Space for Growth with Tamara Sniffen

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Tamara Sniffen

I really believe in the power of space. Something happens, and then you immediately want to react. And how do you catch that little moment? How do you find the space between what has happened to you or what you’ve heard and how you want to respond? Or how you want to react? How do you find that space? And maybe you think once. How do you find that split second think again, and handle it differently to really make a difference that that’s really been a big part of my journey of being a being a better leader being a better person because you find that space to react and speak differently.

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Priscilla Brenenstuhl
Welcome to Voices of Athena a podcast highlighting the personal side of the remarkable women that make up the Athena Alliance, a learning community for executive women. I’m your host Priscilla Brenenstuhl. Today we are joined by Tamara Sniffen,Vice President of Commercial Excellence who is focused on driving growth and operational improvement, leading transformation and M&A integrations and developing leaders.

Ann, I would love for you to tell me how you would describe yourself.

Tamara Sniffen
I would describe myself very high energy. I love being productive. So I’m not, I’m not a sitter ever. I’m always like, How can I be productive? How can I grow things? How can I improve things and then been like that since I was a little kid. I’m a servant leader. I love my people I love I’ve always led large teams and love driving results together, making sure everybody’s rowing in the same direction and having fun and watching others reach their full potential. So servant leadership is, is definitely me. Personally, I’d love to to work out I do a lot of yoga, I did a run with a friend this morning hiking, being outside and active is is is what I love what I love. Yeah. Yeah, transformation change big, hairy problems.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
That’s your magic sauce.

Tamara Sniffen
That’s a match. I’m very comfortable with change management. I like to grow things. And I know that what got us here won’t get us there. And so I’m always focused on, you know, how do we how do we scale for growth?

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
it’s such an important thing, quality to embrace change and a position of leadership. It’s like, you have to otherwise, you know, and and not everybody can do that. Right. Like, I know, a lot of people who say their biggest fears change. And I’m like, you’re probably not going to be in a leadership position. I think that that’s one of the key qualities that I hear from a lot of people in this position. Yeah. Got him lean and embrace it. What are you like, where are you now? What’s keeping you up at night? What are you excited about?

Tamara Sniffen
Yeah, so I I’ve been at Stryker, that med tech fortune 250 for almost 24 years. I’ve been a VP for 15 years and probably one of the the youngest or the youngest female VP. And in the last few years, I’ve just found some really big projects. I went Coronavirus hit, I was put I was one of two that led what we called the cat team, the corona virus action team. So go think like, you know, March, early March, when I’ll actually I had because I was in global supply chain. I was already working on parts that weren’t going to come from China because China had COVID in the January February timeframe. But when it’s when it hit the US, myself and one other gentleman Ryan years, we were put in charge of the Coronavirus action team. And you can imagine overnight, you’re in charge of 45,000 employees safety’s right. And are we going to let them go to to work? Well, if you can work remote, you’re gonna work remote. We’ve got a lot of frontline employees because it’s medical devices and we had to ramp up things like our stretchers and beds to deal with the hospital overload. So think stepping back and running that for months right kind of came out of my day job and was rolling out policies overnight. I went from that role into strikers largest integration, we purchased a company called Wright medical for $5.6 billion, a billion in revenue. And for almost two years now, I’ve been integrating the supply chain for Wright medical and the Stryker trauma and extremities division. And so coming off of running the cat team, and off of this two year crazy integration, and then global supply chain challenges on top of it and hospitals going through what they’re going through with their workforce and, you know, their own mental health crisis taking care of everybody the last few years. What’s keeping me up at night is you know, how, how do I stabilize things for our customers, and for the team back to that servant leadership as we turn the corner in 2023. Everybody’s just been through a lot. And so how do we set up to have a more well balanced 2023? That’s really what’s top of mind for me. Yeah, really patient encounters and employees.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
change and transformation is great. It’s necessary. But yeah, I think we’re all ready for a little stability, predictability, a little rest a little reprieve, and also ready to like, build on what’s possible, because what it did is it highlighted all the potential the potential for chaos But I mean, imagine us you’re suddenly you said you’re you know, you’re CAT Is that was that the acronym? Yeah, it’s like, suddenly you are responsible for them. But in a situation that’s really unpredictable, like there was still a lot of unknown variables. And so trying to make decisions and navigate in that way, that sounds very sounds very high pressure. Thank goodness, you said that you are comfortable and excited by transformation. But I think part of what is so excited about exciting about transformation is what’s possible on the other end of that transformation. And so now it sounds like you’re kind of, you know, on the other side of that, and able to, like, use your perspective to survey the landscape and see how to move forward. Yeah, exactly. sounds intense, though.

Tamara Sniffen
It was intense. It was intense. And we’re not, you know, it’s not through all the global supply chain challenges, either. It’s, we’re still we have backorder in the hospitals. And that makes it really challenging to do surgeries in cases. And

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
yeah, and they’re constantly saying, oh, there’s going to be a new virus or corona shape shifting, or now a recession. So there’s all these kinds of something looming. But we all have to take it one day at a time, while we’re also planning for the future.
So what song are you singing karaoke?

Tamara Sniffen
So I have a song that has been stuck in my head that I’ve been singing everywhere I go. And it’s that Abba song, Waterloo. You know, like, what a loon was defeated. You won the war, you know, the Abba song.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
I didn’t know that’s what they were saying. Yeah,

Tamara Sniffen
I know. Yeah, we have a we have a water. There’s a Waterloo, South Carolina. And I’ve been in business reviews and we’re doing some strategics we have a I manage little warehouses, little medical device warehouses as part of the supply chain responsibilities. And we have this Waterloo hub in South Carolina, and we’re doing some strategic stuff there. And the manager keeps, you know, Waterloo, and I just like, oh my gosh, that song is stuck in my head. So I’ve been singing it. My son and I were playing it last night. And he you know, he’s 14 And how old? Oh, that’s amazing. Where did it come from? So yes, I’ve got Waterloo Waterloo stuck in my head. So I think it would be singing Oh, cool. I

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
love like when when songs sometimes. I mean, mostly I love when songs were surface. Sometimes I don’t because they were surface with like, a, like a remix. And I’m like, No, you can’t do that to that song. I like a lot of old classics. But it’s amazing how music kind of links the generations. You know, so much of my core memories with my own mom are linked to music, like just music we would clean to the to In the Kitchen songs that we would sing on the radio while we’re driving in the car. So I love that music. I mean, it’s like it’s like a smell right? If you like it can be taken back to to a time. Speaking of can you tell me about? Like, what’s a childhood memory? This is this is an audience question that came up. It actually came up from my biggest fan, which is my brother. Oh. He said, I want to know, like a childhood memory that sticks out for them. That is like, still so vivid for them today.

Tamara Sniffen
Yeah. So I have it, you know, it’s not necessarily one memory. But what sticks out for me is things that they said that were like, written with a sharpie pen in my brain, you know, it’s like they said it so many times. It’s like it’s permanent on their permanent black Sharpie pen. And my parents were fabulous. At PT I have a sister who’s a year and a half younger and we’re best friends. So I love the that your brother’s asking this question. But they pounded into us that we could do anything you can anything and you can go anywhere. The sky’s the limit. You have the potential we’ll help you get there. And I think you know, I mentor a lot of young girls now and there’s sometimes limitations or expectations or you should do this or you should behave this way. And my parent you know my these these vivid memories of my parents just that whole concept of sky’s the limit and one example, I went to UC Davis for undergrad and studied Japanese there. And the professor, one of my professors I studied for several years said, there’s the Japanese exchange and teaching program in Japan and you would be fabulous teaching English to the, to the jacket, Japanese students. So my senior year of college I applied, I got accepted. And I was ecstatic to be moving to Osaka, Japan. Now this grew up in little sleepy Mendocino. 19 girls in my graduating class from high school, I think 50 of us in total, never had been on an airplane with my parents. And I tell my nor had anybody this is back before anybody was going to Asia, or certainly my parents had never been to Asia. And I told him, I said, I got this job in Osaka, Japan, and I’m going to go live for two years. And I think about that now I’ve got two teenage boys, 14 and 16. And it’s like, I don’t want to, you know, it’s scary as a parent, and they must have had their own fears. But they were so excited for me and whatever fears that they did have, they did not show and, and so I just think that to these, these early memories of they, whatever fears they had for me, they were never going to talk about them, they were never going to show them because back to that you can do anything, and we’re not going to put any boundaries on you as you explore and learn and develop. And so I’m just really grateful that, that that was the upbringing I have. And I think part of the, what we talked about earlier of that change, and the transformation and the, the comfort in what’s unknown, really stems from what they told me and, and just sort of the leadership that they provided for me. So I’m really, really cognizant about helping those early in their careers. Understand, you know, we don’t put any limits on yourself, don’t let anybody else put any limits on you, right, you figure out what is best for you, and you go for it. And so yeah, that’s probably one of my, my earliest memories, very thankful for that.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl 22:15
Huge, because I mean, as a, as a mom, I’m, I’m more scared than I’ve ever been in my life. I mean, I’ve always considered myself a free spirit. But now that I have kids, I’m just like, afraid of everything. You know, and I tried to move past that. And again, I try not to show fear and let them you know, not helicopter parent or whatever. But it’s not easy to do. I’m thinking about like how when you said about expectations, it’s like it’s, it’s, it’s really hard to discover yourself and what you love and what you’re good at under the weight of expat expectations of others. And when you have the idea that with change and transformation, that that there’s a safety in that. That’s super profound, that’s a super big gift for them to give you and then you can say yes, so many more times. Even when you’re not sure. Even when you’re not can I do Oh, I’d be good at this. Okay, sure. Let’s give it a shot. You might be like, what are no, I can’t do that. And so many of us have self limiting beliefs.I mean, when you were saying like those things written in Sharpie across your head, some of the things that came up first for me, were some things that were said to me that we’re not so encouraging that if really kind of may have given me some pause or some self doubt. And I think it makes all the difference, you know, because you, you, you grow up with that voice in your head, you grow up seeing those words, and I’m sure now you’re even hearing yourself say those words to your own children. And you said you mentor, I think I read too. It was girl, women who are first time college

Tamara Sniffen 24:25
Yeah, first generation students. I’ve just started. We’re in our first pilot, and myself and four other fabulous very successful women are mentoring with a group of eight first generation college students, some some in their senior year of college, some maybe a year out. And we all mentor them. We bring them together once a month. And we run them through a module, we’ve got six modules. So it’ll be six, six months, we just finished our fourth one on Tuesday on networking. And we’ve written they’ve they’re creating a network one with the five successful later in career women, they’re creating a network with themselves. We’ve helped them network to find jobs, internships, and really, you know, if their parents don’t have the networks that we do, and so we’re looking to really to help them just flourish and reach their potential

This idea came from when I came back from Japan, I was landed in Silicon Valley there, there’s, you know, nobody’s using the internet to find jobs at the time. And I was lost, like, how do I, you know, it’s a big transition, that you think it’s a big transition going to a foreign country? And sometimes the the return is, is, it’s more difficult, right? And I didn’t have a job and you have the pressure of the parents, like, what are you going to do next? And yeah, and you need to why don’t you go knocking on business doors and just talk to him at the front and see if they’re hiring, it’s like, That was scary, right. And I think I was reading help wanted ads in the newspaper to find my, my next opportunity. And, gosh, I could have really used a network like we’re creating, right? A women’s like, okay, what are your What are your strengths we started with, what are your strengths, then we talked about how to do your LinkedIn profile, and how to write your resume. And we did self self branding and self confidence into networking. So crush i, we kind of designed it for that need that we all had back in our early 20s. Right. And it’s just been fabulous.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
So I love I love to hear that you’re doing that. That’s pretty cool.

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Priscilla Brenenstuhl
I’m kind of going back to what I said about what I heard. When you said the things written in Sharpie and I was it brought up for me like insecurities that I foster, blue Share with us and insecurity that you have, that you are the one that you’ve overcame,

Tamara Sniffen 28:15
yeah. So one that has haunted me at different points in my career as imposter syndrome. I think being on a senior leadership team, so young and early and only female 29 senior leadership team for the first time of one of our largest divisions, Stryker endoscopy. All men, all men with stay at home wives, that were most of them a decade older than me, and it was intimidating. You know, I didn’t necessarily feel like I belonged at the table and the doubt that you’re bringing the value that you should, and that was 20 years ago, before we talked about the value of diversity and diversity of experiences, you know, gender diversity ever, you know,

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
there were we had a name for imposter syndrome before we had a name to identify what that feels like. Yeah, exactly. And so

Tamara Sniffen
Oh, gosh, until I turned 40 It was once I turned 40. I’m like, Yeah, I’m old enough. I do belong, I should be here. Now I met this. What you know, point in my career where, gosh, my my oldest son is driving, they get themselves up in the morning, they get themselves to school I’ve got all this time and they either at their football practice, they come home at seven they don’t need me at seven. So I have all of this this time. And so now I’m thinking, I love to see things grow. Can I get on some advisory boards and help other businesses grown like I’ve helped Stryker grow from 2 billion when I started to the 17 18 billion is today I find some advisory boards, these the women that I mentoring, helping them grow. But even though I have a little impostor syndrome around, do I belong on advisory boards? Right, do I. So I think, even though I’ve grown in this area, it’s something that, you know, you always have those those insecurities.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
Does it ever go away? Or is it just something that you have to learn to, like, manage and work through? And how do you how do you manage it? How do you work through it?

Tamara Sniffen
Yeah, I think by putting yourself in raising your hand and trying, you, you grow, I think about that leadership position that I stepped into, at the time I was running, regulatory and quality. I’m an operations supply chain, Gal leader. And to run regulatory and quality, I told her for a month, you’re crazy one, I’m the I don’t belong on the senior leadership team to either I have no business running regulatory and quality. That’s not my area of expertise. They had had a lot of turnover. They needed somebody that could come in and hire talent, build, team and collaboration, someone that can drive results. And they’re like, you can do those three things, you’ll figure out the experts for regulatory and quality, we just need somebody that can really stabilize and then grow and then we’ll spin you off to something else. It was the hardest two years of my career running regulatory equality and maybe not the most favorite job. But I look back at that now. And I was hyper developed, hyper developed. And so those challenges with the large right medical integration are leading the corona Coronavirus Action Team, had I not done some of those really hairy roles early in my career, I would have been prepared to step into to the midst of crisis to protect and help 45,000 Stryker employees, and our patients and customers by making sure that those that needed to continue to build medical devices could during during that time, so we could support the hospitals to care for the patients. So it’s, you know, you see, at the time, I didn’t want to raise my hand, but it’s just I think so important that we just push ourselves and say, Okay, I’m, I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna take this leap.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
And so important that we have mentors around us who encouraged us and see things in us that we can’t yet see, it’s really important that you had that and so wonderful that now you are recognizing that importance, and I’m able to help other people too. And I love what you said, I turned 40 In February, and it’s like, it’s interesting, because I’ve been having this kind of have two small children and but I’ve been I’m there I’m like, oh my god, I’m 40. Like, like, wait, I I’m like old enough to be pursuing those things that I thought were too lofty or out of scope. Now. I’m already thinking like, I should be there already, like, get on it. It’s very interesting that you said that, because I’m definitely having that as I approach 40 It’s like, some, there’s some big you know, it’s a new decade, there’s like this big shift and what I should be doing, but what I could be doing, and ways in which I’ll put myself out there. So that’s a little confirmation for me, for sure.

Tamara Sniffen
Have you read the book? How to raise an adult? Oh, no. Oh my gosh, you were talking earlier about putting you know that the helicopter or the Overeem parent, this book will unleash you it is i It’s one of the best parenting books I’ve read it’s fabulous in terms of storytelling and tools that you can implement. It’s written by Julie lick cough hanes and she was the dean of the freshman class at Stanford. So she had, you know, a decade of spending time with 18 year olds transitioning out of the out of the home into university. And it’s all her research and her stories of those that had hovering parents and helped them get to Stanford, right like the tutors and the I’m going to do the cooking and cleaning you just have to do the studying versus I’m going to raise you to be an adult and adulting is really complex and adult teens, a lot of responsibility and you’re going to do all of those things before you get to 18 so that you are an adult it’s it’s really fabulous. And I again 14 and 16 and you may see them walk on in here while I’m on video and they will come they will cook their breakfasts they will pack their lunches and they’ll get in the car they won’t even say boo to me And they’ll get themselves off at 14 and 16. And it’s like, they’re, they’re ready to adult. And this book has just been fabulous. And

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
it’s, it’s really, it’s a really fine line and complex to figure out those boundaries and those skill sets and to want to be needed and to want to be integrated in their life and also to want to, to set them up and to make those hard decisions.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
What’s your biggest fear?

Tamara Sniffen
I think my biggest fear is that I don’t really feel my full potential. Like, I’ve got a lot of gas left in me. And people are like, Oh, you’ve been at Stryker? 24 years? Are you going to retire soon? It’s like, No, I’m like, the kids. We’re almost out of the house. I’ve got all this time, I’ve got all this wisdom. Like, I’m just getting started. Just getting started. Are you kidding me? But you know, I have this funnel analogy where I’m exploring all these balls right now. Right, like meaning fabulous people through Athena? And what are the possibilities in terms of learning what other people are doing? What are those possibilities, starting spark growth for women mentoring these women? And how do we do more of it, right, like, I feel like I’ve got all these balls in the air. And eventually, the funnel is going to come down in the right, couple of opportunities will pop out of the, but I’m having a lot of fun exploring it. But I guess that that fear of, do I pick the right things that are that are big enough, that will really make the impact that that I want to make. So that’s my fear is that I don’t get there and back to the productivity like I just, I love to be productive, productive. I love to see things grow. And whether that’s business or people and like, how big is that and making sure that I’m locked DNF and achieving that?

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
Yeah, I love that. But I’m also like, I don’t know, my mind is going all over the place. So I I have no idea what’s about to come out of my mouth. And we’re just gonna go because, like, I hear that. And I also wonder, like, isn’t it all valuable? Like what is big and lofty like, and I don’t know why the analogy is coming up, but like, maybe I plant a seed that like turns into a tree and I put all my energy into that this big tree, you know, or maybe I’ve planted a bunch of seeds, and I’ve turned it into a garden. And it’s all these little, you know, and like, Yes, isn’t isn’t aren’t those both valuable and if you can kind of lead with your heart and stay with what excites you? I think I think probably because we’re talking so much about Mother and Child and all of this stuff, but I’m thinking like, feel like I like as a as a woman, woman to woman, mother to mother, but also is like, child to mother, all of that I feel. Sometimes that there can be no greater success than to like, follow your joy or your happiness. Oh, so true. Cultivating that? Yes, for sure. That’s like the most productive thing like, wow, you know, like my mom, her like, she tried new things. She she, you know, led with her heart and was compassionate, like passionate about what she was doing and said yes to things. I feel like just that, just that energy, that for life. Yeah. Yeah, that lifeforce that is productivity, to be able to keep that it’s hard

Tamara Sniffen
for that. So true. So true. And the and, you know, the boys do see that, you know, I had the spark cohort, these fabulous women over on Tuesday night when we did the networking module, and they’re so proud, like, Oh, mom will be quiet when we get home from football, like, Oh, you’re doing spark tonight, that’s so fabulous. And they want to know about the different ladies and what jobs they’re going to do. And, you know, you can tell that and they’re telling their little girlfriends, you know, my mom mentors, you know, young women, so if you need it. They’re there. So probably see it, I Yeah, so you are planting seeds, seeds everywhere,

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
and your life will keep shifting and shaping as it has is, the more that you keep saying yes, I mean, your opportunities will come that you won’t, the things that have landed into your lap are likely things that you didn’t even consider, you know, 10-15 years ago. So I think it’s really exciting to kind of ponder and imagine all that unknown, like how we started that conversation, kind of living with the joy of not knowing, and your dreams being bigger than you can imagine. I don’t think you can make a wrong. I don’t think you can make a wrong choice, I guess is what I’m getting at. Especially with the attitude that you have.

Tamara Sniffen
Yes. And I and I that’s I love that I keep reminding myself of that.

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Priscilla Brenenstuhl
Will you tell me about a life defining or life changing moment?

Tamara Sniffen
Yeah. So since we’re on the topic of kids, I’m going to start with a story about my son Makoa my husband’s Chinese Hawaiian, hence the name Makoa. What does it mean? Sorry, I’m, like courageous or fearless. Makoa means courageous or fearless. Yeah. And he is courageous are fearless. So in I’m gonna give you a little context of my family, and then tell you the story. So like my dad, who has now passed, but he was a fabulous gourmet cook made wine for 25 years with his two buddies with a drive to Napa fill up the truck with grapes come home, make their wine. During the week he would. He was a building contractor, but he’d come home at night and he’d make these gourmet meals and he would test them out on my sister, my mom and I, he might make the same meal two nights, three nights in a row so that when he had his dinner party on Saturday, it would be perfect. Any Democrat,

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
I want this life for myself

Tamara Sniffen
reductions and yeah, so he was this. My husband is a fire captain. And you know what they do at the firehouse? Right. They barbecue are they yes, they they fight their fires, but they go, they go shopping and they they they they cook fabulous meals for one another. My sister has my sister also works at Stryker. She’s been here 25 years, can you believe it. So I’ve been here at Stryker train for superior 25 Her husband works at Apple. And but he also total Gourmet and was like a little protege for my, for my dad. So you kind of get the theme here. So when Makoa was he’s probably like five or six at the time. And my sister has a daughter Maddie, they’re six months apart. And they were outside playing on one of those little toy kitchens, you know, the little, like countertop stove and the you have the little plastic pots and pans and their, their MCO is on there. And he’s moving the little pots and pans around and on the little toy kitchen. And Maddie comes over and she’s trying to get in there and play with him as well doing the cooking on the little place dope stovetop, and all of a sudden, Makoa My son just smacks her super hard. Just hip Mati terrible, right. And of course, like, just going are my sister sitting on the countertop, and I’m appalled that my son has smacked my niece and I, I go to console, my niece, because I’m feeling terrible. Like, I’m so sorry, Maddie, are you okay? And my sister grabs my son Makoa. And she just starts dragging them down the hall Makoa that was very, very naughty. You know, why would you? Why would you hit Maddie and little MCOs? Well, Auntie Jess, Maddie was trying to cook and only boys cook. Right? Like, that’s a boys job to do the cooking and that he was trying to cook. And it was in that moment that I was like, wow, these biases that we talk about, right? We that, you know, the men do these jobs at work. And the women do these jobs at work. And you know, me at the time being the only female on this the senior leadership team. This stuff is so ingrained, right by what we’ve seen in our cultures and our households. So it was, that was a really defining moment for me that like, Okay, I’m going to help reshape people’s brains. And of course, at that point, I’m like Maddie, or Makoa, anybody can cook, right? It’s not a boys job. It just happens in our family that, that you see them in Cook. But in a lot of households, the women might do the cooking, if you enjoy cooking, you can cook. So I have kind of taken that and in the workforce when I see and today I see this and it’s really nice. Having the experience that I’m gonna do now, because sometimes now I’m the older one on the the leadership teams. And when I see people make these comments, I’m very quick to be like, Okay, let’s stop right there. What Why do you think that? And why? Why are you thinking that that female that’s a senior director of marketing needs to go back and do a lower level sales job for her to go up. But the man that’s the senior marketing guy, he can go straight to the VP of sales. It’s like, whoa, whoa, did we just really say that out loud? And let’s talk through that. Early in my career, I wouldn’t call that out. But now I’m just like, you know, what people? They don’t, they don’t know, these are their experiences have shaped them. And they need somebody to stop and say, look, let’s let me give that to you from the other perspective. And so I’ve sort of spent the last 10 years since that defining moment with Makoa. Really, really pushing on this and making a difference by doing so I’ve led our Stryker Women’s Network program, we’ve got about 5000 plus women are actually employees, men and women that are part of our Stryker Women’s Network. I was president of that for two years, and really helped to make a change and get more females developed and growing within within their careers at Stryker. But it’s really kind of my mission to like, how do we get rid of the biases? How do we promote diversity, equity and inclusion by having the tough discussions?

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
Yeah, and that’s what it takes. And a lot of times, it’s so interesting, because, you know, it’s like, there’s just that phrase, how do we get rid of something? Well, often it looks very different then how it sounds getting rid of something, it’s like, you know, no, I’m just gonna throw that thought away, I actually have to, like, take that thought out, spread it out on the table, unpack it diligently. Find out where that belief comes from, explore it a little bit. So that so that I to have more of an understanding that I’m leading from a compassionate understanding, not just saying, you know, no, you’re wrong. But like, Okay, wait, I can understand where you might have thought that or, like, here’s some help understanding why you might have thought that. And also, here is another reality that also exists and how do we, how do we move that into your belief system? And how do we build upon that in our code? culture, which is so important and not, not easily done. Because I think beliefs, like belief systems, like you said, are so ingrained, and because it does take uncomfortable conversations, it takes unpacking takes compassion, like, you know, the opposite of like canceled culture where you’re just like, you know, you’re excelling. Sometimes you want to do that it’s reactionary, right? You just want to be like, no bad you, like, go in the corner. Right?

Tamara Sniffen
Bad. You don’t? Yeah, like, you go to that judge, you go to judgment? Versus how do I get him curious about why he thinks that way? Or she thinks that way to get them up the elevator

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
So our time is finishing up. And I’m thinking about, again, I’m thinking about how you said I want to share my story. And I want to create space and opportunity. When you when you were feeling that when you when you hear that sentiment? Is there any part of your story that that you haven’t shared yet that you would like to share in this moment?

Tamara Sniffen
Well, I mean, gosh, so many things are going through my mind which one do I pick, but you just said something, you just said a word that it’s not part of the story. But it it kind of is it relates to a lot of what we have been talking about it. So it’s not a new part of the story. But I think it’s an important addition, you use the word space. And I really believe in the power of space. And Victor, I don’t know if you’ve done any reading by Viktor Frankl, but he was a psychologist, yes, a psychologist and in the that when we lived through the Holocaust, and was at Auschwitz, and when he came out, you got to turn off your phone. So when he came when he came out, you know, I think in three days, he wrote Man’s Search for Meaning. Yeah, and a lot of, you know, Victor’s Yes, amazing, to stay so positive through challenges, right? And he’s, he’s a definite role model of mine. But he talks about this concept of of space, right? And there’s a cause, something happens, and then you immediately want to react. And how do you catch that little moment? How do you find the space between what has happened to you or what you’ve heard and how you want to respond? Or how you want to react? How do you find that space? And maybe you think once and you want to do but how do you get yourself to think again, right? Like, I want to I want to say like you you you know, you idiot? Why do you want you know, why do you think shouldn’t you know the man should go for and the woman should go back right? How do you find that split second think again, and handle it differently to really make a difference that that’s really been a big part of my journey is finding space and you talked earlier about teaching yoga with a lot of meditation. I think that’s part of it, too is how do you clear your mind to then find that thing nice, right? So that’s there’s a lot there in my story that I wrote much more But I just feel like concept of being a being a better leader being a better person because you find that space to react and speak differently.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
Yeah, that’s the thread I think through your whole storyline from your parents, giving you space to grow, to dream, big to believe, from your mentors, creating that, again, making the space bigger around you and saying, No, you can step into that to creating space in your own mentorships for the the women that are in college, a space for them to feel supported and guided. And it’s just what you said. It’s very, it’s life changing it’s radical. To, to not live your life in a reactionary mode. It’s so radical. You, you often don’t see people do it, you often just see, and even ourselves, like, you know, I need my meditation practice. So I can remember that. And so I can stop myself. And it’s in my worst moments when I don’t stop myself. And then I’m like, shoot. It just reacted terribly. And now that I’ve walked away gotten a little space, yeah, late. My. Yes, it’s so bigger than that. Yes, yeah, we need those slip ups. As a reminder, I think we should

Tamara Sniffen
do we should do, that’s how we grow. It’s okay to fail.

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
This has been a very rich, fast conversation, I feel like it just went by so fast, I’m certain that you have just endless stories to share. And I’m really excited what you’re doing, and by your passion. And I’m really grateful to have an opportunity to connect with you and to be able to be a small part in sharing your story and your vision and your leadership.

Tamara Sniffen
Thank you, an absolute pleasure talking with you. And I hope you go hug your two little ones and remind them they can do anything and go anywhere and be whoever their heart’s desire for their own personal personal success and happiness. So

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
I sure Well, I’m also going to hug myself and remind myself that to me too

Tamara Sniffen
Absolutely, Absolutely

MUSIC

Priscilla Brenenstuhl
Thank you for sharing your time with me today. I’d love to hear how you are creating space for your own growth or what else you are taking away from today’s episode. Additionally, If you are a member and would like to be featured on an episode, please reach out to me at [email protected].

Your story matters.