Intrepic is a mash-up of Intrepid and Epic.  The DNA is in my story of building and leading Redemption Plus for 24+ years and always searching for what was next as we evolved into a purpose-driven company.  During a process that took over 6 months, we led storytelling sessions where our stakeholders told stories of meaning that happened while working for R+.  In the end, the word Intrepic emerged, and eventually it was clear that Intrepic was my calling and the next iteration of my purpose.

On March 12th of 2020, I had the opportunity to sit at a beautiful and purposeful dinner with Author, Speaker, Facilitator & Coach, Nilima Bhat, hosted by Staci Cross of Enjoy Pure Food + Drink.  This dinner was held during Nilima’s visit to Kansas City as part of a world tour from her home in Mumbai, India. She had spoken the night before at a Conscious Capitalism Kansas City event on Leadership in a VUCA* world.  When the event was scheduled we had no idea how important this topic would be as our world was closing by the minute due to the pandemic created by COVID 19.  During this dinner, Nilima told us that she believed that the pandemic was the kindest and most gentle way mother nature could get our attention and allow us to change in a way that would allow the earth and us to thrive.  That statement alone had me on edge and my skin tingling as I could not help but have concern for what this meant for the company I was leading, Redemption Plus.  Then Nilima said to me, “you are aware that you have outgrown your business”?  

* Volatile - Uncertain - Complex - Ambiguous

Many things went through my mind at that moment.  The first being, no I was not aware of that I had outgrown my business (or was I deep down).  The second being, even if that was true, how would I ever unencumber myself from this business that I has started almost 24 years ago and built into an industry leader with a team of people that I loved and adored?  I felt fear, anxiety, and unshakable discomfort that Nilima was right.

To understand what happened next, we must go back to September of 2019.  R+ was preparing for our annual Purpose Pow Wow.  This was a full day, all-hands company experience where we dialed into how we were fulling our purpose and looking at the best of what had been, what was, and what could be.  For this year's event, I had asked my coach and friend, Steve Havill of Conscia Ventures to facilitate and be our keynote speaker.  He said yes but challenged our thinking as he shared this new framework he was learning.  I trusted Steve and was headed on vacation so I connected Steve and our Pow Wow team then got out of the way.  They had spent hours & hours planning or what I would now call designing with Jon Berghoff founder of Xchange Approach and Jeff Bouwman of Adaptive Growth Systems.  I mentioned all these names because they are rock stars in my mind but at that time, all I knew was that I trusted Steve Havill and my team.  When September rolled around, I learned that Jeff was coming to KC with Steve to lead our event.  The night before Steve and Jeff arrived at my house for a communal dinner and connection.  

After dinner, they briefed me by sharing a loose agenda and that I was going to open the day, then take a seat and participate with my team.  Then I would close at the end of the day.  That’s all they needed from me.

What happened that day made my head spin, my heart full, and gave me hope and fuel for our future.  All the things that I, as the visionary had in mind for the future of R+ had seemed like noise to everyone who felt they had their plates more than full keeping business as usual flowing much less making major shifts to be more aligned with our stakeholders.  As the day ended, the entire company turned to me and said let's go.  My wish list was now their wish list and the energy shifted from me pulling them to them pulling me.  In addition, there were tears of joy and stories of how much impact our company was making on those stakeholders.  I was told by three women who were speaking English as their second language that they had never felt so seen & heard before.  It felt transformational!

It decided almost immediately that we (my then Co-COO’s and me) would join the next Xchange Approach session that lined up with us was April of 2020!

You can probably imagine how much the world shifted between September 2019 and April 2020.  By the time that event was ready to kick-off, the family entertainment industry had completely shut down; we went from sales in the millions each month to a few thousand dollars.