EP 15 Living Your Authentic Self with Heather Pomerantz | Deep Work Out Loud
Julie Harris Oliver: Welcome to Deep Work Out Loud, the thinking that fuels our life, our work, and our leadership. I'm Julie Harris Oliver. This is the podcast where I sit with another professional coach and we do some work around a single concept, a piece of inspiration, a topic we've been thinking about, something that's been coming up in our coaching, and if we're very lucky while we're talking about it, we might demonstrate what coaching might look and feel like,
what you might experience when you work with a coach, but we'll see how this goes. It's all an experiment. With any luck, you'll leave with something that you can apply and use in your work or your life, or both. Today I'm here with Heather Pomerantz with more than 25 years of experience as a senior finance executive, including serving as CFO of a public company.
Heather brings a rare blend of operational expertise, strategic leadership, and personal insight into her work as an executive coach, her background spans management, consulting and corporate finance, where she led complex restructurings, developed high [00:01:00] performing teams, and navigating the challenges of balancing executive responsibilities with family life.
Known throughout her career as a trusted mentor and advisor, Heather is passionate about the science of high performance and the power of mindset. Her own journey, including completing eight marathons, raising a family, and leading through high stakes business transformations, has shaped her belief that human potential is limitless, and that mindset is a skill that can be developed to unlock that potential.
Today, Heather partners with senior leaders to build sustainable performance across all aspects of life, career, family, and self. Her coaching approach is deeply personal and grounded in connection, offering the safety and trust required to challenge assumptions, explore purpose, and spark meaningful change.
Heather is an a CC with the International Coaching Federation and a Hudson certified coach. Her coaching is rooted in the belief that performance and purpose are deeply intertwined when leaders align both, they unlock their [00:02:00] greatest potential to lead with clarity, resilience, and impact.
I'm telling you, this is the work the world needs right now. Hi, Heather. Welcome.
Heather Pomerantz: Hi, Julie. Thank you. Thank you for the intro.
Julie Harris Oliver: Is it weird to have your intro read in front of you? That's usually people's least favorite part.
Heather Pomerantz: yeah,
Julie Harris Oliver: Why don't you tell us what led you what led you into coaching?
Heather Pomerantz: yeah. So my journey, I think, as a coach started when I was eight years old actually. So there were many, many signs. And the first was when I was eight years old, sitting in the lobby of the apartment building that I lived in with Abe. And Abe was probably 85 at the time, and he would sit in the lobby and I would sit with him for hours just talking and listening and hearing his stories.
And I don't think I knew it at the time, but I'm pretty sure I was creating space for [00:03:00] him. To share and reflect. And I absolutely loved it. And I remember, I actually really vividly remember it, where, you know, you have these sort of vivid moments when you think back to your childhood. And the next moment was at summer camp.
I went to sleepaway camp my whole life, so ages 10 to 19. And I have also these memories of sitting and having one-on-one connection. With folks sitting under trees in nature, connecting, talking, sharing and lots of listening. And as I continued in my journey in life, I went to Penn. I didn't know what I wanted to study.
I tried everything. I did have a moment. I remember in the middle of campus looking at the buildings and thinking, I really wanna study psychology.
And I can remember, again, it's a vivid memory of standing by the psychology building on the main walk of campus, and then I pivoted. I went to Wharton. I studied finance and marketing.
[00:04:00] I, I did what, honestly, externally seemed right. And it, I didn't realize it at the time, but it was definitely an influence of being there on campus, what I thought I should do, what I thought maybe my family thought I should do. And that was the start of my achievement arc in life. And, you know, I was a competitive person.
I liked achievement, I liked, I loved business. So it wasn't that I wasn't pursuing something that I. Dis I wasn't particularly something I disliked, but it was certainly fast forward to where I am now. Not exactly what I wanted to be doing in life, but I had an amazing career. I, you know, I spent 20 years at Unilever.
I, like you said, I did some consulting upfront. And I loved the thrill of achievement. I loved the recognition I grew in my career fast. Unilever was an amazing place to have a career. And also what was amazing about Unilever was how they led with purpose. And it was my. [00:05:00] Real learning journey at Unilever.
Self discovery about, one, my passion for people and leadership. And I started to become that go-to mentor and really get known for my people leadership. But also I discovered through lots of workshops and self work that they offered us, that living your purpose in work and in life. Was going to make me a much, much better leader.
And so I had this moment in 2015, so 10 years ago where I went to Singapore through Unilever was for VPs newly promoted VPs. And I had just got promoted into my VP role and it was a week in Singapore to discover my purpose. And it had nothing to do with the business. It was all about really exploring through reflection, deep reflection and loss of just time to discover what really drove me.
And when I left at the end of the week, I had a purpose statement and. A big part of that purpose [00:06:00] statement was a metaphor of me sitting under that tree at summer camp and having one-on-one connection. So I kept on the career journey, I stayed in the achievement arc. I kept going, like you said, I, after I left Unilever became a CFO.
So I had two experiences as a CFO and I, I continue to be super passionate about the people side. And what I realized was I started to not feel comfortable. In my role and it was, I wasn't truly living, I would wake up in the morning and I thought, okay, I'm a CFO. I should read the Wall Street Journal.
And I didn't want to, I, I wanted to call my, I wanted to call my right hand guy. I talked to him. About everything that we were doing and the team and how he was doing and his development. That's what I wanted to be spending time on. And so fast forward to now, it's been two years but I, at the end of my second CFO role, I said, this is the time and I'm gonna do it.
And it's non-negotiable. I was, I at that point, I guess we'll probably talk about, how do you know when you're [00:07:00] living your purpose or being authentic? I was in physical pain to not do it. I had to do it. I told my husband, who was a amazing stay-at-home dad. I said, I'm doing this and it's gonna take a bit of time.
I, I told him six months, two years later, but but here I am and can't be happier.
Julie Harris Oliver: Do you think, and I'm sure we'll get into this, do you think it takes until you're in physical pain to make that change?
Heather Pomerantz: I hope not. I hope not. My immediate answer is no, because I think if you're open to understanding what brings you joy and spending time on it, which is hopefully what we'll get into here, what I'd love to share is being able to do that actually allows you to bring that into your life right away. And not have to wait. I waited and in part there are reality checks, right? There's. There's financial needs, there's family needs, there's things that can get in the way, but there's also external pressure. There's external pressure to be [00:08:00] successful, to have the title, to have the income level, right?
All those measures, which also can take you into a certain place. And I was an achiever. I since I was a kid, and so I did like that and I still am an achiever just in a different way.
Julie Harris Oliver: Okay, so name the thing we're gonna talk about today.
Heather Pomerantz: So the title I thought of was Living Your Authentic Self,
Julie Harris Oliver: does that mean?
Heather Pomerantz: and what it means is understanding what brings you joy, understanding your core values, and then living them and not waiting to live them. Understanding how aligned you are and then building strategies to actually bring that into your life every day.
Julie Harris Oliver: Where do you begin?
Heather Pomerantz: When I work with clients, where do I begin? Is that
Julie Harris Oliver: begin as a person to do that?
Heather Pomerantz: where do you begin? Step one is to understand. So it starts with a simple reflection on what are your [00:09:00] core values. And there's, if you look it up and, do a Google search on core values, you'll find a thousand different ways to identify your core values.
Tons of free tools, o online tools, and they'll put words up. And it does start with a simple list of words, right? And really just taking time to think about. Just by looking at the words, what are words that resonate with you that bring you a feeling inside that this is where you wanna be spending time, that this is important to you?
And it could start with, you might start with a list of 15, 30 words. And then it's taking time to really reflect and hone. And getting it down to a list of what I call and is called in general core values. And actually I was I was listening to the Brene Brown Adam Grant podcast that you we were talking about at one point.
And she says two, two core values is is where she pushes to because everything [00:10:00] else is. Reflected in that, I think is her point. I like five to seven. It, I think it allows for, some, open-mindedness, some variety. But I, you keeping it tight is important. So don't leave it at a list of 15 to 30 because then it's really hard to assess your alignment.
The second step is to define them because
Julie Harris Oliver: we go back? Can we go back to the values for a minute? Because I remember when someone asked me that, I think we were in class and you said something about core values, and I was like, what are you talking about? I never had done any of that work. Had no idea what it meant. I was like, how are you supposed to, so going through the words and then listening to how how Brene Brown and Adam Grant talked about it that day.
You can have your list of 30, but if you really start to discuss every single one, this matters because it'll get you to the next level because of this. Because it scoops up under this. And he went through an exercise of getting Brene, challenging Brene to get down to her two, and he [00:11:00] just kept asking why?
Then what happens? Then what happens? Until you got to the point of, because that's the only thing that matters.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah.
Julie Harris Oliver: when you get down to that, because that's the only thing that matters,
Heather Pomerantz: I would call that something different actually. I think when you get it down to that single essence of what really matters to you, it's your purpose.
Julie Harris Oliver: Okay.
Heather Pomerantz: And I, and I think there's a way through the process and, I offer this to clients of starting with that big list, honing it, defining it, but ultimately distilling it into your purpose.
And it's very powerful.
Julie Harris Oliver: Step two.
Heather Pomerantz: Step two is going back, so you have the list is to define them according to what it means to you.
You and I, for example, might both have freedom as a core value, but I might define that totally different than you in terms of how it shows up in my life and how I want it to show up in my life.
So taking the time to actually describe it, and it allows you also to, [00:12:00] I think, cluster, the words. And so bringing 'em really down to the core. Which, which is a way to simplify and really create meaning for yourself.
Julie Harris Oliver: Now I feel like I so jumped ahead of you and I jumped in before. It's funny you bring that up as an example 'cause freedom is a core value of mine. It might be fun to talk about what that means. What does that mean to you?
Heather Pomerantz: For me it's not in my purpose statement, the word freedom, if I was to define it for myself, would be to have. The flexibility to be able to be my true self and have the time to do all the things that I wanna be doing. So it's really about, I think of freedom as freedom to be me.
How about you?
Julie Harris Oliver: I had this whole list in my head until you said, free to be Freedom to Be Me. And then I was like, oh yeah, that's probably it. For me, the list of freedom is yes to do what I wanna do, to live where I wanna live, to have the flexibility I wanna have. And also there's a big element of, I don't wanna be told what to do.[00:13:00]
I don't wanna be restrained by social constructs or social conditioning or roles that people think I should have, especially as a woman. All of that bristles so much with me. So I think freedom to be my whole self with all of my ambition and dreams and wants and all of those things.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah. Yeah. And when you define it you're the step after just what does it mean to you is to put it in a statement of what are you doing? So when get it into that sort of, I am so with respect to freedom, I am. Doing X, Y, and Z and it really brings to life for you what it means. And then comes the next step,
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Heather Pomerantz: which
you're probably curious about,
Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah, I am. Go.
Heather Pomerantz: Is how aligned are you? are you living your core values? Are you spending time on them? And it's, so there's, different tools and methodologies out there. I, have my clients sort of rate on a scale one to five how aligned they are.
But the more important part is then to. Talk about what, describe what's happening, right? What, what are they doing, what's getting in the way? Or if they're super aligned, how are they what's showing up in that sense? And then, and then once you have that [00:16:00] view, it's about identifying what needs to shift in order to gain that alignment.
Julie Harris Oliver: I have a lot of noise in my head right now. Did you just illuminated something for me and at, there's gonna be really personal. Hearing myself how I aligned those those values of freedom and then recognizing in my first marriage how I was so pigeonholed into a gender role I did not want it, it illuminates a lot of things for me.
In the list of all the reasons I needed to get out that I hadn't, that hadn't been so clear to me before until you just said that. you for taking me on a learning journey as part of,
Heather Pomerantz: Beautiful.
Julie Harris Oliver: okay, next.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah, so the, so really the next piece is to figure out what, what needs to shift in order to get that alignment. Because once you are living your core values it should bring you joy. The goal is to live, a lot of times people say, what is coaching? What's the point?
And I just distill it into, I want my clients to live their best life [00:17:00] ever. And to me that means they're living fully with joy. One of the things that gets in the way is often is those with busy lives. And so they say, I wanna be doing all these things and I wanna be aligned to my core values, but I can't fit it in so I'll that in five years.
Or I'll do that 10 years when I retire. That's often how people think about spending time on things that bring them joy. Which makes me very sad.
Julie Harris Oliver: I'll do it once I show up my 401k once I get my kids through college. Once I have a client right now who's, once I get my kid grown up, then I'll face my life. Yeah. It's
Heather Pomerantz: yeah. It's very easy.
Julie Harris Oliver: so easy to put it off someday, but I think, especially right now, these times we're living in, we have no idea what someday is.
We have no idea how much time we have. I'll put forward. We know hardly anything right now.
Heather Pomerantz: I came up with a silly little sort of statement. But it's a [00:18:00] big part of how I think about life, which is why wait, integrate? And I said it with a client, on the fly. 'cause this was a client that I absolutely adore and. He had this big epiphany if he'll probably listen to this and he'll know that he was going to start.
And he was so excited. He actually, he and his wife had a conversation about it in 10 years time that they had all the plans. And I said, okay, now let's talk about today and how are we going to integrate? And at first he was deflated. The joy of contemplating the tenures out. Was bringing him so much joy and the idea of no, now really created anxiety at first because he immediately thought about I can't fit it in.
I work, seven to seven when I get home. Then it's my family. And then a little bit of, whatever, before bed.
Julie Harris Oliver: Or do I have to change my whole life right now [00:19:00] in order
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah. It's not realistic. All the thoughts and when we started to unpack it and look at some of the things he wanted to be spending time on and smaller bite-sized ways to integrate that.
It became much more realistic that there were ways to do that now. And sometimes people are in a job that, of course the job is defined for them and it has a set of roles, responsibilities and so they stay in that box. A lot of times I'm working with CFOs or financial leaders and they have a creative side to them.
That they feel they really can't integrate into the role. And I had a finance career and for me the big piece was really around people, right? People and connection and how do I do that in a big, impactful way? And ways that I did that was taking on, roles leading the mentoring program for the [00:20:00] organization or the diversity inclusion program.
And I was again, in an environment that encouraged. Encourage those types of things to be even happening in the workplace. But it really was a way for me to spend time on that very important core value that I had and fulfill that need while I was CF Oing doing that finance leadership.
So it's a different way of thinking about the, not the black and white and I have to stay in this box, but I could actually really create something. Different if I'm a little more open-minded
Julie Harris Oliver: And it can be small things and as Erin Winkler-McCue was talking about, it can be little experiments.
Heather Pomerantz: that I love that word.
Julie Harris Oliver: Try little things. I knew an executive who huge executive job, also a musician had a keyboard in his office. He spent his lunchtime playing the piano.
Heather Pomerantz: Amazing.
Julie Harris Oliver: And when you're saying the CFOs were super creative and artists, I thought, oh, they must be musicians 'cause of the math, music.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah, they are. [00:21:00] And and we talked about ways to even create space and time, when they're working at home to do that. There's something else that's even a couple different angles I wanna take this. But one is also for leaders, right? If you're leading a team. And and you're really trying to optimize the output of your team, the success of your team, the, the delivery is actually to take the time to get to know your people on a very personal level and understand their core values.
Going so far as to even doing a core values workshop or doing work in that space together. Because a lot of times leaders, someone comes into a job, the job has a job description, and that's what they're expected to do, and you as the leader are evaluating them against those sets of responsibilities.
And without any further exploration, you might miss a really big opportunity to reshuffle job roles and responsibilities [00:22:00] within job roles to better match what drives your team members. So imagine really understanding that, you have person X that's really into being super detailed and into the weeds of spreadsheets and analyzing data and all that.
Let's say they're in a more strategic role, a more, a role that requires a bit more innovation and creativity. And then on the flip side, you have somebody who, has the opposing skillset and without exploring, maybe they just ended up, they interviewed well, they have the experience, they got into those roles.
But you have a real opportunity, and it could even be that they stay in their same jobs, but you're just shuffling certain responsibilities around, so you're modifying the job description. It's an extremely powerful way to shift that person's job much more into, purpose, work, work that really feels good to them.
Julie Harris Oliver: And alignment. Yeah, I think you just made the case for why this is not like soft [00:23:00] woowoo stuff that is just taking you away from the core work. I think you just make the case why it's vital.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah. Match the skills, match the passions, really. One also creates connection, right? Taking the time to get someone to get to know people that work for you with you on a personal level. Taking time for that. It's a win-win, right? They feel the connection, they feel that you care. They're willing to be more vulnerable because of that.
And then you have this opportunity to optimize the work and improve business results. So I think it's a
Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah, and also improve retention, improve loyalty, improve people's effort for this company. Who cares about them? Win win.
Heather Pomerantz: Win-win. It's amazing.
Julie Harris Oliver: What else?
Heather Pomerantz: Something else that I think gets in the way is strengths versus values. Meaning you're really good at something, so therefore that's what you should do, versus. [00:24:00] Understanding what drives you and what brings you joy.
And that's what you should do.
I think there's a lot of confusion in society now, and I'll get into the why behind this of strengths. Versus core values and what really matters. And you see it as parents with kids. And your kids in their younger years start to show up that they're good at something.
Let's pick a sport, right? And so they start to get good at a sport. And you as a parent get excited for them that they're good at the sport, but then you start to really get a little over the top two involved and suddenly that kid that's really good at the sport as they, grow into their middle school and high school years is great.
At something and completely misaligned with what they wanna be doing because you didn't ask, or you didn't let them explore or you didn't, give them that sort of freedom. And I think in society we are getting into a bit of [00:25:00] group think where everybody's doing it, so that's okay. Like we can all just be those
Julie Harris Oliver: This is the path.
Heather Pomerantz: soccer moms on the side and my kid is good and right and all this stuff is happening.
But I do think that. You're born with, you're born with those core values. You're born with those things that really drive you and then, but then you're in a family. In a family system, which influences what's expected of you, right? It's influencing what you see you should be doing. So there's a bit of, should I should do this?
And then there's just expectations that are set in that family system. Then there's the school system, and the school system has a curriculum. And so that's also influencing like I said, you know me at Penn I was, it was like, what am I gonna be? I'll just, I'll do Wharton and business and right.
And but even earlier, the curriculum that's shaped for kids in elementary school and on is shaping what they're influenced in terms of their learning and how they express themselves.
Julie Harris Oliver: I've heard like by third grade you're on a path.[00:26:00]
Heather Pomerantz: yeah, I.
Julie Harris Oliver: You're on a track by third grade.
Heather Pomerantz: That's really scary.
Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah. Yeah. And there's many other influential things, right? There's your religion and expectations that are set there and then just society in general, right? The generation you're growing up in, the generation above you and the expectations they're setting.
It, I think there's an opportunity to, as you. Grow up and allow yourself to do this work is to go back to the essence of who you were as a kid. And really think about. And that's why this visual for me of age eight, Heather, sitting with Abe. And I remember vividly like where we sat, we like sat by the elevators.
'cause there was some chairs, it wasn't a big lobby. And I remember the feeling of, and I it's so vivid and yet it's, many decades ago, [00:27:00] we won't say how many, but many decades
Julie Harris Oliver: That's incredible. 'cause it, it is such a gift to listen to old people's stories.
And for you to do that as an 8-year-old, like that's unusual and also telling, I love that you harken back to that as the touchstone of, oh, I was on something. So do you ask people to think about what were you doing when you were eight or 10 or 12?
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah. Yeah. So when we do the values work, part of the process is I usually do a session around exploring. So after they've got their list of the 15, that first round we do a session which. Navigates into a variety of different moments in their life and different questions that help them to further reflect.
One, to make sure they're not missing anything, but also to start to prioritize. So things like, a peak moment in your life, like a really just like incredible peak moment. What were you doing? [00:28:00] Who were you with? How did you feel? And just really deep dive and they really get into.
The details of it. And usually what comes outta that is, oh wow, like I love adventure, or, I really love learning, or whatever that experience is. So that's a question. Must haves, like what are things that you, that are non-negotiables for you? And again, that as you dig into that, really it brings to life further sort of an understanding of self and therefore the core values.
So there's a, a set of questions that I use that allows you to dig deeper and figure that out as an, as a next step.
Julie Harris Oliver: It brings up so much. I have a client now who in, in doing that exercise, talking about that peak experience and then having a moment of that. There's such a gap between where I am right now and what that was,
What are the pieces that are missing there, [00:29:00] and then what do I need to do to creep back in that direction?
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah, absolutely.
Julie Harris Oliver: What are some of the questions you ask?
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah, so it's definitely that peak moment moments of incredible joy. So just really having them think about the, and a lot of people end up who are parents will say when my child was born, that. But again it's it's. That then leads to core values around family and, a lot of times brings a lot of deep reflection.
So the must hass, we talked about things that, that you don't, that you really don't like. So also reflecting the opposite, which just allows you to, things that frustrate you to having that opposing negative reflection of things that annoy you or bother you, it brings out therefore something that is important.
And so that's another one. It's usually just, 3, 4, 5 questions. 'cause they go pretty deep. The other thing that's really powerful in this work of just just to, to [00:30:00] pivot a little bit, is folks that are in transition, and especially in career transition. And are, in that job hunt, trying to figure out what next?
Understanding the core values in that moment is really powerful for two reasons. One is to really think about what type of culture you wanna be in. What, what type of workplace? And sometimes when you're in that job hunt phase of life or moment, you're, not that you're desperate, but sometimes you can get desperate.
It's like you just, you and you at times will allow for misalignment to your core values. You say, it'll be fine. I'll deal with it. It's okay.
Julie Harris Oliver: work it out. I need this job. I can do it.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah. I need the money. I need to take care of my family, and I'll be able to tolerate it. But it ends up obviously not favorable for that person. Every client I work with that's in a culture or an environment that is misaligned to their core values, they're not happy [00:31:00] and they're desperate to escape.
Julie Harris Oliver: It's so hard, but that, that, but that needing a job quickly is also a very real thing.
Heather Pomerantz: It is a very real thing. It is a very real thing. But I I'm working with a client and actually he just he's now in a role , but the other thing that he was realizing is that he was trying to show up when he was interviewing, how he thought they wanted to see him.
Julie Harris Oliver: Sure.
Heather Pomerantz: And in an hour long interview or even a day long of interviews, you could do that, right?
You can figure it out, navigate, okay, this is the culture and so this is how I should show up, right? And not only are you gonna end up in a culture that you're misaligned to and creates discomfort. Now they have met somebody who is not you.
And so imagine now you're entering this job in a place you're not comfortable and you now have to show up in a way that is not your authentic self back [00:32:00] to the title of today's talk.
So when you show up as your authentic self in the interview process, one, you're gonna do much better in the interview. 'cause you get to be you get to be you. So there's, there's no sort of facade that you're putting on.
Julie Harris Oliver: Oh, it's a lot of work to be
Heather Pomerantz: I.
Julie Harris Oliver: guessing what you think they want you to hear.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah. And the risk then is if they fall in love with this other person, you have to then be that person for the next years X years that you work there.
If you last that long, you probably won't, you probably burn out. And one of the things we haven't talked about is how do I know, like, how do I know if I'm being authentic and if I'm being my authentic self, if I'm living my core values? And the simple answer is you feel it in your body.
You will know physically somatically that you are absolutely just in flow. It just feels natural. You wanna be doing [00:33:00] it and you enjoy the process, not just the results. So when you're actually, doing the work and not just getting that recognition for this great, business result, but actually you're enjoying doing the work, that's when you know that you're aligned to your core values.
Julie Harris Oliver: How might you know when you're not aligned, if you're not particularly paying attention to your body?
Heather Pomerantz: If you're not paying attention, then I would encourage you to reflect and think about how you felt because it, it would show up if you're reflecting in the sense that you probably feel a lot of anxiety and stress in trying to do. This work that doesn't feel right to you, that doesn't feel good, or be in a culture that feels uncomfortable or be with people that aren't your people.
And so it will probably show up in this everyday sort of feeling of stress and anxiety because you're not really living your core values, you're not really [00:34:00] aligned. I'm not sure I answered your question
Julie Harris Oliver: No, you did. I was thinking about Sunday scaries,
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah.
Yeah. Sunday scaries, you're dreading, right?
Julie Harris Oliver: I was in a job once where long after we all left the job, I was talking to two or three different people and we all said the same thing, which is we would pull into the parking lot. We would have to sit, take a few deep breaths, like steal ourselves before walking into the building.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah.
Julie Harris Oliver: It was a moment in time that was so stressful and toxic and so many people were struggling and that's an indicator if you have to really gird your loins in the parking lot before you walk in to face whatever you're gonna face that day. I mean, that's an extreme example and it was obvious when I knew I was not in alignment.
But, , you know, that's not just how work is
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah, and you're probably like, you're probably having a lot of water cooler chats about how awful it is, or venting, at home to your partner [00:35:00] or family, and they see the stress and you're probably not doing your best work. It's most like, you know,
Julie Harris Oliver: and you're modeling to your children that work sucks and it's terrible to work. And that's I think if we can model to our children, like you can do purposeful, meaningful work in the world, what a joy, what a gift. I think that makes a big difference.
Heather Pomerantz: absolutely. You know, when I, , interviewed for, for Hudson with with Keith Naber and I remember he said, you know what? Why do you wanna do coaching? And my answer to him was, because I could do this all day every day. I just absolutely love it. It's all I wanna do. And I, and when I answered him I just felt it, I feel it fully all the time.
I just, I actually prefer to do it more than many things in my life. I prioritize it and just really love it.
Julie Harris Oliver: that's how you know.
Heather Pomerantz: That's how you know.
Julie Harris Oliver: [00:36:00] Is there anything I didn't ask you that I should have asked you? Time is flying.
Any conclusion you would leave us with?
Heather Pomerantz: The conclusion I would leave us with is give yourself the space to do the work.
Take the time because you don't have to wait 10 years. So it is something that you can start to live with joy, not live from fear. And really, like I said, just live your best life and do it every day and really integrate.
So don't wait. I integrate.
Julie Harris Oliver: how can people find you? Heather, I know you have a gorgeous website. Tell them how to find it.
Heather Pomerantz: Yeah, my website is heather Pomerantz.com so feel free to check it out. And all my contact information is there as well as on LinkedIn.
Julie Harris Oliver: Great. Thank you so much for doing this.
Heather Pomerantz: Thank you so much. This was fun. Appreciate it.
Julie Harris Oliver: This has been deep work out loud. I'm Julie Harris Oliver. I'd like to thank Heather Pomerantz for joining the podcast. If any of this resonates with you, please subscribe, leave [00:37:00] review at all the podcast places. And if you'd like to work with me, you can find me at julieharrisoliver.com.
Let me leave you with this invitation. What might it look like for you to do step one, Google, what's a list of values? And start going through them. Pick out 10, 15. Think about why. Why are these your values? What do they mean to you? Do that first step. Try some things, report back. Thanks for listening. See you next time.