Why the Room That Doesn't Want You Is Exactly Where You Grow

In this episode, we dive into Cool Runnings and the power of leading in unexpected spaces. You’ll discover how owning your identity transforms setbacks into stepping stones. This episode challenges you to BRAGG™, Believe you’re Responsible for Amplifying God’s Greatness, and to Unbox Your Brilliance™. Reflect on where you’ve been shrinking. Now, pick one action: write the page, record the episode, or walk into the room. Share your BRAGG™ moment with us. Visit our site for more. Let’s keep showing up!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Their surprise is not your stop sign. It is just proof that their imagination was way too small of you. So today we're talking about cool run-ins and the freedom to show up where they didn't expect you. What do you do when the room, the race, the industry or the track was not expecting you? That is the question Cool Runnins puts on the table. Because there's something powerful about a group of Jamaican athletes showing up at the Winter Olympics in a sport no one expected them to answer. I said that, I said Jamaican, Winter Olympics, and it's Bobsled. That still sounds like somebody mixed three different meetings together. Sparklers. That is exactly why this story works. Cool Runnins reminds us that some people will only expect you in the places where they already understand you. They expect you where your culture makes sense to them. They expect you where your background fits the little box, where your accent, your skin, your story, your gender, your education, and your experience do not make them uncomfortable. Then you walk into a room they did not picture you in. And that is where leadership starts talking. So today we're talking about cool run-ins and the freedom to show up where they didn't expect you. Welcome back, Sparklers. Welcome back to Mosaic Sparks with me, Leslie George, the space where stories, leadership, faith, and confidence meets right here at the mic. Sparklers, this is a space for you who knows there's more inside of you, even if life, fear, family, freedom, or a few loud opinions try to make you forget. Around here we use Disney stories, movies, and characters as mirrors to remind us who we are, what we carry, and what leadership lessons may be hiding in plain sight. We don't shrink the gift, silent the voice or wait for permission to become who purpose has been calling us to be. We take the lesson, find the leadership, and turn the spark into action. And every episode is a reminder that your voice has weight, your story has value, and your brilliance was never meant to stay boxed up. So lean in, sparklers. Today we're gonna talk truth, build courage, unbox your brilliance. One conversation at a time. And this is your moment to brag with purpose. So the movie we're talking about is Cool Run-Ins. Cool Run-Ins was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1993. It's a loosely it's loosely based on Jamaica's first national bobsled team and their debut at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. Now let's be clear, the movie's not a documentary. Hollywood added comedy, drama, and extra season because apparently regular history was not spicy enough for the studio kitchen. The real leadership lesson still stands. A Jamaican team entered a winter sport and became unforgettable. That is a part I want us to hold. They showed up in a space where they were unusual. They showed up in a sport that didn't match what people expected from Jamaica. They showed up carrying Caribbean identity into a winter arena. They showed up with people watching, laughing, doubting, and wondering what in the world was happening. That sound familiar, does it not? Because I know you may feel like to enter a room where people did not expect you. You may be the first woman in a position. You may be a Caribbean woman in a room where your accent enters before your resume. You may be a woman who started later in life. What about a woman building a business after people thought your season had passed? What about a woman writing a book when your family only knows you as the helper? The auntie? The mother? The fixer? How about this? The responsible one. You may be the one stepping into leadership where people already decided what kind of woman belongs there. Cool Running gives us a mirror. It asks, can you show up where they didn't expect you and still carry yourself like you belong? Showing up in unexpected places takes nerve. It takes faith, but most of all it takes preparation. It takes humor because sometimes you have to laugh to keep from saying what your grandmother would not want repeated on the podcast. It also takes identity. You have to know who you are before the room starts acting confused about your presence. So let's talk about one of the first lessons that Cool Run In shows us. Do not let unfamiliar territory convince you that you are unqualified. Now the Jamaican Bob Sled story is powerful because Bob Sleddin was not a sport people naturally connected to in Jamaica. When people think of Jamaica, they think of sunshine, music, beaches, reggae, rhythm and pride. They don't usually think of ice, snow, helmets, and freezing tracks. That is why this story works. The team entered unfamiliar territory. Now, unfamiliar does not automatically mean impossible. That is where many people get stuck. They confuse I have never done this before with I am not supposed to do this. Those are two different things. You can be new and still be called, you can be learning and still be gifted. You can enter unfamiliar territory and still be the right person to show up. Some of you are standing at the edge of a new room right now. You may want to pitch the brand, start the podcast, write the book, become a speaker. What about raising your prices or lead the meeting? You may want to step from behind someone else's platform and build your own. Then that little voice starts talking. Who do you think you are? You have never done this before. People like you don't usually do this. What about ooh, you're too old? You are too late. You don't have the right background or the right connections. You don't even sound like them. Any of those sound familiar? Cool runnings answers back with one clear message. Show up anyway. Showing up does not mean you skip preparation. Showing up means you stop letting unfamiliar territory become your excuse for disobedience. The first time you walk into a room, you may know every rule. The first time you pitch yourself, your voice may shake, but pitch anyway. First time you launched a thing, it may not be polished, but launch with excellence and then continue to improve. The first time people see you in a new space, they may act surprised. Let them adjust. Carry your identity into the room instead of copying the room. One of the most memorable parts of cool run-ins is that the team had to wrestle with identity. Do they become a copy of what people expect Bob's Fletters to look like? Do they shrink their Jamaican heritage to fit the winter sport? Do they try to become acceptable by becoming less themselves? That is the tension. That is where the movie gives women a powerful lesson. When you enter a space where you are different, the pressure to perform, sameness can get loud. You start watching how other people talk, you start adjusting your voice. You start standing off your sanding off your edges. You start hiding the very thing that makes you memorable. What about thinking maybe I need some more like them to be taken seriously? Guess what, sparklers? No, you don't. Learn the room, respect the room and prepare for the room. Then bring yourself into the room. There's a difference between being professional and disappearance. There's a difference between adapting and abandoning yourself. And there's a difference between learning the standard and losing your soul trying to fit in. I know that too very well. Where I had been in rooms where I felt I needed to disappear, where I felt I needed to conform, where I wanted to hide my accent, or I didn't want people to know I was from the Caribbean. And there's so much mental gymnastics that's happening. And you are literally chipping away at your own identity where no one asks you to. And that matters. Your background is not baggage. Your story is not a liability. Your culture is not a costume you put on during heritage month or take off when the meeting starts. Your accent is not an apology. Your lived experience is not a side note. Your difference can carry strategy, creativity, humor, and perspective that the room did not even know it needed. As for the month of July as we talk about Caracum in the Caribbean, because Caribbean identity has always carried more than one island, one sound, one dish. The Caribbean is full of movement, resilience, rebuilding, and pride. And Caracum represents regional connection and cooperation among Caribbean nations. It reminds us that unity does not require sameness. Unity has honor, difference while building shared strength. And that is a leadership lesson all by itself. You don't have to erase where you come from to build where you are going. You don't have to mute your identity to be taken serious. And you don't have to sound like everyone else to carry that authority. There's no need to perform a variety of leadership that makes you unrecognizable to yourself. Sparklers, some of you have been trying to enter rooms by leaving yourself outside the door. I'm gonna ask you to go back and get her. Bring in the accent. Bring in the wisdom, the faith, your humor, your quirkiness. Bring the I have seen hard things and I'm still here type of energy. Bring the woman who knows how to make something out of almost nothing. Because that's not weakness, that is the type of leadership C to seasoning. And now lesson number three. Let the setback become part of the story, not the end of the story. Cool Runners is remembered because the team didn't have a perfect journey. Of course, they had doubt. They were inexperienced. There were mistakes, there was pressure, and you know there was a crash as well. The movie shows them facing disappointment and still choosing dignity. And that part really matters because showing up where people don't expect you does not mean everything goes perfect. Sometimes you enter the room and you stumble, and the first opportunity doesn't go the way you hoped. People may judge you. Sometimes the thing you prayed for exposes that you still need to learn. But you have to be brave and still be prepared, and you may still miss something. Sometimes the public moments become messier than the private vision. That does not mean you did not belong. That means that you are human. A setback does not automatically disqualify you from the space. A mistake does not erase your calling. A hard beginning does not cancel your right to keep going. Some people are waiting for you to fail because they never wanted you there in the first place. Don't build your life around their expectations. Build your life around your assignment. Cool runnings gives us a picture of dignity and disappointment. Everybody loves confidence when the applaud is loud. The real test is what do you do when the track gets rough? Do you quit because people saw you struggle? Do you disappear because the outcome wasn't perfect? And do you decide you were never supposed to be there because one moment hurt your pride? Or do you stand up, gather yourself, and keep walking? Now, that's grown woman leadership, which is not always cute. Sometimes leadership is fixing your face in the bathroom mirror and going right back out there in the room. Sometimes leadership is sending the second email after the first pitch was ignores ignored. Sometimes leadership is applying again and again or trying again and again. And sometimes leadership is standing back up in front of people who saw you fail. Freedom is not only the right to enter, it is the courage to recover. Now, let's bring these three lessons together. Cool runners teaches us do not let unfamiliar territory convince you that you are unqualified. Carry your identity into the room instead of copying the room. Let the setback become part of the story, not the end of the story. That is more than a movie. That is a leadership framework. Unfamiliar territory, authentic identity, resilient recovery. Those three ideas can help you step into a new space. People may not expect you in certain rooms, but guess what? Go anyway. People may not understand your background, bring it anyway. People may not know how to pronounce your name, respect your accents, or recognize your brilliance. Stand in it anyway. And people are gonna question whether you belong. Prepare so well that you that your presence becomes the answer. You don't need everyone to understand your assignment before you obey it. You don't need the room to be comfortable before you become visible. Now, I want to talk to you who feel like she is entering her own winter sport. You are stepping into something new and it feels cold. It feels different, unfamiliar. The language is new. You're trying to figure out how to move with grace when the track is faster than you expected. You're wondering if you should go back to what is familiar because familiar feels safe. Sparklers, safe is not always the same as called. Familiar is not always the same as fruitful. Sometimes the next level will feel strange because it was never meant this version of it has never met this version of you before. Let it meet you. Let the room adjust. Let the audience adjust. The family adjusts, and the old version of you adjust. You are allowed to become visible in places where people didn't expect your name to show up. To build authority in field where you are still learning, allowed to represent your culture without becoming a spokesperson for everyone. And you are allowed to be nervous and still go. What about being the first in your family, the first in your circle, the first in your church, or the first in your own mind to say I am going to do this? Doing it is not small. Doing it is a declaration. Saying I refuse to let fear write the final sentence and then saying I know there is more in me because your story deserves that movement. Freedom is movement. Where are you being called to show up where they didn't expect you? What room have you avoided because you didn't want to feel like the only one? This week I want you to pick one place where you have been shrinking because you feel unexpected. Then take one action. Write the first page, what about recording the episode, submit the application, register for the class, start the conversation, and walk into the room. Do not wait until nobody is surprised. Cool run-ins remind us that the world often remembers that people who had the courage to show up when expectation says they should not be. That is leadership. So this week, sparklers, show up where they didn't expect you, but show up prepared. Show up proud, teachable, with your name attached to your work, and show up with your brilliance on box. Sparklers, this has been Mosaic Sparks with me, Leslie George, where we use stories, leadership, faith, confidence to remind you that your voice, your brilliance, and the purpose deserves room. Until next time, sparklers, keep shining, keep speaking, keep turning your spark into action. And don't you dare leave this episode the same way you did when you press play. Bye for now.