Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career and life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside HER Collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because, honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Welcome to the Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors podcast, the podcast where we get real about the challenges that women face in work, life, and leadership. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, HR executive, keynote speaker, and executive coach, and I'm on a mission to get more women into positions of power and keep them there. This is the space where we call it the paradoxes. Being told to lean in but not too far, to speak up but not too loudly, be ambitious but not too ambitious.

Erica: Does that sound familiar? Yeah. We're over all that. Here, we break down the sticky floors that keep us stuck, from imposter syndrome and perfectionism to burnout and fear, and give you real strategies to shatter those glass ceilings once and for all. So if you're ready to rewrite the rules, own your power, and take your career and life to the next level, you're in the right place.

Erica: Now today's guest is tackling the belief that you have to be cutthroat to climb the corporate ladder, and she is here to prove that emotional intelligence is the ultimate power move in corporate America. What I love is that she isn't just talking about empathy. She's making it a core business function. Claude Silver is the Chief Heart Officer, CHO, at VaynerMedia, leading a global team of over 1,500 people. As the CHO, Claude focuses on the hearts, minds, and emotional well-being of the entire organization, redefining what sustainable high growth culture looks like.

Erica: And she knows the truth that in a fast paced, high pressure world, heart wins. Her mission is to unleash the potential of every single human by making sure they feel seen, heard, and valued. And she is the author of Be Yourself at Work. Claude, welcome to the show today. How are you?

Claude: I am great. Thank you for that intro. You can be my MC any day.

Erica: I'll be your MC, your PR. I can do it all. Right? But I wanna know, talk to me about this Chief Heart Officer role. What is this role? How did it come to be? What do you do? Tell me all the things.

Claude: You got it. So I work for an incredible guy that you may know of. His name is Gary Vaynerchuk. He's known as Gary V on social. And I met him in 2013 when I was in London working as a strategist at a big holding company agency. I'd always been in advertising, on the front lines doing digital strategy. I came to New York and I was one of probably the three oldest people here, and he was like, here you go, here's our biggest account, Unilever, here's 60 people, off you go.

Claude: Because I had the most work experience and lived experience at that time, he also had me doing a lot of things such as interviewing, hiring, terminating, putting people on growth plans, all of these things, going to other offices, feeling it out. When he would say, go to those other offices and check it out, I would say, okay, that's cool, but my client's in New Jersey. He would say, yeah, just go do that thing that you do. And that's when I realized, oh, Gary knew. He knew the essence of me.

Claude: That thing that you do is not just getting soap into your hands or toothpaste into your hands. So one thing led to another. And a year in, I said to him, you know what, I love this place, you're the best, but I don't wanna do advertising anymore. And he said, what do you wanna do? And I said, I only care about the people here. I care about the heartbeat. He said, I need you to do this job for eighteen more months, and he swears he does not remember me saying I'll give you six.

Claude: But I gave him six. I found my backfill, and I resigned. And he would tell you that as I'm resigning to him, which was so challenging, he was thinking of how can I bring her back. So three months later, we sit down, we have breakfast, and he said, that's it, you're gonna be Chief Heart Officer.

Claude: I knew what that was, because it's me. It just felt right. And I really feel like if you have a heart to help, and you're good with holding space for another person without getting too attached, and you're an empathetic person, you're a CHO. So during that breakfast, I said three things. One, you know I never wanted to do HR. And he said, yeah, well, you're gonna learn HR, then you're gonna hire a really strong team around you.

Claude: Two, how do we know if I'm successful? And he said, you will touch every single human being and infuse the agency with empathy. We were about three fifty then. We're 2,000 globally now. And then I said, what are we building here? And he said, we are building the single greatest human organization in the history of time. And I said, sign me up. I am there. That is how we got to heart.

Claude: When I said, I care about the heartbeat here, that meant the culture. That meant the vibe. That meant the frequency. That meant the chatter that's in the hallway. That meant what's going on in the kitchen. That meant, do people care about one another. So that's what it is. And my job is really to not only set, but to live in and execute, I would say, the emotional framework of this place across the lands. And so that takes a lot of scaling me and a lot of scaling him and a lot of scaling emotional intelligence and a lot of one on ones and many group chats and travel and really making sure that what we talk about is in the water here.

Claude: It's not just talk, that we walk it. That when I say, be the bigger person, try to be the bigger person in every situation, and then give people skills and ideas how to do that, that it's done. And then people learn by watching. People learn from osmosis.

Erica: So I'm a fellow CHRO, but I like CHO. I'm here for that. And I think that the single most challenging thing for organizations is to truly own the culture. And I have found that in most organizations, the culture just happens, and then they end up with this toxic culture or a culture that is opposite of the values that the founders wanna reflect.

Erica: How are you guys working together to ensure that the emotional intelligence is fused from the top to the bottom, that everyone is really having that same heartbeat throughout the organization? What are your tips?

Claude: The first one is our hiring and who we look for and who we bring in. So when hiring, you're spending maybe three months looking for that right person, maybe six months. By the time that person who's at the top of our list has met with seven people, they're getting a lot of this dialogue. It is in our core competencies. Every single person in this organization, top to bottom, bottom to top, has core competencies.

Claude: They are foundational, communication, accountability, growth mindset, and leadership. And then functional, whatever your skills are needed for your actual job. So that is the first place people get that information. Orientation, an hour with me, could be 20 people on screen, could be 50, could be 10. A whole lot of how we think, why we think, and what the ROI is of that.

Claude: Then, while being immersed and onboarded to their team, we ask people to go meet 10 people. I'm gonna give you the names of 10 people, and Sally's gonna give you the names of 10 people. And in the next three to five months, meet with these people and listen to what they have to say. And what you will hear when I finally get to meet these people is, wow, everyone said this was a great culture. Everyone said this was a helpful, friendly culture.

Claude: I didn't really believe it, but yes, it is. Everyone has helped me. Every question I have, people have sat with me. They have walked me through why we think the way we do for social media. So they're getting it that way. Then I created Culture Champions in each and every office. Culture Champions are people just like you and me. They have a day job, but I know I can rely on them.

Claude: And people know they can be relied on. So if someone in London right now is having a hard time and I get Slacked, I'm not in London, I can't get on the phone with them right now, but I can tell you five people who I can Slack to say, can you take Charlie for a walk, he's having a rough time. Can you go rally a couple people next week and take Susie out for lunch. That kind of stuff. We have a Vayner citizen doc, but the most important thing is we don't have anything written on the wall that says you are empathetic or be the bigger person.

Erica: That drives me crazy.

Claude: Because it's not real.

Erica: You just throw some stuff up on the wall, and we hope you learn it, and we hope you do it. That's what I've seen historically.

Claude: Right. So you gotta live it. You gotta drink the water. It's not Kool-Aid. It's in the water here, and that's what Gary put it in the water sixteen years ago. It was a start up. Everyone else drank that water, put it back in the water, and then my job is to continue to co-cultivate that, co-fill that up with people. It's not just me. Replenishing the well.

Claude: It's everyone. And when I say to people in that orientation day that I have them, congratulations, you are just as responsible for this culture as I am. That's a great thing. You get to put your thumbprint on it. It's not just mine or his or hers. You now are invested, and we're invested in you.

Erica: I love that. Okay. So your book, Be Yourself at Work, how does that fit into all of this? Because I know it's from all of your lived and learned experiences and everything you've collected. So talk to me about what this book is about.

Claude: This book fundamentally is written for that person that continues to think they need to shape shift, hide themselves, pretend that they're someone else, code switch, everything else, just to get through the day. This is for that person that has Sunday scaries and their anxiety is through the roof because they know tomorrow is gonna suck because they are going to have imposter syndrome up the wazoo when someone asks them to do said job. After being in the working world for so long, and my self knowing and feeling I couldn't be myself for many, many years, I'm like, that's such a waste of time. It's not real.

Claude: It's something that we choose to put this mask on to feel safe. We feel like we need to protect ourselves. We're immediately, proactively, don't come near me. That's just not how it has to be. However, when you're in a workplace that is domineering, full of fear, top down micromanagement, of course you feel like you need to hide. You need to put a shell on. And the workplaces are changing. Our five generations in the workplace are completely different from one another.

Claude: However, this Gen Z and Gen Alpha, they are changing it for the better. They will not tolerate what a Gen Xer like myself tolerated. They are not going to say, I need to leave at 3PM because I just need to leave. They're gonna say, I have therapy at 3PM. They're gonna say, I'm gonna go see my ADHD coach at 4PM. Bye. I won't be in until twelve because I've got therapy. Later. It's so different.

Claude: So, basically, the book is all about how can I, as a human being, feel better in this workplace. And by the way, it's not only the workplace, it's life. These are all what you would call necessary life skills that I'm teaching, tools that I got. First, I need to figure out myself. So it takes you on this journey of, listen, you are the CEO of you. Get some self awareness. What makes you tick? What makes you twitch?

Claude: Learn how to self regulate. Then, who are you on a team? Conflict resolution. Teaching others how to self regulate. Appreciation circles, what are the seven citizen traits of a team. And then you, as a leader, cultivating the culture and leading an enormous team. So it's a journey. This book is a journey. And what I really wanted was for anyone to be able to pick up this book and get something out of it, no matter who they are.

Claude: C-suite, teacher, first job, whatever. It's an easy read. I think it's a real fun read. And what I wanted was this to be chock full of just easy practical things to do. I'm not a PhD person. I don't speak in PhD talk. So I just wanted people to be able to say, oh yeah, let's start every Monday morning meeting with an appreciation circle. That's easy. It would take five minutes.

Erica: I love that. You had me at shape shift, code switch, and Sunday scaries. I was like, check, done all those things. And I love that you talk about it really starts with figuring out yourself. Because if I look back through my journey, I never stopped to figure out who I was. It was all about, what I'm supposed to do, I should be doing this, getting the degree, the next degree, getting married, having 2.5 kids, climbing a ladder all the way to the top.

Erica: And it wasn't until there were no more rungs for me to climb on that ladder that I was like, what am I doing. And it was only then that I actually stopped. And I think that there are so many people out there that are probably not these Gen Zs and Gen Alphas. They've got their stuff together a lot more than we do. But if we could just stop and figure out those things, because it is about authenticity, it's about owning your superpowers.

Erica: And I think, one of these questions for you, especially around being the Chief Heart Officer in all that you do, I think a lot about women being labeled as too emotional. And you argue that emotional intelligence is a critical leadership skill, and I agree. So how do we get women to recognize that this paradox exists, and how can they leverage their EQ, their emotional intelligence, as their superpower?

Claude: That's the million dollar question. First and foremost, it's seeing that emotional intelligence as a superpower. How do you do that? Put reminders up all over your house if you need to. Put sticky notes. I am powerful. I am emotional. I am driven, whatever it is. Claim it. Claim it. Don't let it claim you, because if you let it claim you, it will be soft skills.

Claude: That's the thing. Own the fact that you are vulnerable. Own the fact that your vulnerability brings people together. Own the fact that you are very, very good at holding space for another person. Why? Because you know it's not about you. Own this. You have to reframe this entire ballgame here. Otherwise, the workplace will frame it for you, and you will be emotional. You will be, oh, she's too sticky and sweet for that one.

Claude: So you absolutely have to claim it for yourself and see it as a superpower. And then reframe it. And then put up mantras. Put up whatever you need to do. Reminders. I am a big reminder girl for myself. I need to see things in order to really, oh yeah, that's right.

Claude: And then walk the walk. Be yourself. And don't stop. That doesn't mean let all your emotions leak out onto the floor. I'm saying figure out your emotions and regulate them.

Erica: Well, yes, emotional regulation is key, but I am extremely excited about this age of AI in the world that we live in because I think that this is our time to shine as women. Because in the age of AI, everything is automated, everything except emotional intelligence.

Erica: So now, in my opinion, that next greatest asset, it's not necessarily your digital literacy, but it's going to be your empathy skills and your connection skills in the age of AI. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

Claude: Bingo. Bingo. Bingo. I took a bunch of people out to dinner the other day. They're probably in their third or fifth year of a career. And one of the younger women looks at me and she says, your job's always gonna be safe. And I said, oh, why do you say that? She says, because of what you do. Because it's human touch. And I said, thank you. I believe that to be true.

Claude: AI, fantastic. It can tell me how to be empathetic. I need someone to show me, walk me through it. What am I doing? What am I not doing? AI is fantastic. It can give me a whole bunch of literacy on what Brene Brown says about being vulnerable. And that's awesome. But how do I actually do it? You have to touch people. And that is the truth. Women are incredible at showcasing emotional intelligence.

Claude: And so, continue to do that. I wanted this book to do exactly what I want all of us to do, which is be that hand on someone's shoulder that says, I got you, and you got this. That is one of the most empowering things I can think of. You now know you have a safety net, and I'm gonna be here for you, but you have everything you need to go and to do.

Erica: Hey there, listeners. If you have ever felt like you're stuck in a place, held back by self doubt, perfectionism, or that pesky inner critic, you're not alone. We all face those sticky floors that keep us from reaching the heights we dream of. But guess what, it's time to shatter those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities.

Erica: My book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, is your ultimate guide to smashing through barriers, overcoming limiting beliefs, and stepping into your full potential. This book has been endorsed by none other than the great Mel Robbins, best selling author and motivational powerhouse. It's also been featured in Success Magazine, so you know it's packed with insights that work. Inside, you'll find real life sticky floor stories, practical strategies to help you navigate your own sticky floor moments, and a whole lot of inspiration to keep you climbing. This isn't just a book. It's your road map to success, confidence, and freedom. Grab your copy of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors today at www.ericaandersonrooney.com. Whether you're in the boardroom, the classroom, or just starting out, this book is for you, because no one deserves to stay stuck, no one deserves to feel small, and you have glass ceilings to shatter. Let's do this.

Erica: And I think the value on that, in this age of the machines and the robots and all of that, and again, I'm an AI queen, I love that stuff. But I love that you contrast it to, it can tell you exactly how to be empathetic in a very nice bulleted list, but it actually can't sit there with you and hold your hand in a tough conversation. It can't walk you through a reduction in force and how to actually make your people feel seen, heard, and respected at one of the hardest times of their lives.

Claude: Exactly. I can say, start the meeting like this, and then I won't be human. It might say start the meeting with compassion. Well, what happens if the person doesn't even know what compassion is or how to be a compassionate listener?

Claude: So I love AI. I absolutely do. I'm getting such a kick out of it. It's here just like the internet came and kicked up our world. Here we are. And I love it. And I just think it's incredibly important now more than ever to just show your humanity.

Erica: Absolutely. That's perfect for my next question, which is all about fierce empathy. I wanna know what fierce empathy looks like when you are delivering tough feedback or managing conflict or letting somebody go. And I want to know from your perspective, Claude, how do leaders balance this radical candor with real genuine care?

Claude: Well, let's reverse engineer for a second. The genuine care has to be felt first and foremost. That has to be in your culture. The authenticity of people, the warmth, the friendliness, the connection, that already has to be in your culture. You can't have candor and then all of a sudden try to add nice over here, because you have to have that already. It has to be something that people feel and people also produce and emanate. That's the first thing. So if you have, and that's why we call it kind candor here.

Claude: If you have the kindness first, you know what it's like when I say, hey, be the bigger person here. You know that I'm telling you to have accountability. Be the bigger person in this situation. You know right there, I'm saying, please don't point fingers at someone else. Point thumbs at yourself first.

Claude: Then if you have that as your soil, you know I already care about you. We already have a relationship. We've already connected. I wanna be truthful with you. I wanna tell you what your vulnerabilities are right now in this job. I wanna tell you where you're hitting the mark and where you're really off. And I have to be honest with you. I have to say things like that. Like, Erica, you've been here for three years, and they've been incredible. And you have done this, that, and started this group, and that's fantastic. And I really need to tell you that I need you to focus more on your output, your work output. What do you mean, Claude? Okay, well, let me give you some specifics.

Claude: And then, let me give you some ideas of how to act on that. So you have the kindness, you have the warmth, you have the connection, because that's what feedback is. It's connection, not correction. Who am I to correct you?

Claude: So you're like, okay, I can only give you my subjective feedback on your headband. I don't know if I'm right or wrong. I'm not a subject matter expert in it. However, if you know that I'm coming from a place where I want you to grow, I want you to thrive, and I want you to be here forever, if you believe that to be true, then you know when I'm giving you hard feedback, it's coming from that place of I believe you can do this. Now that's different than a performance plan or a growth plan.

Claude: I don't know if the person's gonna be able to do this. And so that's gonna be a slightly different conversation, and we're gonna create micro action steps along the way rather than, Erica, I need to see your output, blast through the waters, I'm gonna check in with you in thirty days. If I'm on a performance plan, you're on a performance plan, I'm gonna be checking in with you every Friday, to see if you're even getting it. So it all has to come from care.

Claude: That is the thing I can say. It all has to come from, I'm telling you this not because I'm smarter than you. I'm telling you this because I care and I want you to grow as your manager.

Erica: That's so powerful. And that leads me to my next thought, and it stems around the inner critic, because I know so many people that they get feedback like this, and even if it is delivered in the most caring, kind, and genuine way, we tend to then really struggle with that inner critic saying, oh my gosh, I really am not meant to be here, all of those things that I ever thought about myself, they're all true. What advice do you have for women on really shutting down the self doubt that prevents them from taking big leaps and doing big things?

Claude: Yeah, this is exactly what I talk about in the book, and it's in a chapter called Labels Are for Soup Cans. And within that chapter, I talk about the LIE exercise. Because that voice inside our head is lying to us. 85, 90% of these thoughts in my head, in all of our heads, they're negative. And almost 99% are on repeat. I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck. I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be here.

Claude: Tell me, what's the evidence? Show me. And so that's how you combat the imposter syndrome, basically. If I say to you, Erica, maybe I just shouldn't be here, I'm just not smart enough, I'm not picking up on this stuff quick enough, I'm slow, Claude, tell me a time in which you're not smart enough. Well, you just told me I'm not smart enough. No, I didn't. I told you I needed to see you work on your output. Not smart enough. So we have to find that lie.

Claude: We have to find proof that it is not true. No, Claude, you've been here for three years, you're smart, we want you here. We just wanna see you get better at the output rather than spending so much time in the minutia. Then what I need to do, because I have to replace this now, if I've taken it out of my head there's an emptiness and my brain's gonna want something to chew on real quick. What is true? The truth is I'm a different kind of learner.

Claude: The truth is, it takes me writing something down in order to understand and take it in. The truth is, I have let my calendar rule my life, and in fact, I'm in charge of my calendar. A number of trillion things, but you have to find the thing that's gonna light you up. So if you said to me, yeah, I'd love to work on my output, but I don't have enough time in my day, well, okay, let's go through your calendar. What are you doing? Do you need to be at this meeting every day, and do you need to be at this meeting? Okay, that's an hour you just found. What are we gonna put in there? You own your calendar. I've told you, you have to work on this. What are you gonna put in there now?

Claude: You need, whether or not you do it yourself or you do it with a partner, which I absolutely advocate for, you need to be able to put the right type of affirmation in your head when you take out that limiting belief.

Erica: And you're replacing it, finding, replacing, but doing it with factual information.

Claude: Yeah, evidence. Factual that you can actually quantify. That is true. We did win that pitch because of the copy I wrote. Whatever.

Erica: I love that. And I'm a science bat girl, so looking for the proof is what has helped me get over every hurdle that I've ever had. And even if it's not like the fake it till you make it stuff where it's like, I can do that. No, I will give myself that. I've done this. I may not have done that yet, but I will.

Claude: Yet. The yet is so important. The yet because the yet says, I can and I will, just like you did. You have to say things to yourself that are going to propel you forward, not sink your ship, that add to you, that radiate you. It's like what I tell my seven year old to do to her four year old sister, which is, you need to shine the sun on her, not put her down. Be a sun. Be a ray of sun. Be light. And that's what we need to do for ourselves, and it's real hard.

Claude: In this day and age, it's even harder because there is a lot of negativity and scarcity model everywhere you look. Well, there's so much abundance in the world. We just choose to be like, oh, I'm so small.

Erica: Yes, we do. And I think it's just natural for humans to go straight to the negative, especially in the absence of information. And that leads me to my next question for you, which is, what do you think is gonna be the single most critical nontechnical skill of tomorrow that we need to embrace?

Claude: I do think it's empathy, and I'll tell you what goes into empathy. Kindness and compassion, obviously. Understanding how to be a listener. Don't talk all the time. Listen. And you can listen with more than your ears. I'm looking at you, at your body language. What is your body language telling me? You're nodding and leaning forward. You're here. You're here with me. That doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. That's just me saying, oh, she's with me here. She's on my team.

Claude: That's what I mean. And also, knowing how to ride with someone on their journey, but not take it on. So empathy, I do not think empathy is putting my feet into your shoes, because I just can't. I'm a size seven and a half, an eight. You're a size seven. It's not gonna work. I cannot jump into your lived experience. I can't.

Erica: Technically, I'm a size ten. I got big feet, clogged, and big shoes to fit, but I love that piece of sitting with them but not taking it on. And so I wanna ask you, how do I do more of that?

Claude: You put your ego in the back seat, my friend. It's not about you. It's about them. You're not here to save the day. You're here to help them save their own day.

Erica: Yeah.

Claude: You know, we all have wonderfully intentioned codependent habits. I can fix you. I know I can fix you.

Erica: And I know you want me to fix you.

Claude: Yes, exactly. But guess what? I'm not gonna fix you, but I'm gonna be right next to you. If you will let me stand next to you on your journey, I will be there to support you and to cheer you on, and maybe I'll have some options and advice. But at the end of the day, this is your road to travel. But I wanna be there with you and for you.

Erica: What's your biggest hope for the book?

Claude: My biggest hope for the book is people take this book in and they say, oh yeah, I am enough, I can do this, this is easy. I learned how to do this in fifth grade. I learned how to do this when I was on the playground at five years old. It's not that hard. However, when we're in the workplace and there's all these politics and people trying to one up each other, it does get hard. Why? Because people are messy.

Erica: People are, everything, I love that your friend said that you're always gonna have a job because of the heart, because I've always said I will always have a job because people be crazy.

Claude: That's right. Myself included. I just am very good at containing my crazy in the workplace. And what, see me at home, I might be a different person.

Erica: Might be a little wild. Might be a little crazy at that point.

Claude: I might. My voice might get raised when my kids do not brush their teeth for the third time I've asked them in three minutes. But that's the thing about the workplace. But anything, everything is solvable. There are solutions for pretty much everything except for someone's health.

Erica: What would be your advice then if there's a woman and she's working for a company that's maybe not as evolved as the one you lead, and they don't feel as if they can show up as themselves at work? What would your advice be there?

Claude: Yeah, I've been there, by the way. My advice is don't change your stripes. Continue to be who you are in the pockets where you feel like you can be who you are. If you are a natural champion for others or a natural mentor, continue to do that. People will find you. It's just true.

Claude: People say, oh, have you talked to Erica lately, she's such a good listener. That is true. The whole agency doesn't need to know that, but one or two people, keep doing that. You wanna start a book club? The whole agency doesn't need to know that. Start it with your four friends on Slack. Don't change who you are. I never changed who I was. I just didn't outwardly show who I was, but I didn't change who I was. Always been me.

Erica: Just don't change your strength. I think that's a powerful piece of it, because it's not new that you can't show up as all pieces of you in the workplace, nor does anyone want you to, especially as a CPL. Let's be clear. I think we need that divide between work and personal, but it doesn't mean that you have to change, you just don't let it all your crazy show.

Claude: That's exactly it. And by the way, if some of that crazy slips out, you just take ownership of it. I'm so sorry, I got triggered there when you raised your voice at me, and it made me freak out. Sorry, I wasn't my best today, I had a really rough night of sleep. I need to know that. Sorry, I'm not my best right now, my father's in hospice.

Erica: That makes a lot of sense now, right? That's what I'm just talking about.

Claude: Yes, a hundred percent.

Erica: Oh my gosh, I love that. Well, Claude, where can people find you? How can they get in touch with you? Where can they buy your book? This is an amazing book. Everyone needs to check it out. We all need to be able to be more of ourselves at work. So Claude, spill it, what are the deets?

Claude: Alright, go to beyourselfbook.com. Download the first chapter for free. Start there. Buy it for your team. That's what I would say. There's tons of bonuses. You buy five books, ten books, fifty books, tons of bonuses, tons of toolkits I'll send you, tons of me time. Go to my website, claudsilver.com. LinkedIn, write me. I write everyone back that reaches out. But more than anything, get this book. It's easy to read, and it's literally just to be that hand on your shoulder that's like, you got this, girl. You got this.

Erica: And we all need our hand on that shoulder. That is for sure. Claude, thank you so much for joining us today. If today's conversation lit a fire under you, here's your next move. Don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with a friend, drop a review, and let's keep the conversation going. Remember that your potential, it's limitless, and the only thing standing in your way are those sticky floors. But guess what, you have the power to break through them. So go out there, take up space, and let's shatter some ceilings together. Thanks, Claude.