Yoga, Community & Business Success

Speaker 1: [Music] when you get on the yoga mat and you feel this quality you feel like someone has taken all the thought out of how great this product needs to be and support me and so I can have a lot of fun take risks or do a Yin practice or just sit in meditation and it feels such quality hi I'm Melanie bar welcome back to the Sheil it podcast your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave I'm here to talk about everything from Having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech Innovation I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges I live in the city now but I grew up in a town of a thousand people I've navigated major life leaps a senior level corporate career worked in professional sports and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business technology family and making meaningful connections with you and the Sheil it Community I also love a good workout and dose of self-care magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so turn up the audio open your favorite Notes app grab your favorite drink and here we go welcome back to the Sheila podcast thank you for joining us Pamela you are the CEO of manduka the leading brand for yoga mats and accessories share with us the story behind manduka and how has it evolved and grown into the company that it is today manduka was founded 27 years ago by Peter stereos he was practicing yoga in Europe and had found this amazing product the mat that was made in a factory in Germany and he was gifting it to yoga teachers and all the teachers were validating this is amazing the density the durability the quality of the top surface was creating this romantic luxur ious practice for them and they felt completely supported he was practicing in Europe with a famous teacher named shandor and the teacher was teaching the mandukas pose which is the Frog pose if you don't know the Frog pose if you take a yoga class is the peak pose in the viasa flow and when he said the word mandukasana the room would erupt in laughter out of the accent he created when he said the word and out of homage to that laughter the Frog was born and so manda's logo today is a frog and now millions of yogis around the world use manduka trust manduka and for us we feel this incredible and I personally feel this incredible responsibility to take care of the yoga Community Studios teachers and now practitioners to create the best products so they can have an amazing experience on and off the mat the way you described it makes me want to go get one of the Maths for my next yoga practice this is my yoga Mac I've had it for 12 years it's like your favorite pair of jeans it gets better with time yeah how do you want people to feel when they purchase manduka products and accessories I've been blessed in my career I've represented amazing brands that are best- inclass in their space whether it was in Footwear I work for saky which is famous running shoe company or manduka when you get on the yoga mat and you feel this quality you feel like someone has taken all all the thought out of how great this product needs to be and support me and so I can have a lot of fun take risks or do a Yin practice or just sit in meditation and it feels such quality that quality physically translates to love I feel supported I feel heard I feel understood I've said this in a lot of podcasts recently but I've started doing meditations in the morning and even five minutes can be life-changing I'm an athlete and so I was always on the go and I had a teacher who used to teach a yoga practice that Yoga Nidra where you actually just walk through every part of your body how does your the thumb feel the ring finger and it would drive me crazy I was like let's go let's go okay elbow arm I got it and when now I tell people before you get out of bed you don't even need to get anywhere except just take five minutes to be like how do I feel how does my back feel how does my head feel is something coming up for me and that's a game changer so I'm so with you Melanie it's five minutes it's everything what trends do you see shaping the future of the wellness and yoga industry and how is manduka innovating to stay ahead of and with the trends when I was in yoga 12 15 years ago yoga was very vertical you were a yogi you practiced in a studio it felt very linear you can't get on social media that people aren't talking about manifestation visualization breathing techniques yoga has pervaded every aspect of our life and it's so Blended so for example our new head of product is from Action Sports but when you're snowboarding down a hill and you need to be like not only flexible but in the moment and staying really calm all of that practice is based on Mind Body Connection the wellness Trends I see is how pervasive yoga and meditation is manda's role in that is we are not about other sports pickle ball whatever the trend is I'm a tennis player so I appreciate all of that manduka is retrenching itself in yoga meditation and making sure that we reach out to those that are leading the practice today whether it's a f minute meditation or an hour class and then in terms of our products we feel a commitment we were leading in sustain stainability 12 years ago and we are retrenching all of our products for a goal of closed loop environment we feel a full responsibility to that we have a product that is literally guaranteed for life so similar values as someone like Patagonia who make sure that product you could actually just buy that one mat forever whether we're making apparel and retrenching our apparel for a zero waste manufacturing yoga rugs that are pre-consumer waste all of the Matt's future state to be fully recycled and recyclable that's where we're going and also yoga's changing people are meditating Pilates and yoga a lot of crossover you're so right because now you see so many different kinds of athletes doing yoga and meditation because of the benefits the LA Kings are here right by us and they brought us in they bought all of our black mats in the 85 in and we were teaching them yoga I play college tennis and even visualization was novel when I was going through college and now it's part of the actual regimen and one that's even more celebrated than even the workouts they're doing in the gym it's so mainstream and so part of everyone's life that manda's role in that has become even more important it's why I came back as CEO with the quickly changing landscape tell us about a pivotal moment or decision that significantly impacted manda's growth how did you approach it and how did you overcome it I would say we're in it right now we've had tremendous growth with and alongside the community but I'm watching yoga teachers so as manduka goes the community goes and as the community goes manduka goes studios are open and there's a every they're filling Studios I'm so happy about that online people are searching I have my pte guy look for mail yoga and people are looking for five minute meditations online and there's all these apps but what I'm also finding is there is missing this connection of Mind Body when teachers were going through training that connection that soulfulness was so important and what I want to make sure is that as we have all these new people and all these new teachers that we remind ourselves that yoga is about yoking of mind and body and making sure that we translate some of the teachings some of our senior teachers down to the junior teachers and that connection coming back that's what we're in right now to create the community expression we're about to go on the road meet teachers I'm at a yoga studio here shefa yoga in Venice to connect with 30 teachers I was in New York at the well we need to hold those round taes connect with them what's important to them and H Manda become a service not only a product so that's how I would answer that Melanie it's right now is the pivotal moment for manduka I believe I love that and we all want to be part of a community we all came out of Co and yes we're out of Co but I'm not doing even nearly as much as I did before and every time I go to do something I think wow that was really fun I need to do more of that completely and we can do five minute meditation which is amazing but again being surrounded by those that share that similar value so that we're all not meditating in our own space and feeling isolated it's interesting you're in a yoga studio you're on your own mat you're actually not talking to anybody but you're experiencing something alongside each other so that common energy creates a beautiful community and M is really passionate about getting that back in real life Leadership is as rewarding as it is challenging at times what do you think is the most important element of leadership when scaling a business Grace is the word that comes up Grace for myself Grace for my leadership team Grace for the path Mand du gazan I've been part of businesses that went up and to the right always and was one of my famous mentors said success isn't linear and it's just true and also for me I have had health with the shoes in my family and so being a CEO holding that space for my staff but also me needing my cup to be filled I have to remind myself true Grace in all moments because I'll never regret that energy but I will regret if I come in too aggressive or I come in a little frazzled I just have to hold that and that's the word that comes up for me such good advice as a twin mom and someone running businesses taking that time for yourself is so important and we don't always do it yeah sometimes the word Grace just means hang in there for this 30 minute call and then you can go and get a cup of coffee or a drink or for a walk but it holds me in that moment where I'm feeling so crushed that I might not have anything left I hold on to that word when building out your teams what do you look for in team members and how are you building a sustainable company culture it's so Dynamic today anyone that is building a staff the remote aspect people are really looking at what's important to them and I love that but you also then as a CEO take that on so before you would hire you have a job we all worked 9 to-5 we or beyond that obviously we went to a company it was the way we worked and now all of that's up for discussions when I hire staff what I have found to work is can I get in their heart during the interview process what I found is when I can get into what is really why are they on this interview call what are they looking for Beyond opportunity if I can get under the hood nine times out of 10 that team member works out the only other thing I would say is do I want to have lunch with this person it I know many people say that but it really is true Inside Out wins so if the culture is humming if people are connected like emotionally connected the work product is easy it's fast it's vibrating and the customer and the communication feels it and it's always inside out that's so true and it really is a team effort to get anything accomplished and when you're doing something that you love you might not love 100% but if you're doing 80% of the things that you love when you mentioned asking getting to the heart that may be what it is someone wants to do and then they feel valued and by the way sometimes I need them I have in moments over the last year where I needed some personal space to do what I needed to do and so I couldn't work a ton of hours and so guys I need you and when we're again as I grew up as an athlete it's just like a physical team I look at myself as almost like a football coach I I need a great quarterback I need a wide receiver I need a fullback and everyone has to be different and complimentary it's not soft skills it's the most important skills I agree there's this chemistry this one's more outgoing this one one isn't a leader but has great value I'm watching all that and saying one's more detailed one's more Visionary that's what I run through my mind as I put the team together so true such good advice when moving through your day what routines do you follow that help you stay focused and effective it really depends on what's going on but thinking space that could be walking that could be on a yoga mat that could be sitting with a cup of coffee but I just make sure I have some meditative space to think and I would say the only only consistent that every day is there's a cup of coffee there's some sort of physical movement whatever that looks like and I always shut down for dinner I just need to clear my head for a period of time there might be a time I times I jump back on sometimes I don't but when it gets dark I in some other world I was a hunter and gatherer so when the sun comes up I get excited and when the Sun goes down my mind shuts down what advice would you give to entrepreneurs who are in the process of scaling a business or new to the industry one of the things that's been a challenge on this time is making sure that growth outpaces your spend so being really judicious with costs in my personal life I am a spender if you have an energetic relationship with money you invest you work hard money comes but you also invest back in your life whether that's travel food pick aane for work you have to invest I don't believe in being too Frugal but you have to be super conscious that triangulation of Revenue growth funding your profitability is a Nuance that is an art not a science and every 30 days needs to be analyzed that's my biggest advice on people that are scaling the only other thing I would say is I was very corporate I grew up had amazing mentors landed myself in the boardroom worked really hard and I found myself repeating and mirroring their energy and it wasn't my voice it wasn't with the language of connection relationships communication respect and being respectful grace these aren't words that are often spoken at a boardroom and I've found that I am so much happier and so much more successful not only just numbers but my staff vibrates better when I'm truly myself but I can also run a p&l with the best of them so what words feel right to you what voice feels right you and you're not always going to be in the right corporate culture but make sure that if you are an entrepreneur and you are running your corporate culture don't be afraid to be expressive in your way while making sure the business grows I love that it's true because sometimes we can follow the energy that's in the room and most of the time it is our intuition and being who we truly are that will bring out the best leadership such good advice yeah and even in in what you're doing you're creating these podcasts and environments with people that you're getting attracted to and some probably feel amazing and some feel good but for you what an amazing ability to create your own expression right as corporate leaders we have to do the same how can I be an entrepreneu or part of a bigger business that's making that work a little bit I think is doable magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one thing that you do every day to make sure that you find and live your joy I know you mentioned coffee yeah coffee is one sleep is the second one I love to sleep I love the recharge basketball player was talking about how much we used to work out again as an athlete I'm often inspired and pull from my athletic background but the sleep or recovery is as or even not more important than the hard work those are two pieces that bring me joy it's the recovery it's coffee I do love connections so if you talk to my friends they always make fun of me I love FaceTime I just love to connect thank you for sharing your leadership advice with us today and telling us all about manduka can you please tell us how and where we can find you manduka you can find on manduka.com m n d ka.com also we're in 3,000 yoga studios across the country if you go to manduka you can look up where your local yoga studio is and you can find us there both in studio and then in multiple specialty retailers across the country and Globe actually we're in 80 countries now thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheil it on social thank you to my editor Rich draino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave