Ep41 Tracey Swift, Editor-in-Chief, Risk Management as Leadership Strategy: Leadership Development Podcast

HOST: This leadership development podcast is brought to you by: Ovi Vasquez, Inspirational Leadership Keynote Speaker. Fatherless farm boy from rural Guatemala—Inspiring teams to peak performance. He challenges teams to embrace change and step into bold leadership through leadership culture. He grew up in a village without electricity, learned English in two years, graduated from high school in three years, earned a B.A. in management, in two years.  Ovi has worked for Apple, Tesla, Salesforce, and Uber. He is a TEDx speaker, author, and social entrepreneur.

GUEST BIO: Tracey Swift, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Higher Ed Risk, a national platform elevating the voice of higher education risk managers. With experience across private sector, corporate risk, Arizona State University, and international leadership roles, Tracey blends resilience, transparency, and strategic thinking to help institutions strengthen operational and financial stability. Raised in a family of educators and public servants, she leads with discipline, curiosity, and trust-centered values. 

Find our guest at: https://higheredrisk.com
Find our host at: https://www.ovinspires.com

Leadership Development Keywords: executive leadership, risk management, institutional resilience, transparent communication, accountability culture, psychological safety, curiosity-driven leadership, emotional regulation, change management, values-driven leadership 

Leadership Development Summary: In this episode, Tracey Swift defines leadership as empowering others through trust rather than hierarchy. Drawing from early mentors, international pivots, and career reinventions, she explains why curiosity, emotional regulation, and communication build resilient organizations. Tracey shares how storytelling drives visibility, why leaders must promote others, and how proactive risk management strengthens culture. 

10 Takeaways on Leadership Development
✅ Trust is the foundation of leadership
✅ Curiosity fuels growth
✅ Emotional regulation builds credibility
✅ Proactive risk management prevents crisis
✅ Visibility creates opportunity
✅ Culture must be intentional
✅ Leaders should reward thoughtful risk-taking
✅ Self-care prevents burnout
✅ Clear communication reduces confusion
✅ Be the author of your story

5 Titles for Leadership Development
✅ Trust Over Title
✅ Risk Management as Leadership Strategy
✅ Be the Author of Your Story
✅ Proactive Leadership in Uncertain Times
✅ Storytelling Builds Influence

5 Sound Bites for Leadership Development
🗣 “Trust is absolutely the most important part of leadership.”
🗣 “If you don’t take risks, you won’t learn much.”
🗣 “Be the author of your story.”
🗣 “Visibility changes trajectories.”
🗣 “Not everything needs transformation—sometimes it needs refinement.”

10 Chapters on Leadership Development
00:00 – Meet Tracey Swift
02:04 – Leadership Defined
04:00 – Federated Learning Communities
06:14 – Family Influence and Work Ethic
09:01 – Developing Leaders Through Visibility
10:16 – Burnout and The Gap and The Gain
12:12 – Higher Ed Risk Explained
14:13 – International Career Pivots
18:26 – Storytelling and Thought Leadership
30:13 – Final Leadership Message

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Leadership Messengers Podcast. I am your host, Ovi Vasquez, born and raised in Guatemala with no electricity, now bringing you experts to help you develop our next generation of values-driven leaders.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

When the dot-com started, and there were two companies, there was Amazon and there was Barnesandoble.com. And I thought, what's this Amazon, right? You know, what makes them so much different?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

They just sell books, but they had a Welcome to Leadership Messengers, where we bring you experts to help you develop our next generation of values-driven leaders. And today's guest is extremely special because Tracy has a wealth of knowledge that I know you'll learn lots of insights from. Tracy Swift is the editor-in-chief of Higher Ed-Risk, a platform she built to elevate the voice of higher education risk managers. Her career spans private and public sectors across roles as an employee, manager, manager, consultant, or founder. Through Higher Ed Risk, she shows that anyone from faculty to attorneys to mental health professionals can apply risk management to strengthen institutional resilience. Everyone, let's welcome Miss Tracy Swift. Hi, Tracy. How are you today?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Hi, OE, how are you? Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Excellent. Please, Tracy, in your own words, share with us what does leadership mean to you and who do you currently serve?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Sure. Well, I think leadership, first of all, is about empowering others and sharing knowledge. And it's not built on hierarchies or a position of power, but trust. Trust is absolutely the most important part of leadership. And you have to be also confident and not arrogant. And it's never about control. And right now, I guess I would say I serve the higher education risk management community. But I also, as a human, I also want to help others on their own journey as well. So it's not just insurance and risk, but that's currently what my role is right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

I love it. And thank you for the insight. Now, please paint a picture for us, Tracy. Growing up, who were some of the leaders that you trusted? And please share with us what leadership traits they showcased that made you trust them.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Sure. Well, I think the first thing was that they had curiosity and they were great when they when they ran something difficult, they showed a high level of emotional regulation. You know, that's something I've been working on my whole life. Is when I look at a strong leader, they're thoughtful and they're resilient and they're calm in the face of adversity. So that's that's really what I look forward to in most of the people that I see as leaders.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

That's fantastic. Yeah, because when you're rather young, you don't really know, you don't really have a framework as to what to look for. So it's more like intuition. Yes. But I'm glad that we have that inner compass. Now, when it comes to education, Tracy, was there an educational program, either in elementary, middle, high, or even in college, where these educational programs you felt made a positive impact in your life that transformed you into the leader that you've become today?

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Absolutely. It was in college. I was part of the federated learning communities at Stony Brook, so State University of New York at Stonybrook. And this is, I'm dating myself here, but everybody talks about interdisciplinary and breaking down silos. That was one of the first programs where you would study art in the Prado in Spain, and then you would take a political science class, and you'd also learn Spanish. And so thought-provoking. And it just, every time I think about it, it's one of my most fondest memories. So I really, I really thought that was a really impactful program. So that's one that comes to mind right away.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Well, that's great to know. There's always programs that can truly transform our lives. And through your journey in education, was there an educational leader that you felt made a positive influence in your life in your early years?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yes. High school. I was very lucky to have the most amazing teachers. I love social studies and history. That's really my background. And I had several social studies, I can still remember their names, Mr. O'Rourke, Dr. Minor, Dr. Rausch, and Don Phillips, my Russian history and literature teacher. They were so amazing. They inspired me to get so involved in understanding history. A lot of people these days, they might see that as more of liberal arts, doesn't make a difference. But history is so important. Understanding history and the leaders through history really made an impact in my life. I still have fond memories of those classes.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Oh, that's nice. Well, I remember myself, computer class was what transformed my life because I grew up in Guatemala with no electricity. And you know, here I'm working with computers and all that good stuff. But um that was amazing. Now, please paint a picture for us, Tracy. How was your family dynamic growing up? Was there some family members that uh you really were inspired by? Were you an only child? Paint the picture for us. And I asked this question because I really want our listeners to understand whether they are educational leaders or corporate leaders that truly anyone has potential. Could you paint a picture for us about your childhood?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Sure, sure. Well, I come from a family of teachers. My mom was a school teacher, my aunts and uncles were school teachers, my grandfather was a police officer. So I had a lot of rules growing up between teachers and police officers, right? So they were my parents were college educated, and I believe my grandfather was college educated, but my other grandfather missed out because of the war and World War II. So they were people that worked hard, you know. My father was the first executive in his family. He came from a family mostly of civil servants, teachers, a fireman, police, but he became an accountant. So my father was a big influence in my life for further educating myself in the business world. And obviously, my mom as a teacher, that education was extremely important to us. And so I looked up to them, and I think they really gave me a strong backbone to become who I am today.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

That that's fantastic. Yeah, the foundation has to be solid for us to thrive afterwards, right? And so you now serve as the editor-in-chief for higher ed higher ed risk. And I'm sure you worked with so many departments, with so many professionals at different levels. Please help us understand what you have discovered are some of the top three leadership skills or values or principles or styles or qualities that a leader should develop in today's leadership arena or leadership environments.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Sure. You know, when I think about leaders, some of the best leaders I had were ones that supported me asking questions. They were confident in themselves and they val they valued asking questions. They valued curiosity, they valued thinking outside the box and they took risks. And that's why I always say higher at risk and taking risks on myself kind of all plays into this because if you don't take any risks, then you're not going to learn very much. So again, I think all these leaders that I've met in my life that influenced me took the right risks, and they also learned that life is about continuous learning. It's not just mastering a field and that now you know everything because we don't know everything. So that's really important to me, and that's what I value as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

That's fantastic. And at this point that you even work as someone that serves the higher education and in many different areas. What have you discovered are some of the tools or strategies that educational leaders can leverage to develop more leaders in education?

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Sure. Well, I think it's providing people visibility. I think that was a really big deal for me. And that's what I've tried to do when I've managed people is getting people in front of people who can make things happen for them. I think there's a quote, you know, you want someone to say your name in a room full of possibilities. It is so true that that is so important. And I think that's really what gave me my trajectory to get ahead in business was that I had people that were confident and that wanted me to speak and be visible. And so therefore I try to pay that forward as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

No, that's that's fantastic. And have you discovered that they may be an effective strategy where leaders can build an environment, like a culture of belonging, so that they retain their most talented individuals? Because, you know, oftentimes some of the talented individuals in any organization may be top performers, but inside they may be feeling burnt out and overworked. Uh, what are some strategies that you would recommend from your perspective for leaders as to what they could implement to keep those great performing individuals?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Yes, um, that's that's a very, very close to my heart because I've been someone who've experienced a bit of burnout in my life as well. And I've learned that you have to, there's a book called The Gap in the Gain. And I realized that I need to focus more on the gain and not the gap, because when you're a person that's type A like myself, and most leaders are type A, that you keep wanting to achieve and you keep raising the bar on yourself to the point that you can never reach it. And sometimes that's self-inflicted, sometimes it's in the environment that you're in. But that's when you have to take a step back and kind of look around you and make sure that you're bringing others with you. Um, you're constantly you're giving yourself time for self-care and you're allowing your employees also to have time to reflect and have self-care because just filling up things with endless tasks and endless busyness doesn't necessarily lead to success. So, really thoughtful and deliberate on what the goal is and focusing on that, and then trying to keep all that other negative self-talk or the imposter scissor syndrome out of your head. So, again, being in a comfortable environment where people can express some vulnerability, but also have emotional regulation. So my boss used to say to me, I, you know, if you wanna, if there's something you disagree with, that's fine. I want you to bring it to me, but I also want you to bring a solution because sometimes we don't want to hear just people complaining, right? We want people to say, what is it, what we can do, and how can we change it.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

That's fantastic. And now please help us all understand a little bit more about what exactly higher ed higher ed risk is the value proposition and how can people engage with you so that they can have an idea as to the benefit that you could bring through your organization.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Sure. Well, uh, I was a former uh risk manager uh for Arizona State University. I was also a corporate risk manager. And one of the things I've noticed is especially post-COVID, that there's now people are paying attention to risk management. You know, before it was a checkbox, it was compliance, it sounded legal, people were the department of no, you know, people just didn't want to deal with risk managers. But after 2020, I think we really started arising to the occasion to getting a seat at the executive table. So the whole point of higher at risk is to break down silos in higher education and have leaders talk about some of the key risks facing their organization. So every leader has different risks. A academic leader may have a risk, one thing, or someone might need enrollment risk, might be one. But then you could have something like in my field, which would be deferred maintenance. So there's all these types of risks that happen. And my goal is to bring all these thoughts together and curate the best thought leaders out there to share their knowledge so we all can learn from them and help mitigate the risks of higher education. Because as you know, higher education is facing uphill battle right now, both financially, operationally, and politically. And by understanding those risks and having a strategy to deal with them, that'll make their organizations more resilient. So that's my whole point is to share this knowledge with a framework and curate the right leaders to share and to help build organizational resiliency.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yes, I love that. And I feel that your approach is very wholesome because not only do you do this professionally, but based on your longer bio, it feels that your life philosophy is about taking risks. So please share with our listeners so they get an even more personal view as to your personal philosophy on taking risks. You've lived in internationally, you've worked internationally. Share a little bit about that with us.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Sure. Sure. Well, I'll make a long story short, but when I was younger, I was very introverted. So nowadays people think, oh, Tracy's so high energy, extroverted. But over time, I started developing different skills that through lots of questions, I just love meeting people that are different and interesting. And I've always wanted to live and work internationally. So when I was younger, I had a lot of friends from different countries. And then when I went to, it was I had a paper route, and I remembered the only thing I wanted to do was go to Europe. And so I saved money to go to Europe at 13. I saved every bit of it. My parents didn't give me any money. I had to get all those good tips. And I just knew that I just love learning from different people. So I went to Europe when I was 13, and then I took a Russian history and literature class. And this is like right after the like Berlin Wall. I'm dating myself here. But uh Russia was open and I got to go to Russia and I got to meet interesting people through that teacher I mentioned earlier. And then when I was in college, I decided to even do more. I went to Spain. I lived in Spain for six months, and um, I worked in Manhattan and I worked for several companies from banking to communications to consumer products, and I just kept moving along. Like it was funny. I always thought, especially coming from my parents' background, to be conservative in that you stay in one place, you work your way up, and everything will work out for you. The path is linear. But at the end of the day, it wasn't such a linear path. I had to make a lot of pivots. So what I did is I took different risks on myself, went to different companies, small companies, big companies. And then when I had the chance to live and work in Switzerland, that was amazing for me. The last company I had there gave me a great opportunity to train a new team. And then 2008 financial crisis happened. And that was the first time I found myself without a job. I took severance. I, that was a voluntary severance I took. And I thought, oh my God, I'm gonna be able to work and collect severance, I'm gonna make all this money. And it doesn't work that way sometimes. So that's when we decided that my husband and I said, you know what, we want something different. And we left corporate. And in 2013, my husband was able to relocate to Phoenix, Arizona. So I got rid of the cold, and now I'm in 90 degree weather right now, which is a little too hot for us. But I went and I did real estate. And the reason why I did real estate was that I did so much of it in insurance and risk with the 2008 financial tobacco that I decided to do that. And I'm like, okay, I'll take a risk on myself. Never lived out here, have no family out here. And I did that for three and a half years. And then I said, you know, I kind of miss a regular job. And I saw the Arizona State University job pop up. And I went there and it was awesome. I was there for seven and a half years. I worked my way up to the executive director. And then another change. Um, my mother, um my mother and father are getting a little older now, and so I needed to help them. So I took a I took a career break and then I went into hired risk. I found the right person, a business owner who supported me who knew I could write, and I took it from there. So that's that's where I am right now.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Wow. Well, that that is very adventurous, courageous, and resilient all throughout because you know so many unknowns in every decision that that you make, right? And and now you've built a higher at risk to the point where you serve a whole community and you empower them. Now, talk about like celebrating other leaders' uh achievements. How does a leader become recognized for the work that they do? Do you have any advice as to because I'm sure when you founded your company, you wanted more people to know what you were doing and not only recognize it, but also engage into the business relationship with it. So, what is a way that someone can somebody can make their services, their work, their performance be seen and recognized?

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Well, I think the first thing is I spent a lot of time studying thought leadership, actually. I was on LinkedIn and I was thinking, like, since this is a new concept, higher at risk, right? And it's risk management, it's niche, it doesn't sound all that interesting. What could I do to make it resonate with others, to get them excited? And I learned it's a power of storytelling. And a lot of what I think really makes people believe in leaders is when they not only show vulnerability, but they have a story. I always go back to, you know, when the dot com started and there were two companies. There was Amazon and there was Barnesandnoble.com. And I thought, what's this Amazon, right? You know, what makes them so much different? They just sell books, but they had a story. And that's the thing is really when you look at the businesses that really were successful, it's not just they have a great product. There's lots of companies that have great products, but do they have a great story? And and do they do they do things differently? And I think that's what I decided with higher ed risk was I'm not just gonna make this as every magazine and write about insurance and risk management. I'm gonna procurate some of the best industry voices and think outside the box and have them bring their stories to boards and executives so they can learn not just from higher ed leaders, but those in private sector, those who are in public safety, because really when you're in higher ed, you have every risk. You have student, I mean, right now, you have students in countries right now that there's a war going on. You have that you had COVID pan COVID pandemic, you have funding freezes. So you need to understand basic risk management to get to those things. And I thought, wow, if everybody's got a story, then maybe one of those stories will resonate with those leaders and they'll make a conscious choice to include risk managers and risk management discussions at the executive table.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Right. You wanna you wanna be a preventionist, right? Rather than uh a firefighter trying to put out fire that may pretty much win on that race. So um that that's where your expertise comes in.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Be proactive.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Because you're a hard-centered person who are thinking actively how can I prevent even the fire from starting out. Yes. And uh, I'm just making up the analogy because that's how I better get it here.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

No, you're absolutely right. Risk management is about proactive, it's not being reactive. The best risk management is making sure it never happens in the first place, or if it does happen, you have the tools to help mitigate it. So everybody takes risks, right? There's no guarantee something may not happen. But if something does happen, you're already ready to be able to handle that and handle it with resilience.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Yes, indeed. Oftentimes I get invited to do keynotes on leadership and I touch the subject of excellence, Tracy. What would you say is a way that an organization can leverage or implement so that they can foster leadership excellence within their organization?

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Absolutely. Well, I'll start off with hopefully they're rewarding the right leaders first, right? Because to me, an organization that rewards the right leaders, those that are they're not afraid of them asking questions. Again, I'm really big into this asking questions. I think curiosity is so important and no one should ever stifle someone's curiosity. And I also think that it's you don't want to have a culture of burnout either, right? You want to make sure that yes, we want, we want to demand excellence, but within reason, because I've noticed a lot of times in my life that, you know, you get there and you're thinking, well, this is exactly what they want, and they keep raising the bar. And it goes back to that earlier conversation of you've got to look at what you've achieved thus far, right? You don't want to be complacent, but you don't want to not recognize all the steps that you've gotten there to be successful, right? And a lot of people like to use the word transform, transform, transform. Not everything has to be transformed all the time. Sometimes you just need to tweak something a little bit. Sometimes you need to kind of have a meeting of the minds. There was something that I was just talking about with one of my uh old colleagues, and it was a Spark session about putting ideas and sharing ideas and coming up with how you could do things better. I love environments like that where people can collaborate and there is no one voice dominating that room. So while I understand organizations have hierarchy, I also feel that people can lead from where they are and you should develop leaders at all parts of an organization, not just at the top. Leadership classes should not just be, oh, because you manage someone, you get a leadership class. I think everyone should be involved in some form of leadership classes and coaching.

unknown 21:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

And and continuously, right? And continuously and consistently. I love that, Tracy. I mean, this has been uh a a master class. Now, please share with our listeners, Tracy, when can they connect with you, follow you, and learn more about you and support your your mission?

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Sure, sure. Well, I'm on LinkedIn. It's T Swift at higher edrisk.com is my email. I'm also, you can see my profile on LinkedIn. Higheredrisk.com is our website. So anybody who finds that this story resonates with them and wants to share their ideas, we are always looking for authors to write for the magazine. Uh, we love to share that broadly to over 5,500 now trustees, executives, and boards. I don't do a lot of other social media. I've been on a few other podcasts, but probably LinkedIn is the best place. And I look forward to connecting. I really welcome connecting with anyone anywhere in the world. I love to learn from people. I love to hear different points of view.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

That's fantastic. I love it. Now, Tracy, we have prepared some rapid fire questions. There should be a little bit of fun. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Please tell us what's an accomplishment you are super proud of.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Okay. Well, it is after 9-11, I was able to volunteer at the Pile in downtown. That was an eye-opening experience for me. Um, just to be a servant leader there, uh, to help all those workers. It was so tough for them. I served food, I took out garbage. I mean, you know, it was just seeing everyone come together in the world that day was just so meaningful. I still have my ID from then. So that was that was one. And the other one was I'm a big animal person. So when I was able to help transport an animal that was from a testing lab to its new family, that was really wonderful for me. So two important things.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

That's a very meaningful and profound answer. Now, please share with us one, two, three books that you recommend every leader should um check out at least once in in their life.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Absolutely. Dare to lead. I'm a big Brene Brown fan. The gap in the gain and the speed of trust. I love the speed of trust. I've read that probably like three different times because trust is everything.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Fantastic. Share with us, please, one of your top inspirational or leadership quotes.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

God, that would be, you know, if you don't take any risks, then you're not gonna learn much. And I think that's Albert Einstein, and that that is so true. And the other thing, it's a derivative of Albert Einstein, is don't tire happiness to person, place, or thing. So I've learned that one. That's absolutely true.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

That's a good one. AI has become integrated into most people's lives. If you leverage AI, what's your go-to AI tool?

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Well, it's funny. Up until a few days ago, Claude wasn't really uh on the radar much, but Claude was my original one. I have to admit, I was more of an underdog fan. Everybody was using chat and and uh Gemini, Grok, all and I'm like, you know what? This Claude one seems interesting. And so yes, Claude is my go-to tool.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Indeed. If someone needed a mentor, where would you advise they can find one?

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Sure. I found some of the best mentors through like professional organizations. So if you're part of like, for example, I'm part of a risk management organization, there could be good mentors there. LinkedIn, I think, has a program. My company, I actually mentor someone and I really enjoy that. But when I was younger, I did it through my company. But I think right now there's so many places. So it could be any sort of professional group, church, whatever, you know, any organization. If there's someone you like, reach out, ask for their help. More more than likely, they're gonna say yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Indeed. What free educational resource you have discovered and you think more people should know about?

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Okay, well, this is this is this is kind of self-promoting, but higher ed risk is a free resource. So if you want to know about risk management, you care about higher ed, that's free. Uh I think SalCon Academy was really good. I think I took a couple classes from there, and that was free. TED, TED Talks, lots of stuff. Um podcasts, I'm sure your podcasts would be great. I watched a few of them. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Fantastic, indeed. And what is one life-changing hack that you have discovered, and you would make sure you teach it to someone you deeply cared about.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Yeah. That goes back again to just not giving up your power. Don't tie yourself to person, place, or thing, because that could be taken away from you. So you really need to focus on your inside first, make your inside happy first, and then you could help others. Because if you're not, if you're not good here, it's very hard to help others.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yes, indeed. Now, Tracy, as you know, most people love music. What are your top one, two, three songs that make you come alive?

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Okay, these are funny. Well, aha, take on me. I don't know. I I'm an 80s child, so seeing that video, anytime it comes on, I pump it up on and I love it. Humble and kind is the other one that I love. That's more of like when I'm in a more pensive mood thinking about life and how empathy is so important, understanding, and we need so much more of that in the world. Those two come into play. And let me think a third one. Let me think. Let me think. Must be a god, I know what it is. It's a stupid song of the Vanga Boys. There used to be a Six Flags commercial, and I did a little dance to that 4th of July, and every 4th of July, my family will play that and they ask me to do the dance. So, yes, that makes me come alive.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

I love it. Became a family tradition, even, huh? That's wonderful. Now, please share with us what is your favorite snack.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Those rosemary olive oil triskets. I could eat a whole box and Dubai chocolates the second. I mean, I'm usually more of a salty than a sweet, but yeah, those triskets. I I'm always, especially when they're on sale, I have to get a couple bucks.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

That's nice. Now I got something, something new to try. Tracy, I'm sure there was a question that I should have asked, but I didn't ask, and you wanted to share some specific thoughts with the world. Please take the opportunity now and share your leadership message with the world.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Absolutely. Well, I just want to say that you have to believe in yourself. And it's important to take risks on yourself. Because if you don't, other people write your story. So be the author of your story. Don't be afraid. I've taken a lot of career pivots. Um, I'm naturally, like I said, risk averse. I was a natural introvert. But over time, I built different skills and different networks to help me through it. And I think, again, the most important thing is being surrounded by people who support you because we don't do it alone. You know, everybody thinks that, you know, I did it, but I'm self-made. Yeah, everybody can have things that make them into that category, but I'm sure there's someone else that helped you along the way. So pay it forward, believe in yourself. When you get to like the humble and kind song, when your turn is up, you know, look behind and bring that next person with you. And I really believe that.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

I love the message. And thank you. Well, everyone, this is it for the episode. You have listened to Miss Tracy Swift, founder and editor-in-chief for higher ed risk. And I am Ovi Vasquez, and this is Leadership Messengers, where we bring you experts to help you develop our next generation of values driven leaders. See you on the next episode, and goodbye for now. Thank you for being part of our community. Who is a leader you believe should be interviewed in our podcast? We would love to hear your thoughts about it and interviewing the leaders that you admired most. See you on our next episode.