Let's Fix Leadership

Not sure who said that, but the statement has inspired a lot of thought, reflection, and furious rabbit-hole research. So I thought to myself, why not share all my findings and musings with you?

Leading in today's world requires approaches that transcend traditional management practices. It's about fully understanding the intersection between ourselves, our teams, and our organizations. Self-awareness, emotional intelligence, curiosity, and system thinking…these are all things that lend to conscious leadership.

How do we bake this concept into our mindsets and actions? In this episode, I talk about conscious leadership and why it's so important.

Many leaders have the epiphany that it's not culture if you have to micromanage to achieve it. It becomes culture when people perform when no one's looking.

That begs the question: how do you turn culture from something you have on paper into something weaved into everything your organization does?

In order for an organization to drive forward, we need a strong culture and values, but performance also needs to be part of that deal. That's where the concept of performance and value-based company comes in.

How do we tie the values of the organization in with everyone's roles? How can we go from perception to perspective, and why is that such a powerful shift?

In this episode, I'm joined by the Chief Revenue Officer at Big Star Transit, LBJ Biggers.

He shares how his team turned culture into something tangible and trackable.

Guest Bio

LBJ Biggers is the Chief Revenue Officer at Big Star Transit LLC. Big Star's non-emergency medical ride share service offers specialized passenger transport to the disabled and underserved using its robust in-house network of road-monitored vehicle operators. Go to https://bigstartransit.com/ for more information or connect with LBJ on LinkedIn.

Here's a mind-blowing fact for you…a lot of the technology we use and rely on today, didn't exist a few years ago. Which means, tomorrow's technology might still just be a big idea in someone's brain.

….I'll let that sink in.

Technology is moving faster than it ever has, and it's going to continue to speed up.

What we know how to use today is going to be outdated in a blink. As leaders, we have to keep up, both in our competencies, and how we hire and how our teams continue to innovate.

If you don't have digital curiosity, you'll always be left behind by new tools and trends, and that might as well be light years behind. How do we embrace this new competency and let it permeate the roots of our organizations?

In this episode, I talk about why digital curiosity has to be part of the continuous growth of leaders and our teams.

If there's one word I want to gently pluck out of the vocabulary of leaders, it would be…. "opportunities".

Why, you ask? I mean it seems like a totally innocent and well-meaning word, right? Well… sometimes, when we tell people on our team what their opportunities are, we actually end up messing with their superpowers.

Instead, we can manage their strengths so they show up with their best foot forward. In this episode, I share a better way to think about opportunities as a leader.

Before you became a leader, you thought every executive had it all together. They are confident, always know what decision to make, and turning ideas into execution happens at the snap of a finger. You just walk around telling everyone how to execute the plan, how hard could that be?

Insert the laugh track here…

Leading is messy…we have to communicate effectively, approach problems from multiple perspectives, turn creative chaos into a cohesive plan and a whole lot more.

That is a feature of the job, not a bug, and it is….A LOT.

How do you get comfortable with having moments of messiness in your leadership journey? In this episode, we talk about how to embrace the messiness of leading a team or an organization.

You can't make a delicious omelette without breaking a couple of eggs. You can't break through without shattering something. As we set intentions for this year, what if we could commit to breaking things? So many of us are on autopilot in different areas of our lives. Deciding to break things shakes us out of complacency, allows for massive growth and yes, it fixes leadership!

Old systems, mindset, behaviors and habits - we can dismantle them all and build back up better. How do we get comfortable with breaking things? How does this make us better leaders?

In this episode, I talk about my goal for this year - breaking, dismantling and experimenting.

Here's a real head-scratcher for you. You leave a meeting thinking, "the team has got this''. Then you go to execute, and you find out that you weren't, in fact, on the same page. You asked "any questions," and no one responded, so surely there was clarity and alignment…so what gives?

Well, I hate to break it to you, but that very question could be the thing blocking them from getting clarity. You could be triggering fear without even knowing it.

How do we create room for curiosity and questions and play with the brain to create openness? In this episode, I share how one small conversational shift can foster conversation, clarity, collaboration, and honesty.

Do you ever feel like you can't make one more decision even if your life depended on it? Does decision-making get more difficult as the day or week goes on?

What to wear, what to eat, whether to overtake or not. Who to hire, what tasks to work on, the strategic direction of the organization. The average adult makes an exhausting and astounding 35,000 decisions a day. It's no wonder we get so tired of it.

From minor day-to-day choices to high-stakes pivots, we're making decisions literally every day. Just like a physical muscle, our brains get spent after extensive use. Our decision making muscle depletes with every decision, so how do we protect this precious resource?

As leaders, how do we take unnecessary decisions off our plates? In this episode, we're digging into the science behind decision fatigue, how to mitigate its impact, and how to protect your decision-making capital.

Following a rigid hiring rule over filling a position with a great candidate. Or proving your co-worker is hard to work with over your own performance. How about, focusing on that pet project to the detriment of the company's financial stability?

False priorities show up all over the place at work, and we've all been guilty of them, because guess what? They often make things easier - but only in the moment. False priorities take us off course; costing time, money, innovation and growth.

Simply put: when we fall prey to a false priority, our teams suffer. How do we identify a false priority and nip the imposter in the bud?

In this episode, I talk about how to stay true to what's important when a false priority trips us up.

Leading the whole person is a non-negotiable requirement for every leader. To make everyone on our teams feel seen and supported, we have to get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. This is especially true for disability, something a large percentage of the workforce lives with.

Disability isn't easy to talk about because we're afraid we'll say the wrong thing, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have the conversation.

We don't feel awkward asking people what their dietary restrictions are, so why do we feel uncomfortable asking how we can support a disabled coworker? How do we become better leaders for those with disabilities, seen or unseen? In this episode, I'm joined by leadership coach and my good friend, Jen Griffin.

She shares her inspiring story - becoming an amputee and the mental game that helped her recover. We also share how leaders can foster environments where people are comfortable talking about disability.

The more I guide and say it's okay to ask, the better the conversations get. -Jen Griffin

Guest Bio

Jen's ability to lead from a creative perspective on life has served her clients well. Championing others by helping them unlock the secret shift they need to overcome and embrace life's changes, is one of her true joys.

Jen's professional career began as a real estate paralegal and worked for several top-tier corporations and law firms. Upon experiencing a life-altering medical event in 2007, Jen found herself shifting gears and she created and led her own non-profit, she began public speaking, writing, and eventually became a co-owner of a retail brick-and-mortar business. With all her combined professional experience, she is now a leadership coach to other businesses and individuals.

Through both her professional & personal life experiences, Jen has developed many tools for working in a fast-paced environment, serving many agendas, finding creative solutions, and overcoming the hardest part – fighting fear and just getting started!

Connect with Jen on LinkedIn.