In this inspiring and deeply personal conversation, I sit down with my friend and coaching client, Leanne Wynn Davies—a Google sales leader, marathon runner, advocate, and someone who embodies what it means to go all in on a dream.

Leanne shares her 11-year journey to qualifying for and finally running the Boston Marathon. What began as a near miss after her first New York City Marathon became a decade-long lesson in resilience, commitment, and refusing to settle for "good enough." Along the way, she faced race cancellations, missed opportunities, changing qualification standards, pregnancy, and countless setbacks.

But this episode is about more than running. It's about what happens when we stop trying to do everything alone, invest in support, and decide that our goals are worth pursuing wholeheartedly.

Whether you're chasing a personal milestone, leading a team, or wondering what your next level requires of you, this conversation will challenge you to think bigger about what's possible.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

Going All In Requires More Than Effort
For years, Leanne trained hard but approached marathon qualifying as something she'd figure out on her own. The breakthrough came when she decided to stop relying solely on effort and start investing in expertise.

Hitting the Target Isn't Always Enough
One of the most surprising moments in Leanne's journey came when she technically qualified for Boston—only to learn her time still wasn't fast enough because of the competitive cutoff.

The lesson? In leadership and life, meeting expectations isn't always what creates opportunities. Sometimes you need to exceed them.

Coaching Can Accelerate Growth
After one pivotal coaching session, Leanne hired a professional running coach, revamped her training and fueling strategy, and ultimately qualified by an impressive 11-minute margin.

The right coach doesn't do the work for you—they help you see what's possible and guide you toward it.

No Big Goal Happens Alone
From her husband and family to coaches, friends, and running communities, Leanne credits much of her success to the people who supported her journey.

We often celebrate individual achievement, but behind every breakthrough is a team.

Life Doesn't Follow the Timeline You Planned
Just after qualifying, Leanne became pregnant and deferred her Boston Marathon entry under the race's pregnancy and postpartum policy. Instead of seeing it as a setback, she embraced the season she was in and returned stronger.

Sometimes progress looks different than we expected—and that's okay.

Purpose Makes the Journey Bigger Than You
Leanne's running journey is deeply connected to her advocacy for cystic fibrosis. Inspired by her sisters and her work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, she uses marathon fundraising to create impact beyond the finish line.

Purpose has a way of carrying us through challenges that motivation alone can't sustain.

🔎 Mentioned in the Episode:

• The Boston Marathon qualification process and competitive cutoff system

• The New York City Marathon, Chicago Marathon, London Marathon, Wilmington Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, and Boston Marathon

• Professional run coaching and performance-based training

• Pregnancy and postpartum race deferral policies

• Fundraising and advocacy through the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

• Leadership lessons from sports, coaching, and personal growth

✨ Reflection Prompts:

• What goal have you been pursuing halfway that deserves your full commitment?

• Where are you trying to succeed alone instead of asking for support?

• What would "all in" look like for your next level of growth?

• Are you measuring success by effort—or by results?

• Who could help you break through the ceiling you're currently facing?

🧠 Who This Episode Is For:

• Leaders striving for their next level of growth and performance

• Professionals who want to stop doing everything alone

• Women balancing ambitious goals with changing life seasons

• Athletes, runners, and anyone pursuing a long-term dream

• People considering coaching, mentorship, or investing in personal development

• Anyone who needs a reminder that persistence, support, and purpose can take you further than talent alone

📩 Want to Go Deeper?

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation

• Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

🎧 Subscribe to The Joy CEO Podcast

⭐️ Leave a review to help other heart-centered leaders find the show

📲 Share this episode with someone who’s navigating pressure and wants to do it with more grace

Connect with Leanne on Linkedin

Transcript

LP_Ep_54_Leanne_FInal Podcast
[00:00:00] Good morning and welcome to The Joy CEO Podcast. I'm your host, Lori Pyne, and I am so thrilled to have with me today my dear friend, the delightful Leanne Wynne Davies. You are gonna be in for such a treat today. Leanne has been in my private one-on-one coaching practice with me, and today you're going to hear a story that is tremendously special.
It's very dear to my heart, and I think it's going to resonate with all of you who have ever questioned, "Why do I need somebody else to help me think differently? I can just keep going exactly as I am." So Leanne, welcome to the show. So glad to have you here with us. Thanks, Lori. I am honored to be here with you, and I don't know if anyone can see me, but I am wearing my Boston jacket that I have had my eyes on for many, many years.
Yes. So a little [00:01:00] backstory. Leanne is a runner. She has been a runner since she was a little girl, and she had a dream of running the Boston Marathon. And so when she says she has her Boston jacket on, it is bright blue and yellow, and it is emblematic of the Boston Marathon, and only the special qualifiers who actually run the Boston Marathon get one of these jackets.
And today we're gonna hear about the setback that happened. We're gonna hear a little bit more about Leanne, who she is, and what happened. And I, I just love this story, and it was so special for me to get Leanne on the pod so that she could talk to you today and, and just share. So Leanne, let's hear a little bit about you and, and what happened.
Amazing. Thank you. So the s- it has been quite a saga, I will say. I ran my first marathon in 2015, so over a decade ago, and at the [00:02:00] time it was the New York City Marathon. I was new to the city and, quite frankly, just had it on my bucket list to run the biggest, baddest race in the world, which was, at the time, New York is the biggest, right?
It still is the largest official marathon. And I, I was so inspired by the energy of the city. I, I still believe to this day it's the, it's h- it's humanity at its finest. And though I'd been a distance runner for a while, and I was a rower growing up as well, so I've always kind of had this distance athletics mentality and, and just kind of the foundation in my life, I hadn't really locked in on what it would mean to qualify for the Boston Marathon until I got
I, I went out in New York and almost qualified kind of by, kind of by accident, and was like, "Wow, what if I go ahead and do this, right? It's Boston." And that was, like I said, 11 years ago, and I just finally [00:03:00] completed my first Boston Marathon this season. Amazing. Amazing. Now, unlike most of us highly ambitious women who are leading in corporate and want everything to be a straight linear line, this was not a straight line It absolutely wasn't.
So outside of my running world, I manage sales teams at, at Google, and I bring that up because, you know, nothing in sales and in business is a straight line either. So, the, the kind of journey to, from that first New York City Marathon in 2015 to, to Boston this year, I was totally comfortable with it not being linear and not being straightforward because I, you know, there- maybe there's something in us on the sales front that likes the challenge, that likes to, you know, set high standards and, and hold a high bar and, and, and knows kinda what comes along with getting [00:04:00] it done.
So in that time, I've now run 11 marathons. I've completed all of the majors. I've run New York six times, and like I said, every, every major along the way. Seven majors. Yes. Actually, no, sorry. Six. I- You're right. Sydney is now an official, so I've got my six star. Actually, I saved it- ... to do it in Boston because I wanted that to be my, my kind of my Grand Slam.
But yeah, six majors. Sydney does count now. You're right. Um- Six majors, but still, huge. You've got the medal to prove it. Six. Got the medal to prove it. Clearly I'm not a runner, so. But yeah, just, you know, I digress. The, going back to the journey itself, I, like I said, I, I almost qualified for Boston on accident that first, in my first couple of New York City marathons, and then figured, hey, 3:35, it's three minutes of a difference.
I'm gonna go ahead and, and knock that out. Signed up for Chicago, went to race it, was in the best training shape [00:05:00] of my life. At the time, I had just accepted a new role at Google, and was just feeling like things were coming together. In the middle of that marathon, the most torrential thunderstorm came along just over the halfway mark, to the point that every runner had to nearly stop, was basically walking and holding on to each other for a couple of minutes.
And, you know, it's a couple of minutes in the grand scheme of 26.2 miles, but it was enough to, you know, throw me totally off my game. It wasn't my day, and I thought that was, I thought that was gonna be it From there, I went on to try to knock out Boston in the London Marathon in 2020. We all know kind of how that went down.
Yeah. And was, was postponed, and then eventually I did come back and run the London Marathon and, and, and, and qualified. And I, Lori, I've gotta tell [00:06:00] you the, I'll never forget the feeling of crossing the London Marathon finish line knowing that I qualified for Boston. And I sat for a second and just cried.
I was s- of, but of pure joy, a feeling that to this day I actually haven't had again, because it just felt like everything was coming together. Oh, I love that f- I like, I feel like I'm there with you. Like I can feel that emotion, just so much poured into it, the training, the getting up early, the sacrifice, the squeezing it in between work and just that moment of pure exhilaration.
Yep. And, and that's what it was. I, I couldn't believe it. It, it was done. That said, I knew for the last few miles of London, I, I had a plan. I dr- I wrote my own plan. I always had written my own training plans, and I hit it, and it was safe, and I, I got it done. Fast-forward [00:07:00] that fall, the Boston Marathon, so my qualifying time was accepted through BAA right away.
Uh, and fast-forward to the fall, the, uh, the acceptance letters for actually running the following year's Boston Marathon, uh, for 2025 went out, and unfortunately, just having a qualifying time was no longer good enough. And you needed to be, I think it was at the time, like four, just over four and a half minutes or just around four and a half minutes under qualifying to actually be accepted for the race.
For context, for anyone who's not a runner, Boston has a pretty small heat compared to other majors. It, it accepts the fastest, period. So there's a qualifying cutoff. It's very restricted. It's very competitive, and historically qualifying was enough, but that has changed pretty significantly over the last few years Wow.
Running is on the uptick. People are [00:08:00] running more. People want to be a part of this movement. Mm-hmm. And Boston's had more applications than ever, and so people want to be a part of this. Absolutely. I mean, it- Boston's had more applications than ever, but I think the stat is there's been a 50% boom, 50% growth in the global running population over that same time, over the last 10 years.
Some of it is inspired by the pandemic, right? Mm-hmm. And people seeking time outside, reconnecting with their bodies in a different way. There's a ton of data to support that. But 10 years ago, the official qualifying time, it was actually 10 minutes slower than it is today, and that's just the ex- qualifying time, not the acceptance time.
Wow. Yeah. Wow. So just to put that into a little bit of perspective, what does 50% growth mean, right, at a global running population scale? If you wanna picture what that looks like, it means there are roughly 200 [00:09:00] million more people on the planet running today than when I first ran that New York City Marathon, in 10, f- again, 11 years ago.
That's nearly the entire adult population of the United States suddenly putting on running shoes. Wouldn't that be amazing?
That is wild to think about it like that. It is. It is. Yes. So now there's this, all this competition, and the, the, there's fewer spots, so to speak, because of the competition. And so all right, so it's fall of 2025, and what you thought was the qualifying time no longer actually gets you a, a race bib. Mm-hmm.
You need- So, um- ... to be under. Yep. Sorry, I need to correct myself. Fall of 2024, I believe. 2024. I think I'm off by a year. And the reason I know I'm off by a year is, is, well, because I- We know. Yes. [00:10:00] I'll get to that bit in just a second. But yeah, so I mean, I've, I will never forget that email coming out. I was at the office.
I actually had multiple people approach me who had seen news articles that were going crazy as soon, right away, that... So they kinda broke the news to me e- before I could check my own email. And I kind of didn't believe it. I, I didn't accept it for that afternoon. And then I remember coming home, still in absolute shock this wasn't happening, and- Feeling like I was just at a complete loss.
And I know it's running, and maybe that sounds silly for some folks, but this was, this was kind of my, my, my baby, my- it was my therapy, it was my 10-year project. It was something I had designed all of my own running plans and, and got it done. And on [00:11:00] top of that, I knew how hard it was to actually qualify and get to that, that, that speed and time that I was after for so many years.
I also was really hoping to start a family, and everything going through my head was, well, okay, I guess that means I have to qualify again, but when the hell am I going to do that? Because I don't wa- I don't think I should postpone having a baby- ... uh, for this. That's kinda getting a little crazy. A baby or a marathon.
But I'd be lying if I didn't say that was a real thought. Well, I guess we'll just wait another year for a ki- no, that's crazy. Um, and but then at the same time, when am I gonna train if I have a ba- so I, as you know, was, I would say spiraling, and we had an amazing coaching session. To this day, probably our, our most profound.[00:12:00]
One of our most profound and, and best because it changed everything. And I, I remember distinctly we did a couple of exercises that was taking me a while to get there, and, uh, you challenged me, you got me to, to challenge myself to go all in, in a h- in a, in a way I had never thought about things before.
Specifically, I think some of the conversation was around, "Leanne, you are a high performer. You are someone who makes plans, creates things, and, and does what you say you're going to do. You hired a career coach to help grow in your career and unlock potential in different ways. You, you know, when you wanna have an amazing wedding, you hired the best wedding planner you could find in the Cotswolds.
When you wanted to prepare for marriage and were watching your friends go do [00:13:00] Pre-Cana classes and, and you weren't getting married in the Catholic Church, you hired a marriage coach because it sounded like a, an appropriate way to, to start a journey to, to be most optimized for." And I hadn't done that for myself when it came to running.
The, one of the things that I was spending probably the most time on in my personal life. And that question, that push of why, why would we not, why would you not outsource? Why would you not bring in a coach to help take you to the next level in this, in this instance? Yes. Because at this point in the story, you had gotten this far all on your own.
Your own resources, your own thinking, your own planning, your own strategizing, and while that had served you really, really well, in that one particular session that you're talking about, it was very clear that in order [00:14:00] to actually do Boston, qualify for Boston, run Boston, break through Heartbreak Hill-
that they talk about in Boston, you were going to need somebody who was an expert- Yep ... in Boston. And, and at that moment in time, that was beyond you. And so if this was really a dream, really a goal worth fighting for, it was going to have to require somebody beyond you, and something really shifted in you.
It absolutely did. It absolutely did. I mean, I decided to see what, what would happen if I pushed my training to a completely new level. I mean, it's not just my training, though. I think this, this kind of mantra of what would happen if I was, if I were to be all in. What would happen if I pushed to the absolute limit was not a place I was operating [00:15:00] from before.
It, it meant going all in, yes, on, on race day, but it meant going all in on the training plan. It meant going all in on the, you know, the, the ins and outs of the depths of winter. I started that training plan, I think it was in N- October or November, almost right away, after, after we kind of made that decision together and, and found the right coach, the right professional to, to help get me there.
But it was through the depths of winter, and when you are... I live in New York City. We, you know, it's cold. It's pretty brutal. And on top- It's windy It's windy Running our co- our, our, along that river. Yeah. And, and then that also means the peak of training was going to happen right in the middle of the holidays.
Truly, it crossed the, uh, Christmas and New Year's. So what would it mean to be all in and waking up on the day after Christmas to go knock out a 22-mile run, [00:16:00] um, when it was the absolute last thing I wanted to do? And there's a funny story about the coach that you ended up hiring, a very kind of small world, funny side story.
Yes. So the coach I ended up going with, um, was pr- professional athlete, is, uh, has a, a, a large presence in the running world herself. But, uh, me, I happened, my husband actually, uh, was like, "Tell me how the conversation went with Lori. Tell me everything." Obviously broke, broke it down for him, and he, without me knowing, he reached out within his personal network to someone, uh, to this person who he had grown up a few towns away from, but they didn't know each other directly, and just said, "Hey, this, this is what happened with Boston.
I don't know if you do anything like this, but would you be open to at least having a, a [00:17:00] coaching discussion or a conversation with my wife?" And, and she said, "Let's do it." So yeah, it's just... It was such an amazing, uh, amazing journey and, um, it's precious. And why I love that is, one, you shared with your husband, and two, that coach was literally one degree away from you.
Yes. I mean, was literally right in your network, and all it re- required was the willingness to just raise your hand. So you know, my beloved mentor Anne always talks about the universal laws, and she says, "What you are seeking is seeking you." I love that. And so, and so there it was. What you were seeking, you didn't even know you were seeking- Mm-hmm
till we had that conversation, was right there waiting to be sought, and really powerful part of the story. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're, you're so right. You're so right. Yeah. And so she had the perspective to say, "Hey, you've done great to this [00:18:00] point, but we're gonna change some things. We're gonna step it up. We're gonna change some of your food, the way you eat on training days.
We're gonna, we're gonna change some things." And that new perspective resulted in? Yeah. So I, it was, it was, it was the new perspective. It was the, I think the accountability as well. Yes. That's a really important thing. Like, I believe in accountability, I, but I also hold myself to a high standard. And when I, when I finally hired a coach, it wasn't about just outsourcing, like some of the, the spreadsheets and the, the, the tweaking and perspective, but it really was a psychological pivot.
It freed up the mental energy I used either writing my own plans, second-guessing my own plans, or allowing myself off the hook, quite frankly, on some mornings where it's like, you know, I'll do, maybe today is a yoga day and it's not a 10-mile day before work. But I had to report [00:19:00] back to her where I was every day, where I was landing, what my paces were in particular, so we could continue to optimize.
But yes, fast-forward, in February, I, w- I, I went down to Wilmington, North Carolina, this kind of small marathon, that had been suggested to me because it was early in the season, same time zone as New York, so not requiring a ton of travel. It's not another big global guy. And if I weren't to hit my goals there, I would still be highly trained, and in a place to go find another marathon and, and get it done that year.
So I went down to Wilmington. It was, like I said, it was super tiny. It was just my husband, my dog, and I. My, my parents actually flew in and surprised me, but it was kind of meant to be this, this sneaky little thing I was gonna go test myself with. And I, I went all in. And every [00:20:00] mile, I remember looking down at my watch being like, "I don't know if I can hold this, but I'm gonna sure as hell try."
And There was a time, I think it was at about mile 22, that I was like, "Oh my goodness, maybe I'm going, maybe I'm going too all in. Maybe, maybe my whole-" If I- Holy smokes. Yeah. I actually won't... I don't know what, what's gonna happen next. But I held on and ended up finishing at 11 minutes under the qualifying standard, and- Unbelievable
it was insane. I mean, mind-blowing, unbelievable. And just if you can see Leanne on the YouTube, I mean, that smile just says it all. Like, just look at that smile. Like, you know, esteemable acts build esteem. I'm constantly saying that, and that was a moment when you did that for yourself. 11 minutes under your best time, but [00:21:00] you had really done the work.
Yep. Okay. So then you have that race time. Got that race time. Got the race time. I mean, I knew what to do with it. Submitted it to BAA as an accepted qualifying time, and was like, "This is it." And then I found out a few months later that I was pregnant. Um- Aw. And now we have a miracle baby boy. And we do, and he's the best, the best, the best.
He just turned one year- one year old, uh, a couple weeks ago. So, um, that's part of the story, though. It's very much a part of the story because I... There's, there's no buts around how overjoyed we were to find out that I was expecting, but I, of course, had in the back of my mind, "Let me do the math on this due date."
It was due date of April 27th, with the Boston Marathon scheduled [00:22:00] for, I think, April 22nd. Yeah. The math did not math. And listen, I, I actually did run a marathon six- 16 weeks pregnant. You can run a marathon pregnant. Runners can run, right? We, we know that. We've seen some really inspiring stuff, but I don't...
I, I knew I couldn't run it that, quite that pregnant. Fortunately, the Boston Marathon allows one type of deferral, which is pregnancy and postpartum, thankfully. A little side note, I was also registered to run Tokyo at the, about six weeks prior to that Boston Marathon, and at the time, Tokyo did not recognize pregnancy and postpartum as a, as a, an accepted deferral.
That's changed. I'd like to say- Phew ... I'd like to say I p- had maybe a hand in some of that, but I, I can imagine. I wrote a bunch of letters, "How can this be true?" I'm sure many m- mothers and women did the same, and that policy [00:23:00] has changed. So fast-forward to this year. I'm very proud to say that not only did I knock out the Tokyo Marathon in March, but I finally crossed the finish line in Boston this April.
Unbelievable. I mean, j- it's just such a great story. It warms my heart. Yeah. You're in Boston. You have a great race. You get your medal with all six races, majors that you've run, and you, you get the moment that you waited for that felt like might not happen. You know, when there's a setback, you wonder, "Is this going to come true?"
And, and then a delay, a happy delay. A happy delay. A happy delay, but still a delay. And so- Mm ... the patience and the perseverance and the, you know, the, the real [00:24:00] intensity and to keep going. Tell me what this lesson has really taught you from a leadership perspective. Great question. I think, you know, there's a huge difference between being disciplined enough to hit target.
And again, I'm a sales, sales gal. Hitting target, nu- the numbers don't lie, and that's what I've loved in business and in racing. And there is a huge difference between having the systems, the discipline, the hygiene, to, to simply hit target, and being brave enough to find your limit. And when I, you know, now coach my team, they're
Like I said, that was a mantra that I tried to really bring through to them around what does it mean, what does it mean to really be all in? We know [00:25:00] numerically, quarter over quarter, year over year, what it takes. We know the, the appropriate levers to pull when we're behind to pull things forward, to drive incremental outcomes, to increase conversion rates, all, all of those types of things.
But when you think of your career and when you think of how you show up every single day, what does it mean to, to be all in? So I apply that to myself in my career and how I'm thinking of my, my long-term strategy. And I would say even more specifically is you've, you've had folks on, on your podcast, you and I have talked about this a bunch, but just doing great work often isn't enough to get to the next level.
And that, that's a whole separate conversation, but it's very much related, right? That having the discipline, just doing great work, being, being the best from a numbers perspective or in that kind of upper echelon, is that really being all [00:26:00] in for you? So I would say that's been a, a huge lesson. Yes. And, you know, I, I think I know you so well.
I know for you, that answer is that's not all in. And so for you, there are other things that give you a much more robust life. One of those is the philanthropy work that you do. Yeah. And that has a bit of a story. Would you like to talk a little bit about that? I would love to. So all of my, all of the, my marathons, in fact, outside of Boston, and my qualifying race, were, have, have all been on behalf of my little sisters.
And two of my little sisters, Lauren and Logan, have cystic fibrosis. They were both diagnosed at, at birth. So cystic fibrosis for, for those who aren't familiar, is [00:27:00] a chronic disease. There's cur- currently it impacts the pancreas, the lung functions, and the body's ability to break down fat, and it creates a, an overly sticky kind of mucus within the body, without getting too into the weeds.
But today there's, there's no cure. And when Lauren was born, we're four years apart, when Lauren was born, the average life expectancy was around 18 years old. Yeah. Today, thankfully, due to science and a ton of grassroots fundraising, the average life expectancy of someone born with CF today, not someone who has CF, but someone born with CF today, I believe is in the, the 60 to 65 range.
So it's amazing. Miraculous. It's miraculous. It really, you know... They, there's tons of data and, and articles published around CF being the, the modern-day medical miracle. And I believe that. But there's still no cure. So [00:28:00] every marathon, every mile, every, you know, tens and thousands of dollars of fundraising pushes that have gone into this journey have really been, you know, with them and behind me.
And when people always ask, "You're training on the day after Thanksgiving or the day before Thanksgiving, and it's a gross snowstorm, or it's freezing rain, why?" Or, "Why do you, why are you still doing marathons?" And for me, that answer has always been really easy. And, and, and it's, there's still no cure, and this is my way of driving awareness, as well as making, making, hopefully, a big difference in their lives.
Yes. Yes. And you certainly do. You sit on the board of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation- Yeah ... and you fundraise, and you create advocacy and awareness. And that's how I met you, was at a cystic fibrosis, [00:29:00] uh, fundraiser. My dear friends were being honored, and there you were. And- ... it's been love at first sight ever since.
Pretty much. Yeah. I think, I think we were standing in this little after party after the big gala. We had, we had connected there for briefly, serendipitously, I think. Yes. And we're standing in this little kind of after party bar that, uh, that your friends were hosting, and really continued to, to hit it off to the point that I was like, "I don't know.
I haven't done this before, but can I have your number?" Yes. Yes. And I was so flattered. Yeah, it was great. Yes. Yes. And we've been working together pretty much ever since- Yes ... just in some capacity, so. And what a journey it has been, and to see you grow and become a mother, and a qualifier, and a six-marathon around the world, just medal girl.
I- it's just been such a wonderful [00:30:00] journey for me. I think there's so much to your story about, you know, the woman who's listening, who's doing it all herself, who's trying to figure it out. She is much like you. She is disciplined, she's pretty intense, and she's getting to a certain level. Any final words for her about how to break through a ceiling?
Yeah. One I used to have the mindset that there's enough room at the top, and it was okay to just kind of put your head down and get it done, and the rest is gonna take care of itself because good work pays off, and there's enough room at the top. And that has completely shifted, in that good work does matter a lot, and who you surround yourself and how you are [00:31:00] intentional with the, your, your, your coaching that you bring in and your board of directors, I know we all hear that concept a ton, and who's on your bus matters a lot.
It, it matters just as much as doing excellent work. Doing great work is the standard, right? That is the bar, that's the baseline. It's the, it's the minimum expectation. Everyone- That's why you get a paycheck. That's why you get a paycheck, exactly. Yeah. So I think it's, it's that you g- you are, you cannot go at it alone, and you have to bring in the right people to help get you and, and unlock your true highest performance, whether that is in a professional setting or in a personal setting.
I think of, you know, I, I mentioned my husband before, but he's solo parented pretty much every Saturday of this entire year so that I could go knock out a four-hour training run. And it takes, and, and I think, like, that [00:32:00] has not been on accident either. Great support. What shifted in you that went from, or d- was there a shift in you that went from, "It's really the responsibility of my company to invest in my coaching, my development," to, "I actually need to do this for myself"?
Mm. How did that shift happen for you? Because I, I know that you receive both. Your company helps- Yeah ... but you also take your own money and invest in your own growth. How did that shift happen? Well, so I think, I mean, I am very fortunate to w- have an employer that has amazing benefits, amazing benefits, and, and I'm so grateful for them.
And, and I would say it's important to know what those benefits are and explore them because they are available to you. And I did that. I explored a bunch. I, I met with other [00:33:00] coaches, internal folks. But I, I do think having someone outside of your immediate network that is completely unbiased to your day-to-day work, to maybe the brand that you have as well is, is critical.
And the shift specifically was kind of that moment of, careers are long, and I may or may not be here forever. But I'm ready to think differently, and I'm ready to kind of take my, my own life to the next level. So I don't know. I, I don't... That's not a super eloquent answer, but it's just the truth. There was kind of the switch that flipped around it's time to do things a little bit differently.
And anyone who has kind of that s- scratch or, or itch in the back of your mind of there's another, there's another level to me, there's something else here that I, I know I [00:34:00] am not quite achieving, it's important to go outside of your immediate resources. Yes. Well, my friend, that has certainly paid off for you.
Mm-hmm. As you were leaving for maternity leave, you were promoted. Um, work has been wonderful for you, and, and all these marathons, and especially Boston, which was such sweet victory. And it was so nice to cheer you on, so what a pleasure today. Thank you for, thank you for joining me. Lori, thank you so much, not just for, for welcoming me today, but for everything over the last couple of years.
You have truly been one of, one of the most important people in, in my life, and your perspective is... There's no, there's no price point. Aw. Thank you. Thank you. So much joy. So much love. All right, Leanne. Thank you for joining us. I'm Lori Pine, the Joy CEO, and I will see you back next week. [00:35:00] Thanks for listening to the Joy CEO.
I hope today's conversation left you feeling seen, stretched, and a little more grounded in your own joy. If something resonated, be sure to hit subscribe, leave a five-star review, and share this episode with someone walking a similar path. And if you're ready to take this work deeper, connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram, @loripine, or head over to my website, loripyne.com, to learn more about coaching, retreats, and how we can work together.
Because joy isn't just personal, it's powerful, and when you lead with joy, you don't just rise, you bring others with you. Until next time, keep leading with heart, and don't forget to claim your joy.