In this episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Laurie Hirsch Schulz, a transformational coach, nonprofit leader, and founder of LHS Coaching. Laurie’s career journey—from over two decades in corporate marketing at Kraft Foods and Visa to becoming a trusted coach and community leader—offers a powerful reminder that change is not something to resist but to embrace.
Laurie brings to her clients a unique blend of corporate savvy, coaching expertise, and a deep passion for helping people find clarity when they reach what she calls inflection points. These are moments when life nudges—or pushes—you to recognize that what once worked no longer does. Whether it’s career dissatisfaction, a health scare, a layoff, or simply the realization that you’re ready for something new, inflection points are opportunities to redefine what comes next.
From Corporate Success to Coaching Purpose
Laurie enjoyed a successful career at Kraft Foods and Visa, thriving in marketing and strategy roles. But after more than 20 years, she hit her own inflection point: the work no longer aligned with her values. Rather than pushing through, she took a bold step. She negotiated an exit plan, gave herself what she called a “reboot year,” and invested in coaching and reflection.
That pause was pivotal. Laurie discovered that what she loved most wasn’t just the marketing itself, but the mentoring, coaching, and team-building along the way. Out of that realization grew her coaching practice, where she now helps others navigate the complexity of transition.
The Power of a Personal Compass
Laurie’s process begins with what she calls a personal compass. This is more than a vision statement—it’s a grounding framework built around four key elements:
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Core Values – The non-negotiables that must guide decisions and actions.
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Mission – How you want to impact the world and show up in it.
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Energies – The activities, relationships, and pursuits that light you up.
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Capabilities – The skills and strengths that differentiate you, not just what you can do, but what you want to do.
This compass serves as a touchstone, allowing clients to navigate life and career changes with greater clarity and confidence. It becomes especially powerful during times of uncertainty, when the “shoulds” of culture or family expectations may cloud what truly matters.
Experimentation and the Permission to Change
Clarity, however, is not enough. Laurie stresses the importance of experimentation—testing possibilities in small, manageable ways. That might mean scheduling coffee conversations with people in new fields, volunteering in a nonprofit role, or taking on stretch projects at work. These experiments open doors to new opportunities and perspectives while reducing the fear of change.
And this is where Laurie offers something many of us forget: permission to change. So often, we keep doing what we’ve always done—even when it makes us unhappy—because it feels safe or because others have boxed us in. Laurie helps clients give themselves the grace and courage to step through new doors, even if what’s on the other side looks different than expected.
Coaching as a Gift to Yourself
Laurie distinguishes coaching from therapy or consulting. Therapy often looks backward; consulting provides external solutions. Coaching, in contrast, is about partnering with clients to ask the right questions, surface insights, and guide them forward. It is future-focused, client-led, and deeply transformative.
As Laurie puts it, coaching is a gift—a purposeful pause that helps you reconnect with who you are, gain confidence in your strengths, and create a future aligned with your values.
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Key Takeaways
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Listen to the inner voice. When something no longer feels right, don’t ignore it. Inflection points are signs it’s time for change.
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Define your personal compass. Ground yourself in your values, mission, energy sources, and unique capabilities.
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Challenge the “shoulds.” Cultural and personal expectations can limit growth; real transformation begins by questioning them.
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Experiment your way forward. Try new roles, conversations, or volunteer work to clarify what resonates before making big leaps.
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Give yourself permission. You don’t need to stay stuck in a box. Change is not failure—it’s an act of self-leadership.
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Coaching is an investment. Partnering with a coach can help you pause, reflect, and move forward with confidence and clarity.
Laurie’s story is a reminder that change, while uncomfortable, is often the catalyst for growth and transformation. We may not always know what’s on the other side of the door, but with clarity, experimentation, and courage, we can step through and discover new ways of living and working that truly align with who we are.
To learn more about Laurie Hirsch Schulz and her coaching practice, or to connect with her for a complimentary introductory session, visit her at LHS Coaching or find her on LinkedIn.
Connect with me:
- Website: www.simonassociates.net
- Email: info@simonassociates.net
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From Observation to Innovation,
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Andi Simon 00:00:02 Welcome to On the Brink with Andii Simon. Thank you so much for joining us today. Just a Little Push on the brink has been ranked number 18 among the top 100 podcasts on the topic of change. And I must tell you, it’s both an honor and a privilege and an opportunity for me to keep pushing out their wonderful people to help you see, feel and think in new ways. Because that’s what change is all about. The idea that I came up with after my first book, On the Brink, was to help people do that. Get off the brink. You get stuck or stalled and you’re not quite sure what’s going on. And I don’t care if it’s your business or your personal life, you’re not quite sure how do I move forward? I will tell you, and I’ll tell you several times today that the human brain hates me. It doesn’t want to change. It’s very happy if it can do just what it’s always done. And then the amygdala hijacks me all the time. It sends out cortisol and say, get away from her.
Andi Simon 00:00:58 But this is really an opportunity for you to listen to people. And today, I have a wonderful woman. I’ll tell you about Lori Schultz in a moment, who I just love to share with others because she brings a fresh perspective to coaching, but also to helping people see, feel and think in new ways. Lori, thank you for joining me today.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:01:18 Oh, I’m so happy to be here. Andy, you’re one of my favorite people to talk to, especially about change.
Andi Simon 00:01:24 Well, Lori and I met through the women through the Westchester Business Council almost by chance. And so it was a pandemic. I’m not going to say a pandemic, but it had a lot of the same feeling. It was somebody you met during the pandemic and never really knew. And we’ve grown so comfortable talking. But today I want to talk about what she does to help people come off the brink. I’m not going to read you her bio like I typically do. I’m going to tell her to, you know, ask her to please share it.
Andi Simon 00:01:51 Just a little highlight. she was with visa for seven years. A little more than that. And she’s the founder and organizational leader of broad River network, and she can talk about community. She’s chair of the board of trustees on the Westchester Youth Alliance, which is very meaningful and does enormous work to help kids. And she’s the founder and transformational coach and facilitator of S. I’m assuming that’s Laurie Hirsch Schultz. I’m coaching and she’s been doing this for a couple of years now. She loves to work with individuals and small businesses. But here’s what I love about what Lori is talking about. She says change is coming at us from all directions, some by choice, some by circumstance. We hate change. And what are we going to do to address it? Are you ready? She asks. Can you harness it? Change is an opportunity to grow. It’s really taking all the things you’ve learned and turn them into new ways of doing things. It’s not to hide from it. Her passion is leveraging the is leveraging the connected power of collaboration and communities to learn, grow, identify solutions, and develop sustainable action plans.
Andi Simon 00:02:58 It’s not about an idea. It’s about completing and doing it, living it, testing it, learning from it. Lori, it’s so much fun to have you today. Help our listeners know about your own journey to the point where you now have a wonderful coaching business. Now, how did this all happen? It didn’t happen from design. You didn’t grow up saying, I want to be a coach.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:03:19 Yeah. no. Although what a great introduction. Andy, that was terrific. Thank you. I did not grow up saying I wanted to be a coach, but interestingly, when I was in business school, I actually was a and it didn’t I did not even connect the dots because I had a 20 plus year career in corporate. And when I decided to go to coaching, it came to me one day I’m like, wait a minute. I kind of started here, which was when I was in business school. I was a I worked in the, in the career office, coaching other students, Undergrads and graduate students and did interview coaching and things like that.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:03:59 So there must have been this little piece of me that was, oh, that that always resonated. And I think that that’s true. One of the questions I sometimes ask my clients is, you know, what did you want to be when you were growing up? Like, what was that? And there’s those sparks are still really relevant.
Speaker 3 00:04:15 They are so, so.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:04:17 Like I said, you know, and you did a great introduction. I, I had a 20 plus year career. I worked at Kraft Foods for over 15 years. I worked at visa for seven and a half, and I was one of those lucky people. Maybe it’s not all luck, but who? I really enjoyed my career and I enjoyed my journey at Kraft. I enjoyed my journey at, visa, and then one day at visa for a variety of different reasons. It wasn’t working for me anymore. And I call this when I when I talked to people, that’s an inflection point. And rather than just continuing to ride the wave of my career, which is pretty much what I had done my entire life.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:04:57 Some good, good opportunities came my way. Of course, it was because I worked hard and, you know, was smart and engaged well with people. But opportunities came my way. And then all of a sudden it wasn’t working anymore. And instead of just ignoring that little niggle in my head, I decided to pay attention to it. That inflection points. And I very purposefully, when I had my mid-year review in 2017, a visa. And I think visa is a fabulous company. It’s just the job was no longer right for me. I it was in the spring because of our fiscal year. And I said to my manager, you know, I don’t want to talk about my mid-year. I want to talk about an exit plan. This isn’t working for me anymore. And I knew that they had I knew that they had exit packages because I was having to lay a lot of people off. So we negotiated an exit plan. I stayed until the fall of 2017. I stayed another six months and that experience alone was really empowering.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:05:58 Just listening to that inner voice that’s saying this isn’t working for you anymore. and I took some time, I called it my reboot year in 20 and 2018 and did some reflection. I got some coaching myself and I decided to enroll in a coaching program. One of the things that I really loved about the work, and I was a marketer, I was I was a marketing strategist is that I also I led teams. I loved those interactions, that community building, I liked mentoring, I liked coaching. And so, that’s how I came to coaching. I started my practice in 2018. So that but that interest, that idea about inflection points, actually the reason why I went to business school when I got my master’s in business is that I went out to dinner with a date. The date wasn’t. He was a very nice man. It wasn’t such a great date, but he was a very nice man. And one of the things he said to me, he said I was 24.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:07:02 He said, why don’t you consider getting your business degree? And I was like, oh, great. For, for whatever reason, that it never occurred to me. I was, I was, I was working in a PR agency. I enjoyed the work. And that started me on the journey to get my business degree. So I think this idea of listening when that inner voice is saying something is really important. And that’s really driven some of my journey.
Andi Simon 00:07:34 Now, as you started to say, I’ve been making a couple of notes here, but as you started to think about the next stage, it’s not so simple to simply throw a dart and figure out, you know, which way is the right way, and you may not be on the right path as you leave, but you know, your inflection point concept was that there was something here that I had done and I had worn out, and now it was time to look at something else. And this came up. So how does somebody begin to think about the next stage plan? I mean, do you go exploring? Do you go talk to people and do you.
Andi Simon 00:08:13 I don’t know. Try different jobs. It’s sort of one of those. you had an inflection point. Now what do I do? It’s not that different than, I’ve been fired or I’m going to retire or my business. Yeah.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:08:27 You know, let’s first define inflection points, because I think that there’s so many of them, there are their personal inflection points that happen. It can be your kids. And I find this especially for women. Your kids are leaving the house. They’ve you have an empty nest. And maybe, like me, you’ve worked through their entire, you know, the entire time, but all of a sudden you have more space for yourself. And I’ve worked with clients who say, wait, now it’s my time. I can do. I can take a career or do a job that maybe I can travel more, or it’s a bigger job, or it’s a job that is more personally fulfilling but doesn’t make as much money. But, you know, we’ve already paid for the kids to go to college.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:09:19 So I have more space. So it could be that kind of inflection point. It could be, parents that are, you know, you’re taking care of your parents or your parents have passed away. And that’s an inflection point. It, it can be it can be, physical, a health scare or so much stress that it’s having an impact on your on your, on your body. it can be you’ve talked about retirement. It can be people retiring all around you and you’re thinking, well, wait, I’m not so sure I’m ready to retire or even a spouse or partner retiring. And you’re like, that’s not what I want to do. What does that look like? So inflection points, there’s just such a wide variety of these inflection points when there’s these changes. And of course it can be a layoff. Or I’m working with a new client whose job was downgraded and not because of performance, just because of what was happening in her business, in her company. And she’s like, well, I have I’m a much more value and I give much more value than I’m being recognized for in this space.
Speaker 2 00:10:24 Or it.
Andi Simon 00:10:24 Can.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:10:25 Be inflection point, it can be I’m bored or I’m no longer fulfilled by this job anymore. And that’s especially like, listen to that. And so how do you navigate all of that.
Andi Simon 00:10:40 To add one thought to your thoughts? Yeah. Because as I’ve been interviewing men, one of the things that is clear is that they are self often. they’re entrepreneurs or they’ve grown a business or they’ve had a family firm and I don’t want us to. The inflection point for them are often different than for their wives or for women, because their whole identity is about growing this business. Sometimes it’s not growing. Sometimes somebody comes in to buy it. I mean, sometimes, they too have done as much as they can for the business, and they know that the entrepreneurial model is no longer the successful one there. So that, you know, life is full of all of these moments. I love it as an inflection point where if you look in the mirror, you get an echo back that says, this isn’t right.
Andi Simon 00:11:29 And we have the freedom to begin to choose the next path. And I think that freedom to choose is the important point here. Am I missing?
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:11:38 Yeah. No, that’s exactly right. And you’re right, it’s business owners as well. It’s not just about people who’ve have had professional careers like I have. I’ve had I’ve worked with a couple of, I’m one of my clients now is an in has a has owned a business for 25 years and he still has about five more years that he wants to work. But his business is no longer it’s winding down its being. AI has had a big impact on it. And so, you know, figuring out like, how do I redefine who I am? I think that’s absolutely true 100%. And I think that that’s true for everyone, even people who are, you know, in the from a coming from the corporate world. I think that there’s a lot of should that are put upon us. There’s cultural should. Oh, you should. You’ve reached 60 or 65, you should retire.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:12:30 So there’s a cultural expectation or but there’s also and it’s not just about you should retire but should. You’ve always done this. You should. You’ve always been a lawyer. You should continue to be a lawyer, whatever it may be. But there’s also personal should that, I had this vision of myself as a, as a, as a, as a, as a college graduate, and this is the way or my parents have always done things this way, and so I should do things this way. and those should, I think, you know, there’s, there’s some power in actually taking some time to question those should, and, and be really purposeful about that. So that’s how I partner with my clients. First of all, even recognizing that a partnership with a with a coach is valuable is a huge first step, because especially if you’re a high achieving individual, you’ve achieved things in your business, you’ve achieved things in your you’re professionally. A lot of that, and I’ll speak for myself too, is there’s a lot to be proud of.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:13:45 And you know, I’ve figured this out all along. The way that I’ve always done things is the way that it’s always worked for me, or it’s generally worked for me. So recognizing that power of having a coach, if they haven’t had the experience and many people haven’t, of having a coach that a company has provided for you, taking that first step and saying, hey, there’s value in this, there’s value in investing in myself, there’s value in being a taking. I call it a purposeful pause, taking a pause. And not all of us, and not just running into things. So taking a purposeful pause. So how I partner with my clients, those, you know, once they’re brave enough or smart enough or just, you know, somebody has given them a little nudge. Most of my clients are referrals. They’ve given me them a little nudge. I partner with them to develop their personal compass. And what that means is what are, you know, what are your values? but non-negotiable values like your top five non-negotiable values.
Speaker 2 00:14:45 What is, what is? What is your mission? How do you want to impact the world? How do you want to show up in the world? what energizes you? What gives you lots of. What really gives you what? Where do you get lost in the work? Or what gets you where? What do you get excited about? and then also, what are you like, what are your capabilities? What are your innate traits? What differentiates you from other. There are lots of accountants in the world, but every accountant has some is a way that they’re doing their business differently and the way that they come about it differently. So what, what differentiates you? What are your capabilities, your skills, and in particular, what are the capabilities and skills that you really want to be doing? Just because you’re a good public speaker does not mean that you like public speaking. So maybe that’s not part of your compass. so I look at all of that, and that’s where we start.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:15:45 That’s the foundation. And I view those is once you have that clarity, more clarity. And it’s really interesting. Like, I work with a lot of people in the nonprofit space because I’ve of my experience in nonprofit and, those nonprofit leaders, sometimes they say, thank you. I forgot what my values were. I forgot why I was here, because it’s very hard to be a nonprofit leader. There’s a lot of challenges. and not to say that it’s not hard to be a leader in corporate, but they’re unique challenges. And so just reconnecting with those values. And why are you, you know, how do you want to show up? But that’s important for everyone. so once you have that compass that can guide you, that can help guide you and it becomes, like touchstones and it impacts everything that you do. It’s not just your professional work, but it can guide your if you decide to retire, it can. Guide your retirement. It can guide. How do I want to how do how do I want my retirement to be? What does that look like? so that’s the first thing I do.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:16:52 And then I’ll one more thing I’ll just mention and then I’ll, I’ll let you go. You go ahead. But what I think is one of the, the best my, one of my favorite questions once we’ve finished this, once we’ve kind of developed this personal compass is what are you trying to solve for? And that it’s, it’s not just, you know, like people will hire them and they’ll say, oh, I’m not I’m not satisfied my work anymore. where do I want to go next? You know, you know, because I do a lot of career coaching, too after we do this work. But it’s frequently not about just work isn’t fulfilling me anymore. It’s frequently about something more, you know, I’m not. I’m. not fulfilled in within my job or outside of my job. My life has become too complicated. There’s too much. There’s too much stress. What are you trying to solve for? And that question kind of when you have your personal compass. As a foundation that enables people to step back for a minute and say, oh, well, this isn’t work.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:17:59 This is this part of my life is not aligned with my compass. This part of my life is what do I what am I trying to fix? And that starts giving more direction.
Speaker 1 00:18:10 Well, but you’re, Now, what I find interesting are the different words. You’re a coach. You’re not a therapist. You’re not a consultant. the job is really to enable your clients to go through a process of self-discovery. And if I’m hearing you correctly.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:18:30 That’s correct.
Andi Simon 00:18:30 Right. And, you know, I always say that if I can’t see it, I can’t be it. So to some degree, they’re trying to see themselves through a fresh lens, as opposed to having a position in an organization or a job or a company or some other characteristic that has demarcated who they are and where they are. Now the question is, who am I? And as you were talking, I was thinking about the important difference between the work I do and who I am, what I you know, what do I mean? I’ll give you a personal little piece to it.
Andi Simon 00:19:03 My, when I met my husband, I was 19, and we were sitting on the beach on lake, and he said, and I may have told you the story, what do you want to be now that you’ve grown up? And I said, well, I’m either going to be an attorney or an anthropologist. And he said, oh, be an anthropologist, and I’ll be here for you. And we’re together 57 years or so. But I thought that what was interesting in hindsight is that I wasn’t doing anthropology. I was being an anthropologist. And what’s so interesting to me over the years is how many people are doing something but not being it, and how difficult it is to realize that there’s this. There’s a difference. I’m glad I didn’t become an attorney. I would have done a turning. I’m never sure I would have been interested intellectually in the legal business or the legal process. but I learned how to see the world as an observer. Sometimes it bothers me. I do that, but I’m very happy just watching and trying to make sense out of things.
Andi Simon 00:20:03 But it’s interesting for the folks who you work with that what you’re helping them do is transition to a new visualization of themselves so they can see themselves in a way so they can become in, am I interpreting what you’re saying correctly?
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:20:18 Yeah. And I think that sometimes we intuitively know it and things click. But being more, purposefully defining it and clarifying it can really make a difference in guiding your path forward and recognizing this isn’t working for me anymore. Because let’s say one of your, your most important values are trust. And you’re working in an organization where that you’re not feeling trusted or you’re not, or for whatever reason, you’re feeling undermined. There is going to be so much dissatisfaction. If trust is your top value or another, I’ll actually I’ll use myself. You just use yourself. I’ll use myself. One of the reasons why I left visa was because my organization that I was leading was changing, and I, and one of my top values is, is connection in partnership, connectivity and partnership.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:21:27 And our clients where the evolution was less of a partnership and more of a financial a financial relationship. and partnership is such a is so important to me that that when we were evolving our business model to be less about deep depth, deep depths of connection and depth of partnership. It was complete. Complete. There was complete dissatisfaction. It wasn’t that not complete, but I was that was really dissatisfying to me. And that’s something that, you know, organizations evolve, people evolve, your personal circumstances evolve, and all of your values in all of in the way that you want to engage with the world, it can start slipping. Or and if you don’t have clarity on what that is you. This is why we were talking. I was talking more about like, listen to that little inner voice and saying, it may just be saying something’s not right. I’m not I’m not satisfied anymore. I’m not fulfilled. And you may not know exactly what that is, but getting that clarity, like you said, is, can be really helpful.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:22:37 And you mentioned, therapy versus coaching. And I think what’s really important to because I’m not a therapist, I mean, therapists go to school for years, you know, to do what they do. I have my coaching certification, but certifications. But coaching is about you take these insights and then how do you move forward? It’s all forward looking. What do you do to move forward? So of course, your background and your history and the things that have happened. You are the lens through which you view things. But being getting that clarity on like on, on, on your, your compass and then it’s very forward looking. All right. So then how do we move forward. What do you do with that. And it’s not consulting either because I ask lots of questions. It’s really about asking questions, making some observations every once in a while. Oh, this is what I’m hearing. Does that sound right to you? Oh, yes. You know, I mean, yeah, but it’s really the heavy lifting is on the individual because it’s that opportunity to invest in yourself time, not just about money, but in being really thoughtful about what is it that’s really important to me?
Andi Simon 00:23:55 Now you’re.
Andi Simon 00:23:56 The word transformative is an important part of your brand identity because you are really transforming. You’re helping people find a transformative pathway, you know? And I use that because it isn’t more of the same. I’m in a better job. Could be, but often it could be a whole different life span. Lifeway. pathway of going forward, how do you help them define that future them we know from the work of I’m Martin Seligman at Penn. They were futurists. If you can’t see the future, you can’t live today. And so consequently, I can say tomorrow. Yesterday is no longer relevant. I have a different purpose with different values that I want to do. How do you begin to help them conceptualize where they’re going? Or do you not do that?
Andi Simon 00:24:47 Oh, I do, absolutely. that’s actually the next the next step in my process. We talked about the compass. Yeah, the compass. We talked about clarity. And then and then it’s, I really believe in this idea of experimentation.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:25:04 I love it, so you can’t just it. Clarity does not come. You know what you want to do next? It does not just happen. and experimentation is very, very broad. When I say experimentation, I mean set up a couple of coffee conversations and talk to people who are doing things that your kind of curious about. What? Oh, what are you and what are you doing? What are your challenges? What’s interesting about what you do? Why is this important to you? That’s experimentation. It can be taking a new job, like taking out a new project at work, identifying an opportunity. And, you know, and, I mean, it could be, you know, having coffees again internally at work with people who are in different in different areas of the company or doing different things, and then, you know, and then finding a project at work that might be that that’s experimentation. you know, you mentioned earlier that I’m that that I’m the chair of a non-profit board.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:26:13 I, I think that volunteering can be complete, can be transformative in and of itself, not just because we know that when you help other people, It’s good for it’s good for your mental health. I mean, there’s been lots of research on that. but it enables you to try other things and to meet other people and to see and use your skills in a way that’s completely different than the way that you use them now. I mean, I can tell you, I’ve been so I’ve been the president of the board now for three years. And my term is ending in December because three years is a good amount of time. But the way that I led in the corporate world is much different than leading a volunteer organization. And those. And that’s made me a much more well-rounded person, a better coach. It’s made me a better communicator. It’s, I think, a better leader. And so that’s experimentation too. I mean, I didn’t become the board president right away. I joined the board, and I was on the board for two years before I became the board president.
Speaker 2 00:27:21 So but even just going for one day and volunteering for something for a cause that feels interesting to you. So it can also be about, I mean, I do a lot of career coaching, so we do a lot of brainstorming first about, okay, here’s your I do brand. I mean, I was I was a marketer. So I we do personal brand work and define what your personal brand is based on that compass work that we’ve done. But let’s do some brainstorming here and think really outside the box and then think closer in. So an example I’ve used before is one of my clients. When we were thinking outside the box, I asked her, what would you do if you weren’t scared? And she said, oh, I would move my entire family to Paris. Okay, that might have been a little too big, but it opened up something in her head to say, wait a minute, but we could.
Speaker 4 00:28:23 Move. Yeah.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:28:25 And that’s what they did.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:28:26 They didn’t move to Paris, but they were living in New York City. Their life was really complicated. New York City is tough, is a great city, but it’s a tough place to live and raise a family. And they moved to the suburbs. And so. And it’s just their life worked much better then. So what I’m suggesting is it’s experimentation and that experimentation can lead to more clarity. And then just the last thing that I’ll say about that is, even once you choose a path in general, I mean, some of this is privileged and I will recognize that. But once you choose a path, you can choose again. If it’s you, you experiment with it. You and I were talking about somebody that we both know who’s just joined a new financial planning organization on her own. You know what? In a year from now, if it’s not working, there could be a reset or a different way of doing it. So, yes, I think that that’s a big piece of it.
Speaker 2 00:29:26 I and what I do with my work with them is I partner with them to find those experiments. Oh, start. If you are, if they are started applying for jobs start, you know, start having you know, have interviews. Look at what those job descriptions are. so it’s experimentation.
Andi Simon 00:29:46 I think that, in the world that we’re in with the technologies that are emerging, the fear factor is very high. The unknown humans hate the unknown. And so you’re giving them permission to pause for a second. I like this idea of a purposeful pause, begin to look at their things that matter, their compass of what is really important in their values. Begin to understand with clarity where they think they would find a better way of going, and then begin to let them experiment with options to really understand. I must tell you how many times that I’ve been in either consulting or coaching relationship, and they are sure they want to do X, but they have no idea what X is. So how can you be so sure? And because they mean that there’s a desire to have clarity and certainty, but at the other side there’s no wisdom.
Andi Simon 00:30:45 And then they get in their surprise they said, so what did you think it was going to be? You didn’t know what it was going to be, but somehow it seemed more attractive than where you were today. So therefore it must be better. And this becomes an interesting challenge for each individual. But I think that what I noted here is that you’re giving them permission to learn and to change. And I don’t think that should be underestimated, because I think we are by nature and have no permission to change. You know, that’s what I’ve always done. I’ll keep doing it. I have no idea how many people I’ve interviewed who hated what they did, but they kept doing it. And the factor was so strong that they had nobody who gave them permission to do something else. And.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:31:27 You know, quantitatively, money and a salary is the most is very that’s very solid, right? That’s clear feedback. And that’s I mean, we and you can’t live without money. Can I add one more thing to what you were just saying.
Andi Simon 00:31:41 You say as many as you would.
Speaker 2 00:31:43 Is that that clarity is helpful, that you know, that permission to give yourself to experiment and try things out. But there’s also confidence. And that’s another thing that a personal compass does, is that you reconnect with your skills and your capabilities and your, you know, what have you really done? Well. And actually, sometimes I have people do interviewing, interview other people and say, you know, ask them about themselves. And I think that’s a really powerful it’s a really powerful, exercise. But that confidence, then as you’re going into these experimentations and I’ll bring back, like this personal branding, you know, how to talk about yourself and you know what’s important to you, and you know how you’re differentiated. And that confidence when you go when you go in, you say, you know what, I’d really like to try that new project, or I want to try this new service in my business. I mean, I know, you know, and I know businesses change all the time.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:32:44 They evolve, they evolve, they evolve. So when you have a confidence and like, what’s the what is it the root of who you are and what you that you can do and what you offer and what your value is that gives you confidence to do those experiments also and to have those, those conversations. so I think that’s important also. That’s the other value of a purposeful pause is that if you spend the time like re.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:33:11 Acquainting yourself with yourself and getting that clarity. It gives you the confidence to navigate through change. I just read, I think it was a LinkedIn yesterday, a LinkedIn post, and I thought it was a really good one. So I’ll just mention it. Is that this this this woman, I think another coach had a client who had spent who had spent almost a year, like just sending out resumes, you know, with the A’s, it’s very hard sending out resumes, getting rejections or going out into the void and getting ghosted. And she said to him, why don’t you take a month off and like, really reconnect with who you are? And that was I mean, that makes a big difference because it can be there is there’s it’s the environment right now is really uncomfortable.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:33:58 Whether you’re a business owner or you’re in a, you know, you’re in a profession or it’s just there’s a lot of change between AI and the tariffs and, you know, everything. And it’s very uncomfortable. And so being able to.
Andi Simon 00:34:13 Well but to your point, there are a couple of themes here, one of which is taking charge of yourself. Because, you know, I made a note here, the tendency is to let others put you in boxes and to find you. And what, what Laura is talking about for our listener or viewer is taking charge of your own identity. Who are you. What do you. Why do you matter. What’s your purpose. But own it. And like what you own or change it so that you like what you own. And then find an environment for you to be that person, as opposed to letting the box decide what you are and who you are. I mean, I’m thinking back, if only I could have known Laurie, all the way back when she was at visa, and I had that moment, which was, oh, this isn’t me anymore.
Andi Simon 00:34:59 This isn’t the kind of place I want to work, because that’s a moment where your brain has a switch and I must tell you, it will come through serendipity, it will come through. Somebody by chance says something to you. It will come by a conversation with a client or a boss or a colleague, and all of a sudden, your brain will go and it’ll say, there’s something here that’s an energy I got to listen to. and I will also tell you that for many of the folks that I work with, they talk about, the door opens and I went through it, and I can tell you, but I’m listening to Laurie. I’m thinking about how she helps you open the door, see the other side, and instead of running the other way and shutting the door, go through the door. You won’t know what’s on the other side if you haven’t gone through it. And then when you go through it, it may not be what you thought. And we’ve all had situations, I can tell you, many of them where I went through the door thinking that’s what I really wanted to do, only to find I don’t really like this at all.
Andi Simon 00:35:56 What did I think it was? Either that it was the wrong doorway. I should have taken the left one instead of the right one. But that’s life. And after a while, no regrets. Just try and find someone who, like Laurie, can help you guide your way there because she isn’t going to tell you how to do it consulting. She isn’t going to be a therapist who’s helping the past fix it. She’s going to really help you rethink who you are now, where are you going and how to make that departure a happy one and then keep moving along. Sometimes you need a lawyer in your life. I think we’re about ready to wrap us up, though, and I made a bunch of notes here, but I’d love to hear a couple of things you want the folks to remember so they don’t walk away and say, what did she say? I forgot all about it. Or how do I find her? Lori, help us think about the process of transformation, of change, because it is accelerating now and the fear factor is high.
Andi Simon 00:36:52 And our job is to help people see, feel and think in new ways so they can get off the brink and they can thrive. Please. Your last thoughts, ma’am?
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:37:01 Oh well, first of all, I love that word taking charge of yourself. That’s not actually a way that I’ve described my work, but I think that that’s right taking charge. So yeah, I think, I do think that coaching is a is in a way a gift for yourself. It’s, you know, to take that purposeful pause. And even coaching, you know, admitting that it’s time to make a change can be scary. You talked about the you know; the brain is does it doesn’t like change. so successful coaching is about making changes. so, you know, the first step that people can do is they can reach out to me. And I have, you know, I offer complimentary introductory conversations. And I know that people frequently walk away from that, even with a little bit of a tidbit.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:37:54 So that’s a, you know, there’s something that’s to think about. So, you know, getting in touch with me to, for a complimentary coaching session. I would also say, take ten minutes and do a little bit of journaling and, you know, and think about what is that little voice in my head saying to me, what? What should I be listening to? What you said this door. What? What you know, what is not working in my life right now? Or what would I like to work? What would I like to be different? And, you know, even just to start, there can be eye opening. you know what I’ll offer to share? I mentioned this, this interview, these questions that people that that I give to my clients, if any of you are if any of your listeners and listeners are interested in that exercise, I’d be happy to share that exercise. And it’s just a way to start thinking about getting reconnecting with yourself through the people who know you best or who knew you, who know you well.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:38:56 so people can find me at LSE coaching. I’m sure you’ll put in the in the notes, my email address. I’m happy to email or email me and we can set up time to speak. Or find me on LinkedIn.
Andi Simon 00:39:11 I think this has been so much fun. I can’t thank you enough for coming back and joining us. I’ll put in the blog notes also, Laurie’s first, interview with me, and you begin to hear her own evolution and development because I don’t think we ever arrive. I think we’re on a journey. It’s not a destination. And I do think sometimes you need someone to hold your hand along the way to listen and hear and echo back something through a fresh perspective. And don’t do it alone. There’s no need to, you know, it’s, it’s a time for all of us to help each other rise and lift others with us. It’s much more fun. And besides.
Laurie Hirsch Schultz 00:39:51 It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Andi Simon 00:39:52 It is a lot of fun if you just relax a little bit and don’t worry so much when you’ve been successful in something, you’re going to take that somewhere else and, and really enjoy the journey.
Andi Simon 00:40:03 So I am going to wrap up because I always like to make sure we have given our folks a half hour is of time. And, but I also think that Lori has left us, me and you, with some ideas about how to look at the future with clarity and fresh perspective. it’s a journey. don’t sit at home wondering. What am I doing? find yourself a coach and perhaps Lori or someone else who can help you think about things. Remember, my job is to get you off the brink. And so if you’re on that brink, betwixt and between, it’s time to think about who can help you move forward. Is it perfect? Never will be. And I can only tell you how. When you look back, you begin to say, well, that was a draw I shouldn’t have gone through. And this is when I’m glad I went through. But you’ll never know if you don’t go through it. And that becomes important. All my books are on Amazon. Just look up Andy, Simon, Andy, I Simon on There and on the brink.
Andi Simon 00:41:01 It’s the first book that we wrote about companies that were stuck or stalled and how a little anthropology helped them see things through a fresh lens in change. My second book, called Rethink Smashing the Myths of Women in Business, was all about women who got past the we shouldn’t. And I loved Laurie’s concept of the should and the shunts, and they all said, of course we can. I’ll be a geologist, I’ll be a CEO, and of course I can. And in today’s world, that’s even more important. And then my third book, Women Mean Business, is out there for 102 women to tell you what their meaning has been and how it all has helped. And I love doing this podcast to help share with you other people who want to help you see, feel and think in new ways. Thank you for coming. Remember, my little tag is from observation to innovation, and what you need to do is go see things. Be a little anthropologist. Spend a little time looking even at yourself, and reflect on what’s good, what’s not, and begin to shed the knot and, you know, have a good time with the good.
Andi Simon 00:41:58 It’s been a pleasure. Laurie. Thanks so much for coming today.
Speaker 2 00:42:01 Thank you. It has been a pleasure.
Andi Simon 00:42:03 I know.
