Overcome Your Villians with International Best Selling Author, Heather Monahan
Today, I am blessed to be joined by Heather Monahan.
Heather Monahan is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and founder of Boss In Heels. Having successfully climbed the corporate ladder for nearly 20 years, Heather Monahan is one of the few women to break the glass ceiling and claim her spot in the C-suite. As a Chief Revenue Officer in Media, Heather Monahan is a Glass Ceiling Award winner, named one of the most Influential Women in Radio in 2017, and Thrive Global named her a Limit Breaking Female Founder in 2018.
Heather’s book Confidence Creator shot to #1 on Amazon’s Business Biographies and Business Motivation lists the first week it debuted on Amazon. Heather is a confidence expert and is currently working with Fortune 500 companies and professional sports to develop confidence in the workplace and on the court. She’s also a member of Florida International University’s Advisory Council to further serve as a mentor and leader in the South Florida Community. Heather and her son Dylan reside in Miami.
“You're the only person that's either going to hold yourself back or propel yourself forward" – Heather Monahan
Highlights
💫 2:08 A little about Heather's career journey
💫 7:24 Why you should always say yes to new opportunities
💫 10:17 Some advice for pushing past limiting beliefs
💫 16:20 Three Takeaway's from today's conversation
Let's Connect!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellecobo/
DREAM JOB FB Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2826110370979215/
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts
"Danielle is so Uplifting." <-- If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more women -- just like you -- accelerate their career. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dream-job-with-danielle-cobo/id1571797640
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. I’m adding a bunch of special release episodes and, if you’re not following, there’s a chance you may miss out. Follow now!
Navigating Through Uncertainties in Life
You've had so many moments in your life where you have overcome adversity, and you've continued to pivot. And the theme that I continue to hear through your journey is you said, Yes, you didn't always figure out what it was to take to get you there. But you just said, hey, why not? Let me go for this. And so what have you learned through that process?
When I sat and reflected upon all of these different challenges that I've had, there was a theme that came to mind, there was a repeatable process that I was subconsciously engaging in, I wasn't doing it strategically, I was just doing it. But when I sat down with a pen and piece of paper and said, Okay, you've got to be able to teach this to other people, because you keep doing it. And it wasn't again, it was to help me because it was really hard. When my speaking business disappeared, I was crying, I was freaking out. But I had to really act, go through these steps, these three processes, in order to break through that moment and get to the other side, not knowing what that was going to look like. So again, I was doing it to help other people, but I was also doing it for me. I was like, Wait, there's got to be an easier, more concrete way I can start managing this. And the more concrete I make it, the more I'll be able to take a breath. And the next time a pandemic comes or whatever it's going to be next, we know there's going to constantly be challenges and change. That is the one certainty we have other than death and taxes. So knowing that it just made sense to me that we've got to for myself, and for others to figure out what is that repeatable process so that we can all go ahead and have a little bit of certainty within ourselves.
You know, there are so many parallels than what really resonated about your career journey. And your story is, the parallels of, you know, my mom kidnapped me when I was two years old. And I was raised by a mother and, and just that journey of what I was raised to be, you know, not financially sound and how that motivated me to step into sales and to exceed and continue to go through things. And sometimes you don't always know how you get there. And when you're able to really identify what that is, that's when you get, to replicate it in all areas of your life. And so I think that's such a valuable story. And what people get to learn from your book is, okay, what's working? And how do I get to continue to do this every way in my life? Because we know that there are going to be challenges that continue to come to life is not easy. There are definitely things we can kind of do continue to come over or overcome so and what are some of the ways you know, you've talked also about some of the challenges in your career and you've always shown it authentic, as to what's brought you here today. So is there any kind of like examples that you can give not only where you've said with a pandemic, but what else are some examples where you really had to overcome something, break that glass ceiling, and I would say speed-looking to confidence because I hear a lot of women, and most women I work with say, I don't have industry experience, or I'm too old, or I'm too young, or I don't have those skill sets. But you've continued to just say, no, no, we're gonna shift that mine, and we're gonna go for it.
No, here's the thing, you're the only person that's going to hold yourself back or propel yourself forward. That's the bottom line, right? So I'm a big fan of, I'm not gonna let someone else tell me what my potential is. Now, for the majority of my career, everyone was trying to tell me what my potential was, you know, go in this lane, and don't leave this lane. And this is what you're meant to do. And, don't ask for too much. And you should be grateful to be in the position you're in. No, they should be grateful. I'm here driving their revenue. I decided to see it. I decided to shift my perspective, which ultimately shifts everything else. And I decided to tune out the noise around me. And anytime in my life, when I look back on my career where I made bold moves and went for big things – which I look back and see now but when I was doing it, it didn't seem that big at the time, or I seem like, Oh, this is kind of scary. I don't know how it's going to turn out. But oh, well, I'll figure it out – when I look back, and one of those times was when I pitched myself for a job that didn't exist, everyone was telling me, no, no, you can't do that. Heather, that doesn't exist, you can't go for something that isn't real. That doesn't make any sense. You're wasting your time. Do you think you're the first person that ever thought of this? That's crazy. So a lot of times, and I've done this as well, you hear all these voices? And you say, oh, okay, I guess it’s a bad idea. But for whatever reason, I decided to listen to the one voice that really matters, which is your own; only you can determine what is potentially available to you.
And back then I remember I didn't have a child, which means you have a lot of flexibility. When you have a child, I remember thinking, if they don't give me this job, then they're not the kind of people I want to work with. They are not visionaries, they are not going to grow. And I want to align myself with like-minded people that are willing to push the limit, willing to go for a risk willing to go for more. And so back then, I had an ability to move if I wanted to. So I decided if I go for it, and this guy says no, I just go get another job. And I leave, I move. So it was really simple to me in that idea. I didn't get caught up in what everyone else told me was going to happen. And thank goodness, I didn't because I learned a big lesson through this.
Overcoming Your Villains and Creating Opportunities
Number one, always put yourself in the other person's shoes before you go into a pitch. So for me again, I've been in sales for a really long time I knew to do this, in my mind. And on a piece of paper, I broke down the person I was going to a pitch to. I knew all of his fears. For the most part, right? I knew the things that he was focused on, the things he didn't like. And I decided to see my pitch and presentation through his lens. And you always want to do this. I don't care what you're asking for I did this when I went to HarperCollins and pitch my book. I do this with anything I'm pitching – I see everything through their eyes, and then answer their objections ahead of time so that you are prepared to overcome whatever challenge in the moment. And so I had done that exercise. I knew the things he hated. He hated change. He hated risk. He didn't want to work hard. He wanted things easier for him. He wanted to drive revenue and value for our shareholders, but he didn't know how. So I saw everything through his lens. And I went into the pitch and presented it that way. And I gave a great pitch. And in the end, he said no. And I said, Okay, well, I completely disagree with you. I need to get back to work because I knew I was going to start calling for another job. Now I was just gonna leave. And so I remember going back to work, I started dialing for dollars. And I found another job that was a great job offer back in Boston. I was now in Naples, Florida. And I was and I was going to take it and I called him and I said hey, it was two weeks later our first meeting. I said to follow up on our prior meeting. Have you decided to greenlight that position I pitched you on? He said, No, I haven't. I said, Well, then I'm actually calling today to give my resignation. And he said, Well, wait a minute, meet me for lunch. And anytime you want to convince someone of something you want to be face to face with them, right? He did not want me to leave.
So he wanted to see me face to face, very smart. And I went to the meeting, it was the right thing to do. I sat across from him and he said, I really want to get clear on what are you talking about. I said, Well if you're not going to move forward with this, this isn't the right opportunity for me. I'm worth something bigger, I'm going to go find bigger somewhere else. And he said, Hold on and he left the restaurant. He was gone for maybe five minutes and he came back and he said, I'd like to offer you the newly created position of VP of sales. And I said let me ask you something. Where did you just go? And he said, I just went to call my father I couldn't make that decision on my own. So I learned such an incredible lesson that day that you can never take a no from someone who can give you a yes. And that man saying no to me, even though he couldn't say yes to me, he was stopping the road blocking me from getting to that ultimate decision-maker. So it was a great lesson that I have not made that mistake. Again, I always qualify, who needs to be present to make decisions. And I encourage everybody to do the same, because that could have completely changed where my business trajectory would have led.
That's such an incredible story. Because you saw the gap, you saw the opportunity within the organization. And instead of just saying, I see it but I'm not going to do anything about it. You said, Okay, here's the opportunity, here's where I can provide value. and you knew what value you could bring to that position, and you presented it, and what's the worst that could happen? They could say no, but you really need to continue to push through and say, no, this is why you need this position. And this is why you need me. And it always goes down to, when you believe in yourself, others will believe in you as well knowing your worth and knowing your value.
