Canadian Women in Leadership, featuring Sara McCabe
Sara McCabe
Interview by Tammy Zdunich
I first heard about Sara McCabe because our Margaret of PopBrand was creating her website!
It’s a kick butt website by the way, you must check it out!
I instantly went into girl crush mode, BIG TIME! I absolutely love her voice and couldn’t wait to get to know her more. Now, we are no more than IG friends at this time. But here’s hoping we’ll meet online (Coffee & Connection anyone?) or in person one day!
I asked Sara if we could feature her on our blog as a Female Leader in Canada, and she said yes! Sit back, relax, and take some time to learn about her.
excerpt from Sara’s website
TAMMY:
Can you share a little bit about your background, how did you get into your current career?
SARA:
What a long winding road! I will do my best to give you the cliff notes. I originally went to school for business, with a focus on marketing, and once I graduated from that, I felt a little, ok, a lot like that wasn't what I wanted to be doing. I had an itch to do something more creative, so I applied to a fashion merchandising school in Vancouver, packed up, and headed to the coast (I happily waved goodbye to the snow.)
Once I graduated from that program, I started doing visual work in stores. Finally! Was I living the dream? The truth is my boss and I at the time didn't see eye to eye, and she suggested I move to the companies sister store and start managing people there. That was my first real foray into managing large numbers of people, and wow, did I love it.
It was the first time I got to see what my strengths were, and they were people. My creativity wasn't the tangible kind that I had always dreamed of having, but my creativity came out in solving problems and thinking about how a small tweak in a system could impact the people in it. To say that I was an immediate success would be a lie. I made plenty of mistakes and had to learn the hard way a few times.
After leaving, I made it my mission to work for a company where I could deepen my skill set and learn quickly. Careful what you wish for, right? I spent the next two-ish years traveling non stop across North America training, on boarding, and creating systems for the company. Once my body had had enough, I quit and started working for myself.
excerpt from Sara’s website
TAMMY:
It’s great to hear how your story took you on different paths to lead you where you are today. Often we don’t realize what goes into the success of another person and just see them for who they are today. It can cause self doubt, hence why I always want to dig a little deeper, so let’s keep going!
Who would you like to influence most in the world, if it could be anyone?
SARA:
Ideally, I would like to influence everyone since I believe that we all have the capacity to be leaders! But, I focus on small to mid-size business owners, because that's where I can affect the most change. Entrepreneurs are the nucleus of their community, and if they lead by example, there is a ripple effect. If everyone that comes in contact with their business gets to experience what leadership can look like, my hope is they are inspired to cultivate their own style of leadership as well.
TAMMY:
Can you tell me about your human first, leader second concept? It is so intriguing to me!
SARA:
It's been my experience that for many people, the word leader is loaded. It's full of expectations, pressure, and is generally impossible to achieve.
Most of us (myself included) have spent way too much time comparing ourselves to an impossible definition of leadership.
I'm just over here trying to rewrite what leadership is. Instead of that word being a source of anxiety, why don't we rewrite the definition? Each of us has the power to do that. I believe leadership is more about embracing who you are, understanding how to work with that instead of forcing yourself to fit an impossible ideal.
TAMMY:
What impacted your life that led you to want to help others?
SARA:
Making sure people are ok, talking through issues with them, and helping them recognize their magic, has always been my jam. But, what really made me double down on it was seeing people not being valued by companies. People come first, always.
TAMMY:
Do you enjoy difficult conversations?
SARA:
It seems odd to say I do, but I genuinely do! Let me explain myself. There is nothing I love more in this world than someone showing up and sharing their thoughts, feelings, and all the other good stuff. Given that all of us are wildly different, it's only reasonable to assume there will be disagreements.
If handled well, it's a genuine opportunity to get to know someone better, understand them more, and build trust between the two of you. What's better than that?
TAMMY:
Agreed! Have you always enjoyed this?
SARA:
Younger me came in hot and heavy, ready for any argument. Thankfully my professional life has allowed me to see how unproductive that is. There was a period in my career where I swung to the other side and was either very accommodating or avoidant. Fun fact those don't feel too hot either. After leading hundreds of people, I learned to refine my skills and find balance.
TAMMY:
I get that, avoidance has been a self protective attribute of mine.
Outside of your job, what are you most passionate about?
SARA:
Aside from the people in my life, which I am VERY passionate about. It would have to be learning. My curiosity is what keeps me going.
TAMMY:
What keeps you awake at night?
SARA:
Sometimes it's big questions like how am I going to get this message out to more people? How can I go deeper into my strengths and serve people even better? What needs to change for that to happen?
Sara McCabe website by PopBrandCo
And sometimes, it's silly little things like forgetting to send an email or cringing because of a typo ( I am not immune to the perfectionism monster!), but I do my best to put it all into perspective.
TAMMY:
Totally! It’s always the little things that pop into my brain at 3 am!
How have you used your time wisely during the social distancing?
SARA:
I don't quite know what spending my time wisely means? I've been giving myself extra time when I need it by taking weekends entirely off my phone. I've also offered some free coaching sessions because I see my community needs it.
To me, right now, at this moment, that feels good.
TAMMY:
So great, I think it just means honouring your time in a way that is healthy for you. On another note, how have you been wasteful with your time?
SARA:
It's tough to define wasteful because it's subjective. Let me share a quick story. When this was all going down, I had a few things happen; personally, that threw me for a loop. I resigned myself to the fact that the day was going to be a write off work-wise. In conversation with my peers, later on, we chatted about how odd it is to say that.
What's more important than dealing with your feelings so you can process them and move on? Historically our society has undervalued this kind of work and looked at it as unproductive. Those feelings follow us wherever we go; we're not nearly as good at compartmentalizing them as we believe ourselves to be.
To some that might seem wasteful to me, it's essential! I also need to add I recognize my privilege in being able to do so. I don’t have children, I can choose to work from home, I can set my own schedule. There is an immense privilege in that.
I love it! Thank you so much Sara! So much to think about and such wisdom. We appreciate you taking that time. xo Tammy
Congrats! You read the WHOLE thing! As a thank you Sara has put together a sweet little gift for you, grab it here!
hint: It’s about leading in stressful times, um kinda like now!
Well Founder
Tammy Zdunich interviews Sara McCabe
