Unlocking Our Messiness With Valerie Garcia

Skot Waldron (00:00.974)
So with Riverside, it's uploading on your side, full res uploading on my side, full res. even if I get glitchy and like you have, like I pause or gets pixelated or something like that. Kind of like it's starting to do now. Anyway, it's still recording high res on my side, high res on your side. So just kind of go with it. If you have no idea what I said, like it's doing now, then,

Then just ask me, can, I'm going to edit this afterwards anyway. No. Okay. So it's glitching a little bit on my end with you, but it's. That's fine. I I'm fine.

Valerie Garcia (00:31.122)
Okay. Yeah, you're not glitching on my end at all.

Valerie Garcia (00:40.66)
Okay, and this is the one where I need to upload it all on my side after. Okay.

Skot Waldron (00:45.038)
Yes. So you're, you're good at this. So yeah, when I, when I stopped the recording, don't go anywhere. It's got to finish uploading. Cause it's like, says, you know, 74%. Et cetera. It's got to finish by the end. interviews probably go around, I don't know, 30, 35 minutes or so, depending on what we're talking about. And then, yeah, that's it. So, what kind of debrief after and.

Valerie Garcia (00:55.721)
Okay.

Skot Waldron (01:13.89)
catch up and I can answer any questions you have. Cool. All right. How long have you been in the coaching space now too?

Valerie Garcia (01:16.604)
Alright, sounds great.

Valerie Garcia (01:25.514)
So speaking and coaching full -time eight years. Before that, was on the corporate side of corporate training and speaking for some brands. So all in over 15 years of this, but eight years on my own.

Skot Waldron (01:36.056)
Okay.

Skot Waldron (01:40.972)
Okay. All right. Cool. That's for my own knowledge. we can share that too on the thing if we want to do, but just want to make sure I knew that. All right. I don't think I have anything else. If I get a little spacey, it's because I'm trying not to get sick. Although I didn't do very good at that because I have a little bit of a head cold that I got since, Tuesday. So, you know, have some patience with me, Valerie, have some patience with me. All right. You ready to roll?

Valerie Garcia (02:04.604)
It happens. All good. All good. I am.

Skot Waldron (02:13.058)
Valerie Garcia, here we are together today.

Valerie Garcia (02:18.005)
Hi, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Skot Waldron (02:20.758)
Well, you talk about some cool stuff and if people go visit your website, they will know what I'm talking about. And I like this whole angle of weird. I come from the brand strategy space and I did brand for a long time and worked in agency world for a long time. And I threw out that mantra that you like to throw out too of like, you know, different is better than better. that really sticks with me quite a bit and,

Valerie Garcia (02:46.09)
Sorry.

Skot Waldron (02:50.318)
Tell us why that's so important to you.

Valerie Garcia (02:54.25)
Yeah, well, my first boss, gosh, maybe 27 years ago, said something to me that I believed was true for years. He said, if you want to beat your competition, you have to be better than them. And I believed him. So for 10 years, I basically chased what everybody else was doing and tried to do it better. And it was exhausting, right? I mean, if you are trying to market like everybody else, but a little bit better or sell like everybody else, but a little bit better.

All you're doing is really just trying to regurgitate but up the ante a little bit. And then, you know, I was in an audience one day and Sally Hogshead was on stage and she said those words, different is better than better. And it hit me. Like the whole, if you want to beat your competition, you have to be better was a lie. Like the truth is, if you want to be...

you if you want to beat your competition, you have to be weird. You've got to be different from them. You've got to have that little thing that makes you completely different. And that really just kind of changed the trajectory of my career and my life because I wasn't chasing everybody else. I was doing exactly me, which was fun and also not as exhausting.

Skot Waldron (04:04.376)
And that is a lot of what I like to talk about as well as this whole feeling of unlocking our, the ability to be who we were designed to be. And when we can feel that freedom, like, wow, like we can explode, which is so great. And so you come from the world, you come from the corporate world, training and facilitation and doing a lot inside the corporate space. And then you transition and you now you're on your own.

I'm doing a lot of speaking around the world and you are coaching and facilitating now. Why the transition? What happened? What created that little spark?

Valerie Garcia (04:41.95)
Well, was number of things. First, I had worked for a number of big brands all over the world, and they always came with a certain tech stack and a certain philosophy and a certain mantra. And you really had to stay within the box of what that was.

you know, things were changing. The internet happened, social media happened, and there were different ways of thinking. And I got to the point where I thought, I want to talk to more people and I want to share the ideas that I have. And I don't really want to stay just within that box of just that corporate structure.

And at the same time, my life fell apart. I was struggling with depression. I was suicidal. My life was a mess. And yet every day, I was getting on stage at these big events in front of all of these people and saying, everything's great. Putting a smile on, saying, this is fantastic and our numbers are awesome and things look great. And I had a day where instead of getting on stage, I was sitting backstage in the utility closet sobbing. I just can't, I can't fake it.

anymore. And that was the day where I realized like if I'm gonna get out of this space of having to fake it till I make it, I need to go out on my own. I need to do me and do it in the way that is gonna allow me to shine. And so I did end up leaving a corporate gig, a very cushy job with a great salary and putting everything from my desk in a box and walking out the door into entrepreneurship. And it's been a ride.

Skot Waldron (06:14.42)
That it is Valerie, that it is. Remember that security blanket of a paycheck and benefits? Yeah. Yeah. Long gone, long gone. You're like, why am I doing this again? And then what happens is you speak and you coach and you empower and you go, that's why. That's why we do what we do. So cool. Tell me about this pottery class you took and,

Valerie Garcia (06:21.588)
Sure, yep, long gone.

Valerie Garcia (06:34.056)
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Skot Waldron (06:44.29)
this, I'm intrigued by this. threw this out to me earlier and you're like, Hey, one of the greatest lessons I've learned was in pottery class. I was like, what, what, what does that mean? I like ghost kind of pottery class kind of thing. Are we talking like that's a reference back from the eighties, everybody.

Valerie Garcia (06:52.435)
Yes.

Valerie Garcia (06:59.231)
No, not quite that. Yeah, so like kind of towards the end of the COVID era, was on Zoom about seven hours a day during COVID. So I transitioned really quickly from doing in -person to doing Zoom. And it got to be a bit of a hermit by the end of it. I was kind of getting my groceries delivered and my Amazon delivered and I was on Zoom.

I finally got to the point where I realized I needed to leave the house and so someone suggested to me, why don't you do something that doesn't involve a screen at all? And so I signed up for a pottery class.

And I've always been very artsy, so I thought, this is going to be no problem, right? I'm going to nail this. I'm going to get in there. I'm going to start throwing bowls the second day. As it turns out, I was terrible at it. I sucked at pottery. And so after the first eight week class, I went back and signed up for another one. And I signed up for a third one. And by the third class, I remember saying to the instructor, like, I'm never going to get this. I'm never going to nail these.

couple of motions that I need to do in order to throw bowls and she said I want you to do something for me I want you to do a speed test I want you to take 20 minutes and throw as many bowls as you can in that amount of time I don't want you to pay attention to anyone around you is doing I don't want you to think about what you're doing I just want you to do what you know and amazingly after those 20 minutes I had five pretty decent looking bowls

And I said to her, what is the difference? And she said, the difference is when you do what you know, instead of trying to be like everybody else around you, instead of looking at what everybody else is doing, when you simply do what you know.

Valerie Garcia (08:48.006)
you will succeed. And I realized that a lot of us, we tend to try and do what we think we should do, or we try and look at what everyone else is doing, but if we just do what we know, we will be more successful. And so that's when I learned you can fail not because you don't know what to do, but because you don't do what you know.

Skot Waldron (09:07.254)
Hold on, say that again. Why do we fail?

Valerie Garcia (09:10.227)
Not because you don't know what to do, but because we don't know, we don't do what we know. And for me it was just the same actions over and over again and if I stopped thinking about it, I was better at what I was doing.

Skot Waldron (09:15.854)
We don't do what we know.

Skot Waldron (09:25.324)
Which was what?

Valerie Garcia (09:27.036)
I was doing the simple actions. So in pottery, you do four actions. You cone up and you cone down and you move the walls out and then you pull them up. There's only four actions in pottery. And so if you can do those, you can create anything. But instead, what I was doing is I was trying to do what everybody else around me was doing and they were further ahead in the process. And so when I did what I knew, those four simple actions, I was successful.

And I think, you know, in leadership and in life and in work, we tend to do that. We tend to look around at what everyone's doing and we get distracted from doing those things that we're already really good at and focusing on those.

Skot Waldron (10:08.748)
And that leads to what we call imposter syndrome, I would think. A lot of leaders that I, that I'm talking to as well, step into these new roles and granted they're looking around at their peers now going, wow, they've been here for a long time and they've been here for a long time. And I admire that person. I look up to that person and now I have to do what they do to make sure that I'm also looking like them and being like them. And then what happens?

Valerie Garcia (10:12.692)
thousand percent.

Skot Waldron (10:38.314)
is our bowls don't look very good. And then we wonder why they're not looking very good.

Valerie Garcia (10:40.596)
That's right.

Yeah, yeah. And it comes back to the beginning, like, be yourself, be different, be willing to be authentic. And I think when we really lean into what makes us awesome, that's where we shine.

Skot Waldron (10:59.864)
What do you say to leaders, to leaders that believe that they have a unique trait, they're operating in a way that is in their thing, but maybe upper management or somebody else looks at them and says, yeah, we want you to be different than what you're doing right now because what you're doing right now is not really working for me.

And so I need you to kind of shift. need you to change a little bit. When it's not in there, kind of like they feel like they are in their, their zone, you know? So what would you say to a leader who is feeling that from somebody else?

Valerie Garcia (11:44.842)
Well, I think we all have to allow ourselves to grow. And there are going to be times where we do have to stretch, get out of our comfort zone, try something new. I think if management at any point is saying, don't be yourself, do something else, I want you to change. I don't think that's just in leadership. I think that's in relationships in general. mean, if you're in a relationship and somebody's saying, hey, don't like who you are, be somebody else. Like that's never a healthy space to be in.

But in terms of our careers and our leadership, I do think that sometimes we have to allow ourselves to be able to grow, add some of those skills. Once we have those core four skills, like we do in pottery, yeah, you've got to add some in. Then we learn to do handles and then we learn to do glazing. It's the same in leadership. But I also think that there has to be a point where we say, look.

You know, like I also have to be true to who I am. And I talk about that a lot in terms of authenticity is that whole idea of fake it till you make it, that whole idea of, you know, be who you're not just to make everybody around you happy. Ultimately, it's never going to make anybody happy. So you've got to figure out how to stay true to those core values, those core tenants, those core parts of who you are while you grow.

Skot Waldron (13:00.598)
You're working with a lot of leaders. We see some of this, this imposter syndrome or other people making demands on other, forcing them into these square holes when they're around PEG and trying to, know, which creates a lot of tension. well, I would almost say problems within an organization can bring resentment and toxicity inside of cultures. what else are you finding that leaders are doing with their teams that are not probably what they should be doing? What are some other mistakes of leaders?

her making with teams right now.

Valerie Garcia (13:31.69)
I think right now, know, leaders are expecting their teams to be all things to all people. I think especially when change happens, you've got to be the person people go to for change management. You've got to be the person people go to for the way things used to be. You've got to manage every single different generation, every single different demographic. I think there is a consistent overextension of our leaders.

And I think that's sometimes due to the fact that we don't want to bring in those other voices because they're not tried and true yet. And this is where we have a responsibility to build our back bench as leadership. It's our responsibility to build a farm team, to continue to bring new leaders in who have other strengths. No one can be everything to all people. And in the research that I typically do speaking to leaders, it's one of their biggest complaints is that I am stretched so thin because I have to be all things to all people.

when really there's somebody else in this other department that would be amazing at this piece if we could just let them have it. And so my encouragement is always to upper management to build that farm team, that back bench, to bring other voices in. No one can be that fearless leader to all people.

Skot Waldron (14:48.14)
And I think that's also creating a problem when we think about that imposter syndrome or that feeling of young leaders coming in and filling roles and then saying, I have to be that and I have to be that and I have to be that and I have to be that. And I don't want to tell them, I don't know. I don't want to say, I'm not sure about that. I'm going to have to go ask somebody else or you could probably go ask that person because they're coming to you because you're the leader.

Valerie Garcia (15:07.316)
rates.

Skot Waldron (15:17.782)
And shouldn't you have all the answers? No. Right. now it's up to you to remove obstacles and to help them get the answers or coach them through the answers or to find a resource for you to get the end. mean, there's something there, but I I've seen that a lot with also young leaders that come up and they're just like, my gosh, I have to have all the answers and I have to be everything to all people or else I'm not really a leader.

Valerie Garcia (15:17.906)
Yeah, exactly. Right.

Valerie Garcia (15:42.61)
Yeah, it's so true. And it's leading to burnout, it's leading to quiet quitting, it's leading to people saying like, this isn't for me anymore. But it's also exactly like you're saying, it's teaching people that that that age old thing that was so cute when we were young, asking questions, right? When we were little, it was so cute when we asked questions, why is the sky blue? And why do we have fingers and toes? And then when we get to be adults, and we have a job, all of a sudden, it's not so cute for us to ask questions anymore.

And so, you it puts people in this impossible situation. And why are we not diversifying leadership points? It shouldn't be a hierarchy anymore. It should be a web. I honestly believe that in terms of leadership. know, everybody should have a role so that everybody supports everybody. One of the largest causes of burnout that I'm seeing in management is I have to have all the answers and I don't. I simply don't.

Skot Waldron (16:38.754)
And it depends on what they put their value in as well. if that's what they value and if that's what they've seen valued in the organization, if that's what they've been taught as well inside the organization, then that is probably explainable, right? Why, why they would feel a certain way. when, when they're doing that, let's, let's talk about this idea of failure a little bit and, celebrating failure.

And a lot of people say this, okay, Valerie, I'm sorry to tell you, you are not the brilliant person. You are brilliant, but in a way to talk about celebrating failure. And I think we, we hear this drum beat a lot and we get it. You know, leaders are like, okay, yeah, fail forward. We get it. Et cetera. What's your spin on it though? What do we really need to take away from this idea? What do you want us to know about this idea? That's really going to spark.

Valerie Garcia (17:17.105)
All

Mm -hmm. Yep.

Valerie Garcia (17:38.014)
Yeah, so Sheryl Sandberg wrote a little bit about a study that was once done about the three P's. And in her book, Option B, she talks about how we get stuck in the three P's when we fail. And so the three P's are essentially you start with.

Valerie Garcia (17:58.838)
I, it's everything sucks. So if something fails, then everything sucks. So the first P is, gosh, now I can't even think of these words. Pervasiveness, sorry. I was like, I was like, it's right there, pervasiveness. So the first one is pervasiveness. So if something fails, everything sucks.

Skot Waldron (18:11.483)
I put you on the spot, Valerie. What is it?

Valerie Garcia (18:20.594)
And then the second one is personal. So if everything sucks, I also suck. Now, like everything about me sucks. And then the last one is permanence. It's always going to suck. And so we get stuck in this, you know, this study that she was talking about, we get stuck in this mindset of when something fails, it's my fault, it's always gonna be this way, and everything is this way. And we tend to get in that rut really quickly. And so I look at it a little bit differently. And I think instead of,

I suck. Maybe it's just, hey, you know what, like everything around me is possible. When we look at failure a little bit differently, instead of I suck, everything sucks, it's always going to suck. What about, hey, this has given us permission now to try every other possibility. And so if we can switch some of those P's and go, hey, you know what?

This is not worked, but that's great. That means every single other option is a possibility at this point. And when I switched my mindset to that, to possibility, I was like, my gosh, like literally one out of 800 million options didn't work. So instead of getting stuck in, suck, everything sucks, it's always gonna suck. What about like literally everything else is possible?

And that allows me to really kind of celebrate, OK, great, one down, one thing didn't work. And when I started doing that with my team, when I started saying, all right, we're going to have a postmortem, this didn't work, let's think of everything else that could possibly work.

Well, even the stupid ideas have value at that point. Even the crazy ideas have value because every single other thing is a possibility, which I think is kind of awesome. And I think sometimes we think of this idea of I have to celebrate my failures by like, hey, know, yay, we failed. No, it's yay. Every single other option is out there.

Skot Waldron (20:18.316)
Hmm. I like that. I will tell you, Valerie, I haven't heard that yet on the fail forward idea. You just enlightened me. You've done well. Thank you.

Valerie Garcia (20:29.135)
It's a good way to kind of switch the mindset, right? Because I think we do tend to focus on what didn't go right. That didn't go right. But great, so it didn't go right. Everything else is out there.

Skot Waldron (20:35.821)
Mm -hmm.

Skot Waldron (20:42.104)
That's a big mindset thing and leadership is such a mindset thing. Entrepreneurship is a mindset thing, it's life is a mindset thing. And I'm so happy to hear that. You know, the world is moving that way. We still have a lot of tension with a lot of the older school generations and corporate hierarchy and ways of thought of.

Not leaning into that as much, the such it's such a wave of that's coming as far as mindset is, is, is concerned. You'll see it in athlete athletes all the time. How many of them have, have coaches like mindset coaches that really helped them through the mental game of what they're doing as an athlete. You hear about it all the time. And yet there's a lot of corporate leaders. They're like, nah, I don't need that. And you're going, hmm.

LeBron James needs it. So you don't, you know, it's a little different. my gosh. Please tell me it's all that won't be secret after this goes live.

Valerie Garcia (21:41.746)
Yeah. I mean, can I tell you secret? until like a couple of years ago, I was that person. I was like, mindset. It's a bunch of woo, like blah, blah, blah, you know. And then I started working with a coach and honestly.

I realized that most of my own problems were mindset. Most of my own roadblocks. And I had a moment where I sort of hit that same spot where I was like, holy crap, it's mindset. And I was totally that leader for years with my own team. Like, you know, mindset. It's just, you're not going to think your way out of this, blah, blah, blah.

And it's true, I am 100 ,000 % a believer now because I had to go through that myself. And I think anybody who's stuck in that place, yeah, work with a coach, somebody who will tell you like, hey, that definition you've got rolling around in your head right now, you made that up. Like that doesn't exist. Like that is all in your head. And when you hear that enough, you start to realize, yeah, it is, you're right.

Skot Waldron (22:48.416)
If we don't train it, I heard another coach talk about like your brain is really just like a three year old running around with a pair of scissors and. Yeah, it's, and it will have an accident if you don't learn to control or like reel it in, and, and do the thing. Your brain wants to fill in gaps that are missing in the story. And you're going to make up a bunch of stuff that isn't true.

Valerie Garcia (22:56.892)
you

Skot Waldron (23:16.978)
And just based on assumptions and having those healthy conversations and building those trusting relationships and are where it's going to happen. That's where it's going to happen. Valerie, you sound like a bit of a mess to me. You you sound like a mess. sound like a mess. I know it's just like, I had to say it. had to say it. Let's talk about your book.

Valerie Garcia (23:24.606)
Yeah, yeah, so true.

Thank you.

Valerie Garcia (23:38.506)
Yes, I'm so excited. It comes out today really. It rolls out over the next couple of days and it took 18 months to write so it's amazing to see the birth of this child come to fruition and see it out in the wild and I'm really excited. It's called We're Gonna Need Cake.

celebrating authentic leadership in a messy world. And you know what? We are all a mess. Every one of us. We are all a mess. And the mess is just the word that I use for authenticity. The fact that each and every one of us brings our own unique mess to the table and to our jobs and to leadership. And my goal is to help people embrace that mess and the emotions that come with it. And instead of leaving your emotions at the door, show up as the messy, unique weirdo that you are.

because that is what is going to make you awesome at what you do.

Skot Waldron (24:36.92)
How do people respond when you tell them that they're a mess?

Valerie Garcia (24:40.586)
you know most of the time people go, yeah, I know. Thank God. Like you see it too. I'm not the only one. I get a few people that kind of wrinkle their nose and go, no, no, no. Like, we don't want to be a mess. And I'm like, actually, it's kind of freeing to admit that we are. And when people look at it that way, there are far more people that go, yeah, thank God that it's not just me. We're all figuring it out as we go. And even some of the

most famous CEOs or people officers that I've spoken to at some of the biggest companies in the world sort of secretly lean in and go, yeah, I'm just figuring it out as I go. Like I don't have the answers. And you know, if everybody admitted that we'd be in such a different space. Yeah.

Skot Waldron (25:31.18)
Wouldn't we? This whole like you say the word messy is kind of your idea of authenticity. And, and I was just talking about this yesterday too. It's as soon as I let down my wall. Right. I become a little bit more vulnerable and authentic with you. It invites you to also let down your wall and be authentic because it's like, we all have these walls up of self -preservation that work to guard us from harm and danger and embarrassment and

all these things that are ego and when we start to see other people go, wait, they're being vulnerable and they're a mess too and they're telling me this, it's like, I guess, yeah, I guess it's safe to actually say that.

Valerie Garcia (26:15.752)
Yeah, in the book I refer to it as the cafeteria tray. Do remember those rectangle cafeteria trays we had as kids where like it had all the sections? And I always say like I, you know, it's like where the peas don't touch the carrots, don't touch the pizza. And I think, you know, we all try and run our careers and our lives like that. Nothing touching each other. But the reality is, that life is like a Thanksgiving dinner. It's all piled on top of each other and covered in gravy and messy. And the more that we can bring that to to life in our

Skot Waldron (26:23.063)
yeah. yeah.

Valerie Garcia (26:45.042)
in our roles as leaders, you're exactly right. The more permission that we give people around us to do the same.

Skot Waldron (26:51.97)
So how's the book structured?

Valerie Garcia (26:54.543)
So it is structured around the idea of a map, the authenticity map, it's technically a circle that never really connects at the other side. And it's kind of a way to...

find a way through the mess, but never really out of it, because I don't really believe that we ever are not messy. And each chapter is one of the bigger emotions that we find ourselves in that lead to messy situations at work. So things like anger and curiosity and bravery and confidence. And there's some roadblocks in there too, like ego and perfectionism. So all those little pieces that sort of lead us

to sometimes stay in failure and fear instead of moving forward into confidence and joy. And ultimately, I think that if everyone embraces their mess, we will be joyful at work.

Skot Waldron (27:49.044)
Embrace the mess. You're type a people out there are freaking out. They're going, no. mean, if you could see, I'm, I'm in my wife's area right now. I'm just going to throw her into the bus. There is a pile of stuff over here. Right. Now granted my desk is probably this exact same thing. It's like, there's piles of stuff. and it's like, embrace it. Why would I embrace this chaos?

Valerie Garcia (27:55.224)
I know.

Skot Waldron (28:19.084)
You know, why, why, why would I embrace this?

Valerie Garcia (28:22.718)
Yeah, I think the more that we embrace our mess, like you said, not only does it give everybody around us permission, but it also allows us to just be that that person that we're meant to be. The more I say, hey, you know what? I'm messy. And this is an area that I'm particularly messy in. I like to tell people procrastination is my drug of choice because it is. Procrastination is my biggest failure or struggle or challenge in my business. But when I embrace it and I say that,

People go, yeah, me too. I see you. I get it. And immediately it becomes not something that I'm hiding or that frustrates me. It becomes a commonality that we work on together. And as a coach or as a leader, the more messy I can be in the daylight, the more the people around me can say, me too, I need some help. Let's work on that. Let's change our mindset. I've got help for that. I'm good at that. And now all of a sudden, everybody around me is a little bit better.

Skot Waldron (29:23.17)
When I was getting ready to write my book, I had a few ideas and I put it out there in my LinkedIn network and I said, Hey, what one would you want to read? You know, so I'm putting this thing out there. One of them was procrastination is not a bad word. and the way that our society has demonized procrastination, and just the word in the context that it puts with it is, is just so harsh.

That really, when I look at it, I almost shift the thinking. It's not really procrastination as much as it is. I call it adaptability, and perception of my surroundings and area and what's going on. Now that last minute deadline is very helpful. Like trust us, right? The procrastinators in the world, you feel me. It's like that last minute. If we don't have a deadline, good luck, but the deadline, it is going to be a little stressful and a little chaotic, but that's where the brilliance comes out.

Valerie Garcia (30:14.409)
Right.

Valerie Garcia (30:21.406)
That's it.

Skot Waldron (30:21.41)
And until you embrace that, until you recognize it and stop fighting it, embrace that messiness because that is where the spark of brilliance comes out.

Valerie Garcia (30:30.952)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've worked with people who are absolutely brilliant in that last minute.

And like you said, their very best ideas come out in the last minute. But I've also worked with people where their best ideas come when they are at play. So they're sitting in the basement of the office playing ping pong, and all of a sudden, there it is, right? And so our brains all work a little bit differently, and the way that we bring our brilliance to the table is a little different. And that's where the beauty is in the mess, is allowing everybody to bring their own version of the mess.

Skot Waldron (30:52.92)
Mm

Skot Waldron (31:06.764)
Who needs to pick up this book?

Valerie Garcia (31:08.948)
think everybody needs to pick up this book, but I think especially if you are in a position where you are leading people and you feel messy, maybe you are in a position where you feel like your team is struggling to embrace change. You are feeling like we have a lot of silos and everybody's trying to keep those cafeteria trays nice and neat. And we need a little more backbench building in our organization. This book is especially for you.

Skot Waldron (31:38.264)
Okay. Where do people get a hold of it right now?

Valerie Garcia (31:42.696)
anywhere you buy books online. So Amazon, Barnes and Noble, pretty much anywhere that you are buying books online, you can find it. There it is. I know. It feels amazing after you've, you know, stared at it on a computer screen for nearly two years. It feels amazing. I think everybody should write a book. It's a great process. You learn a lot about yourself.

Skot Waldron (31:53.56)
There it is. How does it feel to hold it?

Skot Waldron (32:08.798)
You do. And a lot of people say the book you write is probably mostly for you.

Valerie Garcia (32:13.128)
That's right. It's true.

Skot Waldron (32:15.884)
I'm so grateful for all this. What's your message of hope to the world right now? What's your message to those leaders out there that are in a bit of a, that feel a bit messy. What's your message of hope?

Valerie Garcia (32:26.862)
think my biggest message of hope is that we're all in this boat together. Every one of us is figuring it out as we go. Every one of us is messy. But there's a roadmap. There's a roadmap through the mess. And navigating those big emotions and those messy moments is not something that you are doing alone. Each and every one of us are doing it, and we are all at a different space on the map. And I think that the more

we talk about it, the more that we share the struggles and put aside that need to be perfect and look perfect on LinkedIn and Instagram and admit, hey, we're all just figuring it out, the more we will figure it out together.

Skot Waldron (33:05.762)
Well said, Valerie. Good luck with the book launch. Good luck with the speaking career. Good luck with empowering leaders to embrace their messiness all over the world. Good luck.

Valerie Garcia (33:08.5)
Thank you.

Valerie Garcia (33:17.15)
Thank you so much.