Ashley Connell, CEO of Prowess Project joins Leaders and Legacies to unpack a bold truth: leaders don’t need another version of themselves. They need a “not you”—a skilled operator who thrives on structure, details, and execution.

In this episode, Ashley shares how she built a talent pipeline of highly qualified caregivers—primarily mothers and sandwich-generation women—who bring unmatched emotional intelligence and professional rigor to operations roles. These women aren’t looking for handouts; they’re looking for impact and flexibility. And they deliver, often increasing profits, improving team dynamics, and freeing CEOs to focus on growth.

Ashley and Craig explore how emotional intelligence should be compensated like hard skills, why leadership means letting go, and the power of empathy in business. Ashley also reveals how Prowess Project uses data—not gut instinct—to match CEOs with the right operators, transforming overwhelmed founders into confident leaders.

This is a must-listen for any business owner ready to lead with intention and build a legacy of empowered teams.

Want to learn more about Ashley Connell's work? Check out their website at https://www.prowessproject.com.

Connect with Ashley Connell on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-connell-ceo/.

Key Points with Timestamps

• 00:51 – Introduction to Ashley Connell and Prowess Project
  
  

• 02:29 – Why caregivers make exceptional ops leaders

• 04:37 – The "patchwork quilt" background: undervalued leadership traits

• 06:17 – How one caregiver ran Craig’s business during his recovery

• 07:05 – Ashley’s story of Diane: From stay-at-home mom to profit-boosting ops lead

• 10:11 – Hiring the “not you” as a leadership strategy

• 11:59 – The power of complementary talent in scaling leadership

• 15:09 – Ashley’s origin story: solving the caregiver-career gap

• 16:45 – Building a business model for her daughters’ future

• 18:13 – Avoiding under-hiring and giving caregivers impactful roles

• 20:06 – How Ashley uses behavioral data to match CEOs with operators

• 22:09 – Why operators need emotional intelligence and communication agility

• 24:21 – The neuroscience of motherhood and leadership potential

• 25:12 – EQ vs. hard skills: what leadership should really reward

• 27:10 – How to connect with Ashley and explore operational solutions

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment in my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on this show.

00;00;51;12 - 00;01;07;20
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Ashley Connell. She is the CEO and founder of the Prowess Project. They help seniors CEOs hire the not you. So you can be you and grow your business.

00;01;07;20 - 00;01;11;23
Craig Andrews
Growth stars. Every time something has to come across your desk.

00;01;11;23 - 00;01;22;12
Craig Andrews
But Ashley builds a smarter way forward, especially in operations. I met Ashley at a co-working, spot.

00;01;22;15 - 00;01;37;17
Craig Andrews
You know, co-working existed before Covid, but it really, it's, like many things. It seems to have really flourished since Covid. I was so delighted to meet her and have her on the podcast. She's a local austinite. Ashley, welcome.

00;01;37;19 - 00;01;44;26
Ashley Connell
Craig, I have been so excited for this conversation. Yes, since we met that day. To be to be here.

00;01;44;28 - 00;01;52;10
Craig Andrews
Yeah, it's well in the when we met, you know, one of the things,

00;01;52;10 - 00;01;52;17
Craig Andrews
I'm.

00;01;52;17 - 00;02;07;22
Craig Andrews
I'll be honest, I'm a little bit scared to share this secret because it's been when my hiring, you know, when my secrets in hiring to get access to insanely talented people that think I hung the moon just because I gave them a job.

00;02;08;23 - 00;02;26;11
Craig Andrews
And who are the people you focus because first off, so you you focus on operations. Yes. Me too. You're you're basically putting people in organizations to help them. You're training them and putting them in organizations to help them grow.

00;02;26;14 - 00;02;27;18
Ashley Connell
And that's right.

00;02;27;21 - 00;02;29;19
Craig Andrews
Where do you find your talent pool?

00;02;29;21 - 00;02;35;17
Ashley Connell
Yeah. So when we say operations, this is like business operations. This is building out systems and,

00;02;35;17 - 00;02;47;01
Ashley Connell
doing tech integrations and running teams and all of that. Where I find them is they are all caregivers. They are either mothers or,

00;02;47;01 - 00;03;01;01
Ashley Connell
sandwich generations where they're taking care of their parents, too. And they are insanely smart, have lots of years of professional experience, but need something professional, need something flexible.

00;03;01;04 - 00;03;15;05
Ashley Connell
Want to want to own their time and their impact. And so we have harnessed that under represented group of people and are really helping them flourish.

00;03;15;05 - 00;03;19;19
Ashley Connell
I'm grateful for. Yeah. Just even the opportunity to watch it.

00;03;19;21 - 00;03;24;13
Craig Andrews
Well, I can't remember if I told you this. I mean, you know, I think, you know, I was in a coma four years ago.

00;03;24;17 - 00;03;25;14
Ashley Connell
Yes, yes.

00;03;25;19 - 00;03;31;09
Craig Andrews
And one of these people that you're talking about ran my business. Yep. I was in a coma.

00;03;31;11 - 00;03;43;03
Ashley Connell
Oh, yeah. I mean, first, sorry that you're in a coma. The horrible situation. So glad that you had this amazing woman who was able to run the show while you were out. But, yeah, I mean, proof is in the pudding,

00;03;43;19 - 00;03;52;10
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And she did such an amazing job. And I'm getting choked up because of the job she did.

00;03;52;13 - 00;03;57;15
Ashley Connell
Well, who's going to take care of your business? AKA your baby? Better than a caregiver?

00;03;57;18 - 00;03;58;09
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;03;58;12 - 00;04;11;27
Ashley Connell
Who knows? Project management and time management and team communication. Better than a caregiver. No one. Yeah. No one.

00;04;11;29 - 00;04;33;16
Craig Andrews
You know, my my wife was a stay at home mom. Who when she was trying to get back in the workforce, she's like nobody wants me. I don't have any skills. I don't have any experience. I'm like you have you have years of experience of managing schedules, managing budgets, doing conflict resolution.

00;04;33;16 - 00;04;34;25
Craig Andrews
Yes.

00;04;34;27 - 00;04;36;17
Ashley Connell
Yes. Yeah.

00;04;36;19 - 00;04;37;18
Craig Andrews
Talk about that.

00;04;37;21 - 00;04;50;02
Ashley Connell
Yeah. We so we call that the patchwork quilt background. And that's why these people are so good at operations. They have all of these transferable skills. Like you were just saying, conflict resolution schedules.

00;04;50;02 - 00;05;06;06
Ashley Connell
Oh, resource management, capacity planning. But they just don't have these fancy jargon around it because it's not in corporate, it's in the home. But on top of that, what we also see is these stay at home moms or caregivers.

00;05;06;09 - 00;05;29;07
Ashley Connell
They have some HR, some sales, some tech, some operations. And so you piece it all together and it becomes this beautiful patchwork quilt background where they understand your entire business, how it all needs to work, how all of the people are motivated and they are able to run your business and make decisions like no one else can.

00;05;29;09 - 00;05;32;28
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, and for me, the proof in the pudding was,

00;05;32;28 - 00;05;34;09
Craig Andrews
living.

00;05;34;09 - 00;05;48;00
Craig Andrews
You know, it's fine. Let me just tell a little story. Libby. When she was first working for me, she would tell clients things that, you know, make promises that we couldn't keep or say something that she went a little bit off the reservation, and that happens.

00;05;48;00 - 00;06;04;20
Craig Andrews
And so we'd sit down and we'd have conversations, and it's like, okay, you need to reach out to the client and make this right. And she's like, I don't want to do that. And she was scared, which I understand. I was like, you're the one that made the communication. You're the one that has to make it right. It first off, it's going to be okay.

00;06;04;22 - 00;06;16;22
Craig Andrews
Second, I'm here to coach you and it will be all right. And so she did that. And so guess what. That also had the effect of we had improved communication to the client. We had fewer of those events.

00;06;16;25 - 00;06;17;23
Ashley Connell
Sure.

00;06;17;25 - 00;06;36;11
Craig Andrews
But in late August of 2021 she had to go to each of our clients and had had the most difficult conversation you could ever imagine. And the conversation went like this Craig is in the hospital. They think he's going to die. What do you want to do?

00;06;38;03 - 00;06;41;22
Craig Andrews
And through that period, we only lost one client.

00;06;41;24 - 00;06;53;18
Ashley Connell
It's amazing. Truly amazing. I mean, that's a huge compliment to you and your service and your team and delivery and expertise. So. Bravo, Craig.

00;06;53;21 - 00;06;57;11
Craig Andrews
But. Well, and I appreciate that, but she's the one that had that conversation.

00;06;57;12 - 00;07;05;00
Ashley Connell
Oh, yeah. Delivered it with finesse and warmth and gratitude, I'm sure. Yeah.

00;07;05;00 - 00;07;06;25
Ashley Connell
I see it every day.

00;07;06;27 - 00;07;11;15
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, you're telling me about somebody named Diane. Tell me about that.

00;07;11;17 - 00;07;22;15
Ashley Connell
Oh, my gosh, amazing story. Stay at home mom. Six kids raised all of them,

00;07;22;15 - 00;07;26;06
Ashley Connell
bounced around, working a little bit. Teacher,

00;07;26;06 - 00;07;35;14
Ashley Connell
bookkeeper. And then she's like, I'm going to become a VA. Well, she got very bored of being a VA. VA because she's extremely strategic.

00;07;36;02 - 00;08;01;22
Ashley Connell
So she joined prowess. She joined our training program where we train the stay at home moms or caregivers, our ops people who do operations for small business owners go through the training. Smashed it like just did so well in the training completely. But when it came to her speaking,

00;08;01;22 - 00;08;09;03
Ashley Connell
and selling herself, you get extremely nervous. And she would clam up and it would be one word answers.

00;08;09;05 - 00;08;09;23
Ashley Connell
And,

00;08;09;23 - 00;08;38;13
Ashley Connell
so because of all of that and because her story is not unique, we take the data from her training and that's how we match her up with her ideal client, which are these small business owners? So fast forward, you know, probably 30 days and she gets an interview. And in this interview it she did extremely well, but it was between her and another person.

00;08;38;15 - 00;08;57;04
Ashley Connell
I spoke with the CEO and I was like, okay, let's talk through your options. And she's like, well, one person is very similar to me and the other person is wildly different. And that was Diane. She was like, she was a little bit more calm, a little bit more quiet, a little bit more to herself. But I think she's what I need.

00;08;57;04 - 00;09;14;04
Ashley Connell
And I was like, you're absolutely right. She's what you need. Okay. They have been working together for six months. Diane gets back on the phone with me. She is sitting up straight. She has a new blouse sign. She

00;09;14;04 - 00;09;27;00
Ashley Connell
has, like, all of this. Smiles, talking, all about everything she's doing. And I spoke to the client and Diane within two weeks, increased their profit by 2%.

00;09;27;00 - 00;09;33;00
Ashley Connell
And one tiny fix. Then fast forward 45 days.

00;09;33;00 - 00;09;43;03
Ashley Connell
Diane made her dream come true of being able to travel the world with her husband on a cruise ship and work on a cruise ship.

00;09;43;06 - 00;09;44;03
Craig Andrews
Wow.

00;09;44;05 - 00;09;46;02
Ashley Connell
Yes.

00;09;46;04 - 00;09;47;03
Craig Andrews
Wow.

00;09;47;05 - 00;09;49;28
Ashley Connell
Yes.

00;09;50;00 - 00;09;54;25
Craig Andrews
Well, so you said something, and,

00;09;54;25 - 00;10;05;05
Craig Andrews
you know, we talked about this in the intro. The. Not you. I mean, when I. Yeah, somebody works for me now. Didn't work for me for a short period of time. Is working for me again. Named late,

00;10;05;05 - 00;10;09;17
Craig Andrews
Elena. But Libby was the same way when I was looking to hire somebody.

00;10;09;18 - 00;10;11;16
Craig Andrews
We didn't need another me.

00;10;11;18 - 00;10;12;12
Ashley Connell
That's right.

00;10;12;14 - 00;10;14;15
Craig Andrews
We needed a not me.

00;10;14;17 - 00;10;16;29
Ashley Connell
That's right.

00;10;17;01 - 00;10;23;19
Craig Andrews
And, I mean, and I remember one time. So Elena's just so awesome. Libby is awesome.

00;10;23;19 - 00;10;34;28
Craig Andrews
Elena is going through, you know, finds the little details. She's my detail person. Makes all that. All the things. Fixes all my mistakes.

00;10;35;00 - 00;10;35;21
Ashley Connell
Yes.

00;10;35;23 - 00;10;55;12
Craig Andrews
And I remember this was, you know, this was years ago. She came up to me one day, and she starts talking, and I'm listening, and she keeps talking and she gets done. I'm like, Lena, let me see if I have this straight. There was a problem. You solve the problem, you fix the problem, and you're just here to tell me what happened.

00;10;55;12 - 00;11;04;03
Craig Andrews
And I don't need to take any action. She's like, yeah. Yep. You do that and bless you.

00;11;04;05 - 00;11;09;27
Ashley Connell
Yeah. It's a day in the life when you have an operator in your business so you can truly be the owner.

00;11;09;29 - 00;11;11;12
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;11;11;14 - 00;11;27;03
Ashley Connell
And and you're right, you don't need to hire another you like, I'm assuming business owners, they go out and start their business because they're obsessed with their craft. They're obsessed with marketing strategy. They're obsessed with accounting. They're obsessed with,

00;11;27;03 - 00;11;34;14
Ashley Connell
recruiting, whatever that is. They're not obsessed with doing their own PNL. They're not obsessed with the latest tech stack.

00;11;34;14 - 00;11;50;08
Ashley Connell
They're not obsessed with team meetings and details and project management. That's how you run the business. And so you need someone who loves logic and project management and coaching and

00;11;50;08 - 00;11;59;02
Ashley Connell
communication. Those people, that's who runs your business. So you can go be the star and find more business and serve your clients.

00;11;59;04 - 00;12;06;22
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And by the way, just this morning, Elena was bugging me. Hey, I sent this to you last week. Are you get this?

00;12;06;24 - 00;12;09;04
Ashley Connell
Yeah. Details, details, details. And you're like,

00;12;09;04 - 00;12;14;25
Ashley Connell
What? I don't even remember this, but, like, you have that backstop.

00;12;14;27 - 00;12;21;12
Craig Andrews
And it's great. I love the fact that she has the boldness to do that, to say Craig.

00;12;21;14 - 00;12;51;07
Ashley Connell
Yeah. She's empowered. We love that. Yes. Well, because there's a mutual appreciation when I take a step back and some of my favorite moments of running this business is when I have when I speak to the CEO and the operations person independently, and they both say to me, how did I get so lucky? Yeah. How did I get so lucky to find that other person in my business, so that together we can thrive in our zone of geniuses?

00;12;51;10 - 00;13;14;02
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I'm surprised I was talking to somebody. Somebody I think a lot of. I think he's just a great guy. And he was talking about expanding and he was seriously asking. He said, I think I need to hire someone else like me for me to grow. I'm like, no, you don't, want to hire, not you.

00;13;14;05 - 00;13;42;17
Ashley Connell
Right. Right. And it's interesting though. You want to hire not you. However you don't want to hire two differently either. That's why there's this secret sauce incompatibility. You don't want someone who is if you are if you are a risk taker, if you are jumping off buildings, you know you cannot have someone who is. So risk adverse that they're wearing a hazmat suit as soon as, like as they leave the house.

00;13;42;19 - 00;13;43;15
Craig Andrews
Okay. Yeah.

00;13;43;16 - 00;13;56;07
Ashley Connell
And and so I think people fall into hiring people who are completely opposite or two similar. And there's just this beautiful balance,

00;13;56;07 - 00;13;59;09
Ashley Connell
out there that is absolutely possible to fine and,

00;13;59;09 - 00;14;02;15
Ashley Connell
exciting and you know it when you have it.

00;14;02;17 - 00;14;12;09
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I feel very fortunate in the hires I've done that, you know. And again, I mean, there were some instances like communicating to.

00;14;12;11 - 00;14;13;14
Ashley Connell
You know.

00;14;13;17 - 00;14;14;16
Craig Andrews
But that's just, you.

00;14;14;16 - 00;14;19;00
Ashley Connell
Know, people are people, you know, that's going to happen. Right?

00;14;19;02 - 00;14;30;01
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And and the thing is, I mean, that's your job as a leader when you know, not to manage, but just kind of redirect.

00;14;30;04 - 00;14;51;21
Ashley Connell
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Redirect. I mean, people, if people care about their job, they want the feedback. They want to make it right. They want to please and grow. And I think that's what you had in Libby. And that's what makes me know that. That they are such a good fit.

00;14;51;24 - 00;14;55;21
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. So,

00;14;55;21 - 00;15;09;02
Craig Andrews
what do you see? So when you're talking to businesses, actually, let's let's back up a little bit. Why did you start this business?

00;15;09;05 - 00;15;32;28
Ashley Connell
So I was in tech marketing for 15 years, and I looked up and all the leaders were men. And so I asked, like, women in my cohort, like, who are at the same level as me. Hey, are you going up for the next promotion or you taken on the next project? And they're like, actually, no, I can't because I'm a caregiver and I can't take on more.

00;15;33;00 - 00;16;02;04
Ashley Connell
And so I hopped on to Google, found the Harvard Business Review statistic that 43% of educated professional women leave the workforce for caregiving. And when they do, if they're out for just three years, they lose 37% of their compensation power forever. But 97% of them would return if they had access to flexible jobs. And that's when the light bulb went off.

00;16;02;04 - 00;16;30;19
Ashley Connell
For me, that operations that that all of these caregivers who are incredibly capable and to your point at the very beginning, are incredibly grateful for these opportunities. Just need those flexible jobs. And there are plenty of entrepreneurs, business owners who desperately need their help, desperately need their logical brain. And so was like, how wonderful would it be if I could help both sides?

00;16;30;21 - 00;16;34;00
Ashley Connell
And so I was a I wasn't a mom then.

00;16;34;00 - 00;16;45;13
Ashley Connell
Fast forward now, six years into the business and two daughters later, I really built it for my girls. Like, they're not going to have to to deal with that big decision.

00;16;45;15 - 00;16;50;17
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, and they get the benefit of you being there with them.

00;16;50;20 - 00;16;52;05
Ashley Connell
Yeah. Absolutely.

00;16;52;07 - 00;17;10;05
Craig Andrews
Which is huge. And that was a choice my wife made. Now my wife is married to somebody else who was stupid. He had his little cold play moment and hot plate moment literally he was a divisional president and he was fooling around with the VP of HR worth.

00;17;10;08 - 00;17;15;03
Ashley Connell
Okay. You weren't kidding. Well, I've got it.

00;17;15;06 - 00;17;15;21
Craig Andrews
But

00;17;15;21 - 00;17;24;01
Craig Andrews
she for her, she just saw her most important job was to raise her two boys in the men.

00;17;24;27 - 00;17;35;07
Craig Andrews
And anything out outside of that was secondary. And so that's where she put her focus and now and she you know and since is reentered the workforce

00;17;35;07 - 00;17;42;29
Craig Andrews
and just brings a lot to it. But the sad thing, the thing that's always made me sad was, you know, I see where she's devaluing herself because.

00;17;42;29 - 00;17;44;06
Ashley Connell
Right.

00;17;44;08 - 00;17;45;23
Craig Andrews
I'm like, no.

00;17;45;25 - 00;18;13;23
Ashley Connell
No, that's right. That's right. And I think we're not even helping people get back into the workforce as much as we're helping them not be under hired, you know, not take a job that they're going to be bored in. Because when I talk to a lot of these women, they're like, look, Ashley, if I'm not with my family, I want to do something that's challenging.

00;18;13;23 - 00;18;33;08
Ashley Connell
I want to do something that's impactful. I want to do something that I'm going to be proud of and share case studies with other people. And so that's the opportunity that we're giving them so that they are super appreciated by these business owners. And then in the same way, these business owners are like, oh my God, someone's running my business.

00;18;33;08 - 00;18;34;03
Ashley Connell
This is amazing.

00;18;34;06 - 00;18;34;22
Craig Andrews
Oh

00;18;34;22 - 00;18;48;24
Craig Andrews
yeah. And and I mean, at least in my journey what I've found is okay there, you know, don't schedule meetings for school, drop off, don't schedule meetings for end of day. Yeah, post a dinner. But,

00;18;49;01 - 00;18;58;12
Craig Andrews
and when you do that, they just they do amazing things. When the left the first, you know, left. I forget how many years ago she gave me three months notice.

00;18;58;14 - 00;19;00;15
Ashley Connell
Oh, my gosh, that's unheard of.

00;19;00;17 - 00;19;04;09
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And she helped me hire Libby. She helped me train Libby.

00;19;04;12 - 00;19;05;14
Ashley Connell
It's amazing.

00;19;05;17 - 00;19;06;13
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;19;06;15 - 00;19;26;08
Ashley Connell
That's. I mean, again, it's the care. It's the give. I shared that you're not content you don't always get from people. Like, that's what I have just seen in this population. And again, I'm so grateful. And this is why I wake up every day and do all the hard stuff that it is. Being a business owner, which everyone listening can relate to.

00;19;26;11 - 00;19;30;27
Ashley Connell
Like that's why I do it. That's why I do it.

00;19;30;29 - 00;19;52;26
Craig Andrews
So let's take the next few minutes and talk about getting the right fit in there, because I, I'm surprised to still run into people that hire people just like them. And I'm like, no, that's a huge mistake. Your business only needs so many of you. And depending upon your personality, your business needs only one of you. And you know you'd have.

00;19;52;27 - 00;19;55;08
Craig Andrews
Yes. Bring chaos if there's two of them. Yes.

00;19;55;11 - 00;19;57;11
Ashley Connell
Yes, yes.

00;19;57;14 - 00;20;06;12
Craig Andrews
So how how do when you run into a business, how do you assess what their needs are and match them up with the people that are going to fit that those needs?

00;20;06;14 - 00;20;07;16
Ashley Connell
Great question.

00;20;07;16 - 00;20;38;17
Ashley Connell
I am very data focused. And so what I didn't want to do was go off gut because people would be trusting my gut. And who am I? So we had a behavior scientist come in and help us design our matching and help us ask questions. That really gets down to the preferences from the business owner on how do you like to communicate?

00;20;38;19 - 00;20;41;00
Ashley Connell
What does it look like when you're stressed?

00;20;41;00 - 00;21;00;19
Ashley Connell
What what part of the business do you love running? What would you give away today if you could? And we ask in lots of different ways so that we can get slightly different answers. Put that all into our matching, which is basically like Match.com for CEOs and operators.

00;21;00;19 - 00;21;20;06
Ashley Connell
And then present three different candidates, but I think, I think the problem with many business owners is they don't recognize when they need this person.

00;21;20;09 - 00;21;30;28
Ashley Connell
And so by the time they're in so much pain, they are willing to hire anyone that comes across their desk.

00;21;30;28 - 00;21;50;03
Ashley Connell
Versus putting the time and energy into finding that right match. Because this is like your partner in crime, your operations person. They see all your dirty laundry, you know, they see all the skeletons. They are helping you actively fix the entire business.

00;21;50;05 - 00;21;59;17
Ashley Connell
So you got to trust them. You got to be compatible. It can't be just someone. And that's what I deeply, deeply care about.

00;21;59;19 - 00;22;09;07
Craig Andrews
The other problem I see arising is if you take somebody that's a strong visionary and come up with an operator.

00;22;11;06 - 00;22;22;18
Craig Andrews
I, I can see communication barriers or communication errors popping up and you know maybe the CEO just being frustrated. Why don't they get this.

00;22;22;20 - 00;22;41;27
Ashley Connell
I'm so glad you brought this up. So that is why in our matching we do so much emotional intelligence compatibility too. Because your best integrators or your best operators, they can flex communication style like no one I've ever seen.

00;22;41;27 - 00;22;53;23
Ashley Connell
They can speak to someone who is extremely dominant. They can speak to someone who is extremely inspirational, and they know what motivates them and how they are going to get that person to act.

00;22;53;25 - 00;23;16;13
Ashley Connell
I say this all the time with business operations. It should be built around you. It should not be just scaffolding that you as a business owner, kind of just figure out how you're going to work with. No. If you like, if you need 18 reminders and you appreciate that there should be an automation that gives you those 18 reminders and your operators going to create that.

00;23;16;15 - 00;23;31;20
Ashley Connell
That's a tiny example. But again, like your job is to be you is to deliver to be the rainmaker. Their job is to make that as easy and scalable as possible.

00;23;31;22 - 00;23;41;01
Craig Andrews
Well, one thing that hit me as you were talking is in in God's crazy wisdom we put out, you know, when people have kids, they're not the same.

00;23;41;04 - 00;23;46;01
Ashley Connell
Yeah. Turns out they're usually wildly opposite.

00;23;46;04 - 00;23;49;11
Craig Andrews
And so these caregivers, they.

00;23;49;11 - 00;23;49;22
Ashley Connell
Have.

00;23;49;22 - 00;23;55;15
Craig Andrews
Some of their experience is dealing with you. Talk to this kid this way. You talk to this kid another way.

00;23;55;18 - 00;24;21;29
Ashley Connell
Right. Right. Absolutely. And and as especially like a mom, a birthing person, your brain rewires, like, there's science behind that, and it rewires so that you can better communicate. And since the needs of your children, that is so underappreciated and underutilized in the workforce. Yeah. Like.

00;24;22;01 - 00;24;28;21
Ashley Connell
An I'm going to change that. I also, I say this a lot too.

00;24;28;21 - 00;24;47;26
Ashley Connell
It makes me sad that professional skills, hard skills are compensated when emotional intelligence or people skills are complemented. And I really feel like it should be the other way around.

00;24;47;28 - 00;24;50;24
Craig Andrews
I think I mean, if we look back in the history of America,

00;24;50;24 - 00;24;52;15
Craig Andrews
was it Dale Carnegie?

00;24;52;15 - 00;25;03;21
Craig Andrews
Or Andrew Carnegie? Andrew Carnegie was the first CEO that made, I think it was $1 million salary, like way back when. Yeah.

00;25;03;23 - 00;25;04;15
Ashley Connell
Yeah.

00;25;04;18 - 00;25;12;02
Craig Andrews
And the thing that that's credited to was his ability to manage people. It was the soft skills.

00;25;12;04 - 00;25;19;13
Ashley Connell
You hear that all the time. You hear the number one trait of a good CEO is empathy.

00;25;19;15 - 00;25;20;15
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;25;20;18 - 00;25;22;01
Ashley Connell
Number one.

00;25;22;04 - 00;25;24;24
Craig Andrews
Guess what? It's also important marketing too.

00;25;24;26 - 00;25;36;03
Ashley Connell
Yeah. Oh my gosh. So important in marketing. So if you can't get into the brain of either your customer or their end user. Game over.

00;25;36;05 - 00;25;47;01
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. And it's, Well, that's a conversation for something else. I just run and I run. The business is every time we go through an exercise, when we onboard a new client.

00;25;47;03 - 00;25;47;15
Ashley Connell
Yeah.

00;25;47;22 - 00;25;57;10
Craig Andrews
Where we try to dig in, we, we try to find what's your best client and we want to understand them deeply so we can go find hundreds you know others.

00;25;57;13 - 00;25;58;01
Ashley Connell
Right.

00;25;58;03 - 00;26;15;14
Craig Andrews
And the number one feedback, the number one thing people say when I take them through that exercise is we don't feel like we understand our clients well enough. Oh. Which is this is great. I'm not. And that's I see, that's part of my job is to turn on the light bulb.

00;26;15;16 - 00;26;36;20
Ashley Connell
Totally. Absolutely. That is your job. And I think that that just opens such a great door and reminder for your clients who talk to their customers more, to talk to their clients more. Get that information. You know, it's only going to help.

00;26;36;22 - 00;26;40;08
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. Well,

00;26;40;08 - 00;26;59;17
Craig Andrews
I love what you did. And when we met and I first heard what you did, I was like, I want to have you on the podcast because I'm giving away a secret. I mean, because there's such an a time where it's hard to find employees. There's this. Yeah. How about. That is insanely talented.

00;26;59;19 - 00;27;10;24
Craig Andrews
Has so many skills. And so but I love I love your mission I love what you're doing. How can people reach you.

00;27;10;27 - 00;27;16;11
Ashley Connell
Oh man. Head over to Prowess project com.

00;27;16;11 - 00;27;27;16
Ashley Connell
We have a ton of resources. One in particular. It is the top 15 big responsibilities that you can hand over to your operations. Lead.

00;27;27;16 - 00;27;43;05
Ashley Connell
And I can send over the the link, but it's just to get you starting to think. Oh, what could this look like? What could this look like to have an operations person who's running a lot of this stuff that I'm just not naturally built for?

00;27;43;08 - 00;27;56;27
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, Ashley. Thank you. I do hope people reach out to you. Thanks for coming on. Leaders and legacies.

00;27;56;27 - 00;28;23;23
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Ally's for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this

00;28;23;23 - 00;28;25;18
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.

00;28;25;20 - 00;28;49;00
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest. Tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;28;49;02 - 00;28;57;07
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up. Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.

00;28;57;07 - 00;30;59;10
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Ally's for me.com. Or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.