I would like to begin this episode by acknowledging that I am located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and I am privileged and honored to live and learn on the unc eded and surrendered territory of the Anishnabeeg Algonquin Nation. Hello, you're listening to Trench Leadership: A Podcast From the Front, produced by iglen studios. Trench Leadership is a show for emerging leaders from all professions to hear from other leaders who have led from the front, made the mistakes, had the triumphs, and are still learning along the way. Hi, everyone, and welcome to the inaugural episode of Trench
Leadership:A Podcast From the Front hosted by me, Simon Kardynal. This episode is titled, "Why Should I Listen to Your Podcast?" And that's a great question, because why should you listen to my podcast? What makes my message special and worth you taking the time to listen to me and all of the amazing guests that I have lined up for you. Well, keep listening to find out. As I was pondering how to launch this podcast, I was trying to decide which topic to explore first, and then it dawned on me that I should take this first episode to tell you all a little bit about myself, my motivation to do this podcast, and how my personal and professional background can be helpful to you. To begin, it's important to know that I just finished a Master of Art in Leadership degree, or the MAL, with Royal Roads University. But how I got to the program and its influence to help me see that I needed to change my path is an episode all to itself. I'd like to point out that I don't have an undergrad. Rather, I was accepted into the program based on the school's flexible admission program whereby they looked at my life experience and decided if I would be a good fit for the program. And no, the university is not paying me to say this. It's all me. Anyhoo, it was during the beginning of the MAL program when I started listening to leadership podcasts. And I began to notice that most leadership related podcasts tended to fall into one of three categories. The first category tends to be the C-suiters. These are the CEOs, CEOs, CFOs, whatever, of Fortune 500 companies who are all talking about how their leadership as the head of the Nakatomi Corporation, helped them lead 1000s of people and make the most profits ever while they were leading the charge, and now, they're taking their lessons and giving them to you. The second group tends to be faith based groups. And these are speakers that mostly tend to come from small to mid size non mainstream faiths. And the third group are super niche groups. There are many leadership podcasts that target specific groups such as entrepreneurs, heads of specific divisions, companies, all these different types of things. Now, I'm not suggesting that these groups don't have important messages. But the one thing I haven't seen yet, is a podcast that talks to the emergent leaders, the ones who are freaking out, because on Monday, they are in charge of a team for the first time or joining that new team, and are expected to make those real changes right away. Leading is like warfare, we make decisions that affect people and materials to achieve the best outcome for our team. And it's the emerging leaders who are in the trenches, leading from the front lines getting dirty and bloody, experiencing their first professional leadership conflicts, celebrating successes, while remaining unbiased, balancing the needs and desires of their team in conjunction with the desires from higher management. These challenges are common fears for all leaders from government, private sector unions, nonprofit, arts, education, entertainment, sports, it doesn't matter. We all experience these feelings and fears. And it's my hope that Trench Leadership will be the place where emerging leaders can find leadership tools, practical advice and inspiration to help them build a solid leadership foundation before, during, and after they have fought in those leadership trenches. In order to understand my motivation to help emerging leaders, I think it's important to understand a little bit about me, my background, and some of the events that have shaped how I've gotten to this point in my life. My family has a long history with the military. I am fourth generation on my dad's side and fifth on my mother's. Growing up all I ever knew was that nomadic military lifestyle. My dad was in the Royal Canadian Air Force for 26 years and I remember always being so impressed with his uniform and feeling that he was doing something really important. There was never a doubt in my mind that I would join the Canadian military too. The problem was that I was a smart mouthed little punk who thought he knew everything. Back then, I thought the Canadian Armed Forces, or CAF, as you will hear me say, would be lucky to have me. So, prior to me joining the forces, I did what I wanted, when I wanted, I wasn't completely oblivious to what I needed to do to join, but back then I partied a lot. I drove like it was a right and not a privilege. And keeping a steady job was hard because I always seem to be so much smarter than the manager. I wasn't out of control, but I definitely needed control. In the Canadian Armed Forces, applicants only need to have completed grade 10 to join some trades as a noncommissioned member. But this is a minimum for a limited amount of trades, and really, trying to join without a high school diploma did not make applicants competitive. And I was smart enough to know that finishing high school was important to help me be competitive, and to keep my options open. But I barely graduated. I'll never forget my English teacher, Miss Blake pulling me aside in grade 11, and telling me that I was capable of so much more. I didn't hear her then. But I'll never forget her voice. Part of the application involves an interview with the recruiter, and the officer assigned to do my interview was this Naval Lieutenant, who was friendly yet serious. I honestly believed the interview was a formality for someone of my caliber. And yet, as he was reading over my file, I could see the frown getting darker and darker. But even then, I still thought they would ask why I waited so long to join. When he finally spoke, he looked up at me and said something that I remember to this day, "Mr. Kardynal, you are an immature a little shit. And until you learn to respect yourself and others, you will never join my Canadian Armed Forces". As you can imagine, there was a very long pause on my end, he then proceeded to tell me that I had to go back to school and improve my grades, regain my driver's license and not get into any more accidents or have any driving violations. And I also had to get and hold a job for a minimum of six months. And then and only then, would I even be considered for maybe being considered for entry into the forces. I left flabbergasted and embarrassed. On the bus ride home, I thought about what he said to me and once I got over my ego, I realized that he was right. I really was an immature little shit. And this was my first taste of real military leadership. It stung. But it worked. I turned my act around, and I dedicated my efforts to doing what he said and getting into the forces. It wasn't easy, but I eventually got in. And on October 27th, 1994, I was sworn in as an infantry soldier with the Royal Canadian Regiment. Three days later, I began basic training. And it was here that I had a leadership experience, which would shape what type of a leader I wanted to become. My basic training was what someone would expect from the mid-90s. It was hard. There was a lot of swearing and yelling, mixed in with runs, and many many, many, many push ups. My section commander a grizzled Master Corporal with the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry was super fit, super smart. And although he was short, he was super intimidating. Everything he did, he did with his back straight, beret on perfectly and a look and air of total confidence. I was starstruck. It's important to note that my basic training was a winter course. And it was during the field phase that I experienced this leadership example that would shape the type of leader I wanted to be and that I continue to evolve towards today. Do you have an idea for an episode that you feel is vital for emerging leaders? Leave the idea in the comments section and if your topic is chosen, you will have the opportunity to join us during that recording session. So drop us a note and let's talk. This podcast is made possible by listeners like you and if you feel like we've earned it, please tell your friends and leave a review to help us grow our following. And now, back to the show. Welcome back. Mid-show bumpers, aren't they great for building suspense? Anyhoo, it was the end of a very long and cold day and my section was trying to set up the 10-person tent and it was my job to start and maintain the Coleman stove and lantern. It happened to be that I had plenty of experience with these devices so I had no trouble getting them lit and so as I was standing there watching my section mates trying to fumble through erecting the tent, I felt this intense guilt about not doing anything to help. Plus, it was taking them so long that my hands were starting to get very cold, and my Master Corporal could see this. Here's the moment I will never forget. While the other section commanders were running around, yelling at the recruits, degrading them, and making everyone panic and run around in their own circles, he very calmly asked me if my hands were cold. And when I told him yes, he reminded me that my job was to be the safety person for these items. And then I needed warm hands to be able to do this, and he told me to put my hands over the flames to warn them. Now, I know what you're thinking, this is common sense. And you're right it is. But also, if you have never been a private in the combat arms, it's hard to explain how much pain you will go through to avoid even the potential of another chewing up by your section commander, or to be perceived as having an easier go than your section mates. The pivotal leadership point for me was this, my section commander had the option of yelling at me and telling me to pull my head out of my ass. But instead he opted to teach me, to lead in a way that I would learn the WHY of things. And this was a critical moment in my career because I knew in that moment, I needed to teach basic training to give back the same way I had just received, and 16 years later, I did. The point of these stories is to highlight the significance of seemingly small moments in our lives and how they can drastically affect us. For me, I spent five more years in the infantry deploying in 1998 to the Quebec ice storms and the Swiss Air Flight 111 crash at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, and I also deployed on an international tour to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999. Later that year, I switched to the Royal Canadian Air Force and I became an aircraft structures technician where I deployed in support of the Afghanistan Campaign in 2005, and 2006. And in 2011, I received my dream posting and was promoted to sergeant and posted to teach basic training where I was able to teach candidates about how to be a Canadian Armed Forces Aailor, Soldier and Air-Person. And yes, I did show them how to like the Coleman stove and lantern. Later in my career, I was given roles in tactical and strategic administrative positions until my retirement in January 2021 as a Master Warrant Officer. My career and my life experiences have shown me good leaders and not so good ones, and I still feel the same passion and desire to help people succeed I felt so many years ago when I was a young Private in the infantry, which is why I'm starting this podcast. I want to help emerging leaders be the very best they want to be. I want to use stories and guests to remind all leaders that they can do it, that they can lead, that they are leading. I want to give emerging leaders real world advice, inspiration, and useful tools to help them see that leading with their heart is a strength and not a weakness. I want to show emerging leaders how to couple their leadership with their strong minds, creating a balanced approach that will inspire themselves and their teams. And so, much like how I wanted to give back by teaching basic training so many years ago, I want to give back what I have learned over a 26 year military career and help people from all professions. If you're still here, then that must mean I have intrigued you enough to stay, and I really appreciate that. In Trench A Podcast From the Front, you can expect a range of topics from all professions and backgrounds and we will get together to have frank and fun conversations. Sometimes we'll have multiple guests. Sometimes it'll only be me talking about something that I'm very passionate about. And sometimes we'll have one guest. But what will remain constant is that the topics are meant to help emerging leaders be the very best they want to be. At the end of each episode, I'll run a lightning round where all guests will have very little time to answer five fun leadership related questions. While there won't be a set time limit for each episode, your time is valuable, so I'll do my best to keep the show to around 45 minutes, the show will be weekly and the episodes will be dropped each Sunday evening so that you can have it ready for your Monday morning commute, run, constitutional, whatever. I recognize that none of these episodes will be possible without the listeners. So anytime a listener submits an idea on any of my social media outlets, which can be found in the show notes, I'll invite the listener to join me during the recording session of their idea or question. Now if you like what you've heard so far, please click follow and you can ensure that you never miss an episode or head on over to my website at trench leadership.ca where you will find all kinds of useful information and bonus content from each episode. Finally, I don't know what I don't know. So if you feel I've earned it, please leave me a review and rating, telling me what I'm doing right and what I can improve upon. Well, that's a wrap from the front. In this episode, we learned about this podcast, me, what makes me tick, and what drives my motivation to want to help people. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time. Please consider leaving an episode review and tell us what we did well, and tell us what we didn't do so well. Be sure to join us next week for another episode of Trench Leadership: A Podcast From the Front, produced by iglen Studios, music provided by Ashamaluev music.