Joe Lara (00:00)
Hey Tracey, I'm so glad after maybe a couple of months of trying to get together, we got together now. Just thank you so much for being here. Tracey, first of all, let's make a quick introduction. So Tracey Gee, β you β come with a lot of experience, several decades of leadership, management, director.
Tracey Gee (00:06)
We did it, we did it, Joe.
Joe Lara (00:26)
within business. also have several degrees, know, anthropology, business, and then the leadership, you know, master's in leadership. You've also have a really impressive resume with clients there, you know, you're looking at Coca-Cola, Amazon, the Miami Heat, that's cool, I'd love to talk about that. But you just recently wrote this book, and did it come out this year or was it last year? Okay, okay, so it was right around, so it's January.
Tracey Gee (00:42)
That was fun, yeah.
came out in January of this year.
Joe Lara (00:55)
And it's called the magic of knowing what you want, a practical guide to unearthing the wisdom of your desires. And when Scott, which everybody knows who Scott is on Vector, β said, dude, you need to talk to Tracey. I'm like, β I follow Tracey, but I don't, I've never had a conversation with her. And then I saw your body of work and the book. It just made so much sense because so many veterans are transitioning.
Tracey Gee (01:21)
Hmm.
Joe Lara (01:22)
And they put a lot of emphasis on the job, on the title, on the things that they think are measures of success. I guess, you know, β Vector exists because we've realized and we've done the work with veterans for now almost 10 years. There's, a lot of work that you need to do before you get there. Right. And so it's the prep work. It's the, it's a looking internal and getting the sense of
Tracey Gee (01:43)
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Joe Lara (01:52)
clarity. And I think that's kind of where you come in. And maybe you can β share your perspective with your background, ways that maybe veterans can find clarity, β tools, ways to approach it, ways to think about it and consider β how they navigate this space. so β one of the questions, I have several questions for you, but one of them is, I guess, know,
Tracey Gee (01:53)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Joe Lara (02:20)
you have the word desire in your title. So how do you define desire, I guess? How would you define it?
Tracey Gee (02:27)
Yeah, I use that word intentionally because I think it's a word that we tend to edit or try to sort of tamp down. And I think a lot of us are much more comfortable with the word purpose and that resonates. And I think that's obviously a great thing to aspire for and to have in our lives. But I find that desire cuts a little closer. It forces us to be a little bit more honest about who we really are and both
in terms of what we really love and what excites us and motivates us and what doesn't. And I think sometimes on the road to figuring out what it is, what our path is, we can jump too quickly past those things. So I use that word intentionally, because I think it does get at those things of inner motivation, β true desire. And I find that that often in the many clients that I've worked with and seen, that is what it really comes down to. That's what unlocks the clarity and that unlocks a sense of what
your right path is because what that is for you might be different than someone else. And I think a lot of times we get like a one size fits all sort of prescriptive like like you said, like climb this ladder, do these things, check these boxes. And I just I don't I don't really think that works for us. And I find so much more joy and meaning and impact and alignment when we can ask and start from that place of genuine desire, because that goes
Joe Lara (03:37)
Yeah.
Tracey Gee (03:54)
so far.
Joe Lara (03:56)
Yeah, yeah, you talk about clarity and desire and obviously it's super important. β But I think, you know, for the veterans that when they're leaving, how...
I guess, would you, how would it like say I'm a veteran and I'm about, I'm about to transition and you kind of know my mindset. It's like, yeah, I'm not sure what, the job's going to be, but I'm excited. I'm anxious. I just need to get a paycheck. got all these things. And so, you know, with your background of coaching, how would you kind of weave in that element of, Hey, there's a couple of things I need you to think about, right? How would you, how would you introduce that to, to, to say something like myself?
Tracey Gee (04:16)
Mm-hmm.
Sure, of course, of course.
huh.
Yeah, that's such a good question. let me just say too, it's such an honor to be here with you and to be thinking about this group of people. Yeah, so thank you so much. It's so inspiring. β I would say, one thing that I talk about in the book or where we start is this idea of, I think when we start to try to look ahead towards what's next, it's natural for all of us in any kind of big transition to sort of get inundated with questions, right?
Joe Lara (05:07)
Mm-hmm.
Tracey Gee (05:08)
What do I want? Yeah, but what's possible? What am I qualified for? What will pay the bills and put food on the table? β You know, who's gonna want to hire you know, all these questions. I've been there myself, I have not served in the military. But I know what it's like to go through a life transition of like, I don't know what's next. And I don't know what this looks like. And that's a really tough place to be. It's very vulnerable. It's very
Joe Lara (05:29)
Yeah.
Tracey Gee (05:35)
β you know, can be anxiety producing, like you said, for sure. And I think one thing that I try to help the folks that I'm working with do is to sort those questions and understand that some of those questions should have a little bit more priority and weight on them. Questions like what really makes you come alive and what do you love doing and what do you not? And what, you know, again, if you had a magic wand, like
Joe Lara (05:45)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Tracey Gee (06:02)
What would you create for yourself? Like, what would you want? That's important. Even if again, like I'm very practically minded. I was raised by a mom who taught me how credit card interest works when I was like, in fourth grade. But so I'm not, I think there's a time and a place for some of those practical things, but I do try to help people say there's still a really valuable thing that happens to unlock your creativity.
Joe Lara (06:04)
Yeah.
Sure.
Tracey Gee (06:30)
and your resilience for this part of the process if you can tap into some of those questions first. So the way I discuss it in the book is there's primary questions and there's secondary questions. Primary questions are, what makes you come alive? What do you really want? Like what would be meaningful to you? How can you give yourself some runway to experiment and to see if there's multiple routes forward and how do you process the things that'll happen? And then there's other questions like.
Am I competent? Will I be seen as competent? And what do I have permission to do? you know, again, what's going to pay the bills? Those are important things too, but I call those secondary questions because they need to factor in. But I like to try to help people at least reserve some space to think about some of those more foundational questions. And oftentimes you can weave those practical pragmatic concerns back in, but it's hard to go the other way.
Joe Lara (07:07)
Okay.
Tracey Gee (07:24)
Right? It's hard to go all in on the purely just, okay, all I'm going to do is the paycheck. Like, yeah, that can work. And sometimes you have to, you know, sometimes there's a survival thing and I get that, but it's harder than to weave in that sense of authenticity and aliveness and joy and meaning that I think is so important for longevity and sustainability in our life and career.
Joe Lara (07:24)
Right.
Right.
Yeah, I love it sounds to me again. I'm listening to this with veteran ears. It sounds like what I love is like a checklist, not so much a checklist, but a way to kind of compartment questions. And so you said there's primary questions and there's like sub questions, right? And I know, β inside vector wheel, we it's full of questions. So, β it's, it's, it's very similar and the wording is very similar, but
Tracey Gee (07:56)
Mm.
Mm.
Joe Lara (08:18)
But you can actually almost draw a line and categorize certain questions in one group of, these are sort of like the external needs, like, okay, the job, the location, β the time constraint because I've been deployed all these years, but now I wanna be home, so I need a job that fits within this parameter. But then, this is other group of questions, which what makes you come alive? Where did you find?
Tracey Gee (08:24)
Hmm, yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Joe Lara (08:44)
the most joy when you were doing the thing that you were maybe told to do, but there was joy in it, right? And β then there's the other category, I guess, I think Scott calls them the philosophical ones, which are, am I good enough? Will I be accepted? And I think sometimes veterans can kind of get stuck in any one of those categories, right?
Tracey Gee (08:49)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Mm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Sure. Yeah.
Joe Lara (09:10)
So I guess,
you know, as a coach, like, what are some of the things I guess, to help somebody get unstuck, you know, uh, I'm sure you've worked with people that maybe can't get out of their own way. I know I've seen several, I was one of those people. Um, and, and I had some powerful voices sort of help me navigate that. What are, if somebody's listening to this and they feel like, Oh my gosh, Joe's like describing me right now. Like, how could you, how, how would you sort of help them?
Tracey Gee (09:16)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, sure.
Hmm... Uh-huh.
Yes, yes.
Joe Lara (09:39)
like move forward.
Tracey Gee (09:41)
Yeah. Well, I love how you framed that those different sets of questions. It's fantastic. β Well, one is what you named, which is I think don't feel like you have to go through it alone. Find someone that can help support you because this is hard. This is difficult stuff. It's not that easy to navigate. Like you said, all those different sets of questions. β That's no small thing. And I don't I don't I think sometimes we feel like, OK, I got buckle down. I got to figure it out.
Joe Lara (09:52)
Okay, yeah. Yeah.
Tracey Gee (10:11)
And sometimes really what we need is to reach out to a friend, reach out to a mentor, reach out to resource like someone else that can be there to lend support. Because I think when we do this together and do this in community, it's so much better. So A, I think that, and I'm sure that's a lot of what you're doing here with Vector, which is amazing. I think a practical tool that I help with if people are feeling sort of overwhelmed by just a sea of questions is to do an exercise that I call a question parking lot.
where basically you just brain dump, get a piece of paper and a pen and just brain dump every single question that comes to mind when you try to think about your future. And oftentimes what that does is just, it's like how our brains process things. Like once you can articulate something, it moves it into a different part of your brain that it has much more to do with decision-making and clarity and forward momentum.
Joe Lara (10:47)
Mm-hmm.
wow.
Tracey Gee (11:06)
β And so just that act alone, I think can be really freeing. And sometimes people have that experience of like, β okay, I just see it, you know, in black and white on the page that helps me feel like it can live there for a little bit. That's actually what I tell people. I just let it live there. Pick only a couple you think are the most important right now. Can't can't deal with them all just but let them live and just hang out here. Parking lot is like a very intentional word like
Joe Lara (11:06)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Tracey Gee (11:34)
Let them just sit, you know, they're not going anywhere. But I think that alone sometimes helps free up some brain space from all that overwhelm and anxiety. Because when those questions are running around in your mind, it's really hard to get to a place of clarity. So if you can just identify what those are, not feel the pressure, know, sort of unhook from that pressure to answer every single one right now and prioritize, choose the most important ones. I think that usually gets you a lot farther.
Joe Lara (11:36)
Yeah.
That's awesome. I mean, it's pro tips, what you're hearing folks. it's, you know, pen to paper. I mean, maybe you like to type, that's fine. But I think, I think it's kind of like a therapeutic aspect to it, right? Of pen to paper and staring at it or parking it. And then maybe even pushing the desk away, go for a walk, get a meal, sleep on it. Come back to it. Don't let it get shuffled under the papers, but come back to it.
Tracey Gee (12:09)
Hahaha
Sure, sure.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's right. Yeah.
Joe Lara (12:33)
So there's an intentionality is the other piece I think I hear. cause you know, and that's one of the challenges we have with vector. And with this kind of discussion is veterans just want to move fast, get to the job. I just got to do what I got to do. But we're asking people to slow down a bit and, and have patience with this. And, and I guess that that kind of leads me to the next thing is so, you know, talking about desire and
Tracey Gee (12:50)
Uh-huh.
right?
Joe Lara (13:02)
the veteran wanting to move so fast, like, why do I need desire? I just need to get a job. And where this kind of comes from, Tracey, it's, you know, and I can share this with you because, you know, coming from a veteran into a civilian, you know, a civilian, β veterans are used to not necessarily thinking about themselves as much. β And I think, you know,
Tracey Gee (13:24)
Sure.
Joe Lara (13:28)
When people go to their jobs, they serve that company, they serve their teams, and good leaders really care for their people. Same thing in the military. But in the military, it's like there's this aspect of what the, know, air quote, service for those that are listening, where you volunteer for this job, and then you do it for four years, and it turns into 10 years, 15, 20 years.
Tracey Gee (13:33)
Yes.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Joe Lara (13:52)
And it's always this act of service, service, where do I go next? Where does the government want me to serve? What country do I gotta go serve? And so.
Tracey Gee (13:58)
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Joe Lara (14:02)
what I've heard veterans do in job interviews, because it's woven into them over the years, is they describe themselves as a we. We did this. In my career, we accomplished these things. And interviewers and hiring managers and talent managers are like, wait, what did you do? And so it's this shift in we versus me. And so to pull that thread on desire, they're like, wait, what do mean my desire?
Tracey Gee (14:11)
Mmm... Mmm...
Yeah.
Hmm... Yeah.
my gosh, Yeah.
Right.
Joe Lara (14:32)
I don't, I guess I can have desires, know, like, is that a thing? Yeah, I don't know what your thoughts are with that. Yeah.
Tracey Gee (14:36)
Yes. Yes. That is so wild. Oh, well, I'm just
I'm personally resonating so much because what you just described that exact scenario with the interview, I've been through that. But for me, it's being an Asian American woman. maybe there's some sort of Venn diagram in which there's an overlap there. Exact same scenario. Like, yeah, we did this is I was so proud of, you know, the team and how we all collaborated and the feedback was. Yeah, yes.
Joe Lara (14:53)
Yep, for sure.
Humility, whatever you want to call it, it's like this, it's baked into
you, right? β
Tracey Gee (15:06)
collective mindset, right? And yeah,
and the feedback was, well, what about you, though? I want to know what you do. I was like, what are you talking about? Anyway, sorry. I'm laughing. Right. Right.
Joe Lara (15:15)
I was there, even though you let it, even though you let it, right? Or you were like, yeah. So, so
I guess if you've experienced that, like what's, what's the advice, what's the, what's the, how to, how to best approach it.
Tracey Gee (15:26)
Well,
you know, I think a lot of why I wrote the book was for folks that have been in that mindset. Like you have a love of service and community and country and others. And that's so admirable. But I think what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't have to be a both and or an either or. It can be a both and. You can think about your contribution. You can think about your community and you're a part of that.
Joe Lara (15:49)
Okay.
Yeah.
Tracey Gee (15:55)
you get
to be a part of that, you know, use that word magic intention that you get to be a part of that magic of how you're meant to do that and how you're meant to embody that. Because there's lots of ways to embody service and love of others and which I think is, again, so admirable and so important. But, you know, I think what I was finding with the clients that I was working with was they were this similarly not putting themselves into that equation. And
not asking themselves those questions, not really factoring themselves in the whole way that they sort of imagined how life would go or job and career. And I think what I started to see is, yes, of course, we don't want to say go be totally selfish and only ever think about yourself and screw everyone else, right? That's not what we're saying at all.
Joe Lara (16:51)
Right.
Tracey Gee (16:53)
and the group of people that I'm working with, they're not even close to that. Like that is not the mistake that they're gonna make, but they found so much more life and joy and thriving when they could also, again, start to ask themselves, what's my way to serve? What's my way to contribute? Of all the things I could do, what are the very best ways that I show up? And how can I lean into that? Because truly, what I believe,
Joe Lara (16:59)
Mm-hmm.
Tracey Gee (17:23)
collectively for all of us is when if each of us is doing that, I think that's a win for all of us because that's what we need. So there's a civil rights leader named Howard Thurman and I quote and re quote him all the times. I love this so much, but he says, don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive. And I just love that mindset and that ethos. And I think that
Joe Lara (17:46)
Mmm.
β Love it.
Tracey Gee (17:51)
really speaks to those of us that again have sort of been conditioned to say like, no, no, others, that's good thing, that's the noble thing, and say like, yeah, but your aliveness actually is one of the best gifts that you can give to the people in the communities that you care about.
Joe Lara (18:10)
Yeah, man, I love that quote. That is so good. β For the veterans that are listening to this, I think how can you take what you're hearing and make it real for you? Some of the work that Tracey does as a strengths coach amongst all the other coaches, titles you have as a coach, which is really cool. β But strengths coaches kind of look at the talents that you innately have, right? And so inside Vector,
β We have questions that help you look at your past experiences, not just in the military, but your whole life. Pull various stories where you felt alive, where you felt fulfilled, it involved other people. There's a lot of details in there. But then there's going to be these strengths and maybe things that you never really paid attention to, but it's how you approached work. It's not just the what of the work, but it's how you approached it. And then
Tracey Gee (18:47)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Definitely.
Joe Lara (19:06)
pulling on that and then realizing, I loved, I love this idea of, of like, Hey, we need you to be that, you know, like, like this is whatever that is now let's pull it forward. And I mean, we're talking about Venn diagrams already. So if we were to, to, to put some of those strengths and talents along with maybe things that interest you industry roles, I don't know.
Tracey Gee (19:14)
Yeah, yeah.
You
Yeah.
Joe Lara (19:33)
Where did those start intersecting? And then
Tracey Gee (19:35)
Definitely.
Joe Lara (19:36)
we can pull on the thread of now let's invite people to this conversation and say, hey, this is what I've written. I've parked on it for a while. I've done these questions. I'm sitting with it, but I don't want to be by myself figuring this out. Can you help me? What do you think? And then come to a friend, a family member.
Tracey Gee (19:52)
Yeah, yeah.
Joe Lara (19:58)
And if you're bold enough and you feel confident enough, like I use LinkedIn all the time to find people that are doing the thing that I think I'm interested in and say, hey, do you have like, you have a really interesting career path? I'm a veteran, I'm in transition. I just kind of want to ask you about your career. I just have some questions. And then you get that cup of coffee, right? Cause we asked the veterans to do cups of coffee.
Tracey Gee (20:03)
Hmm.
Hmm. Love it. Yep. Yeah.
Mmm.
Joe Lara (20:24)
and you introduce, hey, these are the things that I still love doing in the military. How does that jive with what you do on your career? What makes you tick in your career? What makes you come alive in your career? And I think that's the back and forth of what we're hoping veterans will do. But man, that's a lot of work. That's a lot.
Tracey Gee (20:28)
Mm-hmm.
Mm. Mm.
Perfect, Mm-hmm. It is,
it is. But you know what? It's less work than, you know, spending 20 years in a career that you hate and that drains the life out of you, you know? So a 30 minute coffee, like sure. If you can save yourself however many years of, yeah, easily. I love that. In the book I talk about, we have so much in common. This is so great that we're talking.
Joe Lara (20:58)
Decades.
Tracey Gee (21:05)
In the book, I talk about that as having an experimental mindset towards your own journey. that's, I would say what you're describing in the coffee, that's an experiment. And it's a really good experiment to run because again, you don't have to have gotten the job or spent two years in it to know what you think of you. get to get to that info in 30 minutes and a conversation and make a connection. That's genius. Because I think sometimes we think of things like so all or nothing, Like, I gotta like...
Joe Lara (21:14)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Tracey Gee (21:34)
quit the job and do this new thing. It's like, well, maybe, but that's a pretty high investment way to approach things. But if you can find lower investment, easier, more approachable ways to experiment, you get really good results. So I love that you have folks do that. I think that's perfect.
Joe Lara (21:52)
Yeah, yeah, it's not easy to do to encourage veterans to go that far. Cause I think it's like, I mean, we both have, β you have one about to go to college. I had two kids that just graduated from college, but telling them, hey, these are tools to network and find potential roles and opportunities. And, you know, here's a template and that's kind of what Vector is. It's like, here's a template, go do this. You'll find success with it.
I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. Mom and dad and and I'll have conversations with veterans. I'll say no, I'm good clarity. Sure. Sounds cool. I'm fine. But what's interesting Tracey is you you talk to a lot of clients and these are these are people at high levels of leadership that have been in roles. And I'm curious. β
Tracey Gee (22:27)
β Yeah.
Joe Lara (22:42)
I found this now that I've been removed from the military now and I'm inside the civilian world as a civilian now, you know, in business. There's a lot of people that kind of have the golden handcuffs. like, like, they're good at their job. They're paid well. It's, it's not a bad culture, but they're, just kind of going through the motions and, they, they are probably not hitting on, on their greatest potential because that's not what the job needs. And that's just kind of.
Tracey Gee (22:49)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Joe Lara (23:13)
you know, not what the job's asking for. And so, β what, what can veterans do? Because I think sometimes we put this pressure on man, the job needs to have everything. Everything I am needs to be all contained in this one place. And so I don't know, do you ever find yourself like coaching others to say, what, you know, what else? I don't know. How do you kind of, how do you help people kind of think of that? Think about that.
Tracey Gee (23:27)
Right, right.
Yeah, no for sure.
such a good question. Well, yeah, I know exactly what you're describing. And I had someone just tell me a couple of weeks ago, they described themselves as being on autopilot. You know, it's like what you're describing, like, it's not terrible. It's not great. And it's just kind of going through the motions. Well, I would say I think your your question is so important, because I think it really counters a mindset, which is like, I need to Yeah.
everything I'm looking for needs to be found in the job. And that's just a lot to put on a job, right? Like, no, you want it to fit some things, but you're a whole person. So there's other, you know, sometimes I talk about it as like, there's different buckets in your life. And the job is a bucket. It's an important one for sure. But there's other ones in your life too. And just because it doesn't
you know, a different bucket doesn't pay your bills. Does that make it less important somehow or less significant? A part of who you are as a human being? Like, I don't think so. You know, so was just talking to someone who's β loves poetry, been writing poems since they were a little kid and used to keep journals and journals of poems. Is that something that they need or want to have pay their bills? I don't think so. But is that less important about who they are? No, I think that's that's
Joe Lara (24:40)
Yeah.
Mm.
Tracey Gee (25:00)
a lovely expression of who they are in the world. And I think that's fantastic. Or like, you know, my husband, β one year for Halloween, he did a real deep dive to recreate a very accurate Boba Fett costume for my younger son, like to the T. And he's a designer. So he's very, very attuned to details. Like I'm talking multiple trips to Home Depot to get the right shade of green for the helmet, all the things. Anyway, it turned out really nice.
Joe Lara (25:29)
yeah, yeah.
Tracey Gee (25:30)
But
he was reflecting afterwards and saying, I loved making something with my hands. He's a creative director in his work. And so he's like, I don't get to do that very often, just physically. does he need to quit his job and go find a job doing that? Maybe, probably not. But to say, actually, this is something I can do outside of my work, but it brings a lot of joy and meaning to me, even though, again, it's not something that actually.
Joe Lara (25:41)
Mm-hmm.
Ryan.
Tracey Gee (25:59)
I'm never gonna get paycheck for. β I think there's something really beautiful about that and very human. I think it really counters this insidious message that like you are your paycheck or the most interesting thing about you is what you get paid to do. just, I don't subscribe to that. don't think that's how I, know, just what it means to be human. And there's so much more to us than that.
Joe Lara (26:14)
Yeah.
I love that so much because I think as we as Scott and I are developed, we're developing vector. Again, veterans learn about us because they're in transition and they need a job. And so they come find us. But both he and I, and, know, it's, it's more than a job that is at stake here with this type of work of figuring out your desires. Like it's, bleeds into your whole life. When you start becoming more aware and in tune to that.
And I think that when I first discovered it for myself was not just in the job search, because I remember there was a time where I was unemployed Joe Lara, but I was asked β to attend an event and I attended the event and that triggered a really cool whole different story where now I'm like.
I tell the details inside vector on one of the videos but I landed I landed in Kenya six months later because I said yes to this thing and it had nothing to do with the job, but it had everything to do with alignment and so because I did sort of this purpose work this this what do I desire Who are who's who are the people that I want to associate with more I did a lot of this deep work it allowed me to sort of land in places that I was not necessarily looking for but it made sense and
Tracey Gee (27:23)
Wow. Yeah. Aww.
Yep. Yeah.
Yeah. β
Joe Lara (27:46)
And I, and I felt it, it wasn't just like, that that's a logical thing. That's also a feeling and, and I can chase that. And I think that's, that's our encouragement for veterans is this work that you're doing. It will help you make better choices for work. It'll help you make better choices with organizations, teams, where you spend your time. β what hobbies you take up, which ones maybe even things you stopped doing. And you put down and saying, Hey, that's not really helping me move forward.
Tracey Gee (27:52)
Mm. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Joe Lara (28:16)
And
I think that's all great. β Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Well, let see. We're about to end here our conversation, but I got to ask you β as somebody who coaches, β what β are some good questions? Because I think some of our audience are also other coaches that are not
Tracey Gee (28:19)
Yeah, β I love that story, Joe. That's beautiful.
huh.
Joe Lara (28:46)
not familiar with the veteran community. β And maybe they're not like ICF, like they have a lot of models. And so they just give models here, here's a veteran here, try this model, see if this works for you. But I think you have a, you have this understanding of like, there's, there's some brilliance. So do we tap into the brilliance that's in front of me? Right. β Any, guess, words of encouragement for coaches, even
β people that have already hired veterans and maybe they have veterans in their company now and like how to help them you know β find those strengths to bring it to work find those passions to bring to work right what are some things that maybe β you could give for words of encouragement ideas I don't know what do think
Tracey Gee (29:25)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, like you said, I think a lot of the questions that you've already highlighted are so central. β You know, I, I never get tired of asking people, what's your favorite thing about what you do? Like what really excites you? And I never get tired of hearing people's answers, because it's so unique to each person. I think that's some of the beauty of getting to have a conversation like that is oftentimes, people end up taking their own stories for granted, and they don't notice how
beautiful and brilliant it is, just like, oh yeah, that happened. I liked it. That was good. That was positive, know, thumbs up, move on. But you know, when someone else can reflect back and say, whoa, you did that. That's amazing. Tell me more about that. How'd you think of that? What happened? Like to get to have that kind of conversation and dialogue is so important. So yeah, for anyone who's a coach, that's, I'm sure you already do that. You already know that, but I think the real,
Joe Lara (30:13)
Yeah.
Tracey Gee (30:29)
you power comes I think in, like you said, getting into the details, really holding that space, reflecting back nearing because we lose sight of that, you know, we take our own strengths for granted. We take our own stories for granted. sort of, I don't know. Yeah, just it's like not being able to notice your nose because it's on your face kind of a thing. Like, and I just think conversations like that, they can open up new mindsets. I, I literally just finished, you know, a call with one of my clients and
Joe Lara (30:42)
Yeah.
Ha
Tracey Gee (30:56)
feeling down, feeling discouraged. He had a setback a few months ago and was processing that, finding his way forward. But he's like, wait a minute, talking to you, realize it's only been a few months. It's not that long. I'm like, exactly. Look at what you've done. You're moving forward. You're good. You're set up well. again, and I think that is some of the power of coaching and why it's important is because it's that relational space for someone to come alongside you and be like,
Joe Lara (31:01)
Hmm.
Tracey Gee (31:25)
that's really great what you're doing. Like you're on the right track or what, you know, think about this a little bit more. So anyway, I think I could go on and on about why I believe in coaching, but, for sure, think conversations like that are so transformational.
Joe Lara (31:40)
That's awesome. Well, thanks, Tracey. Appreciate your perspective and your time. And just thank you for being so generous β in this conversation. so for folks that want to find you, how can they find your book? How can they find you? And get connected.
Tracey Gee (32:00)
Yes, well, it's an honor to be here. Thank you for having me. The book is anywhere you find books. So, you know, those are regular places, Amazon, of course, and the rest. β My website is traceygee.me and I'm on LinkedIn as well. And if I can be of help to anyone in this community, I'd be honored.
Joe Lara (32:22)
Awesome. Thanks so much,
Tracey Gee (32:24)
Yeah, thank you, Joe.
