Adam Shay, a former accounting firm owner now coaching business founders through his company Share the Knowledge, joins the show to discuss his passion for mountain activities. Adam shares his journey of discovering a love for the mountains during his college years in Virginia, which blossomed into regular trips for hiking, mountain biking, and snowboarding. He enjoys visiting places like the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia, and often makes trips out west to locations such as Colorado and Montana. Adam emphasizes how these outdoor experiences help him relax, find peace, and even spark creative ideas due to a clear mind away from work. As he transitioned to sharing more personal aspects of his life, the conversations with clients and team members became more meaningful, strengthening business relationships. Through these experiences, Adam underscores the importance of integrating personal interests into professional life for both personal fulfillment and to foster deeper connections in business.

Episode Highlights

· Adam enjoys mountain time, describing his trips to North Carolina, Virginia, and the western United States, finding peace and clarity away from work.
· Sharing personal interests and passions helps deepen business relationships, moving them from transactional to more personal connections.
· Adam posts about his personal interests on LinkedIn to build connections that bridge the gap between personal and professional life.
· He believes in the importance of showing interest in people as individuals, beyond their professional roles, to develop deeper relationships.
· Adam emphasizes the value of having passions outside of work, encouraging self-reflection and finding interests that bring joy, as these can contribute positively to one's personal and professional life.

Cristin Browne shares her passion for gardening and skiing and all things outdoors. She discusses how her love for gardening began after purchasing her house with a blank backyard, which she saw as a blank canvas to create a flourishing vegetable garden. Despite her initial efforts resulting in mostly failed crops except for zucchinis, she found joy in experimentation and the connections it fostered with her neighbors and coworkers. Additionally, Cristin talks about her passion for skiing, which began in her teenage years on the East Coast and was further developed in Colorado. She highlights the joy of engaging in ski lift conversations and the unique practice it provides for networking and building connections. Through these outdoor hobbies, she emphasizes the importance of embracing all aspects of oneself, both inside and outside of work.

Episode Highlights

· Cristin shares the significance of the color pink in maintaining her femininity and personal identity during her time in the military.
· She discusses her journey into gardening, emphasizing experimentation, learning from failures, and the joy of connecting with neighbors and coworkers through gardening activities.
· Cristin describes her love for skiing, highlighting how it offers a sense of freedom, adrenaline, and the opportunity to connect with others through shared experiences and ski lift conversations.
· She advocates for bringing all facets of one's identity to work, expressing how sharing personal interests like gardening can lead to deeper connections and adjacencies with coworkers, enhancing workplace culture.
· Cristin emphasizes the importance for individuals to be authentic and for organizations to foster a culture that supports and values the diverse aspects of an employee's identity beyond just their professional role.