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

Meg, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

The most important lesson I learned from a previous job was how critical it is to build a company culture based on shared values.

The last company I worked for was Smart City Locating. I feel very fortunate to have been trusted early on to make broad decisions about hiring and growth strategies for the markets I led. It seemed like the leadership books that resonated most with me at the time all recommended building a great culture and trusting that the rest would fall into place. Thankfully at the company level, we were also encouraged to make hiring and termination decisions based on our company’s core values: being Honor-bound, Overachieving, Never Settling, remaining Optimistic, and being Real People. These values deeply resonated with my own.

When I was first hired, I wasn’t aware of how critical it was for employees and contractors to have personal values that aligned with the company’s values. However, as I grew within Smart City, I realized that what kept me engaged was being in an environment that fostered growth in areas I found important and championed values close to my heart. Considering the average American spends about 40% of their waking hours working, the impact of values alignment on our energy levels and productivity can’t be overstated.

My initial leadership role at Smart City was in the Austin, TX market. As a brand new leader, I made plenty of mistakes, but I remained committed to making decisions based on our core values. I hired, promoted, trained, and let go of team members based on these values. I set targets based on slower growth trajectories than other markets because I wanted to be very deliberate about the people I brought onto our team. I set metrics that I felt would best support our long-term vision and values.

As I grew within the company, I held fast to these ideals and my teams trusted me because of these values-based decisions. They knew the rules and eagerly held themselves and their teammates accountable. They too enjoyed being part of a group with shared values.

Some of the coolest things to observe were the side effects of this strategy. By focusing on values, the client experience greatly improved. We had employees and contractors who wanted to make sure that we did well as a collective, that they gave great service, and that we grew our impact. Our numbers reflected this: when principles were prioritized, closing rates soared, and people made more money. This happened largely because they worked together as a team, helping one another with clients and exponentially speeding up their individual growth.

Writing about all of this in retrospect might make it sound easy, but it was incredibly challenging at times. There were plenty of the tough conversations, sleepless nights, and difficult periods (days, weeks, sometimes months) that come along with any leadership position. I made wrong calls, stumbled, fell, and tried again. Thankfully, I had a team of like-minded individuals there to pick me back up at the end of each day.

Ultimately, building a culture rooted in our core values not only strengthened my teams, it drove our success and growth in remarkable ways. Making values-based decisions is not always easy, but there’s a reason this idea is so popular with business writers: it works. Learning this lesson has deeply impacted how I approach decisions in my own business and the way I coach my clients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi! I’m Meg Kerr, a Leadership Coach & Consultant. I founded Involve Austin to help overworked small business leaders improve their quality of life and surpass their goals. I do this by offering hands-on coaching and strategic conversations to nurture self-knowledge and accountability.

Many of my clients find themselves mired in the past. They may have uncovered some of the ‘why’s’ around their behavior: why they react to certain situations in a specific way, even why they find themselves in their current life circumstances. Yet they often aren’t sure about the ‘what’s’ or ‘how’s’: what they should do with that information, what they want their lives to look like in the future, how to move forward in a positive direction, and how to know if they’re making progress.

I believe that our lives are dictated by our habits. Whether we choose our habits or simply live with them is up to us. My clients and I delve into their values, visions, habits, and the review structures they have in place for themselves and their businesses. I refer to these collectively as an individual’s Foundational Framework.

What sets Involve Austin apart is our holistic approach to growth. I’m a firm believer that evolution starts from within. By creating spaces for leaders to explore and solidify their Foundational Frameworks, I empower them to make intentional choices that align with their true selves and long-term goals. Through this process, we create a ripple effect that extends far beyond individuals or their businesses. My greatest pride comes from witnessing my clients connect with their deeper selves and live in integrity with what they find. Through coaching, they can transform their relationships with themselves and others, ultimately creating a happier, healthier, and more productive community.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I don’t know exactly when or how I picked it up, but somewhere along the way I started to believe that I needed to “get rid of” my fears and the uncomfortable emotions, thoughts, and feelings that came with them. What I’ve found instead to be true is that in order to move past these fears, I first have to learn to live with them. This realization has come to me gradually, with new insights in different situations. While I’m sure these learnings will continue and deepen, I can share an example that highlights my current understanding of this lesson.

Throughout my life, I’ve struggled deeply with a fear of rejection. It took me years to name it. Was I really worried about failure, or was I more concerned about how others might perceive me if I failed? Was it perfectionism that held me back from starting certain projects, or was it the fear of rejection masking itself again? If I admitted to myself and others that I was afraid of rejection, would that lead to complacency, or seemingly worse, more rejection?

I came to realize that the more I tried to avoid rejection, the more it had a hold on my life. If I was afraid to try something because I might fail and face rejection, I wouldn’t aim for ambitious challenges. By not facing that fear, I was inadvertently allowing it to control my choices. It was an insidious voice in my mind that I perceived as truth. Naming the fear was a first step, but that didn’t eliminate years of conditioned behavior.

One day, as I was preparing to share some big news, that insidious voice grew particularly loud. In that moment, I had a stroke of insight. I thought to myself:
“There is a kernel of fear inside of me right now. By trying to ignore it or push it down, I’ve maybe succeeded in making it more compact or less visible, but that hasn’t eliminated it. Like a kernel of popcorn, compressing it only makes it denser. So what if, instead of trying to push it down or hide it away, I let it expand – let it pop – just like a kernel of popcorn? Allow that fear to fully express itself, pushing me to feel all the accompanying emotions, thoughts, and feelings. And, hey, who doesn’t love popcorn?”

I took out my journal and started writing down the worst possible outcomes. The worst rejection I could face. What it would feel like. All the worst-case scenarios, however unlikely they seemed to my rational mind. Then I asked myself, “What if the opposite were true?” What if, by sharing this news, I have a positive impact on the very people I imagined rejecting me? What if, instead of failure, I experienced greater success than I could imagine?

Two things happened: First, I realized that the truth would probably lie somewhere in the middle, as it usually does. It was unlikely that I’d experience either a huge failure or massive success from a single action. Second, I understood that even if one of the highly unlikely worst-case scenarios came true, I would be okay. I could face the rejection and live through it.

This process has transformed my approach to fear and significantly informs how I coach clients. While fears manifest differently for each of us, most are based on fundamental needs – in my case, the need for belonging. Rather than allowing these fears to control our lives, we can acknowledge them, sit with them, and let them pop and expand like a kernel of popcorn. By fully experiencing them, we can find a much greater sense of freedom and possibility in our lives.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There are so many! I believe I’m a product of learning from a lot of people who are a lot smarter than I am. Here are a select few that have greatly influenced my way of thinking:

Books
1. The Happiness Advantage – Shawn Achor
2. Trillion Dollar Coach – Alan Eagle, Eric Schmidt, and Jonathan Rosenberg
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
4. The Untethered Soul – Michael Singer
5. Atomic Habits – James Clear
6. Radical Candor – Kim Scott
7. Be Here Now – Ram Dass
8. Co-Active Coaching – Karem Kimsey-House, Henry Kimsey-House, Laura Whitworth, Phillip Sandahl
9. The Happiness Project – Gretchen Rubin
10. Excellence Wins – Horst Schulze
11. Good to Great – Jim Collins
12. Radical Acceptance – Tara Brach
13. The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin
14. The Infinite Game – Simon Sinek
15. The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron

Podcasts
1. The Tim Ferriss Show
2. The Knowledge Project
3. How I Built This

Contact Info:

• Website: https://involveaustin.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-kerr-01b05a56/

Image Credits

Marcus Neudigate Media