"Donna Koontz has been a dear friend and mentor to me for more than 2 decades. She truly embodies our Regenrus heart-centered value by expressing support and love through everyone she encounters. She has a true servant's heart and is fully committed to making a profound social impact. Words cannot express how grateful I am that she has chosen Regenrus and to help me lead the charge by becoming one of our founding leaders. Donna shared with me her WHY she joined Regenrus… 'Collaboration is the new currency. Heart to heart, moment to moment, together we have the power to shape a sustainable future forever influencing the way we care for ourselves, each other and future generations.' She is one of my guardian angels!"
Cindy Tysinger, Founder and Chief Culture Officer, Regenrus
In 2009 at the Peace Conference in Canada, the Dalai Lama famously stated that “Western women will save the world.”
Although we can’t predict the future, we can make choices that help turn us in the right direction. Today, businesses are changing the world. So, if we want to change things, we need to look at how we do business.
Being a woman business owner myself, I certainly have a perspective, and while I’ve spent 25 plus years in an industry that is literally dominated by women, I also have some shall I say, “highly substantiated opinions!” Having been asked this question on several occasions, and being fully committed to providing an answer that reflects more than my singular experience, I decided to reach out and further explore the answer. Naturally, I started by Interviewing our very own Founder, Chief Culture Officer and overall extraordinary human being, Cindy Tysinger. As I dug into her thoughts and harvested her wisdom, I was reminded of how compelled she was not only to follow her heart and passion but to fully see it through. She aligns deeply with the benefit side of our company and recognizes that to protect our future generations, the vision must remain alive. She is committed to running a values-driven company that doesn’t compromise values for profit. That my friends is the actual experience of a woman-led leadership style.
Then there is the technical definition. What does it mean, and what is required to be a woman-founded business?
Today, women are having more of an impact on our world than ever before. Women lead large organizations around the world. Women lead countries. Women lead generations, and although woman-owned firms are on the rise, they continue to be a minority.
Text BoxTechnically, woman-owned is an American term that is defined as a business that is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled on a daily basis by one or more female citizens. However, ownership is just a small part of the equation. A woman must also hold the highest position in the company, and be active in daily management as well as the strategic direction and vision of the company. The certification process is stringent and rigorous, yet in the pool of privately-held small businesses in this country, and especially in our industry where more than 75% are women, meeting that criteria is both respected and beneficial. It offers greater visibility and signifies women’s presence, strength and the opportunity to make a difference on behalf of all minority businesses.
At Regenrus, we see business differently. For us, business is a tool for change. It’s about tempering profit with purpose. It’s taking our personal values and infusing them into our business. It’s a story of beauty, wellness, wisdom and love. To have a conscious intention to demonstrate care in action. We are a “For Benefit” company, which means that everything we do is with the intention of making the world a better place. To be a “Force for Good™”.
The current trend in thinking in a conscious economy emphasizes the “Triple Bottom Line” that measures the impact on people and planet along with profit. Here at Regenrus, we call it a reverence for the “Good of the Whole”. It’s an opportunity to change the DNA of how business is done. It’s not just about our mission to make a huge social impact supporting others who are doing good things and modeling regenerative practices. It’s also about demonstrating that a Mission-Based business can succeed, and succeed at the highest levels. The mission doesn’t have to be a distraction for the business but can actually be core to the success. It’s the modern way to grow a business. Good for Me + Good for You + Good for the Whole. The cycle becomes a virtuous cycle.
Always leading with the heart, we listen beyond the individual to the whole and how everyone and everything is affected. Women tend to intuitively listen to their hearts and their passion and allow that to inform their business decisions and choices. It has been my experience, that in the end, if all things are equal, all things vetted out and thoughtfully considered, a woman will lean into her heart and intuition with full confidence, and make the hard call. The essence of leadership is the recognition of the power embedded in the best of the feminine and masculine capacities within each of us. Heart-based behavior in the workplace is a strong bottom-line, delivered with compassion and care. It is honoring the men that contribute and support us as we exercise the female qualities that we naturally tend to possess such as flexibility, collaboration and the innate desire to support and educate others.
With our leadership style, great value is placed on humility, sincere listening, “not”-knowing, and understanding vulnerability as a latent strength. It’s about creating a culture rooted in mutual respect, authenticity, and inclusivity. One in which women and men know that there is a divine encounter in which all kinds of ideas, passionate possibilities, and above all a new kind of covenant of creativity takes place. The common thread is being driven by a sense of purpose.
When women come together in the heart – there is a kind of spiritual root that’s ignited, a deep passion for the possible, a kind of mutually shared and enhanced intelligence and it is that kind of phasing that happens in ways that are as miraculous as they are practical.
We here at Regenrus are on a journey to find real solutions, regenerative ways for us all to thrive. It’s a journey to prosperity. Perhaps a new definition of prosperity. One that includes our values and always each other. Our Ohana.
Where you may see a woman… I see the future.