What does it mean to have influence?
How do you make a difference in the world? Do you use your voice to empower, uplift, or inspire other people?
Or do you use your power mostly for your own benefit?
Leadership comes with responsibility, and there is nothing more inspiring than a powerful person who influences with integrity and considers the greater good. But authentic, conscious leadership is a journey and one that requires steadfast dedication.
We all know that there are plenty of leaders who don’t inspire us with their integrity, authenticity, or commitment to values — maybe we’re one of them. However, it’s never too late to be more intentional and meaningful in how you live and work, whether it’s as a leader, an entrepreneur, a business owner, or even a parent.
DotConnect’s Founder and CEO Dom Farnan knows all about transforming into an influencer with values. As a guest on Mike Saunder’s podcast Influential Entrepeneurs, Dom shared how she sets DotConnect apart from other recruiting agencies, what her company’s deeper values are, and how she has committed to leading with integrity.
Who is Mike Saunders?
Mike Saunders is an authority positioning coach who holds an MBA and hosts the podcast Influential Entrepreneurs.
He takes clients from obscurity to authority by creating an Authority Positioning Portfolio, a high level, highly personalized marketing strategy that helps clients emerge from hidden heroes to main players in their industries. Mike is a business expert who interviews elite business leaders such as our own Dom Farnan to help listeners learn from the best.
During this interview with Dom, she is uncovering what makes DotConnect so unique, how Dom is driven by strong values, and so much more!
Define Your Desires and Values
As you begin your journey towards making an impact with your influence, it’s important to get clear on what you want and what you value.
You need to take the time to uncover what lights you up and what your true wishes and dreams are. This could mean separating authentic wishes from things you think you need to have based on your personal or cultural conditioning.
This process can help you get clear on what you truly desire, whether it’s independence, freedom, or more time for your friends. You can use this as a compass to design your ideal work and leadership style.
Defining your values is just as important as defining your desires. What do you stand for? What do you care about in this world, above and beyond your desires? Maybe it’s honesty and authenticity. Maybe it’s compassion and care. Are you living up to your values? Or are you honestly falling short?
To undertake this journey, you might follow in the footsteps of Dom, who seeks out spiritual retreats, uses plant medicine, and practices breathwork to fuel her personal transformation. Dom found that these healing practices radically altered how she wanted to be in the world and be as a leader.
How You Can Uncover Your Desires and Values
You don’t have to attend a spiritual ceremony or do a practice like breathwork to gain clarity. There are many ways you can take an internal journey to reveal your authentic self. Some examples include:
- Journaling
- Hiring a coach
- Speaking with a friend
- Carving out time for reflection and contemplation
Take it from us — it’s so worth it. The more clear you are around your desires and values, the more you’ll be able to see if you’re living them out or not.
Make Sure Your Environment Matches Your Desires and Values
The environment you’re in has a huge impact on your ability to thrive. A positive, encouraging environment will support your long-term growth, help you do exceptional work, and nourish your entire being. Seek out teams, cultures, and people who value having a harmonious environment and honest, compassionate communication. No company or team is perfect, but if they’re trying, that’s a really good sign.
“In this day and age of the ‘me’ culture, we at Dot are really trying to change the paradigm back to a ‘we’ culture.”
The people you surround yourself with will have an impact on you, whether you like it or not. You can only keep yourself in a bubble for so long, so if you’re surrounded by people who don’t align with your desires and values, it’s time to consider making a shift.
Thankfully, the movement towards better work-life balance and work cultures that value people’s well-being is well under way. As more and more people wake up to what wasn’t working in the past — competition, cutthroat environments, and overwork — there are more positive teams blossoming every day. If you set your mind on it, you can find it.
Design Your Work Around Your Values
While on a path of evolution, it’s common to realize that we’re not exactly where we’d like to be — this is completely normal. We’re all constantly changing, and sometimes it just takes longer for our outer world to catch up with our inner world.
As you get clear about your values and intentions, you may need to redefine your company culture, shift your leadership or work style, or seek out job opportunities with organizations that align with your biggest priorities.
Does this sound challenging? It is, but it’s so worth it.
How We Align Our Work With Our Values at DotConnect
Our team is one of the leaders at the forefront of workplace evolution. By bridging personal insights with professional development, we’re helping to drive a new paradigm in workplace culture. We strive to create an atmosphere of mutual respect and collaboration, where the focus is power with instead of power over.
“Our values include: being mindful of yourself and others, having an awareness of how you’re contributing to the greater good, willingness to help, being growth-mindset oriented, having ownership and delivery, being very driven, and having fun.”
As you can see, Dom identifies some bigger picture things like contributing to the greater good and more simple things that we often forget in the professional space, like having fun.
Let Your Values Radiate to Your Clients
Next, you’ll want to bring your values to your clients.
“When we work with our clients, we’re really listening, processing, understanding, infiltrating, and then looking for win-for-all solutions for them, even if it’s not necessarily what they want to hear.”
The work we do for clients at Dot reflects our internal team values. We bring things like mindfulness, awareness, and intentionality to our clients, which makes them feel cared for. They’re not just a number to us, and we genuinely enjoy helping people.
“Ultimately, if you were to meet me or my team, you’ll get the immediate feeling that we really love what we do.”
While we strive for kindness and compassion, we’re also results-oriented, which means that won’t sugar coat what needs tweaking or improving on. This is inspired by Dom’s commitment to doing challenging but rewarding personal development work.
While our process is kind and personalized, our objective is always to earn success for our clients.
Shifting Into Conscious Leadership
Dom isn’t shy when it comes to describing her own journey into personal development and conscious leadership. She is proof that with a commitment to self-mastery and self-awareness, you can shift into completely new ways of being in the world.
Before embarking on her healing journey, Dom describes herself as a very different type of leader.
“I consider myself to have been a toxic corporate boss. I was micromanaging and perfectionistic. I had a lot of sabatoers that were working against me and not for me. Since then, I’ve tapped into my own spiritual awakening, my inner healing work, the consciousness masterminds I’m a part of, and different modalities that have helped me, like breathwork and plant medicine. … I [used them] to heal myself. This has, in turn, created a bigger opportunity for my company.”
Dom now brings the insights she gets from her ongoing personal development to her work. This means she does her best to remain emotionally neutral even when triggered, that she cultivates and nurtures trust between her and her team, and that she supports other people in their personal growth.
“I aspire to lead by example and really hold myself accountable, speak with integrity, and come to work as my whole, authentic self. That creates the space for my teams to do the same.”
She describes conscious leadership as having intention and awareness behind everyday choices that impact yourself, your team, and your community. For example, instead of reacting blindly to a stressful situation — such as micromanaging or being defensive — you slow down and choose a new, healthier way of responding. This takes work.
After experiencing the difference of showing up as your authentic self and implementing consciousness at work, Dom is passionate about helping other women who are shifting into being entrepreneurs and encouraging conscious connection.
“[I want to help] early stage female entrepreneurs … to stay inspired and motivated and get grounded in how they can tap into their own power and grow their companies. [I’d like to take] the lessons I’ve learned and [make] sure [it’s not] as difficult for them as it was for me when I was just starting out.”
In bringing self-awareness with her to work, Dom creates a ripple effect of mindfulness throughout her organization and among her clients. By holding yourself accountable to being the best version of yourself you can be, you can have a greater impact than you might imagine. This is the way forward for mission-driven businesses and visionary entrepreneurs.
Start Living Our Your Values With Dot Connect
Your influence impacts people in two ways: negatively or positively..
You can influence others to be mistrustful, fearful, competitive, and judgemental. Or you can influence people to be strong, supportive, and to live with accountability and impeccability. What type of influence do you want to have?
When you take the first step towards living with integrity, you may find yourself changing your values, your wants, and even your needs. This means you’ll have some restructuring to do. If you need help hiring the right people for your vision, reach out. We’re all about mission-driven recruitment.
And if you’re a job-seeker looking for a conscious company that aligns with your values, reach out to us! We’d love to find the right place for you.
We’ve helped visionary job seekers like you make their career visions come true, and we’ve helped businesses like Beautycounter, Samsung NEXT, and Zendesk find their dream teams, and we can do the same for you!
