14. Lean In to a Purpose-Driven Life

Living authentically isn't just a catchphrase; it's a courageous act. Through heartfelt personal stories, Pallavi Ridout and I explore the importance of aligning one's life with core values and authentic purpose. Discover how ignoring these values can lead to deep unhappiness and stress, and learn about Pallavi's transformative journey, which included leaving her corporate job and reevaluating her relationships. We'll discuss how taking bold steps toward authenticity requires courage but also brings immense fulfillment, especially when you're giving back to your community.

We also explore the invaluable role Lean In Circles play in providing a supportive community where women can freely share and grow. Whether you’re looking to navigate professional challenges or build personal confidence, this episode celebrates the power of leaning into your values and the transformative impact of supportive communities.

To connect with Pallavi Ridout, click here.
To learn more about Lean In circles, check out www.leanin.org

Download 10 Ways to Shed Your Superwoman Cape

Dr. Dara would love to connect.
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Transcript

00:00 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
Welcome to no Cape Required. I'm Dara Rossi, executive Coach and Leadership Development Facilitator, and I'm your host. Today we're going to talk about empowering women and how women can find a group of women that really support and empower them. You might remember Sheryl Sandberg. She's the former Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and she wrote a book a number of years ago called Lean In and subsequently she started this nonprofit organization called Lean In Cir and subsequently she started this nonprofit organization called Lean In Circles for Women. 

00:26
These are really cool circles. They're small groups of peers who they meet regularly and they learn and grow together, and we all know that there's real power in that kind of support and research actually backs it up and says that we're better able to learn and accomplish more things if we're in groups. I think today there's somewhere around over 35,000 circles in about 160 or so countries, so it's really spread Now. These circles, they meet everywhere. They meet in living rooms, they meet in boardrooms, they meet in the cafeteria at different companies. But the best part is they work and some of the research says that 85% of these members attribute positive change in their lives to these circles. And women are asking more. They're stepping out more. They're stepping out of their comfort zone and they're really leaning in and it's working. 

01:12
So I have a great guest today who knows a lot about lean in circles and we're going to talk about that and so much more. There's no telling where our conversation will go, because this is a friend of mine and we often talk about some interesting things. So today my guest is Pallavi Ridout, and she's going to help us understand more about these circles and share some about the great things that she does. She's an executive coach like me. She's a dynamic facilitator and a motivational speaker. She is a keynote for many, many people. She has coached leaders on all sorts of topics and all sorts of levels, and she advises leaders about talent and business-related challenges. Prior to launching her own coaching Pallavi  led a global talent management function and she also held a variety of HR, business partners and organizational development positions at Warner Brothers. Ooh, want to hear more about that, just for fun. She likes to compete in Toastmaster Speaking Championships and she also travels the world. So please welcome my  Pallavi today,  Glad you're here, I'm glad too. 

02:12 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
I feel like I'm like wow, I want to meet this person. I love the enthusiasm which you have introduced me. You just wowed yourself, didn't you? I know I just wowed myself, but anyway, anytime I meet you, dara, this is how I feel. So all good, yeah. 

02:28 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
We do have fun. I bet we're going to laugh today for sure. Well, tell us I gave kind of the overview you know about you a little bit, just a tidbit. There's so much more, but tell us about you and what's going on and let the audience know you some more. And let the audience know you some more Absolutely. 

02:42 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
So a little bit about me. I am one of those corporate warriors that transitioned into non-corporate stuff, if you want to call it, through a series of life-altering experiences and making some very intentional choices in not necessarily leading an easy life but a meaningful life. And I never thought I would be here at this stage in my life. And here I am and very thrilled. And then you know this, I call my life now my life philosophy is called leading a life of no regrets. I am 50 years old this year, so you know things are getting into a sharper focus this year onwards. But my focus really started to get sharpened about eight years ago when I was on this amazing journey in corporate, reaching all kinds of heights of success. My father used to be a CEO and that's the kind of household I grew up in, so being a C-suite officer was just a given. You know it was like one of these days I'm going to get to it. I really didn't have a plan. And then I was being offered a C-suite position and then everything kind of came crashing around me to say that, do I really want that in life? Is that why I've been put on this planet? Is this what I want to do? So a series of things led me to make some life altering decisions and I am the happiest I have been now not without trials and tribulations and challenges, but it's a, it's an amazing life. So that that's kind of is in a nutshell. I know I kind of was a little, you know, high level there, but no-transcript. 

04:46
Inherently as women, I think, when we are born we are told that there is a cape attached to you that you cannot take off Like you have to wear that cape the whole time. When I was born in India and and raised in that kind of environment where there are very distinct responsibilities that a woman has versus the man has, and, uh, I and I was fortunate to grow up in a very forward thinking household. My parents were amazing people. They're no longer here, but they left a very, very big impact on me and they impacted lives where people are grateful to them till date. But still, growing up in India, you know where it's the most populous country in the world. So it's survival of the fittest. You have to fight for everything and as a woman you have to fight even harder. But then you are brought up to say you will work, but you will also cook every single meal breakfast, lunch, dinner and your place is not only in the kitchen but in the living room, in the bedroom. You're a mom, you're a wife, you're everything. And the boys are raised a different way in India, fortunately, in our family my brothers were raised differently, but I was surrounded by people where I observed this and growing up there was a very marked distinction in a man and a woman's role. So, anyway, I came from that. But even when I was younger, I was very aware of, you know, my rights as a woman. I demanded, but I wore that cape for the longest time and I felt like I had to do everything. So I'll tell you a funny story. I ended up marrying a non Indian and I was raised to, you know, say, oh, as a wife, you have to take care of him and cook all his meals and all that stuff. 

06:21
So early in my career I was a consultant and fun, fun story about my consulting days is that I for six years I literally had no home base Like I would travel place to place. I had no, no like place to call my own on weekends or go visit friends or whatever. And then I was dating my then husband and so when we got married and I would still travel, so I thought I had to cook him all his meals. I would make all his meals on Sunday and pack them into Tupperware boxes and label them, put them in the fridge. And I grew to hate Sundays because I only had two days, so Saturday and Sunday. And so I would come home and by then my brother also had started to live with us for a little bit and these two gentlemen would not touch half the food. So I would come home and by then my brother also had started to live with us for a little bit, and these two gentlemen would not touch half the food. So I would walk in and I'm looking at the expression You're just like what I would have that expression. I would just erupt. I'm like I worked so hard and I put on it. 

07:18
So my husband, my then husband, my ex, sat me down and he's, like you know, pallavi till about 30 years. I've taken care of myself. I'm fully capable of doing this. Why do you, why do you put this pressure on yourself? That's all you have to say. Dara, I'm a very smart woman. I'm intelligent. I thought that once you didn't have to tell me twice. So then I stopped. I said would you like, would you be okay if I didn't like cook all this up? He's like, yeah, you'll, you'll be fine. Oh, what a relief. 

07:44
So, right there, that cape, I realized, is I could shed that. I would do that so over time, you know, but it took a lot. You know, when I became a mom I felt like, oh my gosh, I had to do all this. Right, I had to be there, make these perfect little lunchbox meals and breakfast and whatever. I know it's all around food here. But that's an example I'm giving. But about seven years ago I started to really awaken and I realized that you don't need to have a cape. It's okay. It's okay to seek help, it's okay to get others to help you, it's okay to say no and it's okay. Biggest thing is go against societal norms. It is okay to break down, okay. 

08:25 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
Listen. If you're out there and you're listening to this and you say I know somebody that needs to hear this podcast, make sure you forward it to them, you share it with them, because we're talking about. Society puts the pressure on us. Sometimes we think we have to wear the cape and then you just said you were making him dinner and you didn't have to. You put the pressure on yourself. So sometimes we grow up that way and we think we have to do it. When we don't have to do it, you can shed the cape. So send this to someone that needs to hear about this because we're going to talk more about it. 

08:51
So about seven years ago, you finally decided that. Now I know you have this philosophy, Pallavi , around leading a life of no regrets, and I laugh every time I hear you say that, because I think of this commercial where the guy's getting the tattoo and it says life of no regerts. They misspell it, but that's a whole nother thing. But let's talk about your philosophy around this leading a life with no regrets. What does that mean? 

09:15 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
That means in the introduction you talked about authenticity. That means embracing who you are, who you are meant to be, not what others want you to be, and then living that life out. You know, the chances of us being born are some crazy, like 400 trillion to one, and a lot of combinations have to happen, right From our great, great, great, great great grandparents meeting to procreating, to then their children meeting and procreate. And then here we are, the miracles that we are. A lot of chance and a lot of science. Yes, a lot of chance, I like to say it. 

09:50
So we are unique people and I find that a lot of us don't allow ourselves to live out fully. Right, there's a saying to truly live is one thing, but to exist, people, people exist every day. So are you existing or you're living? For me, it's about values. Do you know what your values are? Do you know what your purpose is in life? And then are you living both those things on a regular basis? So it's a, it's a, you know, existential type of conversation one needs to have with themselves. And we are. Usually we are so busy, like in the rat race, or we're busy just growing up and doing things. Go to college, get a job, da da, da, da da right have a family. We don't stop to assess life and say is this really what life is about? 

10:36 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
I don't know about you, but I work with a lot of clients. Either they've buried their values no-transcript values or is it against the values. I find that many times people are unhappy when they go against their values. If they know them and they're doing things that are against their values like wait a minute time out here, what's going on? How do we align those you talk about, this purpose-based existence, and what kind of changes we need to make and what kind of changes did you make? 

11:15 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
and how do we go about doing that? Yes, yes, and to tie it into what you just said is, when we don't live our values, we are unhappy. There's something that it's a gap, it's a dark, deep, black hole. So my journey was around that and then I found my purpose. So I'll tell you. What happened is, as I was growing in corporate, in my roles and responsibilities and taking on more and more, and then being given this chance to take on the top most HR job, I found that the level with which I was rising, or the speed with which I was rising up, it was equal speed going down. Being unhappy, I was miserable, I was stressed out to the point that I was losing hair. I developed alopecia erata because of stress, my joints would freeze up because I didn't understand why I was so unhappy. And eventually, when I dug into my values, which was years later, I realized that one of my biggest values was freedom, right, freedom to express who I am, my opinions, freedom to do what I like to do when I want to do how I want to do, and that value wasn't being met, being challenged, really truly challenged, and giving back. So that is something that has been a part and parcel of who I have been for a long time. So what I found was that in my corporate role, which I absolutely love, I love working for the organization I did and the people I work with. I would not change that for anything. It was just those conditions. You know, those were not meant for someone like me. 

12:40
Growing up in India also, I saw my parents give back a lot and I found that I was busy being trapped in the office for about 10 to 12 hours because I managed 34 countries back then, and then the remaining whatever little time was then set aside for the family, for my son, and it started to eat at me that I wasn't giving back outside of work but also I wasn't present for my family as well as my son, and that started to pile up and pile up, and pile up. So two years I suffered with that and then I lost my father and that's when I had this big awakening. They do say that when you have a big loss in your life loss of a loved one, a relationship you know or event you tend to step back and reflect on what is it that you should be doing and that lasts for a short while for most people, and then they move on. So it might last for a few days, few weeks, few months, but then most people don't do anything about it. They have the feelings, they sit with the feelings, but it's the action that they take. So when my mom passed away is when this feeling started actually. 

13:47
And then, when it was my dad's turn, he actually said to me out loud he said look, I have done whatever I had to do. I'm very proud of my life, I'm proud of my kids, I'm proud of what all you have achieved, and it's I'm proud of what all you have achieved and it's I'm ready. And he was hale and hearty and that was a shock to my system. And I asked myself the same question is he's saying this? Like if I were to say this to myself today, would it be the case? And it wasn't. And then he passed away a few months later, basically because of heartbreak, 13 months after my mom passed away. So those two deaths of my parents, people who brought me to this planet for a purpose, really shook me, like completely shook me, like took the. What do you say? Pull the rug under my feet under your feet. 

14:31
Yeah, so that's when I made some, you know, very difficult decisions, which was exiting corporate I also. My ex-husband is a lovely, brilliant man, but he just wasn't for me and I had to. I had to come to that conclusion at the same time and those were some of those life defining moments that happened and I find, in living authentic life requires a lot of courage, and courage brings fear. Fear is because of the unknown and that's why most people don't want to venture there. We are comfortable being uncomfortable, right In a bad way and not in a good way, right. 

15:09
So, yeah, so those are some of the events that led to me saying you know what? I'm going to just take some time off, assess and I want to give back to the world, but I also want to have the freedom to do what I enjoy the most and what I do. So, as you said in my intro, I'm a coach, I love to coach, I love to speak, I'm a keynote speaker. People, will you know, they come to me saying we are inspired by what you're saying. So, even if I can make a 1% difference in anybody's life at any given time, that is good, good for me to exist. 

15:37 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
I love that. Something comes up for me when you were saying that women often have a couple of faces of guilt. Maybe they have guilt because they're in this CEO role or they're in the C-suite and something. They've broken that glass ceiling, if you will. They're an example and role model for other women and they hate it, they want out. Or they may be guilty because they have a family at home and they feel like they could spend more time with the family, or guilt's for other reasons. They're not doing things that they really, you know, not living up to their values and doing things that they're really, really have a passion and a desire to do and make a difference in this world, a better place. 

16:14
One thing I love about Lean In and that's what we're going to talk about today with all this good stuff, but we're going to talk a little bit now about lean in is that it's a circle of women where you can talk about these things, you can express yourself. Women are supportive and encouraging. You can get advice if you want it. You know it can just be support and love. Basically, these groups of women show love and support for each other. So let's talk a little bit about Lean In and your involvement with Lean In. And full disclosure I'm involved in Lean In, I'm a Lean In circle leader and love it. Yeah, get something out of every time and it's just really great. So let's talk about how you got started and why you feel the need to be involved. Pallavi yes with. 

16:57 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
Lean In. So I've always been passionate about women and leadership, right from when I was growing up and I was encouraged by my dad and that was a big thing in India. So I wanted to give back in that space. As I mentioned earlier, I was. It was eating at me that I wasn't giving back to this world. So women, children and environment are my causes and I do things to align up with those and give my time and money, charity, whatever it is right. So when I moved to Dallas from LA, I started to build community. I started to rekindle some of my relationships. 

17:30
I used to live here a long time ago and interestingly okay, dara, you will not believe this Interestingly three different people from three different sources came to me and said you need to meet this woman, manu, and I said why they're like, she's a lot like you and she's doing things that you like. 

17:48
Said okay, so Manu was the then Lean In Network leader and I had no idea about Lean In up until about, you know, like seven years ago, six, seven years ago. So I come to Dallas and then finally I connect with her and she is about to run this conference for women called Returnship. So we talk and we connect right away. We have similar values, we want to work for women's causes. So she invites me and she's like can you help out with the conference? I absolutely volunteer because I've taken a year off. I had time on my hands. I absolutely volunteer because I've taken a year off. I had time on my hands and then returnship was so lean in network leaders, leaders, organized events, sometimes it's circle meetings, sometimes it can be something big as a conference. That was my first exposure to lean in and I was just completely blown away. 

18:36 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
Okay, can I stop you there? I got to double click on something you just said. You kind of snuck that in there. I took a year off. I think I missed that earlier, if you said it. So that was a result of this processing and really looking internally about what you needed to do. Yes, can you speak a little bit more about that? 

18:53 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
Sure, yes, I took the year off, and to the chagrin of my loved ones who were terrified of you know, I was going to run out of my savings and what the heck I was going to do with my life. But I took the time to decompress, to get healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, but also rekindle my relationship with my son, which was broken because I was not around. I was this crazy woman with a cape in corporate world working away. But I also wanted to take some time off to understand what my reconnect with my values and figure out what my purpose was. I didn't know. I knew I had to do something, but I didn't know what my purpose was. So part of that decompression was moving out of LA, coming to Dallas, being with family, but also doing what I absolutely love to do is travel. And so I took my love of travel, the love of my son, and I took him and me on this trip like an eat, love and pray trip with my love, my son, so jealous. We went. You know this story right. We went 80 days and on that trip I told myself, I said I am not going to worry about what I'm going to do next, but I'm going to think about why I would want to do something right. What are the reasons why I want to do something? So on that trip, I did a lot of thinking, a lot of reflecting, and that is what then drove me to figure out what I wanted to do as a business and in the giving back space, but being very focused. 

20:16
So this is one of the things I teach people. Excellence is part of what I do. So my tagline is I help people in teams find excellence or be the excellent selves. In fact, I'm doing a LinkedIn post about that today. So for me, it was about what am I excellent at and then how can I help people with that? So that's when I chose and if people are watching this on video, right, they'll see on my zoom screen here I do a few things, but I but I do them really well. I do coaching, I do speaking, I do facilitation and I do emceeing. That's kind of where I have landed and you know, using those gifts then to give back, to give back as well as teach people about that. So that was what my one year was about. I gave myself permission to chill out for about six months and then work on what I was going to do in the next chapter of my life. 

21:00 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
Okay. So here's what I want people to hear. You didn't just quit your job as CEO one day. The next day you're like I got my purpose, I'm ready to go. It didn't just like happen overnight. There was a healing process that had to take place. First you had to heal yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually all of these things that you mentioned and then you could then look and see where it is. You want to go, what your purpose was and how you could live into your values. Yeah, okay, you want to make sure that we got that in there. That that's no. 

21:30 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
Yeah, it wasn't like an overnight thing yeah, so thank you for that, because a lot of people struggle with that. They're like how do I do this? So I talk a lot about ikigai, which is a japanese word. Yeah, right, and it's like, you know, three-pronged thing and sitting down, writing, reflecting, talking to people, getting coached, having good friends, where you can just let everything out and and, and you know, confront your fears, confront what's making you uncomfortable, and and also join a lean in circle right yeah, lean in really helped me a lot. 

22:01
So back to our story. So I meet Manu, we do the returnship conference and I'm sold, I'm hooked onto this. I didn't know about lean in the book, I didn't know about the circles, so I joined the circle that was there in Flower Mount and I instantly had access to a community of women. I was going through my own turmoil I'll call them right. So this was literally five, six months moving to Dallas and I remember in one of the lean in meetings were to stand up and introduce ourselves. So, dara, you've met me. At this point I think you might say I'm a confident woman and I can express myself yes, so. 

22:35
But back then, right, I got up and I said I said I'm a coach and I am trying to write a book and I like working with women. I mean I said something like this and I remember somebody there saying I think it might have been Manu who said just own it, own it. So what if your book is still in the process? It's an idea in your head. She's like you can say I'm an aspiring author, like say it with conviction in your head. She's like you can say I'm an aspiring author, like say it with conviction. 

23:02
And in one of those few earlier meetings in Lean In, I realized that for a person like me, who always has been confident and is not afraid of challenges, I somehow was afraid of this new chapter of my life. And I got that confidence in the Lean In circle. So that's my journey with Lean In and you know I was a part of a circle for years and then I started my own circle for professional women and there are so many stories about the women who came into these circles, including me, the benefits we got out of it. So these circles, as you mentioned earlier, these are free. First of all, nobody has to pay a subscription in this day and age right Zero. 

23:40
You know this and anybody can join the circle. Right now we have an entrepreneur circle that you lead, dara, and I love that one From the entrepreneur circle. I can tell you, one of my personal aha moments was in my business about two, three years ago. I realized I needed to hire somebody, but I was afraid, I was scared. You know it's a big commitment to have somebody in your payroll, especially when you're not an entrepreneur. You don't know. You know today and the type of work that we do, it's not messy, steady, right. You have sometimes peace and famine. So I knew that and I was carrying that with me. 

24:13
Again, I was getting to the same stress levels that I was in corporate and I knew I had to do something. So when I went into one of the meetings, we were talking about resources and there were many entrepreneurs there and they shared resources. But then at the end of each lean-in meeting, we typically make a commitment and we talk about what we learned that day and what is your commitment. So I made a commitment. Finally, I said you know what? I'm going to go and look up this one resource. You told me to hire somebody and I said by next Lenin meeting I'm going to come and report. So there it was accountability. So that's what another thing in Lenin circles is you can hold you know, you can have others hold you accountable, but you can have self accountability and it's in a safe environment. 

24:56
So, yes, for over a year now, and it is night and day, I'm not as stressed and I move some of my administrative work to my employees. But there are other women who've come in, for sometimes it's small things like how do I have a conversation with so-and-so about saying no, or how do I negotiate a salary, or how do I draw boundaries? How do I expand? How do I find my purpose? Whatever, it is right. Some lean in meetings. We've talked about aging parents, some of us, you know, are in that space. 

25:33
How do you deal with that? You know how do you. Sometimes it's relationships. You know I'm having a hard time in this aspect of my life. What do I do so you just never know what kind of support you will get when you go into a meeting, and that really talks to me. It inspires me. That is a part of my purpose is to help somebody else a woman in this case better their lives, but in a safe space just mentioned about the circles is that women share with each other. 

26:06 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
If they have the knowledge, they share it, right? There's no competition, it's all about uplifting everybody. There is some leadership curriculum that is free, that the Lean In organization has developed, that can be shared, but it also comes from each other sharing our expertise. I also want to mention there's Lean In circles for girls, right? So is that called lean in girls?


26:28 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
Tell us just briefly about that, Because I know our listeners may have some daughters that want to possibly look into this as well. 

26:33 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
Yeah, absolutely so. For years, lean in was focused on women. And then there was this conversation about we are looking at these. If you want to use a fish analogy, right, fish that is swimming upstream, right, fully, fully formed fish. But what if we go downstream and we find those itty bitty, the eggs, padpoles or the eggs, yeah, and how about we talk to girls at that formational point in their lives, that really uncomfortable stage where they are, you know, hitting puberty, when they're being told don't throw, throw like a girl, or you know I won't use some of those words which are very offensive to women that that they say right, and what if we, you, be told that it is absolutely okay to be called and I'm putting this in quotes bossy, because you're not bossy, you're confident, you're expressive, you're communicative, you're not afraid to put your opinion out there. 

27:24 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
So a leader, let's go with that. You're a leader. 

27:28 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
Yeah, nobody calls a boy bossy, right when he's expressing his communication, or he brings people together or he says, hey, let's do so. And so have you thought about this? So it's about how do you reframe that thought process and talk to girls at that young age. And again, look, lena, while the design is for women, we want men to join us because they are a part of the support system. 

27:49
And in the beginning, when Lean In the book came out, there was a lot of controversy around it. It was about oh, you're preaching from your high chair, right, you are this executive, and now you're preaching women to change their behaviors on their own. But over time, lean In has evolved and Lean In has programs which you can take into corporations to talk about, allyship, to talk about how can men support us? And the same thing is you know, as you talk about leanin girls is we are bringing it into leanin schools. But schools guess who's their parents, teachers, and they are mixed genders, so people can get involved whoever wants to. But I'm so thrilled leanin girls was launched last year and I think you know this is really a game changer, so so thank you for bringing up this. 

28:29 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
It's so exciting. Well, gosh, I hate it that we're coming to a close. We're all. Our interview is almost over. If someone was interested in joining a Lean In Circle or starting a Lean In Circle, what would? 

28:40 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
they? What would they do? It is very easy. Go to leaninorg, l-e-a-n-i-norg, and there you have all these resources which, literally, it's a button. I want to start a circle, you click that button. I want to join a circle, click that button and you can also look up leanin groups in your zip code, in your area. They're all over the world. Like as Dara said at the beginning, right, there are about 35 000 circles in 188 countries. There are some circles which meet in person. There are others which are virtual, there are circles that are global. You can join a circle in the country and it's a virtual circle. So look it up in your area, look up the circle leader and you can always contact them. Or you can just press the button and say I want to join the circle. It'll send an email to that leader. 

29:24 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
So they're also easy, easy. 

29:27 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
And, as Dara, as you mentioned, there are all these free resources which I love about Lean In. It's a very giving organization. They are open source. You can go in and you can download those resources for yourself or for your circle and their leadership, communication negotiations, you name it. There are many, many resources there. So leaninorg is the place to go, that's fantastic. 

29:48 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
And what if I don't ask you? Or what do you want to leave our listeners with today, pallavi? 

29:52 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
So to the listeners interested in Lean, in the women who are listening, I would say be courageous. You don't have to go about it on your own. You have this amazing community of women ready to support you, so just know that you're not alone. I think that was one of the biggest things for me. I felt like I had to go into it all alone. But talk. Talk to your friends, talk to somebody you trust. Let them know what's deep in your heart. Let them know where you want to go. Seek like today's. My LinkedIn post is about seeking excellence, and part of it is about aligning yourself with people, maybe who you look up to, maybe somebody who's two steps ahead of you, not even 20 steps right, or networking and asking. My biggest thing is don't be afraid to ask. Ask for help, ask for advice, ask for coaching, and you will be surprised how much there is out there that people are willing to give. Give wholeheartedly, give freely so that you can succeed. 

30:48 - Dr. Dara Rossi (Host)
I love that. I say you know, I say be afraid and go ahead and do it anyway. Right, the fear's there, just step on it and go ahead and do it. Oh, Pallavi, thank you so much. What a joy it was to have you today and to talk about your life and what's gone on and about leaning in circles and about how women can just actually lean into the relationships and not go it alone, no matter how they get that support that they get it. I love that. Thank you, appreciate you so much. 

31:15 - Pallavi Ridout (Guest)
Me too. I appreciate it so much, and the way Dara and I connected is we were just having a conversation at work and I happened to tell her about Lean In and she leaned in and she became a Lean In leader. So there you go. It was such a pleasure to talk, to, be a colleague with and work with and now be a Lean In sister, and thank you so much for having me on your podcast. Thank, you. Thank you, I appreciate it. Bye now. 


This transcript was generated using AI technology and may contain errors or inaccuracies.