In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts coach and former engineering leader Elizabeth Payne on the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Payne explains her passion for freedom and transformation, describing how coaching helps people move from unhappiness to a vibrant, purpose‑driven future. She emphasizes that effective leadership starts with feeling good emotionally—leading from the heart rather than the head—because a leader’s emotional state sets the tone for the entire team. Payne advises leaders to slow down, tune into their feelings, and avoid “bulldozing” through interactions, arguing that emotional alignment boosts impact and team morale. She recommends fellow coach David Marlowe as a podcast guest, shares the unexpected value of her first job as a bank teller in shaping wealth consciousness and relationship‑building skills, and provides her contact channels (LinkedIn, Instagram, website). The episode showcases practical, heart‑centered leadership insights for business leaders seeking personal and organizational transformation.
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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.
Hi, Professor Pete. Thank you for having me on the show today. I am Elizabeth Payne. I'm a coach and I am crazy about freedom, and I am here to remind you of who you are. Prior to coaching, I had a long career in engineering leadership.
Elizabeth, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
Best thing about being a coach for me is Transformation, seeing people's lives transform from they are unhappy and unfulfilled, they don't have clarity, they're not feeling good, seeing them go to a place of just having this beautiful future and living a life that absolutely lights them up, being excited to wake up every day and also seeing the impact that they are able to have on other people's lives whenever they they feel good, there is nothing honestly that is better than that.
Oh, I love that. And I love the passion in your voice. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the— what chapter would you think most companies should read?
I would say lead from your heart and not from your head.
I like that. I like that. Is— do you want to expand upon it a bit?
Yeah, I would go back to that piece that I talked about at the beginning where, how are you feeling? Do you feel good? That's actually the first thing that I work on with people, because if you're not feeling good, you are not able to be a successful, impactful, powerful leader. And I don't mean feeling good as in physically feeling good. I mean feeling good as in your heart and how connected you are to who you are and how you feel emotionally. There is actually, surprisingly, or maybe it won't surprise you, a common belief that leadership has to be hard, and a lot of people believe that leaders are just miserable. They're stressed all the time, they're suffocated by obligations, emotions, all kinds of things, and the truth Pete Alexander, is that there is growth and there is bumps along the way, but at your core you feel really good. And as a leader, your entire team will calibrate to you. They will follow your lead. So if you're feeling bad, they're likely not going to be enjoying life as much as they should. If you feel good, you give them permission to do the same.
I love that. It's so true because we follow our leaders. 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?
Yeah, I would say to kind of piggyback on that, lead from your heart and not from your head. Because I say that and people say, what do you mean? Leading from your head, Pete typically means that you are responding to triggers. You're responding instead of living throughout your day and staying tuned into what are you feeling and what is your heart wanting you to do. You're just responding, right? You're like, you're being emotionally driven. And the key with that is slowing down enough, which with leaders, it can be kind of hard to slow down Right? It's slowing down enough to tune into who am I? How do I feel? What am I projecting? What are other people calibrating to? You know, if you're bulldozing through your entire life, if you feel like you're bulldozing through every day, you might think other people don't notice, but they really do.
And that's a great metaphor to use, the bulldozing, because it gives a nice big picture of exactly That behavior is— I love it. Question number 5, what other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
You know, I love that question. I've never been asked that before, and I've met so many cool people, mostly through LinkedIn. There's so many connections, and I would love to nominate David Marlowe. He and I have fabulous conversations, and he would be an awesome guest.
Perfect. I'll reach out to David. I appreciate that, that referral. And our final question, question number 6, Please tell me about your first job.
Another good one that I've never been asked. My first job, I was a bank teller, and I actually look back on it and see the value in that job. I didn't see it so much then. I liked it, but I didn't see it then. You build so many relationships because as a bank teller, you see the same people every week and sometimes every day. And from a wealth consciousness standpoint, it really stretched my mind because you begin to see all of the things that people spend money on and all of the ways that they earn money. So it really stretches your mindset when it comes to how much abundance can you perceive in the world. I really appreciate that. Mm-hmm.
I like that too because the way you describe that gives people who, you know, have gone and worked with a teller at some time during their life, there really is a a lot more to the job than you might expect other than just having a cash drawer, for example.
Yeah, it is. It's more complex.
So Elizabeth, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Find me on LinkedIn. I am active. I also, on my LinkedIn profile, have my Instagram and my website.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
