Episode 1656: Interview with Jenn Donahue About Her Book Becoming the Warrior

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us on episode 1,656 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Jenn Donahue: I'm Jen Donahue. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to do what you love is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.

The Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Mader.

You know, I can't change who I am because everybody expects me to be this way, so that that little voice, when it does start to see those obstacles. Boy, it is like, yep, that's, that's my end right there. Oh, I'm gonna exploit this to the best way possible so that you can't do what you should [00:01:00] be able to do.

Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in your.

Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can

Jenn Donahue: impact the world.

Scott Maderer: In today's podcast episode, I interview Jen Donahue. I asked Jen about why she developed the Warrior Framework. I also asked Jen about why so many people have big goals, but go astray when pursuing them. And I also asked Jen to share with you how this isn't just about positive thinking, but way more. I have a great book that's been out for a while now called Inspired Living.

Assemble the puzzle [00:02:00] of your calling by mastering your time, your talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about that book over an inspired living book.com. It'll take you to a page where there's information and you can sign up to get some mailings about it, as well as purchase a copy there. I'd love to see you get a copy and share with me how it impacted your world.

Jen Donahue is an international keynote speaker, retired US Navy captain, business coach, and one of America's leading experts on leadership and personal growth. Her mission is to walk alongside leaders, quiet the voices, holding them back, and show them how to become the leaders they were meant to be.

Because leadership isn't about the spotlight, it's about service, courage, and building others up. Over her 27 year military career, Jim built a bridge across the Euphrates River during the Iraq war, commanded an 800 personnel battalion in Afghanistan. [00:03:00] And led the construction of combat outpost and hostile desert terrain in her inspiring debut book.

Becoming the Warrior Harnessing Your Inner Strength to Silent Self-Doubt. Jen draws from her experience on the battlefield to build a framework that helps readers combat their inner critics achieve their goals, and uncover the warrior within them. Welcome to the show, Jen.

Jenn Donahue: Thanks. I am so excited to be here.

Scott Maderer: Absolutely. I'm looking forward to our conversation today. So I shared quite a bit in the intro about some of the things you've done in the past your book other information. But I always think about intros as sort of. It's telling us where we are today and the end point, but it never really unpacks the journey of how we got here.

And there's always more to the story than just where we are. So take us back in time a little bit and unpack a little bit about your journey and, and what has brought you to [00:04:00] the point where this is the, the message you feel called to put out into the world.

Jenn Donahue: It's actually been a bit of a rambling journey, to be honest.

You know, a lot of people had that straight path. Mine was always

Scott Maderer: place. Most people don't actually,

Jenn Donahue: they'll tell you that it's straight. It's like, oh yeah, I did this, and this. But yeah, no. Um, actually it started out at Texas a and m, which you know very well. And from there I decided, you know what? I had a lot of angst in my life and I didn't wanna just go down to Houston and, and get a job like everybody else.

I wanted to go and see the world. I wanted to explore things. So that's why I joined the United States Navy. Now, as an engineer and a female we're pretty outnumbered. Uh, there was only basically about like one in 10 female engineers, but I had the most amazing experiences. And I think what was so important is that, that those were really the years where I figured out how to be a better leader.

I didn't really have any leadership [00:05:00] experience going into the Navy, and I definitely messed up a lot the first couple years, but I had a fantastic mentor that was able to help me figure out how to be a better leader myself. I think that's where everything started to turn. And once I was able to be a more authentic leader, a more empathetic leader, it was just sort of different than everybody else, but it worked.

And so I went through my entire 27 year career. I'm still an engineer. Whenever I've been on active duty, I've been off active duty. And so I started an engineering company because why not? But whenever I retired, I said, you know what? I still have a lot to give. I am put on this planet to help as many people as I can.

And I couldn't figure out how to do that whenever I retired. But a good friend of mine, she's a speaker, and she said, Hey, have you ever thought about becoming a professional speaker? I was like, no. You know, I didn't. I didn't even give it a thought. I was like, no, I'm not gonna do that. And she's like, you know, you might want [00:06:00] to just give that a little bit more thought.

And I did. And I realized, Hey, you know what? I do have a lot to give. I can reach a lot of people. By, by telling my story and motivating other people to just be a little bit better or maybe be, you know, a different type of leader that's more authentic to themselves. And so this went on for a while and people kept asking me, Hey, do you have a book?

I'm like, no. Are you sure? No, I don't have a book. And I finally decided, you know what? This is another way that I can help others. I can put like all of my thoughts down in this book and maybe just maybe. I can reach a couple people that way, so it's been all over the place, but that's really how I got to where I am now.

Scott Maderer: Yeah I think most of us, actually, even the folks that think that it's a straight line, it's only a straight line because you're looking back at it, you know what I mean? If you're looking forward, it's usually not a straight line. No. Uh I, [00:07:00] most of us don't at. If you go back to, you know, when you're 12 years old and people say, what do you wanna be when you grow up?

You know, and then you think about the journey to get there. That's usually not the path that we end up taking. Even if we end up where we wanted to, you know, even if it's I wanna be an astronaut, you actually end up an astronaut. The path is, it was, you thought it was going to be usually,

Jenn Donahue: I think all of us wanted to be astronauts, honestly.

Scott Maderer: Yeah, a astronaut fireman, uh, doctor. Doctor. Yeah. There, there, there's a, there's a list and, and strangely it's not really what most of us end up being. But that's true. So you mentioned in that, that you took an approach of empathy and, you know, your leadership approach.

You also said it was different. So I've kind of got two questions about that. And I'll go ahead and ask 'em, answer 'em in either. Order. But one is how did you learn it? If it was so different than what [00:08:00] everyone else was doing, you know, what, what brought it into your life? And then secondly is how did you maintain it if it was different than what everyone else was doing.

Jenn Donahue: I really figured it out whenever I went to a battalion. Now I was in charge of 18 people. I was on a very remote island in Alaska. We were doing drilling and blasting, which is honestly, it is a blast. But I had taken on it's like I need like those little sound effects, you know,

Scott Maderer: pun, pun, pun. Fully intended.

I'm sure. Yes, let's keep going.

Jenn Donahue: But you know, prior to that all my bosses were yellers. And so I had just adopted the idea of like, well, that's how you get people to do things is you yell at them to make them do what you want them to do. And so that's what I was doing and I was yelling at people and you know, like, you do this and you do that, and don't give me any G.

And you know, that's just how [00:09:00] everybody was. It just didn't feel good. And there were times when I really thought, you know, I don't know if I can make it in the Navy if this is how I'm supposed to leave people. Because it doesn't, it just doesn't feel good like in your gut. Kinda like, you know, you feel it in your chest.

You're like, I don't like doing this. So I get to Alaska and I've got this incredible chief. So all off, all young officers are paired with chiefs, you know, who's been around the Navy. He's, you know, an old, salty crusty guy. And he just started looking at me and he is like, that's not you. And I was like, what do you mean?

You know? And he is like, you're not being who you really are. And I had this opportunity, it was almost like a little lab, you know, for six months we were in Alaska and he's like, why don't you just relax? He's like, I can tell that like you're trying too hard. He's like, back it off and start trying something new because I can tell that this is not working for you at all.

And he is like, [00:10:00] well, what do you like to do? And I was like, you know, I really like to listen. And I was like, I like to, I like to draw out things from people. And he is like, well, just try that. Like stop yelling at people and start listening to people. And I did. And so by the time that I got done with my time in Alaska.

I kind of perfected. I'm like, this feels good. And you know, he would go around to the troops and, you know, say like, Hey, what do you think of her as a leader? And they're like, oh my God, we go anywhere with her. You know, it was like, because, you know, I had put the emphasis on them as opposed to on myself.

So whenever I got back to the, you know, the rest of the battalion, the other 600 of us, I was like, you know, this is what I'm gonna do. And people kind of looked at me strange, but they're like, well, whatever she's doing, it seems to be working and her department is doing well or her company is doing well, or whatever it was.

And it was like, okay, I feel good about this and this is how I wanna go. And then I started actually getting noticed, you know, by my superiors that, you know, I was being different, but whatever I was doing was working. [00:11:00] And so I was like, Hey, you know what? I'm gonna just keep doing what I'm doing. Hmm.

Scott Maderer: So there's a bit of a it, the, the, the other folks that noticed looked at it and went, well, it's working, so don't mess with it.

Jenn Donahue: Exactly. So, and the crazy thing about this is I, you know, I had written a, an article on LinkedIn about this, and one of my prior bosses, you know, he was, he became an admiral. He wrote to me personally and he said, I'm so glad that you figured it out so early in your career. He said I wish. That I had done the same.

He said it would've made such a difference in my life if I had just been more authentic and stopped trying to be like what I thought I was supposed to be.

Scott Maderer: So take a look. You know, one of the things I like to ask folks on the show is what I call the intersection between our, our faith journey, whatever that is, and our life journey, whatever that is, and kind of how that's a feedback [00:12:00] loop for a lot of us between one and the other.

For you, how has that intersection affected your decisions and your life journey?

Jenn Donahue: The way that I look at it is that there is a grand plan. I don't know what that is. I don't think really anybody knows what that is, but you feel these doors open for you and you feel those doors close as well. And so the way that I've looked at, you know, my faith journey is that I'm being led on this crazy winding path that's, you know, definitely not straight or straight for anybody else.

And so I, the way that I look at it is like when there's a door open, I'm going through it. You know, I'm not gonna think twice. I'm just gonna go through it because there is a master plan. And so that's the way that I look, you know, at my faith journey is that, yeah, there's, there is a purpose for me.

Scott Maderer: So what do you think? For so many [00:13:00] folks, you know, we were talking earlier about wanting to be an astronaut when you grow up and those sorts of things. I think a lot of us have dreams. We have goals, we have ideas. But for a lot of folks, those dreams kind of get squashed along the way. You know they end up not following through or not pushing through.

What do you see as some of the things that derail people or get people stuck when it comes to going after what they really want?

Jenn Donahue: And this is actually one of my favorite questions. You know, a lot of us do get stuck, and I think that as really the little voices that are hanging out in our head, and we all have them, whether we recognize it or not.

But you know, we had the voices that say, Hey, you know what? I'm hungry. Let's go get something to eat. They're like, oh, that makes sense, you know? But we also have those little voices that are like yeah, you know, maybe we shouldn't do that, or. Maybe now's not the right time, and a lot of [00:14:00] times those are the little voices that are holding us back.

It might not be anything external to us. External barriers. A lot of times it's those internal barriers that we might not even recognize in ourselves that are holding us back. There have been so many times I've heard people verbalize these little voices because they start to believe them like, you know.

Maybe it's not the right time to go for that promotion. You know, I, I don't feel like I have all the credentials, you know, maybe next year, and they do have all the credentials. I'm like, wait a minute, let's go through this. You know, or people who say, you know what? I just got to this position. You know, I, by luck, like, I don't even know how I got here.

Like, everybody's gonna figure out that I'm a fraud. All of those little voices are starting to hold you back. And the thing is that you have to recognize those voices and basically peel them apart from that voice that says, Hey, I'm hungry. I need to go eat. To that little voice that says, Hey, you know what, you're not ready.

You know? So that's one of the things that I think is so important, and I [00:15:00] think that's really what gets us stuck,

Scott Maderer: I think, too a lot of it has to do with. How we view those external barriers. So when you think about those internal voices, they also affect, even if there is a real external barrier, how we see it.

And so like for you, back when you were early on in your leadership in Alaska, you were yelling because that's what everyone else did. And even though it didn't feel right. It kind of, that was the view you had of the only way to do leadership. So how do you think that even, what is real, how those internal voices affect how we see those things and how that plays out.

Jenn Donahue: I think for a lot of people, when they see those obstacles, that little voice amplifies it, you know? So maybe instead of like just being a hurdle, all of a sudden it's a brick wall. Oh, I can't go over that. It's too big. It's too hard. You know, I can't change who I am because everybody expects me to be this way, so that that little voice, [00:16:00] when it does start to see those obstacles, boy it is like, yep that's my end right there.

Oh, I'm gonna exploit this to the best way possible so that you can't do what you should be able to do. And one of the things I like to talk about is like, yeah, you might have an obstacle, you might have something that's like, Hey, you know what? You might not be able to do this. Couple different things that we can do.

Number one, just decide, Hey, I am gonna do it. I'm gonna find a way. I'm gonna go over, around under whatever that is. I'm gonna go do it now. That's one way of thinking about it, but I also believe heavily in like creating your own little army, like finding other people who might have that same barrier. Go find and talk to them, and maybe collectively you all can find a way to get over it together.

And also you have that support as well. So depending on who you are, if you're just like, I'm gonna just smash through the barrier, you can't tell me what to do. Or if they, Hey, you know what, I'm gonna go find my battle buddies. [00:17:00] You know, the people who are gonna be able to help me get over that obstacle, no matter what it is.

Maybe it's somebody who can. Talk to somebody about that barrier, about bringing it down, or maybe you all climbing on each other's shoulders so that you can all leap over. There's a bunch of different ways, but we have to, we have to get out of our own way first and not realize that that barrier is probably bigger than what we think it is.

Scott Maderer: I, I'm actually picturing, uh, if you think about the what is it? The Sparta races? Mm-hmm. You know, where they have all the obstacles and the people marathon and I've actually seen it where. There were people running and they're kind of doing it on their own, and so when they get to some of these obstacles, they get stuck and they're just beating themselves.

And then there's others that form little mini squads and help each other and how much better they get through the race. Because even though they didn't necessarily know each other before they started the race, they decided, hey, when we get to this obstacle, we're gonna help each other and then we're gonna stay together so that when we [00:18:00] get to the next obstacle, we can help each other.

Jenn Donahue: You all have the same goal. Absolutely. It's like, why not help each other? You know? All ships rise together. You know, you mentioned earlier that you kind of wrote the book in part because everyone kept asking you, Hey, do you have a book? You know, but, but you also talked about wanting to help people and, and getting your message out.

Scott Maderer: Talk a little bit about you know, becoming the warrior. What, what caused you to write the book? What's kind of the approach you took to it? Talk a little bit about that.

Jenn Donahue: First off, I'm an engineer and I hate writing reports, so that was probably the biggest barrier that I had. I was like, oh man, it's like writing a really big report.

But it is, it's actually, it's not. I do have a creative side to me and it was really nice to be able to let go of the very technical writing and be able to start to write. You know, for, for other humans as opposed to, you know, a bunch of PhD.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. As opposed to a bunch of engineers.

Jenn Donahue: [00:19:00] Yeah, exactly.

Nope.

So, so it's like, oh, I can actually, like all the engineers turned, I can talk like the human,

Scott Maderer: all the engineers in the, in the audience just turned off the podcast, but that's okay.

Jenn Donahue: They're like, I am not listening to her anymore.

But it was a bit of a journey. It was actually after like the fourth person had asked me like, Hey, do you have a book? And I said, no. And I just saw their face and they're like, oh. I was like, oh darn. I need to, I need to do this. Because I'd been doing workshops and I'd been doing keynotes and they wanted more, and I could tell this like, you know, your keynote really helped me, but I need something to help sustain me.

And I have all these ideas in my head and I thought, you know what? This is a time. To just get it all out, get it all on paper, get it organized. Uh, I'm a great storyteller and it's like the stories that go along with each one of the points. I wanted to make a, the ability for people to see themselves within the stories so they, [00:20:00] they see themselves.

So it's really not a book about me, it's a book about others who are, you know what? They wanna go out and do something in the world. They have so much on their plate, but they're afraid. That if they put themselves out there, they're not gonna be enough.

And so many people are kind of in that spot.

Mm-hmm. And it's like, you know what? I'm gonna help you get over that first little hurdle. I went back to my military background. I really thought about how I had gotten over my hurdles and what the, the warrior concept is all about is I, I talked a little bit earlier about that, that mean little voice.

You know that one that's like, you're not ready yet. We listen to that. But we also have this other little voice that's inside of us that's like, Hey, you know what? I can. I wanna do this. We don't listen to that one enough. And so I started to do a bunch of research because I'm a nerd into neuroscience and like how can we combat that mean little voice?

And so what I call it [00:21:00] is my warrior, and it's my warrior that's really able to counterpoint that mean little voice. And so the book is really about number one, understanding where that mean little voice comes from recognizing it and then creating a counterpoint. It's based on actually like, on positive thinking in order to counteract that.

So instead of just saying, well, I'm gonna just try to fix the, you know, the, the imposter syndrome, the, the self-doubt, what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to get in front of that. I'm trying to get in front of it so that even if it does show up that. Hey, you know what? I have that counterpoint. We're just gonna silence that.

It's gonna go away, and we're gonna come out more on a positive side on the other end.

Scott Maderer: And one of the ways I've framed it for people is it's not really about quote, getting rid of that voice, uh, because I don't think you ever can. Instead it's learning to dance with it it's, it's learning to recognize it and go, oh.

That's showing up [00:22:00] again. And I like to remind people too, that I think it's in there because it's trying to protect us. You know, it's not, it's not evil, it's not mean. I mean, I we used the word mean, but it's not it's negative because it's kind of like when you know you wanna do something crazy.

I'm sure back when you said, I want to join the Navy, that there were people in your life who cared about you, who went, are you sure that's the right thing?

Jenn Donahue: Yeah.

Scott Maderer: You know

Jenn Donahue: that's true

Scott Maderer: and it was coming from a caring place, but you know, you, you still have to be able to look at 'em and go, no, actually this is the right thing.

Yeah,

Jenn Donahue: I, I really do believe that the, I call it the mean little voice. I really do believe that it is trying to keep you safe.

Scott Maderer: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Donahue: Um, in

Scott Maderer: the wrong way.

Jenn Donahue: In the wrong way. It's like it's not letting you grow or it's not letting you experience new things, because what if something happens and, and you get your feelings hurt or.

Or it doesn't go well. You know, it's just [00:23:00] trying to keep you safe from those types of things. But again, like you said, it's, it's in the wrong way. It's, it's, it's keeping you stagnant. It's keeping you at your status quo.

And here's, here's another thing that I, I love, and I've, I learned this from my, my friend Chris Kelso.

Is that he started to go back through his life and catalog all the times that he heard that imposter and he decided to push through. And what he realized is that every time he heard that he had major success on the other end. And so for him now, he says he honestly gives giddy when he started to hear that mean little voice because he is like, oh.

I'm onto something like there's like greatness on the other side of this. So, so for him, he has a really different way of thinking about that little voice that's trying to hold you back. He's like, no, I'm excited about this. Mm-hmm. So it's, it's kind of like, where are you in the spectrum of, of feeling about, you know, these voices that are hanging out in your head?

Scott Maderer: Well, and, and neurobiologically. Mm-hmm. You know, if you, if in a [00:24:00] way, first off, the inner voice is hijacking the same, the same system. That is the system that if there's, if the bushes are moving in the dark, that might be a threat. That might be a, a predator. So I need to go into hyper alertness and protect myself.

So it's hijacking that same system, but it's about embarrassment, you know, and it's about social things. And then the second part of that is. Neurobiologically, like fear and excitement, are they actually the same exact chemicals in our brain? They're, it's just literally, what do we label it, you know, internally?

Do we call that being afraid or do we call that being excited? But it's the same feeling in terms of the biology of it.

Jenn Donahue: Oh, I love this. This is such a great conversation. This is such fun.

Scott Maderer: And he labels it. Hey, I'm excited. That's why I've never had a fear of public speaking. And I tell people, that's why I've just always called it I'm excited to get on the stage.

Jenn Donahue: Me too.

Scott Maderer: [00:25:00] And internally I label it that way. And so that's what I'm feeling, you know, even though it's really probably the same feeling that other people have that they call fear. But you can relabel it in a way too. So in the book you lay out. Uh, some frameworks and some ideas for folks. And one of 'em is the Warrior Framework.

Talk a little bit about that and you know, what, what are the steps? Okay. It goes back to my military training and in the military we, we have these rules of engagement. So think about like you're sitting at a, at a base, you're sitting on the gate. And you see somebody coming. So first off, you have to perceive.

Jenn Donahue: That somebody is coming. So that's the very first step, and it's basically situational awareness and how we think about that in our brain is actually thinking about our thoughts. Is this thought rational? Is it not? So just thinking [00:26:00] about our thoughts and perceiving that there's something there. That's always the very first part in the military, and it's now also in the Warrior framework.

The next piece of that is to assess. So, you know, this person is coming at you. Is it a friend or is it a foe? And so we start to unpack those thoughts. Is it fear like you were just talking about, or am I excited about it? We need to really look at, is this a rational thought, is it not? And going through and kind of asking ourselves.

Why are we thinking this? Is it because we're afraid of failing? Is it because we might have a fear of success? Or do we just, you know, have just a bunch of self-doubt and kind of going through all of that and really unpacking why we have that. So that's the assess piece of it. So we have perceive, we have assess, and then we have ready.

So this person or car, whatever, it keeps coming towards your gate. In the military, we have all different types of things that we can do. We can shoot off flares, we [00:27:00] can use hand signals, we can do all kinds of, we can yell, stop, you know, to try to get the person to stop coming at us. So that's the ready phase.

Now when we're talking about in our brains, this is where we engage our warrior, this is where we say, Hey, you know what? We hear this thing, it's not right. We need to get this warrior ready. And I have a whole bunch of exercises in this to start to strengthen that other side of it. You know, that other, that other voice that says, Hey, you know what?

I wanna do this. I can do this. And it's really about going back and realizing all of the magnificent things that you've already done in your life. You, you might say, Hey, you know what? I'm not ready. Hey, you know what? Go find a piece of paper and write down every awesome thing that you've ever done. Look at that piece of paper.

Now, neurologically, whenever we start to do things by hand, it actually activates our brain to start to remember all those things, and we start to feel like, oh, I remember when I did this. And you start to have all those feelings that you had whenever you accomplished all [00:28:00] these things. If you do this kind of over and over again, you start to remap the neural pathways within your brain.

And so now your brain is starting to think more on the positive side than on the negative side. So if you do this over and over again, you're strengthening those neural pathways. That's what being ready is all about. And then the final piece is act Now. If the person keeps coming, then you know, obviously there's different ways that we can subdue them.

But in real life, when we're talking about our brains, it is just taking that first step. And I have a whole little framework that goes along with that as well to give you the ability to just take that first step. And to keep taking those steps. It's about celebrating tiny little wins. It's about thinking about your resources and, and who you have to help you along on that journey.

So it's about perceive, it's about assess, it's about ready, and then it's about acting.

Scott Maderer: Of those four steps, which ones do you think causes the most challenge for folks? [00:29:00]

Jenn Donahue: I think the ready part. A lot of times we can think about, oh, you know, I'm having imposter syndrome again, and they just kind of go on.

But I think it's really important that we need to have that counterpart to it so that we don't just keep going over and over and kind of spiral down. I want us to start to spiral up. And that ready piece, that was the part that I had a hard time with to try to figure out how do I, how do I pull myself out of this?

How do I be more positive? How can I look at this and like be like excited about it? So that I think is the part that's a really hard for some people to understand. And then like once they start to adopt it, like, oh yeah, I get it. This is working.

Scott Maderer: And what I find interesting too about these sorts of things is.

Because a lot of the pushback I've seen, and I'm, I'm interested in your take on it, is, you know, oh, this is just being Pollyanna. You're, you know, you're ignoring the reality of the situation and, and that sort of [00:30:00] thing. And I'm, I don't think that's really what you're saying. So talk, talk a little bit more about what you would say to the person that's thinking that right now.

Jenn Donahue: I would say try it. I've had several people go through the book. I actually do the exercises and come back and tell me that it worked. It actually worked for me. I was in a really dark place in my life and that's how I started to develop all of this. And I am so much better on the other side. But really it's social proof.

It's social proof of people actually doing, going through the exercises, calling me, emailing me, and telling me, Hey, you know what? You've just helped change my life.

Scott Maderer: So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests. Yeah. But before I ask you those, is there anything else about your journey, your message, or your book becoming the Warrior that you'd like to share with the listener?

Jenn Donahue: I'm just so excited that this is out there and I would really love if you [00:31:00] do pick up the book, please contact me and tell me your story. I love to hear people's stories. And it can be about, you know, where you are now. It can be about where you are at the end. I think all of that is very relevant. And you know what, I, I'll take all the emails all day long that I can get from people, but I love to hear, you know, how you are doing.

To me, that's, that's really, really important.

Scott Maderer: So my brand is inspired stewardship, and I kind of run things through that lens of stewardship, and yet I've discovered over the years that's one of those words that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So for you, when you hear the word stewardship, what does that word mean to you?

Jenn Donahue: Pretty much the opposite of the way I started out being an officer. So, you know, stewardship is really about how do you help others? How do you help them become great? What can you do in your life that might be a [00:32:00] sacrifice of time or, or whatever it might be to just help others? To me, that's what it's really all about.

You know, I think about my own life and I think about the people that are around me. And I'm always trying to think about how can I help them get to the next rung? How can I help them get promoted to the next rank? How can I help them just figure out how to do their taxes? I'm not really a tax person, but I know who I can contact, but I'm always trying to think about what is it that I can do for others that'll help make them great.

Or even just a little bit better. To me, that's what stewardship is all about. I tell every single one of my officers now, or whenever I was still in the military, it's like once you become a leader, it is no longer about you. It is about your team. So stop trying to get to that next position, that next rank.

No, as an officer, it's not about you anymore. It is about your team. To me, that's really what stewardship is all about. [00:33:00]

Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. Imagine for a minute, Jen, that I invented this magic machine, and with this machine I was able to take you from where you are today and transport you into the future, maybe 150, maybe 250 years.

And through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life, see all of the connections, all of the ripples, all of the impacts you've left. What impact do you hope you've had in the world?

Jenn Donahue: I like to think about things on a day-to-day basis, and I like to think if I could help just one person. So every keynote I do, every workshop I do is like, I just wanna help one person. And if I could take and somehow look back at my life and look at all the one people that I've, you know, helped along the way and seeing what they do and seeing the effect that they have maybe on others.

I think that that would be amazing [00:34:00] if I could somehow map that out. You know, maybe in another 120 years you'd be able to do something like that. But look at every little one person that you've been able to help and the good that they've done in their life.

Scott Maderer: So what's on the roadmap? What's on next as you continue on your journey?

Jenn Donahue: I, you know, just keep going. I'm always trying to reinvent myself in some way, you know, like I was a military officer. I owned, I still own a business. I am a researcher. I just authored a book. I'm doing keynotes. I'm like, wow. What else is there? Um, I'm gonna try to do a TED Talk. Maybe gonna do an online course where I can have people actually come to the course.

And I, um, I, so I did teach at uc, Berkeley and UCLA for almost like five semesters. And I love teaching. So maybe I do some type of online leadership class. I don't know. You know what, the future's great. There's all of these things that, that can be done. You know, it's just trying to find the right time, trying to fit 'em all in, [00:35:00] make sure that it's the right time in the right place.

But wow, like there is so much in the future that can be done. So right now it's just like, hey let's, let's get through this year. The book just came out. Uh, I've got several speaking engagements, so let's get through that and then start planning for 2027.

Scott Maderer: So you can find out more about Jen Donahue over@jendonahue.com.

Of course, I'll have a link to that over in the show notes as well in case you're driving or can't get ahold of it right now. Jen, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

Jenn Donahue: I would say, you know, one of the things that I like to tell everybody is go find what you love. Go find what you love.

You know, if you're in a place where it's like you just feel like, you know, this just isn't for me, but you're maybe afraid to try something new. If you are in that place, go find what you love. It'll make all [00:36:00] the difference in the world.[00:37:00]

Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live. Your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.

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