Episode 225: You Can’t Build Culture Without Belonging | Chris Rollins | Leadership Speaker & Creator of The Ripple Effect Leader™
What does it really take to create a workplace where people feel seen, safe, and motivated to lead? Chris Rollins is a keynote speaker, coach, and creator of The Ripple Effect Leader™ - a framework that helps teams become more human, more inclusive, and more effective. In this episode, Chris and Kara talk about leading with vulnerability, why emotional safety drives performance, and what it means to build a legacy that ripples beyond your role. Chris shares his personal story of growing up closeted, climbing the corporate ladder, and ultimately creating a coaching business that reflects his deepest values. If you're building a team, growing a business, or want to be a better leader, this conversation is full of insight, honesty, and real-life strategies that work.
“We need to focus on creating safety & building trust in a world with little of both, especially for under represented folks, to have more inclusive human centered workforces. ”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Why “bring your full self to work” isn’t enough
01:20 Balancing the CEO hat and the talent hat
03:00 Preparing for a talk like a competitive golfer
05:45 What corporate success doesn’t teach you
07:30 Creating mindset rituals to show up with power
09:10 Why coaching is critical for personal growth
11:00 The power of mentors and support systems
12:15 Understanding your ripple effect as a leader
13:45 What emotional safety really looks like
15:15 Leading with vulnerability and curiosity
17:30 Generational differences in leadership styles
19:00 Handling drama vs. creating real support
21:00 How sharing your story builds trust
23:00 Pivoting from corporate to purpose-driven work
25:15 Turning your biggest fear into your biggest asset
27:30 Creating inclusive space even in polarized environments
30:00 Facing resistance with curiosity, not combat
32:45 A story about secondhand discomfort and transformation
35:00 Tips for speaking up and owning your power
37:30 How sharing his story helped Chris become a stronger leader
40:00 What powerful means to Chris
42:30 Why “soft” skills are actually performance drivers
44:30 How avoiding hard conversations kills culture
46:00 From discomfort to courage: what ripple effects can you create?
The narrative that we hear right now is bring your authentic self to work. Bring your full self, and it's a little overplayed, but the problem is we just say it and expect that's enough.
That's Chris Rollins. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
I miss having my engineer with me when I recorded 'cause it made it so easy for me to focus on. Doing the things that were necessary to get the podcast going. Like I had a whole conversation with Sydney the amazing PR person out in New York. I dunno if you listened to that podcast or not, but we were talking about having to be both the producer and the talent and knowing when to switch our mindset.
And I honestly would love to start there with you of. How do you pivot between being CEO and business owner to talent? And before we jump into that conversation, let's tell everyone who you are, where you are, and what you're up to.
Cool. I'm Chris Rollins. I'm a keynote speaker and leadership coach and community builder.
I'm in Tampa, Florida where I've been for the last two years. I'm a New York native, but moved down here with my partner who's from here originally. And what I'm up to is, honestly, right now I'm speaking to a ton of organizations, which totally lights me up. Talking about creating safety, building trust in a world with little of both, especially for underrepresented folks and just helping organizations develop more.
Inclusive, human-centered workforces and, it's pride month. So I'm busy going to events and networking and doing both virtual and in-person talks. And it's just, it's an exciting time in my business for sure.
So you do have to jump regularly between being CEO and being the talent.
You had an amazing video that you shared the other day that I commented on, Amanda, on my team mentioned like. You the video. For those who haven't seen it and who aren't following on Instagram, they should immediately, it was a video of you physically and mentally preparing before you go and do a talk.
And so what is that whole process and why did you decide to share it?
Luckily I've been trained by some awesome coaches. Obviously you're one of my coaches, but I also work with professional speaking coaches and in some groups with folks who have been doing this for a long time. And I've just learned that you have to take your work really seriously and as the talent.
I do take it really seriously when I show up to a talk to really get in the right mindset, and I just wanted to give a peek sort of behind the curtain around that. And, I grew up as a very competitive golfer. And I. Admired Tiger Woods for his sheer dominance and the way he just had this swagger showing up to, to his golf tournament just the way he walked.
Even as a kid, I would try to embody that when I would walk up to the range in the morning. I had a very extensive routine the night before. I was ironing my shirts and my pants. I was polishing my shoes. I wanted everything to be nice and crisp. All of that stuff just helped me get into the right mindset.
And working out early that morning, stretching all the things to prepare for competition. And so it's the same thing, especially when I do virtual talks. Gosh, it's, I'm just talking to a camera just like I am right now. And you have to, you have to get into that same mindset of performing.
And so it's been helpful for me to create similar routines. Before I show up to a talk as when I would even, as a kid and collegiate golfer show up to tournaments. It's just fun and it's been fun to marry also my passion for golf with my business.
There's so much that happens behind the scenes.
At the corporate level with the clients that you're supporting with our own businesses, and it's so easy to be so triggered by people who look like it's easy to make all the money that they're making. Everyone will talk about the million dollar online course someone built, or the million dollar fill in the blank.
To have a million dollar course digital course, you're probably investing a hundred thousand dollars plus in marketing It. So if you don't have a hundred thousand dollars, like we can't compare ourselves to it. And there's so much behind the scenes layers that people aren't sharing. I just think it's so smart to share your process because your process is what really will allow people to, emulate you and follow.
Like you were studying Tiger Woods, you're like, he walks in with swagger. What's he doing to practice? What's he doing to prepare? Because you knew that the preparation was what? What made the difference? Was that something you were taught? Was that something you figured out on your own? Have you always been someone who's prepared a lot to, to do the one moment of showing up?
I have, and I've been playing golf since I was four or five, six years old. So it, it's a game. It's a very complicated game. It's a very challenging sport. So it does, there's so much precision involved. And I actually. For two years, I went to a golf school in my junior and senior year of high school I went to boarding school for golfers.
So talk about getting into the weeds of a particular pursuit and when you're really committed to being the best at something. You have to do, you have to do the preparation and we'd get into the weeds of looking at your swing on video and analyzing light shifts and angles and things.
And so I think I just learned, I grew up around in an environment of practice and preparation to be able to show up and perform. And honestly, I think throughout my corporate career. I didn't do that as much. It's a lot easier in corporate, to, to show up and get the work done.
But as I shifted into my own business, I said, okay, like I really need to, it's on me now, right? It's fully on me. I need to show up and do it. And and so the preparation piece of that is something that I'm really trying to incorporate more and more into my own work and just the performance when I go and give a talk.
Is a really key moment where I'm very particular about how I prepare.
You're also someone who has been really wise, I think, in gathering mentors, excuse me, gathering mentors and coaches around you to help you go to the next level that you can't see yet or haven't had access to yet. Does that also come from the sports and golfing background, or do you have family members that are always advocating this type of like meta methodical preparation?
Like I know you've had golf coaches forever, since you were four, but when did you start applying that to whatever else you wanted in life?
I think it's both. Like I remember my dad, when I would come to him, what if I was struggling with something personally and wanna have a conversation about it, he'd say.
He'd support in the way that he could, but he'd always say, I'm not an expert at this, so maybe you should go talk to this person. Or, there's probably therapists that you can talk to that will pro provide you better answers. He was very humble in the way that he supported me in that.
So there was always this invitation to seek out the right types of people. And you've talked recently about, I think there's like the eight people that you need to have in your life. As a business owner. One of them is as a mentor, someone who is at the place where you wanna be in your business, who's done the work.
And so I've been really fortunate to have attracted some of those people into my life. There's a a speaker, his name is David Stillman, who I am. Just so grateful to have in my life. He has so generously shared his wisdom, his time, his input into me, into what I'm doing and all from a place of generosity and love and and we really do need that.
And so surrounding myself with experts and coaches is, gosh, that's the only thing that keeps me going. 'cause there's a lot of inertia that keeps you where you are,
and it also leans on the community of people who are relying on you. I really relate to how you've taken sports into business.
I was also a college athlete. Like I just, that it, I forget how ingrained it is in me to do things you don't wanna do. To do them again, to do them first, to keep making every piece better if you can. To do assessments, to do the replay. Like how did it go? What did we learn? Okay. How do we adjust practice the next time?
What's missing? Do we need to add in a mobility program? There's so many. If you're on a path for excellence, it shifts how you're looking at every moment because it's not, obviously we both love winning. That's not, that's
looking at every. Game as it's like win or nothing, it's win. And there's so much knowledge that we have to make sure we're gathering along the way. Otherwise we're going to miss the core piece that's gonna shift what happens. And I think it's really interesting that you've created this ripple effect program, which I wanna get into.
'cause I think it's so needed in corporate, the corporate world today, especially in the us. And so much of that is about listening and paying attention to every interaction you're having and asking how can it be better? How can it be more intentional? How can it produce the results that we really want personally and professionally?
And there's just a, a lot of people don't have access to that awareness, to that, whether it ha it went well or it went badly. To pull it for all the knowledge that you can have. So if somebody is in this place where oh my gosh, like I'm just going through my day and I'm not paying attention and I'm not doing an audit, where can they start to evaluate if things are going the way they want to or not?
And then if they find things that aren't going their way, how can they look at it to figure out how they should shift or pivot?
I think that's where the ripple effect metaphor really helps people get present to the impact that they're having, that they may not realize. And the metaphor that I use is this idea of a pebble, and that every single one of us is a pebble.
And everywhere we go, we're creating ripples and. Every single conversation we have, every interaction inside our organizations, every time we give a piece of feedback, every time you host a meeting, every time you lead a one-on-one, all of that, everything you say, and everything you don't say is creating ripples.
So it's about getting present to the impact that those ripples are having on other people. And I think one way you can do that is one, by acknowledge that, acknowledging that's how. That's happening, first of all. And second of all, by asking the people around you what sort of impact are they feeling from your leadership, from how you are showing up?
And my whole thing around creating workplaces that are more inclusive and human centered is how do we first start by creating a foundation of safety? And a lot of how we do that is leading with vulnerability and sharing more of ourselves so that people have permission to do the same.
I wanna dive into that because when you hear about workplace safety, you're thinking osha, you're thinking practicing fire drills, you're thinking about, is my chair the right height ergonomically from my desk? Is there enough lighting? Are there wide enough exits? You're thinking about the space and like disaster safety or emergency safety.
We're not thinking about where the ripple effect goes, which is. Emotional and personal safety. So can you explain why that matters and what that actually looks like from, from the simplest perspective?
I think the narrative that we hear right now is bring your authentic self to work. Bring your full self and it's a little overplayed, but the problem is we just say it and expect that's enough.
But. Again, usually, you're hearing it from leadership to say, yeah, we, we totally, bring your full self, we, or a place where you can do that. But especially if you are someone who's in an underrepresented. Community. If you're in the LGBTQ plus community, if you're a community of color, it's not always that simple to just show up as your full self.
Because the systems and the way that the organization is set up, the rewards may not actually allow you to show up that way. And so that's the message that I share with leaders is you as a leader. As a pebble, your pebble might be a little bit bigger and creating a little bit more force, and those ripples are extending a little bit further.
So it's even more important for you as a senior leader especially to think about the safety you're creating for other people and creating a space where you show up with vulnerability, with kindness, with empathy, curiosity, and humility. If you can practice those skills over and over again, you're gonna start creating a space where people feel more safe, more seen, more heard, and over time, that is gonna build trust and connection and it's gonna help everybody move forward faster in a way that then allows and empowers people to show up as their full selves.
And even in a humorous approach, right? If a leader says, show up as your, your fullest self, you're like, I'm just, my head just spills with all the reasons why anyone would say no. I can't tell you I have 15 cats. I can tell you, that, like whatever's hap, like I'm a LARPer on the weekends, like everyone has weird things about them.
And everyone has things that they know certain groups of people wouldn't relate to. And if you don't feel related to, you're like no. We're gonna keep that real quiet. Even things that every American deals with statistically, like I can tell you I have credit card debt. I can't tell you I'm stressed out about my, parents being sick or whatever.
The thing is, like we've. I grew up in a really interesting corporate space where there were women leaders by the time I was going through corporate land. But what women leaders were told to act was just clones of male leaders. And I remember being like, it was so disappointing that the female leaders I had throughout my career were far and few between.
And they, like the ones who were great, were extraordinary because they were just ignoring all the rules at the time of how they were supposed to show up. And I'm so glad that I got to witness people who were doing it in a much more humane, practical way. But I also dealt with things like being 20, what, four.
Working my ass off in a large corporation and being told like, you have to stay late because you're single and don't have kids. They have to go home. And I was like, fuck you. I'm never gonna have a family if I can't leave. This is ridiculous. Like great that we're now supporting people who have families, but what a we just need support the people.
And so it was a really interesting period to go through. But similar to how I grew up in, in the sports community, like there's no crying in sports. There's no crying at work. You leave your shit at the door, you walk in, you handle things, you leave. I've never been somebody who's separated my communities.
So many of my best friends that I have today are through different work environments. And it's a big struggle that a lot of clients talk about today of. There being these stereotypes between different generations of what it means to show up at work and be a performer, what it means to be compassionate.
And everyone is so concerned about being a bad leader and a bad boss, and they also have triggers. They're like. I don't wanna deal with someone coming into work every day and there're being drama and that's where they can't get the job done. And I'm like, that's not a generational thing. That's a coaching opportunity.
Exactly.
So how do we break through the safety conversation when chances are we as leaders are setting up safety based on our perspective of safety and everyone's definition of safety and comfortable and feeling. There's room to be brave and honest are so different.
So I think that's where curiosity is one of the key elements of my leadership framework and I.
The curiosity to really ask and seek to understand without judgment. What's, how to best support people. What's going on in your life? How can I best coach you in this moment? You're coming to me with this challenge. How can I be here for you? Do you need to vent? Do you need solutions? Do you need advice?
Do you wanna brainstorm? And. I think it's an acknowledgement that every single person is so unique and so complex that we have to be in a place where we're being humble about other people's experiences and curious to learn more so that we can create a space that allows them to feel comfortable and to thrive.
And I think the context in which we're working right now. Where polar, like everything's polarized, our socially, politically, our work climates are so polarized. How do we create connection and engagement in the face of that? And that's the work that I am really excited to be tackling, especially.
Being in a climate here in Florida where there is a lot of sort of tension around politics and what do we say, what do we not say and how do we build bridges versus, put up walls and, and when I go to a, an organization or to a company in person here in Florida, the first thing that I do is I share my story.
The first thing, when I open my mouth, I share my story about being a closeted division one golfer and a college in the south. And one particularly fateful conversation with my dad. And when people hear that. They think, oh shit, Chris is taking a huge risk right now by sharing this with his audience.
And people have told me, they're like, gosh, I'm having secondhand discomfort for people that I'm looking at in this room thinking, gosh, what are they thinking? And the sheer, I think, practice of showing up with that type of vulnerability is what lays that foundation for. Safety and it just, it prompts conversations and that's, I think that's what we need to do is start to have more conversations where we can learn and learn about each other and scale empathy across teams and organizations.
It's, I always think it's so interesting that the thing that is so obvious to us, and the thing that also is so scary to us that we've experienced. Can become the thing that gives us access to an entire career, an entire area for us to be a contribution. And it's the things that we're not looking at because we're like, why would we ever share like how to tie our shoes?
Everybody knows that. And you're like, no, they don't. Or, and I'm using that as like the simplest example of things we forget that we know how to do. But until you see someone who has had such a radically different path from you. You don't realize how much of a gap there is between the things that you consider obvious and the things that somebody else doesn't.
And similarly, what makes us the most scared or the most ashamed, or the most whatever, we're stuffing over to the, the side that we don't wanna deal with or admit to ourselves or other people. Is often going to give us access to the greatest version of ourselves. And just taking on that journey is really scary.
So how did you decide, or when did you know that my story is going to be access to this business philosophy that I've been trying to share? And haven't people been like, okay, cute, whatever. But like now that you've added your story, it's completely transformed how people are listening to that. What, like when did you say oh shit, I have to talk about myself. Damn. It's that's how it would occur to me. No, why can't I just talk about the thing?
Yeah. So for me it was an evolution because I, I worked in corporate for 10 years. I skyrocketed through leadership, getting on the executive team for a company.
I was at a New York City leading the HR team, and it's the job I thought I always wanted. So on paper it was like this great career success. But I'm doing it for a year and a half and realizing, gosh, this isn't actually what I want to be doing. So then I'm thinking I've worked my butt off to get here, and it's not actually what I want.
How do I, what do I, where do I go from here? So I was convinced in that moment to say, I need to stop looking for jobs that are gonna fill my, fulfill me, and start thinking about. Who am I? What is my purpose? What do I love to do? What lights me up and how can I create work that's gonna fulfill on that?
Through a ton of reflection, looking back at key moments of my life, my career, I realized that at the heart of my purpose is really about creating safe space so that people have the courage to find and with their truth. So as I stepped out of corporate into my own business, I said coaching is the best way to really honor that, that purpose.
And and so when I started my business, I said, there's. I've learned from my 10 years of corporate that I can't just manufacture a job or a solution. I really need to start with my story, my, my purpose, my why, and that is the foundation to grow everything. And there was not so much reluctance, but just like curiosity around how is my story relevant?
I think that's the work that I've been doing the last several years to get really clear on, oh yeah, that, that pivotal moment, my experience coming out and my journey through all of that sort of self shame and fear is a really powerful tool to unlock people's possibility for themselves and. I thought to myself why is my coming out story, why is that helpful or valuable or relevant to other people?
But it's not about the story, it's about how people see themselves and their story and what it unlocks for them. And so that's been really magical in my experience, sharing that with other people. And it's so cool to see people come up at, events afterwards and say. I'm from a really conservative family and country and my daughter's gay, and I really struggle with that.
And, I'm listening to your talk and I'm realizing there's conversations I've had in the past that probably created bad ripples and so it's just like I said, creating a conversation, which is what I want.
I was at Mountain Film Festival in Telluride over Memorial Day weekend, and it's a full documentary film festival and one of their feature films is called Mama Bears.
And it's the Mama Bears organization, which are found started by Christian women who, whose child is in the lgbtq plus space. And after denying their child's truth, they finally leaned in on it. By doing, so many of them were abandoned by their churches and their families. And so they started coming together to be like, no.
Like this is the opposite of what Christianity is supposed to be like. We're supposed to be loving people, especially our children, and we're supposed to be making space for people. And now they. Go to tons of pride events. They have. They're the ones wearing the get a hug from a mom or a hug from a dad t-shirts.
They're now volunteering to go to weddings. If your parents won't go, they'll stand in for them. Oh, wow. Like the entire audience was crying. And some people you heard just heard like doing the sniffles. Other people were like losing their shit.
And it was such an inspiring moving movie.
I cannot wait for it to be released into a broader audiences once it goes through the circuit. But it just speaks to the fact like they're creating exactly what you want corporations to create just a safe space for people to just be able to show up and just get a hug. I just need a hug.
Like I don't need anything else. And I just need to be able to sit down and not be impacted and not to feel bad about existing. And it's embarrassing, like I'm embarrassed on behalf of our country that we've abandoned the idea that we take care of each other and that we are good neighbors at a minimum.
And it, it just, I, all of this feels like it fits together. And with the climate that you mentioned earlier of how divisive certain parts of the country are, I do feel like things are, have been shifting more rapidly recently. And we're not in a place where everyone's still talking and still in a place of acceptance of people how like, and there's a.
Stereotype perhaps that large corporations are also leaning left or right in different spaces. So how are you approaching all companies to share this story? And do you ever worry about being in an environment where you're sharing your story and this philosophy with the corporation and what they're gonna are they going to receive it?
Your question comes at such a. Funny time because I just gave my talk to the Tampa Chamber of Commerce here, and one of the folks in the audience owns 13 different auto repair shops, and she saw my talk. She was already thinking about, she's planning this retreat for all the leaders and managers of her businesses, and.
She came up to me afterwards and said, Chris I think I want you to come and talk to my teams. I said, okay, great. Tell me more. And she said I've got these auto shops and most of the owners of these shops are very conservative and very outspoken about that. And in past years have said or done things that create a lot of division.
And she said, I think your talk is gonna resonate with them. And I wanted to bring you in to just to start a conversation about this and to get ahead of 2024 when things are gonna get even more politically charged. And I'm terrified. I'm gonna go this retreat and talk.
I, may completely disagree with my way of living. I, I really don't know. But one of the messages that I share in my work is that we have to stop creating stories about other people before we give, before we get the chance to meet them. And I was at a training seminar recently with about 30 other business owners all there to work on our personal stories.
One by one, they were getting up to share their personal stories. And very quickly I realized that many of them don't have the same political beliefs as I do. Many of them don't have the same religious beliefs that I do, and many of them don't think about leadership the way that I do. And it's getting closer and closer to my time to share my story.
A very vulnerable personal story about my experience in college. And I'm thinking, gosh, I don't know if I wanna do this, I don't know if this room is safe. But I realized after hearing their stories that my concerns about religion and politics and our differences just melted away because I was just connecting with them as human beings who'd all face challenges and obstacles, highs and lows, frustrations, all the things that we can relate to.
And so suddenly I almost don't even care about, where they're from, who they voted for, or what they believe, because it was a really. Precious moment of connection that they were inviting. And that's I think the feeling that I want, the listeners and the people I work with to create with their people and the vulnerability that they can apply at their companies regardless of who we are, who we love, what we believe, et cetera.
There are opportunities for connection and it starts with us. Showing up, jumping in. Vulnerability first, even when it may feel really scary.
How are you preparing yourself for those moments? Oh, because like I am, I'm equally moved by. Your courage and I'm moved by these stories of hearing this woman be like, you are the answer to helping me open up my team.
And then I'm also like do you need me to come? Do you need a bodyguard? Do you just need me to be there next to you to make sure that you're got this, you're not alone. Yeah, I feeling both things and like how do you prepare to walk into a room where you don't know if you're going to be received?
And know that you have to do it anyway.
Yeah. It's such a good question. I have been fortunate to where I haven't had someone or any sort of instance where I feel threatened per se. But I've played all the stories in my head, I've played it out, and I'm sure that it will happen.
And I think the thing that I try to remind myself. Is to stay curious. There's no, I'm not someone who's gonna clap back and come back with aggression and try to shut you down. I am gonna stay super curious and try to understand, and if someone, if someone in the audience, for example, stands up and says, now Chris, I think what, what you're telling us is absolutely disgusting and you know this is not appropriate, or I completely disagree, then I'll say, you know what, I really.
It took a lot of courage for you to stand up and share that in front of this room of people. So we actually have a lot in common. Thank you for sharing that. And, maybe I'll talk to him after and really get to understand what's going on there. But, luckily I think doing this work of sharing my story has strengthened my sense of self, and how I show up in my business every time I do it, it builds on itself and I think that's what.
All business owners, all leaders really need to develop. Is that what is your story and standing firmly in who you are because every it just, everything collapses if you don't have that strength, to show up. And it's a, I'm still, it's a journey for sure.
Yeah. And are you, is it having a strong family foundation?
Are you journaling about things? Are you. Maintaining like your physical and mental fitness so that you're the most prepared you can be. Because even if it's an environment where people are excited to hear you talk it still requires such bravery to get on stage and to be the center of attention.
And I'm thinking about everyone listening who is oh geez, like I can't talk in front of my team of 30 who I think like me. And like how, like what tips can you give someone to start speaking up and start speaking proudly about the work they've done or who they are or even just their great ideas.
First I'll say that I wasn't always this way. And recently my mom who follows me on Instagram is she's who would've thought the kid that was so shy and wouldn't pick up? The phone is out on stage and talking in front of hundreds of thousands of people. And I'm like, I know.
It's pretty funny how that happens. Like many things in my business, I never saw myself here. I never saw myself on stage, but I absolutely freaking love it. And what tips do I have around, around someone who is, thinking about public speaking or concerned about how they show up?
You know what my coaches have told me a lot is that it's not really about you, it's about your audience and it's about the people that you're there to serve. And so the more that I am able to. Connect with the audience and connect with my message in a way that's, this is about the impact I'm having and how I'm supporting these people.
It's turning the flashlight from shining in my eyes where it's totally blinding to the audience where it really matters, to have your attention.
This is called the Powerful Ladies Podcast, as and we have. Been really proud to have powerful gentlemen say yes to being guests, and we have only have a handful, so it's very prestigious.
You're welcome. You've been the crowned. And I think it, I was hesitant at first to invite men to come on this podcast because I was like, why would they wanna be on a podcast called Powerful Ladies? And I'm like really, it's about showing people what being powerful looks like, and. The audience is men and women.
So our guests need to be a little bit mixed as well, because there is power and there are people who are carving their own path in every space, in every gender. And I just knew, like coaching you is actually so inspiring for me because you are so coachable and you do the work and you take the actions and you're, that whole conversation we were having earlier about how.
We'll have a session and then you just go in and you try it on and you're like, okay, I tried this. What's happening? And you're producing results at such a speed that I don't know if you give yourself credit for all the time. So it's such a pleasure to have you on the team.
Thank you. Thank you.
But I think it's also, I'm curious, and I want you to share like what is powerful mean to you and what made you say yes to being one of our powerful gentlemen?
I love working with you. I love your podcast. I love listening to the different stories and learning from other business owners and entrepreneurs.
So it's really just, it's fun and exciting and a pleasure to be part of that power. I, I don't know that I've really characterized myself as powerful, in the past and. I think that what I've learned about power and really even in more recent years is that power. So our sources of power come from different places for everybody.
And that kind of goes back to my conversation about preparation. And so there are like, what are the sources of power that make that help you show up with that level of confidence, for me, it's getting back into that like championship mindset as a golfer and those are the things that help me feel most powerful.
And for other people it might be dancing or it might be being out in the garden, or it might be, walking outside, getting some sun whatever it is. So that's how I think about power and how I've evolved to think about power and. I think for a long time I've exuded a certain level of confidence and I talked to people from my corporate days and they're like, gosh, Chris, you just walked around with such swagger.
You're like the most confident person I know. And I'm like, that is just what and there is so much underneath that you have no idea what's going on. And and I think this work around story. Has really helped me connect more powerfully with myself and the work that I'm doing, and so yeah, that's what I would say about how I think about power and
What we're doing.
I think what's also interesting about the work you've done on your story is that by looking at how far you've come and looking at these pivotal moments, it's actually an exercise in confidence building as well. And I've had people ask like, how do I be more confident? And I'm like, do something scary.
Do something you don't know how to do. Go. Practice something like we can't. Magic wands confidence and confidence comes through doing exactly what you don't wanna do. And it's hard. It's hard to show people the actions to take. You've been in some of the group calls where I'm like, okay guys, we all need to leave the house.
Go call people and people. And half the group was like, okay, the other half is terrified to have to engage with people. And it's all, obviously, we all come from different backgrounds of what it means to share our story and to share how we wanna help. And we get so wrapped up in this idea that we are a burden.
And that we shouldn't help ask, offer to help people unless they ask. And it's safer to just stay over here and wait till someone asks us to participate than to jump in ourselves. And I don't like, we're here to be courageous, I think. And so I just, anyone who's listening, I'm like, just do something today that's going to make you feel braver tomorrow.
I think so that's the ripple effect that can be so powerful by each of us showing up with a little bit more vulnerability, a little bit more kindness, a bit more empathy, a little bit more curiosity and a little bit more humility. The ripple effect that will have on the people in your life, the people that you work with.
The, such a cool story recently, which I shared with you after one of my talks, there was this woman. Who I saw later that night, the next day she said, Chris, I heard these people talking in my office about this speaker from the Ripple effect. And they all started sharing their personal why.
And just to know that me sharing my story is having a whole group of people that I don't know, sharing their stories with each other just now. Think about what kind of connections that's creating. These are the things that we can create inside our organizations, inside our companies to allow for more connection, more inclusion, more engagement.
And all of that is gonna lead to higher performance, for the business.
I do think it's important that we talk about that as well, because companies don't do things that aren't going to lead to more money, more efficiency, more cost savings. And I think that there are groups of leaders who get.
Triggered by the softening of corporate spaces. And I don't think the ripple effect is softening a space. I actually think it's emboldening a space. Because if people can step into their own power, then suddenly you have this really powerful army versus a bunch of people who are too afraid to even show up at work, let alone do the work in a way that is what you actually want from your employees.
One of my clients I coach is the head of hr this social marketing agency. And the partners of this agency, from what I hear from her, are so afraid to have difficult conversations with people. And I see the impact of that. It ripples so quickly throughout the organization and the things that go unsaid that need to go said.
Yeah. And and what my client is doing so well is. Is coaching them and showing up and modeling herself. The difficult conversation that needs to be had. And that's what people ask me is if the leadership isn't doing it what can I do? How do I show up in that? And the answer is, you do it too.
Like you model what it means to be vulnerable. Hey, this is a scary conversation for me to have with you, but I think it's really important. Here's what's going on. Let me share. And they're specifically, she's implementing what she called a high performance culture. And I'm like, tell me more about that.
And she said, we're creating a culture of high performance, but our stance is that everybody needs to be able to show up fully as themselves in order for them to perform at a high level. So they're just baking it into the design into the definition of what it even means to be high performing.
And I freaking love it.
And from a super practical perspective, if you want someone to show up and do any task or do any pitch right. They are gonna show up with the 80 million things that are in their brain. I needed to pick up the kids later. I didn't do this. The laundry's not done. Like our brain, there's so much decision fatigue, and so our brain is full of all the things we're worried about small, and then we layer on bigger things.
It's like that jar where you show like, how much room do you have? You fill it with big rocks and you're like, oh, the jar is full. Then you put pebbles in. Oh, it, there's, now it's full. Then you put sand in. Oh, now it's full. Then you add water. You're like, okay. Now it's really full now. Yeah. But there's always layers of what we're being occupied with and when people are occupied with what they can't say.
We're completely wasting or inefficient inefficiently using their brain power to be focusing on what they should be saying and what they could be doing. And just the simple, giving someone the space to brain dump for that moment or to know I don't have to worry about that here. We're freeing people up to actually show up and.
I really hope that every organization on the planet hires you to give this talk because it's really allowing just the baseline more efficiencies and more people to, to show up the way you need them to at work. But it's creating a culture that we need in general for humanity to actually be supportive and thriving and.
Being a team versus being a bunch of individuals who are trying to hide things and protect things that they don't need to spend time doing. Yeah. So I love the ripple effect. I'm so thankful that you are a guest to coming and sharing your story. For everybody who wants to find you, follow you, have you come and talk at their organization, where can they do that?
They can go to my website, which is Chris Rollins me, Chris rollins.me, and you can find me on Instagram at This is Chris Rollins,
and we ask everyone on the podcast where you put yourself on the powerful scale. If zero is average, everyday human, and 10 is most powerful person you can imagine, where would you put yourself today and where would you put yourself on an average day?
Ooh, average day, gosh. Average day is probably like a six or seven today. Feeling like a little low energy for some reason. I think it's been a busy week, so maybe play around a seven. I've got a lot of exciting talks coming up and part of what we talked about earlier is in the preparation and how do I prepare and take care of myself, and that is not scheduling meetings or calls on days when I have talks and taking naps when I need to.
So those are the things that I try to put in place to help me feel a little bit more powerful when I show up.
Again, you are so great. We are such fans of you and I'm excited to see how you start making your ripple effect all around the US if not the world soon. So thank you so much and I can't wait to get an update soon.
Thanks Kara.
All the links to connect with Chris and his ripple effect program in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. Come join us on Instagram at powerful eighties, and if you're looking to connect directly with me.
Visit Kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode and new amazing guest. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: @thisischrisrollins
Website: www.chrisrollins.me
LinkedIn: christopherrollins
Email: chris@chrisrollins.me
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
