What Works

EP 289: Leading Through Uncertainty with &yet CEO Sarah Avenir

07.14.2020 - By Tara McMullinPlay

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In This Episode:

* How Sarah Avenir took on the role of CEO for digital development & strategy agency, &yet* Why Sarah considers herself a naturally fearful person—and how she pushes herself to face that fear* Why refining the positioning & messaging at &yet helped her to discover how her strengths could be of highest value* How she structures her work and responsibilities to maintain her capacity for leadership* Why she focuses on being “anti-overfunctioning”

We’re looking for leadership.

We’re living through this time of deep uncertainty: uncertainty about our health, uncertainty about our culture, uncertainty about our businesses… uncertainty about our communities, our families, and—I think—even uncertainty about our relationships with ourselves.

We’re looking for leadership because there’s a lot to be wary of and, at the same time, there is a lot of opportunity too.

We’re looking for leadership because where there is a leader there are other followers we can gather with.

We’re looking for leadership because we’re called on—every day—to lead more and more ourselves.

If you’re a leader—and I know you are—you’re being called to lead in a new way right now.

And that leadership can be humbling, scary, and exhausting.

Your leadership is also an opportunity to figure out what your best role is—how you contribute the highest value, how you work best with others, what your vision of the future is. The call to leadership in this moment is a call to growth and clarity—which shouldn’t be confused with a call to certainty.

I wanted to dig into what leading a team or community through a crisis can look like…

…and I could think of no one better to talk to about this than my friend Sarah Avenir.

Sarah Avenir—who you might know better as Sarah J. Bray—recently took the helm as the CEO of &yet, a digital development and strategy agency.

Sarah is an incredibly thoughtful leader and I knew her approach on leading both herself and her team through this time would be an insightful look at embracing uncertainty.

Sarah and I chat about how she became CEO of &yet, how she considers herself a naturally fearful person, and why a key part of her leadership is knowing others have her back. We also talk about how she structures her time, team, and approach to her work so she can focus on her own role and let other people do their job.

Now, let’s find out what works for Sarah Avenir!

Grab Sarah’s book, now in its second edition, Gather The People. And keep your eye on this Instagram account for a free Gather The People course!

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