Is there anything in the Being Boss book that is outdated?

Corey Winter 0:01
Welcome to 10 minutes to being boss, a bite sized show for creative business owners where we give you actionable insights, tools and tactics. I'm Corey winter, and here's your host Emily Thompson.

Emily Thompson 0:13
So, I totally just realized that our book, baby, birthday, or book baby's

Corey Winter 0:20
birthday, but it's not a baby anymore. It's a toddler,

Emily Thompson 0:24
it is a toddler is two years old in three days from recording this terrible twos. Terrible to she's going to be delight. Actually, whatever, I hope she causes a ruckus. For sure. Two years that blows my mind.

Corey Winter 0:39
And cue the irony. We had a listener buy the book recently, and she sent us a question in her question is, since it's two years old, and you've had a lot of time to think about what you wrote, is there anything in the being boss book that you feel after having three or four more years of experience that you think would need to be updated or revised? Are there things in the book that you see or would word differently today than you did when you wrote it?

Emily Thompson 1:03
Oh, my God, I love that someone has asked this question. Oh, it makes you so happy. Okay, so my gut reaction is no, in that, but like, but there's that there's an asterisk there. So I'll get to that in a second. I will say that. I feel like the being boss book holds. So true. So very true. And I can't speak for Kathleen here. But like, I feel like she would I feel like she would she would agree with me on this point, where we were very, very intentional about creating about writing this book in a way that it would be very timeless. Like we were even kind of weird about putting a link to the worksheets, and like, what if the internet dies in like, 50 years, and you can't, like are we gonna have to keep these worksheet pages out forever, we really wanted people to be able to pick this book up 10 1540 years from now, and it still feel very relevant for what it means to show up and do the work to, you know, create a life and work that's operating on your terms. So for the most part, no, I totally stand behind it. And I sometimes use it sometimes I'll pick it up. I remember, say, especially in like the worst of burnout. I remember having a day where like, I just need to read the Bebo's book. And so I picked up the book and read the mindset chapter. And it was so good. It was so great. And I that may sound okay, you're right, I know. But let me there's also a caveat there. Because Kathleen and I wrote it together. Whenever I read this book, I don't feel like I wrote it. Like I feel like there was like this third person that was created by Kathleen and I getting together to create this book. And so yes, I feel like if I had written it in my words, and we reading that, it would be really weird. But I don't whenever I read it, it's like I like I didn't write that book. I did not write I did write that book. But I did not write that book. So product that is that book now did not come from just me. So maybe it's ego, but like, I don't feel like it's ego. It's just a really good book.

Corey Winter 3:15
The thought of combining you and Kathleen into a third person. It's kind of terrifying write her name would be Kimberly, I feel

Emily Thompson 3:24
like we've had enough people pitch us to the wrong names that there's been like many weird iterations of our words, or of our names over the years. It's called being boss. Alright,

Corey Winter 3:36
so as timeless as the book was written to be, obviously the world's a much different place than it was two years ago, or even just a month ago as of recording this episode. So would you change anything from what is in the book now?

Emily Thompson 3:48
Okay, so yes, and I have thought about this a couple of times, this actually came up for me most when talking. When talking to a coaching friend of mine a couple of years ago, she's a couple decades older than me, and we're talking about values. And so values is one of those foundational exercises of being boss. We talked about it in common God, maybe the mindset chapter of the book I can't even remember, but it's so foundational, we have a page being bought clubs slash values, where we have like a quiz. It's very much so a part of how it is that we do business. It's also I think, the first exercise in our CEO day kit, it is sort of the foundation of moving forward with a business and life that you feel great about is understanding and living out your values. And in the being boss book. I remember Kathleen and I actually spent a lot of time talking about the difference between values and intentions because understanding your values and practicing your values and doing business with your values as sort of the foundation of what it is that you're creating is definitely a part of being boss. And then we also talk a lot about practicing intentions. And we spent a lot of time defining the difference between values and intentions because there's like, there actually, it's not black and white, it's not like here's values, and here's intentions there, it's kind of just like a bunch of gray muddiness between them. But to write a book, we had to get really clear as to what values are and what intentions are. And one of the differentiating factors that we gave them. And this definitely came from tons of conversations, and tons of sort of experience, talking bosses through these exercises and things was that values were things that held true for you for your entire life. So they're sort of these character giving elements of your being that don't change from, you know, childhood, through old age. And intentions, were things that you just tried on precise, just whenever you could practice intentions, any intentions, all day, every day, to change your map every minute, if you want, whatever it may be, but the values hold true. And I think one of the big shifts that I would make now is that I think your values change, at least a little bit throughout your life, and I'm thinking maybe there's like three or four big seasons of values in the span of your entire life. So it's not like this month, my values are these and these month, like, I'm a totally different person, I value these things. But I do think that the things that you value, whenever you're in college can be quite a bit different. And the things that you value and retirement, let's say, I think there can be a common thread, and I'm not that old. So maybe like I just haven't had enough experience yet to call it one way or the other. But through some conversations that I've had, especially with people who are older than me, or maybe it's even that as you get older, you sort of become more and more attuned to your values in a way that you couldn't when you were younger, but I think I would maybe change some language about the sort of characteristics of values. I think they can change.

Corey Winter 7:17
Okay, so I didn't tell you, I was gonna ask you this ahead of time. But for the values that you personally had back when you wrote the book, have you had any values change? No.

Emily Thompson 7:31
Oh, God, no, you know, I don't think so. I whenever I've gone back and look at some of my old CEO days, and that's one of my favorite things about the CEO day kit is that I can go back and see how my, how my, at least my perceptions of my values have changed over the years, and also how my revenue has changed my marketing plans and all those things. But for the sake of values, I do feel like there are sort of core two core values that I've held very true. And that's freedom and I think that one will never change in creativity. And I think that one also may never change. But every year there's like one or two others because we usually encourage people to choose like three or four values like what are these like hard core values that define your existence? There's like these two that kind of remain nebulous, that just kind of shift around and change depending on what's happening and all that to say like, I think you can claim I think you can claim values that are very important for you in the phase of life that you currently find yourself, but may just be the result of this season that you're in. But also I can also do a follow up to this episode when I'm like 80 and let you know if podcasts are still a thing and in the 2060s that's weird to think about right? So anyway, I think that's like of all the things in the book. I literally don't think I can think of another thing that I would change otherwise is a timeless beauty and like pearls and a leather jacket okay first of all you're talking about a toddler Um, so well she's real classy lady.

Corey Winter 9:16
She would win all the little toddler beauty pageants. Have questions, I'm looking for answers. Join bosses from around the world in the pain boss community, and be a part of an ongoing conversation about cultivating a boss mindset, creating healthy boundaries, some real life, business tactics and more, learn more and join us at being boss club slash community.