Maxwell Leadership Podcast: Leveling Up with Ryan Leak

Mark Cole:

Hey. Welcome back to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. This is the podcast that John Maxwell, myself, our entire team, dedicates to add value to you as a leader so you will multiply value to others. My name is Mark Cole. I’ve been with John for 23 years. I’ve experienced leaders, extraordinaire from country leaders, business leaders, athletic leaders, entertainer leaders, leaders in every spectrum. And today, I can promise you, I’m bringing you someone that understands leadership today. Our guest is Kendra Scott. Now, for those of you around the world you may not yet know, Kendra, but I promise you, in 35 minutes, you will want to know everything Kendra has done, because Kendra is a celebrated fashion designer, a businesswoman known for founding the Kendra Scott Jewelry and Lifestyle brand. She started her company, which is now a global fashion brand with just $500. Kendra, I got to hear this story if we don’t hear anything else. But let me tell you, that does not even happen if there’s not an understanding of leadership, if there’s not a leadership skill somewhere, if there’s not tenacity, if there’s not resilience I’ve got to tell you, John is out of the country today, and he is jealous beyond compare because I get to do the interview. Kendra.

Kendra Scott:

Oh. Mark that’s too. Like, I mean, I’m over here blushing.

Mark Cole:

Hey, it’s not enough. Because not only that, finally, for those of us that have paid a lot of money to Kendra Scott, like I have because of my daughter Macy, whom you all know, Kendra finally did something we all are glad that she did. She wrote the book born to Shine. Now, for our podcast viewers, I’m holding this up because this is a book that is committed to your good. It’s committed to helping you find joy, and, yes, it’s committed to helping you live a life that you love. Yes, she’s written this book, Born To Shine, and her lessons that she’s learned along the way in building her business is what we’re going to talk about today. I’m ecstatic also to say that Kendra is not only a featured guest of our podcast, but she’s a featured speaker at our upcoming event on October the 6th, the event I’ve talked about on this podcast called Live2Lead. Now, if you’ve not registered yet, time is closing in, so be sure, grab your tickets at Live2Lead.com. That’s “live,” the number two, “lead.com.” So, Kendra, before we jump into the conversation, listeners, we’re going to have a bonus resource for you to download. As usual, those of you that want to view in and see Kendra on YouTube, we’ll send that over to you in our show notes. Or you can go to MaxwellPodcast.com/Shine. That’s enough of me. Kendra, again, so thankful you’re here. Thanks for joining us today.

Kendra Scott:

Oh, this is an absolute pleasure. I love that you’ve got my Born To Shine books up behind you. I mean, unbelievable. Way to go, Mark. Thank you for that.

Mark Cole:

That’s my thank you, to you for finally capturing this brilliant brand. I’m not kidding with you again. I’ve got a 17 year old senior. I told you a little bit before we hit record, we’ve spent a lot of money creating a lot of memories, and that’s the most important thing. Memories keepsakes for our girls and for our loved ones. And so you have done that and now you have put it in a book. So I’ve told Jake, I’m so perplexed, our podcast producer. I’m perplexed because I want to talk entrepreneur, I want to talk about women in leadership, I want to talk about business and I want to talk about it all.

Kendra Scott:

We can get into all of it. I’m telling you. Why not?

Mark Cole:

I love it. Let’s just do a ten part series right here.

Kendra Scott:

That’s right.

Mark Cole:

Hey, talk to me about the book. Why the book? And what’s the big message of the book? Born to shine.

Kendra Scott:

It was during the Pandemic, and I really had a time of reflection. We were all at home spending lots of time with our families, and throughout the years, I love to journal and I would write things down. I didn’t want to forget not just the good things that happened, but I really wanted to remember some of the hard things that happened. And as I was going through some of my journal entries, realizing that there are so many people right now in 2020, in a very uncertain time that may be scared, and I was one of them, right? I had to close all of my stores because of the pandemic. And I thought how important it is that we share not just the successes, but also the failures. And that I could show that all the things in my life, there are peaks and there are valleys, but every single valley. There were these important golden nuggets of lessons that I learned, that bridge that I needed to get me to that next, most amazing place, and that if I hadn’t gone through those moments, I would never be where I am today. And I had real life proof of all of these happening throughout my life. With the success of Kendra Scott, who I am, by the way, a college dropout, I started with $500 out of the extra bedroom of my house with a newborn baby. I had all of these things going against me to be successful and I had a failed business under my belt, tahoot. So I thought it was so important because I wanted to give hope and I wanted people to know that we are all Born to Shine, that we all have this incredible light inside of us. And even when times are tough, even when we’re going through a tough time, sometimes we need to be reminded of that and we need others to help us reignite that spark and then fan that flame to bring that back out us and go, this is a moment in time, this too shall pass. And guess what? There’s something amazing waiting for you tomorrow. Don’t let today bring you down. Be ready for what’s coming tomorrow.

Mark Cole:

It’s incredible. And I think all of those things, the college dropout, the failed business, I think all those things gave you the ability to kind of take shining and stride and realize that it’s every piece of that component that makes the journey possible, right?

Kendra Scott:

It absolutely is. Every single moment in my life that I look at that were some of the toughest. I mean, what going through a divorce, losing my stepfather to brain cancer, having a failed first business, all of those things in those moments would absolutely rip your gut out. Right? But when I look back, I think, okay, I had to have that, right? I had to have that business to learn the lessons of business in a way that I couldn’t have learned them from a book. To build the foundation of a successful business, I needed to go through that relationship to have these beautiful sons that I have that made me have the tenacity and drive to fight every day, to have the successful business that I have today. And it’s all of those elements. Right. My stepfather, his impact on me was so huge, knowing that we live such a short time on this earth. And while we’re here, let’s make it better than we found it. Let’s use the gifts we were given to do something good. And he taught me that. And I never forget. He died at 47, Mark, and I’m 49. And on my 47th birthday, I had to walk away from blowing my candles out, and I went in the bathroom and cried. And I thought every single morning that I wake up and get to take a breath, it’s a morning that my stepfather didn’t. And I’m going to do something good. I’m going to make a positive impact, and I’m not going to take it for is.

Mark Cole:

And we’re already into it. Podcast family. We’re already into why I love Kendra Scott. The brand. But now you’re understanding why Kendra Scott the brand. When you walk in a store, when you wear that keepsake, when you give that keepsake it’s built with a heart like we’ve just heard, you grabbed me in this book. You grabbed me in the Ford when you broke down. The difference between toxic positivity and optimism. And so the book, guys, it really does a great job in the Ford at the very beginning, but I want to hear you talk through the difference between those two notions, toxic positivity and optimism.

Kendra Scott:

Well, you know, look, toxic positivity is just sometimes people will try to force a silver lining into something. Oh, everything happens for a reason. And you’re going through something, and you’re like, I can’t even think about that right now. Right. The difference between toxic positivity and optimism is that you’re not denying the reality of the situation. When you’re optimistic, you’re saying, this is hard, this is painful, this isn’t fun. And that’s okay, right? You need to be able to sit with that. You need to be able to get the support and love. You need to get through that moment. But this is also not forever. And that’s where the optimism comes in. The optimism is that this feeling, this moment is not forever. The sun will shine again tomorrow. There will be another day, right? And I think optimism is such an important thing to have, especially in business, because we’ll go through things and I think, oh, my gosh, the recession, right? Or whatever it might be. And in that moment, there’s no question this is bad. I’m not sitting here going, oh, yay, I’m so glad this horrible thing happened. Now that’s toxic positivity, right? But optimism is, okay, this is hard. What are we going to do to navigate this? How are we going to pivot and be agile? What is happening right now that I can control, that I can control to be able to move forward in a positive direction? And there’s a big difference between those two things.

John Maxwell:

Hello, this is John C. Maxwell. I’ve been teaching leadership for over 40 years. We’re gathering in Atlanta for our 10th Live to Lead Leadership Conference Friday, October the 6th, and I want to personally invite you to join us. Live to Lead is about empowering you to live out leadership, not just learn it. World class leaders Kendra Scott and Marcus Buckingham and Ryan Lee will be joining me to impart wisdom, inspire change, and help you lead more effectively. Hey, bring your team. Groups of ten or more receive a significant discount. So let’s grow together, because leadership isn’t a solo journey. It’s best experienced in community with others. Visit Live2lead.com Today and let’s make leadership a lived experience.

Mark Cole:

And it’s understanding those differences and then leading from those. John has a statement that says, everything rises and falls on leadership. It’s one of the reasons that I’m so excited to have you and John Maxwell share a stage with Marcus Buckingham.

Kendra Scott:

I love Marcus, by the way. I always pitch his books. Now discover your strengths. I made my entire company read. Yeah.

Mark Cole:

Hey, so listen to this. So I will tell him that so that when we’re together in Atlanta, he brings you a commission check.

Kendra Scott:

Okay!

Mark Cole:

We’ll just make sure since you’ve sold so many books for him.

Kendra Scott:

I love it.

Mark Cole:

In this statement of everything rises and falls on leadership. Again, I’ve been following you because of girls. I’m a girl, dad. I’ve been following you for some time as a small jewelry business to where you’re now a global fashion brand. What role has leadership played in that?

Kendra Scott:

I think you have to lead by example, right? And we live and die by our core values. And some people put core values down on a wall in their break room. It’s kind of just words on a page for us. We live and die by it. It’s our North Star and it’s three very simple things. It’s family, it’s fashion and it’s philanthropy. Family is very simple. I’m a mom first. Before I was a CEO and chairwoman, before I was a designer, I was a young mom to a little baby. And I wanted to create a business that allowed me to be a present mother, that allowed me to be there for all the moments in my son’s life and to create a business that allowed other moms and dads to have that same ability that you shouldn’t have to choose between your work and your career. That work and your career can blend together. Your family can be part of your business instead of having this big separation. So family was our number one core pillar then how we represented that in business was I want my employees to make sure they take care of their families first. So I’m going to be flexible with them, whether that’s a flexible work schedule or when they come to the office, making sure I had mother’s nursing rooms for all of our new moms and mother’s milk refrigerators and a workout center and a playroom for their kiddos if they needed to come after school and play. And created a family unit where we supported and loved one another. And then the second piece of that is well how does that mean for our customers? We treat her and him like our family, like our brothers and our sisters. If your sister has a broken earring Mark, what do you do? You fix it right? You take care of her. And that’s our customer service policy. It’s the sister rule. It’s so simple. And we give every single employee within our organization the power to please, to make sure in that moment that that person is loved and listened to and taken care of that they don’t have to go to a manager for approval or call someone to get we are going to take care of it in that moment. So our family pillar guides us in all those elements, all those layers from how we treat each other to how we treat our customers and how we treat our own families. And then our fashion pillar is pretty simple. We’re passionate about design and fashion and we’re motivated to design products that don’t just make people look good, they make people feel good. And therefore these moments in their life that we get to be part of on their wedding day, walking down the aisle on graduation from high school, I mean whatever, birthday celebrations within our stores. So we’ve started to become in some of the most important moments of people’s lives in how they’re touched in those moments. Our brand is fortunate enough to be a part of that. And then when you look at philanthropy I started this business because of what my stepfather taught me. I wanted to have a brand that was fashion for philanthropy, and I believed wholeheartedly that I could create something and give back. When I started with just $500, I had no money. I couldn’t write big checks to nonprofits, but I could make a pair of earrings for a silent auction for a nonprofit. I could make a necklace for a raffle. I could donate my time to read books with kids at the hospital. And the more that I was able to grow, the more we were able to do. And hiring people that we said, this is our goal, this is how we measure success at Kendra Scott, is that we are making a positive impact on the world and the communities around us. Since 2010, Mark, we have donated over $60 million to women’s and children’s charities. And everyone told me that that was truly an impossible thing to accomplish. And I’m here to show you that it’s not. Because when you give when you give authentically, authentically is key because you can check the philanthropy box. But when you give with your heart, when you show up, when your team shows up, you have a committed customer base that is with you for life and has been able to help us weather the storms of recessions or pandemics, because we have an army of people who care for one another truly. And it’s not just lip service.

Mark Cole:

I’m going to come back to philanthropy because I want to hear what you’re doing at the store level, at the local level, before we close out.

Kendra Scott:

Did you see my cup, by the way?

Mark Cole:

Let’s see it.

Kendra Scott:

Optimism. Yes.

Mark Cole:

And by the way, if you didn’t already have a great excuse to go to the YouTube channel to watch this for all of you listeners, I didn’t.

Kendra Scott:

Realize that was the cup I had today with my tea in it that.

Mark Cole:

It says optimus, and it’s a beautiful cup. I just love the cup. I love this family. I love this fashion. I love this philanthropy. You talk about how it all started with your super seven. Yeah, I’ve heard you talk about this. I’ve heard you share about this. I want to hear a little bit. Take me back to the team, the super seven, and just take us for a moment back to this team.

Kendra Scott:

I love to talk about the early days because I’m so nostalgic about it, really, because it was such a special time. I think when you’re in the startup mode, first of all, take pictures. Okay. Anybody out there? This is before iPhones. I started my company in 2002. Now, we snap pictures all the time, but when I had the business and started, you had to get a camera out. Okay. And take a picture. I don’t have a lot of pictures back then, but we had an office space. It was a Victorian house on west 6th street in Austin, Texas, and there was offices below. We couldn’t afford the nice offices on the bottom floor, but we could afford the attic. So there were seven of us, and we were like we said, we were flowers in the attic. We were the seven women. And literally, I was bringing my little kids to work. I had a one and three year old, and they were running around the office. I had a pack and play for my one year old. I’d be passing my son Beck around if Nordstrom called or something. And I had to act professional. And we wore every different hat in the company from design, sales, accounting, manufacturing, distribution. I mean, we did it all, and nobody was too good to do anything right. And that mentality has really become still part of that Kendra Scott brand. If the toilet’s clogged, well, you go fix it. And I’m still that way, if I go in the back room of my store, I’m Kendra Scott, right? If I see something that needs to be cleaned up or fixed, well, I get the rubber gloves on and I fix it, right? And we created this incredible place of support. We all rolled up our sleeves. We get the job done. And more importantly, we did it with joy. We have fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, right? And we help each other. And if I had to run to the preschool to go get something, or one of the other girls had to, we’re like, okay, what can I do to help you? And when you have that, you’re unstoppable. And I say this all the time, especially to women. When you hold hands and lift each other up and root for one another, there are so many times it’s easy to try to tear each other down when you see somebody be successful or have something that you don’t have. But when you change that mentality of holding hands and lifting one another up, you will lift yourself up in the process. And that’s exactly what the Super Seven did. And not only did we lift each other up, we now have almost 2700 employees across the country. 96% are women. And we’ve taught them the same ideas of how we care for one another. And we’re stronger when we work together. And it’s an unstoppable force.

Mark Cole:

I’m going to stay in the early days because as you were sharing that, I was reminded another friend of ours that’s been at the L, two L stage been on this podcast is Jamie Kern Lima, and she talks about her early days and overcoming fears trying to pitch her brand to all of these investors in New York. I don’t know how much you’ve heard her story, but I’m reminded when I heard you mention about the early days, when the retailers would call in this fear of rejection. How did you overcome fear in those early days?

Kendra Scott:

I got used to the no. First of all, the word no, that can be told you in so many unique ways, like, I’m not interested. Not right now. Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll talk later. Oh, stay in touch. You hear all those different ways, and I walked into so many boardrooms where nobody in that room looked like me. And I was in a tech city. I mean, Austin in the early 2000s was if you weren’t a software developer or starting some tech company, nobody really wanted to talk to you. And I’m this blonde doing a jewelry business, and I just looked like I had two heads to them. I mean, they’d look at me like I was absolutely crazy and got told no over and over again, could not get anybody to invest in me. Did everything on a line of credit and credit card debt and just did the best that I could to keep moving forward each and every day, but being spread very, very thin. But I think what I realized when I started selling the jewelry is I knew that I couldn’t let no happen because I had so much on the line, right? And I would go in, and I remember one department store in particular, and this buyer kept saying, kendra, we’re just not interested. And I’d say, okay, how can I tell me what you didn’t see today. Like, that you wanted to see? What did I not have? I want to learn from you today? Was it color? Was it shape? Was it price point? I took that no as an opportunity to be a sponge, to learn as much as I could. And then I said to her, okay, I’m going to come back next season. I’ve listened to you, and I’m going to bring things I hope that you’re going to be interested and excited in. And I always opened the door to the next opportunity to get in front of her. I’d send her a thank you card and cookies and cupcakes, and every time she’d say no to me, it was like I was thanking her for the opportunity to even present to her. And this went on for years. And one day, I got a call, Mark, and she said, first of all, I’ve gained eight pounds. You got to stop sending the cookies and the cupcakes, okay? And then she said, I was in church this morning, and ten women in front of me were all wearing Kendra Scott. And that’s when I decided that now God’s speaking to me, and I need to call Kendra and get her in here. And it was me not giving up, right? I wasn’t a stalker. Okay, it was a little stalkerish, but I wasn’t giving up. And I was also listening. I was listening every day to try to be better so that I could turn her no, which in the mirror is on into a yes. And I think that’s what it took for me is to know that no isn’t forever, that the conversation is now getting going. I’m actually getting to communicate with you now. And so many times we hear that word and we just think, that’s the end. Let me just say one thing on that I tell my teenage boys, no means no. So that’s very different, right? But when it comes to business and sales, you’ve got to be able to overcome those no’s in a way that allow you the opportunity to get back in front of that person again, because it’s not forever. And most of the time not always, but most of the time, I’ve been able to turn that no on to an on to a yes.

Mark Cole:

One of the things I love about listening to you speak in different venues and listening to you talk, even today, watching how you wrote in the book, is your vulnerability, your accessibility. And I love people that don’t lose that vulnerability, that accessibility. Those of you that listen to our podcast, you know, every podcast episode, John or myself, we’re just going vulnerable, and I’m getting ready to get really vulnerable in something you are doing extremely well, that the world, including me, in our world of influence, needs to do better. As I look at you, I think you’re one of the best at empowering women and women in leadership of anybody out there right now. Kendra, I really do. It’s in your philanthropic work, it’s in your fashion work. You really give dignity and a sense, but you also recognize the leadership opportunity. And I’m getting ready to let you be as vulnerable as you want to be. To me, the steward of one of the best leadership brands in the world and to the women and men that are listening and how you’ve done that, how are you this great empowerer of women? What’s the message that you would want to send to women through your life’s work? And what’s the message you want to send to us men through your life’s work?

Kendra Scott:

I think when I look at everybody is I try to lead with my heart. I always try to look for the best in someone. And I think if all of us, men and women can do that, whether it’s a stranger that you’re meeting on the street or a coworker or whoever it might be, I always look. And that’s where Born to Shine came from. It’s seeing the good in someone, because there is good in every single person. And sometimes they can’t see it themselves. They can’t see it in themselves. And when you have that ability to pull that out of them and then have them see it for the first time themselves, that is amazing. And I think that’s what empowerment is all about. It’s about finding that light within yourself and then letting it shine. Right? That’s really what empowerment is about. And I love when I can see women have that self confidence feel like they can walk into a room and not be intimidated and not be scared. And to also know that there’s power in vulnerability. Like you just said, there’s so much power in being you because there’s no one else on this planet that is you. Your life, your stories, your memories, the things that have happened have made you uniquely you. So don’t try to be someone else. Embrace the fact that that life, whether it was hard or ups and downs, that has made you the incredible human you are. And now it’s your chance to put your unique mark on the world. And I think if we can all have that confidence, I say all the time that we try to pretend sometimes with Instagram and all the social media to be these shiny, happy faces. And I wrote this in my book. And the worst thing we can do is not share the realities of the things that we’re going through because the strongest people I know are the ones to raise their hands and say, I’m feeling weak today, I need help. I run a company bigger than it is the night before every single day. Mark I have mentors, I have people that I respect, people I can pick up the phone and say and be vulnerable with and say, gosh, I’m really stuck here, or, what would you do in this circumstance? No one knows everything, right? That’s just not real. And we need to be able to support each other, love each other, respect each other, and really just be like, I’m good with who I am. I’m proud now to say I’m a college dropout. I used to be embarrassed when somebody would say, Kendra, where did you go to school? Where did you get your know, I’d be in rooms with entrepreneurs who all were Harvard MBAs in Stanford. And I remember just crouching down and being my shoulders narrowing and my bottom lip quivering because I had to say, I didn’t finish college, guys. But now I realize if I had finished, I wouldn’t have had the hat box, I wouldn’t have learned retail the way I did in that amazing little five years in that store. And so I think that’s an important lesson for all men and women is that your journey is yours. And it’s a gift to have the things that have happened in our life and utilize them for what’s going to happen tomorrow. And let’s not just focus on what happened.

Mark Cole:

Know, as you were talking about that, John makes the statement all the time when he’s talking leadership. He says leadership is not about the fastest, it’s not even about the smartest. Leadership is about the person that starts first. And as you’re saying that, don’t you wish? I certainly do. I wish I could go back. And some of the things that I hung my head about years ago, I wish I could have just found out a month sooner or a year sooner or a decade sooner. I shouldn’t have hung my. Head about that. I should have embraced that. And I think that’s what you’re saying is learn to embrace with vulnerability the things that make you unique so that the world can see you shine a lot sooner than at some point in your success down the road, and you go have to be so embarrassed about that.

Kendra Scott:

Yeah. And I mean, look, it doesn’t come easy, right? It takes things where you do have some successes and wins to gain that confidence. Right. But I do think it’s important to know that all of our journeys are different. There’s no normal anymore or typical or this is how things are supposed to go. You go to high school, then you graduate, then you go to college, and you do this. I tell my children that all the time. I mean, we’re all on this unique, amazing journey, and what works for one person may not work for another. And what brings success for one person may not be the same pathway for somebody. You know, I think there’s so much importance in that. I wrote one chapter in the book about the normal family because there are no such things anymore as the normal family. What is a normal family, Mark? I don’t even know. And I remember being told when I was younger that I came from a broken home and my parents were divorced, and the word is just terrible. First of all, nobody wants to be broken, right? And I think we’ve learned so much as we’ve evolved and grown as humans, right, that families all look different, and that, again, how do we accept each other and quit the judgment, right, and start embracing and loving one another instead of using these words and terms that make us feel less than.

Mark Cole:

So I’m going to stay on a business, and then we’ll come back to the book for our final question. But again, I’ve been in multiple of your stores because my daughter tells me to be a good dad, I have to be in your stores. It’s 134 of them. Don’t tell her there’s that many. So we’ll take a global trip, I’m sure. One thing I love about you, it came through. It shined through in your book. It’s shining through in our interview today, our talk today. It’s going to shine through on stage. I’m confident your culture feels the same no matter how I’m interacting with a Kendra Scott exchange. So it feels like innovation. It feels like creativity. It feels like vulnerability. How do you ensure with all these stores go back to this little jewelry store retail person and now this global fashion extraordinaire? How are you working hard to keep your culture the same and feeling the same, whether it’s a book you’re writing, a speech you’re giving, or a store you’re running?

Kendra Scott:

I think that’s what I’m most fiercely protective of, Mark, because that is the secret sauce, right. That is what makes the Kendra Scott brand what it is today. And so every single person that is engaged and involved in my brand has to represent those core values. I can teach you a skill. I can teach you how to work the point of sale machine. I can teach you certain. But I cannot teach you this unbelievable optimism, this joy, this love. We have all these different words that we use to describe our employees, and they are that they have warmth. When we sit across somebody and we’re interviewing them, it’s, how does that person make me feel? Not, what are all the things you’ve done? Okay, that’s great. And I love a good experience. I love a nice gold plated resume. But what I love more is I want to have somebody that makes me feel good when I’m sitting across from them. And that is really one of our number one drivers in how we continue to hire people. We hire on warmth. We hire on someone that I know is going to be able to continue to portray that and knowing that our leaders within our organization, whether that is our C level executives, our SVPs, our GMMs, our managers, or just retail holiday help, that they are fiercely protective of protecting that right, protecting our culture. They want to make sure they hire the right people. They want to make sure they train them properly and give them the right tools to be successful. And so it starts here. Right. But it has to be where I continue to just bring birds of a feather flock together. And at Kendra Scott, we’ve got the best, most beautiful birds on the planet.

Mark Cole:

Yes. That’s right.

Kendra Scott:

And beautiful in heart. Beautiful and heart. Yeah.

Mark Cole:

Well, that is the true beauty that shines through and makes that surface beauty so radiant. Hey, so, $60 million. You now have things you’re doing at the local store level. Can you before I direct us back to the book for our last question, tell us a little bit about what you’re doing philanthropically through your store at the store level.

Kendra Scott:

Yeah. So, we obviously do so much, whether that’s a big national campaign like Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where we’re funding thousands of hours of research for metastatic breast cancer, know, communities in need. If we’ve had a flood or a fire, kendra Scott shows up. But what I love about our community philanthropy is that we have philanthropy managers in areas throughout the entire company. They’re going out to see what’s happening in their communities, what nonprofits are doing the most good in their locations, and we want to support them. We do that through Kendra gives back events where you can call our store, and we will help a local nonprofit. You’ve got a friend in need that needs support, and we can throw an event for them, and 20% will go back to that nonprofit. So we’re very able to get in there at the highest, biggest campaigns to something very grassroots and local. And that’s what I really love, because I realized early on that it’s so many times, it’s those local nonprofits, those local charities that are ones that are making the biggest impact in communities, yet they get the least amount of support. So we really wanted to focus in on really being a part of that local.

Mark Cole:

Beautiful. It’s it’s beautiful.

Kendra Scott:

It’s.

Mark Cole:

Kendra scott. It’s beautiful. It’s what you’ve become, it’s what you’re about. And I love that. Is there a place, Kendra, that we can put in our show notes as well as you can give us right now where people can get more information about that?

Kendra Scott:

Well, you can go to Amazon and obviously purchase Born to Shine. I also did the audiobook, so if you want to continue hearing this voice, you can download the audiobook and then, of course, kendrascott.com, and follow us on Kendra Scott at Instagram and all of our other social handles.

Mark Cole:

So, before we go, what do you want our podcast listeners, leaders around the world to pick up from this book? If they could pick up that one thing, that thing that would make the difference today, what would be that great? Takeaway that.

Kendra Scott:

Life will bring you obstacles. Life is hard. But embrace those obstacles and know that there’s something brighter, more amazing, ready to happen in your life. That whatever it is you’re going through, it is a moment in time. And that you, too, are born to shine.

Mark Cole:

So, Kendra, the book is incredible. I told you before, thanks for all you’ve done, the memories you’ve helped me create with my girls, with my wife. So I thank you for all that. But I thank you for the labor of love for this book. It is no accident that you and John and Ryan Leake and Marcus Buckingham are all going to share the stage on October the 6th. It’s no mistake you can go to Amazon. We’re going to put in our show notes how you can get this book. All of that will be in the show notes on how to pick up Born To Shine. If you would like to join us, there’s still time. October the 6th. It’s going to be a great day. What you just experienced in the last 30 minutes or so in this podcast is going to be a half day long session that is going to make you a better business leader. It’s going to make you a better individual. It’s going to make you shine. We say something around here all the time, Kendra. We say We Maxwell leadership exists that bring about powerful, positive change because everyone deserves to be led well. But that’s not how I want to sign off today. I want to say this. We exist to bring powerful, positive change. Because, like Kendra Scott says, you were born to shine. Thanks, everybody. We’ll see you again next week.