'It was much easier to see the big picture when I gave myself that space."
We are pleased to welcome Patrice Ford Lyn, founder of Catapult Change, to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview. Catapult Change is a coaching and consulting business that specializes in guiding professionals through their doubts and enhancing the leadership capabilities of senior executives.
Patrice’s dedication and expertise have helped many businesses and individuals take bold, life-changing action. She’s guided the startup of three national-level organizations for over 25 years, including as a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton for 10+ years.
Patrice has also worked with leaders in national corporations, nonprofits, federal agencies, and international development multi-laterals to build their organizations while supporting them through their own personal growth.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
All interviews are 100% FREE OF CHARGE
Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Patrice Ford Lyn: My company, Catapult Change, is a coaching and consulting business. As an executive coach, I guide professionals through their doubt into bold, life-changing action. As a trusted advisor, I work with senior executives to deepen their leadership capabilities and enhance the effectiveness of their teams.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Patrice Ford Lyn: During the past year, I was recovering from my breast cancer diagnosis. I had completed a few surgeries and had my chemo treatments behind me. I still had radiation treatments and a few more surgeries to go.
I am proud of how I gave myself permission to rest and take care of myself. It is easy as an entrepreneur to believe the answers reside in working harder. In fact they often require us to step away to gain perspective.
It was much easier to see the big picture when I gave myself that space. That time to vision and reimagine has led me to making more strategic decisions.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, are an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle keeping talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are adapting to the current shift we see?
Patrice Ford Lyn: Thanks for highlighting this issue. Today, people have more options than ever on how to make a living. In addition to the substance of their work, folks are mindful of the environment where that work gets done.
They are choosing to work on teams where they can be seen, heard and respected for who they are and what they bring to the table. There is less tolerance for having to “put on a mask.” However, in order for folks to show up authentically, work spaces have to feel psychologically safe.
Here are two tips for increasing psychological safety at work:
Leaders need to work on creating work cultures where vulnerability is acknowledged, encouraged, and modeled, as well as reframing mistakes as lessons learned.
Here is a two fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Patrice Ford Lyn: “A Course in Miracles” teaches 365 lessons – one for each day of the year. Reading it sent me on a powerful journey of perspective taking and personal growth.
It helped me to see where mental models created limitations on possibilities that didn’t exist. In reference to leadership scholar Ron Heifiez, it helped me to move from the dance floor to the balcony.
I often gift books on marriage, specifically John Gottman’s “Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work”, as a wedding present because after the wedding is over and guests have gone home, having the tools to build a life with your partner is deeply helpful.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Patrice Ford Lyn: With the decentralization of work, each person has more options employers will struggle to retain employees unless they become more flexible in their hiring packages.
As societies change, new technologies are created and new industries are formed, the need for new training and development will only grow. However, that is an evergreen challenge.
Today, with the gig economy in high gear, one of the biggest challenges facing employers today is finding and retaining talent. With a plethora of job options around the world, companies have to compete more than ever to attract the best talent.
Investing in understanding the needs, desires and hopes of the workforce will be a differentiator for those employers who can be flexible. Those who remain rigid will likely face a revolving door of employees.
2020, 2021, 2022 threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2023? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Patrice Ford Lyn: Our world is constantly evolving – new industries being created, new technologies, bening development, new problems needing to be solved. It can be easy to believe we need to be able to predict the future to survive.
I encourage a different approach. Accept that unforeseen changes will come and believe in your ability to adapt to those changes. So, when a curve ball hits, instead of becoming paralyzed, you look for the opportunity to hit it out the park.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Patrice Ford Lyn: If I could have any business superpower, I would choose the ability to identify and secure the best team members. Iron sharpens iron so having the right team means that your business can have a competitive advantage in the depth of its thinking and breath of its reach.
Whether at work or in our personal lives, having the right people by our side is a differentiator in our success. I am fortunate to have excellent thought partners who I call on formally and informally. I suggest everyone get their own personal board of directors.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Patrice Ford Lyn for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Patrice Ford Lyn or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
