Lynnea Hagen With The Abundance Company

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Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one. Today we have with us Lydia Hagan with The Abundance Company. Welcome.

Lynnea Hagen: Well, thank you. I’m happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about The Abundance Company. How are you serving folks?

Lynnea Hagen: On this company was created in 2002 and how I serve folks. I work with successful leaders and entrepreneurs who are stuck having a lot of pain because they are the businesses flatlined and they’re losing employees and working too hard and that type of thing. So what I do, I help build the from the inside out to be better leaders so that they can build a better business and build better employees.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your back story? How did you get into this line of work?

Lynnea Hagen: Oh my gosh, I’ve been coaching practically my whole life. It’s just natural to me. I started out in corporate with Disney and then Quaker State all and finally with AT&T and. AT&T, or specific Bell sent me through oodles of education. I already had two undergrad degrees in psychology and sociology, but they gave me two more, two masters and one of them, which is an organizational development. And I decided that. What hit me the deepest about working with an organization is serving the leaders because leadership is. Inspiring leadership, the right kind of leadership is rare, and I think we’ve all suffered under a leader that is ignoble or ignorant or inefficient or ineffective or dishonest, and that’s a horrible way for people to live and to work. So that’s what got me into it, just to my passion for helping others and that type of thing. And then we start my own company.

Lee Kantor: When you left corporate, did you get were you working primarily with executives at enterprise level organizations or do you work with small and midsize business owners as well?

Lynnea Hagen: You know, when I was a corporate, I worked with executives. I had huge companies. I had, you know, Hewlett-Packard and Intel, Cisco. A lot of the huge global companies that are headquartered here in Silicon Valley, I fly back around is a small business. I worked a small business. I saw the struggles and the pains. My growing up in it and in my heart is with really with smaller businesses, although I’ve had his clients, directors of large corporations like Intel, because they have their own kind of like small business within a larger organization. So it’s kind of run the gamut, but my my heart and my focus, my passion is really on leadership and helping people achieve their dreams, not only for their particular position or their company or their group, but also in their life. And that’s what our that’s why we do what we do professionally, I believe, is to help help reach our joy and what it is we’re meant to do while we’re here on Earth.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your work, you came up with the methodology. Can you tell us a little bit about the biosystems of success?

Lynnea Hagen: Yeah, the system of success is something that came to me when I put together all the different things that I was educated in and licensed or certified in. And I started looking at it, one of them as a one page business plan I created as a. As a pyramid, kind of like the oh, I can’t remember, I’m a psychology major, I can’t remember, but the pyramid of living and and we work up to the top, which is really for me on the top, is joy and personal success. And so I when I started creating that with a vision and and mission and strategies and objectives and and projects, it looked like a triangle. But then I when I got to the deeper work, I started working with people on what is your purpose for being here? Why are you put here on Earth? And this is the work that I did with the amazing Secretan who has been lauded and awarded all over the world for the work he does with corporations. And it’s all based on purpose and inspiration. So I. The truth is, purpose runs through everything you do, and when you discover that reason for being here on Earth and you live a different kind of life or a different kind of leader, a different kind of worker and parent.

Lynnea Hagen: So that became something that ran through every bit of the business plan up to the top, where the the person is kind of risen to the top of the chair. They’re kind of dancing with joy. So when I put the purpose running through the business plan and up to the top and affecting everything within the business and the people in it, I realized it looked like a tree or what I used to draw for a tree when I was a kid for a little Christmas tree. Well, you know, a little triangle with a stick going through it. But the purpose runs deep, deep into the ground. It supports the tree. And whatever is on top is whatever is flourishing above ground. And this is true except for redwoods, which are a rare breed, but the purpose system underground and the root system is as large as watts as the fruit on top. And the true truth is we can’t achieve much on top if the root system is being poisoned. And this encompasses the the seven environments of who we are to. It’s our relationships. It’s our relationship with money. It’s who were connected to our networking, you know, like six degrees of separation.

Lynnea Hagen: It’s our spiritual environment, our vibrant and our our relationship with with nature. It’s how we’re tapping into our DNA and our natural gifts. And it’s, you know, it spreads out and it keeps spreading out and. As those spread out, they’re going to be they can be either fed or bled on how well you’re taking care of those, and that’s what a lot of people don’t want to look at and business. But when I give talks to, you know, a group of businessmen and I’m, you know, talking about this stuff underneath my time, I’m done. They’re sitting up and listening because, you know, we all know that if we have a fight with our spouse before we go to work, that’s going to be niggling at it’s going to be kind of dragging us down and pulling our full attention and energy away from what we’re doing at the moment and vice versa. If we have a lousy work environment, we bring that home. So we it’s not a business and a personal self. It’s all one. So we need to take care of all these these roots and things that that can really lift us up, so to speak, of fruit into what we’re meant to be doing here on Earth.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re having a conversation with somebody maybe at the beginning of your relationship with them, are they able are they self-aware enough and are they able to articulate kind of the depth of that and to get that deep into the foundation and the whys behind the whys and and and really kind of appreciate that? Or are they coming to you with I don’t know why all my employees are leaving,

Lynnea Hagen: You know, the second, the second, the second way. You know, I’ve been brought in, you know, by but on our business, they said, you know, kind of fix them. And that’s what I was just doing, consulting. And then I went into executive coaching because I thought, no, I need to fix it later. And so now most people are not that self-aware and. That’s the beauty of of doing the work that I do is to open open their kind of their soul and their mind to something that is so much broader than this little this little space or this little thing they’re focusing on, because it’s a very holistic world that we live in now.

Lee Kantor: But what does that look like at the beginning? So like the person comes in, like you said, they’re like, fix Bob. Everything would be great here if you can fix Bob. Bob, obviously, it’s clear to me I see this right in front of me, Bob. Thanks, Bob. Everything will be good. And then you got to move that person. That, Bob, is just maybe a symptom, if anything, or maybe it has nothing to do with Bob.

Lynnea Hagen: Exactly. Exactly. Well, when I first have someone sit with me or talk to me about what they put the business, what I started to tell me about your three biggest challenges, and I can intuit or I can easily see how those are all tied in together into something that’s bigger than what he or she is talking about. And that’s when I start to turn around the conversation, say, you know, let’s look at this from a bigger picture, because you’re being kind of, you know, myopic here in a way. And so let’s look at and think about what is happening kind of holistically in your business. And maybe we can kind of pull that apart and see what’s really going on. So. It’s very hard to say, gee, is not Bob, it’s you,

Lee Kantor: But you’re saying a version of that, but more more elegantly.

Lynnea Hagen: Yeah. You know, and my my you know, my purpose here on Earth is to kind of honor, honor the the sacredness of people so and so, you know, how do you do that to say, you know you know, buddy, you’re really messed up. Yeah. It’s really about you.

Lee Kantor: But ultimately, it is the leader, right? I mean, you have to help the leader help themselves, so then they can then help the group they’re serving.

Lynnea Hagen: Exactly, exactly. And if they can become someone who’s an inspiring person, then they can begin to do that in the way it lifts everyone up and makes people want to do the best work and want to be there. The thing that gives me a lot of pain is the fact that, you know, globally, the percentage of people who are engaged with their job, meaning they want to be there, they want to do their best, they’ll even extend to doing something else. If it helps the organization, you know, that’s something like 15 percent. Of the workforce, that means 85 percent is looking for a way

Lee Kantor: Out, right? They’re just going through the motions or it’s a paycheck and they’re just doing the minimum to just keep existing their

Lynnea Hagen: Eyes on the clock. You know, it’s just it’s painful. That makes you personally gives me a lot of pain in the United States. Also a little bit better. It’s about maybe 30 percent of employees are engaged. It’s helping a little bit with the with the big corporations that benefit corporations, which are real legal entities.

Lee Kantor: So you’re seeing that the companies that have kind of a worthwhile mission and a big Y that people can get behind, they have a better chance of maybe creating some sort of a movement where people are seeking out to go there. And that gives them the employee more meaning and it helps the company thrive.

Lynnea Hagen: Absolutely. In fact, there’s a lot of statistics to back that up, that inspiring organizations. We have a leader this there is. Caring and loving, not like, you know, platonic love, but somebody says, yes, whatever I want for myself, I want for these people. And so Humana Corporation, which is embraces the whole whole model. Talk to their their their top people, their high achievers, people they really wanted to keep on board and said, what is your dream? What would you be doing if you were here, and one for instance, one guy said I’d be a concert pianist, so this company in their lobby put a concert grand piano so this guy could come down during his lunch break and, you know, his break times and could be a concert pianist for the people in the building. And I mean, how does that all affect them? How do you think that affects everybody else? So it’s not only just one bad apple spoiling the whole is one. Inspirational deed and honoring the soul of one other person, inspiring everyone else,

Lee Kantor: Right, and that and role modeling that behavior is, like you said, is the ripple effects go throughout the organization that this person cares. They really have empathy. This is a place worth not only for me going, I’m going to invite my friends. And this is a place you can really kind of do something and make a mark.

Lynnea Hagen: The beautiful thing about it. And using the weibe, do you know why I’m here? What am I you know, how am I going to represent why I’m here? And what am I going to do to carry that forward can actually be brought through the entire corporation, entire organization, but starts with the leader. Becoming an inspiring person, you can inspire others unless you’re an inspiring person. And but the but companies that incorporate all this, they have 50 percent less turnover. They retort, we retain and attract clients at a much higher level. They have a 30 percent increase in revenue and profits. And they can actually bring it out to the organization, you know, it’s I mean, to the community. So if you have a place, it is an aspiring. The word gets out. Now, like, you know, if you have a lousy place to work, the work at work gets out.

Lee Kantor: Right, exactly. It works both ways. It does. Now, in your work, can you share a story about maybe you were working with the firm, obviously don’t name the name, but explain what their challenge was or where they were stuck and how you were able to kind of intervene and help them get to a new level.

Lynnea Hagen: I will. I worked with a software company and. I was giving a talk to to Rotary this early on, and this guy approached me, said, I really need your help. And I was talking about toleration, which is all that stuff that. Is. Draining or rotting your roots, putting up too much in your life that you’re just a strain, your energy, and it’s not about time management, it’s about energy management. So I talked about that and he couldn’t get anything done. You know, he was his business was stuck at the same revenue level, he’d been in business, I think, about 15, 20 years, and he couldn’t get it past a certain level. And so I started working with Bob and he became my client for many years as I facilitated a board of directors made up of CEOs and company presidents. And as I started working with him, it became became clear to me that he was excellent as the servant leader. Excellent and very loving, but he didn’t have the courage within himself to make some hard. Decisions on his own time and with himself, he you know, he was inspiring himself enough, so we started working on at this level about, you know, OK, what is your purpose here on Earth? Is it? Just to, you know, clean up after everybody else or or, you know, drag yourself down is, you know, that’s not helping anybody. And so we started working on that and and worked on a business plan. And he ended up attracting the two people who had been going after as employees for a long time. And he has he talked to them and he showed him the plans that we created together for his business, one of those people said, I want to work here because I’ve never heard or seen anything like this before and.

Lynnea Hagen: He ended up not only growing his business, but, like I said, attracting a whole other rich and talented employee, and so he became one of my first raving testimonials. In fact, he lives in my neighborhood now. I see him, but at some and he was doing things like, you know, I have an open door policy. Well. That sounds like a good idea, but sometimes you have to close the door and get things done because what he wasn’t doing was allowing people to become better leaders of themselves. He was answering all their questions and telling more things are doing the same. His kids were calling in during the day, said, Dad, where are my socks? And you’re not creating independent. Leaders by being the mother hen to everybody, and so we had to work with, you know, is this really the best way to lift yourself up and lift up those around you? And and it was such fun. It was just really great. And we also worked with the employees. We had an all hands meeting and about. And he was just, you know, in the employee group about what do we stand for? You know, why are we here is as a corporation? How are we going to live that out and what are we going to do? And. Of course, none of these people have already got anything through anything like that, and it really inspired everybody to. To be different as a human being, I guess I’m hoping, but also the impact of the organization and in a huge way. So that’s, I guess, one story now.

Lee Kantor: And you in your work, you’ve been doing coaching for a minute now. Have you found that the coaching is now more of a. Must have for employees of all levels where it used to be kind of a nice to have for a handful of select leaders at the top of the food chain in an organization.

Lynnea Hagen: I think it’s a mix. I’m what I’m seeing and a lot of small businesses, they don’t think as the owners or the presence of small businesses, they need any any help themselves. They only come to a coach when maybe they’re having some problems.

Lee Kantor: So you think they’re only using coaching in a crisis? They’re not using it as kind of a sounding board and kind of always helping them get better, continuous improvement, you know, pushing them.

Lynnea Hagen: I think it’s a mixed bag from what I see and what I’ve experienced, you know, hopefully people have a bigger dream than just, you know, making where they are a little bit better. And that’s what I hope to instill in my clients is, you know, what’s your dream? Let’s work on something that is. More beautiful and more inspiring than what you’re currently right?

Lee Kantor: Like, I don’t want to make another hundred thousand dollars like that the dream, you’re you’re helping them dream bigger and have more of an impact and

Lynnea Hagen: Realize, yeah, it’s asking the why question. So what’s so great about the hundred thousand dollars. Right. You know what. Why. And and actually what it comes down to and in finding your Y here on earth, why you’re you’re here what? But Simon Senegal’s. The sacred why, what I I called, you know, the golden purpose. And I can’t remember what

Lee Kantor: The purpose is, it sounds like in your work that that’s where you’re spending your time is helping people dream bigger and giving them the tools to kind of attain something that maybe they didn’t even consider as attainable.

Lynnea Hagen: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, some people are just, you know, they’re happy just being where they are and that’s that’s great. You know, they want their lives to be simple, you know? I mean, we all do, but it’s not always that easy. But. The Y, you know, is this going to why you’re here? And how do you bring that into your business and everything that you do and and what what what most people want and what comes out of the work is that. At some level, everybody wants to leave a legacy. And how does that start with who you are and. What your organization or your company is doing as well, because that could be a really. Really negative legacy if you have of a company that burns people out, right?

Lee Kantor: Absolutely. And then at some point in your career or your life, you’re going to start wondering if this is all there is and. What can I be doing different? What can I be doing to help others more and have more impact in my people, myself, my community? That’s all doable, I think. But I think a lot of times they need coaches like you to really open their mind and give them kind of the kick in the pants to, you know, get unstuck and not just settle. I think a lot of people settle when they don’t have to if they were just around the right. Coaching or mentor or inspiration to do a little bit more, do what they’re doing a little differently.

Lynnea Hagen: Yeah, and I know, you know, we’re almost ready to wrap up, but I just want to come back to the whole thing about purpose, what higher purpose allows you to do. And I know for a lot of coaches I talk to you a lot is. Starting to feel like you belong. Because we’re wired differently, you know, I think we’ve all been through something where I just don’t feel like I belong, you know, and when you start finding your purpose and you start living more authentically and the more you choose authenticity, the truer I am or you are to being you, and the more easily you find yourself with people and situations that show you how to be. Much more authentic and you really start belonging. And then you can release what doesn’t belong in your world and you start the roots and start cleaning up. I mean, it’s amazing as I’ve got more rooted in my purpose and more inspired by who I am, how my roots in my relationships and the people I attract in situations like track star just naturally getting better, you know, experience more joy. So purpose is really the anchor for being anchored into your roots and all that you are underneath. But also a weird analogy, because the North Star. That keeps you really centered on your path, right? But with that, there’s always constant and everything else revolves around it, right.

Lee Kantor: And without the North Star, you can get distracted by things that aren’t really serving you or you’re keeping the wrong company with people that aren’t really supporting and celebrating you. They’re bringing you down. So you got to choose your community wisely.

Lynnea Hagen: Exactly. And it also makes it easier to do what is yours to do, you know, what am I here to do? And then what I’m here to do, what I’m here to do and. And then you release the rest, you rise above and you release arrest.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. If somebody wants to get a hold of you or somebody on your team, what is the best place to find you? Or do you have a website?

Lynnea Hagen: I do have a website. It’s the abundance company dot com.

Lee Kantor: And is that the best way to find you were on LinkedIn or

Lynnea Hagen: Yeah, I’m on LinkedIn. I’m also have my own Facebook

Lee Kantor: Page for the Abundance Company

Lynnea Hagen: For the finest companies. Linda Lindhagen, I think is success coach on Facebook. But yeah, Lynnette Leonia, quit hanging on, I think Facebook and both LinkedIn and also they can just email me. It’s linnear. That’s Louisiana and E.A., that abundance coaching dot net.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, thank you again for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Lynnea Hagen: Well, I appreciate you for getting all the great work that’s out there out to the world.

Lee Kantor: We’re trying and trying to fight the good fight.

Lynnea Hagen: Yeah. Thank you for doing that. Really appreciate being here.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Coach the Coach radio.