Teresa Yeager's Secret to Building a Meaningful Career in Tech

In this episode of The Quest for Success Podcast, Teresa Yeager shares her inspiring journey from a corporate environment to leading a software business, offering valuable insights on success, leadership, and personal growth. Teresa reflects on how her childhood influences, education, and taking calculated risks have shaped her path, emphasising the importance of freedom and genuine care in defining success.

Teresa discusses the challenges and rewards of navigating a career in technology, particularly as a young woman in a competitive field. She highlights the critical role of customer service, maintaining the human touch in technology, and shaping company culture during periods of change, including acquisitions. The conversation also explores her passion for real estate, personal development, and giving back to the community, offering practical advice for aspiring leaders.

Tune in to gain actionable insights on leadership, resilience, and building a meaningful career in a dynamic industry.

Subscribe for more engaging conversations with inspiring leaders and visionaries.

Chapters
00:00 Navigating the Conversation: Introduction and Context
03:02 Defining Success: A Personal Journey
06:08 The Importance of Freedom in Success
09:04 Career Path: From Corporate to Leadership
12:01 Childhood Influences: Family and Education
15:00 The Role of Competition: Growing Up with Brothers
18:05 Academic Excellence: The Value of Education
20:51 Discovering Leadership: Robotics and Team Dynamics
24:09 Young Leadership: Navigating Age Dynamics
27:10 Taking Risks: Transitioning to a Small Company
29:51 Calculated Risks: Building Confidence
32:52 Business Insights: The Software Company Journey
33:40 The Evolution of a Software Business
38:10 Understanding the Customer Base
41:12 Cultivating a Strong Company Culture
47:23 Navigating Acquisitions and Change Management
51:33 The Balance of Ideas and Execution
54:19 Personal Passions and Hobbies
01:01:25 Reflections on Success and Giving Back


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Transcript

Dylan Pathirana (00:00.502)
you don't want to be published or anything that you want to edit let us know so we can we can change yeah yeah yeah any areas we shouldn't be talking

Teresa Yeager (00:13.071)
Well, it's interesting because we're private equity right now, right? So I can talk a ton about the company, the staff, morale, all that stuff I'm really passionate about. But I have to be careful because not all the staff are owners like I am. So I have to be careful how much I disclose. I did tell my board I was doing this. They're like, yeah, you know what to say and not say. I'm like, okay. So I might just, exactly, I might stumble through just making sure.

Dylan Pathirana (00:17.397)
Okay.

Dylan Pathirana (00:22.421)
Yeah. Yep.

Dylan Pathirana (00:33.538)
Yeah. Okay.

Teresa Yeager (00:43.117)
I don't say anything I regret.

Dylan Pathirana (00:45.154)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We can always send you a draft beforehand before we publish it.

Teresa Yeager (00:49.955)
All good. I'm not worried about it. I'm sure we'll be fine. There's very few things I can't say.

Dylan Pathirana (00:56.249)
Alright, okay, you can say, well, I can't talk about it, so we can cut that off. Yeah. Teresa, let's get this going. Yeah. How you been, by the way?

Teresa Yeager (01:00.033)
Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (01:10.521)
You know, I miss everybody. Like, I feel like I haven't reviewed my case studies yet. I haven't gotten back into like, all the things we learned. I was like, there's so many things to implement. Where do you begin, right?

Dylan Pathirana (01:12.055)
I know.

Dylan Pathirana (01:15.662)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:23.984)
100%. Yeah. And the interesting thing for us, this is our 15th episode with our OPMers. yeah, so we've been talking to so many people. Yeah. Feel like, you know, we get to know more having a conversation like this and we got a few, few others in line as well. And we are learning so much and it's like talking to someone. It's, it's amazing. So that's why we are so interested in doing this. Even

Teresa Yeager (01:30.479)
No, no way!

Teresa Yeager (01:46.51)
I'm sorry.

Dylan Pathirana (01:53.58)
Anyone watched or not, like we're going to continue to do this. And that's exactly what Casey Bow said as well. He's doing some podcasts, whether someone listened to it or not. He's continued to do that because what you can learn from a conversation like this, it's amazing.

Teresa Yeager (02:10.927)
And Dylan, this was your idea, yeah?

Dylan Pathirana (02:15.289)
Yeah, I sparked it probably, I think it was early April. so I think now we're, we're close to 36 episodes in. So, it's been real, real good learning experience and, yeah, it's, it's, it's awesome. I know, I know. It's, we actually, this is one of my kind of a best part of my, my day actually, like everything compared to everything else, you know, like.

Teresa Yeager (02:19.641)
Okay.

Teresa Yeager (02:23.993)
Wow. Wow.

Teresa Yeager (02:30.157)
love that you two are doing this together too.

Dylan Pathirana (02:43.622)
We both enjoy this. So, which is amazing. Yeah. No, love to have you. All right. We'll, we'll get underway. Can we get the head height buddy? we need to get the head highs same height. yeah. That would be good. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. That's cool. Everything good. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Teresa Yeager (02:46.435)
Amazing, I love this for you guys. Thanks for including me.

Teresa Yeager (02:55.823)
Miss?

Teresa Yeager (03:02.671)
Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Teresa Yeager (03:09.647)
You okay with it? Here you me to sit up straight?

Dylan Pathirana (03:12.786)
All right. Welcome back to the quest for success podcast. And thanks so much for tuning in once again today. Our special guests is Teresa Yeager. and we're incredibly excited to have her on the show today. Teresa and I, know each other for last, just over two years. we studied together at Harvard business school and I feel like, I know Teresa, but,

I say this to many of my OPMers, but there's so much I need to know about Teresa. I kind of got to know Teresa from other people. So it's just about time now. I want to unpack her story and understand bit more. And welcome Teresa for the Quest for Success podcast.

Teresa Yeager (04:04.153)
Thanks so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be asked to be on the quest for success.

Dylan Pathirana (04:09.885)
So Tracer, this whole conversation is about success. And so we really need to start with a fundamental question. And that is, what does success mean to you?

Teresa Yeager (04:23.567)
I mean, that's a deep question and a, I would call success a lifetime journey. It's not something you accomplish. There is no end goal to success. There is no definitive you've hit it or you haven't. I would say if I internalize the question for me and I asked myself, what does success mean? I think the question is,

If money was no object and I could do whatever I wanted that day, what am I doing that day? What do I want to be doing that day? And then if I compared what I get to do in a day to what I actually do today and look at the Delta, that the closer I get to my dream day and my dream life is the closer I get to the definition of success.

if I've explained that accurately, like the vision of if money were no object, what is that life? And then how close am I to that? And so the last part I would say is how do I define success for me if I think about the days that fill my bucket?

Dylan Pathirana (05:30.855)
then

Teresa Yeager (05:49.871)
I feel a 10 out of 10, you know, that's when I'm like, that was a successful day. And sometimes it's a successful moment. It might not be all day, but there's enough of those moments that it's filling my cup that gives me energy that I would say is when I feel like I'm close to success.

Dylan Pathirana (06:08.274)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (06:17.304)
So it's more about freedom for you in a sense.

Teresa Yeager (06:22.415)
It's interesting you use that word because that is absolutely part of my mission and my vision and my life. And that is to have the freedom to choose.

Any of that. Choose what I do with my time, choose what I do with my money, choose what I do for others, that I have the ability, capacity, and freedom to make those choices.

Dylan Pathirana (06:47.859)
Yeah, absolutely. Makes sense. I think it's very similar to my definition. would say, you know, having that freedom to do what you love and whenever I want and, know, however I like the way, you know, to do it. So, Teresa, people that don't really know you. Please explain what you do now. Like maybe let's talk about now. Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (06:59.033)
Mm.

Teresa Yeager (07:16.623)
Right now, sure. Yeah. I run a software business. So we specialize in the government space. And in particular, we service smaller municipalities across North America. And so we are a group of smaller companies that came together and felt like we were stronger together. So there's a number of software.

products that we have that we came together to service specifically that market of a small municipality in North America. And so I get the privilege of leading the team and we have a very strong group of people that honestly make my days amazing. I get to come to work and work with the best people. And so we're doing something pretty special over here. I think our clients love us and we love what we do. And so it's a win-win all around. So that's what we do.

Dylan Pathirana (08:12.529)
Yeah, so you're actually based in Canada, right? Which part of Canada?

Teresa Yeager (08:16.505)
That's right. Yeah, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And we do have clients in the US as well. And we do have a head office in the US. But I am based out of the Canadian head office in Edmonton, Alberta, Western Canada.

Dylan Pathirana (08:32.147)
And I suppose, did you always live in Canada?

Teresa Yeager (08:37.401)
So I'm born and raised in Canada, but I used to be in central Canada in Ontario and went to university there. And then this job actually brought me out here. It was a 16 person company and it's actually an interesting story. was working, I was climbing the corporate ladder at a large corporation and I...

I've loved every job I've ever had, just to be clear. So I loved what I was doing, but I thought it was time for the next challenge. I felt like kind of my work was done there. I like a challenge. I like to build a team and create that great environment. Looked at a number of options, including several other big corporations. And in the midst of that, this smaller 16 person company,

came on my radar and it was a big move to move across the country and Canada is geographically quite large so it is a significant physical move and I just, you I was really drawn to the opportunity because I felt like I could make a difference. I was interviewed by some of the existing staff in the process and I just really liked them and I felt like...

I could do great work there and I felt like I could really make a difference there. And I remember telling my friends and family that I think I'm leaning towards that little company, that little software company in rural Canada, in Western Canada. And one friend's like, that's crazy. That's crazy. And my family was even like, I don't think you realize how big this move is. Are you sure you've thought it through? And there was some resistance and I would say,

you know, that was six years ago and that was when I really started getting better at hearing my intuition and following my gut. And I think that takes practice to hear that, that quiet voice. and that was one of the defining moments in my life. looking back where it wasn't maybe the traditional choice.

Teresa Yeager (10:57.697)
and people might have thought it was kind of crazy, but in my head and in my heart, it really felt like the right decision. And so I took the leap of faith and I've never looked back. It was one of the best decisions I made. And, you know, now we're 900 and plus employees and I really have my dream job.

Dylan Pathirana (11:19.251)
So did you actually start working in this company or did you, how did, yeah? Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (11:25.175)
Yes, I did not found the company. I did not, I was not a founder of the organization. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (11:31.773)
So you came to kind of a work in that company and then kind of build yourself in the business part of the growth. And so throughout these conversations, what we found is people are very much shaped by their early days. So I kind of want to go back to your early life and get a bit of understanding about, you know, where you grew up, the, your family dynamic and how you

Teresa Yeager (11:41.891)
That's right. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (12:01.021)
how you think you were shaped by those kind of formative years.

Teresa Yeager (12:05.487)
Yeah, so grew up in a small town outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Lived my whole life in that town. My nucleus of my family is a very, you know, my parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in 2025. I have two brothers, I'm the middle child, and we are, you know, middle class.

family in Canada. I grew up in Canada. Beautiful, beautiful place to grow up. English speaking, I don't have any other languages, although I wish I did. That is a privilege I many, when people have, I admire. But my parents are both high school math teachers. And I think that's really important when I think about how I grew up for a couple of reasons. The stability of the home,

of that nucleus family of the five of us was a really beautiful thing. And the neighborhood and middle-class Canada is very stable and secure and grew up in that environment. My parents being high school math teachers, every board game that you think it's family time is actually like a math lesson. And I didn't really know it at the time. And so like to this day, we'll talk about these math games.

that we were tricked into doing that we thought it was like family night on Friday, but it was really just math games. And we still play them as a family to this day. We get together for all the holidays and it's still very much a thing. These board games and these math games that are not just a family board night, it's math games. So things like compound interest, you know, is like a very standard table conversation when I was 12.

Dylan Pathirana (13:57.305)
Hahaha

Teresa Yeager (14:01.539)
You know, so I think one of the biggest things for my childhood is learning the value of a dollar. That was an important thing in our family. Work ethic, we always had jobs and part-time jobs. I was on a budget. I had my own bank account when I was very, very young, figuring out how to save money and bank reports to my mom and dad and the whole thing. I would say that, you know, a couple of things.

family values, I'm still very close to my family. We still very much, that's a big part of who I am today. I have said to my staff multiple times, the only time you won't be able to reach me is if there's something I have to be there for my family for. That's basically the only time that is a boundary for me. It's, you know, it's when I think about time off, it's prioritizing quality time with my family. And that is absolutely for my childhood. I would say that is a big lesson.

from how I grew up and then just work ethic. Like I'm not afraid to work hard. I really love it. I'm blessed at the opportunities my childhood gave me. You know, I was doing things like on the robotics team, one of our classmates, Dylan, is on the board of the robotics team. I was captain of in high school actually. So my life came full circle in the last couple of years, but you know, just having access

Dylan Pathirana (15:19.52)
wow.

Teresa Yeager (15:28.995)
you know, I'm going to age myself now. 25 years ago, when I was in high school, not a lot of women were in science, technology, engineering, and math, right? My parents being math teachers absolutely had me part of that community. So that tech side of me, the math skills side of me, the math diligence on that, those all absolutely came from the opportunities that came from the childhood and the home I grew up in.

Dylan Pathirana (15:54.069)
There's there's one more point on there that I want to kind of dig into. You said you grew up with two brothers. Do you think that made you like a stronger kind of you had to prove your your worth? And do think that like kind of helped you later on as well as you kind of moved into leadership? You had that kind of grit.

Teresa Yeager (16:12.249)
So I would say that there's no question that had an absolute impact on me. Like they are competitive, it's an athletic home, hockey and stuff, right? And so everything was a competition for sure in my home. There's no question that had an impact. They are actually quite sensitive, my two brothers. So I like to think I gave that to them. And then maybe on the flip side, Dylan, they gave to me.

a more masculine, power, harder shell in return. And so I'm gonna connect a parallel on that to your question, Dylan, on that. I think being a business woman, we have come a long way to have women in leadership roles and we've come a long way to have women in STEM, but we're not there yet.

And I think that a lot of what I've had to do to get where I am is channel my masculine energy and that masculine characteristics of a business, of a businessman and a business person. And I think that I got that partially from my, in a positive way from my childhood on how that looks, how that feels with, how do I translate that into my own career? So I think that's, that's a connection I don't know that I've made before.

Dylan Pathirana (17:32.898)
No, think that's a really interesting... Yeah, better ability to negotiate with men from the childhood, I guess.

Teresa Yeager (17:33.923)
Thank you for that.

Teresa Yeager (17:40.203)
Mm-hmm. That's true. That's true, because that's all I had to do. Negotiate the, you know, who got the big piece of chicken at dinner or negotiate, you know, who got to sit in the front seat and pick the music on our car rides and our family trips. That was definitely one of them. I wonder what my brothers would say if you asked them who won the negotiations. I think they would say I did. I think they would say.

Dylan Pathirana (17:50.915)
You

Dylan Pathirana (18:05.611)
Yeah, that's interesting.

Teresa Yeager (18:07.757)
I think they would. think they would, even today, think they would admit that I usually win those.

Dylan Pathirana (18:12.325)
So, Theresa, would you consider yourself a smarter child at school? I mean, you're coming from a mathematical background at home, as you mentioned. I guess you're pretty good with your education. Is that correct?

Teresa Yeager (18:31.255)
Yeah, so growing up, like we said, education was like a non-negotiable, to be honest with you, in our home. It was like we would all be sitting together at the dinner table doing our homework. And if I said I didn't have homework, there was only one high school in my towns and my parents both worked at it. So they would be like, no, I talked to Mr. Richards and I know you have chemistry homework tonight, actually. So.

Dylan Pathirana (18:39.746)
Yeah, yeah.

Teresa Yeager (18:58.127)
So there was no getting away from it, right? But yes, I was a pretty diligent student. I think I defined, I felt like doing well in school was a critical thing to make my parents proud. I would say that that has come with me into my adulthood as well. A lot of my motivation is,

I really want to make my parents proud. I also believe I grew up with every opportunity to be successful in society's definition of success being, you know, money, corporate, et cetera. I think I was, you know, being born in Canada. I had a lot of opportunities and education. So went to university, got two degrees in university.

Like that was important in my home, in my household. And I feel privileged to have had that opportunity. And so that is absolutely growing up in a home with teachers, parents, right? And the importance of doing well in school was important for me, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (20:08.118)
Mm-mm. Yeah. Mm.

Dylan Pathirana (20:14.823)
But you had any any plan those days as a child like I want to be like, you know something

Teresa Yeager (20:23.395)
I think robotics changed my life. When I tried a lot of different hobbies and not a lot of them lasted long, know, some people go, I played basketball my whole childhood or, you know, picked a sport or whatever. I didn't, I did a lot of things for a short period of time, but robotics is one that I still do today. I still judge the world. I'm still very much part of that organization.

for over 20 years, I think it changed my life in that it showed me I was the captain of the team, but I was not that technical. And so it showed me that I love technology, but I don't have to be the subject matter expert. I don't have to be an engineer to love it. Although I toyed with, I go to school for engineering? Should I go to school for math? And I went to university for business.

And so I think that that was a pivotal moment when I was 16 and 17 and leading this robotics team in high school that I realized the pieces that I loved was having this team of 30, the team had 30 and fundraising and building a brand and we created a logo and we had to travel with the robot and I had to coordinate these trips and I just loved bringing people together.

Dylan Pathirana (21:45.426)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (21:45.975)
And I also loved looking back, I don't know if I knew it at the time, but looking back, I think one thing I loved about it is figuring out how to put people where they're best. You we had a technical team, we had a marketing team, and I think I really loved that nuance of putting everybody where they're best and then bringing them together. And I think that's really translated into what I love about my job today.

Dylan Pathirana (22:10.378)
Awesome. So I guess you realize early days that leading and getting everyone together is probably that's your strength. And then you work towards to that, I guess.

Teresa Yeager (22:23.993)
And I'm not sure I had those perfect words for it at the time. You know what I mean? I just knew when I was doing stuff I loved, I was good at it. And I was loving the robotics, so I did more of it because I was enjoying it. And if you're enjoying it, you're good at it. And that, it spirals into what became my career today.

Dylan Pathirana (22:26.589)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (22:43.358)
Yeah, yeah. So after finishing uni, you went to corporate straight. Yeah, and start working.

Teresa Yeager (22:52.463)
Yeah, so I was in marketing and then I was in sales and then I was, you know, in 2008, 2009 was all about tech and moving physical car auctions actually online. And that's when I started to get into tech on the tech side of sales and marketing. And then I became a leader in my 20s.

and led a lot of people my age and sometimes older. So it was an interesting dynamic to learn how to navigate early in my career. From tech and software, I moved to SAS. And that's when my math world and my tech interest and my leadership skills all came together.

because what's very cool about SaaS is all the financial metrics, right? Valuations and reoccurring revenue and churn and net retention. And I just like really loved the compound of an air reoccurring revenue business model. So I got into that even before it like a thing. And yeah, I've been in it over 10 years and yeah, love a SaaS business model.

I know, weird sentence to say, but I really do. I love the math of it all. I love the logic of it. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (24:09.769)
Yeah. Yeah.

Much, much easier to scale, right? Sales business. You mentioned something there about being a young leader and I want to, I want to get some, some input from you as well. Like, I'm, I'm also in my twenties. What is some advice you'd give about being kind of the younger person, but leading older people as well. And like, how do you balance that dynamic?

Teresa Yeager (24:18.733)
Right. Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (24:24.601)
Mm.

Teresa Yeager (24:40.047)
Yeah, that excellent question. think I like to believe data drives decisions and if you're making data driven decisions, you'll get respect from anybody older or otherwise. The second piece to that though is the reality that everybody wants to know what's in it for them.

if you can tap into the individual's motivations and really care about what that is, so not just say it, but actually your actions match that you truly, genuinely care about every employee that reports to you and what matters to them, and then help them get there, whatever that looks like, nobody cares how old you are. Nobody will care at that point because if you're authentic and you come

every day is your authentic self and you genuinely care what matters to them. That's where the magic happens in terms of collaboration, leadership, and ultimately the reason what all of those people do is an environment of trust. And when your peers, your manager, your direct reports, that whole ecosystem trusts, when there's trust developed, I mean, the sky's the limit.

And so I would just, my only two cents on that is I think it all comes from genuinely caring about the people on your team.

Dylan Pathirana (26:18.125)
Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (26:19.567)
and not paint everybody with the same brush, right? Like everybody has different intrinsic motivations. And if you can align with that, well, still be meeting the business need, right? Which is also the manager, the dichotomy of the two, right? Especially sometimes when they don't align, can be mutually exclusive, but both have to be progressing. That balance is an interesting one.

Dylan Pathirana (26:30.444)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (26:42.743)
Yeah, so, Teresa, so working for a large corporation that you mentioned that when you see this opportunity to getting you had any intention like I mean, it's a big shift for you. One, it's a small company. And second, you actually invest in that company as well, right? Yeah, so it's a big decision. I mean,

I had the same challenge. My parents couldn't understand why I was doing it because I came from a similar kind of background. Obviously you had some challenges from your family as well, right? Because none of them are kind of a business owners and they never had that exposure or experience. Their perfect world is you're climbing the ladder, you becoming a top CEO of a larger business.

Teresa Yeager (27:16.215)
Please.

Teresa Yeager (27:39.055)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (27:40.677)
So how did you, I mean one, I have two questions. How did you convince yourself, right? This is the right decision to make. And then how did you also convince like your close family and friends, this is what I wanna do.

Teresa Yeager (27:59.587)
Yeah, okay. how the convincing myself part was actually easy. I convinced myself because it goes back to, you know, my intuition and my gut. And I knew when I went to bed at night, you know, you put your head on the pillow and you and you say like, you start really internalizing what do you want and what's best for you. It was it was a no brainer to take this opportunity at the small company versus continuing to climb the corporate ladder.

I think part of that is having confidence in yourself that you can do it. I think part of it is there's an element of risk that you have to be comfortable with that not everybody is comfortable with. And so for me, was the right time at the right place and it felt right. However you describe that, it just felt right.

In terms of friends and family, some people took years to get to a place that was accepting that I was living on the other side of the country. Some people took years. One friend actually has since apologized for the way she handled it and we're in really good place, no hard feelings. But some people really took it harder than others. My parents, I do a lot of things that they say, are you sure?

are you sure? I also do real estate on the side and I take some risks on the real estate side and I have grown that portfolio pretty substantially over the last few years and there are days when my family says, are you sure? But I think they know me well enough now to know that I will hear them out but still do what I believe is best.

Dylan Pathirana (29:39.633)
Yeah

Dylan Pathirana (29:50.448)
Yeah, yeah.

Teresa Yeager (29:51.223)
So I think they knew they weren't gonna talk me out of it. I will say though, I probably downplayed it and I remember distinctly saying, I'll be back in two years. So there was definitely an element that I was trying to lessen the blow by saying, don't worry, I'm just gonna do it for a couple of years, make a difference and then I'll be back. that's part of it. Go ahead, sorry.

Dylan Pathirana (30:15.873)
He said something.

No, sorry. You said something there about, part of the reason you could do it was because you had the self-confidence is self-confidence. Something that is innate or do you think it can be learned?

Teresa Yeager (30:26.381)
Mm.

Teresa Yeager (30:30.479)
No, no, it's definitely learned and I don't have it all the time like there's a it's on a scale It's not a you have it or you don't it Did I evaluate the risks enough and the rip the pieces that I can't meet the risks I can't mitigate Do I trust in myself and have the confidence that I can overcome if the worst thing happens? So a situation like that is worse

I would go in my head and process what's the worst case? The worst case I don't like the role and I need to, and I don't last very long and I lose some money and time in the process, but I trust that I can rebuild. I trust that I'll have a bed to lay in at night and I won't lose the roof over my head. I trust that I have enough savings that I can build something else. Like it's that risk mitigation piece.

So I would say I'm pretty data driven, so even my risks are calculated. Funny story, my family is musical. I am not. Okay, I play no instruments and you do not want me to sing. But my family does. They play the guitar, they play the piano and they sing. And for birthdays, they take famous songs and change the lyrics to be about the person. And then we all have to sing these songs and I like sing quietly because I cannot hold a tune.

Dylan Pathirana (31:33.676)
Ha ha.

Teresa Yeager (31:50.847)
But the rest of my family is like full on singing these songs and they've changed the lyrics and they're like piano and guitar and they're singing these songs and the song that they made about me there's a line in it that says always trust excel because everything I do I'm like I'm

full on Excel spreadsheeting, worst case scenarios, here's the calculations and here's what it looks like and best case it could look like this and here's my modeled out for 10 years compound interest, debt repayment, like the whole thing. So even my family knows I'm okay with risk, but it's calculated and I build.

confidence or gain confidence by doing that level of analysis and critique on every major decision I make and so always trust Excel is the line in the song and I will not sing it you don't want me

Dylan Pathirana (32:44.385)
Yeah

Dylan Pathirana (32:51.286)
I'm really interested to know about your business, if that's okay with sharing. So again, two questions. One, what did you see when you joining the opportunity? Right. And then the second thing, please tell me, tell us about your business and what do do?

Teresa Yeager (33:12.579)
Yeah, sure. So the first piece is, okay, so when I was going through the interview process to join this small company, the history is it was around for about 20 years, but it really was a services, professional services business. And over the years, the customers were asking for a software tool to support them in the services. So the company spun up a software portion of the company, but it was primarily heavily services.

And the software side of the business really didn't make a ton of money. It just kind of subsidized and complemented the services they were selling. So the person I joined to work when it was 16 person kind of carved out the software. And so the service business has ran for 20 years by the same gentleman and it still exists to this day, but they carved out the software and wanted to kind of create its own business in the software side.

And so I kind of joined less than a year after that happened. And the goal was how do we take this software that we know has something there, but really grow it and give it its own legs and create its own business out of the software. And so it was about that SaaS business model and it already had some, you know, clients, clients that used it.

for years and really helped develop it in the first place. So they really got a lot of feedback to make sure it met the needs. So I was very confident in it. And I think there was two pieces missing that kind of was, I felt like I was the perfect fit for, which is why I was excited to join. And so those two reasons are number one, I think the staff really needed a people leader, someone who

Dylan Pathirana (35:04.214)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (35:06.369)
because the gentleman that ran it was excellent at finance and accounting and operationalize a business. Really structure driven, legal, finance, all those pieces were buttoned up beautifully. He was very strong at that. But where my strength comes in is bringing a team together, getting team bought into the vision and the goals, getting them aligned to where we're going. So if you picture like a bus, we're all driving a bus. Is everybody in the right seat?

Dylan Pathirana (35:33.72)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (35:33.891)
and then everybody clear on the seat they're in and are we all excited and driving in the same direction? And I really believe in that team alignment and the power of people when everybody is aligned. And so that's one of the things that I feel like felt like a fit for me. I felt like that was needed in the org. And then the second piece is just this concept of SaaS and reoccurring revenue and like,

that business model, the importance of retention, the importance of customer feedback, the importance of service reviews with our existing customers. Like that whole customer retention piece, customer success. I really, I did that at the corporation I was at. I really believe in the value of that. And so I was excited to bring that to the table as well. So those are the two reasons I kind of took the leap of faith.

I said, you know, I'm not going for money. I'm going because I think it aligns with like what fills my cup, what brings me joy. What's like, what am I going to get excited every day to get up and go to do? What, and it was beautiful about that is it's exact. was as great, if not better than I expected. It was a perfect alignment to my values and where I wanted and what I love to do. And to the point where like you don't watch a clock when you're doing that kind of work.

You don't even realize you're still there at 8 p.m. because you're just loving it. It doesn't feel like work. And that was just a beautiful thing. And so, yeah, I'm still here six years later. What happened over last over six years, ownership structures changed a few times in the six years. Ton of acquisitions. So we're part of over 30 acquisitions and teams that came together in both Canada and the U.S.

And so I learned a lot around change management, people management that is been fascinating. I just really think it's important to be curious and be a continuous learner. And so why I'm still here six years later and will be in the future, there's always so much to learn and I love that. Like that gets me super excited.

Teresa Yeager (37:53.295)
That's been a six year journey. mean, that's a quick summary jam of six years, but, you know, like a ton of change management, a ton of structural changes to scale a business. A lot of the stuff I love, like people management. Yeah, that, that was the, that was, I want to.

Dylan Pathirana (37:57.786)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (38:10.632)
Yeah, I want to come back to that people management, your culture and all that in a minute. But I just trying to understand your business, your value proposition and who's your primary customer.

Teresa Yeager (38:25.709)
Yeah, so we're very clear that we only service small rural municipalities, government municipalities in North America. So we, our products were built for that small municipality. So it meets the needs of that small municipality. But to be honest with you, if you asked our customers, why have they been with us for years and what do they love?

They're going to say it's that we don't just sell them software. We sell them software with services. We hold their hand through the journey. Like a small municipality is wearing a hundred hats and they do so much in a day. And so what we do is we're there to support them. They might not be technical or they might be, or they might not be comfortable with implementing a new technology. And so we're there, here's the tech, but we're going to hold your hand.

every step of the way. And so we have a seasoned professional services team and support team and implementation team. And to be honest, our development and engineering team, a lot of what they do on the product roadmap is customer feedback and continuing to invest in the product on what the existing customers tell us they need as municipalities evolve and change. And so for example, COVID happens, we have a meeting management tool where

council meetings, or like once a month, they needed to stream them. They need to be able to do them remotely. They needed to have all of these new features when COVID hit and we were there to help them manage through that. And it wasn't just about selling you a software, but we call it tech with a human touch. Here's the technology and we're gonna provide that human touch, that human expertise to help you get the most out of the tools.

Dylan Pathirana (40:18.045)
Okay, that's, yeah.

Teresa Yeager (40:18.767)
So I would say that's our value prop. I would say that there's so much value in speaking to our existing customers. And every time I meet with them and speak with them or go on the road and go visit them, that's the consistent thread. Anybody can build software. What makes us different is that we genuinely understand the pain points of a rural municipality in North America. And we understand

that they need that human component to support them with their self.

Dylan Pathirana (40:52.287)
That's awesome. So Teresa, tell me about your organization. You said very early, you're very passionate about the culture, people and tell me what do you do and share some insight, please.

Teresa Yeager (41:04.516)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (41:12.461)
Yeah, of course. So I am passionate about people and I said that six years ago during the interview process. I remember saying exactly that line. And because I think the magic of an organization is the people and the value of the organization, as much as we have great technology and amazing customers, we are nothing without our staff and the amazing staff we have.

And so that manifests in a lot of different ways. I define culture as our daily habits and rituals. That's not something I define. That's something the team defines. I'm super proud of the culture that we have. Do I set the tone for it? Absolutely. But it's not my habits and rituals that set the culture. It is the team and the organization. And as we get bigger, it becomes even harder

to retain that core culture. And so I'm proud to say I do believe in our employee engagement survey and the one-on-ones I do with the staff tell me we are maintaining that beautiful culture we've developed over the years. so there are some structures we have like, we have, you asked me, Jam, what our value prop is. I know you meant to our customer and I answered it that way, but we have an employee value proposition as well.

And that's like, why work here? And there's four components to that, meaningful projects, we make a difference to our citizens and rate payers in North America with our software, that's beautiful. So yeah, people and culture is a component, collaboration, development. whenever possible, promote from within first, whenever there's an opportunity to, we believe in that.

And it doesn't necessarily mean promotion up. It could be lateral moves to try different roles or different departments. So we really encourage those conversations, mentorship programs, those kinds of things. My leadership team is six folks and 100 % of them are promotions from within. I am a promotion from within. So the role I have today is not the one I first had when I joined six years ago. So I've moved, I was promoted into this role.

Teresa Yeager (43:30.913)
as well. And so it's, but you'll see it throughout the organization. Not just with me and my leadership team, but within the organization, there's promotions from within is a big part of who we are, like people can grow their career. But to the other point we talked about much earlier on around, you know, what matters to every employee, that intrinsic motivation is a huge piece. For example, if you're coming here just for

Dylan Pathirana (43:51.138)
.

Teresa Yeager (43:59.951)
a raise from where you are somewhere else, that means you're going to leave for more money. If you come here for more money, you're just going to leave for more money. If that's your biggest motivator, this might not be the place for you. But if you want to learn, if you want to grow, if you want to feel supported by your peers, if you want to feel like you're contributing to a bigger project or the municipalities across North America, we do those projects every single day. We make a difference every day. Those are the reasons to work here.

Dylan Pathirana (44:01.847)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (44:29.899)
And so dialing in, in the interview process, I interview 100, there's four steps to an interview for all the roles here. The fourth is with me, I interview 100 % of the applicants before they get hired. And so I do a lot of interviews. And the purpose of that meeting is value alignment and culture fit. You know, I want to make sure they are excited about what we have to offer.

Dylan Pathirana (44:46.562)
Wow.

Teresa Yeager (44:55.631)
because we are for everybody. If you want to punch a clock and work 8.30 to 5 and build a pension, that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that, but we don't offer that and that's not the motivation to work here, right? And so those important pieces, I say things, I ask questions like define work-life balance. I want to know what that means to them. What it means to me is when your family needs you, no problem. You go if it's three. You go do, watch your kids recital. I'm 100 % behind that.

On the flip side, if it's 505 and a client really needs you, I'm going to ask you to stay till 530. I won't even have to ask you. You just know that's the right thing to do for the customer. And those are the pieces, those nuanced pieces, all those daily habits and rituals is what builds us to the team we are today, which builds the culture that we have. And to the point where I don't have to ask them

anybody to come in early if a customer needs or stay a bit late if the customer needs. Everybody just knows it because everybody cares and has value alignment. That's the beautiful thing.

Dylan Pathirana (46:02.086)
I some very hands-on approach interviewing everyone. That's a very, very big job.

Teresa Yeager (46:09.859)
It's a big job. We're hiring, yeah, we have about 44, I think, in the next year we're going to be hiring. yeah, it's, but it matters, right? It matters. You put your time into what you believe matters. And if I say to the organization, people are our most important asset, and then I don't take the time to show that.

Dylan Pathirana (46:19.738)
But I get what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely.

Teresa Yeager (46:33.741)
then I'm just all talking, no action. And so I am proud to do that and it's an important piece. It also means on your first day, I know you already. I know every employee and there's a lot of employees, right? And I know every, and to that point, every year, this is right next to me, big stack, every year I hand write a Christmas holiday card to every employee and I know what,

Dylan Pathirana (46:50.864)
He

Teresa Yeager (47:00.217)
something specific to say. It's not a generic happy holidays, thanks for a great year. I really appreciate it in July when that client, X, and Z, and you went above and beyond and they gave you that CSAT score. Keep up the great work, we appreciate you. And I mean it, I mean every one of those.

Dylan Pathirana (47:18.28)
I like that really good. to take away. is a master class in people management. Theresa, one question I have, you mentioned that you had almost 30 acquisitions over the years. When you acquire a business, of course, there are some other people joining your organization and they're coming from a different cultures and things like that. How do you manage that kind of transition?

Teresa Yeager (47:23.785)
F. I wish.

Teresa Yeager (47:33.059)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (47:41.519)
Mmm.

Teresa Yeager (47:48.213)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I Learned a lot along the way of what not to do. I Did it not well sometimes, you know every single time we did it. I learned a little bit more But so I could give you a list of things not to do. Let me just be clear And and you know, but that was humbling, you know, that was humbling great people that we couldn't retain

Dylan Pathirana (48:05.763)
You

Teresa Yeager (48:15.597)
because for exactly that reason, the change management and the psychology of the human behavior, you know, they came from a small company, maybe they were at, they had leadership responsibility, they wore a lot of different hats, and then you come up to our org and we want to streamline the structure. And that's hard for people. And if people don't know where their new home is, or they don't feel comfortable about that new space, even if you think it's great, it doesn't work out.

And I would also say, I felt like, how do I say this? I felt like I said the same thing 10 times and sometimes they didn't hear it and I had to say it in the 11th. To me, it was very clear and I knew exactly where staff fit and I was so excited about the talent that we brought on board with the acquisitions, but they might not have felt it. So I didn't communicate it enough.

I think one of the biggest pieces is that level. Everybody wants to feel appreciated. That is just like a natural human behavior in life and at work. And if people feel like the work they do is appreciated and that they are valued, there's loyalty that comes with that. And so I needed to do a better job over, over the time I learned more and more about making sure I communicated early and often.

Dylan Pathirana (49:42.228)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (49:43.063)
and individually their value and that we appreciated them and that we really had a home for them with our organization. But folks did often self-select to leave and I appreciate that and some have come back, some have left and come back, which it was beautiful. have, you know, that's a beautiful thing. It's tough, right? I think,

Dylan Pathirana (50:10.932)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Yeager (50:12.685)
You know, as a leadership team, we said it was like the ABC is like, you know, but the B is buy-in, right? And then C was consistent communication. And so getting that staff buy-in from the acquired company and then consistently communicate was really, really important. And we built that kind of structure over time. Every time we did it, we learned a little bit more, you know? But yeah, we called it the ABCs and it was just a reminder to us like,

You know, we have to appreciate what they're going through. We have to get the employee buy-in, like get their buy-in, and then consistently communicate. And it was simple, but it's amazing how much I thought I was doing that, and I wasn't. And you know, you do lose good people when you don't do just that basic, like showing them appreciation, right?

Dylan Pathirana (51:02.732)
Mm hmm. Very good points. You know, I'm especially that you mentioning really understanding the employees, just like the customers, you know, we spend a lot of time trying to understand customers, but sometimes, you know, we ignore our own, own team members, right? Which is very, very vital, to grow the business. So I want to, I want to kind of go, go backwards a little bit. Did you ever.

I suppose now as well, would you ever start your own thing?

Teresa Yeager (51:37.383)
my gosh, of course. I would say that my real estate is its own self-sustaining company at this point. It's large enough that it could be, would be, is really like a family office, right? Of investments and real estate and things like that. My biggest issue is the idea. I'm an executor. I'm an operator.

Right? I'm a people leader. I'm like a change management. I love that stuff. I am not an inventor. So my biggest roadblock is the idea, you know? So if you have one.

Dylan Pathirana (52:16.812)
That's so funny you say that because I'm exactly the opposite. All ideas. Yeah, you're talking to the wrong people, Ideas, we got so many ideas. What we need someone to execute those ideas.

Teresa Yeager (52:20.843)
Really? my gosh!

Teresa Yeager (52:29.551)
Yes, that's where I come in. And so it goes to like, you just got to know where your best, right? And if you just you just got to capitalize on where your best and so I'm very clear on and if you do what what you're good at, you love it. And so there's just like it just keeps the world just keeps giving back to you and these opportunities come forward when you put out into the universe what you love and what you want to do. And like, jam, let's be honest, the day might come that I'm going to go to our class group chat and I'm going to say guys,

Dylan Pathirana (52:34.401)
Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (52:59.661)
Gals, I need the next idea. Who wants to partner with me? Because I will execute, right? And so it wouldn't surprise me if the day came.

Dylan Pathirana (53:08.599)
Yeah, absolutely. I I always tell Dylan ideas are cheap unless you actually execute them. Right. So our biggest challenge, we got thousands of ideas that we talk every morning. Hey, what should why don't we do this and do that? Right. And then it just became idea because we are not really doing it because we got so many things that we are currently focusing on. And so, yeah, it's a combination. Right. You need ideas as well as

Teresa Yeager (53:10.383)
Break them down.

Dylan Pathirana (53:37.209)
people to execute and run with it.

Teresa Yeager (53:38.063)
Yeah. Because look the same. Lots of inspiration, but you need the perspiration, right? Like lots of ideas, but you still got to do the work, right? The perspiration, like do the work. And so yeah, I mean, or the EOS model, like visionary and an integrator, right? Like that yang and yang is the magic if you can, if you can find it, right? And I just know where, where my, my road is.

Dylan Pathirana (53:45.871)
Yeah.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (53:58.201)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (54:03.533)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (54:07.543)
Yeah, so Teresa, I know we talk lot about business and stuff like that. We just want to spend a little bit more time understanding about you. Apart from work, what else do do? What do do for your hobby? You mentioned that renovating houses, that's one of the hobbies that you

Teresa Yeager (54:19.127)
Mm. Mm.

Teresa Yeager (54:25.465)
Yes, that is my hobby. That is my hobby. So for a while back to my parents for a while they were like, when do you wind down? Like, you go all day at, you know, at your corporate gig, and then evenings and weekends, you're doing renovations. And then I realized, actually, the real estate side is my hobby. Like, it's like, I love to watch the market, I love to find the deal, I love to buy the deal, negotiate the deal, hustle the deal.

I love to close the deal. love to bring life back into a home. So I buy fixers and I get a lot of personal fulfillment out of bringing a home back to life, right? Doing the rentals. I do it myself. I do it with my partner and we are like spray painting walls and like we're doing the work, right? And it's like fun for us. And I also love doing it on a budget and like figuring out how

Dylan Pathirana (55:15.857)
Wow.

Teresa Yeager (55:24.705)
like I get scrappy and creative and call it frugal and cheap, but I love that. And then I love making it a beautiful home and I don't sell them, I rent them. And I love doing the showings and a potential tenant comes in and goes, my God, I love this house. I love what you've done. I'm going to make it a home. And then I love like when they move in and send pictures and they moved in and are like a Christmas tree. And I just like, I'm so proud to create beautiful home.

Dylan Pathirana (55:36.379)
Okay.

Teresa Yeager (55:54.531)
that people love to live in. And so that is absolutely a hobby for me. Like I get so much personal fulfillment out of that.

Dylan Pathirana (56:02.321)
That's awesome. Where did that start?

Teresa Yeager (56:05.391)
Yeah, so that started back to my childhood of like the value of it's the double, like you can make an investment and this is my argument to my family. You can make an investment and that's great. It'll grow seven to 10 % and depending on where you invest it, great. It's pretty linear, right? But what's beautiful about a house is you put a mortgage on it and the value goes up because in Canada it's gone up.

my whole life. It's leveled a little, it's pretty much pretty consistently the value of the home that goes up while a tenant is paying your mortgage down. So what you owe on it, assuming you have a mortgage on it goes down and then you get this spread. It's not, you know, your access. And so this spread is this beautiful, fun thing to watch grow. so like Excel,

Dylan Pathirana (56:58.932)
Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (57:01.583)
I have Excel with like a tab of everything and I love seeing this like, you know, I still use the same Excel. So I've been doing real estate for 19 years. Next year will be 20 years. So when I was like 23, I bought my first house, like I emptied my savings account to buy my first house, fixed it up and I just haven't stopped.

Dylan Pathirana (57:22.046)
I mean it's a great hobby to have, right?

Teresa Yeager (57:24.441)
Fine, creative, I think it gets my creative juices going. Yeah, it's just all, it's definitely a hobby for me outside of that. Like I love to hike, I love to play tennis, I love to be on the water, I love to read. I read probably 50 books a year. get, and I would say I go through themes like maybe a couple years ago it was all sales books and last year might have been all leadership books.

I'm doing a lot of self-development and personal, know, what is the meaning of life kind of books right now. A lot about, you know, getting in touch with my intuition, doing more on my, you know, my intuition guiding me, a little bit more on my feminine energy, because I probably have paid very little attention to it. Being in business.

you know, thinking about what gives me energy, thinking about what fills my cup, thinking about finding more joy, gratitude. You know, I'm doing a lot of that over the last probably year and a half and I'm getting a lot out of that. So just constantly challenging myself to think of new ideas, grow, open my eyes to new ideas. So.

Dylan Pathirana (58:49.13)
Yeah, keep you busy and do you have any recommendation in terms of a book? Because we love books as well.

Teresa Yeager (58:57.554)
you don't even, like I read a book a week. So depends on the topic. I will give you lots if you want business or personal or what you want.

Dylan Pathirana (59:00.971)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (59:05.79)
I mean, motivation, I guess, you know, yeah, that's self development, the kind of what the phase you're in now.

Teresa Yeager (59:11.603)
Okay, there it's a lot of women's ones so that I mean not that you can't read it Maybe you maybe that would be good one. Let me think let me open my app Are you guys we should follow each other? Do you guys use Goodreads?

Dylan Pathirana (59:24.342)
Good rates now, we'll have to get on that.

Teresa Yeager (59:26.127)
And so can see what other people are reading and yeah, it's very cool. Do you know what a really, like a care about humans, but business book is the go-giver is a great story. The go-giver is a great one. From like a scaling a business, I love to lean startup. From a creative like,

Dylan Pathirana (59:29.005)
wow.

Dylan Pathirana (59:42.752)
All right.

Dylan Pathirana (59:49.824)
Yep, I've read that.

Teresa Yeager (59:53.611)
What did the best of the best do in kind of like historic businesses that have done amazing? The outsider. The universe has your back from Gabriel Bernstein might be a little out there for you, but that's the kind of stuff I've been reading these days. So the universe, you know, it has your back by Gabriel Bernstein. Love her.

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:04.468)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:14.452)
Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (01:00:21.391)
So I mean, I could keep going, but it depends what you're looking for.

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:23.254)
No, no, no, that's good to share. mean, the whole idea of this session, I guess, to share as much as information we can for others to, you know, learn.

Teresa Yeager (01:00:33.751)
I just finished work rules, which is the previous head of HR for Google and kind of how they built their culture. Like, and it's interesting because I, I guess I'm not surprised, but the HR organization used a ton of data. And so, and they use data to drive even employee engagement, employee recruitment. And so I, it was kind of nice cause I love the people side and in HR staff.

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:43.641)
Amazing.

Teresa Yeager (01:01:02.755)
but I love data-driven decisions, so it really spoke to me. anyway, I just finished that one. And then we went to school, Jim. mean, the reading was pretty significant at school, wasn't it? Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:01:06.593)
Yep. Thank you. Thank you, Teresa. Yeah.

Absolutely. I can understand why you're still behind with finalizing all the summarizing everything because you are very busy person. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So, so what's next for you, Theresa?

Teresa Yeager (01:01:25.753)
But I love it. is it busy or is it a good busy? I think it's a good busy. Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (01:01:35.992)
you know, I would say that

Teresa Yeager (01:01:42.211)
I think I'm still very much on a journey of self discovery on what fills my cup in all of life. So I actually think I'm very clear from a business side, what I love and what brings me joy. I have trouble turning it off. So it's like, I'm like a computer where you have 30 tabs open, you know, like that's my head at all times.

Like I have 30 tabs open at all times. Is that a good thing? All the time? You know? Whereas I struggle maybe to be present and just enjoy the moment. I'm often the next thing and the next thing. I'm trying to meditate and I have to meditate with like a Post-It note pad of paper next to me because I'm trying to think about nothing and all I do is think about something so I have to write it down to like get it out of my mind so that I can really try to meditate.

So I would say I'm on a journey and that's where I'm at on my journey today. I think a lot about giving back and what does that look like and what's the best way for me to do that. Because I get a lot of joy from that. It fills my cup. Giving back and I want to do more of that. I have to think about what that looks like and how to best do that. Yeah, I think that's where I'm at. know, like I often think about

Am I balancing well? And I think balance isn't really a thing. I don't think it has to be equal, but I do want to make sure I'm giving enough attention to the other parts of my life, my family, my partner, my friends and community, and then internally self. Am I taking care of myself? Or when you're doing what you're passionate about, again, I'm passionate about people, I got to fill my cup too.

Right? And so that's just a, that's the journey I'm on.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:41.677)
Yep.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:47.312)
And looking back on this journey, do you feel successful? Cause your definition was, know, the being, having that kind of freedom and then also doing things that fill your cup. So do you feel successful?

Teresa Yeager (01:03:58.755)
Yeah. Yeah. I think I this is what I say when when people ask about the about what I do. Like I sometimes I think I want to just pinch myself. How did I get so lucky to get to do this every day? Like I am surrounded by incredible people. We get to do incredible work. And then I have a beautiful support system of friends, family, community, and

Like this journey of life is incredible. Like I feel so blessed, which I think is why it's so important. I'm at the place where I'm like, how do I give back? You know, how did I get so lucky and how can I do more for others? So others feel kind of that level of whatever that looks like to bring joy. So yeah, I'm going to answer yes.

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:50.588)
Good. I'm glad. I'm glad you feel that way. Cause I would, I would agree with you on that front. I mean, we could, we could continue talking for hours, but, we don't want to take up too much more of your time. So throughout this conversation, I've been kind of jotting down a few things, a few traits, which I think have been core to your, your successful life. And I'd like to share them with you. So the first one is authenticity. mean, we've met once before very briefly at Harvard, but

Teresa Yeager (01:05:05.006)
Hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (01:05:20.032)
throughout this conversation, it's just felt so easy flowing and I feel like we've gotten to know you so well. And I think that's in part because you're so authentic. You're not trying to hide behind a mask. are, are Teresa. You're you have no shame about that. And you, you project your authentic self. And I think that's really important, especially in your role, working with people, people can tell when you're hiding behind a mask. And that's potentially why you've done so well in the people space is because

Teresa Yeager (01:05:44.452)
Hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (01:05:49.107)
people appreciate you showing off your authentic self. Then the next one I've got is you're very calculated or very logical. And I think throughout all of the tough decisions that you've had to make, you've always gone back to that analytical approach. And that's helped you internalize the risk and give you that self-confidence that we spoke about to take those kind of larger and bigger risks.

And at the end of the day, taking those risks have led you to where you are today. The third one is people driven. I think if we count up the number of times the word people got spoken about in that conversation, it'd be quite high. Everything that you do is all about people and you're humble enough to appreciate that great organizations that you're a part of have been built by others around you and your kind of your core skill.

is helping those people to rise to the challenge and do their best work so that they can go on and build these organizations. And I think that kind of relates back to that authenticity part. And then the last one is continuous development, whether it's going to Harvard, reading 50 books a year, whatever you're working on, you're always trying to be the best version and always trying to consistently learn throughout the process so that you can be that best version of yourself.

Yeah, thank you so much for this conversation. been excellent.

Teresa Yeager (01:07:19.183)
You know, to you two, thank you for having me. I mean, I think you hear me speak about my family. I love my family and feel like that is part, they're a huge part of who I am today. But it's beautiful to watch you two interact and what you two are doing together. So thank you for including me in what you're doing and letting me watch you two collaborate together.

Dylan Pathirana (01:07:31.135)
you

Dylan Pathirana (01:07:38.887)
Teresa, it's a pleasure having this conversation. we wanted to have this, you you know that for a while, because we knew that something special that we wanted to share, not just, just to Dylan and to many other people that listen to this podcast. So I think we've done that. And it's, it's again, thank you so much for your time. I know you're very, very busy person. Yeah. Take care. Yeah. Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (01:08:04.225)
Thank you. Thank you.

Dylan Pathirana (01:08:07.051)
And on that note, we'll wrap up there. If you've enjoyed this conversation, it would be fantastic if you could subscribe or follow us on whichever platform you're listening to this on. And if you want to see more inspiring conversations, head over to our website, the quest for success podcast.com. And you can see all our episodes over there. And with that, we'll catch you guys in the next episode. Thanks for listening. Thank you. Hey, are you okay? Are you good with everything that we discuss? Teresa? Yeah. Yeah.

Teresa Yeager (01:08:32.973)
Yeah, totally. Totally.