#74 – Find Your Inner Compass: How to Embrace Your Core Values for Clear Purpose and Direction in Your Career | Empowerment & Career Advice

[00:00:00] Loree Philip: Hi, and welcome to Daring to Leap. I'm your host, Loree Philip. What if you had a compass to guide you through life's complexities with purpose and clarity? Tune in as our esteemed guest, Andrea Johnson, casts a light on how embracing your core values can be the key you need to steer confidently and purposefully towards your true north.

[00:00:26] Loree Philip: Let's dive in.

[00:00:27] Loree Philip: Andrea empowers executives and founders to lead with authenticity, conviction, and confidence so they can make a positive impact on their lives, organization, and communities.

[00:00:42] Loree Philip: Welcome to

[00:00:43] Andrea Johnson: the show,

[00:00:44] Loree Philip: Andrea.

[00:00:45] Andrea Johnson: Thank you, Lori. I am pleased to be here. I can't wait to see where this conversation is going to go.

[00:00:50] Loree Philip: Yeah, I'm excited to see where it goes as well, because the topic we're talking about today, I think is so important. And I'm excited to dive into this [00:01:00] topic of core values and how it can help you create the impact that you want.

[00:01:04] Loree Philip: But before we dive into that, I'd love to hear a little bit more about your journey. What were you, what was your career before you started doing this work and why did you pivot?

[00:01:16] Andrea Johnson: Yeah. If you are watching this on video, you will see my gray, white hair. So I'm probably not 30. I had, I had a 25 year career in higher education and I was mostly in operations, research administration, and all in schools of medicine.

[00:01:36] Andrea Johnson: So I worked for Johns Hopkins University in the Oncology Center. I worked for the University of Virginia in the School of Medicine. And I did a lot of regulatory work, but I did a lot of management. So I worked with researchers. It was really interesting to do medical research and help them figure out taking things from the very earliest pipette stages, figuring out what chemical compounds work together to actually putting them [00:02:00] into clinical trials.

[00:02:01] Andrea Johnson: So it was very interesting and rewarding work many times, but I realized when I hit 50 And unfortunately, we lost my mother that year to breast cancer But I realized at that moment that I knew that I wasn't that this wasn't what I was You know meant to be designed to be it wasn't what I was dreaming of But I have a husband who is a small church pastor and I had an ex husband eight year old son at the time who was adopted.

[00:02:28] Andrea Johnson: And so it was very, I was, I felt very compelled to stay where I was, but I knew I needed to do something different. And so I started looking and I've been on a personal growth journey since I was probably 20. And there's a whole long story that goes with that as well. But by the time I hit 50, I realized watching my mother courageously navigate her departure, I realized this is not, I don't, I don't want to be at the end of my life saying, did I do it right?

[00:02:56] Andrea Johnson: I want to start now and move [00:03:00] forward. And it took me into a space of understanding myself better, understanding how I fit in better to the world around me and how I was playing a part. not necessarily being myself. And I realized that I had a real fire in my belly for not only my own empowerment, but like you use the word empowering other female leaders.

[00:03:23] Andrea Johnson: And that became my passion, but I had to do my own work first. So I, Sat down and really did some work. And five years ago, I was certified with the Maxwell team for speaker, trainer, coach with an international leadership organization, because I knew that I'm a leader. I was born a leader. And I no longer apologize for being a leader or a strong woman.

[00:03:48] Andrea Johnson: My, I'm a DISC consultant. If you're familiar with DISC, it's a behavioral analysis tool for communication and leadership. And my profile in the DISC is actually an ICD and it's called the leader. And so when I saw that, I'm [00:04:00] like, I am no longer apologizing for being the leader. And as a woman in the culture that I was in, a lot of times that there was something we did apologize for.

[00:04:08] Andrea Johnson: It was like, I'm sorry, but could we do it this way? We always start off with that phrase. And. One of the other things I learned in my career was I didn't want to manage people. I was tired of helping maintain the status quo. I wanted to help other people grow and I wanted to lead and help them lead.

[00:04:24] Andrea Johnson: So I got my certification and a little over about two and a half years ago I went full time in the work that I do now and it consists of three main pieces. Finding out who you are in order to be a, in order to be a magnetic or an impactful leader, find out who you are, which is your core values, how you communicate that, which is your disc wiring, and then how you live it out, which is the name of my business, which is the intentional optimist.

[00:04:48] Andrea Johnson: So I have six tenants. I've been of intentional optimism and they include the mindsets and the principles for how we do what we do. And if you work with me, you get that [00:05:00] holistic approach, but a lot of times I try to start with people either with disc, the communication or with core values, because I think that's so important.

[00:05:07] Loree Philip: Yeah, thank you for sharing all of that and so much of it resonated with me because I especially people that are listening to this show, there's this feeling that we're meant for more. And, When you decide to listen to that inner voice, that whisper of a voice, like this isn't it, there's more out there for me, my dreams might have changed, my capabilities have expanded, and now I'm looking at what is my next step along this path, and I love how you, Leaned into your empowerment as being a leader and owning it.

[00:05:51] Loree Philip: Can you talk to me a bit about what do you believe for you was the biggest contributor to you getting to that point of, [00:06:00] you know what, I am a leader and I'm going to own it.

[00:06:02] Andrea Johnson: Well, I think part of it was, like I said, when I lost my mother. Grief can be a real crucible of sorts. It can be that thing that really kind of solidifies certain things for us.

[00:06:13] Andrea Johnson: And I allowed it to do that. I sat down and I said, what do I believe? What do I stand for? What do I want to move forward with? And when I realized that. I had a specific kind of framework that I wanted to live. It didn't fit into anybody else's framework. I had done some coaching with some major organizations that I could name them and your people would probably know who they were.

[00:06:36] Andrea Johnson: So I've paid for a lot of coaching. I've been through a lot of therapy, but I just realized at that moment, I have actually something to contribute. I have a voice that's a little bit different and. When people see my email like you did or my, my business name, or it used to be my podcast name, Intentional Optimism, they're always intrigued.

[00:06:56] Andrea Johnson: And this has opened the door for me, not just to [00:07:00] myself and being able to say, why do I want to do something different, but allowing other people to say. Where did this come from? And just like you did, I, I, I get to explain how I went from being, and I do this with my clients from being disempowered, where I was kind of acting within the same principles and guidelines that I just accepted all my life.

[00:07:21] Andrea Johnson: It's like, this is the way we do things. We get that a lot in Western society. Well, actually, all over the world. I grew up in Korea. So they get that there as well. Eastern society gets it as well. There's a certain expectation and I've had to learn that sometimes we need to shed expectations.

[00:07:39] Andrea Johnson: And go against expectations in order to be able to have a sustainable way of showing up in the world. And the very best way to have that renewable energy all the time is being your most authentic self. And that sounds like a really cliched kind of word, but it's like. Clarifying gold, or clarifying [00:08:00] butter.

[00:08:00] Andrea Johnson: If you like good lobster or butter on a steak. Being able to say, this is the me, the most pure Andrea that I can offer you. Therefore, it is the one that's going to resonate with you the most intensely if you're my people.

[00:08:14] Loree Philip: Yeah, yeah, it's so, so true. And I think although the authentic self, my most authentic self can come across as cliche, there is a truth underneath of it that we all can resonate with like, yeah, I know, but how?

[00:08:33] Loree Philip: Right. How? When we've had years and years and years of programming, societal expectations, going on this path, becoming the person who goes on this path that's maybe not even our true self, all of these layers, right? And if we could bring that back to this discussion on core values, because I believe that core values and understanding your core values.

[00:08:58] Loree Philip: Could be a [00:09:00] great place to start to peel that back, peel back the onion into understanding. What do you value? What do you stand for? Talk to me about why you believe that core values is so important for people to understand about themselves.

[00:09:16] Andrea Johnson: Well, I think most of us want to start from the outside in, right?

[00:09:20] Andrea Johnson: We want a checklist. We want even if it's a checklist of if I have these things, then I this, right? And so to start with, I started that way. I started out with what are the things I can do that are going to make me different? What are the things, how am I going to show up in different ways? And I even started with that intentional optimism, right?

[00:09:41] Andrea Johnson: And I had to realize. Over time that I was living out a few myths that were really kind of hurting me. And one of those was the fact that I was trying to work harder. And I, I just, I would come in early and stay late. And all I got was burnout. And if that resonates with you, it's like I get [00:10:00] burnout and I get angry.

[00:10:01] Andrea Johnson: And then I had to ask myself, well, why am I working? What is it that is important? What is important to me? I promised one job that I would get an MBA and I never did because I didn't like the job, but I did get some certifications because of jobs, but. My resume is just a piece of paper and I'm also a growth mindset person.

[00:10:21] Andrea Johnson: I said, I've been doing this since I was 20. So that's 27 years. And if you don't, but if it didn't actually apply anything that I learned, then it's no of no use to me. And so I just started going backwards saying, well, who am I really, I'm a little bit of a personality testing junkie. I love all of them.

[00:10:41] Andrea Johnson: And. But when I and so I've done a lot of them and I've actually done a series on my podcast on them. But when I started looking at my core values, it brought up something that I had done long, long, long ago. Are you familiar with Franklin Covey? Yes. Okay. So I did my governing values for Stephen Covey's book back in [00:11:00] 1993.

[00:11:01] Andrea Johnson: And I still have the piece of paper. It's laminated with packing tape before that was the poor man's way of doing it. And when I started. Learning through the Maxwell team, learning my coaching certification. So if I came across core values exercise, just a really simple one. And I thought, sounds familiar.

[00:11:18] Andrea Johnson: And I went back and looked and realized after doing some of that, that it was the same things that were showing up as back in 1993. And that's what kind of got me started. And I realized that every time I dug a little bit deeper. I had a little bit more confidence to stand up and say, actually, this is what I think, to share my opinion.

[00:11:41] Andrea Johnson: I had more confidence to act within my convictions or my passions to say, I'm a women's empowerment coach. I said that for a while. I'm a women's empowerment coach. And in my community, where I was. I'm kind of in the evangelical space. That's not always looked upon as the best thing to be. [00:12:00] And so it was, but that was an act of courage.

[00:12:02] Andrea Johnson: And every time I did something new like that, my core values became more and more clear. And when I figured out that understanding myself better was the thing that allowed me to live in a way that didn't. Make me frustrated. Didn't make me feel like I was disempowered. Didn't make me feel like I was angry all the time.

[00:12:26] Andrea Johnson: Didn't make me feel like I was shutting myself down. I, I mean, I'm a talker. Sometimes I have to make myself stop talking on podcast interviews because I could just talk the whole time, but I just. It gave me the courage to be able to stand, stand up in the opinions and the ideas and things that I have.

[00:12:46] Andrea Johnson: So I think for when I share it with other people, I just let them know that if you want to have, if you feel like you have no authority, like if you have responsibility with no authority, the first thing understanding your core values is going to do for you is going to, it's going to give you [00:13:00] internal authority.

[00:13:01] Andrea Johnson: That's going to allow you to do that. It's going to give you the authority to set your own boundaries that are not things that you have to enforce. It's like having your house. Nobody just walks up to my door in my house and walks in unless they have permission. So when people see your boundaries that are already set because of who you are and how you act, they take care of themselves.

[00:13:20] Andrea Johnson: So those are the things that I think are so important to understand about core values and why it's important for us to understand them.

[00:13:26] Loree Philip: Yeah, it is so important and I think going back to what you were saying about boundaries and understanding yourself better is what I've noticed is that if we don't know who we are, we don't know what our values are, we don't know what our priorities are.

[00:13:45] Loree Philip: We can't enforce boundaries because we don't know where the lines are. And so, so just taking the time to, to turn the flashlight on yourself and dig in is so important because it sets, [00:14:00] it sets so many things into place. Once you know, What your values are, you start to your mind just starts working on ways to align yourself to that.

[00:14:10] Loree Philip: You start to understand more if something's bothering you in your work environment and you realize, oh, it's because this is out of alignment with my values and so these are the some more reasons, right? There's just so many. We can keep talking about reasons all day long. So my question for you, Andrea, is.

[00:14:33] Loree Philip: If we We are all in agreement. Okay, it's important. We need to know ourselves better, right? What's a great place to start for people to start to do an exercise? Start to explore what their values are because I think that's a stopping point for a lot of people. Sure. As far as Like, I don't know how to figure this out for myself.

[00:14:53] Loree Philip: I what, what can people do on their own to, to go walk through a process around that?

[00:14:59] Andrea Johnson: [00:15:00] Yeah. And I didn't start on my own either. Right. I just said, I started with like a book a long time ago and then I stumbled across a little one pager and I'm going to share one pager with your audience in just a second.

[00:15:09] Andrea Johnson: But the first thing I'd like to do is define what they are rather than and to start there with a definition. I love words and definitions. And right now there's a lot of talk about core values. In the coaching space, in the self improvement space, in the business growth space. So I wanted to find the difference between organizational or business core values and what I mean by personal core values.

[00:15:33] Andrea Johnson: Organizational and business core values are more like a mission and a vision. They're what I would say are the principles that You, they want to live out as an organization. So as my own business, I'm going to have my own business core values. They may or may not be exactly what my personal core values are, but they are for an organization and they are outside of me.

[00:15:51] Andrea Johnson: They are not inside of me. Core values personally are like an internal compass. They are the principles and the [00:16:00] guiding. Priorities that help you stay true to yourself and authentic and, and to act with authority no matter what life throws at you. So kind of being like a tree in the hurricane that can flop all around and still stays there.

[00:16:15] Andrea Johnson: Those are your non negotiables. So when I say core values, I don't mean things like family, friends, and faith. I mean things like authenticity, belonging, and freedom of thought, or respect, or hospitality, or I had one client whose top core value is reliability. And I am not one of those people. I work hard at being reliable, but for her, it had to do with understanding that if she told you she was going to do something, she was going to do it and she expected it from you.

[00:16:49] Andrea Johnson: One of the things that I do with people is I first I help them understand the definition that we're talking about because when we Define things they become more easily attainable But the other thing I start with people on [00:17:00] is if you don't want to do an exercise if you're because I also I'm a disc Consultant so I know there are certain people out there who are like, can you just give me the bottom line?

[00:17:08] Andrea Johnson: The bottom line is whatever makes you really really angry is probably something that's stepping on a core value Right. So if there's something, if you go back to the last week or two or four, or if it's something that happens daily or once a week, or this person or whatever this pattern is, you see, there's probably a core value under there.

[00:17:26] Andrea Johnson: That's getting dishonored or stepped on or disrespected. And so if you look at the opposite of that. That may be a core value. But on the other side of the fence, if there's something that every time you experience it, it brings you immeasurable joy, or you go to for your de stressor, like I'll, a lot of times I will, it's not in my top three core values, but I will organize my house or I will clean my house.

[00:17:52] Andrea Johnson: And a lot of that has to do with just being having a consistent and calm space. And so you can look at the things that bring you [00:18:00] joy. And that is going to give you an idea of what your core values might be. So that's a great place to start as you just sit here and listen. But then I have a download.

[00:18:10] Andrea Johnson: It's a one pager. It's an exercise that includes things like thinking about five or six people that know you really, really well and imagining 10 words that they would use to describe you. Right. And making sure that they're probably not words like she's a good friend, which you'd need to translate that into maybe she's loyal or she's reliable or she's kind.

[00:18:32] Andrea Johnson: But then you narrow that down into categories and then there's like this winnowing process of getting down to like 10 keywords. And then you walk those through like a week or two of figuring out how often they show up for you. It's not a, it can be a quick process, but usually it takes people anywhere from a good week to anywhere.

[00:18:51] Andrea Johnson: That's a six months. If, if you're somebody that's a long processor and but it's really nice to actually have that awareness. Cause as soon as you have it, [00:19:00] as soon as you even have your top 10 words, you start noticing. Where is this showing up for me? Why is that a big deal for me? How did these two words.

[00:19:08] Andrea Johnson: actually mean the same thing, or maybe one is actually the definition of another. And so it gives you that opportunity to kind of work through. Does that give you an idea of how to start?

[00:19:18] Loree Philip: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a, that's a great idea. Different perspectives on how to start, where to look, where to notice.

[00:19:26] Loree Philip: The definition is always important because we talk about the word value. And for me, I thought of family. And what's interesting is like, Let's talk about that a little bit about why family might not be a value in this context. And, and what's, because for me, when I have it as a core value or an idea in my mind, that's important to me, it's easier for me to draw that line around where, okay.

[00:19:56] Loree Philip: My work is stopping because my family is [00:20:00] important or in setting those types of boundaries. So what, what is the nuance there, Andrea, on, on. Yeah, other kind of value.

[00:20:08] Andrea Johnson: Well, for starters, I'm only going to push back so hard on someone else's core values. And if somebody I had a gentleman in a workshop 2 weeks ago said, yeah, family is a core value.

[00:20:18] Andrea Johnson: I'm like, well, I told you, I pushed back on that and he said, but let me tell you why I'm like, okay. And what he explained. I said, well, what about this word and this word, but he's stuck with it, right? So that's his, that's your prerogative to have whatever you want and you're going to define it differently than I will, right?

[00:20:32] Andrea Johnson: So this is still your own personal process, but the distinction I make and the nuance I have there is anything that's outside of me is something I value, right? I value my family. There is no question. I set aside time, like before we started recording, I said, yeah, I don't have tomorrow off. I thought I would, but I don't, but no matter what, I keep Saturday free.

[00:20:55] Andrea Johnson: Because I have a 15 year old son, there's only going to be so much more time that he's going to give me. [00:21:00] And so I want to make sure that I have that time and I have that evening time. So anything outside of me is something I value. But the things that I value are usually fed by or feed my core values.

[00:21:13] Andrea Johnson: For instance, my top three are freedom of thought, authenticity, and belonging. And so, When I look at family as something I value, that's part of where it's part of my belonging. I can be authentic with my family. I my family is learning to allow me freedom of thought. My husband used to start conversations or sentences with, wouldn't you agree that?

[00:21:39] Andrea Johnson: And then he would just say

[00:21:41] Loree Philip: something. That's a nice setup. Yeah.

[00:21:44] Andrea Johnson: Like we literally, cause he used to say that. And finally I just said I need you to speak differently because my. Top core value is freedom of thought and because I'm all about critical thinking and And so he so he thought about it a minute.

[00:21:58] Andrea Johnson: He said, all right, [00:22:00] how about this? What do you think about this, right? So he still gets the conversation. He still gets the interaction with me He still receives my thought on it and nine times out of the out of ten I'm probably going to agree But now I have the freedom to think about it and to respond to him in a way that is authentic and so Within my value of family, something that I value, I live out my core values.

[00:22:28] Andrea Johnson: I tell my son what I'm thinking, and sometimes it ain't pretty because I need him to know that being an adult is hard, but I also want him to hear, I want to be the first one to apologize. If I've done something wrong, I have to be authentic because I want to belong and I want him to feel like he belongs.

[00:22:45] Andrea Johnson: Is that a good explanation of the nuance there?

[00:22:48] Loree Philip: Yeah, yeah. And there is, the, the, what came to me when you were talking about that big difference, and I've actually had another person use this interpretation around. [00:23:00] If it's outside of you, that's the line, right? Inside of you versus outside of you. And I think I was also one of those people that pushed back and put it on my list anyway.

[00:23:12] Loree Philip: But there's probably a value within me around freedom of thought as well. And, and pushing back on. Guidance that's given to me, like, it's like, yeah, right, right. And you're like, I can't deal with those definitions. So great. So we will go through the process to explore our core values inside of us that are so important and maybe prioritize a top three.

[00:23:46] Loree Philip: And when we move forward with that, what does that do for us? Andrew, why is this so important?

[00:23:53] Andrea Johnson: Well, the first thing it allows me to do, and I shared a little bit of this in my story on my business and a little bit in my story with [00:24:00] about my family, was it allows me to live with my own personal authority.

[00:24:04] Andrea Johnson: We hear a lot of words out there, a lot of talk out there about you're a sovereign being, you have this ability to have authority. And it's like, if that's not something that's in your demographic or cultural wheelhouse or language, it sounds really odd until you realize, Oh, you know what? I actually do have the authority to say.

[00:24:23] Andrea Johnson: This is where I end and you begin, right? And if you have children, this is sometimes the language that we use, right? If like, this is your space and this is my space, sometimes that's at the table. Like you don't reach over and grab my food or it's sitting on the couch. And, but a lot of times it's emotional space.

[00:24:41] Andrea Johnson: So being able to say, I have the authority to be me inside this circle. You don't get to tell me. Any other way, right? Now, I then choose how I'm going to interact outside of that circle with my job, with my family, with my church, with my community involvement. That's my choice to [00:25:00] do that. So all of that involves authority.

[00:25:03] Andrea Johnson: The second piece is like I shared earlier, it gives you the conviction to lead with passion. Surely, there's something that you feel passionately about if it's empowering women, if it's like I said, my son is adopted, so if it's foster care and adoption, or I grew up internationally, so I care very much about immigration and care for immigrants and migrant workers, or my husband's very into social justice and racial reconciliation.

[00:25:28] Andrea Johnson: It gives me the ability to lead in those areas without apologizing. Like I shared a little bit earlier, I don't apologize for being a woman's empowerment coach or a transformational leadership coach, because I know that my core values are putting me in that space and I feel confident in myself. But that's the third piece is being confident about it.

[00:25:50] Andrea Johnson: How many times, I mean, there are coaches out there that do nothing but coach for competence. Right. They call themselves confidence coaches and I'm, I think that's [00:26:00] great and we need them, but it's like, to me, that's the third step in the process. Right. Help people. And they may be doing this as well. I don't know what confidence coaches all do, but if.

[00:26:10] Andrea Johnson: If I don't know who I am and know how to communicate that, then I, I don't necessarily have that confidence, but when I do have that confidence, it is so magnetic to the people that need to hear it. And quite frankly, it's magnetic to anybody. Like I said, I'm a Maxwell leadership team, speaker, trainer, and coach.

[00:26:29] Andrea Johnson: And one of the things John Maxwell says is you can spot a grower miles away. Right, you can see somebody who's on a trajectory of growth. You can actually see someone who's comfortable in their skin, and I'm sure you have a friend or a family member who just seems to always be comfortable in their skin.

[00:26:47] Andrea Johnson: Well, these are people who either have done this kind of work or may not need to because they just naturally have that. But how many of us don't, right? And it gives us the opportunity to be comfortable in our skin. To grow in front of other [00:27:00] people and kind of be that if you want to be a leader, or if you're in a position of leadership, it's just much more.

[00:27:07] Andrea Johnson: I love the word charisma. It's charismatic in a way that's not shmarmy in a way that's not salesy. It's just when you're authentic and you allow people to see that in you, then it's automatic that we kind of celebrate that in other people, right? The last piece about core values is it's always reciprocal.

[00:27:27] Andrea Johnson: If it's, if it's something that I only demand from you, like respect, but I don't want to give it, that's just narcissism. I want to be able to, like with belonging, I want you to feel like you belong in the space where I am, just as much as I belong in the space. And so when, when that's the way we live at our core values, everyone feels valued.

[00:27:49] Andrea Johnson: And. And all these things that we just, we, we are always looking for ways to do that. And to me, core values and the work that we do here answers that.

[00:27:59] Loree Philip: [00:28:00] Yeah. So it's so interesting because I completely agree with you. What's what's the, the biggest benefit that I can see is that. Everything you want to do externally gets amplified when you are rooted in so strong in who you are, what you want, your core values.

[00:28:24] Loree Philip: You can approach life with a different Energy that comes across off because it is authentic, charismatic and powerful. And I, it's funny, I do coach on confidence, Andrea, and the, for me, the difference is exactly what you're talking about, because I became more confident. And as I grew internally as a person, as I built those, so it's not a quick fix because what you're doing [00:29:00] is you're getting to a place of self belief and understanding and knowing who you are and what you want and having that really deep conviction where you're right.

[00:29:11] Loree Philip: Confidence just exudes. It's not something you're, Trying to achieve, you are it, right? Yes. And that is a huge distinction between fake it till you make it, or those, some of the other things that, that we do. And some of that is important because we need to move forward and we're always going to have fears that show up, doubts that show up, things that.

[00:29:39] Loree Philip: From our past that come up and, and that's always going to be there no matter how well yourself. And because we're always growing, we're always growing and we will continue to evolve and grow, till the day we leave this beautiful planet. I hope so. So yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, [00:30:00] I love that perspective and I think it is really important in the impact it can have on what we aspire to do.

[00:30:08] Loree Philip: What, what are we missing here, Andrea, in this conversation that, that would be important to bring up?

[00:30:13] Andrea Johnson: Well, I just, I want to tell you that I loved your, the external living out is amplified by understanding your core values. I'm going to credit you with that because I love it and I might, I might need to use it.

[00:30:26] Andrea Johnson: Because it is a beautiful example of an expression of it. Here's the deal. If you want to make a difference, you have to be different. That's I mean that it's just really simple if you want to make a difference you have to be different in order to be different you have to change you have to grow and Many people that I work with in this area.

[00:30:45] Andrea Johnson: They're afraid to look inside. They're afraid It's like what if I don't like my core values? This is not imposed upon you This is something that is yours from the beginning my freedom of thought thought, core value showed up at three years [00:31:00] old when my mother said, you were the most strong willed child I'd ever seen.

[00:31:04] Andrea Johnson: And I'm like, well you tried to tell me what to think. And it, it didn't, it didn't dawn on me until 50 plus years later, because for the longest time and on my, from 1993, my top core value was freedom. But I hadn't defined it. So the last piece of that is to, to understand that they won't ever really change, I don't think, but they will get more and more filtered and more and more pointed and more and more specific because even like I have a course on walking you through your core, not uncovering them and my, even in there, I need to go back and rerecord because I said my top core value is community.

[00:31:42] Andrea Johnson: And I really thought it was. But what I realized after. Building a Facebook group of women, almost 500 women, and going through some deconstruction in some of my theological and religious beliefs, that it really wasn't the community. I was trying to plug into a community as a, as a substitute [00:32:00] or as a way of belonging.

[00:32:01] Andrea Johnson: And that's when I realized, Oh, it's really belonging. So this is a lifelong pursuit this week. It's been very much brought home to me that all the little steps that we take every single day in the same direction, it's, those are the things that get us where we want to go. And I was laughing upstairs with my husband because some things just came.

[00:32:21] Andrea Johnson: Came to the surface today, like, like a new client and this happened and that happened. And it like, it's amazing when you think you're taking these little steps, even if it's looking at your core values or developing a little bit more confidence that those little steps add up to something big. And we're always surprised when the big things start happening, but they will, and it is a long game.

[00:32:42] Andrea Johnson: And so I just offer hope that this is something that you don't have to have figured out right away. You can start high level and work your way down and work. And work and work and work. And it doesn't even have to be super hard work. It can just be every three months. If you do any kind of a review project process, go back and look at [00:33:00] them again and say, how can I redefine that?

[00:33:02] Andrea Johnson: Or how could I make this better? Or boy, I noticed this is showing up a lot more in this area than I thought it was. Maybe it means something else. So I think just that refinement long game piece is the last bit there.

[00:33:13] Loree Philip: Yeah, yeah, I, I love that because I, one of the themes that I've come across recently with a lot of people in these types of discussions is we have to give ourselves permission to draw a line in the sand, but then we also have to give ourselves permission to evolve.

[00:33:32] Loree Philip: And it could be that it's not that we're redefining our value. That's always been the exact same thing. It's just that we also change as people and we grow and, we have different stages and phases of life.

[00:33:46] Andrea Johnson: And.

[00:33:49] Loree Philip: And it's okay to change. It's okay to change your mind. It's okay to shift careers. It's okay to decide that, that your dream was this and now it's that.

[00:33:59] Loree Philip: [00:34:00] And, and be flexible because I think there's a couple of things. One, we hesitate to say, this is my finalized core value forever. And then it feels so final it's like, so you don't want to. Write it down or if it doesn't seem just perfect, you might not finish the exercise. So it's like, let it be what it is.

[00:34:22] Loree Philip: And then I love this idea of letting it refine it, evolve it, continue to make it your own, continue to explore it and see where it goes.

[00:34:33] Andrea Johnson: Yeah. And I have to use the word, the phrase for now, for now, these are my core values for now. This is my business direction for now. This is my whatever for now. Because that.

[00:34:42] Andrea Johnson: Reminds me that I get to keep moving and keep changing. So I, I like that a lot

[00:34:48] Loree Philip: for now. I'm going to use that now we can use each other. Well, we're going to start to wrap up the conversation here, Andrea. I would love for you to share with. where they can connect with you, learn [00:35:00] more about you and your work.

[00:35:01] Andrea Johnson: Sure. I also have a podcast. It's called stand tall and own it. I'm in my third year. And the first two years I interviewed over 75 female leaders who didn't necessarily lead in the way that we expect. I mean, I even had one who was an actress who was acting through breast cancer. I had all kinds of leaders in there.

[00:35:20] Andrea Johnson: Some from business, some from medicine, some from speaking. And I learned so much from them. And in September of 2023, I rebranded it to Stand Tall and Own It. And that that was just a bold statement of I'm done with other people's stories. I've learned a lot from them and now I'm going to share from my story.

[00:35:40] Andrea Johnson: And I still interview people, but I do have that. And it's available on YouTube and everywhere podcasts where you listen to your podcasts. But my website is TheIntentionalOptimist. com. You can find everything on there. I will. I'm very active on LinkedIn and Instagram and I have other places where I have accounts, but if [00:36:00] you DM me on either one of those social platforms, I'll respond.

[00:36:04] Andrea Johnson: Just let me know where you heard me and I would love to have a conversation. But other than that, I have. Like I said, I'm a disc consultant, so people can understand the way they communicate, but all of that is in my, in my website. So my website is one of the best places to, to catch me.

[00:36:21] Loree Philip: Okay, great.

[00:36:22] Loree Philip: Well, I really appreciate your time today, your perspective, and, and this, this topic of core values and bringing it forward into the conversation, because I do believe it is so, so important. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[00:36:37] Loree Philip: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you've enjoyed it, I would love for you to subscribe. If you're already a subscriber, don't forget to share the podcast with a friend.

[00:36:49] Loree Philip: . Make sure to tune in next week.

[00:36:51] Loree Philip: We will be speaking with Dorothy Mashburn about the secrets to salary negotiation. I hope you have an [00:37:00] amazing week. It's your time to shine. Bye.