Rachel Hollis – Part II– You’ve Changed

“You’ve Changed!” Not the worst thing you can hear as a Founder or CEO.

When someone says that to us, it is often perceived as a negative (particularly when combined with success). Compare that with, you’ve really grown as a person. Think about it.

As a Founder or CEO, your values should evolve as you scale (no, not all of them!).

Last week, I left us with the idea of authentic leadership. What does that mean? And, taking it a step further, do your personal values evolve as you scale and find greater success – does success amplify the good and the bad?

Authentic Leadership

Generally, authentic leadership means your values and your actions align. You live with integrity. Practice what you preach. Someone whose voice resonates with their heart.

And so on, and so on. You get the gist, for now. Obviously, it’s a much bigger and more nuanced concept, one that equates with a very positive impact on your team and your ability to scale.

Yet, it also comes with its challenges or limitations. If you think about it too narrowly, or miss the nuances, you and your business will be stuck. I came across the term “adaptively authentic” in my reading – boom!  That’s it.

For example, what does it mean to be true to yourself? What self? How can you be true to a future self that is a big question mark today?  Lessons from our past shape how we see ourselves, our story, and we gain new experiences through new roles and from pushing ourselves outside our comfort zones and natural inclinations.

Or, as I hit upon last week as you move from bff to business, saying and doing what you feel or think, unfiltered and unproved, may lose you some credibility.

Or, maybe early on you valued being heavily involved in marketing because that’s what you know, so you want to coach your team to be better. That doesn’t work as you scale.  

With scale comes more success, more money, and more visibility. Does that amplify your values, the good and the bad? Let’s take a look at Rachel Hollis.

The Sweet Woman

Maybe you have been following the Rachel Hollis scandal, maybe not. Here’s the 30,000 ft view: in a tik-tok video she mentioned a “sweet woman” who cleans her toilets twice a week; she arguably compared herself to Harriet Tubman and a host of others, many of whom were women of color; she called herself exceptional – highlighting the fact she wakes up at 4:00am and is willing to fail publicly over and over; and, finally, she said she never aspired to be relatable (even though that’s what her brand was built on). Her brand is all, girl go get what you want, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and if you’re unhappy, it’s your responsibility to fix it.

So, did her values change as she found more and more success? Last week I talked about some of her missteps as a leader, likely tied to her view of power dynamics. Power dynamics that only come into play when you have more success, more fame, and more money.

But what about knowing who she is and what she believes in?

Maybe her dream for herself was always to be wealthy and famous? In an Inc. Magazine article, she was asked what makes her rise above the negative feedback and criticism and people not believing in her. Her response, no matter what she faces in life she never loses sight of the life she imagines for herself. Again, maybe this is the life she imagined for herself.

As part of this scandal and challenges to her being privileged AF, she remarked “[y]ou're right. I'm super freaking privileged, but also I worked my ass off to have the money to have someone come twice a week and clean my toilets.”

I think it’s fair to say she values hard work. That is her brand. Did she stop living that truth as she found more success? I suspect yes and no. Depends how you define hard work. What did that mean for her team? Demanding hard work is a good thing. Seeing yourself above others not so much.

What about the fact that her brand is about helping women live their best life and giving them the tools to pull themselves up by their bootstraps? How did that play out as a leader?

According to one employee, the company decided to host a management summit which the employee was very excited about because she wanted to learn from Ms. Hollis. She then shared she was very disappointed when she walked into the room and there were cameras everywhere.

Did her values change from helping women, to helping herself? Her business was built on content and she was the face of the brand, so was this in line with the values of the business? This certainly served her well, her team I imagine less so.

What is true is that a leader’s values will not always be aligned with what is best for the organization. When there is that gap, are you being authentic?