EP 15 Mary Lee Gannon, Leadership Columnist Huffington Post-You Are Stronger Then You Think.

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Mary Lee’s personal turnaround came as a stay-at-home mother with four children under seven-years-old who endured a divorce that took her and her children from the country club life to public assistance from where she re-invented her life to support her family.

Mary Lee has a unique perspective with 20+ years as a CEO and currently leads a $24 million organization within a 60,000 employee organization as well as coaches executives on how mindful practice and a mindset shift lead to playing big in the corner office and life. Swap overwhelmed for freedom.

Mary Lee is the leadership columnist for "The Huffington Post" and is also the recipient of the Honorary Woman if Courage Award by Pennsylvania Women Work, The Lifetime Achievement Award by Pittsburgh Society of Association Executives, and The Women of Integrity Award by Pittsburgh Professional Women. Mary Lee is the "Mindful Leadership" columnist for Smart Business Magazine and is a former reporter for The 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She’s been featured in Money Magazine, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, Yahoo.com, U.S. News and World Report, msn.com, Forbes.com, CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She’s been featured in Money Magazine, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, Yahoo.com, U.S. News and World Report, msn.com, Forbes.com, CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com.

If you are not in the place you’d like to be in your career and happiness, Mary not only walked a mile in your shoes - she's broken a few heels and changed shoes dozens of times thinking change was enough. She knows what it's like to think your options are limited and you aren't sure what decision to make so you do nothing and a burdensome mediocrity becomes your new normal. Or you try new things yet the results stay the same. You doubt if you can get it all done, be happy, get the business or engage those who matter.

 

Mary and her children were on public assistance and She wondered how she would move forward and if her children would ever ever go to college. She had a stack of business and self-help books next to her bed that were up to my pillow. Mary mentored under people, took classes, purchased online programs. She worked hard, advanced to the C- Suite running organizations worth up to $26 million, created successful businesses, became a turnaround agent but noticed with all my success she was stressed, detached and had little time or intimacy for the things that mattered most to me. Then she studied and integrated mindful practice into my life and instead of chasing down change, meaningful answers came flooding my way. It's much easier and happier this way.

Over time you adapt to limiting mindsets or situations such that you tell yourself that nothing is really wrong and this is just the way things are. That moves you into adapting to a sense that there is nothing you can do about it. And here you play small. It's out of your hands anyway. You're not even sure what makes you unique.

 

There are mindsets, practices, phases of your work and personal life and relationships that should come to an end to open up the space for the next one. Unplugging things whose time has passed allows for

the energetic burst of innovation that propels you forward to fulfillment. But sometimes you aren't even sure what to unplug. The lesson? Good cannot begin until bad ends

The takeaways from this episode are:

Your circumstances don't have to define you Good cannot begin until bad ends Your options are never as limited as you think A positive mindset changes your outcome How to stop being trapped in the victim mindset The importance of being present and enjoying the moment  Your work, career, business, leadership style, personal life is directly tied to your mindful awareness You are enough just the way you are when your miserable do something that puts you back in that mindset of where you were happy. How to make time for the little things even when your stressed to the max