On a brisk morning, grab your cup of coffee and step into the forest. It’s quiet, save the scurry of a squirrel. Can you hear the leaves falling, one by one, to enrich the forest floor? Now look up. Do you see the way the trees form invisible rivers in the space between their branches? Harmony is a visceral experience here – no where is there a void. A perfect orchestra of elements, all dancing with the fullness of their gifts in a co-creation of One.
I am here to talk with Meredith Ellison, Chief Well-Being Officer.
Her job title alone makes me lean in. And her sunny energy as she walks into the room, tea in an EastFork Pottery Mug lets me know this is going to be an enlightening conversation.
ESTABLISHING ROOTS
PP: MEREDITH, YOU ARE A HIGH-PERFORMING LEADER. WHAT ARE KEY COMPONENTS OF YOUR SELF CARE TO NURTURE THESE QUALITIES?
ME: “You can’t be Chief Well-Being Officer and not do your own self care. So I take it pretty seriously. I do acupuncture weekly, (2 hour/deep tissue sessions) and breath work. I believe we should start things in the spring, not in January. So I bring the spring resolutions. This will be my third year of hiking a thousand miles a year (about 20 miles a week). It’s time for me to move and just get outside (not on a treadmill). It has to be outside. I also I try to find a lot of quiet space when I can. I do love listening to podcasts and books, but when I’m hiking, I try to create space to just listen and be by myself.”
PP: I LOVE THAT. IT’S VERY INSPIRING TO KEEP IN MIND. AND, HOW WOULD YOU TRANSLATE THESE SELF-CARE PRACTICES TO “COMPANY-CARE?”
ME: “I think a lot of times, as a company, we need to just create a container to have conversations and ask each other how we’re taking care of ourselves. Because what self-care is for me looks very different for somebody else. And I don’t ever want to put what helps me onto them. I want them to go inward and see what’s speaking to them.
But it doesn’t matter who you are, I do believe we need to be outside. I think we need to feel connected to the Earth and the leaves and the air. So no matter what people do, I really try to encourage people to get outside, take time off, and to listen.”
STRETCHING TO THE SKY
ME: “What we really want to create is a place of work-life harmony, and what does harmony look like for you, and what does harmony look like for me? And to be in tune to how those are always constantly moving and dancing and changing. That’s what we talk a lot about here.”
PP: WHO HAS INSPIRED YOUR CORE VALUES OF TRUST, COURAGE, CONNECTION AND CURIOSITY – THOSE THINGS THAT FUEL YOU?
ME: “My dad sent me a quote in college that said, ‘Live by what you trust, not by what you fear.’ And somehow, that woke up something in me to make sure when I’m making decisions, that I’m making the next choices out of what I trust versus what I’m scared of.
Fear can wrap itself up very beautifully to appear like it’s trust. But that was a pivotal moment for me, and it’s how we’ve created and made a lot of decisions here. We ask, ‘What do we trust in?’ or ‘Is fear guiding us?’ I do believe when you’re living by what you trust, the immediate core value is going to have to be courage, because sometimes it’s not always the easiest decision.
I study a lot of Brené Brown, and she really pushes us for two core values. We’re so hardwired for deep connection. I think it shouldn’t be a luxury. It’s a true human need, as much as food, clothing and shelter. Connection is right there at the foundation. So that’s what my core values come from.”
PP: HOW WOULD YOU SPEAK ABOUT CURIOSITY? IS IT HIGH ON YOUR LIST FOR LEADERS?
ME: “Oh, curiosity should be at the top because things are continually moving and changing. We live in such a world of paradox: right when we feel about to manifest – if we don’t stay curious – we can become rigid and it could be passing us by. And I think it has to start within. Ask, ‘Where did that belief come from?’ And, ‘Is that really mine?’ ‘Is that a kind of cultural belief, or is that my belief?’ Just staying curious creates space, for the answers, for true growth. And we’ve got to keep growing.”
“There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we’ll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. Someone, somewhere, will say, ‘Don’t do it. You don’t have what it takes to survive the wilderness.’ This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, ‘I am the wilderness.’” ~ Brené Brown
PP: CAN YOU IDENTIFY KEY MOMENTS IN YOUR LIFE THAT WERE PIVOTAL AND DIRECTING YOU TO YOUR DEEPEST PURPOSE?
ME: “The last two years, I’ve gone deep with purpose. I’ve hired a ‘purpose coach‘ for myself, and also brought him into our company. He does six months of guided purpose work for each company we serve, and is helping Quility define what we’re here to do in the world.”
AND FLY ABOVE THE TREES
ME: “I think my biggest moment was about ten years ago when I read the book, ‘The Soul of Money,’ by Lynne Twist. It changed everything about my relationship with money: from understanding it, to how I wanted to walk with it, and what it can do for the world (and what it can’t do). To fully understand her message, I read it three times. I followed every podcast she was on. And then eight years ago, I wrote on a vision board that I was going to go with her to the Amazon.
So two years ago, it felt like everything kind of shifted. You know that sense of how you can feel the ground shifting under you? You’re like, ‘What is it?’ Like, everything’s changing right now. And that’s when I committed to the thousand miles and I committed to getting a purpose coach and I signed up for an online group with Lynne called the Sofia Circle. She’s very passionate that in this century is where the feminine will become in equal balance with the masculine and our world will come into harmony.
So I joined the group. It was a six month long program. It ended in an optional retreat in California. I told Brandon, my husband, “I have to go. I gotta go meet her.” And he was like, “All right, go meet her.”
So it was at this retreat: I was sitting on one of the porches with about forty women, when she came walking up to me and said, “Meredith, I think we’re supposed to work together.” And I said, ‘I think so, too.’
She invited me to the Remarkable Women’s Journey, which is a six month program with twelve women. You go to Aspen together for five days, then to the Amazon for two weeks, and finish back in Tahoe for another retreat.
I got to go to the Amazon last year with Lynne, and it was life altering in many ways.
And now, since hurricane Helene, I told her, ‘I need you more than ever.’ And she said, ‘Well, I will coach you for a year.’ And so, she’s my coach.”
PP: WOW, THAT IS FANTASTIC.
“In the pursuit of more, we overlook the fullness and completeness that are already within us – waiting to be discovered.” ~ Lynne Twist
PP: I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE RIPPLE MODEL™, QULITY’S INTERNALLY DEVELOPED MODEL FOR COMPANY CULTURE, WHICH OPTIMIZES INTERNAL STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS.
LOOK INSIDE TO SEE
ME: “At Quility, we’ve always put a lot of emphasis in conversation and take culture very seriously. We’re not always perfect at it, but our aim is to never lose sight of it. We try to create a place where people feel like they belong. And we have about 8,000 agents around the country that have their own little businesses, right? So we want to foster how they create their own culture.
The Ripple Model™ is about creating a roadmap that people can follow, starting with our three pillars {well-being/personal growth, community unity/outreach, and amplification of belonging}.
We feel for-profit companies have responsibility and opportunity to make a huge difference in their communities.
And because the world of insurance is primarily a male-dominated field, we wanted to put a focus on highlighting more women. And now, over 50% of our managers on the distribution side identify female, which is huge in this industry. Internally, from our Director of Leadership and above, 51% identify as female.
Then we asked, ‘How can we amplify as many people and underrepresented communities as possible to share stories and make people know this is a place that you can be a part of?’ And that’s what’s great about the insurance industry – it only takes a couple hundred dollars to get an insurance license. You don’t have to have crazy degrees, so there’s a lot of people that this profession has opened up to that maybe didn’t get a college degree.”
PP: THAT’S AWESOME. SO, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS TO HAVE IN ORDER TO MAKE AN IMPACT WITHIN A GROUP?
ME: “I think everyone has a role to play, everyone is enough, and is encouraged to bring their full selves here. One thing we do to support this idea is have an annual ‘Impact Day.’ We ask, ‘Where do you want to go serve your community?’ Some people are drawn to animals, some to helping the elderly, and some people want to pick up trash. We just create space and a culture of doing it, so everyone can go and decide where they want to serve.”
PP: IT SOUNDS LIKE BY INVITING EVERYONE TO BRING THEIR FULLEST SELF TO THE GROUP, YOU CAN DISCOVER THE INTERSECTIONS AND STRENGTHS THAT EVERYONE BRINGS TO THE WHOLE.
ME: “Yes. We also highlight our agents’ stories on the distribution side of how they are giving back to their communities. This helps them to understand that reciprocity is currency. Lynne talks about this a lot: what you put out to the world creates a current, so don’t hold on, just let it move through you. We talk a lot about this.”
EXPAND BEYOND YOURSELF
ME: “I think communicating and resolving conflict are two of the greatest skills we can develop as humans. It creates reciprocity when you can understand what is happening for the other person.”
PP: SO IN A COMPANY AND A TEAM, WHAT ARE HELPFUL THINGS PEOPLE COULD BRING TO THAT TABLE?
ME: “This is where I feel like Brené Brown’s work is so pivotal in how to have daring and fierce conversations. One of our core values is to have open, honest, and productive conversations – the keyword here is productive.
We try to give tools and skill sets on how to do that, but I find so many times in a place of conflict, it is because we’re in such a virtual world. It’s one thing when you can sit on the same couch with someone and say, “Hey, the story I’m telling myself about this is ...,” because then you can own your part, right? And the other person might say, “Oh my gosh, that is not at all what I meant about that.” Or “that is what I meant by that.” In those moments you get real connection, clarity.
We’re trying to bring in our teams, sit down, share and ask, “What is your story? What, Who are you?” Because then, we can resolve conflict when it arises (and conflict is a healthy thing for a company), because we’re trying to do the highest possible good for what we’re creating.
If you don’t know someone, it’s so easy for it to feel impersonal and you go into self-preservation. So, we find, connecting early and often, keeps the communication open. This is so important, especially since we grew pretty fast: we went from occupying two buildings in Swannanoa to being a nationwide company.
PP: WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS FOR GROUPS TO HAVE IN ORDER TO EXPAND THEIR IMPACT BEYOND THEMSELVES?
ME: “Core values are a big deal. Not just naming them and putting them on the wall, but how do you operationalize them, and know what they mean to you and to the company? We pull those into our conversations, hiring processes and performance reviews, but what does it look like to have an open, honest conversation about them?”
‘People come first, and our core values are the guiding lights when it gets real dark and you don’t know which way to go. They help us walk towards the next step.’ ~ Meredith Ellison
If ever there was a perfect specimen of balance, reciprocity and abundance, a tree would take the prize. Did you know the typical root structure below ground of a tree reflects its canopy above? A tree will take in from the soil, only what it needs for nutrients, then leaves deposits at its base so other plants can thrive there, creating a harmonious, balanced community of plants.
PP: THIS SEEMS TO TIE INTO THE WORD “INTRA-CONNECTION” THAT I HEARD YOU TALK ABOUT AT THE ASHEVILLE BUSINESS SUMMIT. CAN YOU EXTRAPOLATE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT WORD?
ME: “Yes, that came to power from Daniel Siegel’s work. He describes this connection like each of us are one of the many roots of the same tree. When people can feel intra-connected in their community or in their business or in their home, you don’t sacrifice yourself for that. You actually need to build your whole self, so the whole of the collective becomes stronger. It just feels right for where we are in the world today: this individual collectivism that we need to fully step into.”
PP: IN JANE GOODALL’S FINAL INTERVIEW, “FAMOUS LAST WORDS” {NETFLIX}, TWO MONTHS BEFORE SHE PASSED, AT THE VERY END OF THE TALK, THE INTERVIEWER LEAVES THE ROOM. SO JANE IS ALONE, AND SHE SPEAKS DIRECTLY TO US. SHE SAYS THAT EACH OF US HAS A ROLE TO PLAY. YOUR LIFE MATTERS. EVEN SMALL ACTIONS MULTIPLIED WILL MAKE GREAT CHANGE AND THAT YOU HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
SO MEREDITH: WHAT DO YOU HOPE YOUR GREATEST IMPACT WILL BE?
ME: “Well, after two years of purpose work, I know what my purpose is {laughs}:
I envision a world where the masculine and the feminine have been re-harmonized to help create a new frequency for a “you and me world.”
Every day I wake up and try to help re-harmonize this balance and look out to see where there is a ‘you or me world’ happening. And I ask, ‘What can I do to help shift it to a ‘you and me world?’
This work comes from Buckminster Fuller, who taught right here at the Black Mountain College. A lot of Lynne’s work with sufficiency derived from here. I remember the moment I heard her speak about this: everything in my cells woke up, and I knew, ‘that’s a ‘yes.’ And that’s what we’re here to do.’
I ask myself, ‘How can I do my part in trying to lower chaos?’ Some days, that’s me sitting by myself, just trying to get my own frequency into alignment. And some days it’s trying to shine a light on someone else so their light feels brighter.
It wakes up their light, you know, because we need to all just turn the dimmer switch up. Let’s shine them bright: the more light we have in the world, the better.”
PP: OH, THANK YOU, MEREDITH, THIS IS BEAUTIFUL.
Platinum Group is an HCM Payroll & Accounting firm in Asheville that celebrates our wonderful clients, keeping business local, and elevating our community by volunteer outreach. To see how we can support your business, visit us at: www.platinum-grp.com, or set up some time with us here.
Quility is leading the insurtech industry through people-first innovations, exclusive access to digital insurance products and long-standing partnerships with a range of top carriers.https://quility.com