Glennon Doyle has an Integrator and You Need One Too
If you’ve spent even 5 minutes of time reading or listening to anything by Glennon Doyle, you’ll know who “Sister” is. I remember hearing Glennon speak years ago during her book tour for Carry On, Warrior. She talked about the elusive- “Sister” and how without her, pretty much nothing could happen.
Beyond being Glennon’s actual sister and the anecdote for many of her stories, Amanda Doyle is truly Glennon’s right hand woman. She listens to all her ideas, fears, hopes and dreams and helps ground Glennon in what is possible, what could be possible, and what is genuinely a “hell no what are you even thinking?” Sister get’s shit done while also tending to the more unique and nuanced side of Glennon as a person, brand and business owner.
While we’d like to think the books and podcasts and personas are all for the good of humanity (and they are), Glennon has built somewhat of an empire. A far cry from the Carry On Warrior tour, which was primarily held in church buildings with hundreds of people attending, she’s now written multiple NYT best-sellers, founded a NFP and hosts a massively successful podcast (with none other than her partner Abby Wambach and of course, Sister).
Most of this wouldn’t have been possible without Sister’s leadership and guidance.
The popular entrepreneurial book Traction, by Gino Wickman, would label Sister as Glennon’s Integrator. Sister is someone who might often be overlooked, at least when it comes to the business side of things, but is the one who is in the details- managing the day to day operations, aligning the whole team’s efforts and making sure all the exciting and wild ideas Glennon has are translating into something that furthers her mission and vision.
Similar to Glennon, you’ve probably got some wild ideas of your own. You are focused on anything that can get you towards that larger scale mission and vision. And like Glennon, you need an Integrator who is going to help you sift the ideas so you know what will move you forward and what will leave you spinning your wheels in frustration. Your Integrator will help take those visionary ideas and transform them into actionable plans.
If you haven’t heard the term “Integrator,” you’ve probably heard terms like “Operations Manager” or “People Operations.” At this stage of your business, it’s possible the person you are looking for will hold both those roles among others. Among the benefits to having an Integrator or Ops Manager, The Academy to Innovate HR offers thoughts on the major benefits to having a people operator on your team.
An Integrator can take your leader’s vision, assess the strengths of the people within your team and based on those strengths figure out what they can do as individuals to contribute to the whole of the vision.
They serve as an excellent resource for making sure your employees are having a positive experience and empower them to strive for excellence in the workplace to drive efficiencies. Afterall, at the end of the day, you can have the happiest employees in the world but if they aren’t doing their jobs you aren’t going to have a company for long!
Another great thing an Integrator does is look at data and make decisions to support your goals as a visionary. It’s a great way to take the feelings out of the business and really look at what’s working (and what isn’t) from a numbers perspective.
Don’t all of those things sound wonderful? We think so.
You might be in the same position as Glennon- an author, podcast host and brand in and of yourself. Or you might be a leader within an organization who has a team under you; and within your team- you might need someone to fulfill this Integrator role to help move your organization further along in the journey.
There are a number of ways Fearless is especially primed to help you find your Integrator. We don’t want you navigating this journey alone- whether you’re a solo founder, a leader within your organization or someone who started with a podcast and has found yourself as a whole brand, you need support. Our Fearless Founder, Madeline Reeves, was seeking operational support as our business was growing fast in 2020. She had assembled a team of contractors to execute the work, but she was still the one left managing the details and having minimal space to execute the important visionary and business development work that had gotten her to this point. Through a series of “universe aligned” events, she came across Sarah Hines, our in-house Integrator. Sarah has been integral in helping take the team and project management pieces off Madeline’s plate so she can be more present to the things she’s best at.
Fearless can provide you with coaching and guidance on how to find the right in-house Integrator for your team. We can also help support you as an outsourced Integrator if you can’t hire someone in house just yet. We help with everything from business development and ops to marketing and social media; as well as make actionable plans based on your goals and help you track the numbers to see what’s working and what isn’t.
We’re also really in love with getting down in the nitty gritty of the hard parts of this work. We’re a soft place to land and a place you can let your hair down. Much like Sister, we want to be a safe place where you can be your full self.
As a leader and visionary, you don’t need to navigate this journey alone. We’re here for you. We’re passionate about helping you get a hold of your operations and integrating what’s best for the next stage of your business.
Sound like something you want help with?
Fill in our form.
