The Huddle - Episode 186. WIFI x The Huddle: WIFI Power Hour Live From TISE
This episode is all about confidence, leadership, and representation in the flooring industry.
LIVE from TISE, The Huddle hosted and streamed the WIFI (Women in the Flooring Industry) Power Hour from the Women’s Lounge — bringing together an incredible panel of women leaders to have an open, honest conversation about navigating confidence in a male-dominated industry.
Paul, Daniel, and Jose led and supported the discussion as the panelists shared real experiences, lessons learned, and advice for women building careers in flooring and construction.
Power Hour Panelists:
Carlene Blanding – Shaw Industries
Hilary Frank – Daltile
Jennifer Zimmerman – AHF Products
Sarah Zacharias – All Surfaces / Tri-State Kayla
Simons – Desert Design Inc.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
Building confidence in male-dominated spaces
Overcoming challenges and imposter syndrome
Advocating for yourself and your career
Supporting and uplifting women in the flooring industr
Why representation and community matter
Whether you joined us live at TISE, tuned in remotely, or are watching the replay, this episode is a powerful reminder of how much stronger the industry becomes when every voice is heard.
Why This Episode Matters: At The Huddle, we believe Forward Progress means creating space for honest conversations that move the industry forward — and this Power Hour is exactly that.
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Please visit our new website! https://thehuddle.team
Good afternoon and welcome. We are thrilled to be here on the huddle. I am
Whitney Legate. I have the honor of ser serving on our Wi-Fi board and overseeing the professional development
committee that brings you power hours like we're here for today. First, I want
to say thank you to our esteemed panelists who have joined us for today's conversation. Thank you ladies so much
for making time today and a big thank you to the huddle group for having us and hosting our first live power hour.
So we are thrilled. Thank you so much.
WiFi is an awesome organization. We're so glad to see so many faces here today and hopefully lots of people joining us
online. We have some wonderful programs like you're experiencing today. We do monthly power hours with different
topics and guests. We also have a six-month mentor program that we run twice a year. I'll do a quick plug that
closes on February the 13th. So, if you're interested or know somebody that's interested, we'd love for you to
sign up on Women in Flooring. You can also follow us on social to learn more
about some of our programs. One of our favorites is our scholarship program. We gave more than $30,000 away to women in
the foreign industry last year. We'd love to do more of that. So, please pass the word. Scholarship applications close
on February the 27th. I'm going to turn it over and let the huddle get started.
Thank you.
All right, welcome everybody. My name is Paul Stewart. I'm the host of the huddle. We are honored to partner
with uh Wi-Fi today to bring you Power Hour live. Today's topic is confidence
as a strategy. So, the esteemed panelists are going to talk about some
topics that probably hit home with all of us when it comes to doing meetings,
having important uh interactions with other people, but from the women's
perspective and how we can all build confidence. So, gentlemen, pull out your pins because you can learn something
from these ladies. Everybody else, listen up. Um,
Daniel is uh one of our co-hosts. He's back here kind of uh you know, taking
care of our tech. Usually that's Ashlin. Um, but Daniel's holding the fort down there. Jose's our other co-host on the
huddle. Daniel, why don't you say a little bit? You got a mic over there. You can kind
of introduce yourself. Hi, guys. Danny Gonzalez, uh, one of the co-hosts. We're out of Grand
Rapids, Michigan, and happy to be out here and helping you guys out. I mean, this is a
this is definitely an honor. So, we we appreciate the invitation.
Jose, Jose Gonzalez, uh, brother to that guy over there that was just talking. And,
uh, yeah, thank you for the invite. really appreciate the opportunity and we look forward to creating a a space where
we can have an open conversation and and hopefully it resonates with some of you guys. Um, bring some nuggets home
tonight. And our panelists, Sarah Zacharias. Did I uh nail it? All right, Kayla Simmons
and Jennifer Zimmerman. Right. All right. Good deal. So, we're going to start this off pretty easy, but probably
the foundational uh question, something simple. But what is confidence? Like,
what is it to have true confidence? And I'm going to have you start.
Well, I lost all of my confidence when I stepped up on stage and the lights were bright and I was like,
um, but the reality is like this is really surreal. I've never been called an esteemed person this many times in
such a short period of time, but it's really helping boost my confidence a little bit being up here. Um, when I
think of confidence, I think of just it really it breaks it into two parts for me. And the first thing I think as
women, we all think about, right? When I wake up in the morning, I look in the mirror, how am I looking? How am I
feeling? Right? It's going to determine that. And I don't want to talk about that today cuz as I've gotten older,
I've just gotten over it. I don't I don't care anymore. When I wake up in the morning and I get ready, I get ready
for me. I wear tennis shoes. I wear jeans. I love a great vest. And so, one
of the things I've learned about confidence is that I have to stop dressing and preparing for other people
and I have to do what makes me feel good in the morning. because if I feel good then I feel like I can put my best foot
forward in any of the work that I'm doing. Um I think the second thing is that confidence has to come from within.
And so you have to like yourself. There is in my opinion no way that you can be
really confident in what you do every single day if you just don't really feel
good about yourself and who you are. Um, I had a lot of years to learn to like
myself, uh, regardless of what people say because I grew up with seven brothers and our love language was
sarcasm and jokes. And so, if I would have taken a lot of
that to heart, you know, it might have been hard to be a really confident person, but the truth is obviously it
was done in love. But I I I like myself. So, it's easy to be confident when you
like yourself. And I'm not just saying that because, you know, I think I'm awesome. But thankfully, I have a great
group of friends. I think if you don't have a great group of friends, go out and find them. They're probably in this
room. Um, women friends are the best people to have in your corner. They will
they will build you up. They will say nice things about you. Um, and they will tell you the truth, which is what we all
need. Um, I've got a great company that supports me in what I do, which helps
build my confidence. I think if I worked for some place that I just sort of did my thing and nobody really checked in or
said, you know, add a girl, I probably wouldn't like myself or feel as good about myself. Um, and even though my
family is a little hard on me, we really do love each other. It's just that sarcasm is our love language, of course.
So, for me, it starts with just feeling good about yourself. And whatever it takes for you to feel good about
yourself, do it. Don't care. Don't don't think about what other people are thinking about you. You just do it for
you. Nice. Anyone else want to chime in?
I don't really know how to follow that. Well done. No. Um, just to add to it though, I think
from a professional perspective, um, education and preparedness, um, are are
very key, you know, to being able to be confident around other people. When we're talking industry, um, knowledge is
power. And, you know, if I if I had to add, I wholeheartedly agree, absolutely, you have to be confident in yourself and
you have to do that for yourself. But when it comes to dealing with other people, um, read the room and make sure
that you, you know, you're prepared for whatever it is that you're you're undertaking. So,
definitely. Is this on? Oh, here. Nope. There's another question.
Okay, there we go. That's on. All right. And confidence is wearing a sparkly jacket in Vegas.
Like, where else can I wear a sparkly jacket but Vegas? Um, yeah. Yeah. No, I totally agree with everything you were
saying and really um knowledge and being prepared and um just knowing what you're
going into. You can never be overprepared and out educating yourself in um what you're talking about because
then you become powerful and you become confident. And confident it confidence and competence sometimes they go
together but really you have to be competent too. So they're not exactly
the same thing. So know what you're talking about, know your industry, do your preparations,
um engage and be curious and um you will become confident.
So I think the trick with confidence is
you've got confidence and you've got arrogance. And the line between the two can be
really really thin, right? I mean, I just got up here and told everyone I like myself. Um, and uh, I do, but that
could come across as arrogant, right? And so, I think all the time about reading the room, right? you know, maybe
I'm out and I'm I'm I think I'm being confident, but maybe I'm talking too much or I'm I'm sharing the wrong
information or uh so I do definitely try to read the room and find that line
between okay, am I am I coming across as as confident or or am I just coming
across as a little arrogant? Um and the truth is I don't think I've got that completely figured out. Uh, so maybe
somebody else does because I'm not really good at reading the lines sometimes, you know.
Yeah. Or sometimes you read it too late. There you go. Well, I think sometimes stepping back and just listening and um
being quiet or um asking questions or even admitting you don't know something
and or owning a mistake also is confidence. And that's how you can step
back if you feel like you're being a little arrogant and you can step back and say, "Wait a second, you know, what do you think?" Or even asking other
people questions. And that that really um helps with um you know, drawing down
that line and and coming below it. So
yeah. So I heard uh a few things. I'm just going to chime in for a quick second. like overall confidence is, you
know, towards the day and then situational confidence when you're going into an important meeting or you're
coming up on stage in front of 100 people and talking about confidence.
It's like being prepared is your superpower in the situational confidence
arena. All right. Well, let's move the conversation and keep it going
towards the ultimate goal of how do you apply this in your daily lives. So, how
do you build confidence? If you are not confident, how do you how do you build that like you you may be have been
nervous to get up here or nervous to at a certain meeting. How how do you build
the confidence that you need in those situations? So for me, I think a big part of it is
reminding myself that it's okay to fail and that in failure, you know, it's it's
an opportunity to learn and it's an opportunity to build confidence ultimately. So, um I think that's the
first thing. Know that you're going to survive whatever it is if if if I drop the mic right now, you know what I mean?
Like we would be okay. We would still be able to move forward. So, um, I do think it's just kind of harnessing that
energy, being mindful of the fact that it's okay to feel, you know what I mean, a little bit of chaos, but I do think
that, you know, having confidence gives you the ability to to direct that,
right? So, yeah, definitely preparation. I mean
preparation in situations, meetings, uh some somewhere where you're giving a presentation, preparation is key, right?
You have to prepare, know the topic, understand what you're going to talk about. Um
but then not maybe overprepare, which we talked about earlier. You know, it's really easy to overprepare and memorize
everything and you go in and you're meeting with a new business and you're like, I know all these things about you because I read everything on your
website. And um the truth is obviously they want to tell you about their business and so it's certainly a fine
line but preparing preparing is key. But on the other side and you mentioned this
is it is okay to not know. The worst thing you can do, and I think this is a
trap a lot of us fall into, is if you get asked a question and you think you kind of know or you're almost certain
and you just run with it, like here is the answer and you just go with it even though you're not quite sure. There is
nothing wrong with saying, you know, I'm not quite sure. I do know somebody who
does know and I will get that answer and I will get right back to you. Uh, it's a way way safer and it doesn't make you
look any less confident when you need to ask for help. I think that's fine. I think you found the line.
Like that's the line apparently, you know, between confidence and arrogance a
lot of times is being okay with saying, "I don't know, but I do know someone who who probably does." And I think a little
humility goes a long way um because it makes you look real when um you can step
back and say, "Look, I don't know or or we we kind of messed up here or you
know, we should have done something different." Um that really goes a long way with um your audience and who you're
talking to. So I would say use humility um to boost your confidence actually.
So, uh, I just grabbed the microphone because I haven't said anything yet, so I feel left out. Uh, but
let's build that confidence. Yeah, I got to build that confidence. I need justify why I'm up here. But, uh,
the the difference between personal and business, how does how does that work out? Is personal translate to business,
business translate to personal? And and how would you say you that you apply that type of confidence?
I think if you can develop a personal relationship and be very personal, it
gives you and it boosts the confidence. So I think that in business um and a lot
of in our industry, it's all about relationships. We're very very relationship driven industry and I mean
think about coming to surfaces, it's all seeing the people you know and talking to people. And I think the the line is
blurred in our industry between personal and business because um the business is built on the relationships. So having
the personal um confidence and um does translate to business and you need to
know when to turn on the business aspect of it as well. Um but again that
overpreparedness and knowing your audience and knowing the business and knowing your facts really really helps
with that. I think that's a really interesting
question. So, um, has anyone taken a personality assessment like um like a DISC or a PI or or something like that,
right? I think most of us probably have. Um, for me, I I when they measured it,
they're like, "Hey, this is how you are at home. This is how you are at business." And like, here are the two combined.
For me, I am the exact same way at business and at home. my my my dots line
up all the exact same way. And so I walk through the door at home the same way I
walk through the door in uh business except for, you know, at home. Usually I'm telling somebody to pick up their
shoes, right? Um so for me, thankfully, it's it's very natural at work or at
home because I don't have to try to change. Now, if you're in a role that's
a little different like for work and you have to adapt, that I think is where a
lot of that preparation comes in just because it's not your natural self. Like for example, if you put me in finance,
that is not going to be natural to me at all. I would definitely have to prepare. I would have to study, but I think I
could get confident in it because of that. Um, and so for those of you who maybe if you look at your assessments
and you're different, to be very honest, that could signal maybe a career change for you. Maybe you
go, you know what, I I this is not me and the work that I'm in. I'm in a really outgoing person and I am sitting
here, you know, in finance and so maybe it's time for me to find something else. And you might find you're more confident
every day in what you do.
brings up an interesting segus right into the next how do we do that right into the next uh topic. So does fake it
till you make it this concept like you've heard dress the part do these
things to kind of you know act as though you are and there's something else to
that like then you shall become or something Plato said that just kidding um does does it work is there a such
thing as fake it till you make it and does that actually work is there a value
to that concept I so I I don't like that phrase at all. So, I'm going to say no
because you can tell when you're faking it. I mean, you can tell you're being somebody, you're pretending, you're being somebody you're not. Um, I don't
think that I mean, I think in early in the career in your career, you have to have um courage and maybe there's a
little bit to it, but I don't think so. And it's exhausting and people see it. And so I think what you need to do is I
what I um think about and I um am a big subscriber in the I love the atomic
habits book with James Clear and um it's all around building an identity and systems and so if you instead of faking
it you are that person and you become and you say what you want to be and you become that identity and then you build
the systems and the habits around it. So if you want to become a confident
person, you are a confident person and then you show up prepared, you ask
questions, you um get feedback, you listen to others. So I think that
there's something I don't like the fake it till you make it. I think you need to
decide that you are going to be a confident um and use confidence as your
strategy and be confident and then you build to it and um I I think that's
really and be curious um because the more curious you are the more um
intellectually curious you are you will get much farther ahead and you will build your confidence by actually
becoming that and not pretending. So, I don't like the fake it till you make it
um saying or act as I've heard other people say act as if. Yeah. Um now I think you need to decide that's
who you are and then build to be that person. So both professionally and business.
Yes. Both in professionally and business. So routines knowing your stuff. Know your stuff. Yeah. Know your data,
know your industry, know your customer, know your market. I mean, you will you will be confident if you are the one in
the room that knows all of that information. So, I really think it's more around building to be um that
person rather than faking it. So, I don't I don't like the fake it till you make it phrase. So,
I have to agree with that. I think that confidence is something that has to be genuine. Um it has to come from the
right energy and the right place in order for it to work. Um, and I do think that it's something that is an
investment, right? Like it's not you can be maybe a little bit more naturally confident of a of a person, but it does
take work and effort to use it as a strategy and to be powerful, you know,
in that space. So, I agree the fake it till you make it. None of us like those people anyway. Let's be real. Like, we
right. So when I started with my company that
I'm with right now um so I've been with my company for 10 years and before that I was in banking. I had 13 years
particularly in in commercial banking and I felt really really good about that. I knew my stuff. I knew the
customers. I that was I mean that's like a lifetime in a career these days when people spend you know that long. And I
switched and I came into the flooring industry and I was working with people
who were there like 20 years, 30 years. We had a guy who celebrated his 40th
work anniversary while I was there, right? I mean, this industry is awesome because of the longevity and the
careers. If I had walked in on day one or even year one and been like, "I know
this stuff, you guys. I read the lingo. I read the literature. Like, I know it."
They would have eaten me alive. I mean, I still basically get called the rookie
because, you know, I've only been doing this 10 years. Um, but I think you you
certainly you certainly can't fake it. But I love what you said, be curious. like I want to get that on a shirt like
hashtag Oh, we're not doing hashtags anymore in 2026. Are they gone? Are
hashtags gone? Um any Yeah. So, uh be curious. And so for me,
it was very eye opening to come into a new company and not know anything and be
around experts because I had been so used to being the expert. And someone said, you know, like for
this first year, you're just really just learning. You're just absorbing. And so I used that. I just I sat there. I
listened. I let people teach me. Um, and I think that is a good strategy instead
of of faking it. For sure. So
follow-up question. How do leaders create environments that actually help
people build confidence, especially as in in this field, a maledominated field?
How does that play in like the leadership at your companies? You spoke about it earlier.
How does that play in to the employees and people feeling comfortable enough
to have that confidence? I think um a big part of that is
empathy, right? Being empathetic um making sure that you're touching base often um and providing the tools that
are necessary for them to be confident, right? like celebrating the wins,
supporting the the losses and really just um you know checking checking in
and just making sure that you're doing your part to educate and a lot of people know a lot of
things. So coming in and creating that opportunity for people to learn and for
people to ask the questions and become comfortable to um grow and um and and
learn is really impactful. And as leaders, I think that's what we need to do because the 45 year people, the
calendar doesn't stop moving. So the 45 year people eventually will retire. um
not that we want them to because they're great assets to the industry, but you've got to be cultivating the um younger uh
generations in the flooring industry to um to perpetuate the industry because we
need and we need to give the um opportunities to new fresh people and
allow them to grow. Uh so I started the com with this
company and when I started um it was me and eight sales men. Men like just all
men. And uh don't get me I listen I love men. Okay. I am perfectly fine being
around men. I grew up with men. I work with men. So for me it's a very comfortable place and I love it. But
I've also really I've never been accused of being like really ladylike. So I think seven brothers I I fit in
okay just uh for that reason. But I agree with you this industry and I'm
sure some of you have experienced this and if you have like I'm sorry and let's
talk afterward because I'm sure some of you listening or here have experienced
the gender bias. Um it's just it happens. It's natural.
It happens in every industry. I would love to talk to you afterward about how to deal with that because honestly this
industry as a whole is just not like that which is which is great. Um and so
the other thing that I remind myself of all the time is that um you know men are
just as dramatic sometimes as women are. Like I trust me I know it looks a little
different but I I've seen it. Uh, so we're all on the same playing fields there when it comes to that.
I want I want to add to that because, you know, I'm a guy, right? And sometimes I'm just a little too dumb
not to know to know the difference between being confident and just being courageous, right? I'm just I just don't
know. So, and to turn off as a guy, I'm always being competitive. And if you
were an athlete at some point, you probably understand about being competitive, whether it's a male or female. I don't I don't discriminate.
And the approach for me, and maybe you guys have witnessed this or been part of it, like you just said, how do you
approach someone who just doesn't know that they should not be as confident as they are like a dumb guy like me?
Tffy, don't be that confident. You're overdoing it right now. No, I'm kidding. I just want to know like how you deal with
a situation like that, you know? Humor. Yeah, this is so this is humor. This is a
great this is a great question. This is this is kind of about mentoring, right? And how we can um mentor either younger
generations or just people we work with. I will say for me this is how I feel. I
feel that if if I'm in a meeting or I'm doing a presentation or if I'm in a
group of people and I've done something that is offensive or came off the wrong
way or um you know stuck my foot in my mouth and I don't realize it. I want
immediate feedback. I hope that I am surrounded by people that I'm close enough to that that would say to me not
not in front of the group like that's not productive then I would that that's not great but pull me aside and say hey
you know I know that you thought you were maybe just being confident but it came across as a little arrogant or a
little competitive um I I want that feedback and I want it
kind of in real time as soon as possible I do try to do that whether it's you
know, with my friends or or co-workers, you know, maybe we're on a joint call. I you know, I might I might afterwards
say, "Hey, I noticed they seem to be getting a little impatient, but you were kind of going on, you know, like next
time look for that little cue." But try to give feedback in the moment. Try to make it genuine. I'm not perfect. I
don't know what qualifies me, but I would I would want somebody to give me feedback. And so I hope that um others
are open to it as well as long as it's kind like a compliment sandwich, right?
Like compliment. You were great here, maybe a little work here, but you know, here was here was
great. So, and I think be that person, right? Have
have the confidence and and be that person who's giving that feedback. I think that that is extremely important
because I think a lot of times we don't right it's like oh someone else will handle it or I don't really I don't
really want to you know I don't I don't want to be I don't want to do this today. Um but I think it's super super important um in leadership positions or
just in general to be giving people that feedback so that they can grow. And I think you can use humor in a situation
like that and you know with with somebody that's um you know a little
over the top you can use humor in that situation down. Yeah. Calm it down. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, let's go to the interwebs and see if do we have any questions or comments
out there. Daniel? Yeah, we have a question from Aurora
Romo. I think she's trying to build her confidence up in her marketing and
systems. Um, so she asks, "Can you please talk about marketing systems and
processes for contractors?" Marketing systems and processes for
contractors. That sounds like it's your Yes, I think your name badge says contractor.
Well, shoot. Um, I guess I don't read the question one
more time. I'm sorry. Can you please talk about marketing systems and processes for contractors?
Marketing systems and processes for contractors. Maybe the confidence in in how to select
the process and and and knowing which ones are best suit. Yeah. Almost like I mean like a small
business owner myself, right? It's really hard sometimes because you're starting from zero. And if you start
from zero and you're talking to someone that already has um you know been
through it, it's easier for you to pull ideas from them. So I mean marketing is
is something that you know I definitely don't have a strong suit on. So I have to look for other places. And I think
one of the biggest things um is like the the systems and processes that people
put in place because essentially when you're starting from zero, you have no idea where to start
from. So, as long as you have a just an idea like what what kind of processes do
you put in place in your business, you know, starting from your your day even,
how do you just go from getting there in the morning to
Well, what one thing I I think that this question seems to me that it's
like most of the contractors, installation contractors are guys. I
mean, Baby Sister's a a good example of a wonderful installer that's that's
female, but most of them. So, how do you how do you lead them? I think that's more of where the question is attempting
to go. It's uh essentially if you're leadership as a woman, how are you
leading a a crew of men out there to go do your work? How do you market and and
and take care of that from that perspective?
I think persistence is key. I think um
you know you can't this kind of goes back to the bias question a little bit. It it is hard as a woman to lead
men, you know what I mean, that are doing work for you. But I think persistence and support and feedback to
them are all things that resonate and I think they win over time. So, I don't
honestly spend a whole lot of time worrying about kind of the biased side
of things. Um, because I need to focus my energy on moving forward, right? It's very important to keep that in check.
Um, and I think if you behave that way and you continue to lead and you know, you're always putting your best foot
forward, then all of the rest of the problems have a tendency to start disappearing, right? So, um, I think
that that's if that answers your question.
So, I was thinking a little bit I I'm not when you're just getting started and
you're you're just trying to figure your way through it. Some of my best advice
is just network, network, network. get involved in your local local um chair uh
area chamber of commerce, your homebuilders association, um any any groups that you can be in
where you can meet people and you can ask questions and hey, have you used this software? I have tried this, this
doesn't work, this does. Don't be afraid, even if somebody is uh a
competitor in your local market. It's still okay to kind of talk about
best practices. They're a good company. They're they're going to be fine sharing information about maybe softwares or
something like that. So, get out there, get get in your uh area, get in your network and and ask questions and um
just go for it. Yeah. From a marketing perspective, I mean, I think that that's different regionally. So, you know, we
have very rural markets and then some some bigger cities. So, from marketing perspective, those are very different
things. But I think building the relationships and networking is totally
key. Making sure that you're asking for referrals and reviews and things like that as well. But, um, I think every
market is a little bit different from a marketing perspective. And so, there's not really a one-sizefits-all answer to that. just keep going.
I think listening, making sure when you're um getting advice and networking that you also listen um and take it in.
But but there's also we have a lot of resources available to us today with AI um and there's there are a lot of things
you can find online and using AI and so I would use that and use your resources
um because there's a lot of things out there that make it a lot easier for us today than it used to be. So use the
resources that are out there um especially around AI. One of the things that came to mind she
she did answer yes. So I think the question that particular question was marketing to find subcontractors that'll
do your work essentially and them mainly being male. Uh I used to work at a
company that had a female project manager, a commercial floor covering company. I was an installer at the time
and a lot of guys automatically were like, "We're not listening to her." She
broke the barriers down by communicating with them by by taking them lunch. She
would go out on job sites and bring them lunch. None of the male male PMs were
doing sooner than later. She was their favorite project manager to do work for.
So, I think it was kind of around that zone is where the question was coming from. Sometimes hard to decipher from
the inner webs, but I think one of the things that's worked best for me um with my team is putting
knee pads on and getting down and dirty with them when when we have to, especially if we're behind on a project
or something like that. Like just not being beyond doing the work with them, whether that's helping them or, you
know, if you have the skill set, do it sometimes. So that or you know jumping
on the forklift in high heels and unloading a truck like you just you can't be afraid to
you show them you're down to do it. Yeah. All right. So let's uh keep this
conversation going. Rounding out with, you know, the fake it till you make it.
We're in a great industry. You guys have pointed that out. I think that that's true. Um, the example I just gave, I
think most of the crews in in the world are or in the US and the ones that I've
dealt with and I've dealt with hundreds are really open to anything. They just want to get the work done, have a happy
customer, and have a happy boss. So, uh, as we start rounding out exuding true
confidence, we've we've almost answered this question. It's like you guys have
said being prepared, you know, being ready for your like having that personal
confidence. Is there anything else that comes out in particular? If you can think of a time when you may have been
in a room or in a meeting or at a job site or trying to bid against somebody
where you may have felt a little not as
confident, how how do you how do you pop yourself back into reality?
I mean, that happens to everybody. Um, you know, there's always going to be a ch an op a situation that you're in
where you're not as prepared or it was a question like this question you didn't know was coming to you.
Um but you just um need to power through and move forward and realize that um
this is your opportunity to make um an impact on your either your team or
whoever you're presenting to. And you just really need to power through and um
continue being the confident person that you are. and you'll um exude that confidence as long as you're you just
you don't uh and and like we talked about before, saying you don't know is okay. Um saying you don't know the
answer to something is okay. And realizing if you make a mistake, it's an
opportunity to own it. Um and um adapt and pivot and that is completely
acceptable to do. And that makes you appear a lot more confident when you can step back and say that. But you but you
really just need to realize that everybody's going to be in a situation at some point where you're not completely comfortable. And um this is
and it's not going to be the last time. Um not the first time or the last time. And um it just you just need to work
through it and um then you'll be proud of yourself afterwards and realize you
you'll learn from it and realize it's going to happen again. So be ready. Yeah. Yeah. So here's what I do. I stand there
and I go like this and then I wait and hope someone else
answers the question, right? No. Um I I think that so there's a lot of
situations where one thing we haven't really touched on today is we're, you know, we're talking about
self-confidence, we're talking about inner confidence, but there's also just having confidence in other people. There's having confidence in the people
that are around you. And one of the best things that we can do to help build
others up in this industry is, you know, give them a chance. Have confidence in them. Um, and not not delegate, not
like, hey, you do this, you do this, but giving people the chance at doing
something themselves instead of telling them how to do it or doing it for them. And that's one of my favorite things is
whenever we're in a group and maybe you know someone asks a question, I will say back to them,"Well, how would you
actually do that if you were in that situation?" And let them talk about how they think they would work their way
through it. I could I could stand up here and just talk and talk and talk. I'm sure I could come up with stuff. I'm
a very chatty person. I'm on three coffees today. Um but that's not the
best way to truly exude confidence. That that's just annoying, right? Like no one wants to hear that. I should hand over
the microphone now. Is that Well, I I I'm going to ask a question that could could uh you share an
opportunity and when or an opportunity, I'm sorry. Could you share a moment when you had an opportunity to to exude
confidence that were it benefited you and maybe had an outcome that you weren't prepared for?
Maybe even when you had to build somebody up. Yeah. Because that's a great point you
brought up that is totally missed in the whole dialogue is building others confidence up being a leader will help
you uh have the confidence as well.
Don't feel like you have to answer if you got more. Um
I work with this woman who is incredible. She is organized. She is
thorough. She is detailed. She is on point and amazing in every aspect of her
work. However, early on I noticed she would never take that first step herself. Even though I
knew if she did it, she would be on the right track. She would be doing the right thing, but she always waited for
someone to say yes, go ahead and do it or, you know, move forward or whatever. And so I with her just took a risk and
just kind of said, you know what, go ahead and do it how you think you should do it. why don't you put that document
together and and and send it to me? I I had it was a risk because someone who
was so used to not making decisions on their own suddenly being thrust into um
the decision-m process could have paralyzed her. It could have made her very fearful. It could have made her
say, "Oh my gosh, I'm not comfortable in this work." But I I took a risk just
knowing that her ability was amazing. And I have loved watching her grow and
thrive into more of a leader and and giving sort of direction and leading
projects. I think it's it's okay to take a risk. It might make somebody uncomfortable. It might make me nervous
because it would look bad for me if it didn't go well, but sometimes you just got to take that risk.
Yeah. And I think that's part of being a leader. And as you um work your way up in an organization, you know, at some
point you're the one doing everything and you start out and you're the doer and you're doing everything. And then as
you're building teams and as you work your way up in the organization, you realize there's people um that are working or that you're developing
underneath of you. And part of the confidence in be your leadership is
letting people do and letting people grow and delegating to people and having
the confidence to delegate because it's not always easy when you're ultimately responsible for something. But um you
being confident in your team but also in your ability to let other to delegate to
other people and realize that as you um move up in an organization, you can't do
everything anymore. And you have to create that culture that allows people to um spread their wings and grow and um
realize that there's not really much you can actually make a mistake that can't
be corrected. Once you realize that most mistakes can be corrected, um you can um
it's it's much easier to move forward and to delegate.
Yeah. Most of those scenarios are not like end of the world scenarios, right? And you just got to get past that
immediate fear. It sounds like is essentially what you're saying. my lawyer early lawyer training the
thing that was one thing that was told to me was the only thing you can screw up is the statute of limitations everything else can be undone.
So um so I kind of take have taken that on you know as um you know 25 years
later here because you can you know there's a lot of things that can be undone. you can admit um and own it and
move on and but you've got to allow people um create the culture and the team to allow people to grow and then
that just um actually builds confidence in everybody in yourself and in everybody else.
Could not agree more and I think that that kind of starts to end the
conversation around leveraging the confidence. So, you know, we've tal you you know what confidence is, real
confidence, and how to use it. I think that we've kind of clarified that it's
not faking it till you make it. Um, it's a strategy. You guys talked about
building on preparation, uh, practice clarity, these types of things. Really knowing what whatever
situation you walk into that you're ready. That's real leadership as well. And, uh, I loved all the answers. So in
leveraging your confidence. So at the end of the day, we all have goals
or objectives on a daily basis, right? We got to-do list. We got, you know, if
we're goal setters and we got one month or one year, five year goals. Like how
do you have the confidence to how are you putting this into action? Like practical action on a day-to-day basis?
And and that actually goes uh to one of our comments online. What are some small
actions or micro habits that you used early in your career to build confidence? So like if it's like an arc
of time if you if you guys can kind of address that question, what did you do?
What are these little things that specifically small actions or micro habits that you put into place early in
your career and then once you got the confidence how did you start leveraging that to buy businesses to expand
distribution th those types of big deals that you guys work on dayto day. So that
is going to be our closing question. So I think when you look at a goal
that's the ultimate outcome that you want. That's not how you're going to get there. And so you've got to build the
systems and the micro habits to get yourself there. And so so you can get to your goal. Um I for me putting yourself
in the right spot in the right room in the right um conversation, you know,
don't be afraid to walk into a room and to listen into a conversation or be in
the conversation. I mean, I moved changed my career from being um the
general counsel of a company to now the chief commercial officer because I made sure that I was in the right room at all
the time. Um, so I got myself in the right situations, um, in the right conversations and sometimes I would just
sit there and listen and absorb it all so that I could learn, um, from what's
going on in the business and the rest of the business because I I really felt from early on I couldn't give the advice
to the company if I didn't know what the company was doing and understand the business. So, it's really being prepared
and understanding. We talked a lot about that today. um doing your research, understanding
um the business that you're in, the knowledge. I think maybe you said knowledge is power, but really making
sure that it's really being prepared and um just doing a lot of the homework
every day. Do your homework, learn more. Um and if you learn something every day,
then you'll you'll get there. Yeah, I completely agree with 100% of
that. It really is all being prepared, educating yourself, um utilizing educ
education that might be, you know, gifted to you or available to you with whatever it is that you're doing. Um but
also just remember and always remember that your failure doesn't have to define
you and it's a learning opportunity um to just do better the next time,
right? So it it's going to be okay. And I think if you expect sometimes maybe that there
might be failure or something might not go right, you can you can kind of own that space and in that chaos and that
emotional moment when something might not go right, you can take a step back
and you know kind of redirect that energy to okay, what can what can I do to a get out of this and b do better
next time. So I I think at the end of the day everything that we do no matter if um
you know we're selling something, we're making something, we're marketing something, at the end of the day what we
have to remember is that relationships are one of the most important things
that we have every single day. I mean think about it. How many days do you go without interacting with a person,
right? And for me, you know, you talk about that micro tip or small thing that
you can do to start building on your goals, getting to know the people you're
working with, the people you're working for. Very small things like um I've got
a store uh in Nebraska. They bring their dog to work and so I remember the dog's
name and I bring dog treats. And those small things that help you build
relationships because people want to work with people they like. They want to work with people that they enjoy being
around. And so building on those micro relationship details, remembering kids'
names or activities, um, you know, just asking about how people are doing first before you dive
right into, hey, here's why I'm here and what I'm trying to accomplish. If you focus just on that, you'd be
amazed at how much sometimes the business will just will just come or the knowledge will just come because people
want to be around you. They want to work with you. They want to train you or learn from you. So, it's all about
people. Yeah. So, at the end of the day,
there's no magic wand. You know, say 10 verses to yourself in the mirror. That's
it's hard work. It's the affirmations. I like myself. I like myself. That's it.
Here we go. that if that works, uh, Maddie, you can just tell yourself
in the mirror how much you love yourself and apparently you turn out like these ladies. No. Um, it's it's hard work. You
got to build the relationships. You got to do your homework. You got to know the the business. It took a lot of courage
for each one of you to do what you went from legal to. I mean, that takes
confidence and cou courage. Same with you buying businesses and starting companies and and being in uh
distributing your products all over. It's it's hard work. It's being present and knowing
uh the dog's name, right? So, I just wanted to kind of recap uh that that
piece of the conversation. That is going to do it for today's uh power hour live.
Thank you everybody. Please give the ladies a hand of applause. It was excellent. I loved your guys' comments.
So, real quick, uh, the huddle is
going to pass this. I have to take I want to take a picture. All right.
This is amazing. I'm going to take a selfie with everyone in the audience right now. Here goes a selfie. Ready? Everyone smile. Say cheese.
Nailed it. All right. Love it. Um, so the huddle is uh the number one podcast
in flooring. We are live every Tuesday 100 p.m. Central. We've shot I think
170ome episodes. We have a variety of of topics. We have on guests and we're
honored to have hosted today's Power Hour live for Wi-Fi. I'm going to turn it over and we're going to close this
thing out. Thank you everybody. We really appreciate it. It was awesome.
Let's give another round of applause for our huddle friends and our panelists.
So, big thank you so much for doing this with us. This was wonderful. Great conversation. Really enjoyed it. Great
tidbits. I hope you all took some notes. Um, couple things to wrap up.
Um, you have a card on your table. This tells you about some upcoming events. We have a breakfast at TIC. We'd love for
you to join us. It will be at the Mohawk booth on the main floor on the 28th, which is Wednesday, at 10:00 a.m. Come
stop by. We're going to do some U speed networking. They talked a lot about
building your network to help build confidence. None of us know everything. You need friends around you. So, that's
a great opportunity to get to know more people in the industry. We'll be there. Um, we'd love to see you there as well.
Quick reminder on some of our deadlines. Again, mentoring, you want to talk about a great way to build confidence. It is
such an awesome program. We've had more than 150 women in the flooring industry go through it. We'd love to have any and
all join us. So, February 13th, mark your calendar. Um, we are looking for
mentors and mentees. If you'd like to know more, uh, you can see any of our Wi-Fi members. We have Sparkly, which
I'm loving your uh, sparkle shine there. Thank you. U,, you can come see us. And we also want to invite you to the happy
hour afterwards um immediately following this event. It will be right out on the
terrace if you just go out um through the outside doors. We'll be talking about the mentor programs around the
industry which includes Wi-Fi, but also other mentor programs. Um so take this
card with you. It's got lots of our events coming up as we all travel around. Last, I'm going to ask
everybody. There's a little baby QR code. We'd love you to be a friend of Wi-Fi. So, all the money that we
collect, things that we do, lets us do more programming. All of these people do this for free. I do this for free. I
have another full-time, but um we are so lucky to have this
organization in our industry, and we'd love for you to support more of it. All of your donations today go directly to
our scholarship program. So, I'd love to ask you if you'll scan and do a $5. It
It's cheaper than the Mandalay Bay Starbucks cup of coffee that I bought this morning that I was like, I'm sorry,
how how much is this? Um, so that's our ask today. If you enjoyed the program, we'd love a $5 donation. You just scan
the QR code on this tab and it's quick and easy. Um, but again, just thank you.
Oh, very important. There are free drinks at the patio event following this sponsored by our Ty friends. So, thank
you to Ty who helps us with all these programmings. And if you have questions about our program or the mentor program,
scholarship program, we're doing a leadership seal program later. Uh please come find one of us. We'd love to talk
more about that. And again, thank you. Thanks for coming.
