The rest of it is what deserves our attention. Arcadian Luminary: Shannon Faunce
Meet Shannon
Shannon wears many hats. “The first role that comes to the forefront of my brain is a mom because I have a two year old and a four year old. I am a partner. Then work. Senior Director of SDR and Marketing Operations at BlueCat. I will not ever say that I am a runner or an athlete, but I run and I am an athlete.”
Her journey with Arcadia began almost serendipitously. “It happened by accident, which is the universe pointing you in the direction you need to be. There was something going on in Montana at Bodhi Farms. A Leadership Experience. It was in my backyard with incredible people in my network. I applied immediately. After attending it was obvious this is where I need to be.”
From the very beginning, Shannon understood something essential. Work was never the real problem. “Work is the easy part. We’re all very good at what we do. It is the rest of this, family, presence, boundaries, choosing how you show up, that we need to pay attention to.”
The Dinner Story
The clearest picture of Shannon’s growth came at the dinner table.
“It happened at dinner time. We finally sat down. I made salmon and rice with delicious slaw. I was so proud it wasn’t chicken nuggets. I was going to put everything bagel seasoning on the rice and my two year old wants to shake it. She dumps the whole container. Thirty to forty five days ago, I probably would have picked up my plate and silently walked away. I may have yelled, shut down or stewed in frustration. But, this time, I belly laughed.”
For Shannon, that laugh carried a deeper realization. “And I noticed, when you don’t have the capacity, because you haven’t intentionally created it, you can be an ogre, a person that you absolutely don’t want to be. But I had the capacity to see the humor in all of it this time. It was just such a cool moment to realize we have a choice and it could go one of two ways. Just to be present, just to be laughing, like, okay, that was f***ing hilarious.”
She paused, reflecting on what that moment meant. “That moment shows me the shift. I had capacity. I felt joy. And I would not have before.”
Define Greatness
When Shannon talks about greatness, her words show just how much her perspective has shifted since joining Arcadia.
“It’s funny at the beginning of the Arcadia Leadership Experience, for me, greatness was tied to perfection. Like there were these things at the finisher’s podium, right? You can’t fail to be great. You can’t make errors to be great. Greatness is a destination of perfection. But, that’s not it at all! It’s so, so far from that, right? Greatness isn’t everything that you do. Greatness is a mindset. It’s choosing to get up every time you fail. It doesn’t have anything to do with perfection. It doesn’t have anything to do with the finisher’s podium. It has to do with the journey of how you live your life. So different from how I felt when I started literally day one of the experience.”
But greatness doesn’t happen over night. “There is a lot of failure on your way to being great. A lot of failure. And, if you waste one second picking up that stick to appease your ego, the time to brilliance is going to be longer. So I think, it’s about forgiving myself quicker. How the heck does all of this tie to career and what’s the next step and everything else? I don’t know yet, but I am becoming a better human. I’m going to sit in that and that’s, that’s enough, right now, because that’s f***ing cool, right?”
The Practices Behind the Change
These shifts have not happened by chance. Shannon has been intentional about building new habits.
“I took Slack off my phone. Email off my phone. I schedule LinkedIn posts and removed the app. It felt risky not to be accessible twenty four by seven. But in reality, no one cares.”
“I do not turn music on in the car anymore. I try not to call anyone. I take that time to reflect. I forgive myself quicker.”
She also reminds herself daily. “Give yourself permission to fail. Give yourself permission to suck. You are learning something new. You are going to suck at it. Collect the nos. Lean into the failure.”
Why Shannon Embodies Arcadia
Shannon may have come to Arcadia by accident, but her growth has been intentional. She has taken what she is learning here and put it into practice at her dinner table, in her car, with her kids, with her boundaries, and even with her work.
Work is the easy part. We are all great at what we do. It is everything else that takes courage. It’s the pursuit of becoming the best versions of ourselves. Because better people make better leaders.
And the goal is not perfection. It is capacity. “To have capacity at the end of the day for the people I love and the life we are building. That is an achievement. It might be the biggest.”
Shannon is living proof of what happens when you lean in. She has shifted from chasing achievements to creating space for joy, presence, and love. Her transformation is significant.
Arcadia is a place for leaders to safely and bravely invest in themselves. Join us.
