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Kate Sanders is the Vice President of Missouri Equipment Company, a 4th generation family business that offers custom stainless steel fabrication in St. Louis, MO.
Kate talks to Cynthia about her initial career in the shoe business, and how the stresses of raising a family and traveling the globe reached a breaking point. She and her husband are both entrepreneurs and they’re raising their two daughters to follow in their footsteps.
1 – Introduction 00:24
2 – Tell us about what you’re doing now 01:09
3 – Different expectations for boys vs girls in her dad’s family 05:00
4 – Tell me about your work history 06:52
5 – How long were you with them? 10:06
6 – Authentic energetic person 11:10
7 – What made a guy want to hire you from a meeting at a wedding? 13:04
8 – Leading with kindness and genuine compliments 14:35
9 – How long were you in this role? 15:48
10 – What were some of the impactful things he taught you 18:26
11 – Other important lessons learned 20:29
12 – What prepared you for success in that surprise moment? 22:42
13 – Tell me a little more about the job 24:22
14 – Global sales travel as a working mom 26:05
15 – Needing help as working mom 28:40
16 – Learning how to shift expectations as a mom 30:03
17 – Why did you leave that role? 30:58
18 – Finding alignment 36:08
19 – Obstacles of being the owner’s daughter in male dominated field 36:51
20 – Lessons and mistakes 38:47
21 – Adapting as a leader 40:12
22 – How to set boundaries 41:41
23 – Building relationships with employees 43:34
24 – Other obstacles faced 44:37
25 – Dad’s role in confidence 47:58
26 – What are some lessons you’ve learned 50:24
27 – Other tips and lessons 51:17
28 – Advice for next gen 53:30
29 – Future roles for men and women 56:57
30 – How do you build confidence 59:46
31 – What do you say to those afraid to make a mistake 1:01:12
32 – Importance of failing 1:03:30
33 – What’s coming up 1:05:42
34 – contact info 1:06:57
35 – What are your core values and what makes you tick? 1:07:20
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
It’s not about me selling and, you know, me making money. It’s about you being satisfied and happy with what you want and what you need. And I’ve always had that kind of philosophy, and my dad had that, too. And people recognize you’re not in it for yourself, you’re in it for them. And you’re sincere, and it really goes a long way.
Leadership is not about the leader. And I equate this back to basketball. When you have coach or coaches, they can’t go out on the court and shoot the ball and dribble the ball and pass the ball. But coaches have to be really good at getting work done through others. And so from a leadership perspective, that’s how I see it. As a leader, I have to be really good at getting work done through others.
“Gallup just got done with their survey for 2022. They found 25% better profitability in companies that have great employee cultures. Because when you have happy employees, happy employees make your customers happy. Happy employees want to invite other people to come work at their company. Happy employees want to share their ideas to make the company better. All of a sudden, you’ve created this culture where people want to contribute, and that’s the reason we do what we do.”
“I think that what I’m able to do in the program is to create the brave space that women need to be vulnerable, to do the internal work that has to happen, to have great and deep, thoughtful, reflective conversations, to bring in a lot of other great women. But at the end of it, that she’s breaking out of that chrysalis and she’s got her wings.”
As lawyers, we’re expected to have all the answers and be right 1000% of the time…Actually, we are humans. We are going to make mistakes. It’s actually a beautiful opportunity, when we make a mistake, to show up for our clients in the right way, own those mistakes, and then fix them on our dime. It’s really that simple. You actually deepen a relationship.
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