You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Powerful | The Leadership Strength Found in Adversity with Diana Fritz

[00:00:02] What if you let love, not fear, lead your life and your leadership? I'm Carolyn Cooper and I've learned that true leadership isn't about perfection. It's about daring to be vulnerable, holding your vision in the darkness and trusting your soul to guide you home.

[00:00:28] Welcome to the Love Inspired Leadership Podcast. A sacred space where every moment invites you to aim higher with love and purpose. Here, we don't just talk about leadership, we redefine it. Let's dive in.

[00:00:54] Welcome back to the Love Inspired Leadership Podcast. We are so happy that you're here and I have a great, great guest today. But I would like to just really sincerely let you know how grateful that I am that you are here to listen to what love inspired leadership is all about. And you know, this is the place where I just had a conversation with my guest today.

[00:01:24] This is the place where I get to ask those really meaningful questions and we get to take deep dives into having conversations that matter and that have meaning when it comes to the heart, the courage that we need to embrace the possibility and also authenticity in our lives. So let me introduce you to my incredible guest today. I am honored to welcome Diana Fritz.

[00:01:54] And she's a caring leader and leadership and change consultant whose life and work embody resilience, being in service and unwavering authenticity. Oh, man, that sounds great.

[00:02:13] And through her work, grit leadership, Diana empowers individuals as well as organizations to lead from their core values, humanity and purpose. Beautiful. Beautiful.

[00:02:32] Her journey as an executive leader, cancer thriver, author and compassionate advocate reminds us that leadership is not about perfection. It's about presence. It's about presence. Yum.

[00:02:54] So if you've been navigating some adversity, facing some challenges within your life or within your business, and you're really looking at redefining your own internal core strength and character, or you're really curious about learning how to lead with love through life's hardest

[00:03:21] hardest chapters, this conversation. This conversation will meet you right where you are. So Diana, thank you for saying yes to come on my podcast. I'm excited to see where we're going to go today. Well, thank you, Carolyn, for inviting me. It'll be fun. Yeah. Great conversation. Absolutely. So let's just start with this concept or theme of adversity to purpose.

[00:03:51] Now, if you could take us back to this beginning level and stages of your leadership journey and what first called you into this type of work with leadership and this way of being in service to people?

[00:04:12] You know, I think there's many things throughout growing up that kind of led to little nuggets like along the way. Certainly being a part of sports teams when I was in high school was impactful around having a solid coach that I looked up to, but also challenging us to lead across the team and to hold each other accountable and to have good communication and teamwork, which are core things to build on. I don't. I don't.

[00:04:42] When I graduated from my undergrad, I wanted to be a college athletic director. I did not did not make that that lens, but I shifted to work on my master's degree. And then as I entered into and tried a few different things and ended into a job that I was at for 17 years, I started towards the bottom and then just grew to into that executive leadership role.

[00:05:07] And I just have a heart for people and want to personally grow and help others to personally grow. And there's quite a few times where I've been shifted or promoted to a role where the people are going, OK, how is she going to manage us? She doesn't know our job. And my way to connect with them was by serving them. What can I help you with? Where are you blocked?

[00:05:36] And just listening to see how I could help them. Eventually, they learned, you know, there's goodness in not having a manager that knows how to do your job. I can't micromanage you. I can only help. I can help you get over the obstacles, but I'm not going to dive into your job. I don't even know how. So just let me serve you. Right. Beautiful. Beautiful.

[00:05:59] And it's that depth of being in service to people that really supports people to step up and stand up and take their own level of responsibility and accountability in their roles and responsibilities, too. And, you know, there's so many different flavors of management, isn't there? Like, that was picturing my mind.

[00:06:22] I was, as you were speaking, I was thinking about managers that tried to micromanage me and control me and tell me what they think I should be doing in my role and my responsibility and all, you know. And to just receive the management style in which the way you served has such a respectful and really honoring position in your leadership role.

[00:06:52] And I really, I can feel that as you spoke that. Now, you've lived a lot of roles in your life, too. As this executive leader, like you spoke a moment ago, a single mom volunteer and also cancer survivor, I should say. So was there a moment that when this shift from self-focus to service truly clicked into place for you?

[00:07:22] I think it's clicked into place and just been enhanced over time. And so in my early on in my executive career, offering to serve was a way for me to build trust and show the people that reported to me that I cared about them. I can remember many times people would come to me and they'd be frustrated and didn't know what to do. And I was like, well, you know what? Go help somebody. If you go help somebody else, you're going to feel better. That's what I do. Right.

[00:07:51] And they look at me and like, just trust me. Go help somebody. And so that had just been a part of my cadence. I was talking to my mom earlier today and she was like, Dana, you have your grandmother's heart to serve. And I was like, no, I do. I do. I'm not quite at the level she's at. She was before she passed away. But I do have the heart.

[00:08:15] I think on my when I was first diagnosed with my cancer 12 years ago, initially you get with, OK, why me? Right. I'm just new to being a single mom. Two little boys, an executive. We were positioning to sell the company. There's a lot happening.

[00:08:37] But then I was reminded of that, like, OK, but maybe it's me because there's people that I'm going to meet along this journey that I never otherwise would have met that I can bring a smile to or be a light to. And it just like it took me back to I had when I was a freshman in college, I tore my ACL, which I was about I went to college to play basketball. That was logical.

[00:09:05] And I tore my ACL, which is a knee and a season ending injury. And I at the time was required to read Viktor Frankl's A Man's Search for Meaning, a powerful book for me. A lot of people are like saying, you read that as a freshman. Yes, but I had to. I'm not going to claim I just picked it off the shelf. But his statement, no matter what happens, nobody can ever take away my freedom to choose how I respond.

[00:09:32] And that was really meaningful to me then because, yes, I could be frustrated, but I could also look at the opportunity instead of the problem. And that's just been impactful to me and just continuing to build, I guess, my strength muscle in that and going, OK, my unique look is a little, you know, it's quite unique, but I can make the most of it.

[00:09:59] So I still get to choose how I respond to that. Wow, I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. There's so many pieces of that that are so fabulous. And, you know, it's in my life, we are so aligned with how you live your life, too. And I really respect that. It's accepting what is, isn't it?

[00:10:22] It's just having that understanding that, well, this is a different path that I'm going to go on, even if it's adversity that is in front of me, even if this isn't what I expected it to be. Am I going to accept it? Yes, I am. And am I going to be open and curious about what can be from this particular situation or relationship or, you know, who am I going to meet? What kind of light can I shine?

[00:10:52] I love that because you and I have the same. We have this loving light within us. Every human being has it. And it truly is our responsibility to shine that light brightly because we don't know what that light, that shining, that bright light to someone else who may be in the darkness. And that's why I'm doing this podcast.

[00:11:17] And I really honor and respect you for having this framework within the way that you look at life because it's an opportunity for all of us.

[00:11:31] And for the audience right now, even if things are really, really hard for you or you've had a massive disappointment in something that you expected it to go a certain way, I want to let you know that what Diana is bringing is the truth. It's the absolute truth.

[00:11:50] And that when we serve someone else in some of the darkest moments in my life, too, Diana, with family members being ill and when I would get on Zoom and serve my clients, it would transform me. Just being in service to them when I had a lot of details around me that and it was like it just changed everything.

[00:12:18] It changed my presence. It changed my position to serve and just to be so in the moment in serving. And it got me through. My clients got me through some of the hardest times of my life. And that's great insight.

[00:12:38] So during this cancer journey that you went on, I mean, I have a client that teaches massage therapists around the world how to serve women going through breast cancer. It's just the most incredible academy. And I've learned so much about cancer and the courage and this authentic space that needs to be chosen.

[00:13:06] So you chose to show up authentically, even in unimaginable circumstances. So what did that season of your life teach you about that bravery, about that position to be decided, what I call thinking above the line, which is love and curiosity and wonder and purpose and passion.

[00:13:34] So what did that teach you about that bravery? You know, when my cancer journey first started, we were able to retain my left eye for nine years. But I still had, I would have multiple surgeries. I think within the first year, I probably had four or five surgeries.

[00:13:55] And I would come out of surgery with like a very bruised left eye, like, and have like tape over it or it would be sealed shut. It looked like a battered wife. And so my friend, who is now my husband, he and I would go places and you would just see people like staring at you.

[00:14:17] And so we just, it became a way to just learn to like smile and laugh and make light of it and just kind of have fun on the journey. You know, I, my kids were little then. So, you know, I don't think I noticed children's curiosity as much then because I was living with two curious boys. Three years ago, it will be three years ago, very shortly was when my eye was removed.

[00:14:46] And they went in like through a 12-hour surgery to remove the eye and all the surrounding areas. And so you can tell, you know, looking at me, my skull is a little misshapen and I've got scars and everywhere. And I think for me, I remember before I was going to have this surgery, I had a friend sit down and said, you know, are you, are you okay? Like, are you okay with, like, you're going to wake up looking really different.

[00:15:12] And I paused for a minute and said, well, I, I'd rather live than worry about looking different. But this, this look has certainly given me the opportunity over and over again to talk to people. Children are so curious. They ask me the most lovely questions or will carry on the conversation. They'll ask me things nobody else has ever asked me before.

[00:15:39] And whether it's a child or an adult, I just want to be with them about what it's like, but also that I'm still, I'm thankful. I still have one eye. I talked to a group of elementary students yesterday and maybe that was today actually. And I told them, I said, I'm really grateful for all of you. You'll come up, you'll give me a hug. The little ones are always like, Miss Fritz, we really wish you, you had two eyes. And I said, I just want to tell you that I appreciate that, but I am thankful I have one.

[00:16:09] And they like look at me and I'm like, I think, yeah, because I have one, like zero would be a lot worse. But it's just, I realized like I have a choice to make. I'm the unique person with one eye. I don't, haven't met anybody that looks quite like me. And I can either smile and be the person with one eye that smiles or I can be grumpy.

[00:16:35] And I would much rather be remembered for the smile and making a positive impact on people. So this is such a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful position here because, you know, it's, I want the audience just reflect for a moment and think about what you're incredibly grateful for in your life, in, in, in your relationships.

[00:17:01] And the opportunity that you have to smile and feel that smile and that appreciation that you can share that joy with other people. I mean, that is something to be profoundly grateful for. And, Diana, you touched my heart here. And I know you did our entire audience as well.

[00:17:30] And I, I just know that you're here for that reason. This is your living legacy. This is your calling. This is the place that you get to serve in an authentic way. And people feel it, not just in their minds. They feel it in their heart and they feel it inside their body because that's what I do right now.

[00:17:59] So that's a beautiful gift that you have been given. And I'm so happy for you. I know. Okay. Yeah. See, we're, we're, I think each of us are born to be loved and to be love.

[00:18:22] And often life, circumstance, situations, relationships completely out of our control. Take us on a pathway that our opportunity is to circle back to what that is. And so it shapes us to who we are. And the opportunities that are available to us are infinite.

[00:18:50] And I believe that we live in an abundant, infinite universe. And I believe that when we can have the joy, the appreciation for living or having one eye, like for yourself and to, to stay open and curious, it's what I call above the line living.

[00:19:15] It's, it's so beautiful and watch more and more and more joy flood towards you. The people, the opportunities. I know that this is your life too, right? Yeah. So let's look at the next piece here, which is values, driven leadership and internal strength.

[00:19:44] So I know you're part of Maxwell leadership executive program and certified as a disc consultant. Me too, just saying. How have those frameworks really, truly strengthened your commitment to this people centered, heart centered leadership?

[00:20:09] You know, I was talking with a volleyball team last week about disc and I always enjoy different audiences to talk about disc with because I can relate back to when I was a young executive and I'm an S. So the disc is, you know, you're more like dominant and influencing, steady and conscientious. And I'm an SM study.

[00:20:35] And I was a young executive with a group of males that were about 10 to 15 years older than me. And I was the only female. And there was multiple dominant styles. And at first I was like getting offended, like thinking, why do they, you know, keep like attacking in a sense. And then I went through my first disc assessment and training paired with a 360 review. And the coach was like, Diana, you need not respond to that.

[00:21:05] You can just ask a different question. Like, don't apologize. And so it just gave me such perspective early on. So I've just kept continuing to think about how to learn and apply it, whether it's with the team. I was having a procedure a few weeks ago and my nurse was more on the S study side and my doctor was very task oriented. And there was like a little clash.

[00:21:32] I was just sitting there going, yeah, we're task focused, we're people focused. We don't appreciate that evolution there. So it just helps me to be more conscious and aware. Not everybody's like me. I need to adjust sometimes to connect with others. And I need to be conscious of the fact that we're all different and look to connect versus just communicate. Yeah. And it's about connection.

[00:21:59] And how good does it feel when we actually connect with people? It's absolutely brilliant. And relationships are so important in our lives. And to understand other people and have that level of respect and compassion for our differences just helps us come together and connect together in a sense of inner peace and calm.

[00:22:27] So we don't have to agree always. We don't have to agree always. But we can learn how to, like you said, adapt and be able to be in relationship together that's clean and meaningful, beautiful. So you often talk about reframing adversity into advantage. That's good.

[00:22:52] How can we give our audience or suggest that leaders begin to see challenges as an actual catalyst rather than a limitation or a weakness or a problem? So how can we look at that differently? You know, I think about that a few different ways, right? There's many people that are afraid to fail, so they don't do something because they don't want to fail.

[00:23:21] But so many of the great leaders that we respect have all failed and they've learned from their failure. I think as well at Time to Leaders, we also don't want to be too real about a failure. But it's so much more important just to be authentic and real as much as feasible because it helps with your trust connection. So just be real about those challenges and those limitations and what you've learned and maybe what you haven't learned, right?

[00:23:51] It's just a there's so many people that are afraid to be authentic because then I'm admitting, you know, that I was wrong. And your people know that anyway, so you might as well just admit it and build more trust with them. When you try to hide it, you're just kind of the trust lover is going down because you're being fake instead of real.

[00:24:17] And this whole key piece of authenticity, I'm super passionate about it too. And, you know, I find that just within myself that it's so much easier to just simply be me. I mean, if I've made a mistake, be honest about it and be vulnerable about that and tell the truth.

[00:24:38] But if I have done something that I could have done better and truly made that decision to feel guilty, to feel bad or disappointed, no. It's just to look at what is, is that my mentor, Emma, that I talk about, gave me this key. She always said to me, she was in her 80s and I was in my 20s. And she said, Carolyn, what is, is.

[00:25:06] And for years I wondered, well, what does that mean exactly? Well, that means acceptance. That means to just accept what is and then, you know, find the forgiveness, find the compassion for oneself. And also, and just be real, be genuine about it, be, you know, authentic because that's what people connect to. They connect to the humanness of life. Don't you agree, Diana?

[00:25:34] I mean, there's so many people that are trying to be other people. Yet the best leaders are the most real and genuine and show up just as they are. And that leaves the door open, if this is the key, which I believe is love, leaves the door open for anybody they work with to show up the same way. It gives them permission. I mean, don't you agree with that?

[00:26:04] Yeah, it does. And I think, you know, there's an element is, and potentially some of the fear sometimes is you don't have to, like, tell all the stories step by step of what went wrong, right? It's, you don't have to, like, vomit over everybody, right? It's more that concise, like, this is what happened. This is what I learned. And this is what's going to be different.

[00:26:28] And it can just open up doors to a whole way of communicating and connecting about being transparent. I always, you know, have a phrase that I've used for a long time, but don't sink to the level of the problems, rise to the opportunities. And people don't know how to do that unless we as leaders help them to see how we've done it, right? And it's, I have this conversation every week with different individuals.

[00:26:56] It's that I've been blessed with this opportunity of the obstacles and challenges that I faced as a young person. I have acute self-awareness, and that's such a blessing. And it came from the struggle and the pain of my past. But it's my superpower.

[00:27:21] And what I know is that the opportunity with this podcast is to bring you these insights, to bring you this information. And it's not about inspiration here. It's about integration. They're two different things. It means that you can take this information and wear it. You can let it sink in, and you can have that self-awareness.

[00:27:47] I think this is what's missing in our life right now is the opportunity to have this acute self-awareness of both externally, but also what I call go within to win.

[00:28:01] To understand that it's what you have in beautiful form is this internal self-awareness and realize that that makes a very meaningful difference in your life, in how you show up, and how you're present. So, you know, I love that this alignment that we're talking about here is leadership.

[00:28:28] It's love-inspired leadership, and it's lived, like I said, from the inside out. So, it's our values that guide us. Even in the hardest of those times, even in those hardest days, you know, those values become our teachers, and I love that.

[00:28:47] So, share with me about this embracing imperfection as strength, because that's really a very uniquely imperfect concept. I love it. And so, how can embracing that truth help you move from self-doubt to self-worth? Great question.

[00:29:17] It is. It is. You know, I, throughout my cancer journey, the majority of the time, I would just take a few weeks off, and then, you know, have surgeries, take like three weeks off, and then go back to work. And when I had my eye removed, that was a 12-hour surgery and multiple days in, like, intensive care in the hospital. And not just, you know, I think the neurosurgeon had probably, Diana, it's going to be a knock-your-socks-up moment.

[00:29:45] I'm like, okay, but what does that mean? He's like, you may not want to leave your house for, like, a few months. It's like, oh, okay. Okay. We'll see. That I was not working in that season. I was on disability, and then I had seven weeks of proton radiation. And, you know, people would ask me, well, Diana, did you binge watch TV? Like, no, I don't really watch TV.

[00:30:11] I worked on me, so I went and looked at, okay, these are Maxwell Leadership trainings that I haven't done yet. I had the opportunity for multiple years to submit a three-minute talk to get stage time at the Maxwell Leadership event, which has, you know, 3,000 people there, and be one of the 10 that got to get up on stage. And so I was like, well, why not? No, I have time.

[00:30:37] And so I did submit videos, like, over and over again, and I was fine-tuning my story because it's hard to get this journey into three minutes. Wow. I ended up, like, working with a coach and just weaving in a little bit about how, you know, the doctor that called to tell me, Diana, we've been fighting for your eye for nine years. It's time to shift to fight for your life. That was emotional for him and I because he had been my friend. He wasn't just my doctor.

[00:31:06] He was my friend. And then I had reached back out to him when I was prepping for radiation going, okay, I'm going to be bored. So how can I help you? Like, can I come talk to your patients, talk to you that is a teaching hospital? Like, how can I serve? And he had initially said, Diana, you need to take care of you. And then a few weeks later, he called, Diana, I have a patient that doesn't have the same kind of cancer, but they're going to undergo a very similar surgery.

[00:31:35] And he has a lot of questions that only you can answer. And so that is, I've had the opportunity to do that multiple times. But that's how I closed my talk that day, that three minutes, like with that story and how our adversities can uniquely qualify us. Right. He didn't really have anybody else that he could call to say, Diana, talk to my patient to add value to people.

[00:32:01] If we can move away from self, like poor me, to how can I serve and help somebody? And so then that led to that talk. Then that led to that was the title of my book. And just kind of using that to help people when I speak that you may not have a visual. It's pretty obvious there's something wrong with me.

[00:32:22] Yours may be an internal scar, but you still have a unique opportunity to help somebody else with that internal scar or external scar or whatever the adversity is. If you're able to move forward, then that gives you the opportunity to help somebody else to move forward. I just want to pause for a moment and just feel that. I want the audience to just feel that.

[00:32:50] And it's so powerful to realize that opportunity in why we're here too. And I feel very blessed at this moment. I do. And can we go into your book now? Can we go there? Can you tell us about the title of your book? Because I think it's good timing right now to visit that.

[00:33:17] The title of the book is Uniquely Imperfect, Uniquely Qualified. And with a tagline around our adversities can help shape us. I had written in my journal towards the beginning of my cancer journey that someday I wanted to write a book. It just happened to take, you know, multiple years before I did it. And I didn't want to write a book about Diana's story.

[00:33:45] My goal was to bring in some of the people that helped shape me to be prepared to be able to do what I'm doing today. But also to close each chapter with some personal reflection and then application questions. So that you don't have to have had cancer to read it and have an application. And I, um, the book was published in March of 2025.

[00:34:15] And I waited to do the audible version. And I had a friend keep challenging me, Diana, you need to do it and it needs to be in your voice. And I wish I would have done it sooner because it's really powerful to read your own story in your voice. But the audible version is out now as well.

[00:34:37] And so it was, it was just reflective to go back through because we all forget moments in time where people stepped up for us. Or where we stepped up for somebody else. And I have journals and journals that I pulled from to write that book. But it was just such a good reminder for me to just go back and think through those things.

[00:35:03] Because some of the moments that I remembered and journaled and went, oh, I need to go thank that person. Right? Because we move on too quickly sometimes. And it's those opportunities to thank me. I called him, I think I referenced Dr. Hal Kushner as my medical angel in the book. But I just, like, he showed up for me over and over again. And I think you're my little gift today too.

[00:35:31] I journal every day and I do a recording of my journal. It always starts, Dear as God. And I, that is a part of my gift I give people at 21 days above the line living. And I'm just met with my book editor and publisher before I jumped on this podcast. So I'm writing my book too. And it brings tears to my eyes.

[00:35:57] I didn't even think about doing an audio book and reading it out loud. That's like taking your life and putting it into this courageous story of going into your cells, going into your DNA. Oh, I'm so happy for you. Okay. Oh, I, I, not this podcast. I just want to pause for a minute and say thank you God for this podcast.

[00:36:26] Because every guest that comes on here has a gift for me and you've just given me mine. So thank you. So, Diana, you know, your courage, your compassion, your commitment,

[00:36:47] your honor of serving others as well as yourself is a very profound, I believe, miraculous, meaningful contribution to the world. And a very sacred gift.

[00:37:04] So thank you for showing up as a love-inspired leader and what that truly looks like and feels like and behaves like and speaks like. And I just want the audience to not only be inspired at this moment. I want you to re-watch this, take notes, write some things down.

[00:37:31] How can you integrate and implement this into your own way of living as a love-inspired leader, as a mother, as a service provider, as in your business? If you're a business leader, a lot of my audience is. As well as just your neighbor. Or when you walk along the path to serve people.

[00:37:59] I mean, this has an amazing opportunity to ripple effect and really have an impact on the world. So I just thank you for saying yes. I felt honored. I knew it was going to be good. And it was good. So thank you for your story, your heart, and your leadership with us today.

[00:38:23] And for my audience, I just want to let you know that that 21-day sacred insight journey is my gift to you. It's my journal that I write in the morning.

[00:38:34] And then it's me and my pajamas between 5.30 and 6 doing an audio recording of my take on that to contribute to your life as a love-inspired leader and give you an opportunity to do reflection, journal prompts I have in there, and a real pathway to presence, your purpose, and that inner peace and freedom.

[00:39:02] So Diana, how can my audience be able to connect with you and your work as well as the book? So I would give two ways. Sorry. My allergy voice kicks in. LinkedIn is one way to find me under Diana Fretz. And then my website is grit, U-I-U-Q dot com.

[00:39:27] And on my website, you can see information about my journey, my book, and also click a form there if you want to get in touch with me. Beautiful, beautiful. And on Facebook, too, I understand. Yes. LinkedIn and Facebook. Beautiful. And to the listeners here, I want to leave you with this.

[00:39:46] Where might your imperfections or limitations or challenges or obstacles that you're facing right now be pointing you towards your greatest strength this week? I want you to leave and percolate and be curious about that question. So thank you once again, Diana, for joining me.

[00:40:10] And thank you to my audience for your dedication to yourself and to being a love-inspired leader. Take good care. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:40:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:41:11] Thank you. Remember, love isn't just a feeling. May be your THIS WOKE. Trします. When you lead with love, you unlock abundance, fulfillment, and a living legacy that truly matters.

[00:41:39] If today's episode stirred something in your soul, share it with someone who's ready to aim higher. Receive our transformational Aim High Business Breakthrough Checklist that is your opportunity to be all you can be in 30 days.

[00:42:02] Keep holding your vision, anchoring your truth, and take intentional inspired action. Because love is all there is. And it's the greatest prosperity you'll ever know. Until next time, I'm Carolyn Cooper. Keep letting love lead your life forward.