Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Welcome everyone. We’ve got an awesome episode for you on the culture profit. Today we’re being joined by Justine Berdett from the Grand Rapids area and we’re going to be diving into everything around overcoming work burnout, perfectionism, and increasing your productivity. So, let’s give a warm welcome to Justine. Thanks for joining us today. This is a warm welcome.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Hey, so glad to be with

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah,

Justine Burdette (Guest): you.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): we’re so excited to have you. And for those of you listening who haven’t met or know about Justine, I’m going to share a little bit about her. Justine Marie Berdett is the founder of Berdett Enterprises, home to soul aligned coaching and group experiences for high achieving people to break free from burnout, perfectionism, and performancedriven success. With over 20 years in strategic communications and economic development, she now helps clients reclaim clarity, self-rust, and unapologetic purpose through her one-on-one catalytic catalytic conversations and group program, Women Worthy. Justine’s work is equal parts mirror, maverick, and emotional reset. You’re going to have to tell us a little bit about that.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Tell us about the the mirror, the maverick,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): and and what led you to found Berdette

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Enterprises.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Absolutely. Thank you so much for reading all of that, man. It makes me sound uh more important than I think of myself.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): You are you are

Justine Burdette (Guest): So um you know I I originally started

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): that

Justine Burdette (Guest): Verdette Enterprises as just a consulting hub for you know comm’s work branding event production and for several years I did you know really successful work uh but I felt fractured and unseen and burnt out and I realized that I was building brands and movements that reflected other people’s missions and I was hiding my own brilliance. Right. Um, so as a consultant I got to create relationships with leaders from all kinds of organizations who eventually would like to pull me aside and tell me a similar story, right? Which is that their lives looked enviable on LinkedIn and most of them were internally bored, burnt out or operating from below their brilliance.

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): And that pain resonated with me because it was who I was for a long time before I started Berdette Enterprises. And so I eventually just opted to work with people in a different way. Um when I stopped trying to optimize myself inside broken systems,

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): um I made my own darn system, right? So now I strategize with other people to help them reclaim their power, their sovereignty, and build lives that they actually enjoy living.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s so cool. And that’s such a neat story and good for you for stepping outside the, you know, the typical It’s It’s a crazy thing to start your own bank. So, a crazy thing to start your own thing. It is. And we can relate to that, too. Um, but good for you for going for it.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Wow.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And tell us a little bit about the equal parts mirror maverick and emotional reset. I was so curious about that in your bio.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah. You know, people ask me all the time, “Are you a coach?” And I’m like,

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): “Nope, I’m not.” Um, that’s not really what I see myself doing, right? I don’t actually think that people need to be coached. They don’t need to be motivated. I actually find that most people out there are really highly self-driven, right? They want to be successful. They want to feel like they have autonomy and power within their lives and it’s just that somewhere along the way they start believing the system that tells them that they don’t have any power. Right? I love that quote from Alice Walker, the famous poet who said um the most common way that people give up their power is believing they don’t have any. Right? It’s a post-it note I keep on my board all the time. And so really I see my role as showing up and giving you

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Mhm.

Justine Burdette (Guest): space to reflect to ask you some deep hard questions, right? And then help you summarize what’s not working for you. How do we change that? And then holding you accountable, right?
 

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): I mean, everybody loves American independence, right? You know, we’re all operating in our little systems and our bubbles. Um, and I think that we’ve lost that ability and that collectivism to like, you know, walk with each other and say like, “Hey, you said you were going to do this thing and then you didn’t do it.” Or like, “Ooh, we were in a meeting together and you like did that thing again, right? Like where you make yourself smaller or like I saw you bite your tongue.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Mhm.

Justine Burdette (Guest): You were going to say something else, right? People need that. And unless we make that type of care and that type of strategy overt, people aren’t going to do it and they don’t have access to it, right? And so that is really the heart of BED Enterprises is making a place and space for that. So the catalytic conversations um are just working with me one- on-one and then Women worthy is a group container. It’s 10 months. Um it’s only open for a certain window of the year.
 

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): So it will start in September of 2026 and then it runs 10 months. Um and it’s a very small group. I usually cap participants between 15 and 18 participants is where I like to keep it. And then we meet with each other three out of the four weeks of the month. Um and you know continue kind of um circling the mountain on all these topics. Right. So, um, not only are you doing the work yourself with me leading, but you’re also in a community of other people who are working on similar

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah,

Justine Burdette (Guest): things.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s so cool. That’s honestly super powerful. I think everyone has value regardless of what they do. I mean, your career doesn’t define you, but a lot of us can feel stuck or feel that friction of wanting something different than what we have or a different type of lifestyle or career. And I think it’s important to have space to ask yourself those questions and to have, you know, someone to be able to help support or guide that journey in a way that’s even more productive makes a huge difference.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So talk to us a little bit about the impact both personally and on business when an individual feels stalled in their career. They just feel stuck like what what’s the

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): impact?

Justine Burdette (Guest): So, Matt, I’m going to check you on your question. Um, I actually think that this is one of the most harmful lies that we perpetrate and that we believe, right, is that there is this idea of personal versus professional. I don’t think that’s true. I think it’s total BS. I think it’s made up. Um, you are one whole person. That’s it. You exist in different environments, right? Um, and it’s okay, you know, to operate differently as a parent than you might as an employee versus,

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): you know, when you’re with your parents or people you don’t know, right? I get that. But you are one person, right? So the goal I believe for any person is not success or KPIs or new titles. Um that’s all great, well wonderful but you are not your accomplishments right you are not your certifications you are not the letters at the end of your name.

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): Um you are a whole person. And the more you can reconnect with who you are um and show up in your full power in as many environments as possible, the better. Right? So to me, I think that when you are not showing up as your whole self, that disengagement misses innovation quite frankly in a business sense. um when you are afraid to say the thing or do the thing um in a work

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): setting off the bat that’s missed innovation right um and the longer

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): it goes on right pe I love how people are like trying to describe burnout in five words or like you know three ways you know you’re burned out burnout is just prolonged misalignment right um and it’s okay to level up your identities as you

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): grow mature, have new experiences, right? But you have to reflect, you have to integrate those things. And if you are not able to do that in a work environment,

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Heat.

Justine Burdette (Guest): um it’s not only missed innovation, right, but like that I think is where people start to get stuck and like bump that ceiling.
 

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): Um and eventually it’s turnover, right? People don’t necessarily leave bad organizations or bad managers. It’s when they feel like they’ve bumped up against something, whether it’s themselves or structural, right? That’s what we can sort of help untangle. It’s it’s two sides of the same coin

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah. And so there is some big impact there to the individual and the organization.

Justine Burdette (Guest): usually.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And I love that you mentioned that more holistic approach because we bring our personal selves to the table when we go to work and we oftentimes bring work home with us. You know, they’re all integrated into our being. And um but back to the impact on individuals and the organization and you mentioned that that uh lack of innovation, lack of collaboration. I mean why are we hiring these people in the first place? It’s to get their unique perspectives,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): their unique experiences and as soon as we don’t provide an environment where it’s safe for them to share those or invited to share those, we get streamlined into one mindset and one one one option for what is not innovation like you said.
 

 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And innovation is what makes companies so successful and what helps them grow. So huge impact.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah, I like to say that, you know, um, culture is this buzzword that’s been around for a while, right? Everybody’s trying to optimize their culture, right? or like our culture is this, our culture is that, you’re not a cultural fit, right? Culture actually I think just follows whatever the nervous system level set is of your leadership, right? So, um if your leadership is focused solely on KPIs and optimizing margin, right? You know, they’re not doing their own reflection, their own leveling up of their identity and their power, right? like then they’re certainly not creating a system um or a structure for their employees to be doing that right and my heart goes out to HR leaders and people leaders of all kinds right that is a sticky place to sit right when you have to be the enforcer right and you have to maintain what that structure is um but you’re also seeing it from your people on a day-to-day basis right where they are bumping up against that box um and they, you know, they can’t break free.

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): It eventually starts harming the

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah. Yeah. And there’s there’s a lot of responsibility,

Justine Burdette (Guest): organization.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): like you said, in the individual to have that self-reflection. If they are not satisfied, it’s kind of up to them to have that self-reflection and decide what to do next.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yep.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): But you mentioned the impact that people leaders can have. And I’d love for us to dive a little bit into how they can help uh foster growth and improvement and sharing in their employees. And so those individuals that may be struggling and maybe are not either that or we also have it’s preventative, right? Maybe we have people leaders who are so good about making sure that the environment’s safe and and fosters that communication that we don’t have people running

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): bumping into these walls. But if we do, maybe there are some things that these people leaders can do to help them get out of that rut and stay at the company. Any thoughts there?
 
 
Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah, absolutely. So, one uh for people leaders, you know, practicing what you want to see happen and how you want your um you know, either direct reports or other employees um to start, you know, showing up and leading themselves, you darn well better be doing yourself, right? So I actually love working with other people leaders, HR directors um because again I think that they are usually functioning from a place um of like sustained under brilliance, right? Um and again I had many years where I was a leader of people. Um, my first role leading people was when I was 15 and I was the captain of our cross country team, right? trying to lead teenagers into doing the same thing at the same time, right? Um, and progressively took on more and more responsibility in my corporate career. Um, and it is probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done is give me a KPI, give me a metric, give me a sales goal, great can crush it. Leading people is an entirely different set of skills, right?
 
 
Justine Burdette (Guest): Um, and so I would ask people leaders, HR directors, if you are overfunctioning for everyone but you, let’s maybe think about that. If you’re getting results, but you feel resentful or depleted or invisible, that might be a flag. And when your inner voice is saying this is not it, even if you love what you do, if you’re coming home every day completely depleted, um that would be, you know, a checkpoint for me. Um and I would ask, right, so what feels unsustainable even if it looks good on paper, right? Um so many times and this I know has happened to me, right? you get carried away with the inertia, right? The system, however you define that, is so big um and so pernicious, right? It just creeps in everywhere. Um so that’s why I love journaling. I love reflection. Um and I love working with people doing it out loud, right? Um because I feel like so often somebody just needs to give you permission like what’s the thing you’re not saying out loud?

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): One of my favorite exercises when I work with people is all right,

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Mhm.

Justine Burdette (Guest): you’re in a meeting, you’ve got your paper or you’ve got your laptop, right? Like just open up your notes app or like make yourself a box in the margin and every time you either bite your tongue or you stop yourself from saying something, put it in the box, put it in the notes app, and then go back to it later. Right? That’s going to tell you where you are living smaller than your brilliance.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s really interesting. And honestly, I think just some small prompts like that can really help someone identify when they’re misaligned. you know, when because that like to your point,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): that is kind of the nature of burnout and can help you see when there’s a change that needs to be made. And I think in my opinion, every person owes it to himself to have that conversation to make their life the best it can be. Um I I lived in Amarillo, Texas for a couple years, um serving a church mission and there are these signs everywhere in yards and businesses that say just wacky things and two of them that I it’s they’ve always stuck in my head, but I know they’re quotes from elsewhere, but um I’m the master of my soul and I’m the cap or yeah, I’m the captain of my soul and the master of my fate.
 

 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And that’s true. I mean,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): you can choose to just kind of wander and let life happen or you can stop and have these conversations with yourself and and move forward in a way that allows yourself to be aligned with what you value in life. I think that honestly more people need to have those types of conversations. Um, so do you find that I’m curious about the, you know, obviously we talked about self-reflection for the person. Um, let’s say you’re talking now to the HR leader who has a team that they care about. Like how do they promote this type of

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): uh exercise among their team?

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm. So one I would say anybody can do the exercise right. Um I would encourage uh you know HR leaders um to you know share it with their teams right um I’m giving it to you right now you can use this exercise right um use this exercise with your team invite people to do it um and
 

 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Mhm.

Justine Burdette (Guest): then make time to start talking about it right um again I think it is a universal want for people to be seen and understood, right? And we just don’t do that in certainly not in our world culture in America, um but in lots of other spaces too, right? Um you know, the loudest or most dominant talker, you know, generates the narrative and then that’s all that is heard, seen or made space for, right? So I think an HR leader, one of the most powerful things they can do is just create the invitation and then listen, right? And even if all you do is say, “So what I hear you saying, Bobby, is blah blah blah blah blah,” right? And just like try to rephrase it in, you know, your own words to check for understanding. That’s the most validating thing for people, right? And it doesn’t, there is no right, there is no wrong, right? You’re just asking people to share their experience and how they feel. Um, I think that in and of itself is going to be so illuminating for HR leaders.
 
 
Justine Burdette (Guest): um you will gather so much more intelligence than any employee survey you have ever given, right? Your employees will feel more heard, more seen, more valued if you do that and nothing else, right?

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah, I like that.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Um and if you can do that in, you know, cascading waves, um if you can, you know, summarize that information and anonymize it, right, and then give it to other senior leaders, right? like here’s this exercise I’ve done and here’s what I’m hearing right here are common themes that is now qualitative data um that is so much more important sometimes than your quantitative data usually they’re mutually reinforcing um if you have a high turnover issue there’s usually a reason maybe go ask people

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah, I think you can’t underestimate the value of the, you know, those focus groups and having conversations with people, one-on- ones. Um, it’s definitely more personal than a survey and, you know, they have their place, but I think, yeah, you certainly can’t underestimate that. I do have just a small follow-up. Let’s say um I’m a people leader and you know I care about my team on a personal level, but selfishly I kind of don’t want to promote this because I like my life being easy.
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): My team does their stuff and I don’t want them going off and uh leaving me essentially because this might prompt some self-discovery where they want to do something else. What would you say to that leader?

Justine Burdette (Guest): Um maybe you should ask why you’re leading. Um I really to be quite frank why are you leading? Right? Um if you are in service to people sometimes that is the most important thing you can do for them is to say maybe this isn’t the structure for you or maybe this isn’t the structure for you right now right um I think back to some of the hardest conversations I have ever had to have with people who reported to me um and just recognizing even for my own self that like the structure we’re in isn’t perfect and these these things might not change on the timetable you want them to. You can either learn to live with that and function inside of this system or that’s not going to work for you and I can help you find meaningful work someplace else.
 
  
Justine Burdette (Guest): Right?

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Um the world is too small and too connected for you to have people leaving on bad terms, right? and having to fill a vacancy

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): because someone woke up to their brilliance. I would rather do that all day every day than people who leave silently. Um because neither of you got it.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): I think it’s it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy where if you have a leader who encourages the self-reflection and then they have exercises one-on- ones that where they’re helping the employee feel seen and heard, it’s more likely that they’re going to want to stay just because they’re feeling seen and heard.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): heard, right? And so I I think as a leader,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yes.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): you for sure want to do that in every aspect. Help your employees feel and help your team feel seen and heard. Help them feel like they have a voice. And if they find that it’s a better fit for them to go somewhere else, then you cheer them on.
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And and I’ve always said this, if it’s a better if you’re if there’s something that’s a better fit for someone, then it’s a better fit for for you too for them to leave,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): you know? And so you always just want to cheer them on and keep that relationship as good as it can be and get feedback that that feedback can be invaluable to to improving the experience for the remaining team members. So yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Yeah, absolutely. And you know, um I love seeing the headlines where it’s like the silent epidemic, right? And like the next killer is burnout, blah blah blah. Again, total BS, right? When you are burnt out and you are operating from a place that is below your brilliance, people can tell, right? like it’s not some big secret. Um, and what’s more is if that’s you, you know that, right? So, like let’s get clear on that. Let’s start by talking about the elephant in the room. Um, and let’s start sharing it with people.
 

 
Justine Burdette (Guest): Again, we have this very warped idea that you have to fix everything yourself. You don’t. Um, again, having been a people leader and working with many HR directors over the years, I hear that all the time is where HR leaders will say, you know, so and so just gave their two weeks and I had a conversation with them about why. And it’s like, this is the conversation I needed to have six months or a year ago.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Rain.

Justine Burdette (Guest): I’m like, yes,

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): you probably should have. Right? So,

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): And again, the responsibility is on both sides, right? The individual says, “Hey, this is where I’m at, and these are the things that aren’t working for me.” And for the HR leader to create that condition where that conversation is possible, right? Um, and I get it. Uh, there’s usually too few HR leaders for everyone that you know is um you’re managing um or is reporting to you. Um, but there are ways, you know, even if it’s 10 minutes, 15 minutes, right?
 
 
Justine Burdette (Guest): You can cycle through your employees, you can create that relationship with them, right? Uh, not everything has to strictly be about like, it benefits time. This is my one time of year that I talk to you, right?

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Justine Burdette (Guest): I’m putting you on a performance improvement plan, right? Like that’s not the first conversation you need to have with people. You know, having a relationship with them is the very first thing I would say.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yep. Yeah. And honestly, I think we have different seasons throughout our career and our life that where there’s alignment with, you know, a certain type Yeah. a certain type of job, a certain type of company or opportunity makes perfect sense now and then we outgrow it or it outgrows us. Like there’s different things there. And so having that kind of ongoing conversation. Another thing I would call out is, you know, not everyone has to be an entrepreneur to um to find that fulfillment. A lot of people love working for someone else and, you know, you can be an entrepreneur and have that level of innovation in any type of role.
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Um, so I think you know you just have to be open to exploring that and when someone does leave because you know to your with your wording there they wake up to their brilliance and they go do something else that um change is going to be so much more positive and productive for everyone involved when there’s you know you’re cheering them on. Uh you’re the people leader and the person that may be having a change. There’s a better transition that can happen and keep the work flowing. Um I think and that’s really what putting people first looks like in my mind is you put the person first and and all the other pieces, you know, fall at where they’re supposed to. And I think that’s what I love about what you’re doing. I just want to say that, Justine. And chances are that if if someone’s listening to this podcast,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Thank you.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): it’s because they’re trying to be a good HR leader, people leader. And so for those that are probably here listening, what advice would you give them?
 
 
Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): What would be your first place that you would have them start to to get on the right foot or or to get going with this?

Justine Burdette (Guest): Um well, one uh I want to reply to Matt, right, which is that yes, I agree. Absolutely. Not everyone has to follow what I did, right? You know, blow up your life, walk away from a steady paycheck and health benefits. um that is not for everyone. Um sometimes I think it’s right for me? I don’t know. Um on the days I really miss that steady paycheck, I ask myself that question. Um but I am I’m much I’m much happier, much better where I am now than I ever was before. Um, and to answer your question, Christa, um, you know, you don’t have to be in leadership or have a leadership title to have sovereign leadership within yourself. And the second you have that, that is when you stop performing inside of the wrong structure, whatever performance or structure means to you, right? And so that would be the first thing I would tell anyone to start with, right?
 
  
Justine Burdette (Guest): Whether you want to do that with me and it’s more guided and I ask you a lot of hard questions, that’s fine. Um you can download a performance audit template that I have on my website. Um that’ll ask you most of the same questions. You can do it by yourself. Um, and just really start to make space and make a habit of am I really living the life that I want right now, right? Where and what feels unsustainable to me, right? Where am I biting my tongue and

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): I love that. I think that’s awesome.

Justine Burdette (Guest): why?

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And honestly, I think that’s a great um spot to kind of wrap up today as far as everyone go have that conversation with yourself, with your team, reflect,

Justine Burdette (Guest): Mhm.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): give yourself space to ask those questions and allow yourself to find the alignment in what you’re looking for in life and in your career. I think that’s awesome. And even if your title doesn’t maybe reflect a leadership position, you can be a leader to people and help them discover for themselves. If you notice that someone’s having a hard day or maybe they’ve been off for a while, that’s a perfect opportunity for you to just be a friend to them and help them find their own self-discovery. Maybe even mention this podcast. Yeah. Yeah. So, thank you so much, Justine. Such such a great episode to have with you. Thanks for your time today. We will include a link to your website site so everyone can check that out and

Justine Burdette (Guest): Awesome.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): uh Justine’s LinkedIn. So, please connect with her there and leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you guys. Catch us next time. Yeah. Thank you, Justine.

Justine Burdette (Guest): Thank you, Matt. Thank you,