The Trailblazers Experience Podcast

EP68 Yvette Janse van Rensburg: Consultant & Leadership Coach - Building Future Leaders with the 1% Mindset

• Ntola • Season 4 • Episode 68

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Ever wondered how an unplanned journey could lead to a thriving career? Join us as we sit down with the incredible Yvette Janse van Rensburg, a master talent manager consultant and leadership coach, whose unexpected path from South Africa to the UK unfolds like a captivating novel. Originally meant to be a short stint abroad, Yvette's journey evolved into a nearly 20-year exploration of recruitment, human resources, and talent management. . Our conversation ends with a focus on the future, including the aspiration to create "corporate athletes" and a checklist for seeking mentorship. Tune in for a rich tapestry of stories and practical advice to inspire your own career journey.


Chapters 
00:12 Intro
05:38 Transitioning into Talent Management and Consulting
11:42 Navigating Career Challenges and Comfort Zones
18:08 Strategies for Work-Life Balance
26:44 Building a Personal Brand
35:34 Future Goals and Aspirations
41:01 Core Values and Resilience
46:28 Key Takeaways for Personal and Professional Growth

Find Yvette
Linkedin :https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvettejansevanrensburg/ 
Instagram  @the_balancecoach
Watch Episode on Youtube : https://youtu.be/A9wGXBUd7Ck 

Listen : to the audio version Apple Spotify .Amazon Music Google Podcasts
Watch and subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@Thetrailblazersexperience
Follow Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetrailblazersexperience/

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Welcome to another episode of the Trailblazers Experience podcast, the podcast where we have candid conversations with women talking about their career journeys and career stories. On today's podcast, I am joined by the formidable, the amazing, the wonderful, the trailblazer, Yvette Janse van Rensburg, and she's a talent manager consultant with one core mission creating moments that matter for people and businesses to thrive. She's also a leadership and performance coach find on Instagram as the Balance Coach and a talent management expert, and I'm so excited to have someone who's found a way to blend professional business training, bringing in their own fitness journey, in a way to help leaders and teams in the corporate environment and other ways. Welcome, yvette.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Thank you, I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

And it's one of those things when you're looking on your experience and having to put down on paper all the things that you've done. You've done quite a bit, girl. It's been a journey.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I know, and you know, it's so funny when people say that to me I often think, yes, I have, but I never really recognize that I have done so much. I've had, I think, what you would probably call a very unplanned career journey, which is always yeah. When I think about it, I can kind of see why people feel like I've done so much over my career.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Well, let's actually let's dive into that. An unplanned career journey? Someone told me that progress in life isn't linear. There are ups and downs, so let's take it all the way back. Just a bit about your background and your education, if any, or entrepreneurship what sort of led to the vet that we see today, who is leading and providing that know-how and training and consultancy to other leaders and people out there? How?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

much time do we have? So it's interesting. I'm originally from South Africa. I came to the UK in 2005 and sort of that typical story. I was only meant to be here for two years. I came to do what was known back then as the very typical two-year working holiday, where you do a bit of work and then you do a bit of travel. When I came to the UK I had never left South Africa. I basically finished high school. My dad said to me why don't you go and work abroad for a couple of years? That's what he did his entire life. So I said well, that sounds quite interesting, let's go do a bit of that. So I came to the UK in 2005 and did a couple of odd jobs, really Did a bit of picking. I did a bit of packing, tried to pay the bills. Really wasn't expecting to be here, which will next year be 20 years of my journey in the UK but I Was it the first time you'd ever traveled?

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

then it was. I've lived the country a long, long while.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, absolutely. And when I say to people that they go, what were you thinking? And I always respond with, well, I wasn't, because how hard could it be? Right? I saw so many South Africans do it. But yeah, so it was my first time leaving the country, first time on a plane. It was really really an interesting journey.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

But so I arrived in the UK, did some odd jobs and then, as you do, I fell into the world of recruitment. So I actually started my career working in recruitment and it was actually through that that I sort of identified. I had a bit of a curiosity about people and organizational dynamics and just what made people tick, what made people perform really well, how do you get to the top 1% of corporate leaders? So it was really through that curiosity that I started to move more towards the world of HR, and then I eventually did my degree in HR as well whilst working in the world of recruitment, and at that point this was, I think, around 2012, I'd only ever worked in what I would call small to medium sized businesses. So I made a very purposeful jump towards working in the big kind of scary corporate world as I saw it back then, so made that transition into an in-house talent acquisition role and then actually through that journey I found my niche in talent management and organizational development.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

So worked for a big American firm for about three and a half years and then always sort of, I suppose, had this itch, this thing about I can't really do what I want to do in the corporate world not because it was a bad company or anything like that, just because I couldn't really express that freedom, do all of the great things that I wanted to do and be really creative. And that's sort of where the journey of moving into the world of consulting started really was from that itch. So I'm very fortunate now that I've had an opportunity to move into the world of consulting. So I work for let's Talk Talent. So that's kind of been my last couple of years, really transitioning into that world and being really creative and passionate about finding what is it that makes people perform really well. You know how do we get the best out of people in organizations. So that's kind of how I got to where I am today.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

That is so interesting. Two questions have come out of that. What were sort of your interests in school? Because school, because you know a lot of the time, if you are prepping yourself for an educational career that's very focused in medicine, engineering, sciences it's a very, you know, strict path. This is what you need to do. That's the direction you need to go. What were you interested in and how has that manifested in terms of your interest? You talked about creativity, that, the things that you were really good at in high school. How are they manifesting in terms of what you're doing now?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Do you know? What's so interesting is that where I thought I was going to go post high school because I did when I finished high school I applied to Cape Town University, but I applied to do microbiology, so something completely different. Applied to do microbiology, so something completely different. And I laugh now because I just think back to this was what 2005, 2006? I was like what if I became a microbiologist? Like what was that the thing to do? And so that's actually what I did.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

So I applied to to go to Cape Town University, but because of the type of field and the work, they only took a certain amount of people for the degree every year and that's actually what sparked the move to the UK or the two-year travel and work. It's because I didn't get a place. So my dad said, well, why don't you go and work abroad for a couple of years, have a bit of fun, make some money, come back and then we try again. So it's interesting because I made a complete 360. I never, ever thought I would end up in the world of people and culture and performance. It wasn't even an industry or profession that I'd even thought about. I didn't even know anyone who worked in this world?

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, because we always assume that HR is just processes, employee rights yeah, because we always assume that HR is just you know, processes, employee rights, laws, but actually there's a whole spectrum and now it's expanded to diversity, equity and inclusion and succession planning etc. And you mentioned one really key thing which you talked about that 1%. In your experience, what do you think is the key differentiator? I think Stephen Bartlett has just released a book called the 1% Diary and he talked about the one-time club and we have people talking about high performers. What do you think is the biggest differentiator? If someone is just starting out in their career now and they're saying I at some point want to get to that 1%, what are the differentiators when you're looking at that scale? What makes them that 1%, apart from an ultra high net worth and making loads of money? But what's the mindset do you think that they have?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, it's interesting. So when I coach leaders, I always say to them you have to treat yourself like an athlete, right? You cannot have health that's over here and expect to perform at a level that's over here. Those two things will always then be competing against each other. So, if you can focus on the basics of if you're going into a big boardroom meeting or even just a big presentation, what have you eaten, right? How have you actually fueled your body to show up for you in that moment when you're under pressure? What sorts of self-talk you know? So that kind of mental fitness that you have to focus on. What do you do to strengthen that, the resilience?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

If you think about leaders, they're always under pressure, right. There's always a new deadline, there's always another big decision to be making. So how are you actually preparing yourself from a mental and an emotional fitness perspective to be able to do that? And then how do you build the resilience to support that? So how are you managing your stress? The stress is going to be inevitable at a leadership level, right? And how do you manage that? How do you make sure that you're sleeping really well?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

So I think, in my experience, some of the best leaders that I have come across and that I have coached are the ones that treat themselves like athletes and they really bring all of that really sort of strong self-care principles into the way that they show up as leaders, and I'm proof of that. You know, the last three years for me have been absolutely transformational in terms of really focusing on my health, my fitness and, through that, really building that self-confidence and that belief that I can do hard things right, because health and fitness isn't easy. It's not easy to make the decision to get up really early in the morning, go to the gym or last thing at night, or eating really balanced meals. Those aren't easy decisions to make, but if you can do the decisions to make, but if you can do the hard things in there, you can do the hard things in in leadership.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Well, that's how I see it yeah, and this is why we've seen, you know, the the onset or the acceleration of companies such as whoop, which are tracking your sleep, your performance. Yeah, and, interestingly enough, a lot of seat. There's a stat that says a lot of c-suite executives now are taking on extreme sports. So, whether it's Ironman or cycling or running or hybrid athlete events, because they've noticed that correlation between performance, discipline, training for something that's making them more aware, more astute, helping with decision-making. So it's not coming back to the basics, isn't it? Not just the classic?

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

I don't know what the business man or woman of the past was, but if you watch series such as Mad Men, where it was all about drinking scotch and then having a cigar and everything that was so unhealthy and toxic in a way, whereas now the mindset is switching to that triad of health mindset and then also spirituality and people of faith or believing in something a higher power seems to have that direct correlation of of um, yeah, becoming that part of the one percent. And it takes time, isn't it? I've not seen anyone who's in that one% club, who it happened overnight. You know we talk about people's journeys, even your own career journey that it's taken time 15, 20 years to come to this point where you're able to use your knowledge to advise others. What have been your biggest challenges so far you've faced in your career and how have you navigated through them?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

So I was thinking about this question and how have you navigated through them? So I was thinking about this question. I think one of my biggest challenges that I've always faced is not knowing when to move on. So I've definitely stayed in organizations far too long because I absolutely love the people. Now you might say, well, that's great. You know why wouldn't you stay with people that you absolutely love working with.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

The problem with that is it didn't push me right Because I started getting comfortable. I was very familiar in my surroundings, that comfort zone was nice and safe and I was in control. So that kind of always led me to stay in organizations for much longer than I should have. But actually if I leaned into that fear zone just a little bit more throughout my career, I probably would have accelerated the timeline probably a lot more and just being a bit more comfortable with being uncomfortable. But yeah, I think that's been. I was reflecting on the question. That's probably been. One of the biggest challenges is knowing when to leave. You know when to lean into that challenge and when to lean into the discomfort a lot sooner, and sometimes it's the Maslow hierarchy of needs that keeps you staying, isn't it?

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

You got a paycheck, you need to pay the bills, the mortgage, the flat, the holidays, etc. You sort of think, ok, I know I want to leave, but actually I need stability. I need to actually make sure I'm covering my basic costs, my foundation, in those instances. Sometimes it's making a plan. Isn't it Like a getaway plan to say, ok, I know I've stayed for this amount of time, I know this is the next step in my career progression or entrepreneurship, so what are the steps I need to take to get me? There is a lot of the mindset that we sort of want to instill in people as well, because one of the things is you hear a lot about saying I launched my career, I started my entrepreneurship and now I'm a million dollar company or I'm now doing this, but we always forget to hear the stories of they. Either maybe there was generational wealth there, there was a trust fund that came along, there was a partner that supported, or actually they built up and started from somewhere. We never hear those background stories.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

You're so right. We are free condition to stay longer in situations than we actually should.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, but it's interesting you bring up Maslow's hierarchy of needs because I think that was really part of it. I had put myself through university, so I was working whilst I needed to pay the really hefty UK educational fee, and also at that point I was classed as an international student, even more. But you're exactly right, it was that needing the safety blanket, needing the income that probably pushed me to stay with organizations much longer than I should have, and also not actually putting me in a position where I could take calculated risks, because I needed some of that safety and comfort. The early part of my time in the UK was also being on visas. Right, I had to make sure that I could carry on that journey. So I think there was lots of the external factors that caused me to probably become, or have to, be really comfortable in the situations that I was in.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, and I think it's important to shine a light on that, because everyone's on a different journey. You cannot compare yourself to somebody else's. There are other determining factors that might hinder your progress, but it's about making that plan. Do you find a lot of it in your role and as a coach? There's a lot about helping people come up with a life plan, a business plan, a performance plan to get them to the next level.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, there is, and I always say to people, it's about the bridge right, the bridge that you're creating that will push you into that next phase of whatever your career looks like.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

So, whether that's going from being in a corporate to owning your own business or being in a particular profession and completely doing a 180 and doing something else, you've got to take the time to actually think about what is that bridge that you create, because it's not like you're going to switch off the one career the one day and on Monday you start the next career.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

There's always going to be a load of different steps and actions that you've got to take that will eventually get you there and the difference between, I think, the people who end up doing it and those who don't is that mental and emotional fitness. Right, because it's a journey. You don't suddenly just start a business or change a career or, you know, amplify the performance of an organization. There's always these steps that you've got to take and you've got to be really comfortable with that timeline Because, like you said, it could be two years, it could be five years. For me it was 15 years to get to the place where I'm really loving my job and I'm doing well in my career. So if you're not comfortable with that sort of timeline and you're looking for that instant gratification, you're definitely going to be left wanting on.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Delayed gratification is actually the way forward. You never see it at that point in time and I guess when you're younger, you want it now, you want it now. You never see it at that point in time and I guess when you're younger, you want it now, you want it now, you want it in that moment. But there is. I always have those full circle moments where 10 years later, five years later, I realized this is what I was actually yeah yeah, yeah, actually why I went through.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

You know the tribulations that I that I went through it. It all comes full circle. What I've noticed now, that is, I'm more self-aware about if I'm planning to achieve something in my next career move or something personal. I envision it, I manifest it obviously positive positivity but then I also I have to write down or close my eyes and write down what are the steps that I need to achieve this, what are the possible challenges I could encounter, how will I react to them? What are the things within my control? And, of course, things happen.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Life. Life always is playing a joke on us, isn't it? I feel like life is one big comedian. They make all these bland plans. Sometimes you boo exactly and then something happens. You've emphasized the importance of balancing high performance and well-being. Can you share with us some strategies? So someone is saying well, I think that's the direction I want to go for achieving this balance today especially, I feel like today's work environment is more fast-paced than ever. It's coming across that way More deadlines, more meetings, more interaction. Talk to me about some of the strategies that you've implemented that could be good takeaways for the audience.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, and you know what? This is such an interesting conversation. I think, even if you just look at the concept of balance, it's always about work-life balance, right, and you always see the same picture on Google. It's the little seesaw and it's sort of saying, well, work's this side and your life's this side, and you've got to even them out. But actually, if you think about the world that we're working in right now, for example, I work from home, right, so my life is work and my work is life. So, saying to me, I've got to find an equal balance in my work and my life, it's never going to happen, because that also is not what balance means to me. So I think that's the starting point. It's figuring out what does balance actually look like and feel like for you in the context of your career?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Once you've defined what that is, my second biggest strategy is and you'll probably laugh but you've got to learn how to say no. No is an entire sentence, right? No has a lot of emotions attached to it, whether it's guilt, whether it's fear. But you've got to learn how to say no. If you don't say no to some of those things you just always have to think about. Well, if I don't say no to this, what opportunities could I be potentially missing out on? You know you've always got to think about is this thing that I'm about to say yes to aligned with where I actually want to get to? So then you're starting to really dive into what's your purpose. Do you have clarity around the direction that you're trying to go into? Do you really understand what is the two, three, four year plan that you're trying to go into? Do you really understand what is the two, three, four year plan that you're trying to achieve? Because if you don't have that clarity, you can often find yourself very easily saying yes to lots of different things.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Because that's often how we think about success in careers, right? Well, if I get all of these, lots of different types of experiences, surely that must lead me to this great career one day. But actually that's often where I say people take a bit of a backseat driver approach to their careers and let everyone else make decisions around what you get involved in, what projects you do, what your next role might be. But actually, if you put yourself in that driving seat a bit more and become a bit more strategic around the decisions you're making in your career and purposeful decisions, right? Not just all this headhunter calls and there's a little bit more money over here, so I'm going to go over there. And then suddenly this headhunter says well, here's another great opportunity. That, for me, is quite often where you find people don't have a very clear purpose or direction in terms of what they're trying to achieve in their career.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, and it starts actually early on. I've seen it with my kids. My kids are 19 and 17. And I keep on saying every decision you're going to have to make a choice and it's simple things like you know, two parties on the weekend, but which one do you really want to go to? Which one will give you the most value, or do you want to run for a few hours and then dip into the next one? Everything is a choice in life and it starts even from the most basic things of journey planning and sort of getting that mindset. I'm trying to get into them that everything you have to make a choice there is a consequence and you start early on. It'll probably help you when you're having to make the bigger life decisions.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, like you said, in terms of are you in this role because it will open up more opportunities for your career, or is it just the paycheck, or is actually taking a higher paycheck gets you on to the next level in terms of your Maslow law of needs? That gives you a bit more flexibility, more freedom to do other things. It's all these decision makings, and the quicker we can get our heads around. Everything is a choice, it's just a decision. It's a crossroad, an impasse that you're getting to perhaps and you're going to have to make a decision and then move forward with it is a. It's sort of a good way of building on that. I mean, yeah, I made some really bad decisions everyone has and you just sort of think, oh my goodness, these were really bad decisions, but yeah, it was the choice ultimately to say, do I go door number two because there's more fun over there, or do I take door number one because actually it's more structured, and so on, and you learn, I suppose yeah, but it's interesting, right, because I do, I do sometimes.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I have sometimes the same thoughts and, well, what if I did this back then? But then I also think, well, what if I didn't? And I ended up in a completely different place to where I am now, and it's not for the better. So I always think, you know, yes, I think decision making as a skill is probably one of the most underrated life skills that you should develop Because, like you said, everything in life is just one decision over the other, right, and it's the same with your career. You're constantly just making lots and lots of different decisions in leadership, whatever it might be. So I do, yeah, I sometimes think back and think, well, what if I made a different decision? But then I also think, well, would I have ended up here if I made a different decision?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

So I think it's really valuable to look back and take some of those lessons learned and also maybe try and think are there certain themes when you look back over your career? Have certain decisions always led to certain outcomes? Have certain environments helped you to thrive more than others? So I do think there's a piece here about looking back to plan for the future, but not looking back to sort of go oh well. What if it's more of a taking a strategic approach? To sort of go, oh well. What if you know it's more of a taking a strategic approach to it?

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, and thinking about, okay, if I keep on, if this decision is leading to the same results, do I need to change the decisions that I'm making? But living a life of regret and what if? And woulda, coulda, shoulda is probably not healthy as well for your mindset. It's actually taking stock of your life and saying, okay, that self-awareness piece isn't it. I made this decision, this was the outcome. I keep on seeing a thread here. This is a positive outcome. Yeah, what I need to change? What I need to talk to? Do I need to build different networks? Do I need to change my circle in order to move further? Have you found that, in terms of progressing your career and coaching, that you've had to network differently and place yourself in different situations? Talk to me about that. Yeah, it's interesting.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I've definitely had to become comfortable, certainly over the last few years, of going into rooms where either people are a lot more senior or experienced than I am, rooms where I don't know anyone, so I'm the only one I turn up on my own.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I've definitely had to become comfortable with doing that because I also think that helps you to grow right being in rooms with people who are either where you want to be or they are the type of people that you want in your network. You've got to be pretty humble, I think, in that situation, because they're going to be people who are a lot more experienced. They've been around for a long time, they probably know a lot more than you do, and you've got to realize that that's an opportunity to learn and to grow and you've got to really lean into that right. So for me, that's the definition of a growth mindset being able to lean into that challenging situation and seeing it as an opportunity. So a lot of the rooms that I've put myself into are with rooms of CEOs, business owners, big organizations. So I've really made a very deliberate choice of where I go to do what type of networking.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, and is that something the organization that you in encourages and fosters as well? Do you have to actually ask for it to be actually placed in that zone?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

No, absolutely. So it's actually a really big part of my day-to-day job is networking. Really big part of my day-to-day job is networking, but also, just from an industry perspective, right, bringing the outside in. You know, what can I learn from these other organizations, or what are they talking about over here that could be really interesting for us to look at. So yeah, absolutely, it's really encouraged. The more the better, because ultimately it just helps us to also understand what's happening with the market, what type of conversations are being held by our clients, by the people that we're trying to work with. So it's definitely encouraged.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, talk to me about your personal brand, because you're known as the Balance Coach on Instagram and, having gone through and went into doom scrolling, you bet yeah.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

It feels like you are building a personal brand for yourself. Why is it important to you and what sort of led to you saying right effort and financial investment into my health and my fitness, that I can now really confidently go into the business world and be who I actually am? And my philosophy is always you know, people work with people, people buy from people. So I genuinely try and show up as the most authentic version of myself. You know, you probably know, south Africans aren't really known for fluffing things up. We're pretty direct, so I show up in that way. I always say to people don't ask me the question if you don't want the honest answer.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I love that I will always do it with respect and kindness and compassion, but don't ask me the question if you don't want the real answer. I love that. I will always do it with respect and kindness and compassion, but don't ask me the question if you don't want the real answer. So my personal brand is hugely important to me and also because of the type of work I do. You know I work in the world of people and culture, right. So it's a people business that I'm in. So I have to really make sure that people understand who I am, what they can get from me, but also how I present that persona to the world.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

And it's very different, you know, whether I'm going into a big corporate organization or you know whether I'm dealing. Some of my clients work in the charitable sector, right. So I try and position the personal brand depending on the audience I have. Some require a lot more of a softer event and some can really experience the full personal brand that I have. But it has been really important for me over the last three years to focus more on that and it's actually helped my career, quite frankly.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, I've seen that in terms of my own personal growth is I have to assume the role is am I being an active listener in this conversation or interaction, or am I being a solution list, so someone providing the solution or advice, et cetera. And it's helped me be a better interactor, interacting much better with people, understanding what outcome I want to achieve from that conversation as well, understanding what outcome I want to achieve from that conversation as well.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

But that's taken a lot of learning because sometimes you feel and I don't know if it's mostly women from most of the conversations I've had on the podcast with women we feel that if we're in the room, we have to say something, we have to stay in the room and engage, but it's actually knowing when Obviously, if you're in a bored situation, having your voice heard, but at the right time, yeah, it's gravitas and making sure that you're not making yourself small in the room by not participating at all when's the right time to interject, contribute yeah agree, acknowledge there's a lot going on what does that audience need from you?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

right, right, like you said in that particular meeting boardroom whatever do they want me to be? The challenger, is that the role that I'm going to play today? I think a lot more into some of those masculine energies that we have, so that we can show up in those boardrooms as our most confident but authentic selves. You know, I've definitely seen the opposite of that of where you try and take on this corporate persona. You know the persona that you think that that world wants you to be and it never works right Because it's not authentically you, it's not how you would show up day to day, and doing that over time is probably what leads to things like burnout and anxiety and stress because you're having to show up in a way that just isn't you at all.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, it's being authentic, but with impact and gravitas, and then showing that you actually deserve to be in that room and why? Leading with that.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, 100%.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

In terms of being a female leader? How do we empower other people in the workplace in your industry? Are there scenarios where you've had to be more assertive, more upfront, bringing the South African out in you and saying come on, ladies, shake it up, stop doing that. How has your experience been, especially with women in the industry?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I think it's a really interesting one. I think we need to tell more stories of women in leadership, right? You don't? Yes, you see the numbers and you see companies advertising their percentage of women that are now in leadership positions or in the boardroom, but actually are we telling their stories of how they got? Like you said earlier, you know, we don't often see the background journeys, maybe even how long it took them to get to that position, or what sort of support or sponsorship did they have, what type of networks did they go to go and build. So we don't see those stories.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

And I think that's how we start to change the landscape of organizations, right, if we can see more of those stories, but also stories of people who look like me, who come from where I come from, who've been through similar journeys. I think that's really important, because if you can't see those stories, if you can't see those people, you don't have anything to connect with, right? So I used to, when I worked quite a lot in succession planning in a previous organization, we always looked for those stories, because if you're at an entry level in an organization as a female thinking you know I really want to get to that management leadership position. But I'm looking upwards and I think, well, there's no one here that looks like me. There's no one that I can actually connect with in terms of their story, but actually they might be. It's just that we don't tell those stories very well in organizations.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, and to your point. I feel like now in 2024, going on to 2025, there is no excuse now for you not to be able to research, find, connect with so many women doing different things. One of the women who I'd really love if I could get her on the podcast she's the founder of Lagos Fashion Week and she is so amazing in terms of she was a lawyer before she was trying to create a fact it didn't exist in nigeria and she took the plunge not two years ago, probably 10, 15 years ago to say let me launch this and and be a force for driving fashion and creativity. And now fast forward all these years where, with the unsurge of afroats and now music and culture having that big surgence, you can see it's all now culminating together. But her story I googled her, found her online and I think I was at an Albright event and she gave a talk there.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

I was just in awe because I was like we need to see more of these stories of how people decided to just make a step change. They'd studied something else and I believe she's a lawyer by profession, but I'll put it in the show notes so people can find her as well Just doing something different and saying, okay, it's never been done before. I know there will be many hurdles along the way, but I see a vision. I've seen Fashion Week in other countries Okay, how do we make this work here? And I think it's similar with women's career journeys, where we can Google, see, contact, facetime, whatever it is, try and get in touch or just find out more, and that will sort of help us, breadcrumbing, get to the direction where we want to go in our own career.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, and that's the thing. Right, you're so right, people are. I think there's a bit of an assumption that most people aren't receptive to a LinkedIn message or an Instagram DM to find out about their journeys. Actually, people are completely well, most women are dying to tell their career journeys and how they've transitioned and how they've gotten to where they are, and they're happy to. Well, certainly, I can only really speak from my experience, but I'm happy to talk to someone and give them advice and tell them how I did something and what approach I took, but all it takes again is that initial discomfort of well, I'm going to block. It's basically a cold outreach. Right, I'm going to reach out to this person on LinkedIn to potentially find out how they designed this amazing career and actually, if you just lean into that challenge a little bit longer, you might really find some of the answers that you're looking for or, at a very minimum, here's some incredibly inspiring stories.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Exactly. If anything, what I think the podcast should do is just getting people to think differently. And actually we're not different from anybody else out there. We all have our stories, our journeys, and if sometimes it's just taking the plunge, isn't it Taking a risk to do something different to shape your own career? So, if we fast forward, it's almost the end of the year. What are your future goals? What's next? What are you planning? Planning? If I was to speak to in five years, where would you be?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

big question I'm actually doing this exact exercise with my my own coach at the moment. So you know, the future yvette in in five years time um, you know, I think is is is living a life where she's impacting lots of leaders to become the absolute best that they can be. My focus is really to try and help women get away from performing people-pleasing and that burnout culture that we have and really helping them to step into the most authentic, high-performing leader that they can absolutely be, and my own career, I think, will also be a testament to that. You know, remaining in the consulting space and really working with the top one percent of corporate leadership is kind of my well, that's what I want to create. Is that that next generation of? I call them corporate athletes? You know that that's really where I want to create an impact. I love that.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Corporate athletes, oh my's really where I want to create an impact. I love that. Corporate athletes oh my God, that's an aspiration I want to get into. There be that corporate athlete.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

You imagine having an organization still of athletes. I mean, you might have some problems, but you're going to have a really high-performing organization.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Exactly and, interesting enough, you said that you have a coach as well.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

What spurred you on to say actually, I am a coach, but I need one as well. Do you know what? It's because, as coaches as much as we are incredibly well trained and we can help other people unlock all sorts of weird and wonderful things, we're not very good at asking ourselves the difficult questions, that we need to grow and to be challenged. Well, you might be able to ask yourself the question, but quite often you shy away from answering the question. So I 100% believe in coaches needing coaches, because we also need to grow and develop and be challenged, right? So it was exactly that question. You know, what do I? What does Yvette in five years? What's she doing? It was that question that actually led me to getting a coach.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

That's brilliant. I think that's that demonstrates a high level of self-awareness, isn't it being able to go within yourself and say I may need some support and some assistance here and it's okay, it's admitting failure, it's actually admitting okay in order for me to get to the next stage or to unlock some potential? Someone else actually opening up and helping me see that for myself is really great. What do you think women need to? If there was like a checklist to say, okay, do I need a coach, do I need a mentor? What are sort of the checklists that are like a decision factor for going that next step?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Number one is definitely network. You know your network becomes your net worth. You've got to put yourself in those rooms with those people that you really either aspire to become or people who inspire you to do things a little bit differently and push yourself. So that would definitely be the first thing I would. If I was even very early career. Still, I would invest a lot of time at building my network and in different pockets, right, not just with people that are in my profession, but actually with people who think differently, and I know you mentioned Albright earlier. That's a perfect example of going into a room of women where actually you've got people from all sorts of backgrounds and industries that have come together. So I would definitely invest in that.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

My second one is to always be curious and stay adaptable. Yes, you might have a very particular plan or a shape of a plan that you've constructed for your career, but if you don't stay curious and adaptable, you could potentially be missing out on opportunities you've not even thought of. Right, someone could come at you left field with this great idea, but because you're so focused on just this one path that you want to follow, you might dismiss something that could take you in a much better or different trajectory as well. And then I think the last one is this find that balance right. You know, make sure that if you're wanting to upgrade here, that your health meets you here as well. You can't, you know, career and health aren't exclusive. There's such a mutual relationship between those, those two things. You cannot expect to have a highly successful career in leadership working under pressure when you're not actually taking care of yourself. You could maybe for six months, but you'll most certainly burn out.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, and it's you know, your health is your wealth. At the end of the day, my mom always used to say rest her soul. She was like just remember, you know, if you were to leave this company, et cetera, all you're going to get is a card and some flowers and you can pass away.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

That'll be it. So your self and your wellbeing, your family, your Yourself and your well-being your family. It's so important to have those fundamentals, isn't it? Those values, those core ethics and values that are guiding you through. Have you seen that throughout your career, I mean 15, 20 years? In just reflecting back, what are the core ethics and values that your family and your upbringing, your culture, have instilled with you that are still with you now?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, so probably the one thing that has always stuck with me is you know, rightly or wrongly, but always always be the top performer. Wherever you go, you know, always outwork everyone, always try and find or spend a little bit extra time being curious about something because you might just find that one little gold nugget that you're looking for. I was always growing up a really strong academic and I'm a bit of a lifelong learner. My friends always laugh at me like, oh, what are you learning this year? Because I just have to. I have to have that knowledge.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I have this real thirst and hunger for just exploring different topics, not necessarily even related to my field. Right, because I think it all. You can learn lots of little nuggets from different things that will ultimately help you. And so, yeah, I think that that has definitely stuck with me as I grew up. I lost both my parents, unfortunately, when I was really really young, and I think that kind of really work hard type, resilient mentality that they had me build when I was really, really young, I definitely think that that's one thing that has helped me throughout that entire journey growing up without them, but also the thing that's helped me be so resilient. You know, moving countries, not knowing anyone and building a career over the last 15 or so years. I think that that's really helped in my journey.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, that's interesting. I lost my mom 17 years ago and my dad is still with us. So I think when you've lost a family member, especially a parent, it's sort of you sort of think well, it's all guns blazing, now You've got nothing to lose. Yeah, you've got to go all out, because you never know when that day may come, and whether you're spiritual or not, or believe that someone is looking down on you, or if you would like them to be proud of you at some point. Yeah, resilience, and that I got to make this work and keep going mentality, it stays with you.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Yeah, 100%. It's so true, right? You know, I always knew that they wanted a really great life for me. You know, my mom I remember growing up invested a lot of time with me, helping me study, getting me ready for exams, whatever it might have been. You know, my dad worked abroad for quite a lot of my childhood, so I was with my mom quite a lot and I just knew that they wanted this great life for me. So I'm creating that great life now, but not just for them, but also for myself, so that I can show myself I can do really hard things right and I can achieve all the great things that they wanted for me but also all the great things that I want for myself.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Definitely, and you've talked about continuous learning and development. What's some of the if there's anything that you thought you've adapted this year, so an industry trend that you thought, oh my goodness, I'm so glad this exists.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

now that you've sort of adopted that, that's helping you as a leadership coach and that's interesting yeah it, um, it's funny you asked me that I was talking about this the the other day. The one thing that I actually two things that I never thought I would get behind because, you know, for any particular reason, it just it wasn't me, but it actually completely shifted my, my performance. One of it is breath work, which sounds ridiculous, and the other one is visualization. The breath work was a really interesting experience that I had and I actually realized how my body was probably constantly in this fight or flight mode because I wasn't actually breathing properly. And incorporating that over the last year in my health journey has made all the difference, giving myself this space, those mindful moments just harming the nervous system a little bit.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

And the visualization piece is an interesting one because I came across it by reading a little bit about the link between athletes and their performance. And this is a key thing that they do in their world is kind of visualizing that success. You know, you see them often, sometimes on pictures talking to themselves, and because that's the narrative, that's the visualization that they create. But you can break your brain doesn't know the difference, right, whether you're reality or whether it's fiction. So that for me was an interesting find I think in the world of mental fitness was visualization, and it wasn't until I actually started doing it that I actually realized the power that that could really have in any area of your life, not just your career. But those two things probably wouldn't have been the things that I thought I would say.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Yeah, it's about finding the tools that you need to help you. Now. My dad always says technology is there for a reason. Yeah, New principles, new processes are there for a reason. So why wouldn't you embrace it? You know, why wouldn't you embrace new ways of thinking, new ways of learning? If the fundamentals are to get you to the next level, then why wouldn't you do that? So I'll be looking into that next year actually, to get into how I can improve that for myself. Watch this space.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

It was interesting. It was an interesting experience. You'll have to tell me how it goes. Oh yeah.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

I'll be letting you know, little girl, this was gonna happen. Yeah Well, we always end the podcast with sharing three trailblazer takeaway tips. I mean, you've shared so many nuggets of wisdom If anyone has even listened to the podcast. I've been taking my own notes as well, things I need to reflect on and help me with building my own personal and professional brand. But if you had to summarize three key takeaways to help the audience as they go about their day, their life, their mission, their vision, what would it be?

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

I think the first one is stay curious. That gut instinct is there for a reason. If something's telling you to, you need to go and explore this. Lean into that just a little bit longer and see what you could find. The second one is, you know, always operate from a place of authenticity. Yes, I know the corporate world is tough and yes, it sometimes feels like you have to play a lot of politics and be very strategic about navigating that world. But the more you can operate from a place of just being you and connecting with people at that level, trust me, that will pay you dividends long beyond whatever role you're in. And then I think that the last one for me is really just shifting the narrative of where we think that we can either have a great career or either great health. You can have both. You just have to be very purposeful around how you design those two so that they do work together and not against each other.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Summarized brilliantly, and thank you so much for engaging in this conversation. I think it's always great to see different perspectives, different career journeys. You've been your authentic self. You've brought your A-game here, but also been sharing your story, and thank you so much for being on the podcast. I hope you've enjoyed it so far.

Yvette Janse Van Rensburg :

Absolutely, it's been brilliant. Thank you so much for having me.

The Trailblazers Experience Podcast :

Audience. This has been the Trailblazers Experience podcast. You know where to find us. Please remember to follow, subscribe and share. And do one thing for me tell another woman about the podcast. Until then, bye.