71. On Living Life as an Experiment with Leanne Hughes

Overview

Today I’m joined by Leanne Hughes, an Australian businesswoman, entrepreneur, and high-performance business consultant who helps organizations lift performance through people. Leanne is also the host of two podcasts: First Time Facilitator and Leanne Hughes’ Work and Live Large.

In this conversation, we hear about Leanne’s own career journey, what led her to find her zone of genius, and what took her out on her own leaving Corporate. We learn about one of Leanne’s core philosophies around treating life like an experiment. Leanne is a prime example of someone who leans into taking action and learning by doing. For her, a paradox is that it isn’t confidence that gets her into action, but rather knowing that being in action is what actually breeds confidence.

What I loved in this conversation was hearing how Leanne is continuously moving towards how she operates best in the world and leans into what’s possible for herself, just as she is championing with Work and Live Large, through which she helps you imagine what's possible is possible for you.

This was such an energizing conversation, Leanne! Thank you for being on and sharing your journey and wisdom with us all.

More About Our Guest

Leanne Hughes is an Australian businesswoman, entrepreneur, and high-performance business consultant. She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education (and obsession) with Group Dynamics and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences - that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions, and regions.

Clients work with Leanne for her energy and unique approaches that provide cut-through strategies for embarking on a change initiative or to shift performance or culture to achieve next-level success.

Based in Brisbane, Leanne has worked across a variety of industries including construction, mining, tourism, and vocational education and training; and believes in a strengths-centered approach to learning and development. In 2021, Leanne was the winner of the Asia Pacific Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year. She is the host of both the First Time Facilitator and Leanne Hughes’ Work and Live Large podcasts.

Topics Covered

  • We start by hearing Leanne’s personal career journey and what brought her to her current work and ultimately going out on her own into self-employment. I love how Leanne shares that “the good thing about careers is that you always bring the skills that you’ve captured [with you].” In her current work, she focuses on lifting performance through people.

  • She shares how she herself didn’t necessarily see where she should take her career next mid-way through, but it was her husband who “saw her” and guided her towards learning and development. Often we don’t see for ourselves and it takes someone outside ourselves to help us “see.”

  • Leanne shares some of the signals that told her it was time to leave corporate and go out on her own. Before doing so, she gave herself a 12-month runway, as our friend, Jenny Blake, advocates in her book, Pivot.

  • As we advocated in our Leaving Corporate series, maximize that time to build your brand, build your nest egg to support your ability to have optionality, build your network, and leave on good terms. I love how Leanne shares that in building her brand while she still had a job she actually positively impacted her performance and impact in her current role.

  • Other things Leanne suggests to consider if you’re wondering about going out on your own: 1) is where you are working aligned with your purpose, and 2) are you growing.

  • Leanne shares a paradox that it isn’t confidence that gets her into action, but knowing that being in action is what actually breeds confidence. She champions looking at life as a big experiment. We’ve heard that from a few others here on the podcast.

  • We dig into Leanne’s new podcast, Work and Live Large, and what impact she hopes to have with that work.

  • We talk a bit about building one’s personal brand and how to think about how one can show up to represent herself best in any room. I appreciate Leanne noting, not directly but in how she thinks about it herself, that this isn’t forced. For her, it’s a natural way she chooses to show up. I also love that she shares it being about how do you want to leave people feeling, which takes us to one of our favorite quotes by Maya Angelou as inspiration for leaders, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

  • We explore the idea of helping people dream bigger and not projecting the past into the future. I love Leanne’s tip to ideate even for just 5-10 minutes, not allowing for constraints, and instead leaning into free flow thought.

  • We also talk about the importance of movement and how moving our bodies can help unlock great ideas.

  • I ask Leanne how she identified her zone of genius around ideating. She takes us back to the book, Pivot, and the first stage that Jenny advocates is Plant, to identify your strengths.

  • I also love the exercise Leanne shares from Tim Ferris around evaluating your calendar for the year and noting what gave you energy and what didn’t and then creating a Yes Do This and a Not to Do list that you keep visible to help keep you operating from your Zone of Genius.

  • We get in our Rapid Fire questions in this round:

    • How does Leanne define success?

    • What’s her current ambition?

    • What’s a recent, favorite work or life hack?

    • What’s her favorite way to take a break or pause?

    • What’s one thing she can’t live without?

  • Leanne’s parting piece of wisdom for all of you - see life as an experiment. Love it!

Resources Mentioned

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71. On Living Life as an Experiment with Leanne Hughes

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2022-2Kathy OnetoRight Success