Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kate Walker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Kate, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In April 2021, in the middle of the global pandemic, I quit my incredible and well-paying corporate job. It was a job that I loved.

Why? I wanted to redesign my life.

Never mind that I had to send a kid to college in 4 months from the time of quitting, or had other financial obligations.

I’m going to be real. Redesigning your life is not for the faint of heart. It’s for the courageous, the bold. Change takes commitment and nerve. It takes a plan. Redesigning your life can be done in small increments. Or bigger increments. It’s up to you.

There’s a pesky little gremlin that sits on our shoulders. It’s called Ego. Which is our safety. Ego usually guides us toward the path of least resistance which is much easier. Comfort feels good. The human ego is wired to keep us safe and protected.

Ego tells us that ‘I just need one more certification before I feel qualified to start that project’ or ‘Once my kids are older I can leave my unhappy difficult marriage’ or ‘I just need to save more money before I really feel ready to make that investment’ or ‘I’ll quit that job and pursue my other dreams in a year or two’. The ego just goes on and on.

Change and redesign take intention. Let me share how I’ve done it.

Life evolves. Our needs change. Our desires change. Our likes change. We grow. We learn. We observe. We evolve.
As kids, many of us dream about ‘when we grow up’ and then chart a path. Adults ask us what we want to be when we grow up, and we feel compelled to fill in the answer straight away. Then, implement.

Our life often becomes the plan that we set years or even decades ago.

For me, it seemed like the proper life path was going to college, getting married, and pursuing an incredible career.

That’s what I did.

I was in a successful two-decade career as a human resources leader. Working for renowned global companies.

By way of my broad and diverse HR experience, I came to learn and identify the HR business areas that I loved working in. And importantly, the functional areas that weren’t as interesting to me.

I felt most lit up when I was leading 1:1 coaching and small group workplace conversations. I enjoyed strategizing, analyzing, solving problems, and getting to the action planning in order to get results. This is my zone of genius.

For the majority of my career I liked the structure and comfort of a corporate routine. Toward the end of my career, I wanted greater freedom and flexibility for how, who, what, and where I got my work done. And, stewardship over how much money I earned.

I decided that I wanted to be my own boss and design work and life on my own terms.

I began planning my exit from corporate. My planning was multi-faceted. It took financial planning, mindset work, visioning, goal setting, and more. The day I left corporate I had 0 clients. I had a general plan. And a boatload of trust in myself.

I knew I needed to fully depart corporate before truly building my business.

Here I am about 18 months later. I’ve had some days and moments of sheer panic. I’ve had some days of elation. As the months went by, I became more and more diligent with my mindset work. I mean, a ton of mindset work.

I now have an ever-growing HR consulting and executive coaching business – leveraging all of my years of business and HR experience. And, so many cool and unique new business friends.

Before I left my job, I began to think of this risk as “The 1 year experiment”. I could try anything for one year, right?

The risk is evolving into the reward.

Kate, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Kate Walker is a human resources expert and renowned thought leader on team dynamics, people leadership, business insight, and mindset.

Through her client engagements, social content, media contributions, and interviews – she empowers business professionals to design businesses, teams, and people processes that positively impact their professional success in a way they can be excited about.

Kate recently signed a publishing deal to author her memoir which is intended to inspire young women and others who are on their own self-leadership journey of reflection, pivots, empowerment, and massive success on their own terms.

She has been quoted in SHRM’s HR Magazine, Authority Magazine, Hive, Ivy Exec and more.

Combining her background in communication and human resources leadership with practical advice and a deep knowledge of business and mindset principles, Kate isn’t quite like any other “consultant” or “coach” you’ve encountered.

A true self-made women, while raising two boys as a single parent, Kate worked as a senior human resources leader before teaching herself entrepreneurship. She resigned from corporate life to launch her own business.

Kate’s mission has always been to empower current and aspiring leaders so they can elevate and inspire the business landscape with impactful strategies and processes. Ultimately, impacting results and bottom line.
Today, she is doing so.

Kate challenges and inspires people to take confident action as a part of them transitioning from what was to what will be. As a part of that endeavor, Kate has taken years of her own setbacks, successes, and gratitude, and distilled them into simple yet powerful lessons that will help anyone become whom they are truly meant to be.

As a competitive youth tennis player, Kate grew up learning the unfortunate approach “If you’re not winning, you’re losing”. After years of self-reflection and acting on new self-awareness, she repositioned her approach to be “if you’re not winning, you’re learning”. She influences others to embrace their strong suits and talents along with their uniqueness and flaws to have fulfilled and meaningful careers and lives.

Kate is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources – both SPHR & SHRM-SCP. She earned a B.A. Speech Communication from San Diego State University and is proud of her additional leadership and training credentials. She has over two decades of senior-level business experience working with thousands of individuals at various stages of their lives and careers.

She has worked for notable global companies such as The William Morris Agency, JWT, TBWA Chiat Day, Publicis, USTA, and Nintendo among others.

She works with C-Suite, leadership, people managers, and diverse teams. With over two decades of vast experience in Human Resources, she lasers in on people’s strengths and their untapped abilities to best serve them at a higher level. She has a listening heart, a non-judgmental demeanor and a competitive edge that serves all that work with her well.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

When I left my corporate job I hired business coaches to help me chart a course. I was immediately taught that social media was everything in business. EVERYTHING. I needed to be there. I needed to post. I needed to go Live. I needed to build the audience right away. There was an urgency to become, in essence, an Influencer in order to attract clients.

In my newfound frenzy, I learned a great deal about online marketing and social media. My training and learning was certainly valuable.

In the meantime, my clients were coming to me by way of referrals. Despite putting a lot of time and effort into social media, my business was growing from another source.

One day I came to ask myself – why am I so stressed out about social media? Yes, I can see some value. I don’t think it’s the end-all. At least not for my business.

I decided to shift strategy and drop my panic about social media. I would naturally put more of my outreach emphasis on connecting or reconnecting with former colleagues and similar-minded business people. Yes, some of these people I’ve synced up with by way of a social media platform.

I like to have authentic conversations with people about my business, and their business. Most importantly, how we can mutually support each other in our business growth and goals. Who’s our ideal client? We all have varied niches and areas of expertise. How impactful to referral people and potential clients to the best business that meets their needs. There is plenty of work to go around.

Network and connect with people authentically. Share your story. Share how you help people. Support each other.

Any advice for managing a team?

One word. Communication.

I’ve been working with leaders and teams for decades.

1. Don’t take good performance for granted. Just because performance is going well doesn’t mean you have a pulse on the whole picture. People need your time, attention, and care. This means frequently checking in with team members; both formally and informally. Monitoring the pulse of your team is an intentional effort.

2. Conversely, don’t let questionable performance languish. You must begin a stronger communication plan with the individual and shore up support. Get more 1:1’s on the calendar and initiate more touchpoints of support and guidance through different communication channels. Observing a low performer for a period of time can impact overall team morale.

3. Don’t assume your team happiness level “is great”! Again, you need to continue to pulse in with them. In the office, this meant management by walking around, chatting with people, listening, observing, and so on. In this new world, these manager behaviors are still important but come by way of more video meetings, messaging, and so on. Watch body language. Ask questions that show your curiosity and support both personally and professionally.

4. Curate culture. Find time to have fun with the team. Levity is important during a stressful time. Plan a virtual coffee chat, virtual happy hour, schedule a lunch outing. Or, provide a bonus day off from time to time.

A strong communication approach, tailored to each individual, is the goal. These behaviors show that you are aware, observant, and have an intentional communication plan. This 100% helps maintain high morale for all.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katewalker.com
• Instagram: @thekatewalker
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kate-walker-sphr