From Bin Baby to Director of Sales: feat. Blaine Heilman, newest member of the team!

Layci Nelson (00:00.334)
Welcome to Confessions of a Terrible Leader, where real leaders share the raw truth about the lessons they learned the hard way so you don't have to. Join our host, Layci Nelson, founder of Transcend Leadership Collective and former Terrible Leader. On this podcast, we invite you to step into the confessional and get real with the messy stories and behind the scenes reality of leadership. Let's get to it.

Hello friends and welcome back to Confessions of a Terrible Leader. I'm your host and former terrible leader, Layci Nelson. And I have with me today, Blaine Heilman, the newest member of the Transcend Leadership Collective. We could not be more thrilled to have her on the team. Blaine, welcome to our show.

Thank you so much, Layci. I'm so excited to be here and to be a part of the Confessions of a Terrible Leader podcast, let alone this amazing team. Excited for the ride. Yay.

Blaine has an amazing background. You've been involved in agriculture as you informed me yesterday. We're a bin baby. For our listeners, can you tell them what the heck that is? Many of them probably know. Many of them have no idea what a bin baby is.

Yes, yes. So born and raised in the Yakima Valley and my grandparents actually had apple orchards when I was born. Originally, it was an all hands on deck when it came to harvest. And so a lot of family would come in as well as our workers. And when I was little and it was harvest time, it was very commonplace for me to be put in one of the big empty bins that we would put apples in in the middle of the field.

Blaine Heilman (01:43.246)
because, you know, it's kind of like a playpen. Yeah. But for apples. And children of apples.

Perfect. Blaine, your background. I can't even begin to do it justice. When Blaine came on the team, listeners, she entered as our very first. She's building out essentially a sales department. She's our sales director. I am very much an amateur at figuring that out. Blaine has a beautiful background. I about passed out when she accepted the offer to be on the team.

Blaine, can you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey through the Ag space and just giving that insight? It's extensive, over 15 years. So please share.

Yeah, it's definitely been extensive. And the funny thing in it is that even though I was a bin baby, I had absolutely no intentions of being in ag. I went to school to be a science teacher. I had a special ed minor. I really never thought that I was gonna be in ag, because unfortunately, my grandparents' business went under in the 90s when a lot of, you know, big downturn in the market.

I think seeing that pain made me go, I don't know if this is necessarily something I want to be in. Right. I went to school, went to be a teacher, absolutely loved science. I wanted to be an entomologist when I was a kid. How many kids know what entomologists are? Science has always been really fascinating to me. After going to school to be a teacher, I never really found the right fit for a school at.

Layci Nelson (03:02.99)
Yes

Blaine Heilman (03:14.9)
opportunities to go places, but during that time in education, it was focused on reading and math, not necessarily science. Science was nice to have. And so I actually ended up working with the USDA doing research. I worked with them during the summers through school, and I just ended up working with them full time. That was an amazing experience because I got to actually research the ag side of the business. I worked with entomologists. worked with a wide range of brilliant people, but

I also realized after several years being there, there wasn't a lot of upward mobility. And I get a little stir crazy if I'm not constantly growing, which is looking back, it's definitely a thing. And I had a mentor. Luckily, I had a mentor that was a scientist that was there that just said, hey, Blaine, you're bigger than this place. And an opportunity came along for me to join Rainier Fruit Company in sales.

and marketing and I've never been exposed to that side of the business and Ag So obviously a little hesitant because that's outside of my comfort zone. But I do look at that as my first pivot and going, all right, I believe in myself. I have someone here that's mentored me within the research space that's telling me do it, make the jump, you have the capacity. What a gift. Absolutely. And to have that person that is going,

to have that mentor, right?

Blaine Heilman (04:40.354)
Yeah, we're gonna miss you. You provide a lot of value with what you're doing right now, but we know that there's something greater out there for you. Steve since passed away, he passed away a couple years after I left, but thankful for him being in my life to be able to be that impetus and like help push me out of the nest. Yes. And that's essentially how I ended up just going, okay, I'm gonna start. It was a step back.

but I started at Rainier Fruit scheduling trucks for appointments. Big semi trucks that would come in and load full loads of apples, pears, cherries, blueberries. I was the girl that was talking to the truck drivers. such a fun experience.

If you've never been involved in logistics, it's wild.

It's wild. And also back in the day, my first job, I was a drive-through attendant at Burger King for night shift. And I realized that I just love to meet the wide range of people would come through the drive-through at Burger King, let alone night shift. So you got some interesting people. Also in this space, you're talking to truck drivers, you're talking to schedulers, dispatchers, you're talking to a wide range of people.

Amazing.

Layci Nelson (05:46.381)
yeah.

Layci Nelson (05:54.744)
so many personalities.

So many personalities. To me, it was fun. There was obviously the ups and downs and some like, I hope you never call back in here again, people. it was a lot of fun. And it also gave me a good view of just how what we do within the ag industry impacts so many different aspects of the industry and community. It's huge. It's huge. The other thing too is it's a lot.

bigger than I realized because I grew up in this space and I grew up in ag and this is very much not normal to someone that's on the outside of ag or outside of eastern Washington.

You don't grow up in it. Yeah, you don't even know what you don't know, right?

Yeah, exactly. So it started there after about six months, getting a little stir crazy in that spot, because I was like, okay, I need to grow.

Layci Nelson (06:49.772)
Yeah, yeah, I got this down. What's next? Yeah.

And a gal ended up leaving that was a sales assistant. And she ended up moving to Portland and there was an opportunity for me and I took that step into being a sales assistant. It was an interesting experience. sat across from a sales guy that I went to high school with. I sat next to one of my best friend's moms. It was in this little pod of six people really getting the taste of sales.

and inventory management, let alone on a fresh produce commodity. It was so cool. I then got the opportunity a couple of years later to become a salesperson because the guy that sat across from me ended up going to a different company. Luckily, I had the president of sales that had seen, okay, there's something here with Blaine. She's grasping things quickly. She's asking good questions.

traditionally in the space, especially at that time, he would hire an outside salesperson to come in, someone that already had that experience. knowing to me at the time, he went to back for me saying, why do we want to bring someone in from the outside or hire from the outside or a different company when we have someone that's sitting there that already knows all of these accounts, has worked domestic and export at that time? And he was the one that pushed leadership to give me that chance.

Love it. That's when I started my sales career. Yes. I would classify myself, definitely up to that point, as an introvert. So I tell people, because they look at me now and converse with me now and they're like, no, that's not. That's not a thing. You're not an introvert. And I'm like, no, I say I'm an introvert that turned to an extrovert for money.

Blaine Heilman (08:37.996)
Like, hey, I figured out I can do this thing. I can sell to people. can connect with people. I can, on a deeper level, have that relational sale. It's fun for me because it's more exposure to people. I got to sit next to my president of sales, Randy Abholt, and essentially train with him, which was wild. I think of him as like the rain man.

my gosh.

of the ag industry and to be on a sales call trying to sell someone with him next to me, just listening to the whole conversation, knowing that when I get off of the phone, we're going to unpack that whole conversation. mean, there was a lot of days at 10 a.m. my eyes blazed over because I was just like, max. Like, my gosh. But he helped me refine.

my sales skills, my approaches, the ways to navigate different personalities, the ways to still show up as myself and still challenge, but also make sure that you still have that relationship intact by the time that you got to the end. And both sides felt like they got something out of the negotiation.

Dynamics in the industry at that time and I think still correct me if I'm wrong produce sales desks are usually Dominated by men, right? That's a male dominated profession. Yeah

Blaine Heilman (10:02.4)
Yeah. And to the point when I was sitting in the assistant's chair and I was going, hmm, I could do this job. Yeah. I had some people that were next to me within my peer group going, hmm, maybe not here. Maybe you'll have to go to a more progressive sales desk or a different company because really there was only one other woman that was a sales person. And she was at that point in time kind of co-collaborating on accounts with a guy. yeah. Okay.

Yeah, very male dominated at the time and still heavily male dominated industry, but happy to say 15 years later that there has been a lot of growth and recognition in the value of having women in those sales seats.

Well, and I'm thinking through the pattern, two mentors, two men that were allies, they saw Blaine the whole person and everything you brought to the table. Ultimate merit-based, right? She's got it. She's got what it takes.

Absolutely. Then also you think about that and just the challenges I faced just because I was a woman. And a lot of the side comments that were said about me only getting promoted into sales because I was a pretty girl. yeah. Undertones of just trying to cut down my credibility or cut down the merits that I had because I was different. I was not the status quo.

Luckily for me, think born into a challenger mentality, if anyone's going to get put into those positions and challenge the status quo, I wanted to be it because I knew that I could help push back against that narrative and hopefully help the future me's.

Layci Nelson (11:50.107)
Okay, this is just a sheer curiosity question. The people that would have the most to say that wasn't flattering and that was unfair statements, biased statements, were those people that were performing above your level or were those people that were chasing you? You had the receipts that you were good at what you were doing.

At that time, and it continued throughout my time, I feel like it started when they started to see I was gaining traction. Yeah. And I was coming up on their heels. You were a threat. Yeah. And that's essentially how I felt is that I was perceived as a threat. Yeah. There were people, I mean...

A lot of the sales organizations had a lot of tenure as well. There were people that had been there for 10, 15, 20 years in those sales spots. And so, is this girl coming in here into the space? And then who does she think she is? I've been here longer. For me, it's always been about continuous learning. I want to know as much as I can. I want to build all the relationships. I want to learn from everyone. And just like...

constantly feed me information, which in comparison to the ones that were the naysayers, I feel like they were the ones that were comfortable. They'd already learned it all. They already knew it. Yep. Then there's me coming in here just hungry, hungry, hippo. Yeah. Of give me all the information. Right. Then that reflection of going, hmm, I don't know if I like that. Yeah. It was a little jarring, but...

Also, I think a lot of those situations for me have always just turned into fuel. All right. Okay. I see you. That's cool. I'm just going to take this and just use it. Continue to accelerate myself through this. And in the end, I think it's also like, hey, I hope at one point in time, and this is how I've always looked at it too, I hope at one point in time, these people can recognize the value that I can provide. Yeah.

Layci Nelson (13:38.486)
I'll wave as I pass you.

Blaine Heilman (13:54.112)
I've always tried, and of course failed at that plenty of times, but I've always tried to look at the situations that I've been in and go, you know what, this is a challenge, I'm gonna overcome this. And yeah, this person, whoever it may be is kind of rubbing me the wrong way right now. I really don't wanna work with them or be friends with them. But also, I have my mom in the back of my head. She would always tell me, you don't have to be friends with everyone, but you have to be courteous.

There's a base level of respect that you should have for other people and who they are. And in the end, if they open their eyes, see the value, want to have a relationship, want to be constructive, want to grow together, I'll be here. And I'll still try to make myself open to those opportunities if there is a change in perception.

That's kind of where I started to grow into my own, grow into my learning, into the scrappiness, the innovation, how can I do things differently than what's currently happening, and really pushing myself to embrace other ways of thinking. Also, I do have to look back at that time. I believe this is still very true in the ag industry. A lot of command and control leadership was in place at that time. I came from that in a household perspective. And so this felt...

comfortable to me. familiar. It felt familiar. Yes, the devil you know. Yes. It felt familiar, but it wasn't comfortable, actually. Let me, I want to make sure I use the right word for that because I was learning a lot of these leadership skills from that perspective. And though it was familiar, it wasn't what I wanted or who I wanted to be. But I didn't quite know how to.

be the leader that I wanted to be because I didn't necessarily get that outside help or perspective. Yeah. Yeah. And that was outside of the company. Right. That I was already enmeshed in. Right. With that, I ended up progressing from just being a sales and training to a salesperson. I did export, domestic, think of cherries that's happening right now, just crazy times. But I thrived in the intensity and the fast-paced-ness of fresh produce. Yeah.

Blaine Heilman (16:14.894)
So I continued to grow. I ended up managing our pair program for five years, met some amazing growers and people there. I ended up promoting into the director of domestic sales. I was already kind of informally managing others. But that was my first real official step into a position of managing others, which is just feeling like getting kicked into the deep end without floaties.

Yeah, totally different skill set. Completely different.

Yeah, I definitely had challenges with how to effectively communicate, how to connect with others that maybe didn't want to connect with me. And those same, like, the same people that may have poo-pooed on me earlier on, or were currently still doing it, how do I manage those people in those relationships? I had no idea.

So I was just Mac Guyvering leadership skills together. I started to buy more leadership books, read as much as I could, but that was on top of just a lot of hours being put in in Mindspace. That was my first real jump into leadership. It was a lot of trial and error. Just trying to do as little damage, I guess, as I could, given the tools that I

Yes, yes.

Blaine Heilman (17:39.734)
It was a lot, but it also opened me up to a lot of opportunities. I gracious to the fact that I was able to travel internationally. I also was able to meet a wider range of people and experiences and other leaders. It also opened me up to really that next jump for me in my career, which was going to Walmart. Yes. I think in a lot of these cases,

people go, ah, she would have been there forever. That was my home. think a lot of people thought this was gonna be it, but I wanted more. Also, I was feeling burnt out, honestly, by the end of that journey.

So at Walmart, for our listeners, what was your role at Walmart so they can grasp the vastness of the pivot and all the factors contributing to your burnout? This was a lot.

Yeah. The last year that I was at Rainier and really when I was promoted into that director role, I was overseeing the Cherry program for three years. And Cherry's is fast-paced. Yeah. Making decisions on packing, what's going where, managing all the warehouses, what fruit's coming in, what does the whole season look like, what's our go-to-market strategy, like, a lot. I got to work directly with the Walmart buyer.

here in their office in Yakima, which is global sourcing office. So they actually have booths on the ground in a lot of their major growing regions so that they can essentially maintain grower relations and be able to go see fruit, really be there to maintain those relationships and connections on behalf of Walmart US. But then when I came on Walmart International.

Blaine Heilman (19:23.084)
So they had approached me about a new position that was opening up in the office to service the international markets of Walmart. Walmart is a global company. I mean, it's number one.

biggest retailer in

Our biggest retailer. And most of the business was focused on the US. US is the biggest stakeholder in their global market, but they also work with Walmart's and Sam's Clubs that are in Canada, Mexico, Central America, Chile, China, as well as a partnership that was in India. Our office here that would help with sourcing fresh fruits and vegetables for this region only works

on sourcing for Walmart US. So I was going to come in and essentially help build out their international sourcing program with them.

Knowing you were probably like, yes, I want to build something. Yes.

Blaine Heilman (20:17.29)
Yes. Absolutely. But it was also like, yes, but Walmart from the outside perspective hasn't always been very healthy. then I go from a company where it was in the Rainier office. was like 80 some people.

Yep.

Layci Nelson (20:33.922)
Yeah, locally owned, family owned.

family to that behemoth. And I'm like, my gosh, do I really want to make this jump? Because I've interacted with a lot of different retailers across the US and there's some that are great and there's some that have some opportunities.

You're so diplomatic. Yes.

Yes. They could use Transcend Leadership Collective support, but it was the people and the culture that was within the small office that was here locally that made me go, okay, Blaine, if this subset of people that you got to interact with over the last few years is indicative of the greater culture within Walmart, I'm in. And I ended up going for that jump. It's another growth moment.

to sub.

Blaine Heilman (21:22.328)
But the funny thing is in both of these pivots that have happened, it's been a step back, but a strategic step back because I knew that I wanted something more. I knew something didn't feel right. I wanted to figure out how to change my work-life balance because there was absolutely none of that in my life at that time. A lot of that self-imposed, because I didn't know what boundaries were right now, knowing challenge or mentality, as little is good, a lot is better. I was fully immersed in work and that just...

blew up my personal side of life as well because within the same three months that I was running my final cherry program, having interviews with Walmart, I was also filing for divorce and going through that process at the same time after 10 years of marriage. It was a lot. I feel like I was ripping off all of the band-aids that I had really MacGyvered together.

over the last several years. But I don't regret that change and that pivot and that jump at all. It was one of the hardest times at that point in my life, but one of the best decisions that I made on multiple facets of my life. That was, gosh, yeah, about four five years ago now when I made that pivot and jumped into the Walmart side. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot. It was a lot. mean, it was, again, the international side of sourcing.

was in its infancy. They had really started to launch the international side maybe three years prior. It was a really small group, but it was very entrepreneurial. Like, hey, go out there, just do what you need to do. Create the systems that you need to create. Create the relationships. Because in the end, for me, I was still in sales, but I was selling my services to each one of these international markets, let alone in Spanish in some cases.

Which I found out I am not as fluent as I thought I was, especially in a business context. hey, growth opportunities. I just kept having to reframe all of these moments into these are growth opportunities. I think of how much I'm learning. My eyes were open to the global dynamics of fresh produce. So I was still focused on apples, pears, and cherries, but I got to see the wild world of every other produce item that is in the store.

Blaine Heilman (23:47.702)
Yeah. Because Walmart is so big, they have what they call subject matter experts in their areas. So if you wanted to talk to someone about watermelons, you want to learn the history, want to learn how to pick them, what to do, where they come from, what's the cycle throughout the year of public sourcing them. you're in.

with like people to talk to.

yeah, absolutely. And I'm watching like blueberry trends just because I had the past working in blueberries, but also just have always had a love for health and fresh produce. It was just the coolest Tetris puzzle ever to watch because I think a lot of people what they take for granted is that 20 years ago, you wouldn't find a blueberry in a store in the winter.

Right, maybe frozen, maybe frozen. Not fresh.

Maybe frozen. But not fresh. so customer demands and how they've shaped how we bring in fresh produce into the store. Customers just want it now.

Layci Nelson (24:49.901)
yeah, we want everything right now. We want it yesterday.

Absolutely. And we want it perfectly right. And we want it to look great. And we want it cheap.

There better not be one squishy blueberry in that little basket. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. But make it happen 365 days a year. Right. Right. And that's how much you have to piece together the different growing regions, northern and southern hemisphere supply chain. I came in during COVID when supply chain was just a dumpster fire. Trying to get fruit into other countries or into the US. Yeah. those challenges. It was fun. It was a really fun experience and I absolutely loved, loved, loved it.

One of the biggest things I came out of Walmart with was a true appreciation of leadership. Yes. And cultural norms and how to set people up for success to put someone like me into a role and say, okay, we trust you. Now go do it.

Layci Nelson (25:52.214)
Yeah. And give you what you actually need to be successful. Yeah.

Here are some bits and pieces of what you might need. If you need help, reach out to your leader, reach out to your teammates, and the ability, let alone the push from leadership to go, hey, failure's okay. It's going to happen. I'm like, I'm sorry. What? Excuse me? What do you mean? Failure for me has always been a bad thing. Right. Throughout my whole life, up until that moment when I came into Walmart and being told, no, just make informed decisions.

Excuse me? Excuse me?

Blaine Heilman (26:24.846)
Use the data that you have. you believe that this is the right next step and you're being smart about it, do it. And if you fail, okay, fail fast. Learn from it. What worked? What didn't work? What are you going to do next time? And how you could accelerate that process and that flywheel into, okay, it didn't work, but here's what did work. Here's how I'm going to approach it next time. Yeah.

the pieces I'm gonna keep from scrap metal. Yeah.

I have to say her wallow in self-pity because it didn't work. Nope, just okay. I recognize that's it. I'm work on this. That's shit. I'm probably gonna move on.

project failed, you are not a failure. Sounds like that's when that clicked for you. I'm actually expected to try enough things that I'm going to have to get something wrong. Just sheer statistic wise. So many of us high performers, when we can get set free from that and realize, failure is part of it and it's not a reflection, I'm not a failure. The project flopped and that's a

Yes.

Blaine Heilman (27:14.54)
Yeah.

Layci Nelson (27:27.384)
part of the learning that's actually winning if you're playing it smart in the long game, because you're trying enough things to figure out what works and doesn't work.

Yes, and that it's a part of the learning process. And so as much as I've been a learning fanatic in my life, that was the one piece that I hadn't connected, is that failure is a part of that learning process that you love and that you value so much. Like you said, that unlock was just like another moment of rocket fuel to go, okay, I can do this. And I can put myself out there and I can take bigger risks.

calculated risks, smart risks, but I can do that. And there's always the learnings if it doesn't go right, even if it goes right, what are the learnings? How could I share what I learned, good, bad, or ugly, with the rest of my team who's also working in these other areas of the business? We had cross-functional teams that we would work with as well. How do I work

with cross-functional teams that don't necessarily report to me, but are integral into my success in the program. I'm working with supply chain. I'm working with quality. I'm working with planners, buyers from across the country. Everyone has their own KPIs and their own goals. But how do you get those people a part of your team? And how do you guys succeed together so that everyone's winning and everyone's progressing within their goals?

What an awesome experience to get those skills under your belt in a place where it was not happening by accident. I love what you said about you learned about their norms and their cultural expectations. You got to see that happen on a huge scale. And it's actually harder on a huge scale than it is on a small scale.

Blaine Heilman (29:13.282)
Yes, and the expectation right when I started and the clarity from every leader that I interfaced with is that change is the only constant here at Walmart. The best thing that you can do is become comfortable with change and be comfortable with uncertainty because of how quickly the business evolves and changes. That's the competitive advantage that they have.

that ability to pivot and change and to navigate through uncertainty. If you're not going into fight, flight or freeze, you're making progress and you're moving forward. And it's just all about continuing to move forward, even if it's just one step at a time. was a huge mindset shift for me. I loved it. And to the point I became...

one of their culture champions within the organization. So I was able to take trainings in DEI and I was able to help kind of champion that overall culture and psychological safety is where we really started to dig in about people first. For Walmart, we're people first. I still bleed blue.

They're good at what they do. She still says we, and that wasn't even her last stop before we got her. Yes.

Yeah, they do a really good job at it. Even my partner is like, surprising how pro Walmart you still are after you left years later. But it's the cultural side is putting people first. It's people first tech powered. We know that we're coming into more and more tech, but people is the core. Everything else is a supporting character. That is how they attracted the right people to the organization.

Blaine Heilman (31:00.17)
Also, when you had a person that didn't think that way, it was a self-weaving guard. Yeah. There. They didn't like it there, or they stuck out like a sore thumb. Yeah. One of the things that I really appreciated about that as well is that you really could tell. You could tell who was there, who was aligned to the culture and the values of Walmart and who wasn't, then figuring out how to navigate that. Of course, with all of that said, there was an opportunity that then came up.

They didn't like it.

Blaine Heilman (31:28.344)
for me to again, pivot and join. And as much as I loved Walmart and culture, the teams, the people that I got to work with, I can't rave more about. There was an opportunity for me to come back, I would say to my roots. And that was to the grower and sales side of things. That was presented to me. Gosh, I look back down and like, yeah, it was about one year ago when I started, but at Sage Fruit Company, there was an opportunity to come in as president of sales.

of sage fruit. Not only was it coming back into my groups and working with growers and selling, which I've always seen as integral in his lifeblood to our valley. That's how I looked at what I did was every box that I could sell and every dollar I could get could directly go back into the valley that I grew up in. And I've had the pleasure of living in.

It was with actually the first CEO going back to this just male dominated industry. First female CEO in Washington Apple industry, Nicole Gordy. For me, it was, all right. I'm doing this. Now here we are in nineties was another big downturn in the industry. And I jumped back into it. And a lot of people go, why did you do that? This isn't the healthiest industry right now. It's a lot of oversupply, a lot of challenges.

Madu-

Layci Nelson (32:46.776)
A lot of shifting.

A lot of shifting, why would you jump back in, especially from Walmart, where you could kind of, I don't want to say do no wrong, but you were a sourcing person and a buyer for Walmart. You had a pretty sweet gig. A spot to be in. So you're going to come jump back into the fire? Like why? Again, it's the challenge and it was the purpose and the passion of being able to support Nicole in that role as CEO and the first female CEO in the industry. And then me being the first.

Pretty sweet.

Blaine Heilman (33:16.248)
female sales president in the Washington industry as well. I couldn't turn that down. Of course, timing, I would never recommend this or do this again, but jumping into cherry season, literally a year ago, one week after cherry started, taking over a whole team and program and customers right in the thick of it. I loved the team. I loved the culture that Sage had already built. And there was such a

solid foundation there that I had seen so much correlation between my time at Walmart and how I wanted to be a leader within the industry was reflected at Sage and was really an awesome base and starting point. I wanted to make that a reality. They're very people forward company. was how can we support our people? What can we do with flexibility?

You had a vision. You had a vision. Yes.

Yeah. And I wanted to support that and grow that into a sustainable company and show others within the fresh produce industry that it's possible. It's possible to care about your people. It's possible to be flexible and still knock it out of the park. And I'm happy to say that our cherry season, even with me jumping in, it was a team dynamic. I never felt so supported by the wide range of people within the office. I love that.

helping step up and take on things that I needed to learn or do, but also help guide me and give me information and that there was no like, this is my stuff, I can't share this with you at all. was, let's help each other get through this as a unit. We killed it. We killed it on our cherry returns that year. And even amid all the chaos and everything, it was like, this is working. It's working. And then unfortunately...

Blaine Heilman (35:10.414)
Yeah, done, done. Considering how payments go out to growers every year, the prior year was a really, really hard time when it came to grower returns on apples, specifically because of an oversaturated market of Honeycrisp that was out there. It really pushed everything down and there was a big volume. That's when the cracks really started. It ended up turning into two out of the five warehouses that we sold for and as we were vertically integrated, made the decision.

to leave and go to another marketing company. This wasn't something that was new. We had just watched another really large sales and marketing agency a year prior go through the exact same thing as they dissolved in a lot of the warehouses that they represented joined other sales and marketing groups. And so you're very much in the era of consolidation and a lot of survival mode in a lot of growers' warehouses.

just going, can't stomach losing more money for a second or third year in a row, we need to find something else. As much as the like, this isn't you, this isn't Nicole's, isn't, you know, this current group is still stung. Yeah, it was a lot of that vision that we had really, we saw with such clarity and it was possible, but all we needed was time.

Heck yeah!

Yes.

Layci Nelson (36:39.47)
and you didn't have to.

That's so cute. we didn't get the opportunity of time. Another big learning experience, one that I look back on, because when you're in the thick of it, you're like, my God, what is going on? Yeah. Grateful for, because A, that's when I got to hire you. That's how we met, Blaine in survival mode. That is how we met. I hired Layci as my executive coach because I tell people.

That's how we met.

Blaine Heilman (37:06.08)
I've been a me searcher my whole life. I've read books, I've listened to podcasts, watched anything that I could to help me in my leadership journey, but I'd never formally worked with a leadership coach up to that point. And here we are watching level 501 shit going down in my life and in the industry. And I was like, I need help. asking for help, recognizing the need for help, that alone asking for help was also a new thing.

That is essentially how we met. And unfortunately, the company closed its doors at the beginning of this year. I was able to take a step back and kind of reflect on my journey within the ag industry so far and go, what do I want to do? What do I really want to do? What do I want to be when I grow up? What brings me the most joy, has brought me the most joy within my last 18 years here? And do I really want to jump back in?

Because it is a challenging time and I love it, but is it the right thing to do right now? So taking that time off, sitting back, reflecting on what has been the most enjoyable thing for me in this process. I'll always love fresh produce and I'll always be an advocate for fresh produce because recognizing my core values of health and being healthy, but also being able to get fresh, healthy produce to people around the world. Access. Access.

was my passion and my purpose.

She does love her produce. I'll tell you, we get lectures on all of what's in season. We love it. Cause we all also embrace, I think every single person on the team embraces health as definitely in our value sets. so we're always like, Blaine, what should we get? How do we pick a watermelon, Blaine? How do we pick this? Amazing to have our own in-house. right now? Yeah. What's in season? What do we buy from where? When?

Blaine Heilman (38:55.758)
Yeah.

Blaine Heilman (39:03.134)
Yeah, I love that. love being able to share that. I love that people share those insights, that information, and just anything I can do to help enable others to live a healthier life, eat more fresh produce. That just makes my heart sing.

yeah, that part of you will never go away. Thank goodness. I love that part of you. Thank you.

And that's the other thing that I had to realize too is in this change, in this pivot when I decided, you know what, the other thing that's brought a lot of joy in my life has been the people. Even if it's the random people in the drive-through of Burger King when I was 16, to the truck drivers, to the growers, to just everyone that I've interfaced with now in my life, I've just loved the people. I love...

hearing their stories, understanding their culture, how did they become who they are today? Even when I've been traveling, meeting random strangers, asking all the questions, I just love to meet and know people and then let alone help them grow and help enable them to be better in whatever facet of their life they want to be better in. That to me was that recognition of, yes, there's produce, but it's been more about the people. Produce was the vehicle.

Produce was the vehicle. And produce is always so relational. And you had to have those relationships with others. Some people will make it transactional. But if you want to be successful in that industry, it's about relationships and being able to build them. That is essentially that moment where I went, want to make a change. And jumped in to TransM Leadership Collective. Long winded.

Layci Nelson (40:45.154)
I love it.

I also realized I can still be a part of the fresh produce industry. I can still influence the fresh produce industry. I can still help a lot of these companies which I've worked with, but it's going to be one step removed. Yep. And actually that's what I also realized is I don't want to go into just one fresh produce company. I want my impact to be bigger than that. want to be able to help.

the whole industry and multiple companies. really looking back at my career, I want to help bring leadership skills, tools, strategy to all of these companies that need it and are willing to say I need it and recognize that need. Also, it's that rising tide lifts all boats. Back to my goal of getting fresh produce in people's hands.

You know how I can do that? I can do that by helping leadership teams within this space be better leaders. To have an engaging presence, to be a leader that's worth following, to have cultures where they have acceptance, respect, and trust. That they can have healthy conflict, that they can have honest communication. If they can do that, then I see them succeeding as a company, which in the end will only sell more produce.

which

Blaine Heilman (42:08.686)
I want it to be that self-fulfilling process. But I want to touch as many companies as I can in that process. Actually, how I got here, long winded story, but this is how I got here.

Yes.

Layci Nelson (42:17.664)
I love it. And here she is.

Layci Nelson (42:22.796)
I love it. I love your long story. And I am so beyond happy for our whole Valley and for not just the Valley. I mean, we serve people all over the United States, happy to go international as well. And listeners, one of the things Blaine is learning how to do in addition to being in the sales director seat and building us out this whole piece of the business we just haven't had yet. It's exciting to be at this growth base.

She's also learning how to facilitate strategic planning and using the frameworks that we use and with your background and your experience and your level of expertise and just exposure, you are already a tremendous asset to have in the room, guiding people through the process and asking the great questions and

You'll know you have a really good facilitator listeners if you are working with someone. If they're telling you what to do, that's not a facilitator. A great facilitator knows how to ask the right questions to get the information that you have. So it's your vision that's actually being crafted, not the consulting firm that came in and had a vision that they give to you. That's not going to have nearly the same level of stickiness nor success in the organization. And so.

Blaine is now in the process of getting trained to ask all these questions to pull out the information and Blaine your background already. I'll sit with her in rooms where she's observing and she's partaking in some of the training as she's learning with me facilitating and already I'm learning from you with the depth of questions. I'm like, Ooh, that was a good one. That was a good observation. I'm just so excited for all of our clients and future clients and organizations and the people that they work with that you're

Yes, sales director plus your sales director. You're already getting equipped to facilitate strategic planning and definitely executive coaching in your future as well. When she said yes to us, I about fell over because as you heard from her background, Blaine has, you had so many options. You are at the point in your career, you can write your ticket, which is great. Amazing.

Layci Nelson (44:31.566)
And we don't take that for granted here at the Transcend Leadership Collective. So with all of my people, I hold them with an open hand. I don't know how long we're going to get a keeper, but don't miss out on her while she's Thank you.

So.

In the end, I absolutely wrote my own ticket. And that's the beauty in it, is that I did get to write my own ticket. And I'm so excited to be able to be a part of this organization because it just oozes the values that I have found, especially within these last five years, to be so aligned with who I am and who I want to be as a leader. Because I'm still learning. I'm still growing. We all are. Me too.

The more that we can connect and find our people that have those aligned values that we can grow together with, that's what has me so excited is being able to continue my growth journey, but then also being able to help others with theirs. Because man, if in that first time that I got put into a manager position from being an individual contributor, I was given even just a quarter or a

of the tools that we have here within this company. man, how my journey could have been radically different and with likely a lot less pain.

Layci Nelson (45:52.398)
That's our hope. Yeah. Our hope. Yeah.

My hope would be that it would come with less challenges and pain, but in the end, I look back, things happen for reasons. And I'm here because of a lot of those challenges and opportunities that I've had throughout my life. Would never change that. But if I can help get ahead of it for future leaders and get these tools in front of them, current and future leaders, how much better some people's lives could be?

The leaders and the people that report to them, right? Everybody. It makes it better for everyone.

Leadership skills and tools aren't just for the leader. I always think about the collateral damage that I've probably contributed.

Unfortunately, I know I've caused harm. used to be a terrible leader. That's not a joke. I have so much cringe.

Blaine Heilman (46:43.822)
Yes! So many cringe moments come to mind. But if we could just lessen the number of cringe moments for other leaders out there, that will make me happy.

like

Layci Nelson (46:54.83)
I love it. Blaine, we've talked so much. mean, we're going to have to do a part like four, because I think this might be three podcasts in one, I don't know. And I got to go talk to one of our farmers. So I got to go because I got to run over and connect with one of our clients. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us. Thank you for sharing your story. It was amazing. And I think we're definitely going to have to dive back into now that we've got the, all right, this was the path, which is so valuable to hear and to share. thank you for sharing that.

Yes, thank you.

We're going to get into like tough question time next time. So I'm going to be asking those questions. know you are. So you're coming back. right. Excellent. I love hearing that. All right. You know the drill listeners. Until next time, go manage like a leader.

I'll be here.

Blaine Heilman (47:43.886)
you

Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Terrible Leader. If you're feeling brave and have your own Terrible Leader story that you'd like to share, head over to TranscendLeadershipCollective.com slash podcast to fill out a guest application. We'd love to hear from you. Confessions of a Terrible Leader is hosted by Layci Nelson and produced and edited by Fixation Point Productions. Music is by Leif Olsen and Mary Scott from the band The Number of Months. Confessions of a Terrible Leader is a free leadership resource offered by Transcend Leadership Collective.

If you are ready to refuse the limits of average leadership and join the leadership revolution, visit TranscendLeadershipCollective.com to check out our offerings for engaging workshops, strategic planning, and more. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and leave us a review. And until next time, go manage like a leader.