[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to In Fearless Conversation, a podcast from two-six-one fearless, where every discussion is an opportunity to shape the future.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, Kim Chafee, and together we'll explore any topic that impacts a woman's quality of life, from leadership and personal growth to health and financial security.
[SPEAKER_00]: Join me and discover how a fearless conversation can shape the future you deserve.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everyone, welcome back to InVirulous Conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad that you've joined us today because today's episode is something really, really special.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've been following along on our social media channels and I hope that you have, you probably saw some of the amazing moments from our club director Summit in New York City.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, we are bringing you right into the room where all the magic happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're about to hear the unforgettable pep talk from none other than Katherine Switzer and Edith Zuschman, two of our powerhouse leaders who absolutely lit up the summit with inspiration and laughter and some serious leadership wisdom.
[SPEAKER_00]: So whether you're running a club or maybe you're running towards some other kind of goal in your life or your personal life or your work life, whatever it might be, this conversation is packed with so much energy and encouragement and so many gems.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to want to play it over and over again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I won't make you wait any longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's dive in.
[SPEAKER_05]: So welcome to our afternoon session.
[SPEAKER_05]: And we have a special guest.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm happy to be here.
[SPEAKER_05]: Thank you for having me.
[SPEAKER_05]: So Catherine, great that you made it.
[SPEAKER_05]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_05]: Into the city.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, thank you.
[SPEAKER_05]: And for inviting me.
[SPEAKER_03]: Happy birthday.
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, the two of us, we're gonna talk a little bit.
[SPEAKER_05]: I know.
[SPEAKER_05]: And share some of our stories, our leadership stories, but also some personal stories with you, our adventures.
[UNKNOWN]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_05]: I would dream like the theme we had today in the Palatown class.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, why do we want to do this path talk with you?
[SPEAKER_05]: As I said,
[SPEAKER_05]: just a second ago.
[SPEAKER_05]: And we want to share also how it is for us, the co-founders of two six one fearless.
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, I'm working very closely with you.
[SPEAKER_05]: Some of you also work closely with Catherine, but some of you have just met her.
[SPEAKER_05]: In our go, so we are really happy to share and as you shared your expectations for this summit with us this morning, like learning, connecting, getting inspiration, sisterhood, and also helping you in your growth and on your journey.
[SPEAKER_05]: So yeah, let's kick it off.
[SPEAKER_05]: We're gonna do the pack talk this way.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm gonna kick it off and ask Katherine a few questions.
[SPEAKER_05]: She will then ask me back and forth.
[SPEAKER_05]: But at the end, we will also, or we want to open the group and the audience for your questions.
[SPEAKER_05]: So also, please don't hold back.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm looking forward to them.
[SPEAKER_05]: But Catherine, let's kick it off.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think we should share a little bit of our personal leadership stories with this amazing leadership crew.
[SPEAKER_05]: So my first question to you, the cast.
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, you're a legend.
[SPEAKER_05]: And your journey has started as an athlete.
[SPEAKER_05]: And then you became this incredible activist as well as an inspiring leader.
[SPEAKER_05]: So can you share with us a little bit of this journey?
[SPEAKER_05]: Keep points, whatever.
[SPEAKER_03]: Please.
[SPEAKER_03]: First of all, I want to say how wonderful it is to see and to welcome you so much and to have me here.
[SPEAKER_03]: You're doing such a fantastic job and I am so proud of each and every one of you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Really, really, really, it's great to see you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: Look, I don't have to tell the Boston Marathon story.
[SPEAKER_03]: Everybody knows that story.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: But here's the point.
[SPEAKER_03]: The point is, is that that was a changing point in my life.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's one thing we call our fearless moment.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, the moment you say, okay, now, what am I going to do?
[SPEAKER_03]: Am I going to quit?
[SPEAKER_03]: Or am I going to finish?
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm going to finish.
[SPEAKER_03]: I was determined to finish.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that made all the difference in the world.
[SPEAKER_03]: So when you talk about my life and in terms of what
[SPEAKER_03]: how that that that that made me an activist or that made me an athlete or that made me a good strong business woman.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was that moment that gave me the focus because I knew then that I could do anything and and I knew that it wasn't going to be easy.
[SPEAKER_03]: But as my dad said to me when I first started running and I ran my first mile live so excited.
[SPEAKER_03]: I said, yeah, I did it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I did it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I ran a mile and he said, great, honey, you said, now you do it every day.
[SPEAKER_03]: So actually, I would like to say that I think that a lot of my success and that my hard work and my capacity for business came from running.
[SPEAKER_03]: Running itself.
[SPEAKER_03]: Look, you have a goal and you have a focus.
[SPEAKER_03]: You make a plan.
[SPEAKER_03]: and you get out the door and get your shoes on, and you are consistent.
[SPEAKER_03]: And those are the secrets of business, and those are the secrets of creating a good organization, and you all know that.
[SPEAKER_03]: And anytime you don't know that, or you're losing your way, just think, if I'm going to run a race, or if I'm going to put together a program for myself, or I'm going to get fit, I've got to get my shoes on, and I've got to get out the door.
[SPEAKER_03]: I've got to get moving.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's quite simple that way, though to be an activist,
[SPEAKER_03]: Also meant I had to really do my homework.
[SPEAKER_03]: You can stand on a soapbox and scream, or you can get down and get some work done.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's the only way to really have to change only happens when you do the hard work in the homework.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I didn't like the idea that I had to go to all these meetings and learn the rules.
[SPEAKER_03]: But if you're going to tell me that it's against the rules, I've got to figure out how to change the rules.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you can't just say, we're going to change the rules.
[SPEAKER_03]: OK, you've got to work in the system because of system.
[SPEAKER_03]: exists, whether it's right or wrong, you've got to figure out how to make it right and work for everybody.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that's what I had to do.
[SPEAKER_03]: The other thing I had to do, I say unfortunately, but actually that played into my hands as well, is I had to become a good athlete.
[SPEAKER_03]: And because there were a lot of people in the world of running who didn't take seriously simply because I wasn't a good runner, I was just a jogger, okay?
[SPEAKER_03]: That didn't count, all right?
[SPEAKER_03]: People like Jock's simple.
[SPEAKER_03]: He tried to throw me out of the race.
[SPEAKER_03]: The only thing he understood was being an athlete.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I said, okay, I'm going to work hard to be an athlete.
[SPEAKER_03]: It took me a long time.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not a talented athlete at all, but I became a world class athlete.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I went from a four, twenty marathon to a two, fifty one and at the time, it was six best in the world and third in the world.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I figured, if I could do that, how many millions of other women could do it?
[SPEAKER_03]: If they only have the opportunity, not to be world class athletes, but to develop beyond what they ever felt they could do.
[SPEAKER_03]: and it was the opportunity then that really appealed to me.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that was the driving force.
[SPEAKER_03]: That set up my career to create opportunities for women.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I had no idea that it would morph into this incredible nonprofit, two, six, one fearless of women like you out there creating that opportunity and believing in the empowerment and making it happen.
[SPEAKER_03]: In places we never thought we could ever be.
[SPEAKER_03]: The reason, by the way, I think today is so important and I'm going to ask you also either why it's so important.
[SPEAKER_03]: The reason I think that this is so important for me is that
[SPEAKER_03]: We're offering you the opportunity to make those changes.
[SPEAKER_03]: We're not a big corporation.
[SPEAKER_03]: We're not going to pay you a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year.
[SPEAKER_03]: But you're going to see opportunities for creating work and events and systems that will become profitable or you can work with people who are sponsors or you can work with, you know,
[SPEAKER_03]: different kinds of committees and agencies.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is going to open many, many doors for you.
[SPEAKER_03]: And mostly, though, I hope, and I think that your heart's always going to be increasing that opportunity in that empowerment.
[SPEAKER_03]: So either, that's why I think today is really important.
[SPEAKER_03]: What do you think is why we're here today and why it's so important to have this opportunity to discuss you?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I want to kind of
[SPEAKER_05]: knit on where you actually just just ended the point to create opportunities and also what drives me as talking about personal stories because it's actually right twenty years that we met in Vietnam.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I'm not sure if you know the story, so I volunteered for the Austrian women's run, and I was assigned to the Catherine Striver.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I've never heard about this woman, her story, nothing.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I needed to educate myself, and then there she was.
[SPEAKER_05]: a normal woman.
[SPEAKER_05]: She helped me.
[SPEAKER_05]: Hey, who are you?
[SPEAKER_05]: And she went to know more about myself and then we went to the city of Vienna and I showed you the city and you were so inspiring with how you treated me, how you shared your story with me.
[SPEAKER_05]: It turned into a wonderful friendship.
[SPEAKER_05]: But also through our conversations, you became the inspiration for me that I've become a sports journalist.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it kind of also unwrapped my desires that I had since I was a child to work in sports.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so one thing, one break, we had this this morning building a break, one break turned into another break.
[SPEAKER_05]: And then there was this moment where
[SPEAKER_05]: I was so frustrated because I wanted to convince my girlfriends to show me for a run and they turned me always down.
[SPEAKER_05]: You had to fast you.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't need to share this with you.
[SPEAKER_05]: You have heard the many many times.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so also through our conversations.
[SPEAKER_05]: You gave me the opportunity to think about what can I do?
[SPEAKER_05]: And so the idea to create these women's only running groups, where it's not about time, distance, pace, performance, signing up for race, competing,
[SPEAKER_05]: just the community where we are together, having fun, also sharing sisterhood and support, and then your inspiring story about the Boston Marathon and your fifth number, just combining that and getting the opportunity to create that that's something incredible.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I'm so grateful that I had this opportunity in my life.
[SPEAKER_05]: and that it has turned out to where we are now.
[SPEAKER_05]: So this was in twenty twelve.
[SPEAKER_05]: So if I do the math right seven years after we met the very first time, and then starting small in my little city in Austria, and then again through arguing, we met in Amsterdam, in London, in my Yorker.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't know where we met to just figure out how can we bring this to women around the world.
[SPEAKER_05]: And now here we are, then use later with incredible and inspiring women.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I can just echo you giving opportunities.
[SPEAKER_05]: But at the end, everybody needs to start by herself or by themselves.
[SPEAKER_05]: So you started in Boston with your aim.
[SPEAKER_05]: Hey, I want to create these opportunities.
[SPEAKER_05]: I want to run marathons.
[SPEAKER_05]: I want to create change.
[SPEAKER_05]: And then
[SPEAKER_05]: all these milestones that led into the women's marathon being an Olympic discipline.
[SPEAKER_05]: And the women's running series and so on and so on.
[SPEAKER_05]: And until I caught this opportunity to start a two weeks one club and then forming and getting the opportunity to be part of an international organization that we co-founded.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so
[SPEAKER_05]: You need to take the opportunity.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's definitely one thing that I want to share with you.
[SPEAKER_05]: We get many offers, as you said, but you need to work them hard and take them from ground zero up to, I don't know, which level.
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's, it's them hard work, but it's always worth it if you burn for it.
[SPEAKER_05]: And if you take the opportunity, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, so my question.
[SPEAKER_05]: Out of your journey, incredible journey.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's been now, feels like.
[SPEAKER_05]: just two days, but because when you look how many years or ages, men have had the opportunity to participate in sports or actually create the sports field.
[SPEAKER_05]: And now seeing how short the time period is women are in sports.
[SPEAKER_05]: But what was one specific challenge you faced as a leader?
[SPEAKER_05]: you would like to share with us and what was your learning out of this?
[SPEAKER_03]: I think the biggest challenge I had was I knew that opportunity was everything and I knew women would show up if they had the opportunity and I knew once I had the opportunity that they would become empowered.
[SPEAKER_03]: But how was I going to create that opportunity?
[SPEAKER_03]: And in running, I mean, it was a male dominated sport and it was very athletic.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I wanted women to be able to participate in running because maybe they didn't want to be in Olympic athlete, but the idea of just going out the door and putting your shoes on and running, they would get a sense of empowerment and fitness.
[SPEAKER_03]: And also, you know what it's like.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's
[SPEAKER_03]: It's the moment we sort our problems out.
[SPEAKER_03]: We do our best thinking.
[SPEAKER_03]: We relax, we rejuvenate, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I wanted women to feel this way because they didn't have those opportunities.
[SPEAKER_03]: And they actually were afraid of running because of those days.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, it was considered a masculine sport that so they were afraid they would turn into men.
[SPEAKER_03]: Honestly, I'm not kidding you, but they did, okay, in short.
[SPEAKER_03]: And or something worse, you know, they're internal organs would fall out.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, or they would lose their womanliness, or their femininity, and for many women, that's all they've got.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I wanted them to have something else.
[SPEAKER_03]: I wanted them to keep their womanliness, their beauty, their whatever, but also feel really great about themselves.
[SPEAKER_03]: I decided I would create women's own events and make them feminine and make them attractive and make them non-competitive necessarily.
[SPEAKER_03]: But if you wanted to be good, you want to be competitively well on or that as well.
[SPEAKER_03]: And at any age or size whatever is welcome.
[SPEAKER_03]: And to do, even more appealingly, I decided we needed a feminine sponsor.
[SPEAKER_03]: And sponsorship was not thick on the ground in those days for any running event.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I decided I would take a company as a design model for myself.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I would write a proposal.
[SPEAKER_03]: for that particular company.
[SPEAKER_03]: And at that time, I chose Avon cosmetics.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was the world's largest cosmetics company.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I love this company because everybody's mom was an avon lady.
[SPEAKER_03]: They sold avon lipstick to their friends and neighbors and stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, you got to understand at the turn of the century, women were not allowed to work outside of the house.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_03]: They maybe could be a school teacher, but they weren't allowed to get a job.
[SPEAKER_03]: independently.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so they became independent sales representatives.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I said, well, what's cool about this is that they're participants.
[SPEAKER_03]: They're not spectators.
[SPEAKER_03]: OK.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what runners are.
[SPEAKER_03]: We're participants.
[SPEAKER_03]: We're not spectating anymore.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I said, OK, great.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is the right mindset for this company.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I sat down and I took a weekend away.
[SPEAKER_03]: By myself, I was supposed to write a book proposal.
[SPEAKER_03]: Double day had asked me to write a book.
[SPEAKER_03]: Um, and they said, um, we want you just as pre-gimpics and that doesn't mean anything to you guys, but as they said, um, we want you to book right a book on, uh, how to run book.
[SPEAKER_03]: I said, oh, nobody's going to buy a how to run.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I told them to kind of book, I've landed it right, which was like the fear of flying or women's running, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway.
[SPEAKER_03]: But anyway, so they said, look, we just give it some kind of proposal, please.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I went away to read the rest of the proposal.
[SPEAKER_03]: All I could think about was, I had met this executive from Abon, who was interested in meeting me and talking to me about what they're getting involved in women's sports, which is like asking me to open your Christmas present.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'd love to talk to you about that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, so I wrote the proposal for them and I wrote wrote wrote all weekend and then it got to be Sunday night and I had to come home again and get back to work and I realized I hadn't written book proposal at all.
[SPEAKER_03]: I knew I wasn't writing the book proposal but I wrote a hell of a proposal for this company.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's like forty pages long, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, I call the exact, and I said, hey, hey, I bet this proposal for you.
[SPEAKER_03]: I know you didn't really ask for it.
[SPEAKER_03]: You wanted just a couple of ideas, but I'd like to drop it off into your office.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was after work.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I went over to his office.
[SPEAKER_03]: I dropped it off and this was a big big thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I said, look, I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's an executive summary on the first page, but I just put body and soul into this because it needed to be written anyway for my own heart.
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, I'm going to stay up all night and read this proposal.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I said, thank you, Mr. Williams.
[SPEAKER_03]: I know you're not going to do that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, he said, thank you, Mr. Williams.
[SPEAKER_03]: I went into my office the next day.
[SPEAKER_03]: I got in early for some reason.
[SPEAKER_03]: I was always like, right at the pitch.
[SPEAKER_03]: Christian, so it wouldn't be late and out of breath and sweaty, but anyway, this time I got into about five minutes before nine.
[SPEAKER_03]: And the phone was ringing and I grabbed it.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was Mr. Williams.
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, I stayed up all night and read their proposal.
[SPEAKER_03]: He said, it's the best damn proposal I've ever seen.
[SPEAKER_03]: He said, we're probably never doing anything with women's running, but if you can write like that, we'd love you to work for our company.
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, and we're thinking about getting into women's sports.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we're thinking about getting into tennis.
[SPEAKER_03]: That was close enough for me.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was just that they were interested in women's sports.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's close to them.
[SPEAKER_03]: So once I got there, of course, every week I'd go to my boss and say, come on, let's do something with women's run.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's just do one race.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, we did the one race.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, my God.
[SPEAKER_03]: All networks at night.
[SPEAKER_03]: There were three networks in the United States.
[SPEAKER_03]: ABC, CBS and NBC.
[SPEAKER_03]: We were on all of them.
[SPEAKER_03]: We were on the front page of the New York Times.
[SPEAKER_03]: The major spread of sports illustrated.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was a slam dunk.
[SPEAKER_03]: If he said, get off that
[SPEAKER_03]: And so we launched this program globally and pretty soon, you know, we were in a lot of countries with the aim of getting the women's marathon in Olympic games.
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I was told by my many committee meetings, if you want to be in the Olympics, you have to have twenty four countries and three continents.
[SPEAKER_03]: And after three or four years of the program, we pulled off the biggest race ever a women's only marathon in London in the downtown streets of London the year before the London marathon, we closed those streets.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we had twenty seven countries and five continents.
[SPEAKER_03]: So when we presented the data to the International Olympic Committee, they had to vote the one that's marathon into the Olympic Games.
[SPEAKER_03]: And they were excited about it because I told them in Los Angeles, are you kidding?
[SPEAKER_03]: This is going to be unbelievable.
[SPEAKER_03]: By the way, watch out for twenty twenty eight.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I got big things are going to be happening anyway.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it was, it was an amazing, amazing program.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's, you know, from that is when I learned what the empowerment was all about that these women of all ages and sizes really could participate.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's so important
[SPEAKER_03]: Now that we understand that kind of empowerment thing, I just want to circle back to kind of what we had at the beginning here a little bit.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a really difficult time.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not going to get into this much, but very difficult not time right now globally for women.
[SPEAKER_03]: And the political situation around the world is not good.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so more than ever, we need to give women the sense that they are a matter
[SPEAKER_03]: that they have a voice, that they have the personal strength, they have a personal empowerment.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you know, we're not going to be defeated, we're here to stay.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's another reason to me why women in a confusing time, once can get out on the road and just like run and sort things out in that one mind.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's very, very, very important.
[SPEAKER_03]: But anyway, that was a very courageous moment, I think, for me.
[SPEAKER_03]: By the way, the exec called me the next day and said, how much would it take to get you to come work for us after you read the proposal?
[SPEAKER_03]: And I thought he was joking.
[SPEAKER_03]: I thought he was just kind of cheat teasing me, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: I was making the grand, so I'm a thirteen thousand dollars a year.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I said, thirty.
[SPEAKER_03]: He said, that wouldn't be a problem.
[SPEAKER_03]: That wouldn't be a problem.
[SPEAKER_03]: Remember this.
[SPEAKER_03]: You ask for what you're worth.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_03]: Ask for what you're worth.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you won't always get it, but that'll take you seriously.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you know what you're worth.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that was a really, really important moment for me.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I learned a lot from that.
[SPEAKER_03]: So did you when you, when you asked for a couple of sponsorships?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: He just said to one sponsor, she gave him the fee and thinking Catherine did it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to ask for it.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then if you got it.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it worked.
[SPEAKER_03]: Not always, but it could be seriously.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: OK.
[SPEAKER_03]: Good term.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I've got to ask you a question.
[SPEAKER_03]: So all right.
[SPEAKER_03]: So what is your one specific challenge as a leader and what did you learn from it?
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, the biggest one.
[SPEAKER_05]: The biggest one, actually, again, what you just said, we're living in difficult times.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so with two six one, it's always to kind of go to the women and still convince them that they are capable to do it.
[SPEAKER_05]: And this constantly reaching out and helping them to believe in themselves.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think that's always a challenge and you probably know this as well.
[SPEAKER_05]: Within your club, is it about looking for a new coach or, yeah,
[SPEAKER_05]: reaching out to your potential members.
[SPEAKER_05]: But for me, it is like, just last week, I did a pop-up session and it was from a small group of women who want to create a group in their village.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I said, yeah, so it's about finding three women.
[SPEAKER_05]: There were two, so you find the third one.
[SPEAKER_05]: and go through our education program, and they both were excited, but we have been looking for a third, one, quite for a while, but it's so difficult for us to identify those women who might follow us and become leaders.
[SPEAKER_05]: They all show first excitement, and then they're gone.
[SPEAKER_05]: And perhaps you remember what we share with you at train the trainer.
[SPEAKER_05]: So you have, let's say, a hundred percent of the group are women, but there are only six percent who are really role models and want to take on this responsibility.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so identifying out of one hundred percent, six percent is
[SPEAKER_05]: quite a challenge.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's not about criticizing the rest of the ninety-four percent, but we need those creators to shake and move the rest and get new women out of the ninety-four percent to identify out of them against six percent who want to step up.
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's a constant, constant,
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, work convincing conversation and you feel like, okay, I got to the top.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, two steps back.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I feel especially nowadays, it's not just two steps.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's sometimes four or five steps.
[SPEAKER_05]: But having this endurance and disbelief, I think that's so important.
[SPEAKER_05]: having this passion for what I do, what we do with two, six, one is so crucial because otherwise you just stay at this point where you took five steps back and think, I'm tired and don't move anymore.
[SPEAKER_05]: But just to say, okay, it's worth it.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's so super important.
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's a challenge, but it's also great opportunity.
[SPEAKER_05]: because this small group creates a ripple effect that moves and shakes the other.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think we should never forget that.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's not, as I said, it's not about criticizing them or judging on them.
[SPEAKER_05]: It is just a fact because they live in an environment where it's not possible or they grow up in a society where they were kind of told every day, every minute, every hour, you're not good enough and so on.
[SPEAKER_05]: I myself, I grow up in a small village and I still remember when I was seventeen years old.
[SPEAKER_05]: My mother told me you are not allowed to run in the village.
[SPEAKER_05]: You need to walk out of the village and when you are far away, when nobody sees you, you can start running.
[SPEAKER_05]: And this is thirty years ago.
[SPEAKER_05]: So this was thirty years ago.
[SPEAKER_05]: So this was just yesterday.
[SPEAKER_05]: And when you grow up in such an environment, it's often very hard to kind of be driven by creating change.
[SPEAKER_05]: You often need much more inspiration, much more support, much more hand-holding.
[SPEAKER_05]: Till you get to the point.
[SPEAKER_05]: And then perhaps you meet a guy and he comes also from this social environment, how can you break out?
[SPEAKER_05]: And therefore running is such an amazing tool, sports itself, to give the confidence to women that they can change something.
[SPEAKER_05]: And even it's just a little bit of where they live in.
[SPEAKER_05]: And you met our Afghan women last year in Vienna.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, I mean, they only have this tiny little space, but if it's just moving a little bit, it's huge for them.
[SPEAKER_05]: And they feel the ownership, and I think this is also something we need to honor, and I need to remind myself every day as well, to honor those tiny little moves.
[SPEAKER_05]: Because for them, it's a big, big move.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, looking through their eyes, I think it's also something
[SPEAKER_05]: I needed to learn, and I hope you have had also the experience to say, just the little step for somebody, where I think, oh, this is easy for me, sometimes a huge huge step for somebody else.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's creating a completely new situation.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so being a leader and recognizing that and observing that is incredible.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's also important to honor that and celebrate them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, real quick.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this conversation is lighting a fire in you and you're thinking, I want to bring this kind of energy to my own community.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then listen up.
[SPEAKER_00]: On Jill Live first.
[SPEAKER_00]: To six-month fearless is hosting a club director info session, where you can get all your questions answered about what it's like to be a club director and what it takes to be a club director.
[SPEAKER_00]: This could be your moment to step up and leave.
[SPEAKER_00]: Becoming a club director means you get to create a local space where women can move, grow, and connect, fearlessly.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not about being the fastest or the fittest.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about building a supportive uplifting community through movement and empowering women to step into their power and thrive.
[SPEAKER_00]: If that sounds like your kind of leadership, then head over to two six one fearless.org, click on the club director tab at the top of the page and you'll find everything you need to join the info session.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, that's two six one fearless.org.
[SPEAKER_00]: club director tab?
[SPEAKER_00]: July first.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'd love to see you there and help you bring to six one to your corner of the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, back to the episode.
[UNKNOWN]: I want you to talk about now because this is also
[SPEAKER_05]: you are in this situation as well.
[SPEAKER_05]: So we ask our leaders, yeah, create a team of three at least.
[SPEAKER_05]: So we had the great slogan or we created the clay, great slogan, the power three.
[SPEAKER_05]: So three angels for Charlie and so on.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so who first comes into mind?
[SPEAKER_05]: Somebody who's close to your friend
[SPEAKER_05]: or partner and so on.
[SPEAKER_05]: So actually when you go into then a new situation, which is a business situation with them, we also have like this friendship, private relationship, and also the business relationship.
[SPEAKER_05]: And this is also something Catherine and I have because as I said, we met, we became friends.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so it's quite a challenge.
[SPEAKER_05]: to have like several heads or relationships and you'll also probably have that.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I would like to talk with you and also let me share with our club director, how it is for us to have on the one end this wonderful friendship.
[SPEAKER_05]: And on the other end, our business relationship.
[SPEAKER_03]: I would like to tell, naturally we have different versions of the story.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I also want to talk about one more thing about leadership leading into this story, leading into the friendship.
[SPEAKER_03]: So we were friends from our time in Austria, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_03]: And Edith came up with the idea of doing the two, six, one as it is now.
[SPEAKER_03]: How we could change the world with the power of that number and I kind of dismissed it at the time.
[SPEAKER_03]: We were at a press conference in Austria.
[SPEAKER_03]: Press conference was over.
[SPEAKER_03]: I went back to my hotel.
[SPEAKER_03]: She drove all the way back to Klagenfort and then called me at my hotel.
[SPEAKER_03]: Seven o'clock in the morning and proceeded to tell me exactly how we could set this up globally.
[SPEAKER_03]: I said, forget about it.
[SPEAKER_03]: Forget about it.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's never going to happen.
[SPEAKER_03]: Forget about it.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's never going to happen.
[SPEAKER_03]: She said, yes, yes, yes, yes.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, anyway, one thing led to the other, and we decided we would give it a shot.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we went to the executive of Girls on the Run, Downing Charlottom, and asked them, how do you create a nonprofit like this?
[SPEAKER_03]: I traded out a whole bunch of speeches for them, and they gave us a three day weekend, and they were really good.
[SPEAKER_03]: in the power point.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we had no experience in non-profit world whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_03]: So we sat there and we went through this whole drill.
[SPEAKER_03]: and she was smiling like crazy and I was ringing my hands.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then that night, then after was all over, the next day we had rented a room.
[SPEAKER_03]: You had rented a really nice room at the local university with the white board and PowerPoint and all that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we were going to try to figure out how to do this.
[SPEAKER_03]: I was up all night pacing my room because I said, I'm sixty five years old.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I am too old for another revolution.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I don't want to do this.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is going to mess up my whole life.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm going to have to throw myself into it.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I'm going to have to announce the next morning that I
[SPEAKER_03]: with all due respect and stepping back.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so there we were with with horse and Chris and you and me and the white board and everything and they say okay let's get going with the planning and I said okay well first I've got an announcement and that is that I don't want to do this.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't want to be in charge.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll be in a support role, whatever, but I honestly, you know, I'm too old for another revolution.
[SPEAKER_03]: I really don't want to do it.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I have a lot of things I want to do with my life and this is not one of them.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so we sat there like this and eat it, got up.
[SPEAKER_03]: got the marker and went to the whiteboard and said, okay, let's start out landing this thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: And they ignored me.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I said, you know what, that's leadership.
[SPEAKER_03]: It is.
[SPEAKER_03]: She control of the situation.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think to my credit, I accepted that.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just, I didn't want to go there.
[SPEAKER_03]: She did, she's probably right, and she took charge.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that was really, really very eye-opening from it.
[SPEAKER_03]: You just said, okay, wash this.
[SPEAKER_03]: And of course, the planning began.
[SPEAKER_03]: And boy, it was really, really hard.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I said, you know, I wasn't involved.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hell, I haven't worked so hard in my whole life.
[SPEAKER_03]: But anyway, it was really quite an astonishing, astonishing thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I wanted to talk about that as a thing that this, you know, definitely important to my being a leader was recognizing that other people
[SPEAKER_03]: could be better leaders.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then of course, what we decided is that we're very good friends.
[SPEAKER_03]: And a, yeah, we do are a lot, but basically she's in charge.
[SPEAKER_03]: We named her the CEO.
[SPEAKER_03]: She's the CEO.
[SPEAKER_03]: And basically we put friendship over here.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we put this and so over here.
[SPEAKER_03]: We argue a little bit in between, but basically I think what you, if you guys are having this problem also, you know, with friendship and then, and then being the boss or whatever.
[SPEAKER_03]: you lay it on the table and that your friends.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that friendship is not going to be jeopardized.
[SPEAKER_03]: We may disagree, we may be young, slammer door or whatever, but the friendship is there and the trust is there.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think in my core, that's the most important thing is I may argue with you, but I always trust you.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you wouldn't fight so hard if you didn't believe in what you're doing.
[SPEAKER_03]: And how wrong can you be?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: See, I mean, really, how wrong can you be?
[SPEAKER_03]: How wrong can she be?
[SPEAKER_03]: She's not going to be that wrong.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I think, you know, when you are working with friends and you're having a disagreement, you say, okay, look, we're going to be friends, no matter what, we're going to keep that and we may disagree, but we're going to sort that part out.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think also to add here is to bring it to the table to talk about it.
[SPEAKER_05]: Don't leave it as the white elephant in the room.
[SPEAKER_05]: You're not just talking it out and be very clear to say, OK, now let's, let's argue over this, but also understand the respect you bring towards this person.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I mean, respect is the biggest thing, even if you do not agree on something.
[SPEAKER_05]: And as you said, I mean, there is this little gray area where we do not agree, which is okay because this brings new perspective to the table.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it helps each of us to learn from each other.
[SPEAKER_05]: I've learned so much from you.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I hope you also could take something away from what I brought to the table.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so having this gray area is a gift, that's a wonderful gift because it just creates new opportunities.
[SPEAKER_05]: And also, I mean, what you always say, having facing a challenge or facing a problem, turning this into an opportunity is exactly this gray area where you're facing like, okay, hmm.
[SPEAKER_05]: You have to stand, but point of view, I have this one, okay, okay, how can we meet each other where we actually lift us up to the next level?
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think when you know somebody also privately and understand how this person takes,
[SPEAKER_05]: It can be hard, but it can be also easier because you find an easier way to communicate.
[SPEAKER_05]: But it's really, really important and I've learned this so much through our friendship but also our business partnership to just understand, okay, what's the role in now?
[SPEAKER_05]: is so important.
[SPEAKER_05]: So that we don't argue over a beautiful dinner.
[SPEAKER_05]: We are having a new fall, so we're in New Zealand, about some business issues, that we just changed the room.
[SPEAKER_05]: We walk into another room where we are on a Zoom or whatever, and this is about business.
[SPEAKER_05]: And then we switch off, we move to the next room, and this is where we have our private conversations.
[SPEAKER_05]: So hopefully this is also something we can
[SPEAKER_05]: give you on your journey because you will always have especially when you're in sports and running, where are you hardest that you are working with friends or people who are very close with you.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I want to come back to how important the trust is.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I have to trust you because also I'm older and she's she's in a different generation and understands a whole lot of things that I don't I never grew up with I never understood, you know, like social media.
[SPEAKER_03]: or a lot of technical things or how the world communicates.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's completely different from the way my world communicates.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that trust with she makes a judgment call on some other right there between your legs.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
[SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, so really, you've got to trust somebody and find that trust in that friendship and express that to each other so that you can call on each other in need.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think Edith knows, you know, in her personal life or business life that she's in a crisis, she can come to me.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I know why.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I do the same thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah, absolutely great.
[SPEAKER_05]: Good, good.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, we have actually two more little sections.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, we prepared five key words and I'm gonna start off with you, Katherine, in very brave to share with us, you or why?
[SPEAKER_03]: My wife's opportunity.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you give a person, but a woman, especially the opportunity, it'll change her life.
[SPEAKER_03]: I should take the opportunity and go.
[SPEAKER_03]: What about you?
[SPEAKER_03]: What you're saying?
[SPEAKER_05]: My wife is just living my passion.
[SPEAKER_05]: Ah, that's interesting.
[SPEAKER_05]: Because this drives me, this gives me always the fire to move on even in the hottest hour.
[SPEAKER_05]: We've said the same thing actually.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, in took a language.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, building courage.
[SPEAKER_03]: We'll talk about that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: Be fearless about small steps, make big change.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I think feeling the courage makes your life.
[SPEAKER_05]: And we all have the moments where we are fearful, but Juliet brought it so nicely up, a quote, face to fear and do it anyway.
[SPEAKER_05]: So the fear is something that helps us to understand, okay, there is a challenge, and just if you burn for it, and here we are at the Y, if you believe in that, if you burn for that, you always, you always come the fear like you did in Boston.
[SPEAKER_03]: So you say, feel the fear and do it anyway.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm gonna say the same thing in a different way.
[SPEAKER_03]: I was just saying, you're like, put on your shoes and go out the door.
[SPEAKER_03]: You need to put them on.
[SPEAKER_03]: Get out there.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, the weather is not always nice.
[SPEAKER_05]: So put on your shoes and get out of the door.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[UNKNOWN]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_05]: Network.
[SPEAKER_03]: Network.
[SPEAKER_05]: Network.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_05]: What comes into your mind when we talk about network and leadership?
[SPEAKER_03]: are two kinds of networks.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think there's a business network and the business network are sponsors, media, and those kinds of networks that you know, you know them better than you think you know them.
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you don't know them, you know put on your shoes, go out and do on column.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that's important.
[SPEAKER_03]: The other network though, I think this really important is is every woman you touch is a network.
[SPEAKER_03]: She knows somebody, they know somebody, but she is a font of information.
[SPEAKER_03]: And she may not tell you until you ask her.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: What about you?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, great.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I would like to add, never underestimate your network.
[SPEAKER_05]: Often we women tend to, I don't know anybody.
[SPEAKER_05]: Believe me, just having this picture and on the flight here to New York, I started a movie about three women who are roommates, and they always sit at Diabalconi in the evening.
[SPEAKER_05]: And they think they don't know the world, but actually they know the whole world, because to see everything from their balcony, and they make connections through their balcony, they have their balcony friends.
[SPEAKER_05]: So this is powerful, never underestimate that.
[SPEAKER_05]: And also what I've learned
[SPEAKER_05]: It is so super important to not only build your business network.
[SPEAKER_05]: When you're so much in your business, never, or never underestimate and never under merge your private network.
[SPEAKER_05]: Because this is there for you when you have those really bad hours and they have your back.
[SPEAKER_05]: So even when you work hard and when you grade your career, never forget your friends, your family.
[SPEAKER_05]: You don't need to have hundreds of friends.
[SPEAKER_05]: Forget your Facebook and Instagram followers.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's really the personal connection and to keep them in your heart and also be there for them.
[SPEAKER_05]: They will then be there for you as well in those dark girls.
[SPEAKER_05]: Good.
[SPEAKER_05]: How about failure and growth, right?
[SPEAKER_05]: Failures.
[SPEAKER_05]: When I was like, why don't I go first?
[SPEAKER_05]: You go first.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, you go.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm supposed to come after you, anyway.
[SPEAKER_03]: Sorry.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
[SPEAKER_03]: I love that question as how do you make the most out of your failures?
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, my whole life has been like a failure thing and then turning it into a positive thing because first of all, every negative in the world has a solution.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, and the solution almost always will not only answer, it could become a business, it could become a nonprofit, it could be a huge opportunity, it could change people's lives, just finding that change.
[SPEAKER_03]: Certainly, that whole thing of the Boston Marathon, when I was, after the attack, and I was upset in those furious, I'm a lot about twenty-three miles.
[SPEAKER_03]: I had, I got, and I'm ashamed to say this, I've gotten about mile twenty, I've got really mad at other women, I said, why aren't other women?
[SPEAKER_03]: They're missing out.
[SPEAKER_03]: Why don't they have the guts to put one foot in front of the other and try things, and then it was like duh.
[SPEAKER_03]: They haven't had the encouragement that I'd had, you know, a father who encouraged me to run and teammates and the guy at Syracuse University who coached me and everything.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I suddenly realized, hey, all I need is the opportunity.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that was the inspiration for everything else that happened in my life was just to create that opportunity.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's my advice is that when a negative thing happens, what is the solution to this?
[SPEAKER_03]: And what can we do to make that better?
[SPEAKER_03]: And then that becomes the reason.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's true.
[SPEAKER_03]: So what about you?
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, when I was here, failure was like the end of the world.
[SPEAKER_05]: but actually I've learned it's the beginning.
[SPEAKER_05]: Failure is a gift because it just helps you to grow and change things because it just shows you there is something wrong in the machine or there's sand in the machine and how yeah how to get that out.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's a gift.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's really a gift, and we shouldn't be anxious to fail.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's just the next step, which we are kind of jumping on.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so, yeah.
[SPEAKER_05]: You're right.
[SPEAKER_05]: Just felt in love with it.
[SPEAKER_03]: When you have a failure, of course.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I think you allowed ten minutes to go put your head under a pillow and cry.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's something like that, but you're right.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's the biggest growth.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I've learned more from my failures than from always.
[SPEAKER_03]: Always.
[SPEAKER_05]: And there is always this belief.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, I need to succeed.
[SPEAKER_05]: I need to succeed.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, we want to succeed.
[SPEAKER_05]: But success only comes when you fail.
[SPEAKER_05]: many, many times before.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so the biggest athletes are those who had many mis successes or didn't succeed before.
[SPEAKER_05]: And then they have to break through because if you kind of humble first into the fix success, then not succeeding is even harder and it can really rein your career.
[SPEAKER_05]: So kind of building up step by step, I think that's a gift.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's true.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's true.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's really interesting.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if you guys know this, but I'm massively annotating and archiving all my papers and stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: Sixty years of stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I cannot tell you how hard this is.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I just, I wanted one of the binders and that that picture is of me and in my work, okay, and this magazine says businesses like running a marathon.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was all these things we're talking about today.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's really, really true.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think that sometimes when you are trying to all your work and not just two, six, one, but all the other things you have to do is if you think about
[SPEAKER_03]: all of those things that you put your heart and soul into, they're all parts of what make you successful.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you learn from those failures.
[SPEAKER_03]: And even if it's not quite getting the annotating job done right now.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's not a failure.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, because I'm learning every single day a little bit more about how to do it.
[SPEAKER_03]: But what I'm saying is, it is, it is running, running is a great design for a lot of things.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so I'm very, very, our last question, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, all right.
[SPEAKER_03]: Being a role model.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, you want to talk about the visibility, creating possibilities?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I can't point it out enough.
[SPEAKER_05]: Never underestimate what kind of incredible role model you are.
[SPEAKER_05]: You might not be the Instagrammer with millions of followers, but you have followers and you look at you and you might not know it because they don't tell you, but especially you as leaders you're exposed and especially women.
[SPEAKER_05]: look up to you.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it was such a wonderful story.
[SPEAKER_05]: You shared yesterday, lastly, that you got all these messages from women at home saying, what?
[SPEAKER_05]: You're traveling alone.
[SPEAKER_05]: So it has a huge impact on them because they suddenly realize, OK, Leslie is doing this.
[SPEAKER_05]: I might can do this as well.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I've learned this through my stepchildren, as well as through my knees.
[SPEAKER_05]: And also,
[SPEAKER_05]: a girlfriend.
[SPEAKER_05]: So they observe, they observe, they observe, and suddenly they set action.
[SPEAKER_05]: And it comes out of the blue, you know?
[SPEAKER_05]: And I've never thought that my stepdaughter would run.
[SPEAKER_05]: And one day she asked, hmm, let's go shopping and I was like, oh, again, no, no, no, can we go to sports store?
[SPEAKER_05]: I went for an internship.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, great.
[SPEAKER_05]: So never ever underestimate the power you have in the positive, but also in the good way.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, and also, I mean, Christina and I, when we left, we saw a very dramatic crisis in Austria.
[SPEAKER_05]: And we debated on the flight here.
[SPEAKER_05]: women always underestimate the power and the role model function they have.
[SPEAKER_05]: The way we show up, this is how our children will show up in the future.
[SPEAKER_05]: So please take this also with you.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's something I've learned and I'm very proud of it.
[SPEAKER_05]: And you have been always an incredible role model to me.
[SPEAKER_05]: And so I'm sure you will be incredible role models for many, many other people.
[SPEAKER_05]: And even if you think,
[SPEAKER_05]: just a normal woman from next door.
[SPEAKER_05]: You're a incredible woman from next door.
[SPEAKER_05]: You are an incredible woman from next door.
[SPEAKER_03]: What about you?
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so I've been a role model for a long time, okay?
[SPEAKER_03]: And I know that, but I think you also have to realize, because you all are a lot, a lot younger than I am, you're going to grow up to continue being role models.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so with that comes responsibility, okay?
[SPEAKER_03]: And so there are three really basic things.
[SPEAKER_03]: Show up.
[SPEAKER_03]: OK, especially if people are counting on you, you show up.
[SPEAKER_03]: OK, never, never not show up.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that just be there.
[SPEAKER_03]: OK, be there.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's really, really important.
[SPEAKER_03]: And when I say be there, I don't mean just to show up and say, hey, folks have a great time walk away.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I see a lot of spokespeople, a role model supposed to role models do that.
[SPEAKER_03]: There's an audience of like the
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, five hundred people have shown up for this person and get up on stage and say, well, have a nice race, see you later.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's not enough.
[SPEAKER_03]: So you live up to that responsibility.
[SPEAKER_03]: You may be tired.
[SPEAKER_03]: You may not want to be there.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's part of being a role model.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's not like you're fulfilling your sponsors request and all that concept you have to fulfill your own.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you're going to be a role model, you show up.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, be there.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then
[SPEAKER_03]: This is the job part, but this is also the glorious part.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that is payback, payback.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know what, running an opportunities and these friendships have given you.
[SPEAKER_03]: But when God gives you something, you need to pay it back.
[SPEAKER_03]: Or pay it back, or pay it for, or whatever you say.
[SPEAKER_03]: I say, pay back.
[SPEAKER_03]: In other words, pass on what you know for the rest of your life.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then that person who is influenced by you will continue to pass it on.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's how the world changes.
[SPEAKER_03]: But take responsibility for who you are and don't be overwhelmed by it, but be proud of it and take it seriously.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, with this, actually with the timing, we went to remind full, yeah, it's time runs by and we over time are under time.
[SPEAKER_05]: Over time.
[SPEAKER_05]: So now, now we're just never out of time.
[SPEAKER_05]: Now we want to give you the audience.
[SPEAKER_05]: microphone.
[SPEAKER_05]: So if you have questions, comments, please, it's your stage now.
[SPEAKER_05]: Please, Sonja.
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, running gives me my reason.
[SPEAKER_03]: Uh, you know, I mean, it's, it's almost embarrassing to say, you know, I mean, you know, my husband gives me the reason my great love.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, but I found him through running.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, you, I found you through running.
[SPEAKER_03]: Running, it helps me put in perspective.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, running is my prayer, running is my touch of nature, running is my exercise, running is my catharsis, running is my dreaming, you know?
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's, it has given me all those things and he's free.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's amazing, you know, and it's priceless.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's, yeah, thank you.
[SPEAKER_05]: What about you?
[SPEAKER_05]: Actually, I really love the process.
[SPEAKER_05]: When you have a journey, you start off.
[SPEAKER_05]: My team knows me.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm very impatient.
[SPEAKER_05]: Sometimes I'm the one who wants to be already at the finish, but I've learned to kind of
[SPEAKER_05]: enjoy the journey, the process.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm not only a passionate runner or a passionate swimmer and just each stroke, each step is just to give and so just having this process and seeing an experiencing what's happening through
[SPEAKER_05]: While I'm doing this, it's so incredible.
[SPEAKER_05]: And just as running, I can just echo that.
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, running has given me, or sports is giving me my whole life, but just the pictures that pop up on this journey, is it here with you, or we walking up in Mohank, or meeting in New Zealand, or just sitting on a plane, or being sad, because something didn't work out that way,
[SPEAKER_05]: These are all things, so that's mine, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the ultimate goal?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you see it in the next step?
[SPEAKER_05]: Actually, there are all these steps to move forward and touch all the women.
[SPEAKER_05]: particularly those who are anxious.
[SPEAKER_05]: So touching their heart and helping them to understand that doing sports and especially running because it's free.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's the the simple thing we can do.
[SPEAKER_05]: But I think the next milestone would be also think about ages, which means also touching more the younger generation.
[SPEAKER_05]: to give them hope and orientation.
[SPEAKER_05]: So actually we have sparked some seats already.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think as you saw this morning, our membership base is currently mainly forty up to seventy.
[SPEAKER_05]: But the new generation.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I mean the whole discussion about Chen Zee
[SPEAKER_05]: So when I talk to people in my age, like, ah, and I say, Gen Z, wonderful.
[SPEAKER_05]: Let's have a conversation.
[SPEAKER_05]: We can learn so much from you.
[SPEAKER_05]: I want to understand what's going on in your life.
[SPEAKER_05]: How does your perspective of things look like?
[SPEAKER_05]: Because it's not only like, I want to teach you something.
[SPEAKER_05]: I want that you teach me also how you think and how you experience things.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I think moving forward, that's the next big thing to kind of build the bridge and also help
[SPEAKER_05]: these women to show that there are a lot of opportunities.
[SPEAKER_05]: And also it's our obligation that these inspiring stories of Katherine and what you have achieved are not gone.
[SPEAKER_03]: On that note, we all have stories.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, my stories are very old story, everybody knows my story.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think what we need to do is we need to create, you know, we want to hear your stories, we want to create those stories and their younger stories.
[SPEAKER_03]: Mine's ancient history to somebody like you bring.
[SPEAKER_03]: My God.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just, oh my God, she's older than me, my great grandmother.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I'm going to give you a fun example.
[SPEAKER_03]: And a hopeful one you did in Wellington, especially because that's my group in New Zealand.
[SPEAKER_03]: A lot of the moms have like, sixteen, seventeen year old daughters.
[SPEAKER_03]: And sometimes they come with us.
[SPEAKER_03]: And they love the group.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we were all pumping them for all kinds of information and everything else.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it's really great that I overhear them saying things like, you know, and I think I'm going to try to be a coach next year when I'm old enough.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'd really like to be a coach.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that, you know, I think
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, they're learning a lot from us.
[SPEAKER_03]: And this is a way to meet them almost on a level playing field, you know, without being critical, you know, you shouldn't cover up more, you shouldn't wear lipstick, whatever.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's like, you know, instead we're out there running and exercising together.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then they're listening to our conversations afterwards.
[SPEAKER_03]: And we're listening to theirs.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's, it's, they're not, they're not
[SPEAKER_03]: on show that just part of the group.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I think that's a really helpful sign as well.
[SPEAKER_03]: So yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: But for me, you know, you ask about the future.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think I can quite predict the future because right now, to succeed in one, the fearless is very young.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, in my eyes is very, very, very young.
[SPEAKER_03]: And my hope, my dream for two, six and a half years is to continue to press on globally, particularly in places where women have no opportunities.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's why when I met the Afghan refugees, women who are part of two, six, one in Austria, oh my God, I mean, I've never thought in my lifetime, I would see that in my lifetime.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I did.
[SPEAKER_03]: and sort of like I can die happy, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I know, because I know, I know it is a real real real breakthrough.
[SPEAKER_03]: And those Afghan women are not just that that group of fifteen.
[SPEAKER_03]: that they're on their phones back home to Afghanistan, saying things like you don't have to live like that.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, there is another world out there.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hope is everything.
[SPEAKER_03]: And if you're in Afghanistan, you can't get out of Afghanistan.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know somewhere, somebody you know and love has hope.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that is everything.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: As you said, everyone, every woman is a woman.
[SPEAKER_02]: It begins.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone because, for example, I love it in the case of my look up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Every one, remember, brings a friend.
[SPEAKER_02]: She's a role model for a friend.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_05]: I want to just say one more word.
[SPEAKER_05]: And this will actually then lead to the next session or group work we're going to do.
[SPEAKER_05]: You, and I said this several times perhaps also to one of you.
[SPEAKER_05]: Here is the real one and only Katherine Switzer.
[SPEAKER_05]: And here are all the other.
[SPEAKER_05]: Katherine Switzers.
[SPEAKER_05]: You have your own story and you take the torch into your community and you have your why and you have your story that inspires others.
[SPEAKER_05]: And that's the reason why you have come so far and coming back to the role model thing and
[SPEAKER_05]: After you, we underestimate that.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I think understanding the power you have and also your vision is so crucial.
[SPEAKER_05]: And this is where I, we, as two-sixth and fearless ink, also want to support you to grow that you grow and with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my goodness, how amazing was that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how amazing it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: A huge thank you to Katherine and Edith for sharing their fearless energy and wisdom with all of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And to our incredible club directors, a big thank you to them as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: They really made our first club director summit in New York City so unforgettable.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you loved this episode, and I mean really, truly, how could you not love this episode?
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead, share it with a friend, post about it, make sure that anyone who needs to hear this knows about it, and make sure that you tag us at two, six, one, fearless whenever you post on socials as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you saw the summit moments on our social channels, now you know what was really happening behind the scenes, and if you haven't seen our summit moments on our social channels, well,
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you waiting for?
[SPEAKER_00]: Go check them out.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had an amazing time in New York City.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, that's it for this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with more fearless voices and inspiring stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until then, just keep showing up, keep growing and always be fearless.