Alexandra Philipps, Commonwealth Holdings: The Interview
In today's episode, Sarah Collins and Bill Dippel discuss various themes ranging from sports fandom and the importance of kindness to career coaching and personal growth. They explore the dynamics of strengths such as competition and harmony, and how these traits influence personal and professional relationships. The discussion also touches on the significance of belief and personal standards in navigating life's challenges, culminating in a reflection on shared strengths within relationships. In this engaging conversation, Alex Philipps discusses the importance of understanding personal strengths in building relationships and developing future talent through internships. The dialogue explores how habits play a crucial role in achieving long-term goals, the challenges of navigating strengths and weaknesses, and the dynamics of competition and individualization. The hosts emphasize the significance of mentoring and the transformative power of utilizing one's talents in the workplace, ultimately highlighting the need for individuals to recognize and harness their unique abilities for personal and professional growth.
7 Main Takeaways
1. Finding the Right Career Fit Can Transform Your Energy
Alex started in a legal assistant role but felt unfulfilled. Through career coaching with Sarah, she discovered her passion for strengths-based coaching, HR, and employee engagement. Finding work that aligns with your strengths brings a noticeable energy and fulfillment.
2. The Power of Strengths-Based Career Development
Alex didn’t just move into a new role—she created one. By deeply understanding her own strengths, she identified an organizational need and successfully pitched a Director of Engagement role that leveraged her CliftonStrengths.
3. Competition Can Be a Superpower (When Managed Well)
Alex’s top strength, competition, drives her ambition and ability to push for excellence. However, she acknowledges that unchecked competition can become too intense, so she balances it with her harmony and individualization strengths to maintain relationships.
4. Futuristic + Execution = A Powerful Combination
Many people with futuristic talent can be dreamers, but Alex anchors hers with responsibility, consistency, and discipline. She uses her futuristic thinking not just to imagine possibilities, but to create structured action plans to achieve them.
5. Harmony Doesn’t Mean Avoiding Conflict
Alex debunks the myth that harmony equals conflict avoidance. Instead, she sees it as a strength that helps her resolve conflict quickly and efficiently, ensuring smoother teamwork and alignment in her HR role.
6. Strengths Can Be a Game-Changer for Young Talent
At Commonwealth Electric, Alex incorporates CliftonStrengths into the internship and leadership development programs. By helping young professionals understand their strengths early, they gain confidence, avoid burnout, and perform at a higher level.
7. You Have to Take Ownership of Your Own Development
No one is going to hand you your dream job. Alex was proactive—she sought out coaching, pitched a new role, and later transitioned to a company where she could continue working with strengths at a larger scale. She embodies the mindset of making strategic career moves based on self-awareness and vision.
Alexandra Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Competition
2) Harmony
3) Relator
4) Individualization
5) Consistency
6) Responsibility
7) Futuristic
8) Maximizer
9) Belief
10) Discipline
Bill's Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Individualization
2) Developer
3) Activator
4) Woo
5) Restorative
6) Empathy
7) Harmony
8) Connectedness
9) Relator
10) Learner
Sarah's Top 10 CliftonStrengths
1) Positivity
2) Woo
3) Communication
4) Harmony
5) Activator
6) Developer
7) Input
8) Individualization
9) Responsibility
10) Arranger
Official Strengths On Fire Website: https://strengthsonfire.transistor.fm
GET MORE FROM BILL AND SARAH:
Bill's info:
https://billdippel.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamdippel/
https://www.instagram.com/billdippelcoach/
Sarah's info:
https://www.wearecollinsco.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcoachcollins/
https://www.instagram.com/sarahcoachcollins/
Transcript
Sarah Collins (00:00.608)
Mr. Bill Dippel how you doing today?
Bill Dippel (00:02.698)
Well, I am I'm super good, super good. Having a great. Yep. Having a great, great week. Good things coming up. It's going to be a fun weekend. So Super Bowl parties. I just I know. I can't wait for Philadelphia to tear down those chiefs. It's just going to be great. So I don't I don't.
Sarah Collins (00:08.02)
I love that.
Sarah Collins (00:15.966)
That's right, we're on the cusp of seeing the Chiefs win their third Super Bowl in a row.
No, Red Kingdom. Listen, this is a Taylor Swift podcast. You should be all about the chiefs, baby.
Bill Dippel (00:29.022)
that's totally true. You know what? And I have promised we're going to get her to do our bumper. So, yeah, go chiefs. I got it. Now I'm in. So well, if she agrees to do it, I'll be at all chiefs. I yeah, I don't really have a dog. Yeah, I don't have a dog in the fight, so I'm just kind of hanging out.
Sarah Collins (00:34.684)
Right, you know?
Now you're in. There we go.
Right. So you're a Philadelphia's fan again, because she is not a green.
Sarah Collins (00:50.066)
Well, I'm just so happy because I became a Chiefs fan before they got really good, just because they are one of the closest teams to us. know, Nebraska doesn't have a pro team. And when I was growing up, I was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan because my dad and my cousin were Steelers fans. And so I was pretty legit into the Steelers. And then I, of course, just like lost track of football, did not care. And for a wedding, one of our friends took us to a Chiefs game as a wedding present because they couldn't come to our destination wedding.
Bill Dippel (00:54.414)
Hmm.
Bill Dippel (01:05.633)
That's right.
Bill Dippel (01:11.469)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (01:18.807)
Nice.
Sarah Collins (01:19.016)
And it was my first professional game and I loved it. And I was like, my God, I should be a Chiefs fan. They're so close to us. This is so fun. I love them. And then all of a sudden they started being good. So it was really good timing and then the tailor of it all. So I mean, the world wants me to love the Chiefs and you know what world? You can have what you want. I do.
Bill Dippel (01:32.555)
Well, that, yeah, of course.
So you're a NEPO, a NEPO Chiefs fan or a NEPO Pittsburgh fan. And then it turned into it. NEPO, sorry. Sure. My grandfather was a huge San Francisco Giants fan. So I'm a Giants fan, was also a 49er fan. So I'm a 49er fan. Both of those are painful, painful, painful legacies for me. But he didn't watch basketball. So when I moved to LA and lived there for a while, I was a Laker fan and
Sarah Collins (01:44.508)
Yes, nepo, a nepot, yes.
Sarah Collins (01:52.52)
Mmm. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (02:00.307)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (02:05.994)
There you go.
Bill Dippel (02:06.689)
But I also get what you're saying. I used to go to spring training baseball a lot and we would always go to Arizona for a cactus ball and the coyotes play in Arizona proper. So we would always go to a coyotes game. So I'm huge coyotes fan just because I've been there. I've seen it, right? I've gone. So I get your Kansas City original inauguration.
Sarah Collins (02:13.022)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (02:20.021)
Yeah.
proximity. Yeah.
It's interesting to think about how people become sports fans. I do think there's a lot of like nepotism, just the same, not to get into it, but politics and religion, a lot of that. You just do what your parents do, you know? I don't know, we grew up as Husker fans. And it's been painful to be a Husker fan, but you know, I will continue to persist. To just not even, I don't even have a good segue for this, but I do have a question for you. I don't have a good segue, but here is my question for you, Bill.
Bill Dippel (02:36.823)
Politics, yeah, religion. I thought the same thing when you said it. Yeah, yeah.
Ha ha ha.
Yes.
You can't even segue this one, you? You can't. I don't know how you do it. Yeah. I'm ready. I am ready.
Sarah Collins (02:58.27)
If you could make one new law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? yeah, me too. Okay, that was so easy. Same.
Bill Dippel (03:02.925)
Be nice.
Be nice. Stop being a jerk, right? however you'd want to, I don't know. I don't get political. We don't bring all of that up. It's just there's so much of my way is right and your way is wrong. maybe the rule might be to actually listen to instead of just assume.
Sarah Collins (03:12.574)
Hmmmm
Sarah Collins (03:22.143)
No.
Sarah Collins (03:26.772)
I know.
Sarah Collins (03:33.468)
yeah.
Bill Dippel (03:35.533)
what I think is the correct way to do it, that the new law is in any time you must think from a debate point of view and actually listen to what it is and take it in as a possibility. That's all. So, yeah. How about you? What would you do? Yeah.
Sarah Collins (03:49.3)
Yeah. Wow, that's so good. Well, I love that. I like want to echo that. think I would, I tell the children all the time, hurt people, hurt people. And sometimes they are the hurt people that hurt each other, you know, and we point that out. And so I love the idea of being nice. Yeah. But if I had to make a law, I think it would be that everyone got fair and equitable education because I think one of them, not to get political, but I think one of the major.
Bill Dippel (04:02.221)
Hmm. That's a really, really good point. I like the hurt people hurt people. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (04:17.824)
Issues in our world is that there is not good education and role models for all of the people in the world. And I think that if we could remove the barriers to fair and equitable education and mentorship, that we would solve a lot of our problems. So nobody knew I was coming in deep and thick with that one, but there you go.
Bill Dippel (04:18.349)
Ha
Bill Dippel (04:37.762)
Wow, Sarah came in hot today. And because you knew your question, I think you, that's a, that's, yeah, I know. Me too, and I have a little list that I looked at right before we chose who gets to ask. So yeah, I don't always know either, but that's also really.
Sarah Collins (04:45.49)
I did not prep it, I just want you to know I literally right before we got on thought my gosh I might have to ask a question and I pulled a random one from my list.
Bill Dippel (05:01.515)
It's funny. I think if you looked at our two new laws together, they're very similar in what they're attempting to do. So yeah.
Sarah Collins (05:06.816)
Absolutely. Just want to spread some joy and kindness throughout this world, which I think our guest today is a beacon of joy and kindness. And I know this because today we have on Alex Phillips. Now, this is a really interesting guest for us because she kind of checks every box that we could have on this podcast as guests go. Alex, I met through Rumble Lucky. We had Tara Paulson on. She was a
Bill Dippel (05:13.165)
love it.
Bill Dippel (05:17.931)
Yes.
Sarah Collins (05:36.672)
She is the managing partner of Rembolt. And Alex worked there when I started coaching the firm. And she was in, what was your initial role?
Alex Philipps (05:49.995)
Well I was with Rimbolt Ludke for eight and a half years. I started as a legal executive assistant. When you came in I was a paralegal doing personal injury and domestic law like family law.
Sarah Collins (06:02.568)
Yes. Okay. So Tara had talked to me and said, we love Alex. She's everything we want. She's the type of worker we want. She's a great culture fit, but we know she's not happy in her role. Alex, I'm getting any of this wrong, you just jump in. She said, can you do some career coaching with her? If it ends up, we have a role here at the firm for her. We want to keep her. We want to find the right seat on the bus for her. But if it ends up that she needs to go somewhere else,
then that's fine. We love her so much that we want to help her. So they invested in coaching. And I think we did three months of coaching. Is that right? Yes. So as a career coach in my former life, we used CliftonStrengths and we went through sort of this loose curriculum career coaching together. And so not only did I get to work with Alex in the
Alex Philipps (06:38.859)
That sounds right, yep.
Sarah Collins (06:54.292)
bigger CliftonStrengths development of the firm, but her and I gotta do one-on-one career coaching. Now what is really exciting, and Alex, I'm gonna have you share this part, tell the audience what did we figure out through the career coaching.
Alex Philipps (07:09.739)
Well, the way I remember it is when you came in, I was so in awe of you and what you were doing that I was, the first time we sat down, this is going to be like a little love fest. The first time we sat down, I was like, how do I do what you do?
And we worked together kind of off of that idea to find a spot that still worked within Rimbolt Ludke. And part of that was going to become a Gallup Global Certified Strengths Coach. And from there, I moved into a new role. I was the Director of Engagement. And part of that was a little bit of marketing work because the firm had a need in that space. But the biggest piece that I really cared about was strengths coaching and that little bit of HR.
Sarah Collins (07:40.266)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (07:57.277)
our work where we're developing people, we're coaching people, and we're just, you know, helping our team within Rimbold.
Sarah Collins (08:05.822)
Yes, and I really need to give you credit here because you didn't just assume a new role. You pitched this role. This was a role that did not exist at the firm prior to coming in. They were hiring me as an outside consultant and you through the coaching work, figuring out your skills, your interests, your values, doing deep dives into your strengths. You realized you had this knack for marketing, HR, and specifically carrying the torch of the Clifton strengths.
So in some ways you stole my job. No, but in the best possible way. This is what we want. This is what we want as outside coaches, right? If an organization is going to really become a strengths-based culture, it has to come from internal. I can be the spark, but you have to carry the torch. And that's really what you did. You were able to pitch this new thing. And I just have to tell you, Alex created a slide deck.
Alex Philipps (08:37.675)
no.
Bill Dippel (08:38.379)
OOF! Ouch!
Sarah Collins (09:02.366)
to pitch this new position. And I was so proud when she sent it to me to review. I was like, yes, yes, yes, this is everything. She created this slide deck, pitched this director of engagement role. They accepted it. She was able to get certified as a CliftonStrengths coach and do this whole new position that the firm was needing, but hadn't had up until that point. And then really, yes, it was very exciting. This is exactly what we want to see when we're working with clients. We want to see this.
Bill Dippel (09:24.688)
Bravo.
Alex Philipps (09:26.783)
Thank you.
Sarah Collins (09:32.414)
And now what's so exciting is this has been a few years ago, so Alex has moved into a new role. Tell us about your new role.
Alex Philipps (09:40.149)
Yeah, so now I am working as an HR generalist at Commonwealth Electric, but the biggest pieces of my role, it's like this role was built for me, I'm telling you.
I manage our internship program and part of that program we get to utilize CliftonStrengths. So I get to do CliftonStrengths coaching. I'm facilitated in leading large group sessions. We are, you know, doing lots of training around strengths. And I also am kind of a coordinator and facilitator of our, our mentorship program here, which has a couple components. One of which is our leadership development program. We primarily utilize that.
for succession planning needs, but anytime we identify some of our employee owners who have, you know, high potential, good leadership skills, we put them in this year long program to develop them and we utilize strengths coaching and we talk about strengths based leadership. And so we're in the process of doing that now. Actually, on Tuesday, we have our first kind of introductory large group session for leadership development. But I know we have
plans here at Commonwealth throughout this year to implement strengths more and more. And so we're a larger organization. Wimbledon was about 60 to 65 people. We have just under 1500 employees here at Commonwealth. So it's a bigger scale. Right. And I would say maybe two, two 50 ish are overhead office employees that will primarily be working with that strength stuff. But
Bill Dippel (11:09.037)
Sarah Collins (11:09.396)
Mmm!
Alex Philipps (11:21.709)
It's a larger scale for me and so I'm really excited about all of the things happening here at Commonwealth.
Bill Dippel (11:30.318)
Wow. So I, I'm really curious about this because coming from that HR side and now moving and thinking, I want to do what you do from a coaching point of view. And now moving to a larger environment where you've got so many possibilities. it's such a fruitful environment to have that many people to say, let's really build on this and get the energy going. Your number one theme is competition. I, I.
I'm just listening to it going. I don't know where competition plays in that. I don't know that it does. It may not, but can you highlight or tell us your top 10 really quickly and then touch on competition for a second? Because I am. I'm really fascinated by this.
Alex Philipps (12:11.605)
Yeah.
Alex Philipps (12:16.061)
Yeah. So it's competition, harmony, relator, individualization, consistency, responsibility, futuristic, maximizer, belief, and discipline.
So competition for me is a fun one. I think when I look at my competition and how it shows up for me, it can show up in the very stereotypical way of when I play a game, I want to win. I don't start anything with the intention to lose. So even Yahtzee, like game on baby, let's go. So.
Sarah Collins (12:45.696)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (12:51.69)
Thanks
Alex Philipps (12:54.571)
But it shows up in so many other ways for me. I think it makes me quick to respond. I'm a very responsive person. It allows me to believe in my abilities. Sometimes I think it gives me a little bit of that self-assurance. I believe that I can do things. I believe in my leadership abilities. I think...
Sarah Collins (13:12.498)
Mmm.
Alex Philipps (13:17.511)
I'm very attuned to performance, right? And so it makes me good about recognizing others. And then when people recognize me, it's like, it's very sentimental to me. So if I get a nice email from leadership, I save it. literally have a folder in my inbox where I drag and drop those things. And sometimes I revisit them because it rejuvenates me, but I am very type a very perfectionist. have high.
standards. I think and this will show up when we talk about each one of my themes, but I can justify my joy for strengths through almost every one of my themes, but it makes so much sense through my competition why I love CliftonStrengths and why I like utilizing it because the more I understand about myself and my strengths, the more I can use them right and work from a place of strength and be in a good position to
So for this organization and what I'm doing now, I think my competition shines because we're making things better here, right? Like we are an employee-owned organization and so we already have a lot of great things going for us in terms of how our employee ownership impacts our company and culture. Strengths only amplifies that. So we're just making it better all the time.
Sarah Collins (14:45.46)
And you can hear her maximizer in there, can't you? That maximizer competition feels like it like superpowers one another and they just really are out there to win and to do the best and to push forward that perfectionist type A. Ooh, with that responsibility, it sounds like that's a lot of yes, ma'am. Yes, sir, I will do it. How do you balance that?
Bill Dippel (14:48.23)
yeah.
Bill Dippel (14:52.118)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (15:04.781)
Hahaha.
Alex Philipps (15:08.775)
That's tricky because I can. My responsibility shows up exactly like you think it would. If I tell you I'm going to do it, it's going to get done. But the thing about it is I can sometimes be a people pleaser. I don't often say no. And so far, I manage my time well enough to where balls don't get dropped. I get stuff done. But I will say yes to something that I do not want to do. And I.
Sarah Collins (15:21.568)
Hmm?
Sarah Collins (15:36.908)
little Harmony, little Harmony putting her little head in there saying, I don't want to do that, but I guess I'll say yes.
Alex Philipps (15:37.931)
Yeah. Yup.
Bill Dippel (15:39.469)
Yeah, yeah, I was throwing that.
Yeah. And I was going to say too, I heard the harmony and individualization when she was saying, when I get the, upper brass telling me you're, get that quantification that, Hey, we did, you know, you're doing that great. And, and the quality of work that harmony individualization just goes, yes, we are going in there. You know, let's all keep paddling. You know where we're going. I love that take on that. That's really good. Yeah. and,
Alex Philipps (15:44.275)
Yes.
Sarah Collins (16:01.312)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Bill Dippel (16:14.057)
In that, mean, for Harmony Individualization, because we started with competition, it's an influencing theme. And now we jump right into some relationship themes. Do you really feel the fuel from that relationship side? you, moving from a small team to a 1500, does the burden of having heavy relationship themes feel real to you, or does it just fuel and motivate you?
Sarah Collins (16:24.106)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (16:24.651)
Yeah.
Alex Philipps (16:40.885)
think it fuels and motivates me. So even though we have such a large organization, I'm telling you, it doesn't feel like that. And I think, again, we're unique because we're employee owned. So everyone here has an ownership interest in the company, at least our overhead employees. And so that affects the way we communicate and collaborate. If you can do anything to make our company more successful, you're free to do that. We don't have that traditional hierarchy where it's like you down here
Sarah Collins (17:07.913)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (17:10.879)
must keep your mouth shut, you know. It's very collaborative and I think
Harmony is an interesting one for me because I think on its face people see that I lead with harmony and they assume that I'm conflict avoidant, but I work in HR. Conflict is inevitable whether someone's upset with me, whether I'm kind of mediating a dispute between two people, whether I'm having a tough conversation with someone. I think the way I approach it is that I would almost
rather address conflict head on to get back to that place of harmony. I start to have that anxious feeling when there's a dispute happening and it's like let's just resolve this. We have to address it immediately or it festers for me. And I think it'll go ahead.
Sarah Collins (17:52.127)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (18:02.484)
Yeah, and that's a real, I was just gonna say that's a really mature use of that harmony, right? Like a mature harmony, when conflict is necessary, wants to go into it because they know it's actually harmonious through the storm, right? I've given the bison cattle example before. I'll just remind everybody. If a storm, remember I'm in Nebraska, if a storm is coming, the cattle try to outrun it. I think of the storm as the conflict and the cattle are a raw harmony that.
tend to be a people pleaser. They're like, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go. But then the storm is really on their back and they can feel the weight and pressure of that. The harmony does not like that. But if we are just running from it because we don't want the conflict, we'll keep it there. We'll be comfortable in the uncomfortableness. But bison intuitively know that to get through a storm faster, we've got to go straight into it. This is mature harmony. This is what you're describing because, okay, I don't want to be in a storm, but it's here.
The conflict is here. I'm just going to go straight into it so I can get through it and actually be harmonious on the other side. It's faster to do it that way. And I wonder if competition helps you mature harmony faster. I think those are two really interesting strengths to have so far up on your list, right? Because that competition pushes to win. It's an influencing theme and that harmony is like,
hey, I want us all rolling in the same direction and I don't want to be in conflict. So I'd be curious over your life, how have you seen those two kind of work hand in hand or have they gotten in the way of each other?
Alex Philipps (19:42.995)
I don't, actually think my harmony helps my competition and it keeps my competition at bay because sometimes with competition I can become totally unhinged and let my competition kind of.
put my relationship building to the side if I'm not careful. And so I think harmony helps me not do that. One thing I do see with my harmony where my competition harmony butt heads a little bit is earlier I said my competition helps me have self assurance and confidence. Well, my harmony sometimes makes me seek validation for my ideas where then I just totally have imposter syndrome. I need that.
Sarah Collins (20:05.609)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (20:27.213)
So that's where we can kind of run into some issues where they are a little different.
Bill Dippel (20:34.774)
Wow. Yeah, I want to I want to go towards a different area on yours. All right. I want to jump down towards the bottom here. And I want to talk about belief because I don't I don't coach a lot of people with belief. I'm not always it doesn't crop up a lot in my coaching circles. So but I'm always fascinated when it does crop up and I can talk to them about belief. And you're talking about I really.
I'm driven to make this happen. My responsibility says I'm going to do this. I will, I made an unbelievable slide deck that, that got the job to push it to this next level. How does belief fuel that competition? How does the belief that the blue in that fuel that and get that moving for you? Or what does belief look like for you?
Alex Philipps (21:22.859)
This is a tough one for me. think out of all of my top 10, this one took me the longest to kind of claim. Yeah, that's okay, because I think I have it down now, but it took me a while because for me, it's not like I have strong religious beliefs. It's not, you know, sometimes the things that you traditionally would see right off the bat. For me, I think it's just I have
Bill Dippel (21:28.308)
good. I gave you, picked on the one you don't. Okay. Perfect.
Sarah Collins (21:30.24)
She's like, thanks. Thank you for that.
Alex Philipps (21:50.731)
I have certain standards for myself and how I like to operate. I think I value self-awareness. I value a growth mindset. I try to be a certain type of person. I think it does fit in to my competition because, and you'll see with my discipline, my consistency, some of my other themes, I am very...
structured. I will persevere, right? And so I think my competition helps me do that too.
Sarah Collins (22:25.588)
Yeah, and I'm curious. So a lot of times when I explain belief to people, what I'll say is they have this sort of inner knowing that they operate on, right? And usually the easiest way, because it can be hard for a lot of people. I find a lot of people with belief, it is the one that they have to do a lot of inner searching on because it's not as black and white or as clear to them. It might be really black and white, but they haven't thought about it.
And so, you know, if you think about you've got this inner knowing that's stretching and this is how you operate. This is the value system that you believe in so strongly that it is black and white. This is the way it is and this is the way it's not. Usually the easiest way to identify it is when like someone hits it, right? When someone comes up and they push the bar, they push the limit.
Bill Dippel (23:13.933)
you
Sarah Collins (23:17.716)
So you're talking about, know, yours, you have this self-awareness, this growth mindset, you're this type A perfectionist with structure. When has somebody pushed that, that you felt the belief kind of like, ching.
Alex Philipps (23:31.819)
Yeah, so many times and I hate, I hate to throw my husband under the bus, but we'll go there.
Bill Dippel (23:35.211)
Ha
Bill Dippel (23:39.789)
throw him, throw him. Speaking from the only mail on today's, go ahead, Judge, I'll take it for you. It's so good. It's so good. What does he do wrong? Tell him, tell me now.
Sarah Collins (23:39.872)
You
Sarah Collins (23:45.792)
And thanks for a great podcast, Bianca. Go for it.
Alex Philipps (23:50.895)
Well, I am just and this I think you're going to hear a lot of my discipline in this too, but like I were we're working on our primary bathroom right now. My husband's an electrician and so he was tasked with moving some switches and some outlets in our bathroom and his preference is to not have me in the room because I like things done a certain way.
And even though he does this for a living, I'm the first one to look and say, is the outlet straight? Is, you know, like we're checking, we're checking these things and he, he is so different from me, which is funny because we have four out of the five of our top five are the same and we are so different. So we butt heads a little bit. I'm very.
Bill Dippel (24:24.279)
Ha
Sarah Collins (24:37.493)
funny.
Alex Philipps (24:44.191)
precise, I have these high standards for myself. He is more go with the flow and it's just that sometimes we can easily find disagreements in that space. And so, yeah, it's interesting. I mean, it happens all the time.
Bill Dippel (25:02.189)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (25:02.272)
So let me see if I'm getting this right. So like with the bathroom and the outlet, he puts it in and you're like, I don't think it's straight. And he's like, no girl, it's good. Like I do this for a living, it's fine. You're like bringing in the little level and you're like, no, see look at just a touch to the left. And he's like, no, no one's gonna notice that. And you're like, no, it needs to be. I really care that it is exactly perfect. Is this the sort of...
Bill Dippel (25:13.397)
Got it. The level, the level. Yeah.
Alex Philipps (25:16.723)
Yes, I do.
Uh-huh.
Alex Philipps (25:28.171)
Yes, that is 100%. I have a mini level and I bring it with me. Like every time I go in, like check his little work. So it's ridiculous.
Bill Dippel (25:33.642)
what?
Sarah Collins (25:37.268)
That's right.
Bill Dippel (25:37.85)
I love it. Well, I want to, I want to touch on four of the five or the same and how you navigate that. Not generally when we're coaching, we see people that share the same themes tend to actually get together and you're married. So clearly there was some, some bonding there. but you know, for a long time, particularly years ago when I was, when I was much younger, I didn't want another woo in the room.
Right? I wanted to be the woo. I want it. And when you spotted a woo, it was like, no, your woo isn't right. That isn't the right way to do woo. This is how you do woo. And suddenly it's a game and it's elevating and it's going. so quite often the same themes can trigger as much little, hey, I don't like that as much as, ooh, you and I communicate in the same way. Let's build on that. It does sometimes lend towards the mature, immature discussion.
But I am curious, of the, which of, you share with your husband that you think, maybe, maybe the competition side is stabbing each other or which one do you get along with the best? I'm curious.
Alex Philipps (26:47.411)
Well, competition is actually fun for us. It's number one for me, number two for him. And we are both former college athletes. And so I think it's just kind of in our nature. We have fun with that one. I don't see it as a problem. I played Division I college golf. He was a hockey player, so he's also great at golf. So we have the best time going out golfing together and feeding that competition. It's just fun for us.
Our difference is that I have consistency, which gives me that structure, and he has adaptability in his top five. And so that's where our real difference comes. Otherwise, our three, my three relationship building, they're the same. And so I think, honestly, I think that it makes sense for why we have a strong relationship using those themes with.
Sarah Collins (27:22.784)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (27:39.679)
harmony, relate or individualization. I mean, we just have the ability to really know and understand each other and it just, works.
Bill Dippel (27:48.396)
Yeah, you almost just proved the point for me where we coach around that a lot where the one place you feel the stickiness is the one that you do not share. Right. You don't suddenly that that's where the two of you are like, you know, I want to we're going to do this. We're going to stay the no, no, we're I've got all the we're changing this. We're going here. We're making that. And but the other ones were, you know, golf and competition. What's your handicap, by the way? Just I got to ask curious.
Alex Philipps (27:57.557)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (27:57.641)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (28:16.323)
I don't know what it is now. It's probably closer to a seven, but in my heyday it was closer to a two or three. So.
Bill Dippel (28:22.925)
Now I hate you. I was a six in high school, but now I've been fighting to get back into single digits. And now I just looked, it's a 12. So, you know, I'm struggling on that end, I love that you're a competitive golfer. I love playing golf, particularly with people I don't know, and then we learn and get to learn from each other. So kudos to you. Do you get to play a lot?
Alex Philipps (28:31.667)
Yeah.
Alex Philipps (28:51.047)
I try not as much as I'd like to. Life tends to get in the way, but we try to go out, you know, a few times each month during the summer.
Bill Dippel (28:59.564)
Yeah, yeah, that's good. I know, I know.
Sarah Collins (29:00.714)
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. What are these numbers? Do you want a low or high handicap?
Alex Philipps (29:03.247)
Low. Low score.
Bill Dippel (29:07.949)
So well, to be to be honest, I'm also part of a men's league that we play against each other and the higher the handicap, the better chance you stand because it gives you more bonus strokes, right? So there are people that. That is correct. Those are I was going to say there are people that will balloon it, let it let it creep up. I'm actually always trying to get it as low as I can, because I don't. It doesn't matter to me how many I give or not.
Sarah Collins (29:08.17)
home.
Alex Philipps (29:22.271)
Bill, those are called sandbaggers.
Sarah Collins (29:25.278)
I'm
Bill Dippel (29:35.274)
I, to me, and I don't have competition. It's, it's low for me. but I will say that, I, if I am competitive, it's with myself. I want to push to go to that lower, lower number. I want to be proud of that rather than I want to a trophy by posting bogus high score rounds for quite a while. And so, yeah, no, no, we're, we, so
Sarah Collins (29:55.328)
Okay, I'm going to bring us back to what we're talking about golfers over here. I mean, I hate to interrupt your golf conversation, but I actually don't hate. I have a question for the guest.
Bill Dippel (30:04.887)
So, so listeners, welcome to nine holes with Alex, Alex Phillips, the new podcast and now go.
Alex Philipps (30:09.779)
you
Sarah Collins (30:12.448)
Alex, what I'm curious about, okay, in this role you talked about you're doing strengths with interns. Tell us more about why you all are investing in the interns and their strengths. What does that look like? What does it get you?
Alex Philipps (30:27.957)
So much is the answer because we utilize our internship program as our pipeline to young talent. So when we hire interns, we hire them because we see potential for a long-term employee owner, a good future full-time employee. And so.
We want to spend as much time as possible on the front end developing these people, but I think there's so much importance in helping these young people understand their strengths from the start. So they have the ability to do what they do best when they're entering the workforce and they're confident about their decision, whether it's their major or the role they're doing. And they can figure out how to utilize and leverage those strengths to be more efficient and productive and
that burnout and so it's super important. mean we really highlight Clifton strengths within our program when we're recruiting because it's a huge part of the development that we provide our interns.
Sarah Collins (31:33.695)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (31:33.719)
Now, you play golf with your... No, I'm totally kidding. Totally kidding. So, your futuristic is what just came up for me. Thinking about the interns, looking at their future, thinking about yours. And I heard a little of that early on when you started here and you thought, I want to go here and I want to set the tone to do that. Futuristic drive you quite a bit?
Sarah Collins (31:45.151)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (31:57.905)
Yes, I use my futuristic almost every single day. If you look at my report, almost every single green theme is at the bottom. And for a long, long time, I really struggled with this. It almost hurt my feelings. I felt like I was never the smartest person in the room. Like I have learner, intellection, ideation, all of these are dead last. And so it took me a long time to realize that
I am thinking strategically every single day through my futuristic, whether it's work or my personal life. I have to always be planning for something or thinking about ways we can do things better. So for the internship program, we're, mean, I'm already thinking like light years ahead on things that we can do to build up this program. And for my personal life, I will plan a vacation while I'm on vacation. Like I have
Sarah Collins (32:57.056)
Hmm.
Alex Philipps (32:57.691)
to constantly be doing something for myself tomorrow. And when I made my job switch, it's like, what decision can I make today that will have the most positive impact on me in the future, five years from now? When I retire, where do I want to be? So yeah, that's how I think about things. That's how I'm thinking strategically.
Bill Dippel (32:58.315)
Hahaha!
Bill Dippel (33:21.407)
Yeah, I'd love that we share that. I joke often with clients. If you turn to page 20, 21 on my report, you need a microscope to spot futuristic on the bar, right? It's way at the end, super small. Like you, I have one in the top 10 and it's learner for me. And I have to rely on other people to handle my strategy so often.
My learner comes in so handy, like you're talking about, and when you're looking at your futuristic in that it comes in so handy because like running this podcast or doing this, I had to learn how to do this. And if I don't, you if I have to just rely on people skills, that's great. I can do it. But if I can amp up my learner, which is in that top 10 and for you ramp up the futuristic to become strategic.
Alex Philipps (33:58.357)
down.
Bill Dippel (34:11.317)
That's how I get that part of it done. I had to learn so much about what the software we use and how do we do the item, what do we do? And Sarah was very clear from the very front. I refuse to do any of it. I will do nothing when we do this. And so I love hearing that from you. I love hearing that, that we share that, that green is very low, but man, we still do it, right? We still, like I have to strategize which guests I'm gonna have on.
Sarah Collins (34:24.808)
No lies are told, no lies are told.
Alex Philipps (34:36.149)
Yes.
Sarah Collins (34:36.256)
Right.
Bill Dippel (34:39.895)
Where, how do I do that? And that's where the people skills come back in. And I hear that from you too. Hey, the interns, I thought about your future. Here's where we're going. But hey, as a high, high individualization, as a harmony, as a relator, I can now disseminate that information. I can talk to you one-on-one. I can talk to you as a group. I have that skill to make the people connection that the futuristic has set for us. I think that's really a good way to step in. Really nice.
Alex Philipps (34:43.595)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (35:07.188)
And one of the things I'm wondering, Alex, tell me if this is true. You're futuristic. Futuristic is obviously setting the present by what could happen and we can hear that in your voice. I feel like though you're able to anchor your futuristic to make it stronger because you have consistency, responsibility, discipline, right? You've got these executing themes that I feel like.
can keep futuristic tethered to reality and what is actually possible and creating a plan to get there. Where sometimes people with futuristic, it's a little bit more dreamy or daydreamy. They're planning for it, but there's not actually an action plan to get there. They just know where they wanna go. And they can still sometimes get there, but I just have to think it's like, I imagine it, like the movie Up, the Pixar movie where it's all the balloons on the house, you're futuristic.
is all the balloons and gonna take this house away, but all of these executing themes are the house that kind of get it like anchor it a little bit to the ground.
Alex Philipps (36:12.091)
That is the perfect way to describe it because you're right. I don't use it in like a theoretical sense. I don't use it to daydream. It is very much how do I make a strategic and smart decision now to get me where I want to be? And whether I'm doing that at work or through my personal life, I mean, it's.
I look at it more as what small steps can I take. It's not such a big leap for me to where it feels impossible to achieve those things, if that makes sense.
Sarah Collins (36:38.666)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Collins (36:46.602)
Does it make you good at creating habits? Because I think about the way we get things done is through our daily habits, creating little small changes that make a big impact in the long run. I could see these themes helping you be a great sort of habit master. Is that true or not true?
Alex Philipps (37:05.086)
think it's true because if I have a long-term goal with my executing themes, especially discipline, I think that I can form those daily habits to achieve that goal. And then through my competition, failure's not an option, right? And so I think that's why it's a little bit more realistic for me.
Sarah Collins (37:19.668)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (37:23.902)
huh.
Bill Dippel (37:27.671)
Hmm. I let me can I ask you kind of an odd question that we haven't done this on the show. Do you read a lot? Alex, are you an avid reader or listener on books?
Alex Philipps (37:38.633)
do but it's like fantasy fiction.
Sarah Collins (37:41.927)
Yeah, girl, it is.
Bill Dippel (37:42.094)
So that was the question, right? I was gonna ask you when you read, is it you wanna get out of your head and want to go to other places and do, cause I read fiction. I'm a big fiction reader and I do it because I don't wanna live, keep building and learning, cause I've done that all day. I just wanna do something else. And my wife frequently tells me it's a waste of time because she is listening.
or reading more coaching things or doing, and she's sending me links to a podcast to learn something. And she's, you know, I'm reading a book now and I just, she's gone. She's actually taken one of our grandchildren to Florida on a fishing trip and an Amazon package arrived addressed to me. And it's one of the books I'm listening to on audio. She bought it and it's here. she, so she's always trying to spur me to why do you waste your time reading fiction? It's she, and she won't do it.
And it's for me, it's to get out of that. And I was just curious with your low strategy. That was where I was going to that because her strategy is high. So I, have to give her that, that blush of, Hey, I'm strategizing every moment, to be better, to get better, to do more. And I, I find the release, just as important, but I have to honor the people that are like, yeah, I have a mentor of mine who will not listen to music in the car. He's always listening to a, to a
a podcast or something that will make him better at something he does. And I admire that. I just don't do it. And I was curious where you're at with that. And so you, you tend to read a of fiction.
Alex Philipps (39:15.179)
Yeah.
Alex Philipps (39:20.875)
I like fantasy fiction when I read or like murder mystery who-none-its. I sprinkle those in sometimes, but I never thought about it that way. I think you might be right. I use it as a mainly it's to reduce my screen time kind of, but also it is kind of a break from reality. I do spend a lot of time thinking through my futuristic.
Sarah Collins (39:36.19)
Mm-hmm.
Alex Philipps (39:45.267)
And when I am trying to learn new things or absorb content, especially like strikes related stuff, I do lean toward podcasts. So it's interesting that I would rather hear that than sit down and read it. This is, this is kind of how I know that my learner is a lesser theme because the idea of having to sit down and read a book where I learned something sounds kind of awful.
Sarah Collins (40:08.402)
Yeah, I love this hypothesis. This idea that, and I'm just going to extrapolate from what you said, Bill. It would be interesting to see if people who have more relationship building and influencing themes, if they liked more fiction based because you're going to get more personal relationships, you're still learning. You know, there's like, you're still picking up things because obviously the way we have relationships is that and like podcasting, listening to people talk about things, right? You're getting the human element where like
Bill Dippel (40:26.625)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Sarah Collins (40:37.14)
do the strategic thinking and executing themes really like that nonfiction take and like to learn and be strategic. And just as a side note, I can totally see with Alex's themes, especially that futuristic loving the fantasy and the murder mystery who done it, because your futuristic gets to like flex its muscle, like, what's happening here, right? Like you get a kind of play.
Bill Dippel (40:45.409)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (40:54.497)
Sure.
Alex Philipps (40:59.211)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (41:00.417)
Yeah.
Sarah Collins (41:00.52)
with guessing what's gonna be happening. So it's a really fun hypothesis to think about and explore.
Bill Dippel (41:05.597)
It's you. You paraphrased it really well for me. And I was just coming up with it. Actually, Alex, while you were talking, because Renee and I, you know, we joked about why I read fiction, but I've never put it together on the high low. When you said all my green is so low, I thought, huh, that might be an interesting data point regarding. And you paraphrased it really well. That was the leap I was making is, is it a strategy versus relationship towards what you want to read?
Sarah Collins (41:12.435)
on the fly.
Bill Dippel (41:35.546)
And I'm sure there are all sorts of people that would argue the point and say, I'm a relationship person and I learn all that. That's all I'll do. But it it is a good point. And Alex, I love that you read fiction. I I bond with you. I I love I don't read fantasy fiction per se. I tend to read more, I guess, just mainstreamy fiction. But I get that. I bond with it. Plus, your golf game is so good that, you know, I I'm just jealous and I'm in.
Sarah Collins (41:42.954)
Yeah.
Alex Philipps (41:50.153)
Ha ha ha.
Sarah Collins (42:04.37)
Yeah, well there's a Taylor Swift song called I Hate It Here and I'm pretty sure that song is all about reading fiction books to disappear from your real life world. So I resonate with that song a lot sometimes.
Bill Dippel (42:05.002)
So.
Bill Dippel (42:16.075)
Wow. Ladies and gentlemen, today's Taylor Swift call out sponsored by Taylor Swift. yeah, yeah, I love it.
Sarah Collins (42:23.312)
Yeah, yeah. Sponsored by the Kansas City Chiefs. Okay, Alex, we've talked about a lot of the things you do well. We've dove into a lot of your strengths. Tell us about your dumpster fire. When does a strength or a combo of your strengths get you into trouble? What does it look like?
Alex Philipps (42:26.891)
You
Alex Philipps (42:38.911)
There's so many, I could probably go through each theme and give you an example of every time it's happened. I mentioned earlier with my competition, I have to be careful. It can easily become so unhinged if I let it. That's something that I have to purposefully consciously try to refine.
There are times where, you know, it's probably because I care about it, but particularly if I'm playing golf in some competitive atmosphere, like game on, we're not friends, I'm not here to be your friend. And so sometimes, sometimes it can get me in trouble. I think with my harmony.
Bill Dippel (43:11.159)
Ha ha ha ha!
Alex Philipps (43:19.549)
I already mentioned this, that need for validation. Sometimes I struggle with that because I want to feel more confident and trust my own intuition in my decisions. sometimes I fail to do that. The biggest one for me probably is my relator because I, it's like word vomit. cannot shut up. If I'm in a conversation with someone and they're sharing a person
Bill Dippel (43:45.527)
Okay.
Alex Philipps (43:49.645)
experience, I have to immediately chime in and be like, my gosh, you read fantasy? I'm reading this too. Let me tell you all about this and why you should read it. And I don't realize until after the fact that I just interrupted this person. They didn't get to finish what they were talking about. They don't care about my stupid fantasy books. And so that gets me in trouble a lot. And I have to be conscious of that and try and rein it in.
Bill Dippel (44:15.419)
Huh. I, so curious on this because, often whether myth or how we coach about it, relator tends to be about depth of friendship, right? About having a really, I prefer tighter bonds than the one-off, but that quick interruption of a person that just, Hey, we're just having a quick discussion almost doesn't feel relator ish to me. I love that you're making that bond. Can you
Dive into that a bit more for me really quick. Why that why that's related for you.
Alex Philipps (44:44.779)
Because I, I tend to overshare because I want you to understand my perspective. I mean, that connection to someone is comfort for me. And so if I can bond with you or connect with you over reading a certain type of book, I want you to know that I read that book too. So we have something in common. It's creating that connection and building that relationship. mean, when you read the definition of a later, it's like, I want to know everything about you.
Bill Dippel (45:07.085)
Got it.
Alex Philipps (45:14.823)
and I want you to know everything about me. Well to me it really means everything. Like I want you to understand every single piece and sometimes it leads to oversharing.
Bill Dippel (45:25.719)
Got it.
Sarah Collins (45:25.982)
Yeah. And I wonder if there's a touch of that individualization playing into the relator, right? Like this hooking on to these unique things about people and connecting them back to you.
Bill Dippel (45:30.753)
Yeah.
Right. Yeah. And I was going to give you full credit for understanding that you're feeding your relator by doing what you're doing. I'm going to get to that deeper relationship. We're going to bond because you're going to know everything about me and it's going to happen. Or you're going to think, why did we just spend 10 minutes talking about your fantasy book and why did you barge into my discussion? And now we're not relating. I'm out. We're done. Right. And, I, I, yeah, such a
Sarah Collins (45:45.908)
Yeah.
Alex Philipps (45:59.221)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (46:02.177)
Thank you very much for a very precise and very honest, but I think workable idea on how that tends to come into a relator for you. That's really good.
Alex Philipps (46:12.747)
Thank
Sarah Collins (46:13.844)
Okay Alex, have a fun question for you. Are you ready? Which of your top strengths do you think would win a game of tug of war and why?
Alex Philipps (46:16.884)
Yes.
Alex Philipps (46:25.343)
The initial most obvious answer is competition because that girl does not lose. But I think for me, the real answer is individualization because this to me, feels like my superpower, honestly. And I feel like so much of how I operate, how I get to know people, how I develop people comes through my individualization. It's what I like to use, what I like to do. And so I'm very
Sarah Collins (46:41.194)
Mmm.
Alex Philipps (46:55.319)
good at seeing people for who they are. It doesn't take me long to feel like I understand the ins and outs of someone. And I think there's so much power and value in that, whether you're using it to lead people, to collaborate with people, to coach and develop people. That's probably my favorite, and I think it would win.
Sarah Collins (47:21.792)
I love that and what a great use of Individualization and really being able to trust it because there's a lot of intuition that comes But you have to be able to invest in individualization to use the right that intuition It's something that takes a little bit of time. And so yeah telling that competition girl I know you want it you're gonna be trying hard, but you're not gonna win out over this individualization
Bill Dippel (47:43.15)
Not and as individualization is number one for me, I resonate with everything you say about it. I, you know, I got to know I gotta I gotta slice it and dice it and know all of the little parts. So for me, if you interrupted me to tell me your fantasy, but I'm all in because I get to know all these little things about you and then and then bring them up at a later time. The individualization side feels like that. And I love that you can win tug of war with it, right?
Alex Philipps (48:03.157)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (48:12.981)
I've never thought about tug of war with my individualization. I just know it's there, right? And then see how I operate with it and where I stand into it. So I love that it touches you in that way and that it hits that. But I also think I'm hearing a bit of discipline in your tug of war game, right? I'm going to individualize the person. My competition doesn't lose. But I will keep tugging on this until...
Sarah Collins (48:32.64)
Mmmmm
Bill Dippel (48:41.555)
until you are pulled over that line. Yeah.
Alex Philipps (48:44.235)
Yeah, it's so true.
Sarah Collins (48:44.784)
Mm And I think this was like the perfect question for you because you do have some strengths that are in like a tug of war, like your competition and your harmony. You have some really interesting combos here that you get to flex and that makes you great. And that's why you're so talented. But it's also those things that we have to have awareness of to keep them in check and know when to flex which one.
Alex Philipps (48:58.604)
huh.
Sarah Collins (49:10.824)
and when to, as Bill likes to say, when do you put which one in the driver's seat? When do you stuff one into the trunk and being able to reshuffle their position in the car to make sure you can be at your best?
Alex Philipps (49:22.347)
Yeah. Yep.
Bill Dippel (49:23.467)
Yeah. Yeah. So, so very good. Well, I, I can't thank you enough for coming on today. we have enjoyed it. I, I find high individualization, you and I are going to bond over that for a long time, our inability to have strategy anywhere outside of the very bottom of the group. And the beauty of this is that now, we're gonna, we're Alex and I are starting a podcast called the nine iron chip shot.
Sarah Collins (49:51.434)
Yeah.
Bill Dippel (49:52.938)
And please tune into your favorite places so that we can talk about how, how her golf game is so much better than mine and how we keep moving through. So.
Sarah Collins (50:01.192)
Yeah, how'd I get smashed between two golfers when she said that I should have known Bill was just gonna run with it. He's always trying to leave the podcast studio to go golf. He's like, well, I gotta go. I gotta go.
Alex Philipps (50:06.429)
you
Bill Dippel (50:06.925)
You know.
Like I gotta go. The good news is freezing cold and raining today so that I, you know, I'm here. I, you know, I got it. I got stuff going on. Sorry. You know, you got me. So.
Sarah Collins (50:14.086)
great. So we've got his full attention today.
Alex Philipps (50:14.581)
you
Alex Philipps (50:19.179)
You
Sarah Collins (50:20.742)
Alex, if people want to connect with you online, where can they find you?
Alex Philipps (50:25.245)
Yeah, you can reach me through my LinkedIn. I'm on there all the time. So that's probably the best way. Otherwise, you can send me an email. I know I'll share my information with you guys and you guys are welcome to contact me. So I would love to hear from people.
Bill Dippel (50:40.257)
Yeah, it'll be on our website for those of you listening wanting to be able to check and click it and reach out to Alex and pick her brain or maybe talk to her about what she does for a living and how you may want to work with Alex because I know I'm all in, right? Yeah.
Sarah Collins (50:56.468)
I know a company that's strength, space and focus and just doing more and more to invest in it. That's a good company. And Alex, I just adore you and I love we have work coming up together that we get to do. And I get to come and help with the Commonwealth Electric family on some projects this year. And so I am so excited. And it's just every time we work together, I am like a proud mama. I'm like, my gosh, look how far we've come. Anytime you do career coaching with people. And I just have to say.
The way you light up now, you know, when we first started coaching, when people are not feeling totally fulfilled, they're not utilizing their talents in their career, it dulls them. We all know people like this. We've been people like this. There is a dullness to us. And when we find that thing that allows us to use our talents, because we spend the majority of our time in our lives at work.
When we are able to use our talents in our jobs, it brings a light and energy to us that we need. We need the people of the world to have that light and energy. And every single person listening to this podcast has talent and has light and energy that the world needs. So it is your responsibility to figure out what your talents are and how you can start using them. Everyone needs you to do that. And Alex, you have done it and I just love to see it. And I'm just so proud of you.
and so grateful that you still want to work with me. So thank you.
Alex Philipps (52:16.543)
Well, yeah, well, thank you so much for saying that this it is so true that none of this would have happened for me without you. You were totally the spark that ignited all of this for me. And so I am forever grateful for you and I could not have found a better mentor for myself. So I appreciate you so much.
Bill Dippel (52:38.943)
Wow, wow. Well, I was I was going to say we got we got over 50 minutes in before we got Sarah's soapbox moment. And I, know, but there but it was a good soapbox there and there it went. And Sarah, you know, I love you so much. And I love that you were my mentor. You helped me with all. No, not true. But just the fact we get to do this together.
Sarah Collins (52:39.008)
I love this. Would you like to say how much you love me,
Alex Philipps (52:41.611)
You
Sarah Collins (52:50.612)
There you go.
Sarah Collins (52:55.05)
There it was.
Sarah Collins (53:03.808)
You
Bill Dippel (53:07.437)
Alex, I hope you get to see how much both of us really enjoy it and enjoyed having you on with us today. It's a true gift that we get to do this and share it with the world and have some people that reach out and respond to it. So thanks for coming on with us.
Alex Philipps (53:19.691)
Yeah, well thank you guys so much. I appreciate it very much. It was an honor to be here.
Bill Dippel (53:24.161)
Yeah, and honor, absolute honor to have you. So we'll sign off for today. We'll let Alex get back to her 1500 people. You got you got a lot of assessments to get through. Get you know, get get moving on that. So but we'll we will we'll move on, get you that time back and we will talk to our arsonists on the next episode. Alex, you're an arsonist, right? She's an arsonist. We will we will talk to our arsonist on the next episode. Thanks for listening and we will talk soon.
Alex Philipps (53:33.963)
You
Alex Philipps (53:45.919)
I'm an arsonist.
Sarah Collins (53:47.434)
She's a nurse and this.
Sarah Collins (53:54.112)
Bye!