Today we’d like to introduce you to Rita Ernst

Hi Rita, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

I fell in love with Psychology in high school. Then, the summer before my senior year, I was selected to participate in a special student exchange program in Japan. That summer, I lived with a host family in Yokohama. I was fascinated by Japanese culture and developed an interest in international business. Seeking to combine these passions, I found the emerging field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology. There weren’t many programs or courses at the undergraduate level, so I entered college knowing my true goal was acceptance into a graduate program in this field. I quickly realized that my passion was in application versus scientific study. So, upon completion of my Master’s degree at Clemson University, I stepped into my professional career.

Throughout my corporate career, I worked within the Human Resources function. First, I was employed by US-based manufacturing companies to implement Japanese-inspired team-based operating models. I loved this work and enjoyed it for about three years before the push for greater profit margins overtook the manufacturing sector, eventually leading to NAFTA and the relocation of those plants outside of the United States.

This was the heyday of management consulting firms, just before the Enron scandal. The fad was “re-engineering,” and my work shifted to change management. US manufacturing was steeply declining, and I decided to change industries and locales. I accepted an offer in San Francisco with the resurging retailer Gap Inc., which is hands down my favorite corporate experience.

The traditional masculine culture of the Midwest was nowhere to be found at Gap Inc. Age, gender, sexual orientation, and religion had no hold on the company norms. It was a “what have you done for me lately” system that demanded the best and rewarded it. I played a significant role in developing the business’s performance management tools and systems. Once finished, however, I recognized that the implementation required the evolution of the HR function from transactional to relational positioning. I moved into my first-ever generalist role and began to shape the role into what is known as HR business consultancy.

I was now a decade into my career and finally working with the global sourcing team. I had functional responsibility for the HR leaders outside of the US. I traveled to India, Dubai, Egypt, Singapore, Hong Kong, Turkey, and Italy. I was living the dream of my high school self when my father-in-law, living halfway across the country, received a terminal diagnosis. My first child was just an infant, and traveling by airplane every time we could get away wasn’t going to work. My husband and I decided to relocate back to the Midwest.

Wishing to continue pushing the HR function into a respected thought partnership position, I changed industries once again. I joined a large health insurance company that was shifting from transactional to relational HR. Returning to this part of the country also meant returning to those old cultural norms that felt restrictive. My ability to contribute was limited by my age, my gender, and my unwillingness to return to the traditional corporate dress code. The operating norm was grounded in scarcity and winner-take-all-all thinking and behaviors. It was not a good fit for me.

Now, 15 years into my career, my husband convinced me that I deserved a sabbatical. My daughter had just over a year before she would start kindergarten, so it was the perfect time for me to enjoy more time with her and regroup. Immediately, I began receiving requests to provide consulting to smaller businesses in the local community. I gladly accepted these freelance gigs as they stimulated my mind. I was able to plan my schedule so that I could work when my daughter attended preschool. I finally felt harmony between my roles as a mother and professional.

The day after she got on the school bus for the first time, I headed to the hospital to deliver my second child. Around a year later, I received a referral from a colleague in California. I wanted to continue being free to work when and how it fit into my broader life, without any imposed expectations or restrictions. So, in 2008, I officially branded my business, and Ignite Your Extraordinary was born.

At first, I only worked with one client at a time. As my children grew and spent more time in school, I increased the number of clients and the amount of work I took on. I also volunteered weekly in my daughters’ grade school, helped coach the school cheer team, and coached competitive gymnastics. I found the perfect blend to create a whole life I enjoyed.

Now, my older daughter is graduating from college, and my younger is about to finish high school, giving me the freedom to travel and increase my professional presence. In 2022, I wrote my first book, “Show Up Positive,” which launched my professional speaking career. In 2023, I expanded my collegial collaborations by joining the World Happiness Summit and Positive Intelligence coaching communities and co-authoring “Culture Impact: Strategies to Create World-changing Workplaces.”

My professional focus is Positive Psychology and well-being. I keynote conferences, lead mastermind communities, and continue to consult with company owners and executives to forge unquittable workplaces people love.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

At this year’s World Happiness Summit, I learned a new definition of happiness, “Happiness is wanting what you have; everything else is stress” (Fred Luskin of the Stanford Forgiveness Project).

Focusing on what you don’t have is the opposite of the smooth road. When I reflect on the most fulfilling times in my career, I was doing work I loved with people I appreciated and valued in my life. I wanted what I had, and I was happy. However, even when I worked for toxic bosses, that didn’t rob me of my happiness because I stayed focused on the work and the others around me, which gave me what I wanted.

Honestly, I recently realized that I created the biggest struggles I had along the way because I didn’t recognize and value my own need for boundaries. Dr. Devon Price, author of “Laziness Does Not Exist.” recently said that when you resent others at work because they are not working as hard as you, it is a signal that perhaps you need to do less.

I was a slave to the productivity grind, but it can only take you so far. Eventually, I would do the ROI math on my life and feel extremely dissatisfied. Luckily, my husband was outstanding at grounding me and reminding me that the choices were mine. This is likely the only reason the burnout bullet missed me during my corporate career.

From my seat now, as a business owner, being a practitioner with a steady paycheck seems like an easy gig. However, getting out of my practitioner mindset and embracing the multi-faceted requirements of building a business was a significant challenge. When I first started, several people told me my professional fees were too high. This created many years of mental battles around money and charging my worth.

I am also a bit of a social introvert. I am an outstanding wingwoman for my clients at networking events, and I feel super comfortable if I have a job that requires me to engage with everyone. However, when it is just me and a room full of people I don’t know, I tend to find an excuse not to attend. Cultivating relationships with other women business owners, I can count on to join me has been the best antidote.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?

Ignite Your Extraordinary uses psychology to ignite positivity at work and improve performance, culture, and well-being. Our services are customized to each client and focus on individual, team, and organization-wide interventions that result in best-in-class employee experiences, healthy team and organizational cultures, personal well-being, and improved company performance.

For individuals, Rita specializes in personalized coaching and group masterminds focusing on improving results through intentional shifts in mindset and behavior.

Rita works with teams and organizations to identify sources of decline in performance and morale. Then, she delivers customized programming to reconnect and repair dysfunctional norms and habits at all levels.

Rita also offers speaking and workshops to educate teams and leaders on the most recent research and trends in motivating workers to achieve their best.

Most recently, Rita has established her authority as an expert in forging positive, healthy workplaces through her #ShowUpPositive movement based on her 2022 book “Show Up Positive.” The movement includes free weekly resources to increase positive thinking and behaviors at work and purchasable tools, including workshops and self-paced learning modules.

You can learn more at www.igniteextraordinary.com

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?

I was a highly motivated, high achiever, even as a young person. I excelled academically, was a band geek, and loved playing sports. I took advantage of Title IX, playing basketball, softball, and volleyball. I sang competitively and played trumpet in the jazz band and orchestra. I took top honors at the social studies fair throughout middle school and appeared on television in high school with my academic quick recall team. In junior high school, I was involved in the student government association, becoming class President.

My youngest memories are all outside. I grew up in the decades when parents sent you outside to play for the day, and you were only allowed inside for lunch and dinner. I played all the time with whoever was available in my neighborhood. I loved riding bikes, rollerskating, and four-square.

I grew up in a very religious household. We attended church thrice weekly, and I immensely enjoyed our youth group. I was a puppeteer in the children’s church and participated in many district and regional youth activities.

I was surrounded by family, educators, and friends who told me I could be and do anything. I was free to pursue my interests, with financial restrictions being my biggest limit.

I was never popular, and I was never bullied. I had a core group of friends I made in middle school who were just like me, and we stuck together. I always knew I would go to college and have a professional career.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.igniteextraordinary.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/igniteextraordinary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/igniteextraordinary
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@igniteextraordinary
• Other: https://ignite-extraordinary.ck.page/profile

Image Credits

Coral Abood, Willow Tree Imaging