Transformative Leadership Conversations with Winnie da Silva

Season 3; Episode 2: Freedom, Responsibility and Community with Peter Gordon

Peter Gordon is the Chief Investment Officer and Head of Commercial Real Estate Debt for a large asset management firm. Peter is the type of leader who instinctively forms his leadership philosophy and approach and then realizes there are a few books out there that back up those instincts. Peter’s leadership analogies range from parenthood, tennis, golf, political ideologies…and through his metaphors we gain some fabulous insights.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

Leadership, like parenthood, is a shift from being about you to something bigger than you

· Working with people, towards a shared goal, seeing the energy they bring… the reflected glory of other people's successes, all of those things, have become an important part of what gets me up in the morning.

· Leading people has helped me articulate what I think are my strengths, and to look at other people and see the strengths in them.

Finding the right balance between autonomy and agency is like a tennis racket grip

· If you grip a tennis racket too tightly, your swing changes, your flow changes, and your shot comes out differently. If you learn how to moderate your grip, then you get a better result out of the tennis racket.  

· There's enough pressure that you feel someone is there and cares, but it's not so tight that it's asphyxiating, or changing your behavior or changing the shape of things. 

Bring others into the conversation

· Meeting someone for the first time, observe them, see how they contribute and how they add to the whole.

· Bring people in, make them feel welcome, understand where they're going to contribute.

· Use all sorts of tricks, like humor, self-deprecation, teasing, anything to get people to feel recognized, and they're not just joining as ‘person number three’ in the group.

Psychological safety is essential

· If you're not threatened, physiologically or mentally, then you do your best work. Then you're more willing to push the boundaries, say something that comes top of mind, just share.

· If someone doesn't want to share, is feeling threatened, is feeling psychologically out of sorts, then clashes are more pronounced. Our natural reaction is to say, ‘That person's making me feel this way, and therefore I'm reacting to it that way’, and then you get into these spirals, and it takes a lot of work to unpack. 

· In work, you don't give time to those relationships in the same way that you do in your personal life. That's why it's incumbent on all of us to tread a little more cautiously into work relationships.

· Psychological safety applies to flexibility in your thinking and your approach to people.

A well-functioning team needs a mix of people with complementary skills

· I like existing in the land of the misfit toys, because it means that there's a lot of different toys there that bring something different to the mix. You don't want everyone to be producing in a certain way with a linear thought process.

· Admire the skills people have that you don't have. It's about creating complements of skills to create a better whole. Help the complementary skillsets work better together.

Leadership is a culmination of your life experiences 

· Leadership is not an on/off switch. It is something that comes from your life experiences; the culmination of things people have said to you along the way, the experiences you've had, the reactions you’ve received. You have to establish what kind of a leader you are which might change at different times in your life.

· Is there ever a day where you're not learning? Yes, the day you walk out, and you get run over by a bus. 

· The learning, while it's painful, very quickly turns into satisfaction and enjoyment. 

The freedoms of leadership require personal responsibility

· With freedom comes massive, personal responsibility. You have to show up. You have to do your bit. No one's telling you, do this, do that.

· Even the most junior person in a group has the ability to lead, to say this is what I can do and I'm leading you to give me more, because I can handle it. That's leadership, too, reverse leadership. It's really important, because now the group starts to come together in a different way, which bleeds into personal responsibility. 

Communities create an entrepreneurial spirit 

· Creating an entrepreneurial spirit in large organizations is like being a parent in the crowd watching your child play a sport in middle school. Your boss is cheering you. It's enthusiastic. It's not focusing on the stuff that you're doing badly; it’s focusing on the good stuff.

· Communities, by definition, are not about the self. It’s about how you respect and champion people, how you recognize the good work they're doing. Then, people don’t want to let the community down.

· Place a greater level of importance on, does it make them happy? If it makes them happy, then they will go back and get more. It is Pavlovian. You will go back and get more. Success will beget success.

· Enjoy and celebrate the small victories and don’t dwell on the things that go wrong, because stuff goes wrong all the time. It’s the ability to be happy about other people's little things, little things that go right. 

Links & Resources:

· The Body Keeps the Score

· Forget Flexibility. Your Employees Want Autonomy

To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].  

Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today’s episode or any suggestions you have for my show.

Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show; look below for some instructions on how to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!

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How to leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device)

1.      Open the Podcasts app. 

2.      Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Transformative Leadership Conversations”) into the search field

3.      Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)

4.      Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews

5.      Click “Write a Review” underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate us on a 5-star scale, and write a review if you choose (you can rate without writing, if you’d prefer)

Season 2; Episode 10: Lessons on Leadership from the Great Depression with Edward Shrigley

For this last episode of Season Two, I have a surprise guest I am especially honored to introduce you to: my grandfather, Edward Shrigley. I wish I could interview my grandfather for this episode. But he died at 96 years old when I was just 17. So instead, I’m excited to tell you a few personal stories about my grandfather’s leadership during the Great Depression. My dad, Jim Shrigley and I did some research together where we pieced together some of these stories. 

Key Takeaways from this Episode

Edward Shrigley’s five leadership principles:

1. Integrity and trustworthiness are foundational

2. Shared sacrifice for the common good can lead to prosperity for all

3. Focus on achieving short-term results without abandoning long-term goals

4. Continuously and constantly communicate with your stakeholders

5. Hold fast to the belief that hope, and persistence will contribute to success

To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].  

Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today’s episode or any suggestions you have for my show.

Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show; look below for some instructions on how to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!

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How to leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device)

1. Open the Podcasts app.

2. Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Transformative Leadership Conversations”) into the search field

3. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)

4. Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews

Season 2; Episode 9: Get the Ball Down the Field with Gina L. Osborn

Gina L. Osborn is an Army Veteran, a retired Cyber FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge and is now a Keynote Speaker, Leadership Consultant and the host of the podcast Lead Like a Lady featuring remarkable women who have risen to the top in male dominated industries. 

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

Leading as a Woman

· Sometimes men felt uncomfortable around me as the only woman, but you just ignore it and press on and do your job.

· There are a lot of reasons why people can treat you in a particular way, but if you think every time, it's because of me, I'm bad, I'm not good enough then you're never going to be successful, because you're always going to have a reason not to be.

· The amount of energy that goes into taking things personally can be exhausting. Instead, focus on getting the ball down the field, you don't have time for all the other nonsense.

· If someone says something that offends you, ask them, what did you mean by that? It's as simple as that. Either they’re going to explain it or they will say I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way. Then you can go about your business and get the ball down the field instead wasting your energy.

· Remember that everybody doesn't have to like you and you don't like everybody. It's called self-preservation. 

· Like my mom used to tell me, it's none of your business what other people think about you. That takes a lot of pressure off, especially for women. 

Leading Authentically

· Modified Albert Einstein: “She who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible”; if you're not attempting the absurd, you are missing out because the impossible is pretty fantastic.

· Try things and don’t let obstacles stand in your way. If it's never been done before, then you can be the first one to do it.

· What percentage of your day is getting the ball down the field? What percentage of my day is criticizing yourself or wishing you had more confidence, or tolerating things that you shouldn't? 

· Remember as a leader people are watching you; how you handle things, how you address people, how you nip things in the bud, how much effort and time you're putting into things.

· You’ll shine as an authentic leader when you are honing into your natural talent and skills sets.

· You learn by making mistakes, that's how they become a better leader.

· Don't take things so seriously; have more fun. You don't have to be perfect. 

· Imperfections are what make you extraordinary. Take risks so you can grow from your mistakes.

Leading a Team

· My leadership challenge as an executive for the FBI was keeping my agents alive and making sure they go home to their families every night. 

· You must know when to take risks and when you shouldn't.

· Develop a muscle memory to make critical decisions quickly. Don’t get stuck being afraid to fail or it's going to be the wrong decision. 

· Micromanaging comes from leaders being afraid to make mistakes or fear of failure. But there's a lot of smart people out there that can come up with really good ideas if we let them do it.

· If you have a good team surrounding you, you are going to be successful no matter what.

· Develop the leaders that come behind you. 

· Don’t be intimidated by people who are smarter than you. You don't have to be smarter than your team when you're the leader. You don't have to be the smartest person in the room.

· It’s important to make sure your people have ownership and investment in the mission of your company.

Resources

· Open Architecture: Guy Geier at TEDxTimesSquare

· Eero Saarinen, a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer

To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].  

Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today’s episode or any suggestions you have for my show.

Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show; look below for some instructions on how to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!

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How to leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device)

1. Open the Podcasts app.

2. Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Transformative Leadership Conversations”) into the search field

3. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)

4. Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews

Season 2; Episode 8: Spices, Entrepreneurship and Social Impact with Ethan Frisch & Ori Zohar 

Ethan Frisch and Ori Zohar are co-founders and co-owners of Burlap & Barrel. Burlap & Barrel sources unique, beautiful spices for professional chefs and home cooks. As a Public Benefit Corporation, they partner directly with smallholder farmers to source spices that have never been available in the US before and help improve the livelihoods of our partner farmers.  As a Public Benefit Corporation Burlap & Barrel is building new international food supply chains that are equitable, transparent, and traceable.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

Building a Sustainable Business

· We went from: what if we have to close the business, to we're about to run out of spices. 

· We want to build a big business, a business that has impact, that has influence.

· Entrepreneurship is always a process of iterating and improving. Nothing is static.

· Now that we’ve grown, most of the things that happen in the business on a day-to-day basis are not my area of expertise.

· You can be an entrepreneur even if your area of expertise is in business operations; continue to find the right subject matter expert that you can partner with partner.

· We are lucky we get to live a life that we design. We get to decide what we do every morning. We get to make decisions for ourselves that most people in the world never get to make, and really don't have much hope of getting to make. The fact that we get to do this is already such a privilege, such a treat that, if the business had to close tomorrow, we are fine. We are healthy. We are in positions to make decisions about our lives, and the business doesn't define that. The business is an outcome of that, but not definitive

Avoiding the Silicon Valley Model

· Create a sustainable, long-term business that isn't optimizing for a crazy exit in five years; build a healthy, happy business.

· The crazy, venture-backed, gigantic companies and founder as hero creating a new world is too stressful. Use other inspiring, quirky, funny companies for inspiration that have grown organically, have a deep and interesting culture of their own.

· We disagreed with the advice we got from a startup accelerator program; and it turns out that what we did instead saved us from the pandemic.

· Not relying on venture money forced us to be lean, thoughtful and to create more clever solutions because we couldn’t just hire a senior person to come in to fix things.

Building a Healthy Partnership

· Starting this business was a new phase of a longstanding friendship. Having had one experience together of entrepreneurship meant that we understood how our skillsets and interests were going to complement each other.

· Shared values can help partners navigate challenging decisions.

· We’re constantly checking in to see how we need to adjust our roles as the business grows.

· When we disagree, it means we're working on something important. We have arrived at different conclusions with essentially the same information, and why? Tension is not, necessarily a negative thing, and in fact, it's been an overall a source of positive energy and it pushes us in the right directions.

Our Toolkit:

· Put in the time and energy and explicit focus to create a conflict resolution process including a toolkit and common language.

· We ask ourselves how strongly we feel about something – on a scale of 1-10. The person who feels more strongly about something gets to make the decision.

· We have a weekly meeting with no agenda. During that meeting we bring pebbles, not boulders. We want to talk about problems as early as possible. If it feels off or weird, we don't just sit and stew on it. These meetings create a safe space for us to bring whatever we're feeling. We can check in and disagree and talk through the things that are sitting the heaviest on our minds.

· We practice disagreements about the small things, so that when a big thing comes along, we’re ready. 

Companies & Resources:

· Examples of social impact business:

o Rancho Gordo: sells incredible dried heirloom beans

o King Arthur Flour

· “Let My People Go Surfing” by the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard

· Pete Flint at NFX

Burlap & Barrel Articles

· New York Times

· Food & Wine

· Bloomberg

· Fast Company

· Wall Street Journal

To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].  

Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today’s episode or any suggestions you have for my show.

Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show; look below for some instructions on how to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!

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How to leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device)

1. Open the Podcasts app.

2. Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Transformative Leadership Conversations”) into the search field

3. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)

4. Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews

Season 2; Episode 7: The Unexpected Impact of Design with Guy Geier

Guy Geier is the Managing Partner of FXCollaborative, and is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm and its operations. As an architect and senior leader for over 40 years, he is particularly passionate about how design impacts people and how they work; businesses and how they organize themselves to do great work; and at the same time how to minimize carbon imprint on the environment. His primary focus is having a strategic impact within a larger mission.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

·       Every decision needs to be made in its own context. 

· Think of everything you do as having an impact. Everything you do think about how you're going to leave the world in a better place than you found it.

· Understand the interrelationship of everything you do and how it impacts each other.

· It doesn't matter what it looks like, what matters is that you're continually exploring.

· Create a culture of feedback by cultivating a real and vibrant dialogue with your team, with your clients.

· Using drawing as a problem-solving technique.

· Be flexible and open to new ideas, don’t restrict your thinking.

· You don’t have to be like everybody else; you can be different and still find your way in the world and do great work.   

Resources

· Open Architecture: Guy Geier at TEDxTimesSquare

· Eero Saarinen, a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer

To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].  

Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today’s episode or any suggestions you have for my show.

Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show; look below for some instructions on how to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!

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How to leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device)

1. Open the Podcasts app.

2. Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Transformative Leadership Conversations”) into the search field

3. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)

4. Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews

Season 2; Episode 6: Cash in Your Lottery Ticket with Jeff Harry

Jeff Harry is the Founder of Rediscover Your Play and his mission is to build psychologically safe workplaces through positive psychology and play. He was selected by Engaged...

Colin Hunter is the CEO of Potential Squared International which delivers high impact leadership assessment and development solutions. Their purpose is to create a measurable global playground that disrupts the way people are led and to uncover heroes, innovators, and future leaders. With over 70 consultants based in the UK, Europe, USA, India, Asia and South Africa, Potential Squared International is truly a global team. 

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

Experimentation 

· We need to create a fun playground to develop leaders.

· Creating a place to experiment. A playground can help you with your fear of failure. You want to help people learn how to make mistakes, learn fast and then grow.

· When things are going well, go and tell your client when things are going badly run and tell your client.

· Do experiments, have a hypothesis, and then evaluate.

Authenticity 

· I felt like I was being listened to and I became myself for the first time.

· Authenticity is changeable; it's not what you always are, it’s who you are becoming too.

· Many leaders adopt other people's metrics. They don't take time to think about their own leading indicators and their own measures of success.

Creating Disciplines in Business & Leadership

· Don’t work in circles. Keep the operating rhythm of the business going. Put in place rigor, discipline, systems and habits.

· We don't rise to the level of objectives; we fall to the level of our systems.

· With a control freak if you remove the control all you’ve got is the freak.

· Making the case to create an advisory board (especially for Founder/CEO’s) and creating a client advisory board to co-create and collaborate on new products and ideas.

· A core part of leadership is having the systems and disciplines in place to be mentally and physically fit and healthy.

The Lord of the Rings can guide your leadership!

Resources

· Be More Wrong by Colin Hunter

· Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

· Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain 

· Atomic Habits by James Clear

· The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier

· The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

· TedTalk: Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself by Thandiwe Newton

To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].

Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today’s episode or any suggestions you have for my show.

Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show; look below for some instructions on how to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!

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How to leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device)

1. Open the Podcasts app.

2. Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Transformative Leadership Conversations”) into the search field

3. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)

4. Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews

5. Click “Write a Review” underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate us on a 5-star scale, and write a review if you choose (you can rate without writing, if you’d prefer)

Season 2; Episode 4: Leaders Don’t Always Have the Answers with Christina Callas

Christina Callas is a dynamic digital-retail leader who drives rapid, profitable growth for iconic omnichannel retailers. She especially enjoys growing and maximizing the operating performance for challenging business environments. She is currently the EVP and Chief Digital Officer at Total Wine & More which is known as the country’s largest independent retailer of fine wine and spirits operating in over 200 super stores across 23 states – and scaling rapidly. She’s worked previously at Children’s Place, Hudson’s Bay Company and Aeropostale. She has her MBA from Columbia Business School.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

You Don’t Have All the Answers

· Sometimes you need to acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers. 

· You can give people a path forward without having all the answers. 

Authenticity and Vulnerability 

· People want to be authentic about who they are at work.

· If you are going to ask people to be vulnerable, you must be vulnerable even if it’s not your most comfortable state.

Leading During the Pandemic 

· Learning to respect the ways the pandemic impacts people differently and yet also being fair and equitable across the organization. 

· People have demonstrated tremendous strength as people have navigated their lives during the pandemic. This strength needs to be acknowledged.

· In this environment, leaders need to stop and slow down.

Leadership Lessons

· Ask the next question, listen, let people talk, see what they have to offer. 

· “Be brief, be bright, be gone”; distill the complexity into that big idea, communicate it well and then go make it happen.

· Translate your ideas into a language that the audience can understand. You can’t just do good work you also have to sell that idea too. 

· What's the story; tell the story if you want people to change their behaviors and do business differently. And then model that behavior.

Women in Business 

· We need to ensure that women in businesses are being represented in the workplace, and that everybody has an equal opportunity at mobility within the organization.

· Unconscious bias is real and it's pervasive. Don’t think you’re top of mind for somebody because the work you've done has been great or they complimented you in a meeting. Tell people I'm interested; I want to move up. 

· As you become more comfortable with yourself you will embrace your unique voice and unique point of view.

· When getting feedback that’s not helpful, ask questions, find out what they're really trying to tell you.

Career Guidance 

· Raise your hand and say yes.

· Find out where you can be helpful, think about what motivates you, seek out pockets of opportunity and then figure out how to fill them. 

· Let people know you're there and you’re interested and ready when the opportunity arises. It's all about timing.

· Consider interesting opportunities that pop up even if they might be flawed.

· Don't be afraid of lateral moves. 

· When there's disruptive change in business, some people say, stay the course, we know what we're doing. Other businesses say, the landscape has changed, we've got to go figure out how to meet these new challenges. Think like the second business throughout your career.

To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].  

Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today’s episode or any suggestions you have for my show.

Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show; look below for some instructions on how to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!

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How to leave a rating or review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device)

1. Open the Podcasts app.

2. Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Transformative Leadership Conversations”) into the search field

3. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)

4. Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews

5. Click “Write a Review” underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate us on a 5-star scale, and write a review if you choose (you can rate without writing, if you’d prefer)