GA 435 | Golf, Coaching, and Intentional Leadership with Wendy Posillico

Are you actually celebrating what you did well? Are you celebrating the people that were around you that did well? I mean, even me running my company, sometimes you get so into doing the projects that you forget to, like, celebrate and acknowledge the people that have done hard work and done well.

Today I'm excited to welcome Wendy Posolico to the show. Now, today we are actually debuting a new platform, a new recording platform. So it actually is recording video. Video. I'm not sure if we're going to use the video or not, but anyhow, hopefully if we do use the video, you'll enjoy that as a different. Different twist to the podcast. We don't have never really done that over the years, but Wendy was a great sport and helping me test out this platform. And so Wendy is a former professional athlete. She shares her story, and so now she's into different consulting practices to help help people with their performance and their mindset and so forth. And so really interesting conversation today. Not our typical guest as far as talking about lean and continuous improvement, but really talking more about mindset. And she's got an interesting concept that she calls living into your June, like the month of June, and she explains what that is. And then we talked a lot about things like ethos and the role that that plays in how we interact with other people as well as being intentional, which it's going to really resonate with many of you who are practicing le. Cause we're all about living with intention and doing things intentionally. So really fun episode. I think you're going to enjoy it. Show notes can be found over@gembapodcast.com just look for episode 435 again, gembapodcast.com and look for episode 4. 35. Wendy, welcome to the show. How are you?

How are you, Ron? So excited to be here.

Yeah, well, and we were chatting before we hit record that we're experimenting with this new podcast platform. And you're number one on the list to try out this new platform.

And so always fun to be the first. Right?

Right. Early. Early adopting. Right. So awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for coming on. I'm excited for the show. So, as you know, we do sort of like to get things going with our guests sharing a favorite quote. So do you have one? A favorite quote?

Well, you know, my. One of my. I was just. I was just walking the beach the other day and it was, of course, I have to, like, peek at my little quote, but it was basically like the stillness is where we can hear the most. And I basically down my mom's beach. I walked to a Buddha about a quarter mile down. This woman has this amazing Buddha out there, and it just. Anything around stillness is what I gravitate to, because it's the hardest part of our journey is to find stillness, to heal, hear what we don't normally hear. So. And I don't have the quote exactly, but I will share it with you, so then you can write it in there. But it's all about when we're still is when we can really hear what's our message.

Yeah, well, even just listening, just start there, right? Most of us struggle.

Exactly. Yeah.

Well, good stuff. All right, well, hey, Wendy, tell us a little bit about. About yourself. Tell us about your background, how you got into the line of work that you're in and then. And what is that line of work? What are you up to these days?

Gosh, it's a hard, you know, a zigzag lifestyle, but, yeah, basically always an athlete. I grew up as an athlete, and once my sports. I played Division 1 lacrosse in college, and once that ended in my 20s, I was kind of, like, going through the motions. Looked good on my resume. I had my master's, and I was teaching in Harlem, and there was basically that at that. When I was 29, I had the opportunity where came in front of me to play golf. Basically, one spring break, my dad asked me to play. Two guys thought I had talent. And at 29, I was like, I'm gonna take this up. I don't know what I was doing. So I went down this road not planned, which taught me a lot about myself, a lot of things that I left on the table when I was young and really learned about mindset through the gol journey of becoming a pro in my 30s. So I played professional golf for seven years, and then I taught for 10. But so through that and also having a baby on my own at 40, I really. I just know that mindset is not something that's trained and it's neglected, and it's very easy to talk about it, but the hard work behind it is so important. And so I really have this passion around helping people, not only with mindset, to connect to really who they were born to be and the essence that they. They were born with. And I think we. Sometimes life takes us in directions. It could be culture. It could be, you know, community. It could be family that take us. We're doing what we're supposed to do instead of what we're meant to do, and it's just reconnecting to our. Our Story and our essence. So that's what I stand for, I guess.

I love it. So were you good at golf, like, out of the gate or, like, what's the deal there?

That is a great question. Everybody always says that I hated golf. I mean, I really. I shortened the story, but, like, even my dad asked me to play golf at 29. I was on spring break. I love it. But I remember these guys were like, she can hit it. And I'm like, of course I'm an athlete. But I hated. Hated golf. I found it boring. My parents would talk about, you know, every shot they, oh, can you believe this break? And I never had no interest in it. And then I played everything. But. But then when you. I think what happened is I thought I had left a lot on the table for. Even though I played Division 1 lacrosse, I'd never really tapped into my true potential. And I never had a coach that pushed me. I never had that person that believed in my talent, and I really was a very good athlete. And I just left so much. And then when that opportunity at 29, which is late in the game, came up, I was like, let's try. So I think that was like. And I have to say, you know, anybody that wants anything in life, like, I just think that most people go, oh, it's too late. You never. The things you learn by going after things is so. It's. The experience is what we learn from. You know, we can look at a book. We can. We can hear people's advice, but really, it's your own experience of the journey that you go on to try something that most people, I mean, thought I was crazy for doing. So, yeah, I don't know. I didn't. I could hit it, but did I know what I was doing? No. You played off, by the way, Ron.

No, I don't. In fact, we actually went to. Some friends of mine recently, went to one of those deals where, like, what is it? Hot topgolf or something like that, where you just go, whack golf balls, you know, And I'm horrible at it. You know, it's like. And some of my friends, you know, they play, and they're all like, whack, you know, whacking it to the nail. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, I am so bad at golf.

You know, Golf is a hard. It's crazy. You have this still ball. You think it's so easy, but it's. It's a hard sport.

Yeah. It's interesting. I realized that when I calmed down, I Quit trying to hit it hard. Then I would, like. It would go a mile, you know. But then every time I try to, like, ah, you know, hit it, isn't.

That a parallel to life? Just that, that saying, you know, when. Calm down, we actually can perform better, and when we, like, are in this state of like, oh, my gosh, or. And you're embarrassed because you can't hit and your friends hit it, you know. Yeah. I'm not saying you're embarrassed, but.

No, yeah, no, it's fine. It's fine. So. Well, good stuff. I'm wondering, just in kind of hearing your story so far is, you know, there's like, sort of like a defining moment when you know your mindset and the way that you operated. Was it the golf thing or, like, was it something else?

So we all have so many defining moments in life. I really do think there's many defining moments. But I think the one that hits home for me in the golf journey was I was five years in. I was going to qualifying school, and you only have qualifying school once a year for the lpga. I had done it once before, didn't do well. So here I was like, I've got it. It's my second time. I've got it. And you basically, you should make it through the cut to the final fourth round. But I didn't even make it to the cut. And I remember getting back from the day and, you know, I had. At the time, I was 34. You know, I had sacrificed a lot of missing. I had moved to Arizona. My family's from New York. I'm from a big Italian family. So, like, at this moment of missing the cut, I didn't want to call my family. I didn't want to call my coach, because I was. I was like, how do you miss the cut when you put all five years in? And I called a friend who played lacrosse with me, actually, and she was from Tahoe, and she said, call this guy. And he was a chiropractor who was, like, big into personal development. And he had me. I didn't even know him. I called him up, he had me take this test. And it was. All the whole time, I was like, what does that do with golf? And he got on the phone with me with my results, and he said, what is. What does golf have to do with team? And I said, nothing. And he's like, well, then why do you play it? And no one had ever asked me that question, why do I play it? Even though I always knew I was a good Athlete. And I wanted to see my potential. But I never verbally, Like, I never articulated really what it was, why I was playing this game. And it came out of my mouth, basically, I play the game to either be on a platform to help others, or I'm gonna meet someone along the way to take me down the road. And once I let that those words come out of me, I. The pressure was off. I don't know what it was, but the pressure was off. There was, like, more meaning to what I was doing rather than, like, an outcome. And it really shifted me in how I approached practice, how I approached failure, you know, because I was putting everything in. And now my life has taken me in a way where I've met. I taught golf for 10 years. Now I'm doing this business and coaching. And I also do charity work with Betsy King as a Hall of Famer. I mean, like, life takes you like this if you're willing. And I wasn't really in a place that five years in golf, I was kind of just like, going totally looking for the outcome. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So it was a really defining moment of how to handle the process rather than looking at just the end result to get on tour, you know, that's how I was thinking. Yeah.

So. And bouncing around on your website and chatting and interacting with you before the interview. I know that you're into. You have a phrase, living into your June or their June. Living into their June as a leader. What's that all about?

So live your June. I'll give you the back phrase of it. My daughter's name is Josie June. My dad's name was Joseph June. He died 20 years ago. We used to call him the June. And it's really about connecting to who you are, stretching yourself to see your true potential and taking. Taking past influencers that have made a difference in your life and their values or whatever you value from them, and taking it into your essence to leave your mark in the world for future generations. And it's really about taking responsibility, because your gift and my gift are totally different. And if we don't step into that with bravery, we're leaving things untapped that could really shift the world, the people around us. It doesn't have to be grandiose, but it does have. You do have to have a way. If you're listening and you, like, resonate with this, it's like. It's like something inside of you speaking. Listen to that. Don't just listen to what other people are saying or what you Think you should do. You have to listen to that instinct.

Is that like your gut instinct? Is that another way of thinking about it or.

It's. To me, it's your gut. It goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning. It's that silence when. When all the noise is going on. You can't hear that gut instinct. So the instinct is knowing you should do something, even though it might be a little not the norm. So we call our community soulstegators. It's like instigating your soul, disrupting your norm, because it's very easy to stay, you know, stay in a job. That's easy, you know, just go through the motions. But inside, we're meant to do more than just go through the motions. So how can you push the edge? Experience. Experience things, explore things. So it's really live. Your June is like, you have your own way of living your way, and I have my way. But you're going to make your imprint your way if you step into your greatness and push your potential. And you have to. You have to get uncomfortable, you know?

Yeah. Gosh. You know, I even think about. I was telling someone recently, sort of the origin story of. Of Gemba Academy. You know, we started a company in March of 2009. If you look back on the S&P 500, there had been better times in our world's economy than the bottom of 2009. In March, you know, it was really bad. And I had a good job, you know, nice job, corporate job, and I love the work and all the rest of it. And here I was thinking about potentially leaving that to go make videos. And my wife is kind of like, what's going on here? You know, and. And I remember, you know, speaking up. I mean, I'm a man of faith, and, you know, I remember just really just sitting there thinking about it and. And praying about it and. And. And just in. In quiet, it was just me inside of this giant church, actually. It was just me, no one else. And I could just hear water trickling and whatnot. And. And I remember it's not like God said, go start Gemba Academy. It wasn't anything like that, you know, but I. I did feel this. This sense of peace, you know, that it was gonna be okay. And so, gosh, what you just said really reminded me of that moment because that was a big, big deal, you know, Like, I didn't quit my job right away. You know, we built the company on the side a little bit, but, boy, it was. It was. Some people would Say gutsy to do.

What I did, you know, like, I mean that's amazing. And to think if you didn't do it, like, think back now you're 20, 22, that's 13 years later. If you didn't take that leap of faith and that instinct to do it even, even when I started golf. I'll quick share a story similar is I, you know, I just did it. My two guys told me I was good. One day that summer I take it up. I'm teaching in Harlem and I went after two months of playing, I still had no idea what I was doing. And I said to the guy that was helping me, John Carter, I said, you know, my dad is willing to let me try for a year and go after this. Do you think I have talent? And he goes, golf Harlem. Like he raises his hands like, he goes, if you do not do this, you're gonna kick yourself in 10 years. And it's not that I made it. It's the journey of taking that step and what we learn from it, it's. It's the learning of who we are to be stronger. We're always going to learn through the struggle.

Yeah.

So I love it. Thanks for sharing your story.

Oh yeah, no problem. No problem. So I mean I want to keep, keep on this, living into your June. I mean like from a leadership perspective, like can you maybe give an example of a leader or two or three, I don't care. That are actually doing this and doing it well, it might not even be somebody we all know.

And now I forget the guy's name but the guy I just did a. I wrote about the CEO of LinkedIn. I forget his name but how he lives with compassion and really learning about the people who work for him. It's not about dictating. You know, I, even when I go in to companies and they kind of like a curious of what I do and then when they actually I'm in there sometimes it's like, it's interesting because I. Everybody has their values and their missions in their company. Right. But do they really live it from the top down? Yeah, that's to me, like to me that is the question as a leader you need to answer because are you living not just in the community of your company but also like across the board?

Yeah.

With your marriage, with your family. Like do you value how you operate across the board? To me that's a leader. So it's not just like do you make money? How do you, how do you hold trickle down to affect others? Because you Operate a certain way that, to me, is someone living into their June and willing to be vulnerable and willing to take risks and knowing it's okay. And they're setting the example for the people under, you know, not underneath them, but the people they're meeting.

Sure, sure. Love it. Love it. Yeah. What about ethos? Kind of like when you think about. Think about, because I know that you're also passionate about that, like, finding your own ethos and figuring out how you're going to leverage that to impact the world. What's your thoughts on that?

So my thoughts are I'm deep in it because I'm building a product finally, after all these years. Like, I've taught it. I've taught it, I've taught it, finally building it. So now I'm deep into it. So ethos, to me, is like our foundation. I don't think what is it just.

In case people aren't familiar with it.

It's clarity of who you are, who you are and what you want. And so to me, goes back to almost the story of when I failed in cue school. My guiding principle is more like, I'm going to, like, if. If something doesn't feel good about. About going into, let's say, one of my coaches doesn't feel good, like, and not aligned with who I am, and he doesn't believe the things I was. Like, my belief was, maybe I won't make it to the LPGA and I'll meet someone that will take me down. A way to help people. So, like, you have to, like, really get clear with your character, your values, the guiding principles. Like, and you have to say it in a less like. So my guiding principles are, and it took me a long time to figure it, and it's still evolving, is disrupt my norm. Whenever I get flat, like, kind of compliant, just, I'm gonna, like, chill out. And it's like, time goes by, maybe a month goes by, and I feel a little too comfortable. It's like something's off. Like, I'm not doing. I'm not pushing my edge. So disrupt my norm. Like, explore, instigate my soul so I find out who I am, who my best self is so I can help others. And it's really coming down to, like, a really short version, like, less than 25 words. A philosophy, a guiding principle, a compass to say, hey, I want to go get a drink tonight. But yet I have a big event I have to do tomorrow. Probably not a good choice, right? It's like getting clear with those choices. Even friends, employees, like, who's on your team that. That sees you and maybe believes in you, but we don't have the answers. But they're still gonna, you know, cheer you on.

Right.

It's really getting clear. It doesn't mean. Also, like, you know, most. My family don't really get what I do. That's reality. Like, they. They love me, but they don't really understand what I do, and I can't make them. So I have to know who my people are that believe in me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So this. The.

The.

The modes of persuasion or rhetoric, you know, ethos, pathos, logos, they. They. I am really drawn to them and so interested in studying them. So, like, pathos is one that's also.

Yes.

Super interesting. Like, what about that? Like, how do you. Do you, like, think about that? And you're. When you're trying to, you know, if you will persuade others or influence others in a. In a positive way.

So in a sense of. Give me an example of how you use pathos, like, in your.

Well, I mean, it could just be like, oh, look at this cute puppy.

You know?

You know, and just trying to appeal to their, you know, or. My kids are the best at it. You know, like, if you really love me, you'd get me the iPhone 13 Pro.

But again, it goes back to like, what is it that you want? And who are you?

Yeah.

And all that language, all that, the way you interact and connect with other people comes from that space.

Yeah.

And. And I really believe when you are clear with who you are, you actually have more empathy, more compassion, because it's not so much you're not looking outside of you to fight to. Like, it all comes anytime there's trial or things. It could be in a company when you have issues. Even as a leader, to me, I've had struggle, like, building my company. It's only been six years, and I've had people come in and out. It comes from me. So even if someone's not doing what I wish they would do, I got to look. How am I leading? But yeah, so it always comes for me. And if you. Most people want to look out, blame or manipulate or especially as leaders, like, I mean, I work for a lot of people in the golf industry that, you know, they were the rulers and then underneath. So part of it is learning who you are so you can actually, like, communicate that to other people so they actually understand who you are so they can support who you are, and then you can actually see who's for you and who's. Who doesn't get you. And that's okay. It doesn't mean they're bad people. It's just they're not your people.

Yeah. You seem like a very intentional person. I mean, maybe perhaps from your athletic background, you have to be pretty intentional, right, to be a top athlete. So, like, in your perspective, maybe from a business perspective or in the business world, like, how does one lead? With intention.

Oh, it's so funny. So I have a. It's called be intentional challenge because I really believe the best leaders, they start their day with intention before they are interaction with other people. They clearly know what they want, who they. How they want to be. They want. They know how they want to connect. They know how they want to stretch themselves or their company. And they also know, like, it starts in the morning. That's. That's. That's the bottom line. To me, it's intentional of going back to who you want to be, whether you're a leader, a mom. We're all leaders, you know, we're all leaders.

Yeah.

A coach of a sport. It doesn't matter. We're all interacting with other people, that we have to set the tone. And if you don't set the tone, you're just rolling out of bed and showing up, getting a cup of coffee and then going to work. And you think you're going to perform.

Yeah.

As a leader or a team, teammate, whatever. Parent. I'm not saying you're not doing a good job, but you can do better.

Yeah.

I mean, intention is everything. Like, I just an example I just had Covid probably three weeks ago, pretty bad for two weeks. I'm signed up for this event in August. It's called 29029, where you actually climb a mountain, take a gondola down, and you're climbing the height of Everest.

Oh, wow.

Yes. So I'm a little behind the eight ball because I couldn't move for two weeks, actually three. And I just started, and I'm like, my intention is I'm gonna do the best I can. And that's just like, some things, we have to be adaptable. It's not perfect. I almost quit. I almost pulled myself out. In reality, I almost said, I'm not gonna do it. And then I was like, that's not me. I'm just gonna give my. Do what I can. This is. And I got to adapt to the situation. And I've got my daughter here, no school. I'm moving down to Florida. So my adapting intentional is I got to get up at 5, get my workout in and do what I need to do to get everything done. It's intention again, the more it really starts to me in the PM in your day, you know, PM is more important than. Because that sets the tone for the aim.

Yeah. And for me like in within our, our look, our community, this lean community that most of the listeners are kind of following, we're real big on something called leader standard work. So it's like literally planning out sort of like sometimes, not necessarily like 15 minute increments but you know, for sure big chunks. Like what are the three most important things you want to accomplish today? Or you know, like I do have my day pretty regimented. Like I know exactly what I'm doing at 2:30 today. Right. And because I plan it, it's intentional and then it doesn't always work out that way. But then we'll reflect at the end of the day on what actually happened and then what did we learn from that? Right.

So that's what we, I, I mean I really learned that in golf. Not for, so that was in my 30s is we always had reflection. You always had to like and also celebrate. A lot of times as business people we're constantly go, go, go, build, build, build. And actually like are you actually celebrating what you did well? Are you celebrating the people that were around you that did well? Yeah, I mean even me running my company sometimes you get so into doing the projects that you forget to like celebrate and acknowledge the people that have done hard work and done well. So like the reflection piece I think is so important to find the wins and also how you frame it is not, oh, you know, negativity, it's more about you finding the thing. How can I do better? What could I do? How could I connect better? That's why the intention is important. So you can reflect on what your intention, how you did.

Yeah.

So yeah.

Fantastic. So maybe as we wrap things up, Wendy, I'm wondering if you could maybe think about just some practical. I'm really, I'm always drawn and curious of folks that were high level athletes and now that are in the professional world. Like what, what kind of practical advice can you take from your days as an athlete? And you know, you've talked a lot already about some different things but I'm wondering if there's any other tips or thoughts that you could leave with folks who are perhaps, you know. Well, like you said, everyone's a leader of some site of some type of.

Well, I mean the biggest thing I just popped in my head right now but the Biggest thing is take in what you're good at. So if I'm good at like sport and I have to prep to get ready to whatever I'm doing right now to train right, why am I not doing that same thing when I have this insecure, I don't love video, I don't love. You know, why am I taking that same plan, Getting prepped, talking self talk, how to get into that. So when you find yourself, whoever's listening to find yourself like off or you don't like something, or you're vulnerable about getting in front of people and speaking. Think back of the things that you're good at and use that as tools to prep yourself because you never like. I always find it interesting when I used to teach golf, I mean, I was at high end golf course in Southampton, billionaires, and they would come and take a lesson and I'm like, how do you run a company? Like the way you're talking about this golf swing, they would come in and they would be so worried that they were going to hit it in the water or that they can't fix this. And I'm like, that is not how you run a business. Or that's not how you're running a new project. You're not presenting a new project going, I hope it works. You're going in like, I'm going to make this work. So you have to kind of like bring in the strengths that you have and how you operate in. Like whether it's like a mom that operates great, but then when she wants to lose weight, maybe not so good, or a guy that wants to lose weight, but yet he's the leader of a billionaire company. Like, okay, how do you operate there? Bring it over there.

Mm.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I think it's like seeing, seeing where your strengths are and how can you bring that same skill into something else.

Wonderful. Awesome. Well, Wendy, if someone wanted to, to connect with you, what's the, the best way? Social media website. What do you got?

So Instagram, LinkedIn. Instagram's @liveyour. Well, live your June. And then you can find Wendy Pacilico on Instagram. You can find me at LinkedIn, but if you want to email me for any questions or whatever, if you want to connect, it's WendyVyOurJune. And then our website, LiveYourJune. It's pretty simple.

Okay.

But yeah, I'm just really, I'm really passionate about leaders in every arena to live their imprint because it matters in the world, especially now. Right?

Yeah, for sure.

Thank you so much for having me, Ron.

You're welcome. All right, take care.

So fun.

Thanks for listening. Whether you've been on the continuous improvement journey for many years, or perhaps you're just getting started, Gemba Academy is here to support you. And while we're best known for our more than 1500 Lean and Six Sigma teachers and virtual tour videos, we also have a team of experienced Lean and Six Sigma practitioners available for one on one coaching, as well as a variety of Lean and Six Sigma certification options. To learn more and to schedule a demo, head on over to gembaacademy.com.