In this episode, I’m joined by leadership guide Lisa Foulger for a gentle yet powerful conversation about what animals can teach us about leadership and business. We explore the wisdom in slowing down, the power of presence, and how reconnecting with nature can shift the way we lead, work, and live.
From her life in Costa Rica to her insights on the Inner Development Goals, Lisa offers a refreshing, nature-inspired perspective that invites entrepreneurs to embrace a more sustainable, mindful, and humane way of doing business.
In this episode, we discussed…
- What sparked Lisa’s interest in discovering leadership lessons from animals.
- Why the sloth became her animal of focus—and what makes it such a powerful and unexpected teacher for leadership and business.
- The cultural obsession with hustling—and how adopting a sloth-like approach can lead to more humane, sustainable business practices.
- Lisa’s life in Costa Rica, and whether Costa Ricans relate to nature differently than people in more industrialized parts of the world.
- The Western tendency to separate nature from work—and how we can gently bring nature back into our leadership and business practices.
- The role of mindfulness and slowing down in building a business world that’s more sustainable, kind, and connected.
- How Costa Rica is pioneering the application of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) at a national level—and what that looks like in daily life and leadership.
- A simple, nature-inspired step that listeners can take today to bring more wisdom and presence into how they lead.
Lisa’s Resources
Sarah’s Resources
(FREE) Sarah’s One Page Marketing Plan
(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto
(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course
Marketing Like We’re Human – Sarah’s book
Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course
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Email Sarah at sarah@sarahsantacroce.com
Thanks for listening!
After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There’s no opt-in. Just an instant download.
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Warmly,
Sarah
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Leadership Lessons from Animals
Sarah: hello, humane marketers. welcome back to the humane marketing podcast. the place to be for the generation that cares. this is a show where we talk about running your business in a way that feels good to you, is aligned with your values, and also resonates with today’s conscious customers because it’s humane, ethical, and non pushy. i’m sarah senecroce, your hippie turned conscious business coach for quietly rebellious entrepreneurs and change makers, mama bear of the humane marketing circle, and renegade author of marketing like we’re human, selling like we’re human, and soon also my third book, business like we’re human. if after listening to the show for a while, you’re ready to move on to the next level and start implementing and would welcome a community of like minded, quietly rebellious entrepreneurs who discuss with transparency what works and what doesn’t work in business, then we’d love to welcome you in our humane marketing circle. if you’re picturing your typical facebook group, let me paint a new picture for you. this is a closed community of like minded entrepreneurs from all over the world who come together in two meetups per month to hold each other accountable and build their business in a conscious and sustainable way. we all share with transparency and vulnerability what works and what doesn’t work in our business so that you can figure out what works for you, instead of keep throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. find out more at humane dot marketing forward slash circle. twice per year, i host my signature program, the marketing like we’re human, aka the client resonator program live. in a deep dive into the seven p’s of the humane marketing mandala, you will learn to market from within. this program is for you if you want and need to get more clients, but want to share your message in an ethical and humane way. if you want to make a difference with your work. if you are just starting out, or if you have been in business for a while, but haven’t really found the marketing activities that work for you. or also, if you are pivoting your business from business as usual to your life’s work and want to radically change the way you get clients. find out more at humane dot marketing forward slash program. and finally, if you prefer one on one support from me, my humane business coaching could be just what you need, whether it’s for your marketing, sales, general business building, or help with your big idea like writing a book. i’d love to share my brain and my heart with you together with my almost twenty years business experience and help you grow a sustainable business that is joyful and sustainable. if you love this podcast, wait until i show you my mama bear qualities as my one on one client. find out more at humane dot marketing forward slash coaching.
Sarah1: welcome back, friends. i am back from two amazing weeks in egypt. if you’re on my email list, you hopefully enjoyed the pictures i sent. it truly was amazing. and just in the last few days, a team of scientists from italy made a new discovery of gigantic structures underneath the giza plateau. they’re using some kind of radar technology, and they found pillars as tall as the eiffel tower. imagine that. i’m just so excited about all the new discoveries we’ll be making about our long lost ancestors and civilizations. to me, it it really is this passion about, yeah, what makes us human and how this all started. and and maybe it’s at the border of humans and, you know, some other kind of beings. but, anyway, if we ever meet at a cafe, well, i can talk about this for hours. but back to today’s conversation, which fits under the partnership. this time, we’re partnering with animals, and i’m talking to community member lisa folger. if you’re a regular here, you know that i’m organizing the conversations around the seven ps of the humane marketing mandala. and if you’re new here and don’t know what i’m talking about, you can download your one page marketing plan with the humane marketing version of the seven piece of marketing at humane.marketing/ 1 page. that’s the letter that’s the number one and the letters page. it comes with seven email prompts to really help you reflect on these different piece for your business. so a few words about lisa. a dynamic leadership coach and best selling author with over thirty five years of corporate and entrepreneurial learning and success, including twenty five pioneering years at hp, lisa folger is an international coaching federation professional certified coach and is certified in scaling up positive intelligence and among others. lisa inspires leaders to scale their mindsets, their teams, and their businesses to make a positive impact in the world. passionate about cultivating healthy mindsets, driving transformative impact, and advancing global sustainability, she leaves a lasting positive mark on people and the planet. a proud mother of three awe inspiring daughters, lisa thrives in vibrant cost costa rica where she continues to inspire others through her leadership and vision. so in this episode, we discussed what sparked lisa’s interest in discovering leadership lessons from animals, why the sloth became her animal of focus, and what makes it such a powerful and unexpected teacher for leadership and business, the cultural obsession with hustling and how adopting a sloth like approach can lead to more humane, sustainable business practices. lisa’s life in costa rica and whether costa ricans relate to nature differently than people in more industrialized parts of the world. the western tendency to separate nature from work and how we can gently bring nature back into our leadership and business practices, the role of mind mindfulness, how costa rica is pioneering the application of the inner development goals, idgs, at a national level, and what that looks like in daily life and leadership, and then a simple nature inspired step that listeners can take today to bring more wisdom and presence into how they lead. so without further ado, let’s listen to this conversation between lisa folger and myself.
Sarah2: hey, lisa. it’s good to hang out with you.
Lisa: hi, sarah. glad to be here.
Sarah2: yeah. good to have you. first time on the humane marketing podcast. so excited. we talk regularly through the humane marketing community and you’ve been in the program, so we know each other quite well. i feel so it’s always the conversations always go deeper, when we know each other. right. so looking forward to talk about animals and leadership sessions, not sessions. and what i wanna say, lessons that we can learn from from animals. so, yeah. you hosted a session last year during our humane marketing circle expo with colleagues, rory and aslam, around this topic of what can we learn from animals for our leadership. so first, i’m curious to know how did you come up with this topic? like, why this topic? what fascinated you about this topic?
Lisa: yes. certainly. i mean, the theme was, you know, kinda learning from nature is what we challenge ourselves. what would we bring to bear? because each of us lives in a different country. we all spend a lot of time outside in nature, and we were i think the conversation initially started when aslam was looking out her window in a london tower and saw the beautiful array of swans doing all sorts of amazing positions, looking so calm, looking so conscious, looking so just reflective and contemplative. and, you know, it really caught her attention, and she’s been fascinated. so she’s always telling us stories about the swans. but then at one point, she said, you know what? i looked it up and really underneath the surface, the swans are pedaling furiously. i mean, it’s chaotic. it’s crazy. it’s phrenic. and we said, wow. yet from the outside, it’s so calm, so, you know, beautifully, patient. and said, what else? i mean, could we learn because we resonate with that. you know, so many times, we are frenetically moving and doing and, scurrying to be ready. and yet when it takes place, we’re actually present. and just being there is all that’s really needed. and so it just spurred a level of curiosity and interest, to investigate. so we each said, okay. pick a favorite animal. let’s talk about what are some of the leadership lessons we can learn. and i, living in costa rica and having sloths as neighbors thought, you know, why not? like, that’s like the opposite of the scurry is the very slow and methodical and patient and present sloth. and so that’s what i chose. and then rory chose the elephant because it had such female leadership qualities that we all admired and all three of us being female leaders were like, wow. you know, that’s fabulous. let’s tap into that. so it was a really curious exploration, and it’s continued. like, the year since that has gone on, we have had various conversations and in-depth contemplations on what will we do with that next. and so we’re working right now on what our next expo theme will be. and it’s all around being. i think we will choose some animal influences as well. one of the ones that i am playing with right now is the monkey because monkeys are also part of my neighborhood collection of beautiful nature. and i love the curiosity element of monkeys. and so one of the elements that i’m playing with. but it was, you know, a way to find a theme that we’re all passionate about and, you know, have it be a bit playful and engaging. and so in the workshop, you know, we had our three animals, but we had many other people join and share their favorite animals and what lessons that they had learned from them. so i think there’s a lot that we can pick up from our surroundings and our environment and nature as you well know.
Sarah2: yeah. yeah. it’s so beautiful. and and it reminded me of the i i just hosted a a podcast, with the title is slow business more humane, with my friend, andy mort. and this he calls himself a slow business coach or a slow coach. and and so it just reminded me of you and the sloths. and and so it’s so controversial, right, to bring slowness into business. and so it it takes well, it takes courage to say, well, actually, i do want to, you know, make it slower. and and so, yeah, i’m just curious what kind of things you shared around the sloths and and what qualities you appreciate from the sloth.
Lisa: yeah. and i’m glad you mentioned andy because i got to that part in your book, and i love the reference and the connection to the sloth, and going slower, going deeper. that’s been a big, big journey of mine, especially in the last couple years. i left the corporate world eight years ago, after a twenty five year run. and now working with more small and medium businesses, i am finding that being conscious and really building the mental resilience to handle the ups and downs that are going on around us is such an important leadership skill. so from the sloth perspective, you know, they’re very, very intentional. like, they usually come down from the tree once a month.
Sarah2: wow. it’s amazing. once a month.
Lisa: they have to plan really, really well, and they’re very slow in their pace, and they’re very conscientious because they can’t move very fast. they have to be very careful as they plan their moves, to avoid being, you know, attacked by predators or any other danger in the system. they have to find their food very strategically. so they’re very, curious, very methodical, very patient, and they’re very reflective. so all those qualities make for, handling our crazy chaotic world in a more kind, gentle, patient, and contemplative way, i would say. one of the you know, i wrote a chapter in the book, leading with self awareness last year. and one of the stories that i highlighted is that, you know, often we open doors. the chapter is called, you know, opening doors to discover me. but often we open doors and we have no idea what we’re entering into. and that ability to be patient, to be present, to be calm, to be curious is such a beautiful gift to discover what opportunities lie ahead. and so i’m a big believer, in creating the spaciousness to allow that perspective to show up, and it’s not so easy. like, i’m a recovering corporate a level, you know, executive for many, many, many years. it took some real life changes and choices to put that first and foremost in my perspective.
Sarah2: yeah. yeah. and it’s such a big topic, right, of the business like we’re human book. it’s like the and i only remember one line, from your, case study when you went through the marketing like we’re human program. you you said the depth was always there, but it took this program or the pausing to discover it or rediscover it. right? and so that’s what that’s what we do when we take when we create the spaciousness. and we, yeah, we are sloths like. we probably another thing is, like, from the outside looking in, the sloth looks like, well, it’s just a lazy couch potato. but, actually, there’s probably yeah. like you said, a lot of planning, a lot of deep thinking, a lot of strategizing that that goes on, that we don’t see from the outside looking in.
Lisa: absolutely. and the slot has partnerships, with all sorts of other animals that support their ecosystem. and so they don’t even though they seem very solo animals, they actually weave a set of strategic partnerships that help them thrive. and sometimes that’s not present. like, you can’t see that
Sarah2: mhmm. nobody
Lisa: else. but, yeah, there’s a lot of depth to that choice. and for me, another big turning point was having a significant accident. so i had a surfing accident. or it kinda took me off the road map for three months and, you know, healing journey of one year. that process of having to slow down and start over and rebuild was, you know, tremendously insightful. it was hard. it was super, super difficult and painful and, you know, all of the, challenges that come along with injury and recovery. yet it was super profound for me to rediscover what was most valuable to me. so to reconnect with my values, it was the time when i was rebuilding my business after a big transition, and a super important gift that, you know, i can clearly see. during the process, it was, you know, challenging for sure. and now looking back, i think it was a blessing in disguise.
Sarah2: mhmm. yeah. yeah. it’s just unfortunate that often our body kind of needs to give us this yeah.
Lisa: wake up call?
Sarah2: wake up call. yeah. indeed. if we don’t hear it ourselves. another thing comes to mind, and you mentioned that you’re living in costa rica. from the outside looking in, we have this idea of costa rica being, yeah, you know, a different culture, a kind of more outgoing culture, probably a culture that is not as money and profit and productivity driven as maybe, you know, some of our western cultures. is that the case? and has when you moved to costa rica, has something changed already just in that move for you?
Lisa: for sure. for sure. so it’s a quite a different culture from the united states that i moved from seventeen years ago. so mhmm. it’s, well indoctrinated in me, the pura vida lifestyle, you know, living a pure life. for sure, the culture is slower. it’s more family oriented. it’s, you know, be first and then do second, very opposite of the united states and the life that i had lived before i came to costa rica. you know, there’s certainly challenges. the infrastructure, the bureaucracy, i mean, process and operational efficiency is not a strength in costa rica. it’s a beautiful small country and the nature is spectacular and it’s ever present wherever you are in the country. so yeah, that slowing down to adapt to a very different culture in a different system was, you know, a jolt to my, nervous system for sure. and, you know, it took years, but i’d probably say two or three years later, i i think i kind of wove into the groove. having children and adopting to their schedules and all of that is a great assimilation strategy for moving to a new country. so that was a great asset as well. but yeah. i mean, the things that i appreciate about the slower pace and the higher quality of life and, you know, security and just nature at your doorstep is, you know, well built into my routines. from a daily perspective, i get up and i usually go for a walk. and, you know, i can take three steps out my door and be in beautiful nature, which i appreciate. and, you know, the weather’s temperate, so, you know, i can put a t shirt and shorts on and head out anytime of the year. i love that too. but one of the things that i have realized as i’ve, you know, kinda cultivated my career, because i have clients globally and i travel around the world, is that when i come back home, there’s just like a a sigh and a deep, you know, breath that i take that i kinda take it back in, and i miss it. i truly do miss it. one of the ways, recently, just in the last year, i’ve started doing retreats, for women here in costa rica. i have my second one coming up in september, september twenty eighth to october third. and it’s recharge. it’s recharge for mindful women. and the idea is how can you pour into yourself as you pour into everybody else in all aspects of your life. because i find we women professionals, especially, extend ourselves and stretch ourselves very thin. and so, i have found on a daily basis how to recharge, but i think a lot of women struggle to do that really well. and so offering a week away to indulge in beautiful nature and feed you your soul, you know, heart, mind, and body is an excursion and experience that is a beautiful thing to offer.
Sarah2: yeah. i i when people ask me what works in marketing right now, i always say beauty, nature, you know, self care. those are the things that that people crave right now. so so yeah, if you’re having something like that to offer is is amazing. and i was just thinking how similar it is with me arriving in sicily, because we have a place in sicily, and it’s kind of very similar. you know? it’s like it’s chaotic in terms of administration and and laws and everything like that. and yet it’s such a different lifestyle. like, it all it’s all about, like you said, family, friends, good food. that’s what matters to people there. right? and then the work come come second. and i remember now we have our own car there, but we used to have a rental car and then arriving at the airport and then having to rent the car. at the beginning, the first few times we went, i was, like, so anxious and nervous because it took them forever to set up this rental car. it was, like, an hour of paperwork and everything was in paper still. like, i’m like, come on. and then eventually i just kind of like laughed at myself. i’m like, oh, look at, look at you, the swiss. who’s like, oh, you know, work, work, work. no, you have arrived. this is it. take it slow. right. and it’s, yeah, it’s interesting that you also can get that experience of just breathing out when you get back home and you’re like, i made it home. i can be calm and relaxed now. yeah. another thing that, that i’m thinking of with in relation to costa rica is that, at the last, inner development goals, summit i was, they actually brought costa rica as an example because you guys use the inner development goals on a national level. and that’s, like, that’s unheard of. right? it’s such a huge testimony to what matters even at the government level. so i’m just curious if you, yeah, how that’s being visible in costa rica, if i if at all? like, do they talk about it?
Lisa: absolutely. there’s quite a marketing campaign, the essential of costa rica and christina figueres, whom you know from all of that work around idg and just kind of how do we create a better world and how do we protect what we have. i mean, she’s been very, very vocal and very visible in the country, but we have, you know, great resources for such a tiny country in the world. and the preservation of that is a utmost priority in the country. there’s great focus. there’s great resources. there’s great knowledge and commitment to in that. so, yes, it’s, you know, very important and built into the systemic structure of all of costa rica. so very
Sarah2: we talk mainly about animals, but in the business like we’re human book, i just talk about nature in general and and talk about some of the ways that i’ve integrated nature into into my business. how you mentioned walks. is there any other ways that you even bring it into client work or or just kinda like how you, yeah, integrate nature and animals and other living beings on this planet into your work?
Lisa: no. i do. a lot of times when i am meeting with clients in quarterly workshops, we build time in nature into it. it’s kind of a way to breathe. it’s kind of a way to decompress. it’s kind of a way to kind of go deeper from within, and it connects teams powerfully. i mean, greater creativity, greater resourcefulness, greater connection, building vulnerability amongst the team happens so much faster when you’re outside than when you’re in a conference room or in your, you know, office meeting room. i’m a big advocate of exercise too. and so a lot of times, with my clients on a one on one basis, we’ll talk about their routines. like, how do you build movement into, your routine as a way to kind of process, as a way to feed, you know, your soul, as a way to be healthy as well. and a lot of times that involves being outside in nature. i’m a big fan of awe walks, awe. and so i spent a week with doctor doctor doctor keltner. he leads the better services science center at university of berkeley in california. and he has researched awe for, like, thirty years. he has a fascinating book called awe. he’s got several books. and it’s amazing how there’s so many sources. he has, like, eight principles of awe, nature being one of them. but, you know, collective ever essence, like the time favorite too. yeah. i mean, it’s such a beautiful thing. and so often when i do retreats with clients, that ability to be disconnected from the workspace, but yet together is that collective ever essence. it just brings out the best in people and, you know, it really fuels creativity and innovation. it’s a super powerful force. and i find combining that in nature is spectacular. so
Sarah2: yeah. especially in a place where, you know, you can always go outside. so why wouldn’t you? why wouldn’t you use nature as a classroom? yeah.
Lisa: and it doesn’t matter the weather. i mean, i i have clients in all different, atmospheres and climates and, you know, bundle up if it’s cold. it doesn’t matter. get outside and experience that. it’s a a beautiful resource available to us at any moment.
Sarah2: mhmm. yeah. if you had to give, like, one advice from the sloths to the business owners, entrepreneurs who are listening, what would that be?
Lisa: yeah. move slower. just move slower. take more in. i love that sloths are super observant. and that’s part of their kinda maintaining their, you know, lifestyle and being a survival skill. i think we as humans go too fast, and we build things in. like, busyness is a factor of success. and and i think that’s part of the paradigm that you’re working on in business like we’re human. it’s important to me too. how do you take things more slowly and actually more richly connect and generate greater impact? i mean, there’s not a correlation for me on generating impact is my passion and my purpose and my work, and there’s no correlation with going fast with that. it actually defeats the purpose. and so the slower you go, actually, generally, the better results you can attain. mhmm. yeah. i would say go slower, be more observant, and, you know, really focus in on what’s most important.
Sarah2: yeah. and go deeper with your work as well because you’re going slower. yeah.
Lisa: absolutely. so often when leaders come to me, they wanna scale their businesses super fast, and that’s always the desire. and i say, okay. what have you tried before? what’s worked? what hasn’t worked? and i always say, you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different outcome. so let’s try a different trajectory. so i spend quite a bit of time with clients in teams because i work with founders and leaders and their leadership teams to kinda build that vulnerability, that deep connection, that trust so that then when they journey together, they can go further, not necessarily faster, but it often happens that it happens faster because they have a very profound, deeply connected and well aligned structure and path to journey together. but that human connection and really building the strong resilient team is always the first step. and it amazes my clients. it it continues to delight me at how powerful a leadership quality that can be to achieving whatever they set out to achieve. and often, while their initial goals are i wanna, you know, hit a bigger number, i wanna hit it sooner, i want to, contribute more financials to the book, they very quickly identify impact goals as well. like, what’s the difference in the world i wanna make? and how will the success of my business make the world i live in better? and how do i contribute to that? which is, you know, so rewarding for me.
Sarah2: yeah. and you basically hold the space to help them slow down. right?
Lisa: yeah. the guide on the journey indeed. yeah. yeah.
Sarah2: it’s beautiful. wow. thank you so much for for being the sloth and and being the role model as, you know, it again, i think it takes a little bit of courage to say, i don’t, there’s no shame in being the sloth. i want to be the sloth. i want you to understand the power of being the sloth. and, and that’s exactly the role models that we were missing up till now, because, you know, look where it got us. and so, yeah, i applaud you for for being the sloth and sharing what we can learn from these, from nature around us and animals and and everything. so
Lisa: thank you, sarah.
Sarah2: please do share where people can find you. sorry.
Lisa: i was just gonna add one thing. one of the questions i always ask, and this was at the end of my chapter, is what are you courageously willing to say yes to and not know what’s on the other side? mhmm. but to do that, you have to courageously say, what am i willing to quit yeah. or say no to to allow the spaciousness to kinda enter into the unknown. to your question, where you can find more information about me is my website, which is w w w dot lisa folger, f o u l g e r, dot com. yep. and i’ve got information on the verdesana costa rica retreat and all the different offerings i do around scaling your mindset, to scaling your leadership, to scaling your team, and ultimately scaling your business.
Sarah2: wonderful. i love how you combine scaling with such a mindfulness mindful approach and slow approach. right? because it to me, it’s a perfect example of understanding what people want and then giving them what they need. and so what they want is to scale and fast and hustle. and then you’re like, wait a minute. yeah. we’re gonna get to what you want, but we’re gonna do it in a slightly different way. so, yeah, i love that. love that. and i also look forward to the to the next session at the expo and continue our animal journey. so excited for that. thank
Lisa: you. we’re excited as well. and i think we’ll even expand beyond animals, into nature. but, yeah, there’s a lot to explore around being and a fascinating topic to explore.
Sarah2: yeah. i’m actually just off to a trip to egypt and, you know, find out what we can learn from ancient civilizations, whether they were human or not human, but just kind of like tapping into the ancient wisdom wisdom as well. so
Lisa: i’ll report back. yes. enjoy fully. that sounds fascinating.
Sarah2: thank you.
Sarah3: i hope you got some great value and inspiration from listening to this episode. find out more about lisa and her work at wwwlisafolger.com. and if you’re looking for others who think like you, then why not join us in the humane marketing circle? lisa is an active member in our community as well. find out more at humane.marketing/circle. and you’ll find the show notes of this episode at humane.marketing/hm20seven. and on this beautiful page, you’ll also find a series of free offers, the humane business manifesto, as well as my two books, marketing like we’re human and selling like we’re human. and soon, my third book, business like we’re human. thanks so much for listening and being part of a generation of marketers who cares for yourself, your clients, and the planet. we are change makers before we are marketers, so go be the change you want to see in the world. speak soon.
