The Super Fantastic Leadership Show

In this episode I officially close out the Super Fantastic Leadership Show and make an announcement about the new podcast I will be starting in 2024.

On today’s show we are going to talk about leading remotely. Before we dive in, let’s take a beat here and recognize that this isn’t necessarily new. There are just a LOT more people doing it, of course many who may have never had to lead in this way at the moment. While many of the same rules of leadership apply, this new context will require even more skills of being present, emotionally intelligent and likely, patience. For those leaders out there who have never had to do it, here is some great news; you get to learn some new skills and even enhance some old ones. We covered this topic back in 2017. You can listen to the show here. There are a few things that hold true no matter “where” you are leading from. Those include setting expectations, establishing clear goals, making and keeping clear agreements and also, the other skills that make leading worthwhile like being a decent human being. This past weekend on CBS Sunday Morning, they also talked about what we all need from leaders, especially in a crisis. You can check out the clip right here. It is excellent!

This week we are talking about resilience and what to avoid doing if you want to be even more resilient. That’s right, even more resilient. Human beings by in large are given much resilience but, some of the things we may be choosing to do can erode this naturally occurring strength to “bounce back” in ways that we may not recognize. First of all, watch out for complaining, blaming and criticizing others and also yourself! This is numero uno for you for sure. While it may feel slights enlivening due to the hits of adrenaline that we get when we are feeling righteous about what others should or shouldn’t be doing, be aware that this ultimately doesn’t leave us feeling empowered. Mostly this doesn’t work to build our resilience because this habit isn’t actionable. We are complaining but, we aren’t owning our own agency and power to change anything. Secondly, feeling into a future based on horrible outcomes also doesn’t build our resilience. Again, we return to being able to take action on that which we can do right now is best. Those things that are within our locus of control are incredibly helpful for us to use our strengths and best virtues as well as, most likely, to help others. When times feel uncertain and we feel out of control and unable to impact our environment, finding those places where we can take mindful action is incredibly resilient building. Thirdly, not giving attention to your naturally occurring strengths and the best virtues you are bringing to every day, also isn’t helpful. If we can see our strengths and how we are using them day-to-day this can be very helpful. What parts of your better nature has really shown up during this time? And during any time in which you’ve been challenged? We’re including some great links for you too in this week’s show: If you want to assess your own mental toughness, check out this article and the questions here. And if you’d like a good laugh, you can watch my friend Jessica and her quarantine roommate with their 5 Second Phone Calls. Join us on the Super Fantastic Leadership Show app too. We would love to see you there. You can get it right on itunes/google play if you don’t have it already. There you will find all sorts of great bonus content. This week we are simply including a picture of McWilmes sheltered at home.

This week we discuss the many ways in which our lives may change due to the pandemic and also, the caution we might want to consider as we begin to get convinced that we should go back to business as usual. Today’s show was inspired by an article that Daphne read on Medium written by Julio Vincent Gambuto. In this article he warns us to be intentional about what we bring back into our lives. However, the article also points too many fingers at the world outside of ourselves for creating our lives the way they are. Daphne wrote a response article that addresses this point and we talk about it on the show today. The truth is, we are always responsible for our lives and what we bring into them or not. For sure, this pandemic may provide us with some much needed levers but, as the title of this show suggests, it is no magic bullet for “fixing” the things we had issues with all along. Marta and Daphne also talk about the levers they are pulling to learn new things. For Marta, she is learning to draw comics. For Daphne, she is focusing a lot on cooking really delicious food. You can find the recipe to the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich that she made right here. And here are her ingredients for a great green smoothie that she loves to start her day with. Let us know what new things you’re bringing into your world and how you are using this time to get leverage in your life. That’s what it is all about!

Today we are going to be offering a lot of tips with how to work with the experiences of anxiety, depression, overwhelm and isolation. First, we want to recognize the experience we are experiencing. So often we do attempt to rush to solutions to “get rid” of our experience or to force it to change in some way. We don’t trust the process as it is happening. We’ve also been told a lot of stories about our experiences too. The stories we’ve all been told begin with some form of “should” or “shouldn’t”. We shouldn’t be sad, we should be happy and grateful, for example. In times of uncertainty we can lose our very real need for agency. Agency is the experience we have when we feel as though we can influence or change a situation in a particular way. This gives us a sense of control, safety and security. When we feel uncertain it can be difficult for us to find the ways we are still in our power and control. This is often what begins to bring up experiences of feeling fearful, overwhelmed, and all of the variations of emotional experiences. Here are some tips that we give for these different experiences. Anxiety: feels like reaching into the future: the 3 tips-meditation practice, do one thing at a time, do some 4 x 4 breathing. Depression: feels like being in cement shoes and dull: 3 tips-gratitude practices, finding laughter (one of my favorite SNL sketches), physical activity Overwhelm: feels like not knowing where to begin: the 3 tips-follow the steps in this 10′ to presence video, watch out for all or nothing thinking, take an action. Isolated: feels like being lonely and disconnected (from ourselves): the 3 tips-ask what do I need? what might others need too, ask for what you need, take action. Here is a link to the RAIN meditation that we spoke about in the show too.