All We Need is LOVE | GenX Hits Menopause, E9
In "All We Need is LOVE", Heather sits down with author and purpose-driven leadership expert Mark Mears to talk about what real transformation looks like from a mid-life perspective, and how it often starts out with a hard landing or two.Mark’s book The Purposeful Growth Revolution: 4 Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder, isn't another business "framework". Rather, its a set of hard-won, composable processes that anyone can work with to build deeper purpose in their own every day life, and the lives of those around them. Mark lets us into his work to mentor his younger selves through success and failure on the way to the much deeper understanding he's sharing now.
Want to find and fulfill your purposeful growth potential as a leader and legacy builder? Check out Mark’s self-assessment tool (and more) at MarkAMears.com, or connect with him on LinkedIn.
All We Need is LOVE
Heather and Mark dive deep into listening differently — to yourself and to others — and why midlife is the perfect moment to start. Mark’s new book, "LOVE at Work", will introduce us to a new level of leadership that centers on authentic human connection (not romantic love). As he puts it, everyone is in the people business. If you’re not paying attention to how people feel, you’re not really leading anything.
Mark offers practical, doable ways to implement what he calls “purposeful growth” — not just in companies, but in communities, families, and relationships. Heather reflects on how Mark’s message lands especially well in midlife, when you’re finally ready to stop playing someone else’s game and start doing the kind of work that matters most to us.
Listen in to this inspiring conversation about leading with intention, living with integrity, and reclaiming your power — one choice, one connection, and one Starbucks order at a time.
Mark offers practical, doable ways to implement what he calls “purposeful growth” — not just in companies, but in communities, families, and relationships. Heather reflects on how Mark’s message lands especially well in midlife, when you’re finally ready to stop playing someone else’s game and start doing the kind of work that matters most to us.
Listen in to this inspiring conversation about leading with intention, living with integrity, and reclaiming your power — one choice, one connection, and one Starbucks order at a time.
Episode Highlights
I've got to believe
"I might see one or two or three people back, and I'll tell the person at the window at Starbucks, I'd like to pay for the car behind me - please tell them, God bless you, your debt has been paid. I'll drive away and I'll say a silent prayer for that person or people in the car. I don't know them. They don't know me. But Heather, I've got to believe in that moment, they feel valued. That someone would not only bless them with a cup of coffee or two or whatever, but give them an actual blessing."
The thing that was missing
"The thing that was missing was fulfillment... within the next two weeks, everybody on the executive management team was let go. Then they moved the offices from Southern California to their US headquarters in Dallas. Everything they said they wouldn't do, they did. That's not very fulfilling. This was supposed be the turnaround for the ages that would mark a high watermark for our careers."
I felt like a failure
"As the sun was coming up over this wall we had in our backyard, it shone on that fig tree, and there on the end of one branch was this tiny little green sprig of a leaf just starting to bud. It was in that moment I got this epiphany that 'leaf' is a symbol of growth and rebirth. I had been beating myself up that day and all night going, What could I have done differently? I felt like a failure. Now, here I had this sign that spring was emerging through this beautiful little bud. "
people will never forget
"The great, late great poet Laureate Maya Angelou, once said, I've learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. So how do we want to make people feel?"
who sees something in you
"When I finally was able to drive my little bike to the end of the street, stop, turn it around, and drive back to the edge of the driveway where my dad was standing there. I don't remember whose grin was bigger... he empowered me to be able to do it. Imagine if you're in the workplace and you have a leader, not a boss, but a leader who sees something in you and desperately wants you to grow into your full potential. Why is that important? Well, it's because you're not going to want to quietly quit that. You're not going to want to resign from that."
Listen
Spotify
Apple
