Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help

leaders amplify performance, dial back burnout, and lead through change that never lets us catch our breath.

If your organization or team is in need of skills, tools, or advice on making any of these happen,

please reach out today. Find out more about me at

lead above noise.com. Out of modern mentor has sparked something for you, helped you show up a

little differently or made you feel a little bit less alone in your work. I'd be so grateful if you left

a quick rating or review in your podcast app. It helps others find the show. Okay. So when my kids were little, we used to tell them that if they swallowed the seeds of a

fruit, they would grow a tree in their bellies. Clearly, anatomical accuracy was not a priority.

But that conversation inspired my kids to decide one summer they wanted to grow a watermelon

in our backyard from seeds.

Adorable, right? So at the beginning of the summer, we planted the seeds, the kids checked every

day, they waited patiently, and nothing. I mean, a little bit of greenery at some point, but otherwise

nothing. Fast forward to the beginning of fall when we're doing

our cleanup for the season. And lo and behold, that little sprinkling of green had become a vine.

And at the end, there was a watermelon, the size of a lemon. It was not a prize winner, but it was an

excellent lesson for all of us. We were so busy expecting

to go from seeds to watermelon that we totally overlooked the little signs, in this case that greenery,

that the watermelon was coming. It just needed a season to grow. And of course, there's a workplace

insight in this little story. I have this conversation

like 12 to 79 times a week with clients. Sometimes it's with heads of leadership development

who tell me about development programs they've invested in that, quote, haven't worked. Or sometimes it's

with individual leaders who have been trained on a new skill that, quote,

...