How do you define success at work? Do you feel like your voice is heard and your contributions are recognized and valued? Do you feel connected to a sense of purpose at work? If you work for (or lead) an organization in any capacity, this episode is for you.

In this episode I talk with Julia Armet. Julia is an executive leadership coach and consultant who values love and connection. She was diagnosed with autism a few years ago. We discuss her diagnosis, what it's meant to her, and how it impacts how she works and views the world. We also discuss how she helps people feel more connected at work and facilitates the process of bringing a sense of humanity and purpose to the workplace.  

You can learn more about Julia by visiting her website:

https://higherplaybook.com/

 

Transcript

Karin: This is Love is Us: Exploring relationships and how we connect. I'm your host, Karin Calde. I'll talk with people about how we can strengthen our relationships, explore who we are in those relationships, and experience a greater sense of love and connection with those around us, including ourselves. I have a PhD in Clinical Psychology, practiced as a psychologist resident, and after diving into my own healing work, I went back to school and became a coach, helping individuals and couples with their relationships and personal growth. If you want to experience more love in your life and contribute to healing the disconnect so prevalent in our world today, you're in the right place. Welcome to Love is Us.

Hello, everyone! When I first thought about interviewing today's guest, I wanted to have her on to talk about love and connection in the workplace and how businesses these days, or at least some of them, are evolving and understanding that their most important resource is their people. And then, as we talked about our vision for this episode some weeks ago, the plan for it expanded in a way that I think enriches the conversation that we were already planning on having because she is autistic. And that added what I think is an important dimension to the conversation. I also ended up moving up this episode in the queue because I interviewed her just a few weeks ago, and April just happens to be Autism Awareness Month.

So my guest today is Julia Armet, of Higher Playbook, and the reason I wanted to talk to her about this subject is because I really admire her and the unique perspective that she brings. She and I both trained at the same coaching school, iPEC, and then we had the chance to meet at a coaching webinar that she led some months back, and we just connected. And I love that we connected so well because I tend to think of coaches as working in kind of two different worlds: business, and everything else, which is I don't know, which is just something I made up for some reason because there's certainly a lot of overlap. And I have done some work in the business world as a coach, and before I started coaching. But anyway, there is this interesting overlap in what we do, given how we both focus on relationships, but just in different contexts.

So today we're going to talk about Julia's fairly recent diagnosis of autism and how validating and life changing it was for her to get that diagnosis, and then also how being autistic benefits and influences her work. We then talk about her work with individuals and teams in the corporate world and the ripple effect it has on our communities.

One of my favorite parts of our conversation is toward the end when Julia talks about redefining success and what she calls impact accounting, a term I hadn't heard of before. But is success all about money, or can it be more than that? And what is a business's role in the world? Can it be a force for good? And then we talk about how it all starts with people.

In Julia's email signature line, she has this quote by Brene Brown that says, if we want to reignite innovation and passion, we have to rehumanize work. That says a lot about Julia's approach. I hope you enjoy today's episode, and if you do, I hope you'll share it and leave me a review. Here we go.

Welcome, Julia.

[03:50] Julia: Hi.

[03:52] Karin: It's nice to have you here. Thanks for joining me. We talked a little bit about this already before we hit the record button, but the standard question I usually open with is, where are you in the world? And you felt like that might not be as relevant for you right now, and that there was a more important question for you, which you said that you recently left New York after being there for quite some time, and that those reasons were really pretty important for who you are. So perhaps you can tell us a.

[04:30] Julia: Little bit about that. Yeah. Thank you, first off, for just inspiring me with that question of where I am in the world, because I really started to consider where am I at? And that's more like an internal place. My decision to leave New York had a lot to do with just reconnecting to that internal place. I lived in New York from the age of 17 to 32, and that was a chapter of both professional development and also discovering who I was. And I feel like a big part of my identity became being a New Yorker. And so when COVID hit and things changed a bit, and I started to really look inwardly and ask myself some of those big existential questions that I think many people ask themselves who am I? Why am I here? Where am I really creating that center of gravity? I recognize that I didn't want to be in New York anymore, and yet I didn't know where. I didn't know that place. And discovering that sense of place within myself has been just a journey ever since I left New York two years ago. It's taken me to different places. I've spent some time out in California. I've also spent some time down in Florida. And I've really taken the space to recognize that wherever I go, there I am. And the stronger that self knowingness has become, I think, has a lot to do with the reality that I broke the routine and I opened up that space to discover.

[06:15] Karin: And breaking that routine can be such a hard obstacle, can it?

[06:23] Julia: Yeah, it's one of those things where to even see it and realize, wow, I've been seeing my routine almost like a crutch and almost coming from that awareness to say, this is potentially a barrier to my growth. How can I very consciously disrupt my routine and in the process, allow myself to just go deeper. And it wasn't easy. It definitely was a journey over these past two years of really discovering myself. And in the process, I've received an autism diagnosis. I've really let go of just a lot of the expectations that I carried around lifestyle. And that permission, I feel like, is so important, especially if you reach a point of stagnancy in your life and you really have that ping of what else? What more who am I? I listen to it and I'm really feeling much more grounded and much more connected to myself. Very embodied.

[07:37] Karin: That's so interesting that letting go of something that you felt really defined you for so long helped you connect to you yeah. More deeply. Is there any place that's calling to you right now feel like a place.

[07:56] Julia: Where I feel connected and I feel like having it be not a destination so much as feeling an essence. That's what I'm honoring. So as I go places and I am just measuring that and saying, how connected do I feel? I am open. And I feel as though the opportunities where I am experiencing connection are guiding me. And I feel also that flexibility and just the ability to live in various places is important to me. Being able to experience different cities and experience different cultures, that's emerged as a priority for me. So I'm definitely traveling and really open to potentially not even signing a lease. But more so, going and experiencing lots.

[08:51] Karin: Of different places and experiencing different places, I'm sure it's opening you up to different kinds of people as well. And what an opportunity to grow in that way through our relationships with other people.

[09:08] Julia: Totally agree. Interestingly people and culture. That's a major throughline of my life. And I've always had that fascination with people and interest in culture. And I feel like it's rooted in just kind of always being a part of and apart from. And that dichotomy of being a part of and apart from kind of drew my fascination into, well, how do people operate? And even understanding the cross cultural intersections that exist within our interactions. That's been at the forefront of my mind for a long time. And now that we're at a point within, especially our business landscape where we're talking more about dei, it's amazing to be able to bring that lens, which is just by virtue of who I am intersectional, to then acknowledge the various intersections that we as people bring by virtue of the various cultures that we come from.

[10:07] Karin: Yeah. And I will. I'll just say, for people who don't know, dei is diversity, equity and inclusion and has become, I think, an increasingly valued part of the workplace. And people are recognizing how important it is to put a lot of emphasis on dei. And so you're talking about this being a part of and apart from this sense of kind of being both and so it sounds like that is part of how you've experienced the world as being someone who's neurodivergent. Is that right?

[10:48] Julia: It's just my natural instinct of walking into a space and assessing, okay, how are we the same? How are we different? And I never understood why. And the answer of, you're neurodivergent definitely allowed for me to better understand why. That's where my vantage point has always been and to validate that experience of being a part of and apart from to realize that women in particular are the underrepresented group of neurodivergent people. So just to realize that a lot of the time women don't receive diagnoses until adulthood was super validating for me. And I feel extremely passionate about just bringing visibility to the way our brains work, because that's such a source of how we can then connect. And when it comes to love, and when it comes to being able to connect to humanity, understanding is a powerful place to start. And that, for me, began with the self understanding, which I'm very, very grateful for. And I hope that I can be a source of inspiration for people who are listening, who start to recognize potentially the differences that describe who they are. So it's something that I feel very passionate about talking about.

[12:23] Karin: Yeah. And it is, I think, really important for people to recognize that autism in men and women can look very different. And it's been the DSM is a diagnostic manual that psychiatrists psychologists use to diagnose people. And so much of that is based on men and boys. And so I think women have often been left out and left not knowing or understanding what's going on with them. And so that can be a real struggle.

[13:03] Julia: Not seeing and not having representation was a big part of why it took so long for me to receive those existential answers. And when I read a book by Janeira Nurenberg called Divergent Mind, and she began to speak on just the way autism presents in girls, and I said, feels like me. And that gave way to more conversations. And when I was finally able to go through psychological assessment, which for me was a very healing experience, it felt like the validation of a lifetime to then have someone in the respected field of medicine mirror back to me my reality after living so long of not understanding why? Who am I? Those questions that I feel like can really cause that internal dissonance. And so self love, self understanding, self compassion, all of those things are possible because I've integrated aspects of myself that I think for so long I couldn't even articulate because I didn't have the vocabulary.

[14:22] Karin: Yeah. How do you think that being autistic affects how you view the world?

[14:33] Julia: It's one of those questions that's very meta for me because I only know what I see, I only know what I experience. So starting to think about thinking and thinking about socializing, my sensitivity, I feel like, is a major cornerstone of my experience. And I speak on it to reframe it, knowing that the heightened senses that I have by virtue of my neurotype are what allow me to essentially see things that other people don't see, feel things that other people don't feel. And that's been what I've leaned on throughout my professional career in leading teams, building connections, facilitating team building. All of the things that I know are reflections of how I think and how I connect socially. But by looking at my life and realizing that the social interactions that I've had and the ways that I communicate have often received feedback of wow, you're unique, you're different. That mirror has been basically shined for a long time and not necessarily knowing, well, why am I different? Or what makes me unique? That was a big part of why I kept looking for answers. And I know that there are always more answers. But at this point in time I recognize that having just the frame of autism allows me to bridge sometimes those relational gaps or misunderstandings and it also allows for me to have that. I see it as an edge of being able to enter into a space and say well, I pick up on things that potentially other people don't pick up on. Would you be open to hearing? And so I'm definitely harnessing that in my conversations with people as a way of disrupting consciousness and really being able to contribute in a way that feels authentic to me.

[16:44] Karin: And it's interesting, I see you as someone who is almost bicultural. I hope I'm not disrespecting anyone by saying that. But what I mean is that you've had to learn how to function in a world that's a little bit different from how you function and think. And then you get to bring your unique gifts and then be able to kind of walk in both worlds, it seems.

[17:16] Julia: Thank you for acknowledging that. I'm going to take it up a notch. I'm going to say multicultural because I feel like being able to see through so many lenses has been I feel why in my life I've been able to immerse myself in various cultural experiences and just being on the internet and seeing how the law of attraction plays out. I definitely have experienced global resonance and global relationships because of just that openness to understand, which is largely due to laws of time. The world didn't always make sense to me and the things that I feel like sometimes are easy to understand for others. I've always had this interest at really getting to the core of well, why? And if my motivational wiring is somewhat different in that I have an interest based nervous system. To be able to understand the motivations of others has guided me a lot and I think cultivated the level of non judgment that I bring into both my personal life and my professional life.

[18:22] Karin: You say interest based nervous system. That's something that I've never heard of before. Tell us what you mean by that.

[18:31] Julia: Yeah, so everyone as far as our nervous systems are wired by virtue of whether it's our values or our interest. And so as a neurodivergent person, I'm activated by things that interest me. My motivation or energy is directed where my interests are for, let's say more commonly, people are values motivated in that if you know your values, you'll be motivated. So let's break it down in the business sense. In the business world, somebody has, let's say, a salary and they value stability or they value to be able to care for their family. Of course a salary would be motivating for them. For me, it's really important that I am interested and invested in where I'm working. So to think about what motivates me most, it's really learning about people. It's really understanding the ways that we can innovate. It's understanding the factors that influence certain outcomes. It's just interesting how I notice how my life has been very much guided by my interests and now have that understanding of having an interest based nervous system to basically validate those experiences.

[20:11] Karin: And the thing that came up for me as you were talking is that you debunk a lot of myths, I think, about autism. I think that a lot of people have this view of autism as these people who are really disconnected from people, can't understand other people's points of view and want to spend time alone in their room on electronics. And I feel like you're showing the world that that's not necessarily true. I know that your values are love and connection, which are mine. And relationships are so important to you and seem to be at the heart of your work.

[21:00] Julia: Relationships are very much at the heart of my work. And my career has been really facilitating relationships. The breakdown of communication is the aspect of misunderstanding that I feel is important to just bring up. Because sometimes when we are thinking about autism and even a word like empathy, there's misunderstanding around. The expression of empathy cross culturally is really where those myths come from. And so if we think about a term like the double empathy problem, which basically explains how we have two people communicating cross culturally and they're having breakdowns of communication happening, because autistic people display empathy potentially differently than alistic. People. It makes it so that there's often instances of seeing the other person as not this versus recognizing the diversity of empathy or the diversity of expression and being able to say, wow, this person conveys love or connection this way. And just knowing that and being able to invite the multiplicity of expression into different spaces is why I feel like I excel as a facilitator, because I'm aware that you can't always understand intention by virtue of presentation. And sometimes it is a matter of exposing people to various ways of self expression that invites their own curiosity to understand themselves.

[22:41] Karin: So it sounds like what's important is that we recognize that. Would you say holistic for non?

[22:49] Julia: Yeah, it's an expressionistic. You're distinguishing between the autism spectrum and then those who have more traditional cognitive functioning. The term alistic is the contrast to autistic.

[23:02] Karin: So allistic people tend to center their own experiences and say this is normal and this is the right way to do it right. And that can be very othering to those who simply just have a different way of experiencing the world. And if we can open our minds to the fact that it's not wrong, it's simply different and actually can expand and increase our ability to connect with and understand other people in the world, then we can really benefit from that.

[23:37] Julia: It's an interesting frame to see it like that. And I do think that when you're in, let's say, a majority group, it's super common to normalize your experience because it's validated by so many people around you. When you're in a neuro minority, because you don't necessarily have the visibility or the reference points, it then becomes what's wrong with me? And so it is important, especially in being visible, that I'm embracing all perspectives. Not just, let's say, other neurodivergent people's perspectives, but embracing all perspectives. Because I do think that modeling understanding and modeling non judgment and modeling that universal value of love is what allows for just that cross cultural healing that I know is so important to social progress.

[24:41] Karin: Yeah, beautifully said. So let's get to the work that you do. So you've already alluded to working with teams and working with businesses and helping them with connection. So maybe you can tell us a little bit about the work you do.

[25:01] Julia: Absolutely. My company is called Higher playbook. It's a people and culture consultancy invested in rehumanizing how we work. My belief is that every professional deserves to feel seen and empowered to be who they are within their professional life. We spend so much time invested in our jobs and when we're able to fully show up because of the conditions of our work, really being human and inviting our humanity, when we are able to have that space within our lives to feel seen, heard, valued, that's when we are able to fully actualize our potential. So in focusing on both personal and professional development within our workplaces, I'm recognizing the value of opening up conversations. One conversation unmasking neurodiversity is one that I'm having this month. And it's purposeful, it really is to step into the conversations that can often be challenging. It's always about inviting people's voices and ensuring that in having that psychological safety to express ourselves, that we begin to become comfortable in that space. And my focus as far as just serving people in culture is connecting what we do to a greater impact. So when professionals are able to show up fully at work and really be connected to some of their higher order needs of growth, of contribution. What ends up happening is we rise beyond our individual goals to really caring about our collective contribution. So causes like relevant causes right now, like equity in the workplace, education, any of the sustainable development goals. When people at work are able to really discover something greater than themselves that they are really passionate about and then be around other people who share those same passions, they start to realize how it feels to actualize those higher order needs. So at the end of the day, when I consider higher playbooks purpose and the impact, it really is about harnessing the power of people to make a social impact.

[27:43] Karin: So it sounds like you really are helping people feel connected at the workplace and that that helps people to feel like you said, seen and heard and connect to something greater than than themselves. How do you help people feel more connected?

[28:04] Julia: It's a really good question. The connection to self is something that I feel often happens through our relationships. Our relationships are such powerful mirrors. And when these social learning experiences just allow for people to relate to one another and just use the space to discover aspects of themselves that potentially they didn't even realize were there, it could be their design thinking skill. Or we're in a space and somebody has a very powerful way of lightning the energy in the room by bringing humor. When people are able to receive those reflections and mirrors back from their peers, I find that that does so much to self knowledge and self understanding. And I often believe that it's through group and through these peer to peer conversations that we're exposed to perspectives that basically shine lights on aspects of ourselves that we have yet to see. So I'm definitely aware of the value of relational awareness and cultural awareness and being able to inspire individual awareness and that deepening can be happening simultaneously. So connection to self, connection to other, connection to world, it's all possible through these conversations and these collaborative spaces that really do give way to creativity and contribution.

[29:49] Karin: So tell me a little bit more about why it's so valuable to increase that individual awareness.

[29:56] Julia: Yeah, I see every person as a creator in that every person has that power to influence and we can say every person is a leader. That's a common belief. And when I say creator, I'm really coming from the reality that all of us are shaping the experience of this moment in the here and now. And so when every person can really own that and realize their impact on a room that is what then creates collective responsibility. So if we are considering cultivating individual awareness and how that can then translate into let's say an objective like inclusion when each person is able to just become clear on their beliefs and start to challenge their assumptions and also have the courage to be more honest or more authentic. What ends up happening is each individual plays a part within the larger whole in creating the culture. And that culture of inclusion is often a byproduct of being open to new beliefs, being curious to understand, being okay to be wrong. All of those are reflections of personal growth and individual growth.

[31:21] Karin: That question of authenticity and really bringing your full self, I think, can probably be really challenging to a lot of people in the workplace. So how can leaders foster an environment where that feels safe and that people are encouraged to do that?

[31:40] Julia: The psychological safety that each leader can create has everything to do with that leader's own comfort level in being vulnerable, being visible. And so as far as doing the work and really being self responsible and being really invested in embracing and understanding all perspectives, holding that space is definitely a skill. And it's one that is mastered through being in spaces where you are exposed to diversity of perspective and you learn what it feels like and what it looks like to really coexist. And so that is something that doesn't just happen in, let's say, a workshop, it really happens in ongoing initiatives. And that's why for me personally, as a facilitator who really prides myself in creating psychological safety, I really fundamentally believe that when organizations are investing in people and culture, frequency and consistency is important. And that means if you're having a workshop, that's a one off workshop. That won't be effective in shifting the way people operate. When you host initiatives over time that are relationship building initiatives through the consistency and frequency of people seeing each other and learning about each other and even modeling through their conversations how they can be better listeners, be more understanding, more empathetic all of the skills that happen just through those lived experiences over time. What you'll see is the creation of greater psychological safety and more comfort for people to show up and share authentically.

[33:43] Karin: So it sounds like it's not just a one off. This has got to be something that you sign up for and believe in and you consistently work on over time.

[33:54] Julia: It's definitely a practice, that ongoing practice of exercising non judgment and creating psychological safety. As a result of that, it's an ongoing mastery as well. There will be moments where trauma gets triggered. There's never going to be a perfect space where it's completely safe for everyone because everybody is coming from different experiences. And even me, who again, I say I pride myself in my ability to create psychological safety. It's always possible that something I say could offend someone and I would want to be open to understanding and it's how I respond in those moments. It's my desire to understand, my desire to really be there and continue to be invested in that individual safety as much as my own. And so that knowingness that it's an ongoing practice is important to ensure that we don't just say, okay, it is a psychologically safe space. Instead we're all invested in creating that safety together.

[34:58] Karin: Yeah. And you talked about social learning experiences. Can you tell tell us a little bit more about what that means and maybe some examples?

[35:08] Julia: Yeah, I use that expression because there's double meaning. You can think about it social learning in that the two words are together and it's an experience. So social learning in the sense that we're learning social skills and we're having an experience of learning those social skills, but also social as a separate word learning experience in that we're talking about things that interest us and we're invested in our growth and development relationally. So it's looking at context of learning and realizing that when we all have such different learning styles, by creating social learning experiences, what we're doing is we're putting the emphasis on our identities and allowing for so much of the growth to actually happen through the relationship building.

[36:11] Karin: So what might be an example of one of those experiences?

[36:16] Julia: Yeah, well, one of the experiences that I enjoy facilitating at higher playbook is a Team Potentials Activation. That is an initiative all about individual development happening within the collective space to inspire culture transformation. And so we'll meet and we'll learn about our individual potential. Every person will take part in doing assessments that allow them to basically have their potential mirrored back and then those conversations that emerge thereafter are all about using that awareness from those assessments to take action in bringing more of ourselves to work. For me, I put an emphasis on the experiential design. So when I bring teams together for a Team Potentials Activation would be in a third space that could be on site just in a different setting than the traditional office, but that could also be off site. And the environment plays a huge part in allowing for people to bring more of themselves into the space. When you break those scripts and you don't have the same expectations of the space because it's a new space. What ends up happening is, through the various team building activities we're witnessing, people show up in new ways, maybe more authentically than they would have if they were to just meet for a regular workshop within their office, at their desk, or over zoom, over video. So it's all about just disrupting the space and through the shared time together and the activities that we participate in, growing as individuals and growing as a culture.

[38:11] Karin: And it's so interesting how you talk about environment and how just switching the environment alone can have an impact. Which then also reminds me of the first thing we talked about, how you changing your environment and leaving New York was such a growth opportunity for you.

[38:27] Julia: Yes. Wow, that's incredible that you saw that. I feel like there's so many different factors that influence our potential. For me though. I understand how much the environment and how much relationships play a role. And so when I say social learning experiences back to that point, it's really playing up the aspect of social and environmental in how it influences who we are. And I invite people to get curious around that. I invite people to really consider how do you perceive yourself just by virtue of where you belong within this organization? Sometimes people really put a lot of weight on their roles or their titles. And so when you basically step outside of the structure and you go into an experience where everybody's the same in that we're human beings who have arrived in this space, we're getting to acquaint ourselves with that space. We can get to acquaint ourselves with one another in that process too.

[39:32] Karin: How much pushback do you get from people about that who want to have these boundaries? Like this is work and this is home and I don't get personal at work.

[39:45] Julia: Well, first I want to say I'm well aware that I have a very innovative perspective in the business world. I say it's a socially innovative perspective. And I don't resonate with a lot of people, mostly because the world might not be as socially innovative right now. It's the individuals who are forward thinkers, it's the organizations who are best places to work socially innovative, the ones that are proactively investing in people because they believe in the possibilities of the future. Those are the conversations that generally are more synergistic when there's pushback. I'm not really here to change the way people see something. Instead, I respect and appreciate the heritage of people's belief systems. And if business has been built on these structures, my question is more how are those structures serving your goals? And if those structures are no longer creating the same results of the past, what would allow for the type of results that you really are looking for? And when people get curious around, okay, well, what changes are they comfortable to create? My goal is to inspire people to consider new possibilities. And if at first there is pushback, let it be. Because oftentimes that pushback is temporary. And I believe that time will tell. In my life, what I've witnessed is sometimes I'm a few years ahead of the trend and then within a couple of years, people will look back and say, oh yeah. And so I definitely know that those who hear me and are vibing with just the philosophy about rehumanizing our work, that we really do recognize where our business world is headed, which is becoming much more autonomous. And the ways that we made sense of ourselves in the past, which is in the, let's say, titles we had or essentially the geography that we were committed to, whether that was the office or the location that we basically saw as home base with those now not being as relevant. What's going to happen is who we are in relation to our work is under renovation. And as a result, it's up to leaders to renovate their workplace experiences to ensure that people and culture can thrive.

[42:33] Karin: So interesting, it seems to me like such a big global event like the Pandemic is bound to shake things up. Is that a trend that you have seen in the business world?

[42:48] Julia: Thank you for bringing the Pandemic up because it was for sure an acceleration point. It definitely disrupted, it disrupted so much, and not just externally, but internally, in that those existential questions that people began to ask themselves really then served as a catalyst for growth. But prior to the Pandemic, I will say that in 2018, that's when I initially trademarked higher playbook, because I was recognizing the trends, many of those trends of the future of work, the emphasis on sustainable development goals, social impact, the rise of the gig economy, the innovations in technology, all of these forces have been at play. And when the Pandemic really ushered in the future of work much faster than anticipated, it really brought more people into realizing that the structures of the past might not be as relevant in the now. And so, if I am to consider in the grand scheme of this workplace renovation, the role that COVID had, I think COVID broke us down to be more honest about what we really aspire to within our professional lives, what we really aspire to within our lifetimes, the existential consciousness of our workforce grew. And it's exciting because there is conversations about how we can self actualize within our workplaces happening around the world. Metrics like workplace fulfillment becoming more mainstream purpose at work. All of these ways of looking at the success of our businesses are no longer concepts, they're becoming operationalized. And it's very exciting to be at the forefront of that.

[45:01] Karin: Yeah, I imagine. And so I can see how important all of this is to individuals and teams at a personal level at the workplace. But how can all of this really benefit companies overall and even affect their bottom line and their success?

[45:26] Julia: Yeah, it's for me, really about redefining success, first off, in that when we're actually looking at the role of business within our world, if business is a force for good and business is really serving the purpose of solving some of the humanitarian crises. So if business is just supporting the world at large, that means that when we're looking at our fiscal accounting, we're not just measuring a currency of dollars, there's going to be more impact accounting. Which means when companies are holding themselves accountable to stakeholders, they're measuring their impact and they're demonstrating that. And that's basically a huge part of how all stakeholders, whether it's an investor, consumer, employee, leader, consider who they wish to do business with, where they wish to work, where they want to buy from. So it's really looking at bottom line and success and expanding our perception of what that even means with the knowingness that impact and impact metrics are really key indicators of who we wish to engage with. And I believe this paradigm is being ushered in in the here and now. And that starts with, again, the individual awareness and the individual actions of leaders of organizations. There's definitely layers of the conversation and over the course of time will result in systemic change. I know this is very high level, so I want to just throw it back and see if you want to get a little bit more. Just bring it back down to earth a bit.

[47:33] Karin: Yeah, thank you for that. I think that it sounds like what you're saying is that we're not measuring the same types of things anymore, that people are recognizing that we need to rethink what success, like you said, what success really is and look at what kind of impact they really want to make.

[47:56] Julia: Yeah, that concept of impact accounting and realizing that when we look at bottom lines and success, the definition of that is expanding. And there will be I believe that the businesses that are beginning now, the ones that are just being conceived now, the social impact function is going to be baked into the construction of the business. Whereas for long standing businesses it really is about evolving, iterating innovating to ensure that there is that impact accounting. But I feel like in the future businesses from the beginning are going to be starting off with the desire to have impact as a function, community as a function. Functions that potentially didn't exist ten years ago are emerging now as key functions of business.

[48:57] Karin: So if we see more of this happening, it sounds like not only will people feel more fulfilled in their work, but consumers will feel better about the companies from which they're interacting with or buying from. It seems like it's a ripple effect really, that starts, like you're saying, at the individual level and like you said, relational. So it kind of grows out from there to the world.

[49:30] Julia: Humanitarian ripple effect. It's very much beginning relationally and then impacting culture. And then culture is the world in many ways. So that is very much a big part of the vision that I have. And I often visualize the ripple. My logo is very much a ripple. You can basically see the interconnectivity of the logo where there's different layers and there's different facets and it really is to showcase the parts that we all play in creating that ripple.

[50:06] Karin: Yeah, we are so interconnected very much.

[50:11] Julia: Definitely. That's a big belief of mine that we are all interconnected and that we all play a part in the whole. And I feel like rather than give lip service to that, it's really important that we can see that and we can experience that, especially within our business lives because we spend so much time at work and when we have those opportunities within our professional lives. We become invested because we know that we're not dispensable the part that we play and the purpose that we have will transcend beyond the walls of our work. And so those experiences that our employers can offer are empowering experiences. And by virtue of being able to have that deep sense of purpose, I find that the investment that people have within their organizations can grow. It's not a promise though of retention, it's a promise of people becoming authentically, invested in the missions of their organizations. And if that means the person is going to work there for five years, ten years or a shorter stint. What's amazing is we're having individuals and leaders who are embodying the promises of their companies, which really allows for just the greater trust and transparency when it comes to who we buy from and really who we work for.

[51:42] Karin: And what does love have to do with the work that you do?

[51:46] Julia: Yeah, so it's all about facilitating love. It's all about facilitating. For me, love is learning opportunities, visibility and experience. When I say facilitating love, showing up in that space of non judgment where people can feel seen and they can learn and they can grow through these experiences, it deepens their sense of connection, it deepens their sense of self understanding. And that vibration is something that you feel, it's something that you internalize, it's on a nervous system level. And so for me, that's the translation of love when we look at it on a micro level and we consider how we can infuse just that vibration of love just on a daily basis, it's as basic as the love language is. And recognizing that whether in these spaces we're sharing feedback, words of affirmation, whether we are exchanging acts of service in the way that we work together through special projects, the frequency of touch points in the way that we come together over time through these relationship building initiatives quality time really being the focal point of coming together in these workplace experiences. And the gifts that we each individually have to share, and how sharing those gifts with one another can inspire, can empower infusing. Love can take so many different forms, but ultimately it's a vibration. And if I can create that spaciousness where people are able to feel that vibration, I recognize that love is felt and received.

[53:53] Karin: And how can people learn more about the work that you do and about you?

[54:01] Julia: People can find me on LinkedIn, julia Armett when it comes to learning about higher playbook, www dot hire like the sky, playbook like the sportsplaybook.com. You can discover that and you'll also be able to find me on Instagram at hireplaybook.

[54:23] Karin: Okay, great. Is there anything you want to leave our audience with before we say goodbye?

[54:31] Julia: I'm just thankful to have this opportunity and you as such a curious facilitator and somebody who asks great questions. So I appreciate that and I invite anyone who is listening. If you are curious to understand more, whether it's about neurodiversity, whether it's about social learning experiences, I'm very much here for conversation, so nothing's off limits. Feel free to reach out. And I am an open book.

[55:02] Karin: Yeah. And I'll echo that. Julie has been very generous with her time with me and it's been really a treat to get to know her and spend some time with her. So thank you so much, Julia. I really appreciate all that you had to share and bringing your energy today. Thank you.

[55:21] Julia: Thank you so much.

[55:23] Karin: Thanks for joining us. Today on Love Is US. If you like the show, I would so appreciate it if you left me a review. If you have questions and would like to follow me on social media, you can find me on Instagram, where I'm the Love and Connection coach. Special thanks to Tim Gorman for my music, Ali Shaw for my artwork, and Ross Burdick for tech and editing assistance. Again, I'm so glad you joined us today because the best way to bring more love into your life and into the world is to be loved. The best way to be loved is to love yourself and those around you. Let's learn and be inspired together.