Welcome back to Inside personal growth and another episode of Inside personal growth, and this beautiful woman to the left of me, which you're seeing on YouTube, and if you're listening to this on SoundCloud, just go to her website at Pattie Dale Tye that's Pattie Dale Tye, and we're going to be speaking. If you would please hold up your wonderful book. Her book is, whoops, we missed her. She went out of the picture. There we go. It's called ordinary to extraordinary is the book. And Pattie, thanks for joining us on Inside personal growth. Thanks for taking this time, because I believe that everybody can be extraordinary, and it just takes a little bit of work and thought, and I'm going to let the listeners know a little bit about you. Pattie Dale is a C suite veteran with almost four decades of experience leading companies to new heights and course correcting businesses in need. She has extensive track record of success with some of the most recognized brands in the world. She spent over a decade with at&t leading Sales and Operations for the world's largest accounts. In her time with Humana, Pattie was instrumental in the company's multi billion Dale or large employer segment, embracing innovations in telemedicine and human is digital health platform, which I have a history in. Thank you for doing that. She is credited with returning profitability to the portions of the organizations that she worked with in the businesses, working in tandem with the CDC, Pattie spearheaded regulatory advancements in Medicare and Medicaid for Humana members. You can again learn about her her book speaking press contacts, and there's an assessment that I want to drive you to as well at our website, at Pattie P A T, T, I, E, D, A, l, e, t, y, e.com, that's the place to go. Hey, Pattie,

Thank you, Greg. That was awesome. Thank you so much. My mother would be so proud to hear all of that about her daughter. Well,

is your mother still with us? She's not,

but, but maybe she's listening in in any broad in another broadcast capacity. Yeah, she

is on another wavelength in the heavens. And so my mother is there as well. Hopefully she's feeling the same way about me. So thank you for that. So look, this book is, you know, when people come on and they've written a book, a lot of people out there don't really, don't realize how challenging and sometimes it is to write a book, and I want to honor you for that. So what inspired you to write ordinary to extraordinary, and was there really kind of a pivotal moment that led to this journey of wanting to write this book and wanting to express yourself through the book. Well,

I'm going to be really honest and say, I think it was a god nudge because I had not thought about writing a book. I didn't think there was a book in me, and Forbes publishing called me and said, We think just following you, you've got a story that others need to hear. And Greg, that story was, you can be a small town girl from a little southern place, and you can make it in a big way in your career. Meaning anybody can do this. You don't have to be Ivy League. You don't have to have a lot of graduate degrees behind your name. You just have to have the drive and get in the lane that you were created to be in and prepare, and suddenly you'll be there. And in my opinion, give back and bring people along with you all along the journey.

Well, the way you speak, what I've noticed from the beginning, when we first met, is you have a big heart. And I tell people, you know, if you led with your heart more than you did with your head, you would get more people to follow you. But a lot of people lead with their head and their intellect versus their heart and compassion. And you know, you emphasize the idea that most of us start in this 98% club. Could you elaborate to the listeners what this means, and why is advantage rather than a disadvantage? Because really, what you're saying is, well, it's only 2% to be that much better, exactly. Well I want I feel

stress over the fact that so many people get on social media and compare themselves in a negative way, and that is not the place to go for comparison, for striving, for aspirational goals in life, 98% of us are just perfect. There might be those 2% that are the super, super superstars, but it's okay if you are not a super, super superstar, you still deserve time on the stage time in front of somebody like Greg, who lets you tell your story, but you have to be you have to push yourself, prepare and get in your lane. I'll say this again and again, because everybody can't do everything extraordinarily, but there are things everyone can do extraordinarily.

Yeah, we've all got talents. We all have skills. We sometimes need to find them, and then we need to embrace them. Because it's one thing to say, Oh yeah, it is, but oh no, I've got to pay the bills. And I think if I was to tell anybody, I would say, take a risk. Be uncomfortable, get out of your regular routine. And so that brings me to how you define extraordinary. Is it a mindset? Is it a set of habits, or is it something else? Because hey, people use the word extraordinary all the time. They'll say, Oh, my experience was extraordinary, or it was phenomenal. So what is it when it comes to the humanness of an individual to be extraordinary to me,

Greg, it's, it's what sets you apart. So you there's a lot of ordinary to us every single day, but there, as you said earlier, there are specific talents that you have, aptitudes, is what I like to call them, that you have that stand out more than others in the same room. And that's where I want you to understand how to be extraordinary. You started our conversation today with such a rich compliment to me. You said, I can tell you are a business person that is, that is an extraordinary compliment to me, because as a female, a lot of times in my life, I've been discounted as being able to be a strong business person, but I kept after it, and I had a career that ended up in an extraordinary place. Why? Because I found what I was really good at and what differentiated me from the crowd, and that was where I built my expertise in my brand

well, and you've developed skills and abilities knowing that you needed those to play in that world with AT and T and other places in humana. And you know in that world, you didn't get lost in the fray because people saw you as having these skills and abilities, which is why they see the cream rises to the top right. So you mentioned that success is not just about personal achievement, but it's about lifting others up along the way, which obviously at Humana and AT and T and all these places, you know you have to do that. It there. No man is an island. No woman is an island. You can't do this alone. You got to have good team. How can people balance their own ambitions with the responsibilities of helping others? Because sometimes, you know, as a manager, because we have a lot of managers that listen out there, they feel overwhelmed, because they not only have their own workload, but they have the workload or the, what I should say, the spiritual side of helping others that come to them with problems along the way, right? Absolutely. I know HR managers always say, Well, I'm like the My door is a rotating door, and normally HR managers are women. Yeah,

they're nurturers. They are helpers. They are they are let me tell me your problem, and let me help you. So I have, over the years, without being intentional about it, I have created a bit of a framework, and now I'm recognizing that through having written the book, through talking about the book, and that is the notion of generosity at the workplace, and generosity as a superpower at the workplace, or the generous leader framework. And I will say it this way, typically when the elevator door opens, or when you log into that first teams call you go into survival of the fittest mode right at work. You have to perform. You are there because if you don't show up, you might not have a job, you might not get a raise, you might not get a promotion. You are out for you, and I maintain part of my lovely, successful career that I really enjoyed was because I was very generous, and because I took any meeting, anybody asked me for for advice, because I sought people for Advice, generous people, because I people would weave their hands together and say, step here. And that taught me I needed to do that. I tried to think as much about what my leader needed that day, as what I needed, as what my team needed, needed. So it became this really healthy circle and and I think we could you all use a bit of that all use a bit of generosity in the workplace, take ourselves out of the center focus and allow ourselves to be of service to others. Not that I can shirk anything I'm accountable for, but that I can find time in my day, in my rhythm of life, to say, Can I help you with that? Or what are you struggling with? Or do you want to just go down the hall and have a cup of coffee?

Very good. I mean, I think that, you know, the cup of coffee, the walk around the building, or taking somebody out to lunch, these are the little things that allow you to get up front and per and be more personal. You know, I had a gentleman on here, you know, leave your phone at the door, because what happens is, you know, you're swiping, you're answering, text, your emails, you're not present. And I think just to take that extra time to be present is important now, a little bit of shift in our questioning. You know, under career growth and challenges, you talk about the discomfort of new, okay, yeah, we're, let's face it, the whole world is like looking at new right now. And there is a lot of, I think, angst and anxiety, and people are feeling challenged. Why is stepping into the unknown, such a necessary ingredient in your estimation for success. And how can people develop the resilience in in a way I worded this was in the moments, but really right now, it's more than a moment. It's really almost every day on all the time.

Well, I will go back. Thank you for that wonderful question. I'm going to go back to something you said just a minute ago. Put the phone down when you come in. I, I was listening to a podcast yesterday about the anxious generation, and we you and I in this generation of phones, we get distracted four to 600 times a day, and that that creates anxiety, right? Because I'm with you. And then, oh, there went a ding. I better go see what that is. And there went another thing. And I'm not focusing on the richness of what we're doing right now, and that's a terrible thing to waste. I think that it makes you anxious and you won't continue to risk. I think we're right now. There is a generation that is worried about taking a risk. You cannot move forward into an extraordinary career if you don't go into the unknown, if you don't accept that you are going to be uncomfortable. Newness brings discomfort. It makes your muscles sore, right? It makes your head ache until it's not new anymore, and once you get accustomed to that rhythm of reinventing what you're going through every time you have a new project, a new leader, a new person on your team, a new career, you'll get comfortable with that, and you'll Almost thrive in that first dive off the shelf, off the ledge into the new you'll grow your muscles. They won't be sore anymore. You'll have a mental resiliency, as you spoke of. So the way that I dealt with that, when I was getting accustomed to it, was really knowing myself, Why have I been asked to do this project and write it down? Here are my attributes. Here are the special things about me as to why I was contacted for this. And when I get nervous and fearful go, I go back and look at that sheet of paper and I say, Okay, I'm here for a reason. And as I quote a wonderful leader of mine, Gary Goldstein, this is a marathon, not a sprint. So take your time. Take a deep breath. You can do this. Somebody believed you could do this. Don't let that person down. Go do it. But be

good advice. And I and I think that the being taking discomfort to comfort. It's almost like the invisible to the visible. It's almost like the innovation process. You're actually reinventing yourself, and in the process of reinventing yourself, you're developing new skills. You're developing new muscles. As you said, Hey, your muscles are hurt, but it's like going out to the gym and working out and then coming back and doing again the next day, and by the third day, you're not feeling it that much anymore. So you know, as a woman in professional careers, you've taken some pretty big career leaps. You went from sales to executive leadership. What are some of the biggest fears that people out there listening today who would maybe like to make that jump from, let's say, sales to an executive position would need to overcome to feel, in this case, a little more comfortable, but I'd say even more So, more confident that they can actually do it.

So I want to talk about two things. And one, you're very, very familiar with imposter syndrome, and it's it's there waiting to howl at you very often. So I want to talk about that, but I'm going to start with the best way to have confidence in yourself is assessing and reassessing who you are, what your aptitudes are, what your strengths are, what differentiates you. Keep that dialog very present in your mind. I had a I was blessed to have two parents that did not underestimate the power that a child needs in knowing to be competent, being confident is an underrated gift that you have and that You can give. So keep that running tape of what makes you uniquely you. And then think about this role, this project, this new job that you've been asked to take on, and if you're 80% of the way there Go for it, this is an interesting dynamic difference, and it gets back to imposter syndrome between men and women. Men will look at a role description or a role profile, and if they've got 70% of the attributes, the qualifications, etc, they'll go for it. Women feel they need about 98.9% and that, to me, is because we imposter syndrome sits on our shoulder and pecks away at our confidence, and we just need to kick it off. We don't need to be obnoxious and egotistical and braggadocious, but we need to be authentic in in what makes us special. And if that lines up with the place you want to take this risk, jump off. Jump off at 80%

right? Great advice. And you know that imposter syndrome, we've had several women on the show who've written books about it, right? And you you bring up a really important point, you know, it doesn't you don't have to be at 90% to make that. You can jump at 70 50% if you feel confident. You know you one of the things that I think has always been inside of individuals. But the key is aligning it with their work. Life is their purpose, their passion, and you emphasize purpose, Papa's passion and preparation. How can one of our listeners out there today identify their true passion, and how does this translate into meaningful work? I've always thought that and and I've had people study getting in the flow, right? So I think first comes curiosity. After that level of curiosity, you can define a purpose and a vision for what it is you're doing, because curiosity is really the key if you're curious, like, if you're curious CEO or curious middle line manager, you're always trying to find a way to improve something, right? And then I say that from there, you can define the purpose and the mission and the vision and the passion. But then the goals don't actually come until after all that's done, right? What are the goals? So what would you tell somebody to kind of find this purpose and then resonate with it and then define who they are and who they want to become?

So I, first of all, I love that you bring up curiosity. I have a dear friend, Dr Deb Clary, who is is big into the curiosity study and how it impacts people at work. And she and I were both at Humana, and were able, and I wrote about this in the book, we're able to witness something called the curiosity continuum, and it is a vertical scale, and in the slap DAB middle of the scale is curiosity. And if I remain curious and lift my eyes up in curiosity all the way at that top scale is excitement and happiness and energy. If I become less curious or not curious at all when I get that new assignment, if I just grumble up about it, my mood is going to drop all the way to the bottom, and I might even end up depressed. So I believe in curiosity in a big way, and I'm very thankful you brought that up so I might have the tiniest bit of difference in how I came about. My purpose and yours might be infinitely more efficient. But my purpose revealed itself after I really understood my aptitudes, those things that I innately held and that defined me, and I became really good at those. And once I became really good at those, one of those was was helping in a win, win situation. So you called it sales. That's the traditional way of of naming it. But for me, it was bringing a solution that was Win Win to somebody with a problem that needed a solution. And once I knew that that is really what rang my bell, that I loved being able to find a solution in a win win situation, I suddenly became very passionate about it, and the more I did it in different fields, different industries, I knew that my purpose was around being generous with my with my mind, with my treasures, with my time, and helping people, Whether it's it's in career, whether it's in a personal issue, but helping them move beyond what was keeping them stuck at the time. Started out as a life insurance salesperson ended up, you know, right now, I hope I'm not done, but with a great book, A Forbes best selling book that is all about helping people move to their best and most extraordinary career life.

Interesting. You mentioned, I didn't know that about you as a life insurance Hilton, I was MDRT for 20 years and top of the table, wow,

that is awesome. And you know what your listeners need to know, what I know, what MDRT is, but million dollar round table, that's a big darn deal for 20 years.

It's the last it's is basically the top two or 4% of the people in the industry. But I play it down maybe too much, but it did take a lot of work to get there. You got to sell, you got to sell a lot of life insurance to get there. But before

you leave that, think about what you just said. You got to the top 2% so you were a 98 percenter, but then you found your rhythm, you found your your passion, your purpose, and you shot all the way up to extraordinary, into the top 2% that's exceptional. I

appreciate the compliment. Thank you for that. It supported my family for many years, and has been something that I've been blessed to meet lots of people and also help lots of families out.

That's it, and you help them. This is what I loved about that is my early training. Of this passion I would I would ultimately discover, is that you help them out and talked in a on about a topic nobody wants to discuss, but you did it in such a way that they understood this is something that will help you and help generations beyond you. So I know it's an uncomfortable topic, but it is a reality death and taxes. So let's walk through this together and look at all the lives you you changed.

Yeah, I think no matter what your age, but obviously as you age, you see your finitude. And I think that you know, as somebody my age, sitting here today is 70, you realize the need for that, right? And I think for people that are out there, and I'm not pushing life insurance, I'm saying you really need to look at how the people left are going to be able to manage their life if they were dependent on you. So there's my plug for what young people that need some term insurance. How's that? So look, many people kind of wait for the perfect opportunity you see it, they're kind of like, okay, I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready yet. How can they shift their mindset to create the opportunity versus wait for the opportunity?

So my father gave me such great advice, and it was the breaks will come. And he was so right, and he said that to encourage me to show up every day, knowing that the break could come, knowing that people were watching me and to be prepared every day. And I think that the opportunity, the perfect opportunity is rare, but opportunities are not rare. They will come to you and then you make it perfect. You make it fit your world, your life. But don't overlook that opportunities are coming by very often and do not miss one when it comes waiting for the perfect sometimes it's a lot of times in my life, it's been me that has had to make that opportunity perfect in alignment with what all I needed, and I and most of the time I was able to do that, weren't you, Greg? Did the perfect opportunity ever float through your window or your email or phone?

You have to be looking. You have to be diligent at looking. I also was reminded of your as you're speaking about an old Eastern philosophy tale, and I think if people can can look at it this way, they can see opportunity in a different way. And it kind of goes like this, the gentleman goes and borrows money to get a horse, gets the horse, the horse takes off, and all the farm people around that he borrowed money from said, Hey, you owe us all this money now. And the poor, the horse is gone, and he goes, good things, bad things. Who knows? Right? So what happens is the horse comes trotting back, but doesn't just bring himself, brings four or five other horses. He fixes the gate to the to the little pin where the horses are, and all the townspeople come. Oh my gosh, now you have five horses. We you only borrowed money for one horse, and he and with that, his son was in the pen, and there was a war going on, and one of the horses hit the sun and broke his leg, and all the townspeople said, oh my goodness, your poor son. And he said, good things, bad things. Who knows? And my point to that is, is when you look at what happens in life as good things, bad things, whose nose, some of the things that you think are bad are actually opportunities. And some of the things that you look at that are supposed to be those opportunities are virtually not what they're supposed to be, right? So I kind of have this philosophy that maybe you should look at some of the things that are occur adversely to you as an opportunity, because I think everybody's waiting for it to happen to them, wrapped up in a nice Christmas package with a bow on it, and it's gonna come and you're gonna open it up, it's not there. Usually. That isn't the way it occurs, and you know that as

well, absolutely right? And I love out of adversity, honestly, out of adversity or something really bad happening to me. I got the opportunity of a lifetime at Humana my last career because my role went away, and that's a terrible thing. And many of your listeners have probably had that experience. It's a very it just shapes your whole world. And I knew Humana was a great company, and they would help me find my next spot. But it still doesn't make the jar of that happen or that happening feel any better. But out of it, I took a role that was was perfectly crafted for me. I reported directly into the Chief Operating Officer, and we built this program called humanis, bold goal, and it was a career milestone for me so out of adversity, I'm a believer good things can come.

And that is because you can say good things, bad things. Who knows? The who knows is I don't really know, yeah, but you look at it as bad because you are now sitting in the position as you said, feeling despondent despair. What am I going to do? I don't have the job, but it's almost like God opening up a door and saying, walk through the new door. Go through this, this new door. Because the reality is, on the other side, is something better for you, right? And I hope people can look at it that way, and I know they're not saying to us right now, well, I think those two people on that podcast are crazy. Know where actually we've lived it. So we have lived it. We

lived it. And you know you also just brought up when the who knows, that's your curiosity again, if you will stay curious, what can I do with this? What

right now, you talk about people polishing their brand in your book, right? And you have a brand. I have a brand. You have a great website. I've got a website with podcasts. I've got five other websites as well. And you say, it's crucial, how can professionals develop a personal brand that kind of sets them apart? And I'll and I'll frame this this way, a professional could be somebody as you were in humana. That is like, this is the Pattie Dale brand. This is the Greg Voisen inside personal growth brand, what do you think helps set us apart from this crowded, noisy, crazy, unusual world that we live in, that people say, Oh, well, why do you have to have five websites? And I said, I don't know. It's because I let someone build them right,

but, but the each of those may have a special purpose, and to me, that's what a brand that's your brand identity. What at Humana, I felt my brand identity was to be a strong executive, somebody who was accountable to her number, her team, her leader and and showed up prepared. That was sort of my brand. I was, I was and I polished that all the time, because just one or two days of not showing up prepared one or two days of not being accountable to a number and missing it. And that brand identity is is it's falling down the hill, and I'm going to have to work hard to get it back up. So once you define your brand, you need to polish it routinely and and it's quite to me, it goes back to the simple message of Know thyself. What differentiates you? What do you when you look around the room, what makes you different? And if nothing does, go back to step one and Know thyself, because all of us show up with something special. What is your something special, and then make sure that you are able to illuminate that on a very routine basis. So where do you need to put yourself so that people see that brand identity I was known as a very generous part of the communities in which I lived, worked and played. I was on United Way, board, zoo board, etc, and that brand was instrumental in giving me that opportunity, Greg, that I just spoke of, that last best career move at Humana, because it involved taking our brand out into communities in a way it had never been presented in communities. And I was given that opportunity out of, you know,

50,000 people,

20 executives, because my brand identity was she's a great Humana executive who can speak and influence at a community level.

So Well, I think there are people that bring feeling, they bring emotion, they bring compassion. And I identify as you as one of those people. And I think if I was to ask my clients, why is they hired me? Because you know people, you know, if you look even in the insurance business, I used to have people tell me, and they meant this as a compliment, it wasn't a negative. Well, you know what? You're kind of like the undercover evangelist. They said, You're, the guy that comes in here and inspires our people for the group insurance, and inspires us and gives us more hope, right? And it was always be nice to be known for it, because it wasn't that doesn't, didn't happen at one client, that happened at many clients, that made me feel really good that people's like, hey, yeah, you know, you're bringing us some inspiration today. And actually, the name of my company is illuminate, E, l, u, M, I, N, A, T, E, oh, so I heard you use the word illuminate. Yes. Now look along the way, we're all influenced. And when I would go to MDRT and listen to all the great speakers, that's what started this podcast show cool. And I would hear all these people up on the platform speaking, and there used to be a guy by the name of Leo Buscaglia. He wrote about love, and he taught a class in UCLA about love, and that particular speech from the podium at mbrt really resonated me to this day, which was, I think, back in the 80s that I heard him speak, and it was about a young lady that sat in this big class of couple 100 people, because it was like the big stadium style classes at UCLA, and she didn't show up for one class didn't show up. The second class didn't show up. Third Class, and he asked all the students around her, it's like, Do you know where Anna is? And everybody went, No, we don't really know what it was. And he left an open door for people to come into his office and see. So then one person the following day came in. Did you know that Anna basically drove her car off the cliff and she committed suicide, and it was like, Oh my gosh, here you're sitting in a room with all these people now that pop that speech inspired me enough to want to make connection, to help people to, you know, reach out, talk to somebody, a neighbor, a friend, whatever. And here's the thing, because we're in a loneliness epidemic in this world, I've interviewed several people about books that have written about the loneliness epidemic, and I think you have a question that came out of this, which will help us wrap up this interview. You dedicated this book to those who supported you, and I say the people that support you are the ones that have the love, the compassion, the ones that are understanding. Who has had the biggest influence on your journey, and what did you learn from them? If it was more than one, I'd love to know who it is, but if there are a couple that stand out, let's talk about how important it is to have that support as you go through this journey. Thank

you. What a beautiful story and what a great question. So I'm going to name three, because I was only going to name one, but then you gave me a plural. I did. I the first would be Jim Murray, who wrote the forward in my book, and he was the chief operating officer for Humana, who hired me. And after he left Humana, he kept hiring me for more and more opportunities. He is one of those rare people in your life, but find them and and cherish them that saw things in me I didn't see in myself, and then be that for somebody else, right? Find those hidden talents. He, he, he was very great at doing that, not just for me, but for so many people. He saw in us what we didn't see in ourselves, and he put us in very uncomfortable places where we could thrive. That would be the first one. The second is my father, and he was a businessman. He owned his own business, which is a very difficult you know, entrepreneur. Entrepreneurials have a tough life, I think, but he gave me great advice always I've already told you about one of those, which was the breaks will come. But more etched into my soul is, is the way he ended every one of our blessings for breakfast or dinner every day after he was at the end of grace, he would say, and Lord help us to remember the needs of others. So I heard that twice a day for 17 years plus, plus, plus, and it was just ingrained in me that I'm always supposed to be looking outside of myself. But what else can I make better? Who else can I help? I love that. And then finally, the love of my life of 34 year marriage to my husband, Jim Tye, who has been incredibly supportive of my career journey. We have moved nine times over those years, and he has been super supportive every step of the way he he's just great. So anyway, I'm I'm his biggest fan. Those are my three.

That is a wonderful list, and I'm sure if we gave you more time, you could come up with a lot more. But I want to thank you for being on inside personal growth and contributing. And if you want to hold the book up to the side, then that way we it won't take up the whole There we go. Well, let's see it went away again. You know why? Because the background there we go, extra ordinary to extraordinary is the name of the book we have been on with Pattie Tye. Pattie Dale Tye, Tye E. You can reach her, as I mentioned at the beginning of this podcast, through her website, which is just your name, P, A, T, T, I, E, D, A, l, e, t, y, e.com, there you can learn more about this book. You can get this book. There'll be a link for you to buy it at Amazon. You also can check out the book at her website. Her speaking, what she speaks about, what makes her passionate. There, you can do the press, and there's an assessment as well. So Pattie, again, pleasure having you on it was a great taking this little journey for the last 45 minutes, just talking about your book and you and all the great things you've done in life, blessing to you, and thanks for being on inside personal growth. And

thank you, and thank you for what you do for the world, for allowing people a platform to come into and leave better than they walked in. So thank you, Greg, it was a honor. Was a true honor.

Honor is always mine, because I learn from every one of the authors that come on this show. So, and you're no exception. So thanks so much.