Fred LeFranc, CEO and chaos strategist, and Kristina Wiltsee, executive coach and transformation architect, join Zack Oates to explore how modern leaders balance execution with intuition. As co hosts of The Executive and the Mystic podcast, they share practical frameworks for decision making, alignment, and leadership clarity in complex environments.

Balancing Intuition and Execution (2:15)

“You’re already using intuition all the time.”

Kristina explains that intuition is not separate from leadership but embedded in every decision leaders make. Whether it shows up as a gut check or a sense that something feels off, intuition often guides action before logic catches up.

Raising Altitude to Build Confidence (5:10)

“You’re flying too low to see yourself clearly.”

Kristina introduces the idea of altitude as perspective, explaining that self doubt often comes from being too close to problems. Gaining distance through reflection helps leaders see themselves and their decisions more clearly.

When Logic Stops Working (6:53)

“What got you here may not get you where you’re going.”

Fred shares how leaders often reach a point where past strategies lose effectiveness. This is where alignment becomes critical and leaders must shift from pure logic to a more integrated approach.

Aligning Head, Heart, and Gut (7:13)

“When all three are aligned, it’s an unbeatable combination.”

Fred outlines the importance of coherence between logic, emotion, and instinct. Leaders gain clarity and conviction when decisions are made from alignment rather than fear.

Breaking Fear Based Decision Making (9:58)

“Fear only makes decisions for self protection.”

Fred explains how fear driven decisions limit leadership effectiveness. Principle based decisions allow leaders to move forward with confidence even in uncertain environments.

Finding the Right Meditation Practice (11:20)

“Meditation is about becoming an observer of yourself.”

Kristina reframes meditation as a tool for self awareness rather than a rigid practice. Leaders benefit most when they find approaches that match how they think, process, and reflect.

Links:

https://www.theexecutiveandthemystic.com/

https://www.instagram.com/theexecutiveandthemystic/

https://www.youtube.com/@ExecutiveandMysticPodcast

https://open.spotify.com/show/2JFumYZRzULtYveqUzN4e5

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredlefranc/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinawiltsee/

Transcript

00:00:00:07 – 00:00:25:11

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give Innovation the Restaurant Guest Experience podcast. I’m your host, Zach Oates, and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five star guest experience. This podcast is powered by ovation, the feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what’s actually happening in your restaurants and exactly how to improve while driving revenue.

00:00:25:13 – 00:00:48:21

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation. Up.com. And today we got a twofer. We got a left right punch here. We got the jab jab uppercut. We got Fred Le Frank who needs no introduction. If you don’t know him go check out his LinkedIn. If you’re listening to this podcast, Fred Le Frank should be someone that you not only know and follow, but should be someone that as soon as you shake his hand, you love.

00:00:48:23 – 00:01:11:22

Zack Oates

He is the CEO and chaos strategist. He’s a speaker. He’s an investor. Results through strategy. He’s on the board of like 30 different companies right now. Invested in like 150. But I don’t know. I’m out of date because I haven’t he hasn’t talked in the three minutes here. So I may be behind on that. Also joining is Christina will see who is an executive coach a transformation architect.

00:01:12:03 – 00:01:39:12

Zack Oates

And I love this title of a Life Alchemist. And together they are the co-hosts of The Executive and the Mystic Podcast, a phenomenal podcast, one that I feel like everyone should listen to regardless of what your role is. It’s inspirational, it’s informational, and it gives you new frameworks to look at life in business. And that is the longest intro I’ve ever done because there’s so much to talk about with you too.

00:01:39:14 – 00:01:41:17

Zack Oates

But thanks for coming on the podcast.

00:01:41:17 – 00:01:42:14

Fred LeFranc

We’re excited to be here.

00:01:42:14 – 00:01:44:08

Kristina Wiltsee

Zach, thank you for having us.

00:01:44:10 – 00:02:15:11

Zack Oates

So, Christina, I want to point this first question at you, because, Fred, obviously the podcast is called The Executive and the mistake, Fred being the executive with some mysticism and you being the mystic with obviously some executive isms. So as we’re thinking about leadership and balancing execution and intuition for restaurant leaders listening right now, we’re there’s sitting there being like, Zach, intuition is a little bit fluffy.

00:02:15:11 – 00:02:24:10

Zack Oates

I’m the CEO. I need to like, do stuff. How do you balance that? How do you coach people to balance the intuition and execution?

00:02:24:12 – 00:02:44:01

Kristina Wiltsee

Absolutely. So I think it’s a really important thing to recognize when we’re in a decision making process. When is it that we allow that intuition to come in, and when is it that we decide on the execution? The execution, I see is kind of a post after you’ve made a decision. So the real question I always have for leaders is what does that decision making process look like?

00:02:44:01 – 00:03:09:05

Kristina Wiltsee

Some people have very kind of standard ways of more black and white, like pros and cons or oh, this is the way we’ve always done it, or many, many different ways that we kind of decide whether it’s based on current principles, outdated strategies and principles. Sometimes we make decisions based off of a lot of the times we may spend forever in analysis paralysis and then finally get that gut check that just says, okay, we’re going to go this way.

00:03:09:07 – 00:03:27:18

Kristina Wiltsee

This is the decision we’re going to make, right? So when people want to understand intuition as a fundamental concept, I say, well, there may be some stigma around that word, but you’re using it all the time. It’s coming into you all the time. We just need to rename it into things that feel a bit better sometimes. Need that.

00:03:27:18 – 00:03:31:14

Zack Oates

Got aioli from Mayo rebrand, right?

00:03:31:16 – 00:03:49:20

Kristina Wiltsee

That’s exactly it. That’s exactly it. Right. And and that’s that’s what Fred and I try and do is try and demystify a lot of the things that we know is intuition or we feel like and be able to make it so that people can actually say, oh, yeah, I actually am making a gut. I there’s a gut check that I have here.

00:03:49:20 – 00:04:03:12

Kristina Wiltsee

I can feel something is off here. I don’t know why is in my mind that’s telling me that it’s off. Is it? My gut is in my heart, I don’t know. But something’s telling me that something is off. I’m going to go investigate that. And then as a result of that, I’m going to make a decision based on that.

00:04:03:12 – 00:04:13:20

Kristina Wiltsee

So the more that we can kind of demystify and de-stigmatize the idea of intuition, the fact that it is absolutely inextricable from our life and our decision making process, the better.

00:04:13:22 – 00:04:37:24

Zack Oates

But what about those leaders who are maybe lacking a little self-confidence and they’re like, is this intuition? Is it not? Like, that’s really why we get into analysis paralysis, right? Is because we are afraid that we don’t have enough decision to trust our gut, because we’ve got self-doubt and all humans have self-doubts. Maybe aside from a couple, maybe one who runs the country.

00:04:37:24 – 00:04:57:24

Zack Oates

But like, I feel like everyone should have a little bit of self-doubt of what we’re doing. So how do you shake that out with the self-doubt? What would you do if you put your hands on the top, the CEO, the CMO, shoulders? And if they’re saying, Christina, I don’t know if I’m the right person for this. I don’t know if I’m doing a good job.

00:04:57:24 – 00:04:59:07

Zack Oates

What would you tell them?

00:04:59:09 – 00:05:10:24

Kristina Wiltsee

What I would tell them. One of my favorite things to talk to people about, and we have an episode about this is called you have to get to the right altitude in order to be able to have the right attitude. And we talk a lot about like, oh, I’m going to give you a 50,000ft view or I’m in the weeds.

00:05:10:24 – 00:05:28:23

Kristina Wiltsee

We use this terminology all the time when it comes to looking at a problem, but we rarely use it when we look at ourselves. And I think that when we’re able to turn that lens to ourself and be like, oh, I don’t have the confidence, it’s like, yeah, that’s because you’re flying at like 500ft and you’re feeling everything that’s come in.

00:05:28:23 – 00:05:47:18

Kristina Wiltsee

You’re feeling all that, the you’re flying too slow, you’re being too self-critical. All of these things are coming in to make it so that you can’t have enough altitude on your own perspective, and you can’t change and shift the way that you see yourself such that you feel less confident, you feel like you’re going to fall and hit the ground at any point.

00:05:47:24 – 00:06:09:08

Kristina Wiltsee

And so how is it that you change your altitude? We talk about meditation as a very common way of doing that. That might seem very woo for a lot of people or, you know, that might seem out there, but that’s a wonderful way and very quick way for people who practice it or who are just starting to practice it to be like, I’m just going to get an observer state here, because I am way too close to this to be able to see myself clearly and very.

00:06:09:10 – 00:06:36:02

Zack Oates

You’ve been in a lot of tough decisions, and you’ve been the in charge of a lot of tough decisions. And when you look at the decisions that you’ve made, how have you balanced that? There are certain things that spreadsheets can’t always tell you when you look at certain menu changes or a new leader higher, or shifting a brand like these are things that you have to use your intuition, because the data is only going to tell you so much.

00:06:36:04 – 00:06:53:15

Fred LeFranc

It’s funny that you ask that, because the impetus of this podcast came as a result of having these discussions between Christine and I about what happens when your thinking is no longer effective. Sometimes what got you here won’t get you going forward, and it’s frustrating for a leader because you go, everything’s been working great now it’s not working.

00:06:53:15 – 00:07:13:19

Fred LeFranc

What happened? Why is it no longer effective? So we came up with the acronym of ABCs, where you align yourself with a higher principle and a higher purpose so that you’re going with the towel. You’re not swimming against the tide. That’s number one. Number two is to find balance in life by embracing the paradox. Things that appear opposing sometimes are just two sides of the same coin.

00:07:13:24 – 00:07:32:21

Fred LeFranc

And the third one is coherence, which we sort of touched on, which is where you have your head, your heart, or your gut together in alignment with one another. That’s coherence, so that you move forward with greater certainty and conviction and courage in terms of what you’re trying to do, understanding that at all times. Back to the higher altitude.

00:07:33:01 – 00:07:50:00

Fred LeFranc

You stay above the fray, so you’re aware of what’s going on and making sure that you don’t get sucked into some rabbit hole of your own thinking. A lot of leaders have a tendency to overthink things. Instead of pause, pausing and say, wait a minute, what is my heart? Tell me about this, right, and spend some time. That’s where the meditation comes in.

00:07:50:00 – 00:08:09:18

Fred LeFranc

Just open up your heart and say, what do I feel about what’s going on here? Because the wisdom of the heart is a real thing and your head’s different. Your head’s about logic. When your heart’s about emotion and empathy and understanding the situation people find those is in and in the gut is a third brain center. That also gives it a little whisper that says, this is safe or this is not safe.

00:08:09:20 – 00:08:24:24

Fred LeFranc

And when you put all three together, it’s an unbeatable combination. So all we’re really talking about is discovering the humanity that we all have and bringing it forward and saying, this is part of how you should be making decisions. And we have found it to be a very effective way to provide leadership for an organization.

00:08:25:01 – 00:08:50:13

Zack Oates

Because I think that there’s so much power in this concept of alignment individually, if you feel misaligned and you’re with a leadership team, it’s hard to feel aligned when you’re not aligned yourself because you’re not quite sure. Maybe you feel some alignment with one third of it, but not the other two thirds, because you’re not totally aligned. If you aren’t feeling aligned, how do you gain alignment with your leadership team?

00:08:50:18 – 00:09:07:03

Zack Oates

Because sometimes you can’t necessarily take that week meditation trip in India before you have some big decisions to make, and you need to get your leadership team aligned to do that. What would you recommend? If you’re feeling misaligned and you simultaneously need to align with your leadership team?

00:09:07:05 – 00:09:26:22

Fred LeFranc

I think the starting point is having a shared vision of what you’re trying to accomplish, and be keenly aware that all businesses exist in an environment that is has external forces, not just internal forces. So there’s two types of alignment. One is the alignment to look at the reality of what’s going on outside of you, to make sure you’re aware of all the things that are the dynamics.

00:09:27:03 – 00:09:42:13

Fred LeFranc

I always give an example of we’re in a white water world. You can’t control the external forces, but you can learn to read them and anticipate them a little bit. The internal alignment is really able to move forward a little bit more conviction. If you have a shared vision and a shared purpose and you’re open with people about it.

00:09:42:13 – 00:09:58:17

Fred LeFranc

And by the way, just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you’re right. You could be certain, but not you may not be right. And so you could also disagree and commit to somebody else’s point of view because they see things you don’t see. This is where you really take the advantage of the fact that all the people on your team have a different perspective, a different point of view.

00:09:58:23 – 00:10:18:01

Fred LeFranc

The key thing is to make sure you’re not making the decisions based out of fear. Fear can not make a safe decision. Never. Fear only makes a decision for self-protection, which at times gets you into a bigger problem because it’s ego lead. As opposed to principle lead. And we align with principle and you have a clarity about what you’re trying to achieve.

00:10:18:03 – 00:10:36:07

Fred LeFranc

I don’t know if you ever saw the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance, which is based on the Bhagavad-gita. It’s an old, ancient Vedic script that’s 8000 years old, but this is a putt that Matt Damon takes. And as he looks at this screen and he sees the flag, he sees this little gold and path. It says, this is where the ball is going to go.

00:10:36:09 – 00:10:52:10

Fred LeFranc

And that’s what you find in leadership. You have pattern recognition. You find the path through all this nuance that’s going on around you and with that kind of certainty, you’re able to go forward. And in that movie, you talk about finding your authentic swing in life. We’re talking about finding your authentic self. And that’s really what it’s all about.

00:10:52:12 – 00:11:12:21

Zack Oates

And what would you say? Christina Fried is a very soft nose executive. What would you say? Like a hard nosed executive who’s like, meditation crap. I’m not going to do that. How does that executive. But let’s say they want to I want to learn how to do, because I think that’s the first step. Obviously, meditation doesn’t work if the whole time you’re sitting there just being like, this isn’t working, this isn’t working.

00:11:12:23 – 00:11:19:24

Zack Oates

What are some easy ways to start the meditation? I don’t mean easy, like quick and simple, but like step one.

00:11:20:01 – 00:11:38:16

Kristina Wiltsee

So this is a great question. And this is something that I feel so strongly about when it comes to trying to introduce people to what their meditation is. Because if you go and I mean, it’s exactly like getting a suit, like you can buy a suit off the rack, or you can go maybe get it tailored and you can get something that’s like custom made for you.

00:11:38:22 – 00:11:42:04

Kristina Wiltsee

Everybody’s system is so completely different. There are people.

00:11:42:05 – 00:11:58:11

Zack Oates

Who say, Fred, just let you know. I don’t know if you heard that first part. You actually can buy stuff off the rack. I know everything Fred has is custom, but let’s, you know, those big buildings, they have clothes inside that you can buy. Everything Fred has is custom made to him because he’s Fred Le Frank. But anyway.

00:11:58:11 – 00:12:09:10

Zack Oates

Okay. Go ahead. Just. Dude, I just, I just I saw Fred glaze over for a little bit, and I was assuming it wasn’t the London, the London like. Yeah.

00:12:09:12 – 00:12:24:10

Kristina Wiltsee

So for those of us who do buy things off the rack, we’re going to go and we’re going to say, I’m going to go, but I’m you on insights, IRA. I’m going to, on any of any app or something like that. I’m going to learn how to meditate. Right. And I’m going to take something and this isn’t going to work for me because I’m going to sit here and I’m going to get really bored.

00:12:24:10 – 00:12:43:03

Kristina Wiltsee

My mind is not going to be wanting to do it. And guess what? Some people can’t even see images in their minds, some people’s minds. And whether it’s from conditioning or whether the way that they’re built, we all have extremely different internal spaces. And so what I say to someone who’s step one, like, what is it that you’re trying to do?

00:12:43:05 – 00:13:02:05

Kristina Wiltsee

The desire to want to recognize that meditation is effectively about becoming an observer and getting a different attitude and perspective on your life. That’s it. And if you choose to do that, if that’s the summary of what meditation is, it has a lot of auxiliary benefits, you know, nervous system regulation, things along those lines, physiological benefits to doing it, too.

00:13:02:10 – 00:13:27:24

Kristina Wiltsee

But if effectively you’re trying to find an observer or perspective on your own experience, that’s in your mind. Things along those lines when you can with just that desire, you can do that through meditation. You can do that through seeking out somebody who can maybe see different perspectives. There are many different avenues to do it, but the desire is to recognize that maybe your story, and maybe the way you see things is not the only way.

00:13:27:24 – 00:13:49:12

Kristina Wiltsee

And maybe there is another way. Besides, even you have a million executive coaches or something like that, and they’re all kind of seeing something through a different through similar lenses, as you say. I’m willing to look at something and develop the ability to see a different perspective within myself. That desire is the first step. The second step is to recognize that not all meditations are created equal for you.

00:13:49:14 – 00:14:11:11

Fred LeFranc

One thing is that what meditation does is really the step. One is and emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence, which has been discussed at nauseum. And leadership is a critical role to have or capacity is self-awareness and meditation does that you become the observer of yourself, that self-awareness, the moment by moment self observation of one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors?

00:14:11:13 – 00:14:33:01

Fred LeFranc

That’s the version I use for self-awareness. And once you start understanding the impulses we feel, why does this person irritate me? Or why does this situation bother me? Or what’s going on? And then you’re able to have self-management or you choose a response. You don’t just react, you choose response. It allows you to then be aware of your sort of social awareness, what’s going on around me, and have relationship management as a leader.

00:14:33:01 – 00:14:48:12

Fred LeFranc

It’s all about relationship management. You want people to perform in a certain way. The only way you can do that is to start with yourself. If you want a group to act a certain way, then you as a leader have to act a certain way in order for them to do that. Otherwise, if you have a chaotic leadership style, it’s a mess.

00:14:48:12 – 00:15:05:01

Fred LeFranc

And a leader is a lighthouse in the middle of a storm. And in today’s world, it’s always ready for a tweet away from disaster. And so there’s something’s always raging going on. And as a leader, you need to be able to show people that kind of conviction and flexibility. And that’s why I go back to the ABCs that we talked about in our podcast.

00:15:05:07 – 00:15:07:20

Fred LeFranc

That process really works very, very well.

00:15:07:22 – 00:15:25:12

Zack Oates

And I think part of it too is also understanding I love this. So basically what we’re saying is like, everyone needs ice cream, but you might not like the vanilla but like find what works for you. And for me, I think I find that there’s like a variety. Some of my rituals include prayer and scripture study in the morning in the hot tub.

00:15:25:14 – 00:15:45:10

Zack Oates

And I go to the hot tub because when I used to do it at my desk, there was just too many pings. I couldn’t do it there in a hot tub. It’s I do have a floating desk, but it’s a good place to meditate in the morning prior to sunrise. And then I’ve also found a good place for meditation for me is with groups and advisors, people like Fred.

00:15:45:10 – 00:16:11:21

Zack Oates

You know, if Fred and I have regular calls because I’m a verbal processor or something that I didn’t realize about myself until last year, and talking through things is a form of meditation for me because it forces my brain to connect the dots, to send it out of my mouth. And then I have someone who I trust, like Fred, there on the other side, who’s like, okay, here’s what I’m hearing, but this is what my experience is showing, and it adds to that.

00:16:11:23 – 00:16:29:08

Zack Oates

Basically, what I’m saying is it’s not just sitting on a floor in a room with no decoration. There’s a lot more to it than that, and it’s about more so the outcome of alignment, as opposed to the input of like Zen fingers together, pulling energy. Right.

00:16:29:10 – 00:16:50:07

Kristina Wiltsee

Exactly. Because ultimately, if we are looking for an outcome which says, I feel that I’m aligned when I teach people basic meditation, we got to get over the to do list. There’s always going to be this deliberative mind that is right there that wants to keep you. And this is what I’m supposed to be doing today, or this is the problem I need to figure out.

00:16:50:07 – 00:17:09:20

Kristina Wiltsee

And ultimately that’s good. That’s great. If you can find some quiet time to think about your to do list. Wonderful. I’m really happy. But there’s so many amazing benefits. If you can go to a slightly higher altitude to see yourself from a slightly different perspective in the more you practice, the higher you get or you start to move into different places.

00:17:09:20 – 00:17:38:09

Kristina Wiltsee

Maybe you’re not just watching your own thoughts. Maybe you’re doing what Fred said earlier and doing coherence where you’re like looking at your heart space. Like literally you’re just concentrating on your heart space. And by doing that, the physiological changes that you can feel inside your body are incredible. And if you just stick with it for a couple of minutes and then you do a couple more minutes, you start to see all of these benefits and all these signs that we’re just really kind of starting to understand about how the body works.

00:17:38:09 – 00:17:51:19

Kristina Wiltsee

When you take the default network off, when you start just thinking in a beta brain state, and you start to try and activate the other states of your brain and the coherence of your heart, your mind and your gut.

00:17:51:20 – 00:18:13:21

Zack Oates

Yeah, I love that. And oh my gosh, I mean, look at the time. Here we are out of time. But this has been like just such a awesome spoonful of wisdom from your oceans of knowledge. But before we part, Fred will start with you. Then Kristina will go to you. Who is someone that we should be following on social to either help us create a better guest experience or become a better leader.

00:18:13:23 – 00:18:15:12

Fred LeFranc

You know what snack I’m going to say you.

00:18:15:12 – 00:18:17:02

Zack Oates

Oh wow.

00:18:17:04 – 00:18:35:18

Fred LeFranc

Okay, because you made a couple of statements today that show that you have gone through a process of developing self-awareness. You’ve learned your learning style, you see counsel and advice. You have a daily practice of prayer and scripture reading that grounds you in order to prepare yourself for a very dynamic environment. And that’s enough of an example for anyone else to follow.

00:18:35:18 – 00:18:42:08

Fred LeFranc

If anyone else could follow those few things to start developing that emotional intelligence, it’d be what I would recommend so easily. I’d say should be.

00:18:42:09 – 00:18:45:21

Zack Oates

Very well honored. Fred. Appreciate that. Christina.

00:18:45:23 – 00:19:02:06

Kristina Wiltsee

I’m going to say the self plug, though. Am I allowed to say that I’m going to say follow the executive in the mystic. We are on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn. Are you to our podcast is on our YouTube channel at the executive in the mystic podcast. So follow us there and you can hear more wisdom.

00:19:02:08 – 00:19:19:00

Zack Oates

Awesome. Well, Fred and Christina, for bringing the executive out of the mystic and the mystic out of the executive. Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you both for joining us on Given Ovation. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining us today. If you liked this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen.

00:19:19:05 – 00:19:35:22

Zack Oates

We’re all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by ovation, a two question, SMS based, actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you’d like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovation up.com.