Deborah Mendes is a senior executive assistant with 20 years experience supporting high level executives in large global companies.
In this episode, Deborah shares her tips on managing constant interruptions, self-care, self-awareness, and health and wellness in the workplace.
LEADERSHIP QUOTE
Every CEO should look into a preventive way of approaching workplace well-being and sick leave management.
– Yann Toutant, CEO of Econcom NL in the Netherlands
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CONNECT WITH DEBORAH
- Deborah on LinkedIn
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- Join her 21 day journey to a closer nature connection. Onboarding and starting on March 22. Details here.
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- If you are curious to find out more about a Nature First Wellbeing Solution (particularly for remote workers), to plug into your wellbeing program, please email Deborah at deborah@deborahmendes.com
ABOUT DEBORAH
Deborah Mendes Is a Nature First Wellbeing Consultant for companies. She has a digital platform with nature based education and solutions for optimal health and wellbeing. She is also a Global Health Ambassador at GE.
Deborah is on a mission to connect people back to themselves and regenerate people and the planet. Her mission started with a concern for climate change and she wanted to share her deep love for nature to create change. Deborah trained as a forest bathing guide and in January 2020 delivered her first virtual forest bath to a remote first company.
She is the founder of a growing supportive membership, The Nature Force Collective, for mission-driven individuals who want to regenerate people and the planet, to create impact with more ease.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Deborah Mendes 0:00
My name is Deborah Mendes. And today’s leadership quote comes from my client Yan to chance. CEO of economic calm in the Netherlands, every CEO should look at a preventative way to approach workplace well being and sickness management.
Podcast Intro 0:20
Leader assistant podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, Game Changing leader assistant.
Podcast Outro 0:28
Thank you for listening to The Leader Assistant Podcast in here’s your host my data.
Jeremy Burrows 0:35
Hey friends thanks for tuning in to The Leader Assistant Podcast. It’s episode 107. You can find the show notes at leaderassistant.com/107. Today’s interview is with Deborah Mendes, I actually recorded this interview before the COVID pandemic and finally catching up and getting it edited and published. So I’m excited to share it. Deborah has adapted to the remote work world and you should definitely check her out on LinkedIn. But she’s got some great tips to share. And I’m excited to dive in. But first just wanted to invite you all to check out our premium paid subscription membership. The leader assistant membership, you can find out information at leaderassistant.com/membership. We have one group coaching training call every month. And we dive into different topics like the attributes of a high performing executive assistant team. We talk about compensation, negotiation, we talk about resumes, performance reviews, calendar management, time management, health and wellness, in burnout, and anything you can think of that relates to our lives and work as executive assistant. So we’d love to have you join us. assistance from all over the world are in the membership. We have a private forum online to watch the replays of all of the sessions that you missed. So you can catch up even if you join today. So again, leaderassistant.commembership It’s only $39 a month and we’d love to have you join us. Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in to The Leader Assistant Podcast today I’m excited to be speaking with Deborah Mendes. She is an executive assistant at General Electric. Deborah, how are you?
Deborah Mendes 2:31
I’m very well thank you very much. And thank you so much for having me.
Jeremy Burrows 2:35
In what part of the world are you in today?
Deborah Mendes 2:37
I’m in London in the UK? Awesome.
Jeremy Burrows 2:41
Awesome. Well, what was your very first job? And what skills did you learn from that job that you still use today?
Deborah Mendes 2:49
My very first job was actually teaching business to 16 to 18 year olds. And I think what I learned from that the most was actually my listening skills to really be flexible and adaptive to really sort of listen to what’s going on, and what the behavior you know, what’s behind people’s behavior. And also, I also learnt, I actually like to help people grow and empower people. So that’s been like a common thread throughout my career. And yeah, so I suppose that was what I learned from my first my first job.
Jeremy Burrows 3:39
Awesome. So when and why did you end up becoming an executive assistant?
Deborah Mendes 3:44
Good question. So I was actually in a marketing career. For a long time, it was very all encompassing and consuming. And I took a step back in 2005, I actually had an opportunity to take go on as leave, because and I wanted to go for more work life balance. But also, you know, the, with marketing, I could either go into the director role, but I didn’t feel comfortable going into director role at the time. I wanted to, I felt I was much better in a support role. Were sort of helping other people. So it was two things really a sort of self reflection of what, who I am and where, how I want to show up. But also I liked the idea that I could go home and do other things that weren’t related to work. So that that was a that was my that’s what got me into it in the first place. And I actually started temping at the same time as discover In life on the river, so that sort of, you know, that balance of doing my sort of outdoor nature activities, and then, you know, being in the office and being in front of the computer, you know, that both things, balanced each other out. And yeah, you know, supporting supporting people was what, what, I was always good at supporting people in my marketing role. My marketing director, and when it came to me wanting, you know, what was my next step, I just really did not want to go into into the limelight.
Jeremy Burrows 5:38
It makes sense. Yeah. So what’s been maybe the most difficult part about being an assistant.
Deborah Mendes 5:46
Um, I think it’s been the challenge, which is the good thing as well is the keep it maintaining balance. And to, to know that you have to be like a rock, and through changes within organizations within, you know, the environment, sort of wider environment. And just to be able to sort of have the resilience to sort of, you know, to deal with your sort of the everyday demands. So, you know, my boss once said, to me, your, your job is a bit like, you’re a tennis player, and you have lots of balls coming at you, your job is to batten back. So, you know, you have to really stand firm. And, you know, I think it’s very unique role. It does demands that you are incredibly balanced and strong. Yeah, and consistent. So, you know, it’s difficult to challenge but it’s, it’s good. That’s what made me who I am today.
Jeremy Burrows 7:05
Nice. So what should executives look for in an assistant?
Deborah Mendes 7:10
Well, as well as capability, which you can ask other people and look at people’s CVS and see what they’ve done. I would say, the number one thing would be the rapport and chemistry. Because your experience your relationship with that your executive is very different from any other relationship, that executive has old people within the company. It’s very intimate. Your vote, you’re working very, very directly. And so you’ve got to really be able to get on with no sort of barriers, you know, which, perhaps if you even haven’t got that sort of chemistry, you know, you get each other, then that would be you know, I think that would be the number one thing, you know, and that’s why I think when you go for interviews, you have to go for interviews, you have to have these face to face conversations. Because you just don’t know until you’ve met somebody, shake their hands, you know, like and again.
Jeremy Burrows 8:14
Yeah. So, let’s talk a little bit about balance. So you do a lot of health and wellness initiatives with your organization locally. And then I believe you mentioned that you’re starting to implement that and other companies implementing it globally. Can you tell us about your health and wellness initiative?
Deborah Mendes 8:36
Yeah. So there is already a health initiative in GE, globally and locally. So really, what I’m doing is fitting in integrating a nature connection element into what’s happening already. Sort of amplifying it. So the first thing I had to do was basically find a team of people to to work with because our our champion, our site champion, the draft, and there wasn’t anyone doing any health initiatives. So I had to resurrect the health committee within our building. And yeah, I started to make some inquiries, and we’ve got some people together. My particular thing that I’m doing locally is taking people out at lunchtime, to to the park, which is five minutes away, to do a nature connection experience. And then that kind of fits into like our sort of well being program that we’re where we’ve designed locally. And then that fits in then was a global sort of head office in the US. They organize quarterly sort of campaigns. So in the this quarter, they have a resilience campaign. And they’ve asked me to contribute to the nature elements of it. So they haven’t put nature in there. And so it’s like 712 steps to nature, sorry, 12 steps to resilience. And every day you take a step, and then there’s some actions that people can take. So I created a document where people could take some steps, and reflect a little bit about how a nature connection could help with resilience. And also did two three videos, which were very rough and ready. And I just thought, Oh, I’m just going to just do it and send that share it with the, with the global team and see what they think. And yeah, they said, that’s really good, because it just shows it, what we like about it, it’s an employee doing it. And it just shows that other people can do it. Because at the end of the day, yes, there is sort of some paid a health staff doing the health initiative, head office wise, but apart from that, it’s all over and above your job description. It’s all voluntary. So, you know, they just want lots of people to have buy in and everything so so they’re quite so these videos that, you know, very sort of rough and ready videos are going out globally, across the world on them how to connect to nature and get people get people doing so I’m doing things online, as well as, you know, offline with people face to face. And it’s yeah, there’s some pretty good outcomes. Right?
Jeremy Burrows 11:55
That’s awesome. So when you do these, these walks at lunch, and we talked before you mentioned about, basically, what’s called forest bathing. Right? Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that.
Deborah Mendes 12:11
So yeah, so forest bathing. The word originates from the term Shin Shinrin Yoku, which the concept was created in Japan for the preventative health service when they realized that there were problems with because of urbanization, people were feeling were suffering from a lot of disease. So they got people, the ship people into the forests, to do these nature walks. And that’s kind of been adopted as a term and is kind of spreading across the US and Europe. So I do use the word forest bathing, but it’s really about nature connection. And yeah, you can connect it is connecting to nature at a deeper level isn’t just about walking in the park, or networking, or doing sport, there, there’s different ways that you can connect to nature and forest bathing is very much about immersing yourself with all your senses. And in order to do that, you really need to slow down, be more present, and then sort of be much more in your body so that you can sort of disconnect. And then from there, you can then reconnect and the forest bathing process. It’s it’s guided, so that you haven’t given to the invitations, very much to help someone on that have their own experience and their own journey. So it’s definitely not prescriptive, and it’s not coaching. And yeah, so you have these, these invitations to help disconnect. And then to that with all their centers. And then you kind of finish with a sort of little integration exercise. It can be like a tea ceremony. If you’re gonna go for the full forest bathing experience, or, you know, we in the park, we do have, we do share some tea, just at the end just to integrate people back. You know, like, if you’ve been meditating, you want to just get back into the real world. But the other thing about the forest bathing is that it’s kind of your own experience, like you have you would have on a yoga mat. But intermittent intervals, you will come around to the circle and share your experience. As it’s just amazing what people share is, you know, you don’t have to share anything, but we’ll sort of take it in turns. And yes, it’s really really bonding and sort of brings people into a very sort of human space that really is Some felt, you know, in the corporate world, you know, sort of, you know, the busy, you’re busy working days, and they connect with people on a completely different level. And it’s, you know, it’s very, it’s beautiful, actually, some of the things that come up, it’s often this very, very common threads as well. So you realize people are very similar, even though there’s so much diversity well.
Jeremy Burrows 15:25
So, you know, we talked about this the other day, and you mentioned that these experience sometimes reveal things and people, they may reveal things like, oh, you know, what, I’m, I’m burned out, and I need to slow down, I need to take a vacation, I need to get out into nature more. So how is kind of talk a little bit about the importance of self care and just self awareness and how you’ve seen even for your own career in your own life, how getting out in nature has helped you become more self aware and take care of yourself?
Deborah Mendes 16:04
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the example that we were talking about was, you know, what, somebody that when we were asked in the walk, she really, by the slowing down elements, which, you know, you’re very supported, you know, in the nature, you know, she really felt she felt very tired, you know, and she felt she couldn’t go back to work on my so, you know, it gives you in a way, that’s the sort of mindfulness elements, that you really need to take a step back for a minute. And what happened with her was, you know, she, her feedback was very enlightening. And from there, from taking a step back, and reviewing and observing, she was able to take some action, and, you know, have a choice of watch and freedom to think about what she was going to do. And in fact, she went back to the gym, which is great, because she gave herself permission to do something for herself. And, yeah, I mean, for me, the self awareness is absolutely number one. And for everybody, really, that’s the first step before you can really improve your situation. And a little bit about my story is that, you know, my well being has been a big priority for me personally. And it’s particularly, I kind of decided to own it more beginning of the year, when people, including my boss, put a mirror up in front of my face. And he mentioned that I wasn’t fully present. And I really thought about what, how I, how I was experiencing the workplace. And being an open plan office with noise, and, and not able to completely control temperature and lighting. You know, I suddenly realized I needed to ask myself, What do I need. And, you know, also, because it’s not just about you needing to, for example, focus. But also, you know, you’re you, whatever mood you’re in, you know, you there are mirror neurons. So, you know, if you’re not exuding a sort of calm, you know, you know, mood or, you know, people will react, so you affect other people. And, you know, your day will go in a different way, depending on how you, you know, you, you project yourself. So, you know, that awareness is, is absolutely critical to, you know, how your day goes, how your life goes, and it really is a choice. And so, yeah, just just really checking in, you know, am I uncomfortable? Why do I feel stressed? You know, why am I feeling irritated? What can I do about it. And it could be as simple as just taking a look out the window, and just resting your eyes and looking at the clouds in the sky. Which I mean, it’s not natural for us to look at a screen for a long time. So to then look at something natural, like the clouds or leaves blowing in the trees, or these they’re called fractal patterns. And it’s very, very relaxing for our brains. And, yeah, you know, when we’re completely overstimulated, and we’re actually very attentive, we have to pay a lot of attention all the time. We need that sort of calming cognitive rest. Which, you know, I finding that occasionally I’d get brain fog so it was I really had to pay attention Uh, but, you know, I think this is good for everybody really just, you know, like, you would adjust your posture. You can also, you know, feel, are you feeling overwhelmed and you’re in your head, you know, you’re gonna get you’re getting a headache? Well, you know, you can just look, look outside, you know, that’s as simple as that? Or do I need to take myself out of the environment, just to another place in the office? Or do I need to go and get some fresh air? Do I need to go into the park, you know, and take 15 minutes, and I did actually, you know, have a conversation with my boss and share, it was difficult. But I did share, you know, how I was feeling and experiencing things. And as I did say, you know, sometimes I’ll need to go out outside and just spend some, you know, rest time, you know, take take a bit of time out. But it was it was hard for me to do that. And, yeah, I mean, it well, beans always been my, my nature, I mean, nature’s really been my savior since 2005, I think when I, when I did have that sort of, sort of changing career. And, yeah, just, you know, it just offers so many things, so much comes up from it. You know, the beauty as well, there’s lots of ways to connect with nature. And one of them is that these sort of moments of, you know, when I was on the river, I’d you know, in the morning, you’d see, see the steam coming off the water. And that just brings you, it kind of like, it’s an all thing, you kind of cut through any sort of Jaden, if you haven’t, sort of, it makes me want to cry. And if you see, you know, a nice view or something, it’s kind of like, you know, you just think, oh, is this the you have this sense of joy, which isn’t, it’s quite hard sometimes to experience. But, you know, that feeling is my North Star. And so, you know, I’ve got I’ve got, it’s self care well being element, it’s more about getting back to your true self, and your, you know, we are nature, and when you are in nature, then you begin then to become more of your true self. And once you sort of, you know, you get more in touch with yourself, then you can, you can then connect better with others. And then, you know, with, with, with the wider world as well, and you become, you feel like you’re more more part of, you know, not separate. So you’re, you’re, you’re part of a bigger picture, you only have to look up at the stars, which I did recently. And you just think, oh, you know, what my problem is all about kind of thing. So, you know, you can do forest bathing, just by looking out the window, or in the park, or, you know, by, by looking at and camping outside at night, you know, so it’s, it’s just, it’s just about being connected at a deeper level, and, you know, people have, like, you know, you, you can have like quite nice memories and emotions related to nature as well. So that’s another way that you can bond with people. So, when we go for our on time was, you know, I ask them to share a memory of them, you know, with nature. And it’s really bonding, it’s really nice to, you know, hear what people’s memories are. So, you know, it’s a nice way to connect people. And people people show up in different ways, as well. I mean, I definitely show up. When I’m in nature, I’m my best self when I’m in nature. So I think that’s probably another reason why I’m doing this is because, you know, I just want to show up at my as my best. And so when people when you get people out at these lunchtime things or different events, people who perhaps might be less visible in the workplace, suddenly a different people so when we’re doing these sharing things, it’s very it’s bonding and cohesive and you you see people in different light so people can be much more seen and heard. And yeah, I suppose that’s like a sort of team building thing, but because it’s mindful and it’s quite it’s, it’s supported. It’s, it’s, you know, it’s not like going out and doing like a sort of team building, you know, event out outdoors, it’s, it’s, it’s so much more intimate. And, you know, it’s, it’s all in advice a space as well and you know you are supported, I find that the other thing I do is, when I’m working at home, is I ground myself, I go out into my garden and temperatures and thoughts of, and all the energy from my head goes back into the ground.
That’s brilliant. So yeah, the grounding is really important. And, you know, you could even put that into your sort of morning practice, where you, you know, do some meditation, but just, you know, take your shoes and socks off, which does feel so nice. And yeah, I just love personally, I love having my back to the tree, I find it’s very comforting, and it’s almost like giving my money. So hug is that it’s that kind of comforting, it’s kind of a release. But, you know, just Yeah, so many things that you can get from nature. And it’s, it’s really, you know, our natural, restorative you know, place to go. And the more we learn, that were sort of part of nature, and we’re actually, you know, it’s not just that we use nature, you know, to go to the park, and to have fun to have a picnic or whatever. But, you know, it’s we want to we start wanting to care. And so, you know, there is that the compassionate element as well, that comes in when, when you start connecting, so, you know, the sort of giving element, which is also good for well being.
Jeremy Burrows 26:56
So, so, how do you? Or how would you encourage other assistants to start something like this in their company? They may, they may be hearing you and thinking, oh, yeah, this is never gonna fly with, you know, our team, or this is never gonna fly with our executives. And, you know, it’s, it’s heads down, keep working, it’s, ya know, you don’t have time to go do a 45 minute out your activity or whatever, you know, like, how would you encourage other assistants who want to kind of start something like this?
Deborah Mendes 27:34
Yeah. I mean, I think if we would get a cut, go from the assistants, I mean, assistants have influence as well. But I think, you know, assistants have to understand, first of all, you know what it’s about. And, yeah, I think you do need to make, you know, put that time aside, you need to ask for that time, if it’s my time. If you, if you can protect potentially ask for even two hours. It’s not that easy. But if you can get permission to talk about the benefits as well, in terms of connection, I mean, as an EA, it can be quite lonely, because you know, you’re supporting high level people, so you can’t or you’re not really interrelating with the teams. So to have that sort of outlet of community. In a sort of natural environment, you know, that that’s one, so if you can sort of sell the benefits, and also, you know, to calming so people can see that you’re coming back, and you’re calm, and that then affects you know, how you are with your, with your, your executive, when you are more focused. And you’ve had that rest, yeah, that that, you know, to be able to incorporate that into your, your weekly practice, or your weekly routine. It’s kind of like a no brainer, really. And also, we were all bring this in we were I was on a workshop with Barney Lee Kramer. And we were just talking about salaries that, you know, sometimes you you’ve can’t get salary pay rise, there might be some other things you can negotiate, like, you know, different benefits. And one thing might be a monthly Sunday walk, you know, that the company would pay for as a sort of benefit, rather than go to you know, because of a choice of different things. And one of them could be that as opposed to, you know, going to the gym or, you know, so that’s another way you could do it. But the thing is, just start from what I’ve been doing. You know, you just start small and what I mean My course was, okay, I’m going to do this, I don’t care what people think. And, you know, I did it through the, the House committee. So we sent an email, I also did a door, a mail drop, too, with some leaflets to every single desk in the building of 400. And that was really good, because then I got talking to people literally. And I’d say about 20% of people really smiled and said, That’s really good. And that was where I found my, my people, you know, my first people to the buy in, who are now sort of, you know, I’m working with him once a life coach. She’s very into it. And she’s very well connected, as well. And from there, we’ve now got about seven people who want to then spread the word. So, you know, you just need one person to follow you. And then you can create a movement just like that.
Jeremy Burrows 30:58
Nice. That’s great. Yeah, I love the the idea of going through going through the corporate chain, but then also just sending a note to each person and walking by and saying, Hey, I’m going to do this. I love it. So yeah, so how is you mentioned? Okay, you know, if you’re staring at a screen all day, you can stare outside, you know, you look outside at the clouds and kind of take a minute for yourself, how, what’s maybe your best tip on managing constant interruptions? So that’s one thing to say, Oh, I’m sitting here in my office, and I’m going to self regulate and say, Alright, I’m going to set a timer every hour, and I’m going to look out the window for a few minutes and kind of refocus. But it’s another thing when you’ve got people just constantly interrupting you and causing distractions from the outside. How do you how do you manage those interruptions?
Deborah Mendes 31:58
Well, you can either say that you’re, you know, I mean, I try not to have too many interruptions. So, you know, if, if I’m all blocked that timeout. So you know, usually I’ll be available on Skype, or, you know, an on Messenger. And if someone’s interrupting, then I’ll just say, yeah, just hold on a moment. I’m just finishing what I’m doing. And you know, and then I’ll pause myself, and then I’ll stop what I’m doing. And then I’ll listen to that person. And then I’ll find out what what I need to do with that, whether I need to do it, whether it’s a priority, and then I’ll put it on my list, and I write it down. And once I’ve written it down, it’s on the list, then I can go back to what I’m doing, because I know when I need to do it, and when the priority is. So I’ll do you know, if there is a direct inquiry that comes in and someone just comes to your desk. Yes, of course, you’ll stop what you’re doing just when you’ve just finished something. And then, but you don’t necessarily have to act straightaway. So yeah, so it’s about asking, and communicating and prioritizing. And, yeah, I mean, if you find it’s too much and overwhelming, then you just have to, as I say, Take yourself into a different space. Yeah, you know, you just got to be aware.
Jeremy Burrows 33:31
So tell tell us a little bit about your side hustle. You have another kind of business, and then just maybe general thoughts on being an entrepreneur in a corporate organization like GE.
Deborah Mendes 33:50
Okay, so my so back in 2016, I asked for a job share, because I wanted to explore other ways that I could another thing, because I couldn’t see progression within the company. And yeah, so what I mentors recognized that I will connect her, and she said, Oh, my community would like to get on some podcasts, why don’t you, you know, connect with people to podcasts so that they can be heard. So I said, Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea. Like that idea. And it’s kind of a make things happen type type role. So, which, you know, I could see how it was a transferable skill, as well as you know, being able to sort of pitch people and see that connection. Why Why would match. So yeah, that’s what started it. So I, I get people on podcast, on podcast interviews just like this, and then expanded to help me hosting video interviews. So I’d find people that would be good to have a conversation with and organize these video interviews and panel discussions so that these conversations can become visible and heard. And it helps people with their messaging. You know, when you voice something, I mean, this is really helping me. You know, just by voicing it, you can get more clarity with your messaging. And, you know, it helps with helping a CEO become a corporate at the moment. So it helps him with his internal communication and working with his internal comms team, as well as his personal brands, and his corporate brands within social media. And we’re repurposing it into social media and onto Youtube as well. So it’s quite extensive. But yeah, I mean, the main thing is, you know, there’s a thread is is about connection, and getting people seen and heard, I absolutely love it. You know, especially with my client, he’s a visionary leader. And so you’ve got to really get your own messaging clear before you can bring it to other people. And when you can speak to people that, you know, resonate with you like a podcast host, then it’s easier to articulate something than if you were the audience that are disconnected and you’re, you know, you’re wanting a transformation kind of thing. So, yeah, speaking to a poker faces is grateful connection, actually. Because they, they’re representing your audience. So I really like that. And I really like sort of helping people grow, and empowering them to hear their own voice. That’s why I support podcasts so much. And that’s, that’s, yeah, that’s going to lead me on to my next career thing as well. But yeah, so you know, it could be anyone entrepreneurs. And then, you know, you’re asking, you know, what’s it like to be within a company as an EAA as well, I mean, I definitely it has helped me become more entrepreneurial, or to do more stuff on the health voluntary side of the Health Initiative. Some want this Health Champion, she said, Oh, we can try it. But if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter. You know, we’re just try it. But that’s not what entrepreneurs do. It’s like, well, yes, we, you know, it’s all about experimenting, and failing forward, you know, there’s no such thing as failure. So yes, we can try it. But if something doesn’t work, then we look at a different way to do it. So it kind of gives you more sort of creativity and confidence to sort of experiment and things, but my outlook is through this health initiative. But also, I guess, as an EA, you know, we are problem solvers. And, you know, I’ve always liked that’s how I’ve stayed employed, is because I see the problem that other people can’t, you know, don’t want to focus on. And, you know, you can volunteer then to say, Okay, I’ll sort that out. And you know, you have to have, you have to make things happen. So you have to have those problem solving skills and entrepreneurs are about solving problems and being of service. So it’s it kind of, you know, I’d be already been an entrepreneur as my hero, without realizing, and then I guess it’s sort of more amplified, in that I can now bring it into an avenue of somewhere where I, you know, I want to grow. So, so it’s all it’s all positive. You know, I have heard some negative remarks about entrepreneurs and corporates, entrepreneurs are, you know, disruptive, you know, but it’s also, I think, you know, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, or creativity is good, sometimes, but sometimes you need to implement as well. So, yeah, you know, depends on what needs to be done the state of the business, the type of the business as well.
Jeremy Burrows 39:31
I think it’s interesting, because, you know, there are a lot of larger companies like an apple or I think, Facebook and maybe Amazon, Deus or Google, some of these larger global companies. And GE is obviously a very large global company, as well, but some of them have pretty strict like, you can’t really do other things while you’re working here. And so I think that’s great that they’re there. You know, flexible with you and that you’re able to kind of do that kind of side hustle and things that that keep your creative juices flowing. probably make you a better EA anyway. So I think that’s so Debra, thanks so much for sharing your story and your passion for nature connection. And just really appreciate you taking the time, where can we find you online? And how can we support what you’re up to?
Speaker 1 40:30
Yeah. Okay, so the best place to connect with me is on LinkedIn. Deborah Mendes, I think you’re gonna have the link in the show notes. And my main man address DeborahMendez001@gmail.com. And the best way to support me really is just to contact me to carry on the conversation. All about sort of mental health, well being in the workplace. So it’s becoming a big priority in organizations. And if I can help come into the conversation with a nature connection, slant, then that’d be fantastic. You know, I think I’m doing something innovative and you know, really want to, you know, just hear from people and just start that, start that conversations. So and take it from there really?
Jeremy Burrows 41:31
Awesome. Sounds great. I’ll definitely share the links in the show notes. And thanks again, and we’ll talk soon.
Speaker 1 41:38
Thanks, Jeremy. That’s amazing. And thank you very much for providing this amazing platform. You’re doing great work.
Jeremy Burrows 41:43
Thanks again for listening. Check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/107 And we will talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 42:00
Please review on Apple podcasts. Goburrows.com
