Lyndsay Dowd with Heartbeat for Hire

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. You know, I love a guest who brings equal parts strategy and heart. And today’s guest does exactly that. I’m so excited to welcome Lindsey Dowd, a leadership strategist, founder of heartbeat for hire, award winning podcast host and unapologetic storyteller. With nearly 30 years in sales and leadership. Lindsey has built powerhouse teams, transformed cultures, and helped executives show up with confidence, clarity and, yes, a little swagger. She advises C-suite coaches, high level leaders, and delivers keynotes and workshops that challenge the status quo and actually get results. I’m almost done, Lyndsay. I’m loving this. Her podcast, heartbeat for hire, is ranked in the top 5% globally and recently won Best Business Podcast at the Women in Podcasting Awards. Lyndsay’s work blends candor, charisma, and strategy, and I can’t wait for you to hear how she’s helping others build irresistible cultures that people truly want to be a part of. Lyndsay, welcome to the show.

Lyndsay Dowd: What an intro. Thank you Trisha. I’m so happy to be here. We’ve been working on this for a little bit. So this is.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes, exactly. Well, and I, I love bringing bios forward because we don’t always take it in ourselves. And it’s not something we would say about ourselves, but it makes it feel pretty good, or us feel pretty good when someone else is saying it. And you’re amazing. I’m so glad to have you on the show, Lyndsay. First, let’s start with who is Lyndsay? Tell us a little more about you, and then let’s jump into the work that you’re doing with your clients.

Lyndsay Dowd: I would love to. Thank you. Um, so, yeah, I spent a whole lot of time in corporate America. About 25 years. And, uh, 23 of those was spent, uh, climbing the ranks at IBM. And my family put in 105 years of Big blue. So I literally grew up in that culture. My dad used to sell typewriters. I went to the office in Manhattan and would sit in the chairs and play on the typewriters and the highlighters, and I literally grew up in that culture, and I thought that that’s what business looked like. And at that time it was really diverse. It was, uh, very family oriented. And there was these things called branches. And so if you were part of a branch, you knew everybody’s kids. You got to rent out an amusement park for the day. You got to really hang out. So I thought this was business. I thought this was cool, um, and found myself there through an acquisition. I came in through Lotus, which, if you ask any Lotus person, they’ll tell you they acquired IBM, but I started in customer service and worked my way up to executive ranks and used to lead big sales teams for them and got to do a lot of first of a kind roles. It was a really cool, really decorated career, and I learned some great lessons along the way. And at the end of 23 years, I was ready for a change and another company sought me out and said, would you come lead a sales team for us? And I said, sure. And so I packed up my big blue legacy. Off I went.

Lyndsay Dowd: And any reasonable executive knows, it takes about six months for a new executive to find the bathroom. Um, that’s not how it went for me. And they fired me at six months and I was gutted, devastated. I thought no one would ever work with me again. I was sure I was the only executive to ever be fired on Earth. Um, and I really couldn’t even talk about it for the first couple of weeks. Um, and after a month of licking my wounds, I asked myself three questions. What am I really good at? What do I love to do and how can I help people the most? And I knew how to build modern leaders, and I knew how to create irresistible culture that drives results. And so I bet on myself. And I started my company, heartbeat for hire, which, by the way, my parents were not entrepreneurs. As you know, my dad was legacy IBM. My mother was a schoolteacher. So like entrepreneurship was very foreign, very scary, not secure. So didn’t really have a lot of support from them. Um, but I did it anyway. And so I started coaching C-suite and individual leaders. I wrote a couple of books, I started my podcast, and, um, today I’m keynote, I’m doing a little coaching. I just finished a stint as a CRO for a startup. And, um, I’m doing some executive workshops, some LinkedIn workshops. And how do you tell your story? So right now I’m doing a bunch of different things. Um, and I love it. And it’s terrifying and wonderful and exhilarating and fascinating all at the same time.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, Lyndsay. And that is exactly how we got connected, because we have IBM in yes, connections. And yes, I’m so excited that we found each other. And, um, I would like to know a little bit more about the clients that you’re working with. So would you mind sharing like who those people are or just describe to us who it is that you’re working with?

Lyndsay Dowd: Yeah, I work with kind of a myriad of different folks. And, you know, when you start out, you have this idea of this is exactly who I’m going to be working with, and it doesn’t always happen that way. So you get these calls from people that have engaged with your posts and they’re like, okay, so I was.

Speaker4: A CFO.

Lyndsay Dowd: And now I’m a CEO and I don’t think my people like me. Can you help? And I’m like, oh yeah, I can help. Oh yeah. So we were gonna hone your voice. And so we use tools like LinkedIn, and we use all hands calls and things that are already happening in their business to really help her stand out. Um, that that was actually a really wonderful story. That leader was, um, to go from a CFO to a CEO is a really hard leap, because you’re really close to the numbers and you’re probably not the strongest people leader. Um, and she kind of was missing a little bit of that. So I just reminded her of her humanity. And, um, I would she was very, you know, buttoned up and very still and stoic. And I said, okay, okay, let’s talk like we’re having cocktails and we’re girlfriends meeting out. Tell me about your business that way. And she was still, like, really monotone. And I’m like, that is not how you talk when you’re having cocktails. And so I really kind of had to pull it out of her. Um, but I get to do that. I get to do a lot of, um, leaders who have never had to pay attention to their brand.

Lyndsay Dowd: Uh, they might find themselves out of a job. They might find themselves on the verge of losing a job or totally burnt out, and they know they need to step up. They know they need to build a network, and they’re kind of going, oh my God, I don’t know how to start. Um, and then I get to work with teams so very often, you know, you’ll have a really talented team, but they’re not working great together. Um, and so when you can kind of show them each other’s humanity, give them a reason to be interested in each other, you create those connections that make them more invested and more interested in learning, and you give them some what I think are really simple tools, but no one’s ever taught them, um, on just how to be a better leader, how to be more human, more authentic, more vulnerable, and, um, change the culture of their place. So that’s kind of who I work with. And I get some weird ones every once in a while that have nothing to do with any of those things. But yeah, that’s pretty happens.

Trisha Stetzel: They’re attracted to your energy, right? What you’re bringing to the table. So, uh, do The words imposter syndrome resonate with you at all, or even with the clients that you work with?

Lyndsay Dowd: Of course. I mean, I think they resonate with everyone no matter what you’re doing. And whether I was at IBM doing a first of a kind role, when you’re new to something, you don’t know everything. And newsflash, nobody does. So you kind of just have to learn to get uncomfortable, get comfortable being uncomfortable and that kind of status. I mean, coming up in tech, being the only woman in tech for about a decade, not the only woman in the company, but the only woman on the teams that I was on. Um, you are so accustomed to change. You’re so accustomed to things moving quickly. And just when you start to get something, they throw you a new acquisition, or they throw you a new team and you’re like, damn it, I was getting so good at that. Now I got to learn new stuff, but you just kind of get used to that pace and when you’re always used to that pace, you don’t know any different. So the difference when you’re on your own, it all falls on you. So that’s kind of like, oh, who’s gonna work with me? I’m not like, I’m not with Big Blue anymore. I’m, you know, I’m just a little heartbeat for hire. But somebody finds my story inspiring. Somebody looks at what I’ve done and they’re like, damn it, I can learn from her. This is. This is good. Um, so, yeah, I would just say, if anybody is starting something new, find the people that are doing it really well and go ask them, what did you do wrong? What should I avoid, and what are some tips for success? Um, because when you surround yourself with people who make you better, you’re just going to get better.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. I know you’re not alone. We’re all through it, and we continue to go through it as things shift and change. So, Lindsey, you talked about being the only one growing up in tech and being in the business that that, uh, that you were in. How has that played into this role that you are in now as an entrepreneur?

Lyndsay Dowd: Well, I said I was the only woman, and so that let me make that distinction. So first let me just say, back in the day when I was the only girl on the team, um, inspiring leadership meant, let’s talk about the play on the 30 yard line of the game that I did not watch, and I wasn’t inspired by that. I couldn’t relate to that. I didn’t care about that. And I felt excluded more than anything. And it was a it was an uninspired way to do my job. And I was always hungry for that connection, that someone who could see me and who could, you know, get me. And I’m, I’m I’m weird. I always called my my teams mavericks and hustlers because I wanted us to think differently. I knew I didn’t have all the answers. I knew there was other people that had done things that I had never tried and I always wanted to learn from them. So taking that spirit and then I, I was lucky enough to work for some great, great leaders, many of whom were women. And I had one woman who, um, her name was Adriana, and she promoted me twice, and she asked me the first time. She said, so how do you want to run the business? And I’m looking over my shoulder going, you want you want to know you. You’re asking me? And she was like, well, yeah, you’ve been in the trenches. You know what’s going on. So tell me, and I, I felt autonomy, you know, for really the first time in a leadership role that way. Um, I had another leader who, um, I was managing a huge account.

Lyndsay Dowd: Uh, it was Ernst and Young. I had $150 million quota. It was enormous. Lot of responsibility. There was 55 reps on my team. And I’m telling my new boss, this is my plan. This is what I want to do. This is how I’m going to approach it. And I’m about like 15 minutes into my presentation and she stops me and she goes, girl, I’ve got your back now fly. Oh, those words they took the the I mean, they made me gasp. I was like oh my gosh. Goosebumps. Then goosebumps still when I tell that story. But I took that energy and I turned around to my team and was like, you guys, we have an opportunity to do things differently. We’ve got a leader who trusts us. What do we want to do with this? And those two examples are such powerful examples of what good leadership looks and feels like. And so much of what I do is taking from those experiences, grabbing other experiences that I find, whether it’s on LinkedIn or on my show. I I’m always trying to teach through story. That’s how I keynote. That’s how I do my show, my podcast show. It’s what I’m doing here. Um, but yeah, story is king. And when I get to work with clients. I always remind them story over stats every day of the week. Um, nobody’s going to walk out remembering 83% of something, but they are going to remember, you know, how do you want to run the business or they are going to remember, you know, I got your back now fly.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that I got goosebumps too, by the way. So thank you for sharing that energy with me is coming through the screen. How exciting. Uh, I know it’s hard to believe we’re halfway through our conversation already, so if folks are ready and want to have a conversation with you or want to connect with you, what is the best method?

Lyndsay Dowd: Well, you can find all of my socials and my stuff at heartbeat for hire. Com um, please connect with me on LinkedIn or on Insta. That’s where I’m the most active I am on TikTok. I am on Facebook, albeit not that active, but I am there. Um, and of course YouTube. My my show is. You can also find the podcast through there, but my show is on YouTube and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. So, um, lots and lots of good stories about what good leadership should be.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, thank you. Lyndsay. And her first name is spelled l y n d s a y. Last name d o w d. As always, I’ll put all of the links in the show notes. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer watching or listening, you can just point and click. Lyndsay, I heard you say a few minutes ago that it’s important to surround yourself with the right people. What does that mean?

Lyndsay Dowd: Oh, well, I mean, back to the I don’t know, everything. Um, I still believe that no matter how good you get, no matter how many awards you earn, no matter how many books you write, there’s still more to learn. And the day you stop learning is the day you’re in the dirt. So you know, to me, I always want to be around people that make me better. Either they inspire me. They teach me something. They, um, help me level up. They expose me to people I’ve never seen or met before. Um, and I think when you live with that kind of curiosity and you live with that hunger to be inspired and hunger to make your life better. Um, it just never stops. And so I, I collect people, some people collect spoons, I collect people, and, you know, I’m always adding people. I’m the person that sits at the bar. And we’ll talk to you in an airport and learn all these things about you. And before you know it, you’re either coming on my show or you’re I’m dragging you over to a community I’m in or something like that. Um, but I find people so fascinating and interesting and there’s always something to be learned.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Or you’re introducing them to your network or. Right. I mean just.

Lyndsay Dowd: 100%.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I tell everyone if you’re not hanging around with people who are bigger, better, faster, stronger, smarter than you, you’re in the wrong room. And oh.

Lyndsay Dowd: Yeah, I never wanted to be the smartest person in the room. And that is a scary thing for a lot of leaders to say. Um, it’s funny, my my brother and I, we share really similar leadership philosophy, and he’s a VP of sales, and we laugh that we both say this and we walked into a room of of, you know, teams we were managing were like, I’m not the smartest one here. So, you know, let’s, let’s talk, let’s, let’s marinate on some ideas. And we had a good chuckle that we both did that. I thought that was pretty funny because, you know, we didn’t go to the same schools. We didn’t go to the same companies, but we shared that same same spirit.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. So there’s something you call power skills. And I think this plays right into the conversation that we’re having today around the things that we need to be thinking about, the people we should be hanging around with and what is. Let’s talk more about power skills. What does it mean? Yeah.

Lyndsay Dowd: So power skills are what I call soft skills. And the reason I don’t call them soft skills is they’re far too important to be called anything soft. So, you know, back when that was coined, um, they were associated with women and they were EQ and being sensitive and being a, you know, a thoughtful, nurturing leader. Well, yes, there are those things, but there’s a lot of power skills. So like one of my favorites is delegation and delegation. I wouldn’t associate that necessarily with with women. But when you use delegation properly and the way that you do that is you say, oh, Trisha, you’re interested in analytics. I have an analytics project I want you to run point on it, but I’ve got your back. If you fall down, that’s on me. But I want to give you a chance to shine. So let me help you. But I want you to lead this. Does that sound good to you? And you’re like, oh, wow, so exciting. I get to do something I’ve been dying to do. So yes, you’re getting things off your plate, but you are giving people a chance to shine. Which leads me to another power skill, which is lifting others up. Celebrating people. And the best leaders understand that they don’t need to keep all the accolades to themselves.

Lyndsay Dowd: Their team is a reflection of them. So when they’re constantly saying, oh, Trisha, will you please tell the story of how you won that deal? It was such a unique story. I think we could all really learn from you. Could you share that? Okay. I’m giving you the spotlight. You’re getting to tell a story. You’re hearing that I respect you, and everybody’s paying attention, so that looks good on you. It looks good on me and the the leaders that are constantly celebrating, constantly lifting others up. They’re the ones everyone wants to work for. And oh, by the way, the team is watching. So they’re seeing, hey, I want I want my name in lights. I want to be celebrated like Trisha. How can I do that? And they raise their hands more. They’re engaged more. They’re connecting with her with you. You know, this is this is a really great way to lead. And then, of course, there’s communication, um, which that’s, you know, table stakes. But, you know, no one’s a mind reader. And. Oh, by the way, if you think that your one time annual review is an appropriate way to lead, I’m telling you, it’s not. So stop that. You’re checking in with your people way more than that.

Trisha Stetzel: So yeah, I fantastic. And I love the idea of power skills versus soft skills, because that word really doesn’t have any intention behind it. Soft. That’s it.

Lyndsay Dowd: These are differentiators. Yeah. This is like, what makes a good leader a great leader. And having that humility, having that authenticity and admitting if you screw up. You know, I just had a girlfriend. Really great friend of mine. She’s a leader for a company called Cooler Heads. Um, they make caps for people going through chemo so they don’t lose their hair. And she actually did a post about this. She said, you know, I showed up on a team call. She’s in the process of moving. Her life is pretty chaotic. And she said she wasn’t her best self and she did not show up the way that she wanted. And she spoke very curtly to, uh, someone on the team. And the first thing she did was call and apologized. And then she addressed the whole team and said, I wasn’t at my best. I can do better than that. I’m really sorry you all saw it, but I hope you won’t see that again. Well, do you think all those people are now going, Courtney, what a lousy leader. No, they’re like, wow, that was really nice. And that was really scary for her to admit. And I make mistakes, too. And I’m going to give her more grace. And that’s really how it works. Um, so it’s a good lesson.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. And, uh, I wrote an article recently about that, specifically how, you know, if you’re a leader and you trip and you fall.

Lyndsay Dowd: We all.

Trisha Stetzel: Do. How do you come back from that? And it really is about standing up and saying, you know what, I made a mistake. And here’s what we’re going to do about it, right?

Lyndsay Dowd: Oh, I did it today. My my daughter knocked over a very precious glass from my grandmother, and it shattered in a million pieces. And it’s priceless. I can’t can’t be replaced. And it’s it was a heartache. And she was she she felt really badly. But she was yelling at me to get out of the room so she could clean it up, and I was. I responded with, you can’t yell at me if you’re sorry. Like you don’t yell at me like you broke something important to me. And we cooled down and I said to her later, I said, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry, but you need to work on what you’re really sorry. You can’t yell at the person if you’re really sorry. That doesn’t really work very well. And she’s like, mom, I just felt really badly. And you know, it was great. We calmed down, we addressed it and cleared the air. But I had to say I did it wrong. You know, that happens.

Trisha Stetzel: And as leaders, we should be acting the same whether someone’s looking or not. Meaning it happens in your personal life. And that’s exactly what you showed your daughter. So as a mom to a beautiful young lady, and I also heard you say that you had women who supported you as you were coming up in corporate. And it sounds like you continue to support women. How important is it for us to. I’ll call it circle the wagons, because while I’m in Texas and I would just say that, but how important is it as women to circle the wagons and raise up young women and those who are coming up and support them?

Lyndsay Dowd: So, so important to me, giving back, paying it forward. Call it what you want. I mentor a lot of young women, a lot of young women sellers who are trying to find their place. They’re trying to move around the world with executive presence. They’re not entirely sure what that looks like because maybe they haven’t had great leaders before. So I’m kind of a safe space because I’m kind of no BS. And you can come ask me anything, and I’m not going to tell you. You’re dumb. Um, so it’s really important to give back because I’m raising future leaders, and I have twins. I have boy girl twins. Um, so my son and my daughter both have to learn from these moments. They have to learn to be the best people. Um, because if we don’t fix that, and we had this whole, like, gentle parenting movement where we’re telling, no.

Speaker5: No, no, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.

Lyndsay Dowd: No, no, no, I want you to feel uncomfortable. I want you to, you know, go through it. Problem solve. It’s okay. No one ever died from being uncomfortable. You’re going to be all right. Um, it’s it’s a really important skill set that I think this generation of kids that’s coming up right now, they don’t really have good tools to, um, to manage themselves. And that’s a big problem. So we got to fix it.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. I agree, uh, we’ve we’ve we have a son who’s going to be 34 this year. So at the top end of that generation that we’re raising, and sometimes they look around and go, did we do this to. Did did we do this? We were military parents. So we definitely didn’t do that. Um, but I see it right. And it’s it’s really hard to get past sometimes. It is. Um. All right. So as we get to the back end of our conversation today, I know this time went by so fast. So fast. What? Um, you know who my listeners are? Small to medium sized business owners. People who are entrepreneurs. They’re also leaders. They have teams, small teams, large teams. What would you want them to leave with today? Lyndsay.

Lyndsay Dowd: Well, first I would just say everybody can be a leader. Whether you manage people from an HR perspective or not. Anybody can lead and anybody can lift each other up. And you make that choice to do that. But I promise you, if you start celebrating people. And this could be passing someone on the sidewalk. You have a beautiful smile or gosh, you look great today or you know. I love how you talk to your son or whatever it is. If you start living in that space and you do it with your employees, you will change the culture around you. And those words might feel small, but they are extremely powerful. So please, if you get nothing else out of this lovely conversation, just go. Lead with heart. Go. Be kind. Go lift other people up. That always looks good on you.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that I saw a commercial the other day that said, just smile at someone. It can change things in an instant for both you and the person.

Lyndsay Dowd: Hundred percent.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. So, Lindsey, one more time. Tell us how people can connect with you. Because I am better. I’m a better. I’m betting that there are several people who want to connect with you. I hope.

Lyndsay Dowd: So. Um, yeah. Just come check my website at heartbeat for hire. It’s much easier than trying to spell my name. Um, so you can connect with me through there or find me on LinkedIn. I’m connected to Trisha, so that’s easy to find. Um, but yeah, I would love to be connected. Say, you heard it here, and, uh, I’ll know where you came from.

Trisha Stetzel: Love that. Thank you. Lyndsay. And by the way, Lyndsay’s a LinkedIn guru that I plan to learn from. I’m really excited about watching, uh, as you as you’re taking your journey, I’m going to follow behind you because I love what you’re putting out there.

Speaker6: It’s a really.

Lyndsay Dowd: Great tool that will set you apart. And if you’re a leader, even with a small company, that is still such a great way to represent yourself. And even if you think your business is just local, there is massive opportunity for you on LinkedIn. And I’m not paid by LinkedIn.

Trisha Stetzel: And not just.

Speaker7: Opportunities to sell something.

Speaker6: That’s right, beautiful.

Trisha Stetzel: Networking opportunities, which is how I found Lyndsay.

Speaker6: That’s right in the first.

Trisha Stetzel: Place, right? We had something in common and it’s a great way to get out there and network, especially if you’re sitting in your four walls for most of your day. Lyndsay, thank you so much for being on with me today. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.

Lyndsay Dowd: Sam, thanks for having me. This was a blast.

Trisha Stetzel: That was very much fun today. Lots of energy. That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran, or a Houston leader. Ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and listen. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours. Your business, your leadership, and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.