A Conversation with: Hannah Austin
This episode features a conversation with Hannah Austin, bestselling author, global podcast host, and the visionary CEO behind SheShatters. Hannah has an extensive background in the healthcare sector spanning over two decades. Transitioning from her distinguished executive roles, she embarked on a transformative journey founding SheShatters in 2021. Her mission: to champion mental health advocacy for employees and managers while fostering equilibrium between personal and professional spheres. At its core, SheShatters represents a pivotal shift away from the pervasive corporate hustle culture, sparking a broader movement towards holistic well-being. Hannah's profound insights and impactful initiatives have garnered attention from major media outlets including ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News, solidifying her reputation as a leading voice in the realm of workplace wellness and organizational culture.
Hannah’s Contact Information: team@SheShatters.com| 503-807-9668 | https://www.sheshatters.com
“I think sometimes as young women and as young people, we’re so focused—laser-focused—on the career that we think we want, instead of realizing that your 20s and your 30s and your 40s, any age, it’s all about exploring and trying new things, trying it on like a piece of clothing. And if that size six pair of jeans no longer fits you, get a bigger pair and cut out the tag. You don’t know you’re size 10, but just start trying and being curious. Because once you lose that sense of learning and curiosity, that’s when your spark goes out and that’s when you’re more inclined to burn out.”
Transcript:
Suzanne Hanifin: Hello, I am Suzanne Hanifin with Acumen Executive Search, and we're excited to have Hannah Austin here as our podcast guest. Our podcast is really about best practices in leadership, and I am so excited to have Hannah with us today because she's had an entire career shift. Many years in healthcare, many years as a healthcare leader and director with very large organizations and small organizations, and something happened, and we're going to ask Hannah all about it. She wrote a book and shifted her entire career to do speaking engagements to support women. Her book, She Shatters, is out on Amazon, so please download it; it is wonderful. So, welcome, Hannah.
Hannah Austin: Thank you so much, Suzanne, for having me today.
Suzanne Hanifin: Let's kind of walk through your background and dive into the journey you've taken to get where you are today.
Hannah Austin: Sure, well, I had a really interesting upbringing. I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and then when I was six and again at ten, my parents quit their jobs, and we traveled around the world for two years. So, at a young age, I was a minority in a very large world. We lived in New Zealand and Australia; we spent a lot of time in Bali, Indonesia, Africa, India, so I learned very quickly to move very rapidly, to get along well with adults, to be very well-spoken, and to be mature at such a young age. Although it was great and incredible to grow up in those different countries and different cultures, I learned very quickly to move and paddle frantically behind the scenes to make sure that everything was doing okay and moving okay. Fast forward to college, my first job right out of college, Suzanne, was managing over a hundred staff members. So, at the age of 21, that knowledge I had before of working with adults, being very capable, being good on the outside but under the surface, really working hard to make sure that I was rising to the occasion of wherever I was, I became quite a chameleon, making sure that my staff and leaders were taken care of. Fast forward 20 years, I'm climbing the ladder like many women, rising rapidly through the ranks. If you look at my resume, I was promoted every couple of years, always taking jobs outside of my limits but stretching myself. Growth became natural for me; I loved and flourished in territories where I was a minority or out of my league. But very quickly, I became very adaptive. Ultimately, that caught up with me, and there were signs and symptoms in my body at the ages of 25 and 35: anxiety, panic attacks. I would get in car accidents, and I would have severe migraines. But to me, life was busy, and I was moving up the career ladder, so I ignored those caution and warning signs often, even to the point of a near-death car accident in my mid-20s. I also had my gallbladder removed and went to work the next day, halfway bending over, standing up, because I thought being a career woman and being a strong CEO was putting other people first and leading the organization. During COVID, I actually was...
Suzanne Hanifin: I'm gonna stop and give a pause. You were working so hard that you were making yourself ill, and external things like a car accident happened, and you would show up to work the next day.
Hannah Austin: Absolutely.
Suzanne Hanifin: Wow, talk about, again, this pressure we put on ourselves as women. I think a lot of people know my story of Acumen; Max was nine days old when I started Acumen, and again, it's funny what we do. I just wanted to take a pause right there
Hannah Austin: Thank you for that.
Suzanne Hanifin: So, please continue, and I'm sorry to interrupt you.
Hannah Austin: No, I mean, I think that's the kind of thing that drives you is sometimes the thing that also creates demise in you. Moving very quickly, moving through stories, moving through careers. Fast forward to COVID, I was charged with building MASH hospitals and morgues during COVID for a large healthcare organization. At the darkest moment of COVID. All of my staff around me, all of the leaders around me were burning out. A lot of my leadership team was diagnosed with high blood pressure, and we were all in our 30s and 40s. There was immense pressure around me, and I didn't feel like I could stop and raise the white flag, Suzanne, and say I need help because everyone around me, we were all suffering during COVID. We didn't know what was happening; we were in uncharted territory. So, I did what I always do and kept moving. One morning, before I was about to get on a Zoom call, you know, get ready, put on our makeup, and tada, I was actually on the bathroom floor at that moment at my breaking point. I remember being in the bathroom; I can still feel it to this day, my cheek on the cold tile floor, looking up at the universe in the ceiling and saying, "I can't do this anymore; I want my life to end." At that moment, it was a real true I need help, right? And I actually said the words out loud in my bathroom, "I need help; someone please help me." That was the moment, Suzanne, where I was like, I'm having these dark thoughts; this is suicidal ideation. I am one of the happiest, most positive people I know; if this is bringing me to my knees, I've got to stop.
Suzanne Hanifin: But do you think that was COVID-driven stress-driven, or a combination of just everything? Because that's a really dark place to be in.
Hannah Austin: It was, you know, I can only say it's a combination of things because we were in the middle of a pandemic, and a lot of people were having dark thoughts at that time. For me, I had felt this, and I talk about this in my book, I had felt this weighted blanket coming on me, like depression, anxiety. I just felt like I had no control over myself or my life anymore. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other to the point that I was kind of walking Groundhog Day. It was like, "Okay, here we go again; here we go again." How many of us kind of feel like that? So, I got up from the bathroom, Suzanne; I didn't tell my husband; he was literally in the other room. I put on my makeup, I got dressed, and I was on the Zoom stage within 10 minutes. I kept moving. Two weeks later, I collapsed in the hospital that I was managing staff in due to high blood pressure. I woke up to a doctor that I had managed for four years, and he said to me, "Stop. I’m telling you to stop. If you respect me at all and respect yourself at all, stop." That was the catalyst of my husband and I having some severe discussions about how I couldn't just take a leave of absence because I knew I would come back and, you know, have a vacation and come back to the same old patterns. I needed to do something drastic, and I needed to walk away from a 20-year career in order to save myself. So, I did.
Suzanne Hanifin: So, again, I think a lot of people really feel like the world's burden is on our shoulders, and we need to do it and not to stereotype, but I do think women in particular don't ask for that help. Do you think things would have been different if you had raised that flag to say, "Help me"?
Hannah Austin: And that's why I'm doing the work that I'm doing now, Suzanne, you know, speaking on larger stages. You know, just yesterday, I delivered a speech to 800 to 1,000 HR professionals and said, "Don’t be like me. Be a stronger version where you do ask for help. Now, strength is vulnerability. Before, strength was pushing forward, and we are the women, and we are wearing the busy badge, and busyness is out, ladies, right? Asking for help is in.” You know, the words of the year, I was saying this yesterday, 2024, are menopause and asking for help. Let's do it. Let's continue to keep charging forward and figuring out and unlearning those old patterns of behavior that frankly aren't working for our generations and our generations to come any longer.
Suzanne Hanifin: And it's interesting having young kids and then an adult young man and to see these generational differences. I remember such a formative experience in my life that, you know, being told in the early '90s, "You can't have a spouse, children, and this career. You have to pick." I remember thinking, "No, I can do it all." And so here we have this whole thing of "I can do it all," and really it's about shifting that conversation of saying, you know, we talk about wellness and mental health and other things, but there's still that pressure on us to do it all. So, what advice, you know, here you're giving this talk, what do you tell people?
Hannah Austin: I talk a lot about how you can bring tools and new habits into your life in small doses that don't feel as overwhelmed. The worst thing you can do as a coach, a leader, or a speaker is to dump a bunch of things on people and say, "Here’s how to not burn out; do XYZ," when they're already feeling like an avalanche of "I don't have the time." So, my main topics are around how to manage your energy levels, how to actually apply small tools that you actually love to do to your everyday life. A lot of people talk about self-care; I hate those two words. I say it's all about scheduling self. Because you can want to drink water, you can want to sleep eight hours a night, you can want to eat healthy, but let's face it, if you aren't one of those people that enjoys water or working out or, you know, what is it that you actually enjoy doing and making that a component of your life that helps you feel a little bit more free and manage your energy level. So, I actually teach people how to find their spark again and how to build a wall of protection around themselves so that they can manage their energy levels, and then and only then can they give the energy to others.
Suzanne Hanifin: Wow, what an important lesson. So, formative experiences make up who we are today. You had to, and I—and this is an assumption, I shouldn't say you've had to have had somebody to help guide you. How have you figured all of this out or did you have help?
Hannah Austin: Yeah, I mean, I am an only child, so I had to find help in a variety of ways. I had two very doting parents, and when we traveled around the world with the three of us, we were a tight family unit. Fast forward to my senior year in high school, my parents got divorced, and so that was the time for me to, you know, my family unit was blown up, and I went away to college kind of rudderless and on my own, like many, many kids do. But I really found out very quickly that my upbringing around the world and loving to work with adults, and specifically the geriatric population—I spent a lot of time with older adults—and I think that really helped me pave the way for creating a strong work ethic. Being around geriatric people, they want to impress. “I walked 70 miles to school”, you know, things like that. But I really learned from the geriatric population to earn my stripes, have a good work ethic, do something as a leader that I wouldn't ask someone else to do or I would ask someone else to do, right? Modeling by example. But at the same time, with that, I didn't learn the lesson of boundary setting because a lot of geriatric folks or people in that generation, they didn't set good boundaries. It’s just hard work is a day’s work, right? And so, I also saw from my same-sex parent, my mom—she worked two jobs most of her life, and she was diagnosed with a disease when I was in college. She worked the entire time through her recovery and healing. So, I saw her firsthand work when she was sick. She did what it took to get the work done and make money and send me through college. And although that was a good model in some cases, it wasn't good in other cases, and we have discussed that.
Suzanne Hanifin: Absolutely. So, when you look at giving advice, and advice might not be the right word, but giving guidance to women in particular, I love the idea of scheduling self. What other things do you recommend on average?
Hannah Austin: One of my favorite workshops to do is called the Burn Bright Workshop. One of the things I realized, Suzanne, was that the burnout journey for everyone’s different. Some people burn out because they’re overworked. In my case, I was under purposed. I didn’t find a sense of joy or purpose in my life anymore. I had outgrown the role that I was in, but I thought I wanted something that I really didn’t want. So, one of the things I do is create a space for women—and men, by the way—to really turn towards themselves. It’s a workshop of personal questions to ask yourself, a deep dive into what expends your energy and what lights you up. I actually have them take a look at their calendar for the entire month, and we plot out ways to find bright spots and more energy that they can expend on themselves. The biggest kicker is I ask them to start doing some sort of creative thing in their life, whether it’s flower arranging, guitar playing, or wanting to write a song. Whatever it is to exercise that right part of your brain that is a little bit more colorful and creative. Because that really makes a difference when you have someone who’s burned out, once they start to get excited about something or curious about something, they tend to lean towards the things that make them happier, which then leans towards that spark within them, which leans towards creating more of a balance. Instead of saying no and setting boundaries and going cold turkey on a lot of things, which can be jarring for a lot of people, I really have them lean and gravitate towards things that light them up, which automatically shifts them to saying yes to more things they love and no to the things that frankly just don’t light them up anymore.
Suzanne Hanifin: And the next question really is about the self-learning that you’ve done. What advice would you offer your 20-year-old self?
Hannah Austin: That the job is just a job, right? And to look up a little more. I think sometimes as young women and as young people, we’re so focused—laser-focused—on the career that we think we want, instead of realizing that your 20s and your 30s and your 40s, any age, it’s all about exploring and trying new things, trying it on like a piece of clothing. And if that size six pair of jeans no longer fits you, get a bigger pair and cut out the tag. You don’t know you're size 10, but just start trying and being curious. Because once you lose that sense of learning and curiosity, that’s when your spark goes out and that’s when you’re more inclined to burn out.
Suzanne Hanifin: Absolutely. And then, you were a leader of many, many people, especially towards the end of your career. I think that all leaders bring this sense of values that are internal to themselves and operationalize them. How did you—what values did you bring to the table and how did you operationalize them?
Hannah Austin: Well, this is a really touching question, and thank you for asking. One of the best parts of my job right now and my life is hearing from my staff members that I managed or worked with who said, “We miss you so much because of XYZ. You made learning fun. You made it that when I made mistakes, you were like, ‘Hey, no problem, I made a mistake too. Let’s learn together.’” They felt like I was side by side with them on their personal development journey and career journey. They always felt that they weren’t alone and that I was authentic with them. I always base on what people say about me and the feedback I get now today, they say, “You are so real, you’re so raw, but you also do it with a sense of humor.” I mean, who else can say that they’ve had suicidal ideation on the bathroom floor but then at the same time have a team-building meeting where we do Pictionary to learn something new? So, I think they really realized that I wasn’t a friend; I was a confidant, but I was also someone who was really invested in their personal self-care journey. Which now, as a leader and a leader of a wellness company, Suzanne, I have to take my own medicine. If I’m asking people to dive deep within themselves, I need to continue to do the same.
Suzanne Hanifin: Absolutely. I love it. So, let’s talk about that. That’s a great place. Who are your clients and who’s your ideal client, particularly?
Hannah Austin: You know, it’s so funny. I don’t know if you’ve experienced this, but when I first started my company, my clients were my peers—the physicians, the nurses, all the people in healthcare organizations who reached out to me to say, “We miss you; help us survive.” And then when I started the podcast—and you probably experienced this too—I’m having all different people from Sri Lanka to Australia, around the world saying, “I’m hearing what you’re saying and I’m feeling that same way.” So, I feel like my audience now is global. My favorite people to work with are individuals and companies and organizations that really want to affect sustainable change for the future. They don’t just want a Bandaid or a one-size-fits-all approach. They want someone to partner with them side by side to help them find their spark again and really reignite either their workforce or the person who they truly are inside them.
Suzanne Hanifin: I love that. And you know, this podcast, “Hiring for Good,” it has a lot of different connotations to different people. What does hiring for good mean to you?
Hannah Austin: Oh, I discussed this yesterday with a room full of HR professionals and L&D. One of the things I always say is, when I used to start hiring when I was 21, right, 24 years ago, I would look for someone’s resume and how they presented themselves, and I still do that now. But I’m looking for something a little bit more intrinsic. I’m looking for someone who is curious, who’s really asking some really good questions, and frankly, Suzanne, who challenges me—in an appropriate manner—to say, “Have you thought about XYZ?” I’m also looking for someone who’s asking me how I’m going to invest in them as a person and a human. Not only are we asking on our side of the table, “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?” I love it when candidates say to me, “Where can I go? What is your belief in me, and how can I get there in the next five years? What’s your succession plan for me?” I love curious new people who are really interested in being a part of a change agent and a change agent culture.
Suzanne Hanifin: This has been such a great conversation, and I want to say thank you. All of Hannah’s information is at the end of this podcast. Reach out; there’s so much learning that we can do with Hannah. And again, not just looking at ourselves and what makes us happy, but how do we then take that a step further, and how does that affect others and other people in our circle? So, I just wanted to say thank you, Hannah. This has been fabulous.
Hannah Austin: Thank you so much, Suzanne, for having me today.
Suzanne Hanifin: All right, thank you.