While some people are more naturally inclined to seek out leadership roles than others, it’s possible for anyone to grow into a leader.

Leadership fundamentally starts with yourself, your experiences, and how you’ve led yourself through life’s ups and downs. Good leaders know how to pick themselves back up after a challenge; they’re resilient.

The challenges I’ve faced again and again as a result of living with a disability have actually become something of a leadership superpower, because they’ve made me incredibly resilient. Today, I want to talk about why resilience is about more than bouncing back, how my experiences have helped me lead myself and others, and my vision for helping other women with disabilities elevate themselves into leadership.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How resilient leaders not only get back up after a challenge, but believe in themselves enough to forge a path forward
• Why it’s okay to shift focus and recalibrate when a project isn’t working
• How challenging social conceptions of what a woman with a disability is capable of throughout my life has shaped my leadership
• My dream for my next big project and how I want to make an impact

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

What makes someone a leader?

While a lot of us might think of a leader as someone who has power or influence over others, or someone who’s got it all figured out and leads the way, I think about leadership a little differently.

Today, I’m talking about what it means to be a leader, what makes a good leader, and why you don’t have to be a “born leader” to be a great one.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How good leaders bring people together and empower them to make an impact
• How building self-trust and self-advocacy develops the skills you need to lead others
• How creative problem-solving allows for building consensus without compromising your intentions
• How a lifetime of navigating systems that underestimate my abilities has shaped my leadership

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

Ten years ago, I was at a place I’d fought to be for a lot of my life. I was living independently, I had autonomy, and my days had a typical rhythm. And over a short period of time, it all changed. 

My ability to walk grew more and more limited, I started having falls, and my apartment wasn’t accessible for the mobility scooter I came to rely on. I knew I needed a new living situation that could accommodate my new normal, but all of the unknowns were daunting. I didn’t want to lose the autonomy and self-determination I’d fought so hard for.

In celebration of my 57th birthday, I’m reflecting on how I faced the challenges of adjusting to physical changes and new needs, going through grief, and writing the next chapter.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How I came out the other side of depression and grief with a new perspective on the opportunity that change can present
• How thinking like a leader helped me reorganize my life and become even better than before
• How surrounding myself with a great team supports me in being a more effective leader
• Why having limitations doesn’t mean you can’t make bold choices

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

Frustration isn’t a question of if you’re going to experience it, but when. And what really matters is how you deal with it. 

We all face frustrations, from day-to-day annoyances to life-altering situations, and how we choose to respond shapes how resilient we become. And resilience is not about pushing down your frustrations and moving on, resilience is what happens when we acknowledge the challenge in front of us and figure out how to move forward. 

In today’s episode, I’m talking about how I handle frustration.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• What I learned as a kid about trying new things, accepting limitations, and choosing what to let go of
• The difference between getting momentarily frustrated or angry and becoming an angry person
• How a recent disappointment inspired a positive recalibration of how I want to use my passion, energy, and impact
• Why we have to separate frustration and disappointment from our self-worth in order to be adaptable and resilient as circumstances change

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

There are a lot of tools out there for assessing your current state and what might need to change in order to meet your goals. These kinds of situational analyses can help us have the self-awareness to navigate shifts in circumstances, creatively problem-solve where we can, and redirect when necessary. 

Today, I want to share how I’ve translated the SWOT analysis, often used by businesses, into a personal inventory. Taking stock of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats has helped guide me through moments of big change and is a tool I have come back to over and over again. 

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How my changing mobility and energy levels have brought new people and opportunities into my life and work 
• Why needing to direct your efforts differently doesn’t mean starting over
• How acknowledging threats helps us meet them with our strengths
• How a personal SWOT supports self-leadership, self-determination and how we lead in the world

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

Humor can play a significant role in how we relate to each other and ourselves. 

It’s a release valve for stress; a way to connect with friends, family, and colleagues; and a way to acknowledge our mistakes and mishaps without beating ourselves up. Sharing laughter or a joke with others levels the playing field, giving us something in common whether we’re strangers in an elevator or old friends.

I believe my sense of humor is truly a gift that has helped me live with my disability, find light even in the darkest times, not take myself or my challenges too seriously, and build the connections and relationships that are most important to me. 

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How humor reveals our personalities and forges connections 
• How using humor can cut tension and allow us to be more open and honest
• The difference between laughing at and laughing with
• How being able to laugh at yourself shows self-confidence and shifts perspectives

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

Being honest with yourself about your abilities and challenges, successes and failures, is essential to living an authentic and genuine life, regardless of whether or not you live with a disability.

When we’re not honest with ourselves about who we are, we can set ourselves up for disappointment and frustration. But at the same time, self-honesty has to include recognizing what we are capable of and what we’ve accomplished. When we swing too far one way or the other, self-deception has a way of creating its own set of roadblocks and rude awakenings.

At the end of the year, reflecting on what we achieved and where we could do better with integrity and self-honesty is a gift we give to ourselves that will help us live a self-determined life in the year to come.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How self-honesty helps us to both be realistic and supports our big dreams
• How self-honesty positively impacts your professional and personal relationships with others
• How I use an annual personal inventory to review not only the year’s events, but also how I’m living up to my values
• How self-honesty helps us set goals and evaluate new opportunities
• Why acknowledging and learning from your fears and failures is vital to self-honesty

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

Resources:

• Ryan Holiday

Life is like a rollercoaster. Sometimes it’s one you don’t even realize you’re on when things are going well, but then the bottom drops out or you hit a major twist and suddenly your world is upside down. 

It can be overwhelming and terrifying. But we get through it.

After facing a major health challenge and all of the complex decisions that came with it, I’m back from hiatus. And today, I want to talk about coming out stronger on the other side of the rollercoaster’s drop.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How a period of unexpected change can be an opportunity to reevaluate where we are and appreciate what we have
• Important steps for healing and moving forward from setbacks, whatever they are
• Why it’s essential to reach out to your support system and consider other perspectives
• How intentionally cultivating skills, relationships, and resilience in hard times helps us not just survive, but thrive the next time we’re thrown for a loop 

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

How would you describe someone who is ambitious? 

In our culture, it often means a person who is willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top, and it’s not necessarily a compliment. But ambition doesn’t have to be about power or money. Ambition can simply be about setting goals and working towards them. Ambition is all in how you use it and how it impacts people.

Today I’m talking about moral ambition and using that drive to make the world a better place and positively impact others.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How the idea of moral ambition ties our personal goals to their broader impacts
• How focusing on my ambition has helped me not get bogged down when people underestimate me
• How moral ambition supports us in being the kind of leaders who truly make a difference

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting

Resources:

• Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference, Rutger Bregman 
• Rutger Bregman - “Moral Ambition” | The Daily Show

Creativity and disability go hand-in-hand.

Navigating a world that was not built for you requires creative thinking every single day to overcome obstacles, from opening a jar to taking notes in class to accessing a building or transportation. People with disabilities are full of creative solutions and workarounds for any number of problems we face.

In today's episode, I’m talking about the creative thinking and solutions that have helped me live a self-determined life.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How I learned to anticipate challenges of access and opportunity and make adjustments or request accommodations
• How using a scooter for mobility requires daily creativity in navigating my environment
• Creative solutions I’ve found to retain autonomy and freedom, even with diminished mobility
• Why the creativity and innovation of people with disabilities is its own kind of brilliance

Learn more about Molly Kennedy

• Molly Kennedy Consulting