Episode 215: Winning at Business and Life with Dana Lawrence

This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.

Hey, Professor Pete, my name is Dana Lawrence. I'm super excited to be here. So my official title is Senior Director of Compliance and Internal Control, and I work for a financial services tech company called Aslo, and I'm responsible for the oversight of anything bad that could happen. So kind of from banking compliance to legal issues to data security, pretty much anything that potentially could go wrong, I'm thinking about it.

Well, Dana, it's a pleasure to have you on the show, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness, this next question is going to be an interesting one.

Ominous, right?

Exactly. So with that in mind, question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?

Okay, so as you may have guessed, compliance and risk management professionals don't always have the best reputation, and a lot of people you know, are a little scared off when I tell them what I do. However, I like to think of myself as more of a trusted advisor for the business, and I personally get a lot of satisfaction out of being there for my, my business leaders, helping them out, helping educate, and really thinking of risk management as a tool to further push the envelope and to help customers. And in a lot of ways, All of these different compliance things that I'm responsible for are really about protecting the consumer, protecting in the realm of financial services, ensuring that you are getting what is advertised, that it's not harmful to you, that it's not, you know, nothing's going to pop up, it's not going to be a scam. We pay a lot of attention to what consumers are saying and want to make sure essentially that we're doing the right thing for people. So fun, not sure if it's the right word. We have a lot of fun day to day. However, I think it's more of a satisfaction of really helping people and also helping the business be successful.

And I think that, that, as you say, the satisfaction, it brings a smile to your face because you're helping people. And the way that you describe it there, it made it very clear to me. So thank you for that.

And we do have fun. Yeah. Not to scare away. Potential people interested in the career path.

Good point. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?

I think companies should read the chapter on growth mindset versus fixed mindset. This is a concept that I learned about maybe 6 years ago, and I've been trying to incorporate it into the teams that I built and the organizations I'm present in. And you can go out and Google growth mindset. There's books written on it. There's all sorts of resources, but how I think about growth mindset is what do you do when you fail? Are you judged? Are you blamed? Are you shamed? Or do you view it as, hey, I now have more data. I now can learn and grow and, you know, become better from the situation. Another way to think of it is about kind of like giving people feedback? Um, is it something that's scary, or is it something that you're sharing because you really want that person to be better? So, um, I definitely would recommend learning about growth mindset for other business leaders.

That's a very wise suggestion. Thank you for that. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?

Sure. Well, I think those three are really good, so I like, like to start with that. However, or in addition to, I think business leaders should be mindful of the fact that we can't really give our full potential if we're not looking after our own well-being first. And again, I think this is something that I work on. You know, there might be days where I'm putting in quite a few hours, or, you know, the dishes are stacking up in the sink, and maybe self-care or stress management is not you know, the number one thing. But for me, and, and I think what I like to instill in my team, and also I would love to share with business leaders, is it's really like the analogy of putting your own— is it putting your, putting your own seatbelt on first or putting on your own air mask first? Um, and, and not thinking of that just as a metaphor, but really thinking of it as self-care isn't a nice-to-have. It's really taking care of yourself first so that you are strong and you can really give back to the communities that you're working in.

It is so wise because, as I, I've experienced myself, if you don't take care of yourself, let's say you get really sick, you know, most likely all you're going to want to do is lie in bed. And if all you can do is lie in bed, you're no good to your job, your company, your friends, your family, your kids, whatever. And so it's so important what you're saying to make sure that you, as you say, put the mask on yourself first before applying it to others. Yeah, it's very wise.

And I think our society still kind of wears a badge of honor of overwork. However, I really think we'll get more benefit and happier people and more well-being if we can focus on filling up our own tank first.

Very wise. Thank you for that. Question number 5. What other business leader like yourself would you you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?

All right, I have a couple people in mind. I hope that's okay.

Sure.

So my first person is someone named Gregory Rutledge. Um, he is out there doing thought leadership and coaching, um, helping people to envision their best lives and remove the obstacles and build confidence. Um, my second person is Kelly Paxton. She is a pink-collar crime expert. So if you want all the juicy scandals and dirt Committed by Female Fraudsters. She is a fascinating thought leader. She has her own podcast and she's a well-known public speaker. And then finally, I wanted to give a shout out to Amanda Jo Irwin. She is also a thought leader that I respect in the internal audit space, and she ties a lot of her own personal story into her work. So I'd love to see them on your show next.

Wonderful. Well, thank you for those referrals. I'll reach out to them. I appreciate that. And our final question, question number 6: Please tell me about your first job.

All right, so when I was thinking about this question, my very, very first job when I was a little kid was definitely yard work. My mom would get me out there pulling weeds. Um, I didn't even know weed killer existed until I was an adult because I was out there picking weeds by hand, and of course they grow back every every couple weeks. And then my actual job working out in the economy was I was a busser for a restaurant, and I worked every Saturday and Sunday and would clear people's tables and deal with dirty dishes. And I'd come home, um, smelling like food grease. You can't get that out of your clothes. Nope.

I know exactly what you're talking about. And I just remember you just gave me a great visual. Yeah, that's great.

But I was able to save up and buy buy a very modest used car, so it was well worth it.

Yep, that's good. That's looking at the silver lining. Well, Dana, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?

I would love for people to reach out to me on LinkedIn, and I think that's, that's probably the best way. Maybe we can share that.

Yep, we'll have your, your profile linked on the pro— on the, on the publication, so Great. That works perfect. And this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.