114. Jen Rice

The Iowa Idea: Jen Rice

“How do we create a more human future of work?”

On this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Jen Rice. Jen is the founder and CEO of Groundbreaking LLC, an integrated coaching and strategy firm that nurtures natural growth of impact-driven leaders, brands and businesses, or as Jen describes them “rebels with a cause.”

We talk about Jen’s journey from advertising and account planning, with a fascination for what makes humans tick; to management consulting with a focus of brand and customer experience; to burnout and her transformative approach to coaching. A reinventor herself, Jen left her consulting career for a 14-country journey across Europe in early 2019. She’s currently based in Egypt, where she’s building a network of groundbreaking coaches and strategists to support status-quo-busting founders worldwide.

We dig into Jen’s approach to aligning the walk with the talk. As Jen says, “there’s got to be a better way” when it comes to how we enable humans at work. Jen describes the power of coherence and how we create wholeness in organizations, and what Jen describes as the motivation DNA of the people within our organizations.

I appreciate Jen’s focus on “Start with Who” as a principle that transcends customer-centricity. It really comes down to the leaders and leadership teams and how they’re wired and how they want to feel. We also explore organizations as ecosystems, with emotions as the nutrients for the humans in that system and how we can better address the “me within the we” to positively activate the human layer of work and organizations. Within the ecosystem metaphor, Jen describes the power of a regenerative approach.

We mix it up on the power of brands, how we might reframe brands, and how organizations can fill the leaky bucket of their customer retention efforts.

It was an honor having Jen join me on the show. This episode was a deep investigation into the power of bringing one’s best self to their work and being intentional on how we show up. I hope you enjoy the episode.

About Jen

Jen Rice is the founder and CEO of Groundbreaking LLC, an integrated coaching and strategy firm that nurtures natural growth of impact-driven leaders, brands and businesses.

Jen’s work is informed by 30 years of experience in transformation strategy, human-motivation research and a lifelong curiosity about the human condition. Her “Start with Who” principle includes and transcends customer-centricity, helping founder CEOs break ground within themselves to be more effective groundbreakers in the world. She also supports Reinventors: senior leaders seeking to leave the corporate nest to create more freedom and impact as entrepreneurs.

A reinventor herself, Jen left her consulting career for a 14-country journey across Europe in early 2019. She’s currently based in Dahab, Egypt, where she’s building a network of groundbreaking coaches and strategists to support status-quo-busting founders worldwide.

Links

Website: www.begroundbreaking.co

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferrice415/

Credits

Episode produced by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/).

The Iowa Idea Podcast theme music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).