Stately Magazine - Issue Five

Page 96

C

indy, Tell us about yourself.

I am driven by curiosity. I believe that the more curious we are the more we experience opportunities in life. I don’t believe that anything and everything is possible, but I don’t want to have regrets in life when I haven’t tried something and so I’m prepared to take risks, fail and dust myself off and learn from the failure. Along the way I have tried things that I had limited or no experience with in life. Of course, there are always naysayers. They would say, “Cindy, what if it doesn’t work out?” “What if it’s too difficult?”. That spurs me on and motivates me to even try harder when I get that kind of feedback. Although there are rules in life and processes and procedure, I like to break rules. Sometimes I don’t understand the rules and that is why I never made a great employee. I believe that I failed as an employee because I just thought that there sometimes are better, more efficient ways of doing things. And I wanted to be able to be self-employed to be able to branch out that way.

From psychologist to top-level business advisor to cookie entrepreneur and best-selling author, where do you get the motivation to pivot into such diverse areas of business?

The secret is I am an overachiever. I am not a high achiever. I am an overachiever and the dynamics of people like me is that our resting state is agitation. I am never content - in the sense that I want more. And so after I have mastered something, I enjoy the fulfillment of that mastery but then I think of what else is possible. And so as I trained as a Clinical Psychologist I understand what motivates and what drives us. I come from a family of business entrepreneurs and so I thought that I could take my skill set and transfer it. I focused on understanding human nature and helping leaders and teams with succession planning, talent planning, being the best leaders and getting the most out of their team in terms of employee engagement, productivity, morale and discovering how we can improve the world, through whatever the industry is that I am assisting with. The book is really based on everything my clients have taught me over the years about what great leadership is. So I took their learnings and their teachings around what works and what is effective as a leader. How do you influence? 96

How do you impact? How do you motivate others? How do you help people advance in their careers? I thought that it would be of tremendous value to put their thoughts and ideas into a publication that could be shared amongst those who are early on in their careers or, along the continuum, those who continue to want to enhance their careers.

Amazing and the cookies?

I needed something to feed my soul. I have always loved baking. The beauty of the cookies is that I get up super early in the morning at 4 am. It’s quiet time. It is just me and the dough that I create. I started with about 10 different flavors of cookies though I have now expanded to over 20 flavors. Beyond that I also do other baked goods as you can see from my Instagram page. These are just based on customer demands. They’ll call up and say, “Cindy, can you do this?” And I say “yes”, even though I think, Oh my God how am I gonna do this? But that is part of my overachieving - wanting to see if it is possible. This led to my branchingout into Cheesecakes, lemon bar squares, raspberry crumble, chocolate chunk cookie bars and many many other different options.

How did COVID affect your business and how did you react when it hit?

COVID was a blockbuster year for me. 2021 was exactly when I launched my cookie business. It was also when I published my book. I had more time and more flexibility because my schedule was, in essence, more efficient. Leadership coaching continued but I didn’t have the same travel time because everything was on Webex, Zoom and Teams. So I had all this time and, as I mentioned, I am not very good at being idle. So this was when I wrote the book and launched the cookie business. I thought that Bite.me.cookie would be a good way to take some risks in that time period.

In what ways do those close to you help you create challenges for yourself?

They’re extremely supportive and my family and friends are intrigued and sometimes they are in disbelief at how I push myself. It is about taking challenges but they are my greatest cheerleaders. They are super supportive. They help edit the book. They help test flavors and spread the message. They are enthusiastic and, most importantly, they aremy allies.

What relationship has been the most meaningful to you during your career so far?

My family relationship, of course. As I mentioned they stand stridently behind me. My son, for example, is the photographer for bite.me.cookie. He is very creative himself and he takes most of the pictures. He inspires me because some of the photos are incredible in terms of the concept and what goes on in his head and how he creates. In terms of leadership coaching the inspiration has to come from my mentors along the way, from schooling to business mentors. I have two or three mentors and colleagues who’ve been particularly supportive. I would say from the business community some of the senior executives have been my inspiration.


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Articles inside

Stately Magazine - Issue Five

1min
pages 72-83

Cindy,

11min
pages 96-99

C

2min
pages 94-95

A WHIRLWIND THROUGH ETON

2min
pages 90-93

STARS OF ALL AGES, SIZES & ABILITIES STYLING IT OUT

12min
pages 84-90

INTRODUCING NATALIA EDELMANN OF LUXE CLUB RETREATS

2min
pages 63-66

RESTORING YOUR ENERGY FOR LIFE

5min
pages 58-62

MACMILLAN ESTATE PLANNING

5min
pages 54-58

CHRIS AIRE

5min
pages 50-54

WIG & PENS

1min
page 47

SARAH STONE

6min
pages 34-47

ELEVATE . CONNECT . EVOLVE

3min
pages 30-33

INTRODUCING AMY NICOLE COHEN

0
page 29

THE INTERIOR STYLIST HANNAH THOMAS

1min
pages 22-28

THE BODY ELLE MACPHERSON

8min
pages 14-21

ABOUT QUASAR EXPEDITIONS

0
pages 12-13

QUASAR EXPEDITIONS

1min
pages 9-11

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

2min
pages 6-9

Cindy,

11min
pages 96-99

C

2min
pages 94-95

A WHIRLWIND THROUGH ETON

2min
pages 90-93

STARS OF ALL AGES, SIZES & ABILITIES STYLING IT OUT

12min
pages 84-90

INTRODUCING NATALIA EDELMANN OF LUXE CLUB RETREATS

2min
pages 63-66

RESTORING YOUR ENERGY FOR LIFE

5min
pages 58-62

MACMILLAN ESTATE PLANNING

5min
pages 54-58

CHRIS AIRE

5min
pages 50-54

WIG & PENS

1min
page 47

SARAH STONE

6min
pages 34-47

INTRODUCING AMY NICOLE COHEN

3min
pages 29-33

THE INTERIOR STYLIST HANNAH THOMAS

1min
pages 22-28

THE BODY ELLE MACPHERSON

8min
pages 14-21

ABOUT QUASAR EXPEDITIONS

0
pages 12-13

QUASAR EXPEDITIONS

1min
pages 9-11

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

2min
pages 6-9
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