The Exchanges

Q Yeah. Um, Sadie, before, before we get to our cause, I want to ask you a couple questions, you know, especially about this idea of explaining something new to people, right? So, so what, what do you remember that, like, what was the story you told people around bar? Like, how did you set it apart from other workouts and convince people to, to try it?

A So the first was the name bar three isn't a descriptor name. It's not clear what it is. So right under bar three, we had an exercise studio. And then right under that, we had our descriptor tagline, which explained it, where ballet bar meets yoga and Pilates. That whole conversation of figuring out the hierarchy of that, we took a lot of time on because we knew that When people drive by our studio, or in our case, walk by our studio on the beautiful teak boardwalk in the Pearl District, that the name and the descriptor had to work really hard for us, enough so that they would come in. Um, and then it was figuring out, okay, what is the main problem I'm solving for this consumer as they walk in the door? And I really learned to reflect back whatever I saw. So if it was a young woman pregnant, I would say, wow, I just had two babies. Um, I built this workout based on, you know, rebuilding your body and being present and purposeful in this moment of being pregnant. You know, I really started to storytell around, um, what the product was based on who was in front of it.

AI assessment note: “we had our descriptor tagline, which explained it, where ballet bar meets yoga and Pilates.”

Q brought in other owners, franchise owners, who you I had to kind of train in the culture of bar three. I love that you talk about leadership as an ongoing process. I think that's exactly right. But when you started out, right, I mean, I mean, people probably look to you for guidance. How did you start to figure out how to do that, how to present as a leader?

A I didn't consciously think, okay, how am I going to be a leader? I showed up true every single day. I think I attracted people who were already interested in what we were doing and had a deep understanding of bar three. Before I really needed to train them. And so it was, for me, it was more of an investigation about what do you see in bar three? Like, how do you think this could grow? What would this look like in your community in Bend, Oregon, or Seattle, or, or Manila? You know, how would bar three work in your community and in your life? And those kinds of questions, I think for one thing, the burden was lifted from my shoulders of having all the answers, but also it ignited a culture of collaboration. And ownership, literally and figuratively, and I think that's why, um, you know, we were able to rise pretty quickly.

AI assessment note: “for me, it was more of an investigation about what do you see in bar three?”

Q I love that you're reminding us, anyone watching, that you are an introvert, because you are also such a public face of Bar Three, and, and anyone who knows Bar, um, and Bar Three knows Sadie, um, and, and, and have you also been leading exercise classes, fitness classes?

A Yeah, I continue to. I've done, uh, well, I did a bunch of live stream ones on Instagram. Honestly, those are my favorite classes I've ever taught, ever. Um, they were, because I was so raw and real in my living room with, um, my sons, who's 14, was the camera guy. Um, my, my daughter and my dog were the, like, backup dancers. You know, Chris would jump in every once in a while, and, Um, you know, I just taught what was present for me in my heart. I didn't choreograph anything. I just was like, literally, Gave everybody the same experience I needed, and there was just a sense of, like, togetherness that felt so good for me, and honestly, being in my home as an introvert felt really good, too. Um, yeah, and I'll, I just had our first class. We just opened Cedar Mill, and we're testing opening Cedar Mill here in Portland, Oregon. It's our biggest studio, and we have a garage door that opens, and I, um, I had four people in class. It felt like 2008 when I first opened. I kept saying it over and over again. Um, I, I really feel like I'm opening again for the first time with a whole lot of wisdom. Um, but it really feels like the beginning again. It really is a new start for, for me and all of us here at Bar Three. It's pretty amazing.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, I continue to. I've done, uh, well, I did a bunch”

Q Um, was it right away? Was it like a hit? Did people, were people like lining up to come in? Was it a curiosity?

A Yeah. Before I even opened our studio, I taught free classes upstairs of what is now Whole Foods, but at the time it was Wild Oats, and I'll never forget the day we finally got our permit to open the doors. I sent out an email to the community that was coming to my free classes, and I said, hey, I got my certificate of occupancy. I'm going to teach a class tonight. And I thought maybe a couple people would show up, you know, my friends, my good friends that I'd made, um, 12 people showed up and paid that night. And I sent out the email at two, and I think I taught at five 45. And I will never forget that moment. The sun was coming in. I played my opening song with Seal Amazing. And to this day, when I hear that song, it's such a visceral memory of This is going to work.

AI assessment note: “12 people showed up and paid that night. And I sent out the email”

Q And when you got into, when you decided to open a bar studio, there were competitors out there, right? So did you think, how, how, how were you able to say, well, we're going to be different this way or attract customers by doing this?

A Yeah, so we moved to Portland, a conscious decision where there was no bar, um, around us, and I loved using the ballet bar, I loved the isometric work of Lottie Burke, and the small movements, and the music, but I wanted to create a studio that instead of being something, being the answer, being a methodology, I didn't want to be the Sadie Lincoln method, or the bar three method, I just wanted it to be an exercise experience, From the very beginning, in our instructor manual, the very first sentence is, the one thing that never changes at bar three is we're always changing. At the very beginning of class, almost every instructor will start by saying, welcome to bar three. I give you full permission to do something different than I say. Your only job is to listen, not to me, but yourself. I'm your guide. We're gonna turn the music on. I'm gonna show you how to align your body, and then I want you to make it your own.

AI assessment note: “instead of being something, being the answer, being a methodology, I didn't want to”

Q Um, was it right away? Was it like a hit? Did people, were people like lining up to come in? Was it a curiosity?

A Yeah. Before I even opened our studio, I taught free classes upstairs of what is now Whole Foods, but at the time it was Wild Oats. And I'll never forget the day we finally got our permit to open the doors. I sent out an email to the community that was coming to my free classes. And I said, hey, I got my certificate of occupancy. I'm going to teach a class tonight. And I thought maybe a couple people would show up, you know, my friends, my good friends that I'd made, um, 12 people showed up and paid that night. And I sent out the email at two, and I think I taught at five 45. And I will never forget that moment. The sun was coming in. I played my opening song with Seal Amazing. And to this day, when I hear that song, it's such a visceral memory of This is going to work.

AI assessment note: “12 people showed up and paid that night. And I sent out the email”

Q How do you make sure that the, that the team around you can tell you when you You're not doing a good job or when you're making a mistake. I mean, especially when you are a leader. Sadie, how about you? I mean, you, you also work with Chris, your husband, he's a co-founder, but you've got a team around you. How do you, how do you stay in check?

A Well, I've learned that the most rich and rewarding professional relationships are one where we can establish safe space to check each other. Mutually, respectfully do it, and I invite that, and I've learned to invite it often. I do think that, um, it's important to realize in my role that no one can fire me. I'm the founder. I have complete ownership of Bar Three. It's my job to kind of fire myself. If I'm not taking the time to investigate, where do I need to improve? Um, you know, did I show up with our core values today? Um, am I asking the right questions? You know, oh, I'm falling back into that pattern where I'm interrupting. I'm going to work on that. You know, I have a dialogue with myself.

AI assessment note: “establish safe space to check each other. Mutually, respectfully do it, and I invite that”

Q I was talking to a friend of mine who's a fitness instructor, and just kind of talking about what this means for the future. I mean, is the future of fitness virtual or kind of a hybrid virtual and in-person?

A Well, what I know is that humans crave connection and being together. It's a basic human need, and we know this. This is data-based, right? Loneliness is taking us down. It is an illness. In fact, loneliness is as much a predictor of our longevity as smoking is now. We need to come together in community, and when you come together in a group with music and alignment and, in a sense, Like this empowering physical experience that fights lonely. So I don't think the in person experience is going away and the digital model is here to stay. So many of us have learned that, oh my gosh, I don't need to drive across traffic. Um, you know, for a 45 minute class that takes me 45 minutes to get there. I can press play during nap time and get my workout in right here, and that's, that's really liberating, right? Um, really meeting people where they are and where they need to be, and also some people don't feel comfortable being in public. I know on my more introverted days, you know, I'd rather be literally and figuratively at home in my body, uh, and have more permission to make it my own, and honor what's right for me in that moment, and I think We're, we've all, literally, everybody in the world has learned that in the last two months.

AI assessment note: “I don't think the in person experience is going away and the digital model is here to stay”

Q and raw conversations, and this is part of your whole approach as a leader. A, are you able to do that, um, in the same way now virtually, and B, Have you started to convene those conversations around, around race, around your industry and race, um, and around ideas that, that you, you want to kind of bring out and uncomfortable conversations you want to have starting with your team?

A Yes. And I'm thankful that we have practiced this idea of circle in our organization for 12 years because we're primed in a way for this moment of holding space. And What I mean by that, just to go back to circle leadership, the, the role of circle leadership, me as a leader, if I'm holding a circle, if I'm, and you can just think about sitting around a dining room table, or around your boardroom table, or right now in Zoom. So yes, we're doing it through Zoom. Um, the job, your job is to listen, and to hold space so everybody is seen and heard, and not afraid to fail, not afraid to speak their truth, That builds community. It builds trust. It builds debate. It builds innovation. It ultimately builds culture because people on the team know, know in real practice that they're seen and they're heard. Everybody wants to be seen and heard and know they matter and that they're contributing. And right from the quarantine moments, that's what we did. We circled up on Zoom, and we allowed the tears to flow, the anger, the frustration, and the certainty of that connection. So we, we made a concerted effort to meet on Zoom in small groups, large groups, consistently. Flash forward to right now in this moment, like, I can't all of a sudden be an expert and have a plan, right? My job as a leader right now is really learning and understanding and listening Um, to the BIPOC community and spe…

AI assessment note: “So yes, we're doing it through Zoom... listening Um, to the BIPOC community”

Q You, and, and if you go to the website, I mean, you still are the face of it, and there are videos of you and, and, but you don't want to embrace that?

A Well, I did want it because the idea of growing and serving the company that way was really exciting to me, and to be able to get that kind of attention and to fuel our business was super exciting. I mean, it really helps. Soulfully, though, it went against my intuition about not being a guru, and I don't want to feed the messages that are already so loud. We've got the message. It's loud and clear everywhere. Yes, if you work out and you do these things, you're going to look like this, And I was getting trained by producers and stuff to say things. So while you're working out, you're always supposed to say you're working out this muscle so you can have a thinner waist for bikini season. You're doing this so that you can have this, you know, it sells like hotcakes. This is the way you're supposed to do it. And I tried it on for size. They also said, get hair and makeup, you know, get a stylist. So I did all that. So we have online workouts and there's this little era of online workouts where Where you can see where I did this change. We've pulled some of them, but I, I hired a makeup person. I started to be more self-conscious about what I wore on camera, and then I started to speak in a different language that was more like, quote unquote, results oriented, and under the videos, the people who were commenting, they were checking me. My clients, the people who are part of my mo…

AI assessment note: “Soulfully, though, it went against my intuition about not being a guru”

Q How much of, I ask pretty much everybody who's been on the show about this question, which is how much of what happened to you guys has to do with luck, and how much of it has to do with your skill and ability?

A Oh, gosh. I think timing was great for us. This boutique movement started, and people wanted connection and community. Um, I would, I'm a teacher, and group exercise became hot again. Um, moving to Portland in just the right moment, being shut out from all the noise, so we weren't competing with anyone. We, we can just do exactly what we needed to do, scratch our own itch. So that's luck in a way, that this movement, you know, at the right time. But a lot of hard work and inner work and paying our dues out there in the business world certainly was a part of this. Um, so it's, yeah, I think probably like most businesses, a combination of all those factors.

AI assessment note: “like most businesses, a combination of all those factors.”

Q How much of, I ask pretty much everybody who's been on the show about this question, which is how much of what happened to you guys has to do with luck, and how much of it has to do with your skill and ability?

A Oh, gosh. I think timing was great for us. This boutique movement started, and people wanted connection and community. Um, I would, I'm a teacher, and group exercise became hot again. Um, moving to Portland in just the right moment, being shut out from all the noise, so we weren't competing with anyone. We, we can just do exactly what we needed to do, scratch our own itch. So that's luck in a way, that this movement, you know, at the right time. But a lot of hard work and inner work and paying our dues out there in the business world certainly was a part of this. Um, so it's, yeah, I think probably like most businesses, a combination of all those factors.

AI assessment note: “I think probably like most businesses, a combination of all those factors.”

Q You, and, and if you go to the website, I mean, you still are the face of it, and there are videos of you and, and, but you don't want to embrace that?

A Well, I did want it because the idea of growing and serving the company that way was really exciting to me, and to be able to get that kind of attention and to fuel our business was super exciting. I mean, it really helps. Soulfully, though, it went against my intuition about not being a guru, and I don't want to feed the messages that are already so loud. We've got the message. It's loud and clear everywhere. Yes, if you work out and you do these things, you're going to look like this, And I was getting trained by producers and stuff to say things. So while you're working out, you're always supposed to say you're working out this muscle so you can have a thinner waist for bikini season. You're doing this so that you can have this, you know, it sells like hotcakes. This is the way you're supposed to do it. And I tried it on for size. They also said, get hair and makeup, you know, get a stylist. So I did all that. So we have online workouts and there's this little era of online workouts where Where you can see where I did this change. We've pulled some of them, but I, I hired a makeup person. I started to be more self-conscious about what I wore on camera, and then I started to speak in a different language that was more like, quote unquote, results oriented, and under the videos, the people who were commenting, they were checking me. My clients, the people who are part of my mo…

AI assessment note: “Soulfully, though, it went against my intuition about not being a guru”

Q sustainable. They are more or less breaking even every year. But that has enabled them to hire, you know, more than a thousand people. And, and, and there are lots of companies that Aren't as focused on profit, but are focused on sustainability and just creating jobs and creating careers for, for people. I mean, so it doesn't have to be about growth and expansion and growth and expansion, right?

A That's right. That's really what I love about my product is that we literally embody ideas in bar three. So we're teaching exercise, but we're embodying ideas. So stay with me for a second. I know this is strange to hear, but I think what you just said is so analogous to fitness. You can do a thirty-day extreme program with your body. You know, exercise every single day, eat nothing white, you know, drink tons of water, Get 10 hours of sleep every single day, you know, lift lots of weights, and get tremendous results that's, like, exciting, right? It's tremendous, like, change in your body. Is that sustainable to exercise every single day and to, to be that regimented and disciplined? Not for most people. It's a short-term outcome. And that is the story we're sold over and over again with fitness. The story, which is less intoxicating to a lot of people, but over time I think they really get it, is the sustainability model in the body. Exercising 10 minutes a day. Being in touch with the food you're eating. You know, that it's okay to drink a glass of wine. That relationships are just as healthy as exercise. And that developing a long-term relationship with exercise that's sustainable is actually Going to benefit your posture. You'll live longer. You'll, um, feel better in your skin. Yeah, you won't shed weight in 30 days necessarily, but in the long term you will.

AI assessment note: “That's right. That's really what I love about my product”

Q to Oregon, and you started again, and I think the thing you, you talked about at the time was how that personal crisis for you actually fostered innovation. That's really when you were, all your engines of creativity were on fire. I wonder if there's a parallel to, to this moment. I mean, it, do you sometimes feel that same kind of creative energy on your best days right now?

A 100%. You just nailed it with strong, clear constraints, a clear problem combined with purpose. And I would say an empowered team, innovation happens, creativity happens. And when I started bar three and really grew into bar three, I would say when I grew into bar three, Around maybe 2012. I realized, oh my gosh, we are so conditioned to exercise because we are manipulated for a long, long years and years and years of conditioning and manipulation around the fact that we should buy fitness so that we can change our body, change the shape of our body to fit into an ideal. That's imagined in the future. That's not us. Who is going to succeed in that model? So guy, I, that's what's happening right now for me with the black lives matter movement. I'm going to just skip to the punchline that I do. And my optimism around, I do believe we're going to innovate. I do believe we're going to change. I do believe that greatness will come out of this. And we are in the dark right now. We are in the hard stuff. Add similar to reckoning with that I was feeling not enough and shame around my own body and not living up to the ideal. I, I've got, I'm going through a lot of those same feelings, being very self-aware that I am a white woman in leadership with immense privilege. And confronting my own white bias around that, that has led to me unconsciously building a company of leaders who look a …

AI assessment note: “100%. You just nailed it with strong, clear constraints”

Q I Built This Summit, and I've Been able to see them and they are so powerful where you, you openly share your fears and joy and things about your life. What do you, I mean, not everybody wants to share that way, right? But I wonder when you do hold these leadership circles, what, what kind of information comes out that enables you to, to do what you do better?

A Yeah. Well, I like that you brought up that not everybody wants to share like that. And I think that's That's probably the most important thing about circle. Leadership circle is permission to pass. The only role in circle is that everyone's there and listening and connected. I mean, we've actually have had profound conversations like, what's your favorite item at Trader Joe's? You know, and it sounds like an icebreaker, but we add a little more structure to it, and it's a practice of being seen and heard, and Holding space with structure around circle leadership is a way to fight lonely. Often when we get around a table in a work setting, there are few people that have a voice, and, and usually the same kind of people who don't, and it's a way for everybody to have a voice in a structured way. You know, I do, I think it's so beautiful that both of my panel mates here talk To their employees on a soulful level about their life story, because I know that that's what we're all craving. I know that, you know, I think it's sad that we feel lonely at work. I think it's sad that we all feel like imposters, um, and that we have to leave our true self behind and show up with our power suits on and be our work self. Um, I don't think that helps build culture. I don't think that helps build innovation, um, I don't think it helps us problem solve. Um, you know, that old way of thinking in…

AI assessment note: “it's a practice of being seen and heard, and Holding space with structure”