Simply Feedback

58. Operate in Your Strengths - Yvonne Druyeh Dodd

• LearningBridge • Season 5 • Episode 10

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Yvonne Druyeh Dood, a life and business coach, explains how she learned to “operate in your strengths” without sacrificing personal well-being or falling into the martyrdom mindset often associated with passionate work. She shares how feedback helped her recognize the importance of integrity and alignment in her pursuits. Her approach, which integrates business strategy with a holistic understanding of personal values and strengths, supports entrepreneurs in achieving both professional success and personal fulfillment. Through her Authentic Hustle workshops, she emphasizes finding balance, operating with ease, and achieving sustainability in work and life.

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Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

How I started out had to do with making sure that I could operate in my strengths in a way that did not require me to be a martyr for the work that I loved.

Troy Blaser:

Hello and welcome to another episode of Simply Feedback, the podcast brought to you by Learning Ridge . I'm your host Troy Blaser and I am very excited to introduce our guest today, Yvonne Druyeh Dodd, a life and business coach, also a yoga and meditation guide, and a people leader known for her heart-centered and data-driven approach. Yvonne is the founder of E-vi D Consulting where she guides entrepreneurs and leaders from an embodied and spiritual lens, facilitating deeper clarity, confidence, and authenticity to create a life and business that is aligned, abundant, and impactful. With over 15 years of experience in startup, non-profit, and corporate settings, she has been featured in Voyage Atlanta and Hypepotamus and made significant contributions building community for entrepreneurs and serving on non-profit boards. Yvonne, welcome to Simply Feedback. It's so great to have you with us.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Thank you so much, Troy. I'm really excited to be here.

Troy Blaser:

I really enjoyed reading through your bio. There's a lot of words in there that just made me feel happy and like I'm excited to talk to you today. So maybe to help our audience get to know you and help me get to know you just a little bit more, can you tell us about a time that somebody gave you feedback, maybe it was feedback that had a significant impact on your life or your career that marked a turning point for you. Is there a story you could share with us?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Oh, yes. And it's funny because feedback is such a, it's not a touchy subject, but it's one where, you know, you have, you have some good moments and if you are a recovering perfectionist like myself, you know, it's like maybe we don't want to always talk about that.

Troy Blaser:

Understood. Yes. It can be a touchy subject sometimes. Yeah.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yeah, sometimes. And so I remember a time when I was in college, an undergrad and I was a psychology major and I had initially started out minoring in business and I went to Oglethorpe University, which is a private school. And I actually started working at 17 the summer before going into my freshman year where I was working with a woman that owned her own business. It was like an asset management and consulting firm. And I was learning so much on the job. And there were a lot more interesting classes than what was in my business minor. And I just kind of was like, you know what? Why don't we dive into something else that I might be more passionate about? And I personally think there's a lot more learning that happens on the grad school level as well. But anyway, I became really, really interested in the things that I was reading related to sociology, women and gender studies, African American politics and studies like that. And at the time, we did not have a major that was African American studies or social political issues that I was interested in, in terms of the intersections of how it related to the work I wanted to do with my psych degree. And so I did some research and figured out, okay, this is how we create a major here, or you know, to even have it as a minor. And so I was doing all of this work and I'm one of the leaders on campus. I'm an ra, I'm on the dance team, I'm doing things like that. And I'm in an African American politics class and one of my favorite professors, Dr. King. And I was just learning so much having a fantastic time and it was so fantastic that I was showing up late regularly, consistently. I can't remember if it was an early class or not,

Troy Blaser:

And it's probably not a very big class where you could sort of sneak in and not get noticed, right?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Oh, no, definitely noticeable and Dr. King pulled me aside and she was like, Yvonne, what is going on? Is there anything happening outside of this? And the answer was no. I was just tardy. And she was like, you are a leader here and you are also working to start the African American Studies major. Where is your integrity? And I remember this moment because I think I've been lucky enough to have a lot of great elders and parents and adults in my life that have probably been giving me clues about things like this. But it was almost as if everything really came together when I could understand that how you do one thing is how you do everything. You've gotta be able to show up in a way that is aligned with your values and what you're trying to do. I always think about that.

Troy Blaser:

I feel like that's one of those moments where if it were in a movie, it would've gone into slow motion. And you're maybe having flashbacks in your head or something as you hear that question of where is your integrity? But I'm sure that's probably something that is seared into your memory as a pivotal point for you.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yeah, I think sometimes it's hard to understand if we are actually doing the things that we want to do or are going to do. Right? Like where's the accountability really?

Troy Blaser:

And here you are though, you're an undergraduate in school, probably a pretty average young person. And now all of a sudden it's this moment of, okay, this is a moment for me to grow up, to mature in a certain sense, to make all of those connections, like, oh, how I'm showing up to class is connected to these other bigger goals than I have. The other thing I think is how grateful we all are for teachers who care.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Absolutely. And that's why I don't want to be surrounded by yes men. I want people to let me know if I'm not on point. And that's why I think this podcast is so important because feedback is so important. That direct conversation and critique to your point, is an act of love. It's an act of care.

Troy Blaser:

Yeah, and you knew that when Dr. King pulls you aside, there's some trust there already. And so it's not where you're going to put up a wall and just say, I don't have to pay attention to you. But instead you can say, oh, this is from someone who really cares about me. And maybe it's time to look at my actions and make a change if needed.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yes.

Troy Blaser:

Well that is so cool. It's interesting because it kind of leads me into my next question. That was a moment where is your integrity? Are you being authentic to yourself, to your goals? I wanted to ask you about the Authentic Hustle series. I've heard a little bit about it, read a little bit about it, but can you share with us what that is?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yes. And it's really interesting because I've been in business for over 12 years now. And I remember when it came to me, it's interesting talking about it now because it feels like right now I'm birthing a newer version of it in a sense. But it , it's always been the same. I think how I started out had to do with making sure that I could operate in my strengths in a way that did not require me to be a martyr for the work that I loved.

Troy Blaser:

Okay.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

So as you were talking about in my introduction, I've been in nonprofit management, I've done a lot of things and I , I think especially coming from that world in particular, but I think everybody can relate to this, there's a lot of like sacrificing and suffering and grinding that feels like, well, it's totally fine. You know, because it's for a good cause.

Troy Blaser:

That makes sense.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Right. And so the authentic hustle is about how do we be in integrity, do work that really aligns with our values and who we are, and do it in a way that is joyful and impactful and with ease. Right? But the hustle part is the work. All of those things are not antithetical from working. And I think in our culture and especially in Western culture, there's just a lot of focus on the grind, on the hustle on that solar energy, rather the lunar energy of ease, recovery, rest, all the things that we need to actually be creative and be our best impactful selves.

Troy Blaser:

So it's maybe kind of finding a balance. I mean, hustle is still in there. You're saying find the place where you're operating in your strengths, where you're true to your values and true to your goals. But that doesn't mean there's no work involved. There is still work, but you want to be doing the work that is in alignment with your passion.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yes, definitely. And I think also in the work that I do through that programming and the authentic workshop series, we're talking about life and work. We are not compartmentalizing, we are not separating. Because usually we are operating in a way where those things are always at odds. But we are whole people, all of our businesses, all of our work, it's all made up of people. It's not some sort of separate entity. So we've gotta be able to operate in a way that allows for our humanity to still be there.

Troy Blaser:

I love that. So if I were an entrepreneur and I signed up for the series for the workshops, how is that going to help me to achieve my goals with my business?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Right. So I think one of the most important aspects of it is oftentimes you get in business, everything is very focused on the external. Like, this is what I can do and this is what we're doing. But there isn't a lot of time spent on why am I doing this? What am I actually good at? Right? And so that is where I always start. You cannot be in aligned if you don't know who you are, where you're starting from, what the overall vision is. But oftentimes people start off with this vision, but they don't connect it to how it's actually going to happen on the ground or in a corporate setting. How does this actually connect to business goals and how are we measuring it? Right? Where are accountability measures? How are we coming back to it? It's a lot of that. And I would say authentic hustle of a lot of solar, lunar, masculine, feminine, right? It's all the balance. We all have to have both all the time.

Troy Blaser:

That makes sense. That feels like the way to really get traction without burning out.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Absolutely. We use the term burning out just to say when we're tired oftentimes. Right? But I can talk about this work a lot because I've been through it myself, right? And that point of burnout is very, very, very serious. Like we have gotten signs and signals along the way of, okay, there needs to be a pause or there needs to be whatever. And so to that point, I think it's important to understand that you have to go slow to go fast. That is what sustainability actually is. It is more profitable when you stop and ask certain questions first. Instead of just trying to plow through because of an arbitrary deadline.

Troy Blaser:

As I was getting ready for our interview today, and I was reading one of your blog posts where you were talking about a reset that you were doing for yourself, there was one statement that really stood out to me. You said in there you realized that the things taking up most of your time were different from the spaces where you get to operate in your strengths. And that one really resonated for me. Like I think all of us find ourselves with certain tasks at work, or even in our personal lives where it's an easy thing to do. So I default to it even though it's maybe not me operating in my strength. You had found that that was happening too much for you and you're like, okay, let me reset, let me step back. I just really liked that idea. The things taking up most of your time were different from the spaces where you , you got to operate in your strengths. And you had realized that that was out of balance

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

And that , and that's the thing, it's like it brought me to a level of depletion that I didn't notice because I was so engaged in the activities.

Troy Blaser:

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. So what are some of the common challenges that your clients face when it comes to branding themselves authentically?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Right. So I , I feel like there is a branding component to this and that really has to do with integrity. What happens is there's an issue with sales, there's an issue with marketing, there's an issue with burnout and time management and things like that. And it's typically coming down to not being able to clearly articulate who they are, who their audience is. It doesn't matter if you've been in business for three years or 10 years. It's really, really important to check these types of things. To not engage in efforts or products or services that are not actually aligned with what you want to be doing. So like oftentimes it's something that we can't really see, but the symptoms are you're hitting a wall at a certain point in your revenue, or you're terrified of marketing doing it sporadically. Or you don't have community, or you are not delegating, or you are constantly feeling like a hamster on a wheel and not able to spend time with family or actually stop and enjoy yourself. Or you haven't gone to the doctor, you're running your body into the ground. You're tired. Like, yeah.

Troy Blaser:

This is fascinating to me because I'm having all kinds of thoughts about my own life, my own career, my company where I work, and trying to figure out, okay, does this apply to me? Or how does it apply to me? And I love this. So if you're working with a client, maybe that client realizes I am out of balance. I'm working in a way that's not authentic to myself. How do you help them arrive at that conclusion but then have the confidence that's needed maybe to make a significant career change? Can that be a challenge for some of your clients?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yes. Sometimes people come to our coach and they're like, okay, great. What am I supposed to be doing? Yeah. And it's really important to understand if you're coming to somebody like me, you're not going to get a checklist and then go do it. Right. Because if it were about a checklist, it would've already been done. And so what we are uncovering as we're going through each area of your life and your work is understanding what are the actual mindset roadblocks and barriers. Because oftentimes we are getting in the way of ourselves and we just can't really see exactly how we're doing it. And so to be able to be in a safe nonjudgmental space, I don't have an agenda. I'm not somebody's partner. I'm not somebody's friend. Right. Like it's that kind of space where you can really hear yourself, I share my observations, I share my intuition, but you're able to actually uncover like, oh, this is the thing. And being able to uncover that helps you begin to untangle it objectively. And then we can understand, okay, that's not actually aligned. This thing has been here this whole time,

Troy Blaser:

Yeah, yeah.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yeah. It's an intuitive, organic process, but it takes a certain kind of presence and listening to be like, boom, this is what's happening. This is what's really going on.

Troy Blaser:

So you're coming as a coach to help somebody maybe better understand what barriers are in place or help them uncover for themselves what barriers might be in place. You're not coming in to say, here's the checklist of stuff and if you do this, then you're going to take off in the direction, but the former.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Exactly. Because like you can go read a book and you can do that, right? But oftentimes we read the book and we don't do it. And so it's because of those inner things. And once you understand that thing, then we can create the plan and the checklist that goes with it.

Troy Blaser:

It sort of almost becomes clear on its own once you understand what the obstacle is.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Exactly. But oftentimes people are not able to give themselves the space enough to ask those kinds of questions, right. So yes, I am a coach and we're uncovering the answers within, but I also know a lot of things because I've been in so many industries and I have so much experience as well, right. So that also helps.

Troy Blaser:

I wonder, is there a story you can share with us? Maybe you've been working with someone and you've given them some feedback and they've been able to make that inflection in their career or in their life?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yes. I had someone come to me because they were about to have this big opportunity where a project they were doing had a lot of support by a really big publishing company. And so it was going to take off. And so they were like, I need a plan. And I have something called a clarity session. It's just like an hour pointed focus. And so I'm asking questions, we're talking about the thing, and I realized they already have a plan. I was like, you'll be ready. You could just do X, Y, and Z. So what's really happening here? And so we kept uncovering, uncovering and it turned out that it was about visibility and they were terrified of actually being seen and being out and promoting the things that they were going to be promoting on another level. And I think it's really important to share this story in particular because that is one of the most common things for everyone, honestly. And people don't realize that that is what they're running away from. And when I talk about being visible, everything about your work and your business is about you saying, hello fellow humans, I have this offering. It was really big for this person in the way how we uncovered it because then they realized , "oh, I have all this other deeper work that I need to be doing. It's not about having a plan because I am actually organized". Right.

Troy Blaser:

Yeah. Getting comfortable enough to allow the plan to work can be a very scary thing.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yes. And so oftentimes people will just say, "I need a social media content strategy", but they won't actually execute on publicizing the social media. Right. We have to uncover what is the actual thing. Or people will spend all their time on marketing. There could just be a variety of things. Or even uncovering aspects around boundary setting, for example. Like, will you say I need this time for X instead of giving it away and never working on the things that you need to work on.

Troy Blaser:

Does that go back to what you had said earlier about being a martyr and not operating in the spaces where you are strongest?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yes. There are a few things here. There's this idea, and this actually is prominent in a lot of different cultures. Right. So it's not just western culture or the Protestant work ethic in particular. Right. My family's from Ghana or West African, which is very similar to like Korean and Chinese culture as well in some respects of just like , you gotta work hard and be disciplined and it's gotta hurt, you know? Like sometimes. Right. So, I just want to add that there's this thing where we feel like no pain, no gain, but we take it to an extreme when it comes to working, especially if you're someone that maybe got away from a toxic workplace or a toxic boss, you might become the toxic boss yourself to yourself and make things harder than they have to be. Or not give your space enough to, like I said, set the boundaries. Work in a way that works for you. Those little tiny things make all of the difference in terms of your success.

Troy Blaser:

If your motto is no pain, no gain, then maybe you're going to be out finding painful things to do because you think that's going to be the way to get ahead.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Exactly. Over complicating things. And then another aspect of it is, well, if I enjoy doing this, typically the things that we enjoy doing are easy for us. Right? Then we feel like something is wrong.

Troy Blaser:

Oh yeah. Yeah. "I really like doing this thing. And so it's easy and that must be wrong". I, I can see what you mean there. Yeah. Well, Yvonne, what is something in your daily routine that sets you up for success?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

I would say on the days where I have meditated and also done yoga, I hesitate to say this. because it sounds like, you know, I wake up at 4:00 AM and I do this and this, you know.

Troy Blaser:

And now you're back to no pain, no gain, right?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Right. But in times that have been just really intense, making sure I take walks every time there's like a 10 or 15 minute break and getting outside, that really sets me up.

Troy Blaser:

I love that. That is fantastic for you, it's also fantastic advice. The idea that making sure to take the time that you need for yourself to find that peace , to clear your mind, find that clarity. It makes you so much more effective throughout the day for everything else that needs to happen.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Absolutely.

Troy Blaser:

I love that. Is there a time, maybe a story you can share with us, when something didn't go right for you , a time, you know, maybe when a project failed or something failed where you, you were able to learn a lesson from that? Is there an interesting story there that you could share with us?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

I used to work for a transitional housing program for homeless families.

Troy Blaser:

Okay.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

And my job literally combined five other jobs after the 2008 recession.

Troy Blaser:

Oh, yes. Yes .

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

I always wanted to do things that were a little innovative when it came to bringing more people into our cause and helping different types of people. Be aware. I met a playwright and he had written a play about homelessness and in like three weeks we put on a fundraiser to publicize this and to give a preview of the show, we found an amazing theater that gave us a thing for free. And we actually, we didn't charge for tickets, we just said donations, learned things there. But the house was packed and it was fantastic. It was really, really wonderful. And so we were like, okay, let's keep working together. Right. Because we were bringing in all kinds of people and really raising awareness. And so I was excited to do that again. And I had done plenty of other fundraisers before, but this is still early in my career. And I remember the original venue that we wanted to have had all of the setup and everything, but they were asking for I believe maybe $1200 or $1500. And that was like so much money to us. And we were like, "oh no, we're not going to do that". And so we figured out a place where they could do rehearsal cheap. And then so we're putting on this show and by the time we are ready for this show, people are not quite ready because they were different things that fell through. Some people couldn't show up to rehearsals. We had to pay for a last minute thing with the sound people. So all of these things come up and it is terrible. Like it is a terrible, terrible show. People are leaving halfway through. Like what. But like the end was good. It came together and we were like, alright. And so in the end, in terms of what we raised, we raised some money, but we pretty much broke even. And I was so embarrassed and I was just like, "oh, this is such a waste of time". Because it , it was so much effort. And had we just paid that initial $1200 or $1500, we would not have had to deal with any of that.

Troy Blaser:

Oh my goodness.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

We would've had everything that we needed and we would've been at a venue that was more reputable and closer in town. And I also learned some things about my own leadership there because the person I was working with, they were more a visionary and creative and I needed to speak up in certain instances where I probably had strengths and just kind of allowed them to take over because they're also very organized and they could get things done. So I also learned a little bit about that and just taking charge and making decisions a little bit better as well.

Troy Blaser:

Recognizing that you should maybe pay attention to what your instinct was saying and overcoming maybe that reticence to speak up.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Exactly. It's so interesting. This is related and it's actually a really important lesson for me. But I remember there was going to be a board meeting to talk about the event. And I was so nervous because I was like, the feedback's going to be terrible. And I actually was learning a lot about meditation and manifestation and visualization and things like that. And I spent like the 15 minutes before the meeting meditating and having an affirmation, like I'm supported in each action I take and my path unfolds with ease. And I remember picturing board members thanking me and that board meeting was the opposite of what I thought it was. And they were actually saying like, we know this didn't go the way that maybe we thought it would. However we commend you for doing innovative and interesting things and getting new people here. And I was like, "oh, I would've never expected that". So that was the power of setting tensions before you go into spaces with people.

Troy Blaser:

Well, I wanted to ask kind of more currently for you, is there a project or something that you're doing right now that you're passionate about that you could share with us?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yeah. Something that I just launched that I'm really, really excited about with my business bestie, Rebecca Van Damm. We have a workshop series called Rhythm and Ritual, and it's a six week series designed to help entrepreneurs with a supportive and sustainable workflow for their business, body and spirit. What we're basically trying to help people do is understand how to shift from scattered and stress to easeful and effective.

Troy Blaser:

I love that. It feels like a theme we come back to a few different times during our conversation is balance. Even just in the title rhythm and ritual, there's a focus in there of the concept of being effective and getting the work done, but doing it in a way that there's rhythm to it, there's ease, like you said, even ease and effectiveness. We're still accomplishing things, but it's not, it doesn't have to be painful. It doesn't have to be out of balance.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

No. And another thing that I'd like to add is everything that I'm talking about, I think we associate the, "oh, this could be easy, this could be fun". We associate it with some sort of fluffiness pie in the sky. It has those kind of connotations. And the work that I do is about operationalizing integrity. It's like how do we put that in your strategic plan? How do we put that in our KPIs and measures of success? Because that's what's going to elevate your people, keeping them connected and grounded in that. That's the energy you need to actually have the creativity and innovation that you're looking for.

Troy Blaser:

I love that. It sounds exciting. It sounds like it would be an an interesting series, but then just fascinating concepts to learn and to figure out how to apply in my business or in the business of whomever is participating. I think that's great.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Absolutely. And I just want to add, I've managed everywhere from a team of one to a team of 12 and 14, and this is the same thing that I brought in my corporate settings as well. It fits everywhere. It's for all of us.

Troy Blaser:

So if somebody's interested in the workshop or if they're interested in just even wanting to know more to continue the conversation with you, how do they get in touch or find out more?

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

Yeah, so my website is. And also I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn and Facebook as well.

Troy Blaser:

Fantastic. Well, Yvonne , thank you so much for your time today. I've really enjoyed this conversation. Interesting ways to think about things in my personal life, in my work life. Thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it.

Yvonne Druyeh Dodd:

You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me.