you’re trained on how to solve problems. Life is a journey where you’re solving one problem after the other on your professional side or on your personal side. I think that has served me well through my whole career and even my personal side. Do not shy away from problems. I think problems make me grow. Are they fun? No, they’re not but on the other side, it’s awesome because you just continue to expand and grow.

Taking The Leap Into Entrepreneurship

Also something about the value of getting it right. If you’re part of quality, I’ve had clients who are in quality control and then quality control, when you’ve got software engineers and they’ve written the program, they really don’t want to fix the bugs and how do you get them to go back and fix the bugs when they really feel like they’re done? That was the big challenge. Jennie, I’ve heard you say that you thought about starting your own business and going out on your own for about a year before you did it. How can we know when it’s time and then know how to do it intentionally? It’ll continue to support us. It’s replacing a paycheck. That’s a big leap. 

I will say I started my business in the pandemic in 2020. I don’t think people know about that, but I started small and during the pandemic, I had this big call. I don’t know, call it that. Whatever you want to call it. I was meant to have all the experiences that I have had to now empower others to really be successful and accelerate their journey. That’s when I started my business. I wrote the book that we talked about. My idea, Elizabeth, this whole time was that I was going to retire early at age 55, and then boom, that was my whole plan the whole time. 

I was going to do both but I started seeing the outcomes of my clients. I started really enjoying whenever I go to organizations and speak and empower. I said, “What if I do it sooner?” There’s not one formula that says, “You do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.” I was telling you before, if we were to be here, like in 2020, I would have been YouTube saying, “How do you do that?” Because everybody has a different way. When I will be looking for how do you do it, everybody’s very young in their journey. They go to entrepreneurship or they have another consistent income. 

There are different ways and I’m like, no, that’s not me. That’s not me. That’s not me. Yes, even though I told you that I was looking for it, I just couldn’t see it. All the role models that have done it because I wanted the ABCDEFG concept. What I did is I’m going to do what I can do because when you have a corporate job, you have to do it in your free time at night or take vacation time for it, which is what I did. Then my engineering cab was, “I’m going to do it. When I get to the same thing as my salary, I’ll say bye-bye and then go.” 

That’s what makes sense but when you have such a limited amount of time, I could not grow the business to that. Like it was not even close. I’m thinking, “I want to do it now.” I got that voice. It just kept getting larger and larger and larger. I started saying, “Let me start with a proven concept.” Organically, when the time I have no pain for us or anything, does this thing work? I started getting repeat clients. I started getting really good outcomes for my coaching clients. I said, “I do this in my free time. Imagine if I’m fully dedicated to that.” 

That part, I’m like, “I can do that.” Now fear creeps in because I’ve never done it before. Then this is something that I will say, and everybody who’s watching this please listen to this and apply it every day in your life. Where your focus goes, energy follows. My focus was all negative. What if I don’t make the same amount of money? What if I let my kids down because even though I don’t live a crazy life, they’re into dancing and taekwondo and that’s super expensive? What if I fail? What will people say? All these things. 

Where your focus goes, energy follows. Shift your focus to what’s possible, not the fear of failure. Share on X

When you go into that mindset, you go down really fast. Then I said, “Goodness, Jennie, do what you preach. Like, change the quality of the questions.” I started saying, “What if I make more money?” In reality, it is a possibility, yes and because of that, I can have better memories for my kids. What if I’m successful and I can teach others to do the same? I started saying, “Goodness, my kids, they’re teenagers now. What a better time for them to see their mom going after her dream and just being successful and having different versions of what a successful career could look like, career, business, etc.” 

I didn’t have those examples. That for me was what made it urgent. The time is now because my kids are watching and I’m going to show them that it’s possible. When I had that, the inner voice that kept going on, the proof of concept going well, I said, “There’s not a perfect time.” Like people will say wait for the bonus next year. What am I going to do after that wait for the next bonus? There’s no perfect time. I just follow my heart and I say, “This is it. I’m going to bet on myself.”

Filling Your Cup And Taking Bold Actions

Good for you. Your clients are very happy about this. I know that you’ve got more time to do this. Tell me a little bit about your superpowers of taking bold actions and talk about filling your cup. I’ve heard you mentioned that. What does that mean?

Yes. Feeling your cup is making sure that a lot of people think that our only resources are time and money. I will say energy is just as important because when you are in a state of energy you’re at your best. That’s whenever you do your best work. I don’t have a cup with me. The only cup I have has water and I’m not going to dump it on myself. If you have a cup and you fill it up with your energy and you dump it because especially as women, we tend to serve and give and love and we keep pouring and pouring and pouring. 

At the end of that cup, there’s nothing right. The cup is dry, exhausted. That’s how we are. It takes so much longer to get full. I always say, prioritize yourself and make sure that that cup is full because that’s whenever you’re in a state of energy, like a lot of people say, “Jennie, how come you do so many things?” I don’t see them as a job. I’d never say yes to something that drains me. Never. The people I choose to spend my time with, yeah, the little things, the commitments, I choose to say yes. My business is my join now. 

Before, I loved my job. I’m not one of those who say, “The 9 to 5 and I hate my job.” I actually love my job. Best team, the best supervisor, and the best job I ever had. That’s what I left. I’m very choosy with my yeses. I do that. Usually, when I say that, I get two reactions. “You have time to fill your cup.” I said, “No, we all have the same amount of time.” If somebody that you love says, “I really need you right now.” Do you think that you will find the time to be with that person? Then I will say, “Love yourself the same way you love that person.” 

Then the other thing that I get from people is how I feel selfish because then I need to be here. I need to be there. Honestly, are they getting the best of you? When you prioritize yourself and fill your cup, that’s whenever you can love and care at your best. Whatever that is for you, I fill my cup working out, dancing, I paint. I just microdosed, it doesn’t have to be half a day. Don’t wait until your burnout to fill your cup. You just have to be a routine, a habit of filling it up every day. 

Mastering Confidence Through Action

I love that. You have this wonderful list of the steps that you take. The clarity, unleashing your superpowers, mastering confidence, taking intentional action, and then showing the world. Talk about mastering confidence, if you would.

You know what the best decision I have made in my whole life was investing in myself about eight years ago and starting my personal development journey. With that, you learn a lot about mindset because success in life, people think is the classes we take, the trainees, the certifications experience. That’s only 20%. 80% of success is psychology. The way you build confidence, you think that you’re like, “I’m going to wait until I do this, or I’m going to wait until I get that promotion. I’m going to wait until this happens for me to feel confident.” 

When in fact, you build confidence by taking that uncomfortable action. It’s like the chicken and the egg. Like what goes first? For me, the way you build that confidence is like when people say to Elizabeth, “Fake it until you make it.” I don’t like that, because I’m not in alignment. It’s almost when they say, “Do this. It’s not incantations.” What the words are like the manifestations or things like that? It’s almost like you said, “I’m a millionaire. I’m a millionaire.” You’re like, “Who are you talking about? You’re not a millionaire or whatever that is.” 

It’s not about being perfect; it’s about taking action despite the fear. Bold moves build confidence. Share on X

What you can do is take action towards what you want to be because the person you need to become to get to that next goal is different from the person you are right now, but the way you build that confidence is by taking that action. I actually have a tool that I can, it’s so simple. I have just little sticky notes. Then I put there the top 2 or 3 qualities of the person I aspire to be. Right now I will be a successful businesswoman and things like that. 

I put it in the mirror when I brush my teeth. Then every day I look at it, brush my teeth, wash my face, and say, “What action or what did I do today that is taking me closer to that person that I want to become?” It’s either I talk to somebody, I learn from training, I discuss it with my coach, whatever that is. It’s just taking you to get there. That’s how you build confidence.

I love that and have support. I find that so many of us are trying to do it alone. For me at least, I really rely on my community to keep me going and give me a little kick where I need it and so forth because the voices in my head kept me small for years. This is where having a coach is really helpful to someone who says, “Go ahead and do it.” 

It holds you accountable too. I love that. It’s so funny because we see people very successful in our corporate life or our business life and we think, “They’re so lucky. They’re so confident.” They didn’t do it alone. Like nobody, nobody does it alone. They’re not advertising. All the community they have, the coaches they have, all the time they spend with the people that help them become the person they are. That’s why I’m always very thankful. Actually, when I wrote that book, I dedicated it to my key mentors because they play a key role in the person I’m becoming as a leader. Absolutely, nobody does it alone. You become the average of the five people you surround yourself with. It’s not just the coach, but the people you try. Are they helping you grow or are they bringing you back?

Creating A Personal Brand With Your Superpowers

I think this would be a good lead into a community of unicorn dream makers. Tell us about that.

It’s for that person who doesn’t fit the mold. That’s my whole message. There’s a lot of us that come to a new industry, a new country, a new something. When we look around, we don’t see people that look or behave like us. We feel that unicorn that’s sticking out for the wrong reasons and we try to hide it because we want to feed them all so we can be successful. 

Fitting to the picture, right?

Yes, but nobody wins in that formula because we get exhausted trying to portray somebody who we are not. The company doesn’t get the best of you because you’re not being yourself. We need to unleash that horn and make it shine because that’s whenever we do our best work. My whole vision is making sure that everybody’s a unicorn. Go with confidence and rock it out there. For companies to also appreciate the uniqueness that everybody brings. You need that combination. I created this coaching process that you just talked about, where I get very clear with the person what their goal is because sometimes they think, “It’s too late.” 

 

Sometimes they say, “I don’t see anybody like me that has done this crazy goal or dream that I have.” We get clear on that. Then we unleash what their superpowers are. We get to the authenticity element. Now, when we do that, we’re building an intentional personal brand that is going to help them grow. People and opportunities are coming to them versus them saying, “Please pick me.” It’s a different dynamic. You control it. You control your journey. You create your journey. Then it’s the mindset. 

We talk about all those mindset tools as the confidence piece, because they’re doing something that they’ve never done before. Of course, fear and doubt are going to creep in, but what do you do when that happens? We build all of that and then take that intentional action, even with courage because a lot of times you’re going to be fearful, but you do it in spite of, and that’s how you build confidence and courage. Then sharing the world is the last piece because whatever you learn through this process, share it. Don’t keep it to yourself. Empower the next generation or your family or your friends. 

I love this. You’re talking about not fitting the mold, not fitting in. It’s so easy to think there’s something wrong with us if we don’t feel like we fit in. How can we see what the issue is? If the issue is that actually there’s a mold or a box that we don’t fit in or we don’t fit in anymore. I think about all those pictures of cats cramming into a box that’s too small. It fit when you were a kitten, but not now. If there’s somebody who’s listening, who said, “I thought I was the problem.” How could one start that exploration? 

That’s a really good question. There are two things. I don’t give up right away. I try my best to give my pure best by controlling my narrative, yes, and helping people understand, and connect the dots for them instead of the other way around. For example, when people say, “Jennie, you’re just too nice and you have too much fun. I don’t know if I can trust you with a really difficult manufacturing site, which I was told.” I said, “It’s not that I’m too nice. I care. That makes me a phenomenal inclusive leader and that’s why you’ve seen me connect with employees in a way that is very different from my peers. 

You’ve seen me transform the organization for the past 14 years. I control it.” There is a way. My energy is another one that is really high. I bring that and I don’t shy away because now I know that sometimes that’s what is needed in meetings to get everybody up together and get them excited to the goal. I live with that but at times in my career where you just continue to like swim against the current and swim against the current and it takes a toll on you. That happened to me. It happened to me. I came back from work one time and I thought I was keeping it all together and my husband said, “Are you okay?” 

I say, “I’m okay.” He’s like, “No, are you okay?” He looked at me, Elizabeth, almost like he was reading my soul. He said, “I know he knew.” I said, “I thought I was keeping a good front and I’m not.” I started crying and I’m not a crier so he’s like, “Wait what’s happening?” I said “Pissing off.” If he sees that my kids are seeing that and they’re not getting the best I can be for them as a mom and I knew it was time to go where I’m celebrated and not tolerated. 

Celebrated not tolerated. I love that. That’s a great phrase that should be up on the wall. Go where you’re celebrating.

It’s not mine. I got it from somebody. I forgot where it’s coming from, but for me, it resonates. That’s how I go. I give my value, but you’re not going to get a medal at the end of the day. Like able to withstand all of this. It took a toll on me. Now I’m super sick. Go where you are celebrated. In that type of environment, you just unleash the best of you and everything flows with that. 

That’s great. Take the leap and try it. How could somebody find out more about what you’re doing? 

Just like the book, I mean every social media on their Intentional Unicorn. Even if you need a little bit of a cup of energy on LinkedIn, you’ll see me there just like Elizabeth was saying, “She’s really fun. I’ll be that person empowering you.” Almost on a daily basis there but if you go to IntentionalUnicorn.com you can see my offers as a coach, as a keynote speaker, and as a consultant. 

How Jennie Came Up With “Intentional Unicorn”

Actually, I think you need to tell us how you came up with that name, the Intentional Unicorn.

The story is so funny. I’ll be concise. We talked a little bit about that in the previous episode. I was in a team building exercise and the facilitator said, “Go on a piece of paper and write down if you were to write your memoir, what will be the picture on the cover and what will be the title? You have five minutes.” I started sweating, everybody went for it. I’m thinking, “I don’t know. I never thought about that.”

I put a stick figure, I put a line in the middle, and half of me was my professional size. I was wearing glasses, my hair was down. I was wearing heels, professional attire. On the other side, I was striking a dancing pose because that’s my artistic side. Then I put a ponytail here. It was in color. On the other side, put on a ponytail, and then I started laughing and I goodness, this looks like a horn instead of a ponytail. Then I’m thinking, “For most of my career, I felt like that unicorn that was sticking out for the wrong reasons. Now I bring the best of me in every setting.” 

I put on a unicorn and then I said, “No, I’m intentional.” That’s how we started. I actually think I have it in the book. It’s just so funny. The funniest part was that I never thought about it. People started making fun of it. The next day they say, “We have a special guest today and you’re going to share your memoir.” Do you know who the guest was? It was the CEO of the company. Everybody went with this side, very thoughtful. I’m going to eradicate diseases. I’m going to make an impact in my community. Then I came up with this drawing. Which is so scary. 

The intentional unicorn. 

I come back, this is me and I’m thinking, “This is the end of your career, Jennie.” The funny thing is that because it was so different, people remember. Then a year after they asked me to do a keynote about that at the biggest global development event that they had in the company. The rest is history right now. That’s how I live with that intentional unicorn. 

Jennie López, I am just so glad we met a couple of years ago. I just love following you and keeping in touch with you and all of that. Congratulations on taking the leap and going out on your own, absolutely. I think it’s a gift to anybody who works with you. You were talking about going to the website to figure things out. Say there’s somebody who’s driving, so they cannot get to the website and they’ve got another hour or so in the car. What could they start thinking about right now, something they could apply today? 

Honestly, understanding your superpowers is the most important thing you can do because that is going to give you clarity in how you lead discussions, how you lead in interviews, how you create your personal branding, how you create your presence on LinkedIn, because I know that’s really important for your career opportunities, etc, but you need to be very confident on what that is. Then just start reflecting. 

There are different ways. There are assessments that are just an input, but ask people, like ask people, describe me in three words. Common themes. You can think back about what are the projects that people usually ask me to help them with or to lead. When you start doing that, you’ll see a common theme. Sometimes the superpowers, Elizabeth, are like, I will say, God’s gifts. They’re so second nature to you that you don’t even see it, but other people see it. Be on the lookout for those. 

 

That’s where I would say, you can always send out a message to five people who are colleagues. You can just say, “I have an assignment from my coach.” For right now, Jennie and I are your coaches. I have an assignment from my coach. Give me three words that describe me because as the old saying goes, you cannot see the label when you’re inside the bottle. It’s hard to recognize our own superpowers because they’re easy for us. Get some feedback on what are the things that are really easy for us that I’m good at doing that I like doing. That’s a superpower. 

One of my really good friends, unfortunately, went through a really bad situation last year and the way she coped with grief was by writing and she just wrote her hard writing and she said, “Jennie, can you read this couple of pages?” I said, “Of course.” I’m telling you, Alyssa, it was the most beautiful thing I have read. It brought me through emotions of hope and tears and I still laughed at times. It was amazing. I told her, “You have a gift.” Then she said, “What do you mean? I just went to the computer and it just started writing what came to my head.” Like, “Is this something that you need to somehow think about either voicing it or publishing or something.” Many of us have those gut gifts. 

Jennie López, I am just so happy to have you as a guest again on the show. We will be posting a link to the last episode. Check the show notes here and then get the book, and call her up. It’s a great book. It’s really great fun and follow her on social media. She’s great fun. If you enjoyed this conversation, please tell your friends to give us a good review on Apple Podcasts. That’s the one that gets us ranked. sign up, subscribe, and spread the word so we can have more interviews with amazing, amazing guests like Jennie López. This has been Speakers Who Get Results. I’ll see you on the next one.

 

Important Links

• SpeakForResultsQuiz.com
• Hispanic Stars Rising
• Jennie López – LinkedIn
• Intentional Unicorn
• IntentionalUnicorn.com
• last episode – Previous episode – Leading With What Makes You Unique With Jennie Lopez-Reed
• Apple Podcasts – Speakers Who Get Results

 

About Jennie López