Captain’s Notes for Young Leaders

Note: This is the first episode of a four-part series with the fantastic Wayne Worthington, an executive recruiting VP at Raines International in Dallas, TX. Follow-on episodes will be released on a weekly basis.

Are you young and hungry, but don't have decades of experience on your resume? Are you worried about how to standout among the crowd of more senior competition for leadership roles? I have definitely felt this way, and still do.

The world of leadership recruiting can be as mysterious as the lost city of Atlantis. Yet, for many of us, the future of our leadership careers will depend on being "discovered" by recruiters. That's why I've decided to provide a peek behind the veil of executive recruiting.

Wayne Worthington is an executive recruiting professional based in Dallas, TX. And, just like many of you, he is a young leader. As a fellow Naval Academy graduate and Marine Corps officer, Wayne brings street cred as well as real-world, real-time experience to this in-depth discussion.

Follow along over the next few weeks as we dig deep into the world of recruiting, and how to prepare yourself to attract recruiters, regardless of your age or experience level. 

Leadership is hard. But leading your peers... that can seem almost unfair.

Fortunately, the military is fraught with examples of peer leadership, and leading your peers is a necessary element to success in the civilian world as well. That's why I'm happy to welcome Captain Nick Rossovskij to the podcast this week.

Captain Rossovskij is an Infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, and is currently serving as the Commander of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. More importantly, he is one of my long-time best buds. And a certified badass. 

Join us as we discuss our own peer leadership challenges, successes, and lessons-learned.

The good news: if you apply the basic principles of empathy, proficiency, and leading by example, just as you would leading subordinates, then you will find success leading your peers as well.

Humans instinctively act in one of two ways when faced with a fear stimulus: Fight or Flight.

This principle indicates that, when faced with a scary situation, people will either attack the genesis of the fear, or run from it.

Leaders attack; but it may not be a natural response to such stimuli for every leader.

In this episode, I'm thrilled to have Dr. Robert Beam, Associate Medical Director of Novant Health-GoHealth Urgent Care in Winston-Salem, NC, with me as we discuss the topic of fear in leadership. As a healthcare leader with decades in the industry, Dr. Beam will give us his take on the role of fear as a leader, how to handle it, and how to thrive in spite of it.

Homework assignment: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/what-is-the-function-of-fear-in-leadership

Admit it; every leader has confused the feeling of being liked by their team with being  respected. I know that I sure have, on multiple occasions. 

Being liked by your team can feel like being the popular kid at your high school. It's a warm glow and can often distract you from seeing behind the curtain of what they are truly feeling.

Being liked and being respected are absolutely not mutually exclusive, so don't feel like you have to pick a side. Like anything, however, it is important that you have the two in equilibrium with one another.

For young leaders especially, it is easy to immediately feel the need to prove yourself. Presenting yourself as the "cool new boss" can be a defense mechanism for hiding your insecurities, and can seem like an easy way to gain your team's trust and respect quickly. Your team will see through this quickly; being liked can happen immediately, but being respected takes time, energy, and empathy.

Beware of the pitfalls. In this episode, we'll talk about the differences between being liked and being respected, and how to harness both to hone your skills as a leader.

Failure happens. To everyone. 

As a leader, failure can be a mental and emotional deterrent to reaching your full potential. If you fail as a leader, you may think that everyone is watching and judging you. Or, you may feel like you don't have what it takes to lead, because you failed. 

I couldn't disagree more with this mindset. 

Failure is a gift, and failure applied to future situations separates strong leaders from the weak. 

In this episode, we'll discuss failure, and how to properly apply it to leadership challenges and allow it to make you stronger. We'll discuss real-world examples from my own career, since I definitely have many to pull from. 

Don't be afraid to fail! No one expects you to be perfect. Remember: it's not that you fall, but that you get back up that matters. 

Homework: https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/08/20/5-things-failure-teaches-you-about-leadership/?sh=11d2f08c168b

If you're in a leadership role, and you haven't yet felt "called" to be a leader...don't let the title of this episode worry you. You're not alone. 

The mantra of this podcast is "age is a mindset, but leadership is a calling." And yes, leadership is a calling to many. But you don't have to feel it prior to attaining a leadership role. 

For some, the true calling isn't felt until you have started to gain traction and feel success as a leader, and that is perfectly normal. As human beings, we have natural instincts drawing us towards both leading, and following. This ties back to the "fight or flight" mentality that we all possess.

Leaders fight. 

Whether you have already felt the calling and want to maneuver yourself onto the path to leadership, or you have been granted a leadership role before fully feeling the passion to lead, we'll dissect and discuss both ends of the spectrum in this episode. 

Homework: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/from-manager-to-leader-2275801

The natural first boundary that young leaders experience is, well...age. 

Age can present numerous challenges to young leaders, from the logical lack of experience that a young age can imply, to generational gaps between the leader and their team members, to outright discrimination from older professionals. 

In this episode, we'll explore a concept that is central to this podcast, and to success as a young leader in general: age is a mindset, not a measurement. Join me and learn more about the psychology behind this concept, how I've found it as both a strength and a weakness in my own leadership journey, and how experts perceive mental maturity vs. physical age. 

Homework assignment: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/magazine/what-if-age-is-nothing-but-a-mind-set.html https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/269563 

Enjoy, and remember: Age is a mindset, but leadership is a calling.

Welcome to the first episode of Captain’s Notes for Young Leaders. 

In this episode, we will discuss the background precipitating the creation of this podcast, my personal background as a young leader, and an introduction to my thoughts on leading at a young age. 

We’ll end with a “homework assignment” to check out one of my all-time favorite books, The Passion of Command by B.P. McCoy.  

Enjoy, and remember: Age is a mindset, but leadership is a calling.