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Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Building Tenacity: How to Cultivate Grit and Confidence with Liz Hutson of EGH, LLC 4-23-25
00:07:55
In this episode, Liz Hutson, Principal Consultant and Owner at EGH, LLC, joins the Scott Becker to share powerful insights on developing tenacity.
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Transcript12 lines
- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business podcast. We're thrilled today to visit with one of our most listened to guest, Liz Hudson. Liz is brilliant. She's by nature and background an engineer, then built her own business, now does that, and also is a public speaker. And she's got great insights on so many subjects. Today we're going to talk about tenacity, sort of drive, grit, etc. Are you born with it? Are you not? If you're not necessarily driven and compelled by stuff to begin with, can you develop it? Liz, let me tee it up and tell us your thoughts here.
- [00:42]
B
Yeah, sounds great. Scott, thanks so much for the time today. To me, I was thinking about this. Why is tenacity important? I think when we look at the world today, we want to get an idea of ours across, be it in a business setting or in a community setting. We want to showcase our work. We want to be considered for an opportunity, whether it's the next level job, a new job, whatever it might be. Got to have tenacity. We could have all these ideas, but if they're never heard, what good is it? And when I think about the tempo that our world keeps today, if it's not sharp and pithy and pushes forward those ideas, like even a personality, a person is brushed aside really quickly. And so if we're not positioning it well and we're not having a healthy dose of push, those ideas can stay behind. And the question that you asked, I think is a good one, which is, are we born with tenacity or is it something that can be built? And my thought on this is that certainly certain personalities have innate personality traits that are more or less comfortable with pushing, more or less comfortable with tenacity. However, I believe that it is a skill that can be developed and grown. And today, Scott, I'd love to talk about how we go about doing that.
- [02:00]
A
Fantastic. And how do you cultivate that tenacity, that, that drive, that grit, that just taking on something and not letting go? How do you cultivate that?
- [02:10]
B
Yeah, I think it comes down to three things. As I was thinking about topic number one. The first thing is I believe you've got to work hard and build confidence in your ideas and work because I think tenacity is so much easier to manifest and just channel the P to drive when we feel confident in the work that we've done and we put in that work up front. And I, you know, I think about like when all of us were kids and we're in school setting, college setting, when we're taking a test and we come in really well prepared, we've done the homework. You know, we did the practice test, we drilled the materials. We come into that test and we feel confident. We feel dominant. Like, I'm going to do well on this test because I did a great job preparing for this. And I think it's no different in work settings or presentations or whatever that is. You exude confidence when you come in prepared, and then others feel that as well from you, like, they can see, like, you know, what you're talking about. So channeling tenacity is so much easier when you've done the work up front. That's. That's the first point, Scott, that if.
- [03:19]
A
You'Re prepared, it's much easier to find it because you're not sort of dawdling all over the place. It's easier to find it if you're prepared and ready to go.
- [03:28]
B
Exactly. Exactly.
- [03:30]
A
So love that. Tell us what else you could do.
- [03:33]
B
Yeah. Second point is I believe that tenacity isn't coming in and, you know, just like, fighting and pushing, and that's the only. You got to do it the right way. I think there's a balance of tenacity that has a sense of gentleness paired with, I'll say ferocity. And when I say that is, I think a lot of times when we think tenacity, I'm going to channel that tenacity. You come in sometimes with. With just this fierce intensity, and you may come across as like, I know what I'm doing, and this is this. I'm going to push this. But you run the risk of having your audience dig into their point of view even harder. You just. You kind of bulldoze them, and then they may concede out of fear, but not out of belief. And I don't think that's good. But I believe that if you meet people where they're at, and that's what I talk about, like, doing it the right way. Meet people where they're at, but then also don't be afraid to press. And at the right times, you escalate, both in your voice and your power, your research, like all the things. But I think there's that balance of don't come at it with, you know, beating people up on it, but at the same time, meet them where they're at and then find that way to push a little further. I think that's point number two.
- [04:55]
A
Thank you. And I love that to sort of. You're with somebody, you're discussing, you're working with them, whatever you're doing. And you are so centered that you're able to find that spot, to push further, to move further along. And you have to be centered enough and engaged enough that you could do that that you're just not all over the place. I love that concept as well.
- [05:14]
B
Exactly. And the last point, Scott, is start small. So I think for some people, finding and channeling tenacity is very easy. Again, it's part of who you are. Maybe you practice a lot, but I would say for people where this is hard, maybe it's hard to find your voice, maybe you feel a little bit timid. What I would say is start small with that. Lean into your tenacity in small spaces. Maybe practice with topics that are somewhat low risk. Maybe people that you're more comfortable with that you know a little bit better. And as you start to gain some wins and you build some traction with that, you're going to build confidence. And then you start to take. Take slightly bigger risks in meetings or in opportunities, and you just, you just eek that out a little bit. It's a practice, it's a skill. If it is, are people born with it or is it something that you can, that it can be built? I believe it's something that can be built. You start small and at the end of the day, and Scott, I think you probably have experienced this more than most people in this world is I think people are people. You interviewed presidents of the United States, top athletes, subject matter experts in all areas and facets of health care. People are people. And I think, you know, each one of us, we step into our pants one leg at a time. And I don't think a title makes someone more important than the other or has more better ideas than the other. I think we lean into the idea, the passion, the hard work that we put in, and we find those spaces again to meet people where they're at and then get tenacious and press forward. But I think we start small and we just recognize that people are people and we can connect with them wherever they're at.
- [06:52]
A
Well, I think that's, that's right on. And I think the, this reality of people are people is no matter how successful, how driven, how whatever, most people aren't in a constant mode of tenacity and 100% compelled and obsessed and ready to go. Most people, at least to my experience, go through peaks and valleys of this. And even those that start off the most driven have to recultivate that tenacity periodically if they want to stay effective. And after stuff, I think that just is, you know, and I think lots of little wins is one of the important ways of doing that. As you mentioned, building confidence and growing interested and getting more excited and so forth. But I just absolutely love the topic. Liz again, Liz Hudson with us, Dan, the Becker Private equity and business podcast, one of the most listened to guests we have and just as good as they get. Thank you very much.
- [07:49]
B
Thank you. Thank you so much. Scott, great to talk with.