0:00:03 - (Kate Davis): Hello, I'm Kate Davis and this is Humor in the C Suite, a show about how leaders use humor to create an extraordinary work culture. Hi everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Humor in the C Suite. My guest this week is Sara Schultzen Krantz, a best selling author, keynote speaker and certified executive coach. She is highly sought after as a corporate speaker as well. Drawing from 32 years of profound personal development research and executive coaching, she has crafted a potent five component framework. And this framework has empowered numerous individuals raing from athletes to Fortune 500 executives, instilling in them the mindset and skills to boldly move forward within their organizations, teams and personal lives.
0:00:48 - (Kate Davis): Currently, Sara is dedicated to a mission aimed at assisting individuals and organizations in transforming not only their businesses, but also their culture that shapes them. We such a great talk. I'm so excited for you to hear her story. She is so brave and really, really funny. So please enjoy. Okay, so welcome to Humor in the C Suite. I'm so happy you like. I love your story. I love everything you do.
0:01:20 - (Kate Davis): I'm so interested about how you use humor because you know, like your book, walk through this.
0:01:28 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yes.
0:01:29 - (Kate Davis): And like it's just all so I'm so. I'm not anti nature but I definitely get nervous in nature. Like I'm just such a, like I can walk through New York and be like, smells like city. You know what I mean?
0:01:43 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Like when you're totally, totally. I totally know exactly what you mean.
0:01:48 - (Kate Davis): So I'm just so interested. So I just thought we would start off by telling everyone your story. How you got to, to be a leadership coach and everything you're doing. And then we'll get into it.
0:01:59 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): My story. We're going to just jump right in. My story, my story is all about really. It's about personal leadership. I don't want to go like too far into it. I do have the book and read the book. I went through a major trauma 11 years ago with my husband. I was a former teacher, hence crayons my last name. Right. Former art teacher. And when I started going through the transformation of my trauma that I was walking through, hence the name of my book, Walk through this.
0:02:31 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): My. My entire life imploded. Right? Like my entire life imploded 11 years ago. So I went through this massive divorce. I found out that there was multiple traumas and that were just like imploding in my life. I found out that my husband had been betraying me. We've so many of us have had betrayals happen to us and my 17 year marriage imploded. I have three sons. So I found myself at a place of what am I going to do next? And who am I outside of all of this that happened to me.
0:03:01 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I was once a teacher, like I said. And so I went home to what I knew, which was teaching. That's really my place of recovery. There were two things, actually, Kate, it's very interesting that I'm on this with you because, yes, it was a personal discovery and it was also finding humor in my life and in my story. I remember sitting in my therapist's room. I don't know, it's like my second or third session with her, and I started laughing about something that had happened right within, like, my day and kind of making light of a situation.
0:03:36 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And she looked at me and she said, I think you've got a lot more trauma in your life than what you're actually saying because you're hiding it behind your jokes, behind your laughter. And I know, and I've heard this from multiple people. Like, you're just so light hearted. You're so happy. There's gotta be more there. Let's pull back the layers. And what I said to her was, you know, my mom taught me a very important thing.
0:04:02 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): She's since passed away. My mom taught me a very, very important thing, though. And she said, walk through the darkness, Go through it, uncover it, cry, do all of that. That's important. The most important thing that you can do, though, is fill up that space with laughter.
0:04:18 - (Kate Davis): I love that.
0:04:19 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Right? She was, she. My mom was just an amazing, amazing woman.
0:04:23 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:04:23 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And so, long story short, when I was going through my trauma recovery 11 years ago, I used nature as my space. And I also found this enlightenment out there. I'm sure, just like you do as a comedian, right? Like you do when you're on stage, there's this enlightenment that happens. And I found my healing there. I also found my personal transformation. Most importantly, I found my voice. I came back home to who I was, right?
0:04:50 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And so I was climbing mountains. I was climbing the six pack of peaks down here in Southern California. I was taking my paddleboard out into the ocean. I was talking and laughing with dolphins and whales. Like, no joke. Like, dolphins and whales would come out right in front of me and I, I know joke would start screaming at them at some times, like, hey, get out of my way. I'm. I'm literally like two whales. Like, who screams at a whale?
0:05:18 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And point being is like, I was finding this, this person in me out in nature that I couldn't find anywhere else. And it was, that became home. I didn't know they. People always say, like, the greatest leader will continuously go through this space of self discovery because leaders are always changing. And so I was literally going through my own personal leadership through this. And then that same therapist said to me, you know, you need to like, do something with this, like start a business, do something, start coaching.
0:05:54 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And so I did. I'm one of those people who, I don't like wasting time. I just don't. I'm 51 and I have a lot to accomplish in my life. And so I went fast tracked into coaching, fast track, started my business. I lead leadership retreats through the Grand Canyon, Alaska, the San Juan Mountains. I wrote a book, I did a TED talk online forgiveness. And it, it's been one heck of an amazing journey. And now I can do leadership coaching with companies and, and businesses. And I love it. Teams love it. I love what I'm doing.
0:06:31 - (Kate Davis): And are you finding when you're now that you've gotten through it and you've reinvented yourself and rediscovered yourself and I love the fact your mom taught you to use humor in those situations. Yeah. And I know a lot of people say, like, I find like everyone who's been on the podcast with me who does have heavy jobs, who's been through a lot, really uses humor as a coping mechanism.
0:06:56 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Right.
0:06:56 - (Kate Davis): Which I think, you know, some people can say you're covering it up and some people can say it's really healthy to laugh at what we're going through. Did you find a balance within that?
0:07:06 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Absolutely. It's funny because my clients, my clients, the reason I have so many repeat clients is I'm just going to state it like, I love to have fun. And I remember the day that I found out of my betrayal. And I remember the moment, and I was just thinking about this this morning where there was a closing of the door of the person who I once was and would never be again. And I knew that I knew in that moment I would never be that woman again.
0:07:42 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:07:43 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): The thing that's beautiful about that though, is that you become the person that you were intended all along, if you choose. If you choose. And you have to have a balance between the hard and the soft. You have to have a balance between the tears and the laughter. You have to have a balance between the, you know, the most challenging days and also knowing that on the other side of that, you're gonna have the success that you truly are searching for, that you really want in life, whatever.
0:08:16 - (Kate Davis): That looks like that you're worthy of.
0:08:18 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): That you're worthy of. And I knew that I didn't cause the pain. It wasn't about me yet. There was this again, this personal transformation that comes outside of that. And so you have to have the balance of all of it, whatever balance is. The cup's not always going to be half and half. It's going to be full and empty, and it's going to be empty and full. And that's the point, right, with your boys. Oh, are you kidding?
0:08:49 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): All the time. I mean, my boys, I have three sons. They're now 33, 23 and 18.
0:08:56 - (Kate Davis): Okay.
0:08:57 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And we laugh a lot. And so I'm now dating, believe it or not, my old high school sweetheart.
0:09:04 - (Kate Davis): Who are doing that freaking years.
0:09:10 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): It's crazy. After 32 years, exactly one year after my mom passed away, wow. Joe reached out to me and just unbeknownst, like, had no, like, inclination. No, like, hey, you know, nothing like that. It was just, how are you doing? But, uh. And then I reached back out to him and we are like peanut butter and jelly. Like, we just love. We just. It's just. It's like went back home. My point is, is he. We just took my youngest son up to Washington to look at colleges.
0:09:41 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And I can get a little goofy. Like, I'm like, let's do this or let's do that. And he always laughs. And he was telling my son, he's like, I know that she drives you crazy sometimes. She's so fun. Like, she's just. Like, I find the humor in her. And so, yes, I do a lot of laughter with my kids. A lot of laughter. Because you got to find laughter in the.
0:10:02 - (Kate Davis): Yeah. And how are you incorporating that into your leadership? Like, when you're coaching and stuff? I'm so curious.
0:10:10 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): So I always tell people that when I'm coaching. First of all, my clients always say to me, again, I have repeat. A lot of repeat clients. They always say to me, you can fit 48 hours in 24. And that's the most fun about it because I go straight to the point with them.
0:10:27 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:10:28 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): So there is a straight to the point. Hey, you gotta look in the mirror and give yourself the biggest truth. Right? Like, it's all about the truth. What do you see? And just remember that on the other side of that, there's also this. Be good to yourself. Like, right. Be. Be. Be very soft with yourself. Laugh with yourself. You know, no one's perfect. And it's in those mistakes and in those things that Happen when you can laugh about it, when you can say, hey, you know what?
0:11:04 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I screwed up today? Forgive yourself, find some laughter. Because I'm always talking about forgiveness as well. Forgiveness is one of the greatest professional strengths that we can have. And it's in that space of forgiveness and in that space of be good to you that you can also look at yourself and realize, I'm not perfect. And that's the beauty of it.
0:11:23 - (Kate Davis): I don't want that. Yeah, absolutely. Like, finding levity in those moments is, Is so powerful and, and allows you to, you know, forgive yourself, as you said. Do you believe that it plays a strong role in terms of building relationships?
0:11:40 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Which, forgiveness or laughter? Both. Everything.
0:11:42 - (Kate Davis): Well, we can go both. Yes.
0:11:44 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): We can go both. Yes, absolutely. 100%. I think the thing that's. That's most important is that it deepens the relationship with yourself. If you can't laugh, which is the most important relationship you can be in, if you don't know yourself, how can you actually get in the deepest relationship with others? And so that's where I'm constantly putting this into my son's heads, into my head. Like Joe and I talk about it.
0:12:10 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): You have to have that deepest relationship with yourself first. And you have to be able to laugh at yourself. It's not even laughing at yourself. It's laughing with yourself. Because when you can laugh with yourself and. And say, oh, yeah, you know, I screwed up, like, how many times when I'm on a route and I trip and fall, and it's not the embarrassment, it's the, look at this, that's pretty funny, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's. There's.
0:12:38 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): You have to be able to.
0:12:40 - (Kate Davis): I'm. I'm really coming out of, like a. A mood of. I'm trying to hold back my perfectionist because I find my perfectionist stops me from doing so much right, I'm always like, that video isn't perfect enough, or this isn't perfect. Like, nothing is ever perfect. And being able to laugh at yourself in those moments or with yourself, as you say, I think is really powerful. And I think it's just such a great point you made.
0:13:07 - (Kate Davis): And I really, really touch on that within my keynotes. How humor really does allow us to connect with each other and ourselves and our purpose a lot of times, because, you know, we're more playful in discovering and being curious and allowing ourselves to be more kid, like that way. And I think there's so much creativity and innovation born out of that. Have you encountered challenges or Misperceptions. When you've ever used humor?
0:13:33 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Oh, heck, yeah. A lot. Are you kidding? I think a part of it again, like, I'll never go. I'll never forget the moment that I was sitting on the couch with my former therapist, who's, by the way, now my colleague and one of my dear friends, when she was like, what are you covering up through your laughter? Right. What is this your coping mechanism for? Blah, blah, blah. And now that she's gotten to know me, she realizes it's actually one of the most healing tools that I have.
0:13:59 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): That's the child within me that I never want to let go of. That's where my creative sense comes. Comes from. I get people. People have misperceptions on me a lot. I've been called everything from, you're the soft leader. When I'm like, what? Which is so funny. There's this softness to you. I'm like, you don't know me very well, do you? Because there's actually quite the balance between the. The.
0:14:22 - (Kate Davis): Yeah. It's so interesting, that perception.
0:14:25 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yes, it is. It. And I've been called. You come off too hard. Right? Like, you need to soften up a little bit. I mean, okay, fine, You. You. You laugh too much. You don't take things seriously enough. You don't. You know, And I'm like, actually, that's me as one terrific stew. Right? Like, it literally is. It's the stew. And so take it all. Take it all.
0:14:53 - (Kate Davis): Are. Are there any specific, like, techniques you use with your clients when you're trying to teach them to trust humor?
0:15:04 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): That's a really good question. Are there any tech. Yes. Go back to the child within you. 100%.
0:15:11 - (Kate Davis): Yeah, there's.
0:15:12 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): In my book, I talk about who am I? And there's. That's one of the chapters. Who am I? And really diving into your values and who you are as a.
0:15:22 - (Kate Davis): As.
0:15:22 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): As a person, as a leader, as a mom, as a dad, as whomever. And in that, I talk about the value. There's parts in there about the value of play, the value of coming home to who you are. And when we can go back to that child within us and have that childlike sense, that's where we can actually really dive into. That's where we can cultivate and use the tools that we had as kids, where we can be more creative.
0:15:52 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): My son Joe bought my son sons for Christmas lightsabers.
0:15:59 - (Kate Davis): Yes.
0:16:00 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yes. Okay. So this is a perfect example of that. So I. So he has three girls, I have three boys. So he's like, I'm.
0:16:10 - (Kate Davis): Oh, my God, you guys are the Brady Bunch. I know. That's such an old reference. No people. Yeah.
0:16:16 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Anyway, seriously, honestly, like, this goes back to who am I as a child? Because you are as an adult. Just an adult version of a kid, by the way. Hopefully. Hopefully you are. You're just a more wise version of who you were when you were born. On this.
0:16:32 - (Kate Davis): Authentic. Then you're yourself. And you had so much self love.
0:16:37 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yes.
0:16:38 - (Kate Davis): Everyone tried to. And everything made you, tried to form you.
0:16:43 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Right.
0:16:43 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:16:44 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): So. So for Christmas, he says, he sends me this text and he's like, hey, I bought the boys lightsabers for. So they're gonna. They're gonna be at your door on Monday. And I was like, why did you waste money on this? Like, we're talking like, the cool ones, right? Like the expensive ones. And I'm like, why? Why? And. And I just didn't even. I was like, okay, fine, whatever. So I wrapped him up and I gave them to the boys because we live in separate states. And so I had my boys for Christmas.
0:17:15 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): So he wasn't there when they unwrapped him. And I'm telling you, like I did. I made the coolest reel because they were unwrapped, these lightsabers. And you'd have thought that I gave that like, Joe gave him a million dollars a piece. They were so excited. And then they're all like, oh, my God, the sunset's amazing at the beach, Mom. Let's like, let's go down. They took the lightsabers down to the beach. The lightsabers are green, the sky is red. They're like, you know, going.
0:17:42 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): They're running around. And understand these are adults. These are like men. We're talking big athletes. And that comes home to what I'm. To what I'm. To what? The question of what you're asking. Accessing that play in us and accessing the humor and child in us and continuously doing that. It is the coolest way to work through and to become who we were intended. Right? Like, that's where we find those pieces.
0:18:10 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And we're also. We remember who we are.
0:18:15 - (Kate Davis): Hi, it's Kate. I can't believe you made it halfway through the show. Look, if you or anyone you know would like to be a guest on Humor in the C Suite, I would love to have you, so email me. Kate Davis, Ca. Do you find when you're coaching leaders, do you find they're resistant to that because they. They have no adults?
0:18:38 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): No, I don't think so. I. No, actually, no, no, no.
0:18:43 - (Kate Davis): Are you doing teams of leaders together or are they individual?
0:18:46 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Everything I've taken taken executive CEOs of multimillion dollar companies down at the Grand Canyon where I do individual coaching and also group coaching. I do individual coaching for companies with leaders. Managerial. The thing is, is when you give them permission to access it, they want more because they don't give themselves enough permission to do that. And so when you actually can take them there and say, hey, permission granted.
0:19:18 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): They re. It's like coming home for them and they want.
0:19:21 - (Kate Davis): Yeah, I just. So great.
0:19:24 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yeah, it's, it's, it's one of the most beautiful things because I think that so many of us become. I don't. Stifled serious about life.
0:19:34 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:19:35 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And you know, it's harsh. It's really like, it's sad actually. And so I want them to come back to the space of comfort in what they know.
0:19:48 - (Kate Davis): Yeah. And sometimes we forget what we know. So it's great to have that reminder. I, I do you find when you're working with these teams, it really helps with collaboration when you are playing games and stuff like that.
0:19:59 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Oh yeah.
0:20:00 - (Kate Davis): They can take that back to their teams.
0:20:02 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Oh yeah. 100. 100. I had an executive, Joan. She was the, she's head of HR for New Balance and she went on one of my retreats. And by the way, she is not a big nature person and yet she now has been. And then not only did she go to the Grand Canyon, she went to Alaska where we were camping and kayaking from literally from island to island next to glaciers. And the thing about being out in nature, for example, you know, and understand like, I coach in through zoom. I coach in person.
0:20:37 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I coach when I'm in nature. The point of the matter is when you can get them and take them to a place or encourage them to go back to what they know, whatever that is. It's nature. If it's music, if it's laughter, if it's whatever, it gives them this permission, it grants them this permission to literally become more connected not only with themselves, but also with the teams that they're working with.
0:21:04 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): So she took all of it back to New Balance. My point being, took it all of it back to balance and had these stood on stage and gave the speech about, hey, like this is what I just went through. And I'm encouraging everybody else to also access that part within themselves.
0:21:20 - (Kate Davis): That is so great because it's just, it just, you know, trickles down within an organization when it starts at the Top.
0:21:27 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yeah, it starts.
0:21:28 - (Kate Davis): And. And when you can have that levity within those groups, I find it really helps. I found, like, some of the coaching I've done over the past year. You know, when I'm in a room with 10 executives, they can be resistant at first. You know, they're terrified that, you know, they're all, like, in this leadership group, and they don't want to, you know, which I find the perfect moment to say, oh, this is why I'm here.
0:21:53 - (Kate Davis): Right, Right. Why you need me.
0:21:56 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Right. 100%. And you know what? Here's the thing. If the door is closed, there's always a crack in the window. You go through that way with them.
0:22:04 - (Kate Davis): Yes.
0:22:05 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And that's. That's what's like. I don't care who it is. I love a good challenge. Clearly.
0:22:12 - (Kate Davis): Yes.
0:22:13 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Part of, like, how I. Why I do the work that I do, I love a good challenge. And so if. If I'm sitting in a room with a bunch of resistant people, I'm like, sweet. Where is the crack? Because I'm gonna go through there. And then it all starts to unfold. And sometimes I'm that person. Like, sometimes, admittedly, I mean, I've given keynotes and stuff where I'm. Where I'm like, ooh, I'm the one that actually.
0:22:41 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I'm like, it's about me. Right. Where I have to actually shift it this way so that I can get in.
0:22:48 - (Kate Davis): Yes. And that's the thing. Like, whenever I find I'm coaching or doing a keynote, I find it's always my voice will tell me how much I feel like I'm connecting with them. My throat starts going, like, a bit tight or whatever. I always know I'm. I'm. I don't have that connection, and it manifests in my body so quickly.
0:23:10 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yes.
0:23:11 - (Kate Davis): And yes. Yeah. It's so funny. Now, I usually start. It's so funny because I usually start the podcast off with, what's your favorite joke? And so many people, so many of my guests are so uncomfortable with that. They're like, I don't have one. Or it's dirty or. And I'm always like, well, you can pull it from your favorite comic or whatever. Do you have a favorite joke?
0:23:35 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): So the favorite joke that I have is the one that Joe told me, and I still laugh to this day about it.
0:23:40 - (Kate Davis): Yes.
0:23:41 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): How do they make holy water? How they boil the hell out of it?
0:23:48 - (Kate Davis): So dumb.
0:23:50 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): It's so dumb. It's so dumb.
0:23:55 - (Kate Davis): That I love it.
0:23:56 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I mean.
0:23:56 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:23:57 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Okay.
0:23:58 - (Kate Davis): That's Great, too.
0:23:59 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): But it's really funny.
0:24:05 - (Kate Davis): It's so dumb, but so good. Come on. Okay, look, if you were gonna give advice to leaders who were, you know, resistant about using humor or levity within the workplace, is there advice you can give them to, you know, help them trust in it a bit more?
0:24:24 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yes, there definitely is. What would your business or your life look like? What is it going to continue to look like without it? And I think that that's actually if we can step back for a second and imagine our life without a smile, without. Without laughter, without humor, without enlightenment, without creativity, without play, without thinking outside of the box, without having growth, profitable growth, without.
0:25:04 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Because literally, like, that's what you're not going to have.
0:25:09 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:25:10 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): If you don't bring it in.
0:25:13 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:25:14 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And how scary is that? How scary is it to not step out of our comfort zone and try new things?
0:25:20 - (Kate Davis): And would you want to work there? Right.
0:25:25 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): No. I mean, let's face it, you know, it's. There's so much that is energetically connected in such a powerful way when we can. When we can laugh, when we can play, when we can get into that space.
0:25:42 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:25:42 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And without it, I mean. Ew.
0:25:48 - (Kate Davis): Yeah. It's. It's funny how our greatest challenges can be our greatest gifts. Like, you would never be where you were if all of that, you know, 11 years ago didn't happen to you.
0:25:59 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Oh.
0:25:59 - (Kate Davis): And, you know, you would just be a totally different person. It's. It's so interesting how it, you know, these lessons in our lives force us to take a step back, but also, once you're through it, be able to laugh at it, laugh at those moments, or laugh again, you know, and life is serious enough without us adding more to it.
0:26:23 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Well, so, Kate, I live literally across the street from my old house, so.
0:26:28 - (Kate Davis): Wow. Is it still there?
0:26:30 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): No, no, no, no. He doesn't live there anymore. I decided to sell the house and 95 of our stuff and move into. We're talking 4,200 square feet, and we moved into 800 square feet across the street rental. Wow. And we were supposed to be here for seven years for. Or. Sorry, we're supposed to be here for one year. We've been here for seven years because of COVID and everything else. And this Christmas, my son and my middle son who played water polo at usc, and he.
0:26:59 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): We were sitting outside talking about it, and he said, you know, we were talking about, like, why I sold everything, why we got rid of the house and all of that stuff. And for that. For me, it was I wanted to bring us closer together and start fresh. I wanted to create a new home. Whatever. Not house, but a home.
0:27:18 - (Kate Davis): Home.
0:27:19 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Right. Home within our soul. Home within who we are. Home within this family unit that was changed. And he said, you know, Mom, I don't. It's so weird. I look at that place and I. I don't even really remember. Like, he goes, I remember. I remember. It's just so. It's. I can't imagine not being where we are.
0:27:38 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:27:38 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And. And that's a part of the humor. Right. Like, there's humor in all of it. I mean, I can now laugh and say, wow, how did I not see that? Well, I know how I didn't see it. It's not me covering it up or anything like that. It's really, like, how funny is it that I was in that space? I mean, and now where I'm at.
0:28:00 - (Kate Davis): So that's so interesting because we have one bathroom in our. Well, we did for a long time. We have two now. But one of my favorite. My favorite memories of my kids growing up is all of us getting ready in the bathroom together.
0:28:14 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yeah.
0:28:15 - (Kate Davis): You know, and just sort of, you know, fighting for the sink or who's ever on the toilet would open the door so no one could see. And.
0:28:23 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yeah.
0:28:24 - (Kate Davis): Like, we. But it was just like every morning, all five of us would be in this one bathroom, all trying to get ready, and it was. I. I loved it. Like, I, I. All those little moments, you know, where you don't have a lot, but what you have is just so wonderful.
0:28:42 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And that's what it's about. And that, again, comes back home to literally finding the. The play in it and getting creative.
0:28:52 - (Kate Davis): So what are the benefits you found, like, you've personally experienced? I mean, we've talked about a few of them. But from really incorporating humor into your leadership style, what are the benefits?
0:29:04 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I found. Oh, my gosh. So I think one of the things that people. This goes. Comes back to forgiveness.
0:29:12 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:29:12 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And I think it's one of those things that people think is like a spiritual thing or it is a, you know, to. To forgive is to forget or, you know, it's not about any of that stuff. When we can go. When we can allow ourselves to try new things and find the forgiveness. When we make mistakes or if we screw up or, you know, we didn't do things the way that we thought we were going to. We didn't. Things didn't land how we thought it was going to. When we can find forgiveness in that, there's Also a sense of play and laughter on the other side of it.
0:29:49 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Right, Right. And so that's. Without it, without forgiveness, without. Without laughter, there is no growth.
0:29:57 - (Kate Davis): Right.
0:29:57 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Because. Because we. We hold ourselves in a space of a box and what we know is comfortable, and there is no growth unless you step out of the comfort zone and you actually try new things. And so knowing that, okay, I'm going to make a mistake, I'm going to screw up, it's okay. There's lessons in, quote, failure. Right. I don't even know if, like, failure is a true thing, to be honest with you, in my life, because it's like, did I really fail? No, it's just a pivot. It's a navigational tool.
0:30:29 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): That's all it is. And so when we can look at it in that way, when we can experience in that way, that's where we actually grow. That's where we can have. Find who we are as a leader.
0:30:42 - (Kate Davis): That's so great. Yay, Sara.
0:30:46 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): You know, I love this work. I really do. I just. I think that it's so funny, Kate, because, like, I never in a man. I never imagined that I'd be doing this work. Never.
0:30:59 - (Kate Davis): I never thought I'd be a comic, ever. That never crossed my mind. Never, ever, ever.
0:31:06 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): That's really. That's funny right there.
0:31:08 - (Kate Davis): Yeah. Like, if you would have said to me when I was 20, you're gonna be a comic, I would have went, you're insane. So that's really.
0:31:18 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I think that's actually worth exploring right there, because I think that when we're little kids, we actually have. We already have. The seed's been planted as to who we're going to be.
0:31:30 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:31:31 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And so when we can. That's why we say, like, go back to also what it was that interested you as a child.
0:31:37 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:31:37 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Because it's planted. There's a reason that you.
0:31:40 - (Kate Davis): I was always putting on shows and telling jokes as a kid. Always.
0:31:43 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): There was a reason that I always. That my mom at a garage sale purchased a desk, and I was like, oh, my God, I got a desk. Yeah. You know, like, there's a reason for that. There's a reason. I got so excited about that, lined up all my teddy bears and taught to them.
0:32:00 - (Kate Davis): And now you're just teaching in a different way at a different capacity, which is fascinating. Coaching, teaching, you know?
0:32:08 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yeah. It's all in the same mold.
0:32:10 - (Kate Davis): So I always love to end the podcast off white. What is the funniest thing that's ever happened to you? Oh, gosh.
0:32:16 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I was thinking about this. Okay. I was like, am I going to embarrass myself this bad? Yes, I am, because there's so much learning in this. I'll give you the very quick version of what happened.
0:32:30 - (Kate Davis): I'm so.
0:32:34 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): My very first time heading into the Grand Canyon was with. I call him my legend, my uncle, Uncle Gene. And he invited me to go down with 20 other people or 19 other people. Him. Him and this whole group. And it was mainly people who had been down into this Grand Canyon several times prior to. So these are people that are, like, really big hikers and climbers, and I was the newbie. So on the way to the Grand Canyon, I started not. I started feeling sick, and I didn't want to give up that I was not feeling well because I was like, nothing's going to hold me from climbing down into this Grand Canyon with you guys.
0:33:12 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Well, it was a very bad diarrhea, like a whole intestinal dog that my. That my son so sweetly gave to me.
0:33:23 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:33:24 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And. And I was so sick, and it was 120 degrees. And on top of it, I also had my period. And so I share this with you because sometimes the hardest things that we can walk through also end up, we don't even realize, becoming what I now talk about on stage, which is the Grand Canyon. You have to descend into our challenges and our difficulties, our change in order to ascend in agility and lasting growth. Right. So this is my. This is my Grand Canyon, like, speech, my keynote.
0:34:04 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:34:05 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): This. I don't talk about this in my keynote. I. Maybe I should. Maybe I should. I don't talk. I don't talk about it. But, you know, but point being is, like, that I remember hiking down to the Grand Canyon and I was like, I will never come back here again. I will never, ever come back here again. This is the most grueling, difficult thing I've ever done in my life. And then I was. And I was down there, and in the middle of the night, I happened to be on the top bunk. It was so bad that you can imagine what happened in the middle of the night, and I didn't even know it. And I woke up the next morning and I was like, who just ranched out this entire cabin? Like, it was bad.
0:34:48 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And so. And I was so sick when I was down there that I was wondering, how the heck am I going to get out? I mean, I'm not one to actually share that kind of stuff with people, but I'll tell you, it was. It was embarrassing. I Had underwear I had to clean out that I'd hanging out outside, that I was like, I cannot get myself well. I was so sick. It was embarrassing, and yet so weird and crazy that, like, here, then I'm climbing out, and I remember saying to my uncle, I'm like, I will never.
0:35:26 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I will never come back. Like, I won't ever do this again in my life. And the very last pitch out of the canyon taught me what resilience is and how you can work through the hardest things. This is before I went through everything. Right. You can work through your hardest things, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and come out on the other side and realize that if I could do this, I can do anything.
0:35:54 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): And now I lead people down into the Grand Canyon. I've taken the USC men's water polo team. I've taken a blind para athlete twice.
0:36:02 - (Kate Davis): I've never been to the Grand Canyon.
0:36:03 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Well, I'll take you. There you go. There you go. I'll take you. And every time I go now, it's like, oh, this is. This is like peanuts. This is no big deal.
0:36:15 - (Kate Davis): Wow.
0:36:17 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): That's what life is about. Like, walk through your hard things, because you can walk through any hard thing. Every future hard thing becomes easier.
0:36:26 - (Kate Davis): Yes, absolutely. I mean, just even, like, all of that is just such good advice. And what a story to end on. And being able to look back and laugh at that and share it.
0:36:38 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Oh, my gosh.
0:36:40 - (Kate Davis): Oh, my gosh. Like, what a moment. And we've all had those moments. That's being human. Those are human moments.
0:36:49 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): My uncle was like, are you okay? And I just kept lying to him, like, yeah, I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. And I was so ill. And then when they all walked past my bunk and saw my underwear hanging up on the clothesline, they were like, oh, she's not okay. I'm like, no, I'm.
0:37:06 - (Kate Davis): Yeah.
0:37:07 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I'm so not okay.
0:37:08 - (Kate Davis): Uncle's probably thinking, yeah, I don't want to come back with you either.
0:37:12 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Well, we went back several times together. That's what's so funny. It was. And he. To this day, he's like, that was not. That was, like, kind of dangerous. I'm like, yeah. Nothing was gonna hold me from doing this, though.
0:37:25 - (Kate Davis): Wow.
0:37:26 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Yeah.
0:37:26 - (Kate Davis): You're a maniac. I love it.
0:37:28 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): I am a little bit of a maniac. And I love that. I love that about me.
0:37:33 - (Kate Davis): Oh, my gosh. So next year, what toys are you gonna get your kids for Christmas, even though they're grown men?
0:37:39 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Oh. So funny. Enough My, my. The middle one wants the red lightsaber. Now he's like, I want every lightsaber. I know.
0:37:47 - (Kate Davis): Love it. I'll ask Joe again. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing just so much insight and your stories, and you're just. I just wanna. I just feel like I've known you forever.
0:38:02 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): Thank you. Same. It's the same. Same.
0:38:05 - (Kate Davis): So much fun. Thank you so much, Sara.
0:38:08 - (Sara Schulting Kranz): You're welcome. Thank you for having me on.