Leadership Is a Sport — Training Leadership Athletes for High-Stakes Growth | Ep. 38 Shauna Griffiths

Leadership Is a Sport: Shauna Griffiths on Training Leadership Athletes for High-Stakes Growth

In business, just like in athletics, the difference between good and great often comes down to how you train. Shauna Griffiths, a strategic partner with nearly 20 years of experience, believes leadership is a sport — and she helps founders, executives, and leadership teams train like athletes to navigate high-stakes moments with intention, discipline, and continuous improvement.

Shauna works with leaders during their most critical inflection points: growth phases, pivots, launches, and moments that will define their company's future. Her approach centers on cutting through noise, clarifying priorities, and moving from strategy to action with speed and focus. She advises on revenue growth, go-to-market strategy, marketing strategy, strategic alliances, and investment readiness.

As a former two-sport Division I collegiate athlete with an MBA and recognition as a 2017 Game Changer by SportsBusiness Journal, Shauna brings unique perspective to leadership development. She calls the most effective leaders "Leadership Athletes" — people who actively train to maximize their contribution and impact rather than just going through the motions.

In this episode of The Standard Podcast™, Shauna shares:

• Why leadership should be treated like a sport and what that training regimen looks like
• How to navigate high-stakes growth moments and inflection points that define companies
• The process of cutting through noise and moving from strategy to action with speed and focus
• What separates Leadership Athletes from average leaders
• How The GC Index® helps leaders understand their natural energy for impact and accelerate performance

Whether you're a founder navigating growth, an executive building high-performance teams, or an emerging leader ready to level up, Shauna's athletic approach to business strategy provides a framework for sustainable excellence.

This isn't motivation. This is a movement.

Connect with Shauna: Email: shauna@slgimpact.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alrighty, fantastic. Good morning, team. Welcome to the Standard Podcast, where we raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and call out the lies or misconceptions that nobody else will. This isn't motivation, this is a movement. I'm Thomas Rowe, joined by my host, Aaron Charles, and today we're sitting down with who has quickly become a friend of ours. We we met like so many of the other clients that we do, of those so many other people we meet on LinkedIn, Shauna Griffiths, who's become a really close friend, and we off-camera were just talking about March Madness. Shauna is a strategic partner who works with founders, executives, and leadership teams navigating high-stakes moments revolving around growth, pivots, launches, and infection points. With nearly 20 years of experience across both client-side and agency environments, Shauna helps teams cut through noise, clarify priorities, and move from strategy to action with speed and focus. She advises on revenue growth, go-to marketing strategy, marketing strategy, strategic alliance, and investment readiness. But here's what makes Shauna different. She believes leadership is a sport. As a two-sport athlete, undergrad at Michigan, she'll play basketball, and working on her masters at Eastern Michigan, she was in track and field and cross-country. So she truly does understand what sport and leadership is all about. The most effective leaders treat their craft the way athletes treat training with intention, discipline, and commitment to continuous improvement. She calls these leaders leaders athletes, leadership athletes, people who are actively training to maximize their contribution and impact. Again, a former T Sport Division I collegiate athlete, MBA holder, and strategic advisor, recognized as a 2017 game changer by Sports Business Journal. Shauna brings an athlete mindset to business strategy and leadership development. We're diving into truth, what it take really takes to build identity, discipline, and legacy in sports and in life. Let's get into it. As a matter of fact, that's the end of the podcast. Shauna's amazing. You guys don't know anything else. Reach out to Shauna. Shauna, I'm gonna thank you so much for joining us on this Magic Monday. We really appreciate it. Thanks for coming on board.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah, thank you. It is truly an honor. I've been just so glad to get to know you both and you know share so many of the same beliefs and you know your commitment to helping and being a part of the solution, the movement forward, I just, you know, it really resonates with me. And I appreciate the opportunity and your friendship.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Awesome, awesome. We're excited. So let's get into it. You work with founders and executives navigating high-stakes moments, growth, pivots, launches, infectious points. You help them cut through the noise and move from strategy to action with speed and focus. What does raising the standard mean to you in the workplace as well as in athletics?

SPEAKER_02 3:05

So, raising the standard, I mean, it truly is a mindset, right? And I believe so fully that our job as leaders is to work to be better than ever yesterday. So it is a constant effort, a conscious effort to continuously raise your own standards. It's what will I and will I not tolerate for the way I think about myself, myself talk? Because it starts within ourselves. A lot of times I think leaders and leadership is thought to be about leading other people. And I do this because one of my college coaches said, you know, when you point the finger at others, you've got threes pointing back at you. And I always remember that. And, you know, it really is true. So if we're wanting to raise the standard, and that's the way you can pursue excellence. It's not achieve excellence in my belief system, it's about the continual pursuit of improvement. This is also not about perfection, right? Excellence. Sometimes people think, oh, that you have to reach the top, you have to be the ex most excellent. You have to, it's all about perfection. It's not. We're not perfect. That's not the goal. The goal is to continue to, as I often say, evolve into who we're meant to be. But that takes learning, growth, and and evolution along the way.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Perfect. Well said. And what would you say is the biggest lie you feel the culture of business or athletics has given business people and athletes to navigate growth and build successful companies or a strong culture and a team?

SPEAKER_02 4:46

I think it comes back to this interesting thing where people think it's all about me. Again, the element of your ability to lead yourself first, if you can lead yourself effectively, then you and continue to learn, grow, and evolve, then you can lead others that way too, and you can lead the business that way. And too many times people think it's all about me. And this game, this sport of, as you know, as as we talk about the sport of leadership and my role as a leadership athlete is not about myself, right? It is about my growth, my ability to lead others, to lead myself and then lead others. And because it is a team environment, your the business is a team environment. And, you know, so I think that is where a lot of people get blinded by their own ego, by their own definition of, you know, again, perfection, it's all about me. Again, that's the point fingers at others, point back at yourself type thing. So I think that's where a lot of people can tend to get off the rails a bit, is that you know, you you sit in a sit in a seat of leadership. That does not mean that you again, you do not have all the say, you do not have all the power, you do not abuse that power. Again, when you're sitting in that seat, it is an honor, and there are responsibility and accountability that comes along with that. So I think those things are what I encourage people who take that seat to have that mindset. So, again, it's not all about me, I just arrived and now I'm here. I'm gonna tell everybody else what to do.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

So gotcha. And you believe leadership is a sport and call the most effective leaders, quote, leadership athletes, which I think is badass. As a former T Sport Division I athlete, how did your athletic background shape your understanding of what high performance leadership really looks like?

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Well, when you're on this journey as, again, as an athlete coming up, there is an acceptance of an acceptable amount of call it suffering, or an acceptable amount of discomfort, maybe another thing. And so I think that is an understanding as you go forward in your career, in your life, it is not always going to feel great. Learning, there are learning curves that happen in life and in business. A lot of times people will, again, get a high-stakes role and they think, oh, it's going to be so great and easy when I get there, or I'm going to know exactly what to do, or at least I'll have you know total confidence when I'm there. The reality is once you get that seat, like the it's kind of like the game clock begins and the the work you put in, and it's not about again looking at everybody else, telling them what to do and how they're doing the work. There's a learning curve there. So I think that I took that again, that ability to work on myself, work on my own game, right? Because I'm constantly trying to be better. You're going to practice every day these fundamentals. And I'm speaking sports language, but at the same time as I'm saying it, if you think about the role in a role in business, you're doing the same thing. So what are you practicing every day? What is your self-talk that you're because you're coaching yourself first, right? So what is your self-talk? What are the actions that you're taking? But before you even get to the actions, what are you willing to do? How are you willing to push yourself to up your game? That is that is a level of self-awareness of what am I doing that's working effectively? What am I not doing work that's working effectively? What am I consuming, right? So in sports, you talk about fueling yourself and you're getting coaching from others. In business, as a as a leadership athlete, what are you consuming? It might be the food, but also what content are you consuming? Are we doom scrolling? Are we substituting those behaviors with something else? Do I have a coach? And I think that, you know, I've had a coach, he's incredible, Leslie Harris, that worked with him for over 10 years. I've done a lot of coaching for people, whether you call it coaching or advising. When you're when you're in a leadership role, I truly believe in that continued feedback system, that continued commitment to growing yourself and figuring out you know how you're going to level up. To your point earlier, how are you going to continue to pursue excellence? So these are things that I believe in strategically putting in your path to keep you as a leadership athlete in this sport of leadership, growing and staying towards the top of your game to the best of your ability.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

No doubt, no doubt. You know, one of the things to build on that, one of the things Aaron and I emphasize with the athletes and the families that we work out, work with, you know that every team has a captain, but we also tell our athletes just because you're a captain doesn't mean you can't be a leader, right? I mean, you have to lead, you have to lead by example. And then how that translates into the workplace is you continue to be a leader. Obviously, you have your boss, you have your colleagues, but you don't want to step on anybody's shadow, but you also want to lead out front, regardless. I'm going to turn it over to Aaron, which is segment two, which is identity and legacy. Aaron, take it away.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Hi, Shauna. We're so excited to have you on. So I want to know who Shauna is beyond all the accolades that we heard out about at the very beginning. This is you just get to tell us who you are.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Who am I? Goodness gracious. I, well, I'll say I'm a leadership athlete. That means that in the game of life, in the game of business, in the game of friendship, you know, I want to continue to work on these things. I, you know, believe so much in learning, growing, evolving for myself in my life. And I literally have on my one of my tattoos, um, evolving is on my arm tattooed because that it just actually represents who I am, right? And so things I love to do, I love to ride bikes. We've talked about that before. So I do a lot of cycling, I do it for mine body, it's called it fitness, right? I have friendships and connections mean a lot to me. So I've never been the person who has a gaggle of friends or who lives around a lot of people who are my friends. And so, you know, maintaining friendships in person or, you know, distance is is important to me. You know, curiosity, continuing to learn things. You know, like I replaced my doom scrollings in the morning with my Duolingo Spanish. So I'm constantly learning there. So, you know, the stuff I talk about is authentically. I don't think there's a version of Shauna that shows up at work that isn't really also showing up in life. That's just who I am and how I tick. So, you know, sometimes I'll lean too far into, you know, workaholic type thing. But I think, you know, again, it's it's foundational. It's just who I am authentically.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I love it. I think it's so important. I think sometimes, especially for the younger generation, is knowing that you being you is the most important thing. And it should translate in all aspects. You know, I think early on in my career was like, okay, who's Aaron in at the corporate office versus who's Aaron at home versus, you know, it's so hard to juggle if it's just like you're just yourself and showing up that way. It's life becomes so much more manageable and easy because it's not like you're trying to wear a persona or do something different. And so I love that. And you're obviously very genuine, and I love that about you. So, with that, you say that the most effective leaders treat their craft the way athletes treat training, with intention, discipline, and continuous improvement. What does legacy beyond business results or even for the athletes beyond the game or the court mean to you, especially as someone developing leadership athletes?

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Somewhere along my life journey, I had this vision in my head, literally, of my desire in life to leave meaningful footprints on this earth. And I'm a very visual person, so I needed that visual. But it it is a bit of a like a guidepost for me around how am I operating in my everyday? What, you know, how am I treating myself, how am I treating others? So, you know, I think that that is part of me being authentic, is that commitment as well. And so, you know, if I do show up, someone's gonna feel, as you said, like they're gonna feel a sense of genuine characteristic or quality in me. And so, you know, again, I think that that is how I can hopefully positively, you know, create legacy is just in when you have those types of interactions with people, then when they come away from that interaction with you, they feel filled up in some way. Maybe in they can think of things, maybe they're inspired, or maybe they just shifted their perspective a little bit. It's not my job. I don't feel, and I don't think I'm some sort of martyr by like saving people and all that. That's nothing to do with it. But it's if I want to leave a legacy, it's like it's a reflection of how I'm living my life, how my commitment to authenticity and and like how that makes other people feel. And so, because it's a little bit of that, it's a it's a that they can then hopefully go on and say, I'm not gonna do it exactly like Shauna because that's authentic to Shauna, but they can look at it and say, well, what does this mean for me? And where can I find myself in, you know, in something like this? Or what is how do I show up in that way that's authentic to me? So, you know, I think that's what it is. It's not like a I wanna have, it's not a specific destination. It's just again, it's a consciousness around the quality of the footprints that I'm leaving in my daily life and in the work that I do.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

I love that. You know, I think I don't know where I heard this, but I think sometimes we forget that being in our truth and being authentic to ourselves, which I think is the highest vibration frequency of energy that can exist, is us being who we are meant to be. We also then give people access to do the same just by being that way ourselves. And I think that that's so powerful. Sometimes you don't even have to do anything else other than just being you, which I love.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Yeah, it's such a beautiful thing that you said that I think there is a sense of calm and like nervous system ease that happens when someone's truly being themselves. It's it's very different than when someone comes in and they're putting on errors, they may acting fake. There's like almost this wall that comes up. And so I think when you're in communication with someone where there's this sense of ease because the person's just being themselves. At the same time, I think doing that with a sense of awareness because not saying be yourself and then you're doing damage to other people. It's like I'm do, I am being me in a way that is not harming others. I am being me in a way that's actually thoughtful that of the person I'm interacting with, of the space I'm interacting with in. And and I can actually be proud of who I am. I think that's an element of it. So part of what guides me every day is can I look in the mirror and be proud of how I'm operating? Listen, I screw up, I make bad choices sometimes. I don't mean this is welcome to life. It's not about perfection, it's about saying, well, you know what? Damn it. I look in the mirror and I say, I made a I made a choice that perhaps hurt someone else. And then I say, well, well, what am I gonna do about that differently? How am I gonna show up differently? Yes, there's an element of, well, how do you almost you know try to own up to and hold yourself accountable for operating that way? And then what are you gonna do to operate differently as you go forward? That's where you can meet yourself where you are, be responsible in the way that you're being authentic, and then you know, keep yourself moving forward. To me, that's what the air quotes game is. That's a sport in and of itself because it takes concentration, discipline, it takes coachability, right? It takes an element of resilience as well, because being able to like to to you know get yourself back on track. It's funny, one of my my coach Leslie has said to me countless times in my journey in business through COVID layoff and tech downturn layoff and things happening to me that weren't great. He's like, you know what, Shauna, you just got punched in the face, and nobody likes to get punched in the face, and it hurts and it stings, but you're not dead, right? And so it is it's it's an interesting thing, right? So that's where resilience, it's like, yep, I gotta pick myself up, dust myself up, and keep myself moving forward. But in doing so, what are the key learnings? What are the takeaways that are gonna help you learn to not get punched in the face, to get up more quickly less time, to meet that negative experience with more adaptability in the moment. So, for example, the first time I laid off, I was laid off in COVID, oh my goodness, it was like a Mac truck hit me. It was it was very negatively impactful for me. And but I got myself through it. So I proved myself to myself, right? So then the next time when I was laid off in the tech downturn, I was like, oh, I had a frame of reference to say, I've been there before, I've got, I've proved myself to myself. This has happened again, got punched in the face again. It didn't sting as bad that time. And I had reserves, I had evidence, I had tools in my toolbox, or you know, in my locker, call it for the athletes who are listening, to be able to call on them. And it was like, oh, I had moves to know how to move myself forward. So again, these are all very, again, the language, it to some people it might sound cheesy. To me, it's just natural, right? So hopefully the people who are listening to this can take this because of having that athletic mindset and athletic experience as a foundation to see that it transfers. Here's the thing when we are collegiate athletes or whatever the highest level of athletics that you're playing, you're part of a team, right? When that ball stops bouncing, when the sport is over, we are often left feeling like the floor has dropped beneath us. And we look around and there's no coach and there's no teen and those types of things. That is why it's so important to learn these things, these tools, these part of your foundation along the way and not just waiting till you're done playing sports to figure out, well, how am I going to lead myself forward in life and in work? And the I think sometimes people will think of the think of their life as in just various seasons, and then they think, okay, well, my collegiate season is four years or it's five years. And then my postgrad season is this, and it has this definitive time, and I'll learn these definitive things. What I encourage people to do is if you want to think of your life in chunks to make it digestible for yourself, I totally get that. And not all seasons have the same time frame, not all seasons have the same number of takeaways, life lessons, experiences. So a mindset around seasons and, you know, again, evolution through the process is important, but the process is important. That's why people talk about the journey versus just the destination. So it's a different way. It's a different, it's like a shifting of perspective to think about how you're going to navigate your journey forward that I like to draw upon and encourage other people to as well.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

I love that. I think I love the self-leadership. Like, and that's really what we came here to do is like really hone the art of who we are. And all these moments, whether it's leadership in the corporate setting, whether it's like you're a current athlete, all of these moments are crafting you, teaching you, learning. And if you can learn the art of what is this trying to teach me, what is this lesson that's here for me versus like pointing the fingers or going externally, but going internally and going, okay, where's the growth point here? How can I shift this? Because when you highlighted that example with uh oh, COVID, you know, it's so powerful because you you accessed the resources you of what you Already gone through. And so I think that's we all have that. We just have to access it. And I think that's so important. So, what if there's one truth you wish every founder, executive, or emerging leader or athlete understood about leadership development and high performance that most are not hearing?

SPEAKER_02 22:24

What is the one thing that I hope they are calling on that they're not already hearing? I think it is that their actions, their willingness to take action, all of those things have impact on themselves first and others, right? So things don't happen in isolation and they don't need to put on air. So kind of, you know, draws on some of the things that we've talked about previously. But it is that through letting go of those things, I think is where, you know, it is attachment to those things, it is being transparent in the process. And I think those all of those things wrapped up, I think are really important for a person in that leadership seat to understand. And that if they do say something, people are going to notice. If they don't say something, people are going to notice. So, how do you work with that over time? And you're in that seat, remember how visible it is, and remember the impact that you have on others. And so, again, these are things that you can observe around you, but they start and end in here inside. Again, it's the awareness of the impact that you're having every day. It's the awareness of the footprints that you're leaving. And that is not at the end. If you're talking about legacy, it's built every day. It's just like as an athlete, your ability to, we talked about March Madness earlier, your ability to play in the Big Ten championship and make it to the end. It doesn't happen overnight. Your ability to be the champion, you know, raise that championship trophy, it's because of all the footsteps along the way. And so I again, I think that is something that maybe people are, yeah, of course. But it's not think about it once or a couple of times or in your annual reviews or something. It is an everyday conscious effort, which can seem overwhelming if you're hearing this for the first time or hadn't thought about it the first time. Like, Shauna, I don't have time to do this, that, and the other. I'm a mom, I'm a this, I'm a that. It's okay. That's why it's practice. That's why you do a little bit every day. And then after a while of practicing it, it becomes natural. You don't have to think about it as much, but you got to start today, if that's what she, if that's the journey that you want to be on.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

I love that. So powerful. Okay, I'm gonna turn it back over to Thomas. So he's gonna take the next section.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Awesome, Shauna. We're going into segment three, which is advice across all stages. So let's say you can if you had an opportunity to sit down with an executive or an athlete who's navigating their first major growth inflection point, what do they need to understand about treating leadership like a sport or as a sport?

SPEAKER_02 25:25

I would literally ask them in that moment, how are you feeling right now? Check in with yourself, check in with your body, check in like how are you, and being able to put words to it and then being able to put word, well, where is this coming from? Again, it's this this a bit of an exploration in that. So, again, a lot of times what happened is a slow yourself down in that moment when you get punched in the face and you want to freak out about it, you want to cry or run to someone and tell about the person who just punched you in the face. Again, I'm using the analogy we talked about earlier. What I often encourage is slow down for a second. Whoa, what just happened to me? How am I feeling? I'm feeling upset, I'm feeling embarrassed. Put some words to it. Where is this coming from? And then I think that, you know, again, it's instead of reacting, it's pausing to assess and then before taking action or reacting, you know, before actually like following through on it, it's how do asking yourself asking yourself, how do I handle this in this moment? How do I want to handle this?

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

And is if we have a we have choices, right? You get punched in the face, I can do a bunch of things, and you ask yourself, does it serve me to put my head down and cry for a week? Possibly. Does it serve me to go shit talk the person who just punched me in the face? Probably not. But then we can catch ourselves in the moment and start to make decisions, more decisions that serve us or serve others in a positive way, but it's always, does it serve me well in this moment to take this action? So that's the thing. And sometimes people say we have to, you know, we have to slow down to be able to speed up. And that's in that moment where it's so important. Something really shitty happens, pause, collect yourself, investigate, and then move forward. The other thing I will say, you don't have to react. You don't have to say things. I think sometimes people think, oh my God, this just happened. I need to post about it on LinkedIn. I need to post about it on social media. Pause. Do you really want to do that? Do you need to make an announcement? Does that serve you to do that? So it's just again, when we have these little tricks and things that we can ask ourselves, it's it's work in the beginning to remember. I literally encourage people to like, you know, have little yellow stickies or whatever the color is that they keep around themselves to remind themselves. But after a while, you don't have to think about it as much, as I said earlier.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

No doubt.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

If something happens, it's a pause. It's a, you know, think about a sport, it's a stutter step, whatever you want to say, but you don't, but if you're reacting, you're usually not moving from a place of strength. You're moving from a place of again reactivity that gives your use this word, but I don't mean it in a you're giving your power over to other people because you're just moving without thinking.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

So got it, got it. So so often, I mean, you're a perfect, you're a perfect person to ask this question too, because a lot of leaders, a lot of executives, and a lot of athletes get caught in their head. So how would you advise an executive or an athlete who's trying to cut through the noise and clarify priorities in their business or the game in front of them? And how do you help them to get to that strategy to move to action with speed and focus?

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Yeah, I think it's that you're it's such a great point. We get trapped in our own mind, right? Right. And especially you can hear me say, well, of course, if you're telling us, Shauna, that it starts within us and that we have to look with inside that again is like internal in our brains. But you also hear me heard me talk about having an advisor, having a coach, right? Asking yourself these questions. And sometimes it's might sound a little schizophrenic, but it's asking yourself, Shauna, does that really serve you right now? Sometimes asking out loud, get outside of your own brain, have a thought partner, have a thought partner who can also be a bit of a heart partner. So they're they're not gonna give you the answers, right? But they're able to talk via sounding board. And that that does uh require a level of receptivity. So, and that's where coachability comes in. So I had something just last week where it was a project for one of my clients right now, and the you know, a business client. We're working on a strategy, and there's a woman who I adore, I respect her. She's incredible at her craft, she's all the quality, she's a leadership athlete. And I said, Hey, can I pay you to be a thought partner for me on this? And it helped me tremendously because it got me out of my own head. It allowed me to not have pride in authorship, like I wrote this. It was like, this is just a this is a start, this is a draft, and I need input to help me get it to the next level. And if we take that mindset to our journey, our our you know, our leadership journey, who we are as humans, I have therapy this afternoon, right? Because I'm seeking, right? I'm seeking a thought partner or someone to bounce things off of to stay out of my head. Because my coach had taught me this a long time ago. It's about how can you shift perspective a little bit? But if you're looking at something and you only look at it this way, and that's your only source of input is yourself and in your own brain, you often need to someone to help grab you by the shoulders, shift you 12 degrees, maybe even, and look at something a little bit differently. And I have to be willing to go, oh, that is fascinating, or gosh, that taught me a lot. And sometimes you might get a piece of you shift your perspective a little bit and go, hmm, that's not for me either. Okay, we'll shift again. Do you see what I mean? So it's this is why I talk about it as a game, it's a sport. It is a I am a willing participant in this every day. I'm suiting up. And so often that's my my friend Chris Vasami posted something this morning on LinkedIn about that. We have to on the hard days, you got to get up to on the hard Mondays. It's not just the good Mondays, right? It's those days when I was like, oh God, I gotta go practice, right? You go to practice, you go to the gym. It's the same thing. You can't hide out. You can take rest when you need it. And and that's important. You can get that thought partner, that coaching when you need it, and you keep going, right? The only way forward where you're gonna actually move yourself forward is what step by step. But these are things that I'm not a genius here, right? I'm not saying anything that a lot of other people haven't said. It's just my my way of saying it and encouraging other people to have this dialogue. This is the kind of dialogue that I think I find fascinating. I find interesting. I get excited about my own growth, about the growth of others. And so I think the more we can have these kind of conversations and think this way, I just it's I think it's enriching.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

No doubt. No doubt. So, what about emerging leaders or athletes? So let's say, let's say, for example, you come out of the best business school, whether it's Harvard or Warden School business, and let's say that you're you're a high school all-American going to play in Michigan, you're starting at the bottom, or you have to basically grow yourself. What do you expect of those young executive or athletes who aspire to become leadership athletes? What would you say is the training regimen? And how do they start building that intention, discipline, and commitment to continuous improvement?

SPEAKER_02 33:22

So the first thing is remember yet you have proved yourself to yourself time and time again. Have those as reference points. Remember the foundational elements. You know, remember that what got you to practice every single day, what got you through the hard moments, those are in you. You didn't lose them, right? You've just shown up in a different arena. Now you're in a different arena. There are people who are more experienced. So with more experience, they have more moves, they have more perspective, they've proven themselves more times to themselves. And so now, as long as you're able to call upon your foundation, you're going to do that too. And so it's about, you know, you're not a know-it-all. You didn't just suddenly arrive and you're going to be the boss of everybody and be perfect. Nope. You're at it again every day. It is just, it's actually the foundation isn't different. It is the perception that it's really interesting, right? Because you're on this high and you get to this point, you're a senior, and you graduate and you're like, yeah. And then to your point, the very next day, you're like, oh shit. Now I got to put on a business suit. Now I got to be in the and I'm at the bottom. And I got these people tell us to do and everything. And I don't have my coaching staff around me and all that. And well, what are you going to do? The same thing you've done before. And you know what you're going to do? You're going to prove yourself to yourself. And you're going to like, what what is the mental game tape you can watch? Or what is the what do you observe? I think that's the other thing. Remember that part of how you got proved yourself to yourself, part of how you got better is by observing, by listening, by being coachable. Those are just your foundational. At this point, they I would I would imagine they're characteristics. They're just part of who you are. So do the same things. Right. You know, it's like, and and when others are better than you, okay. That's fine. Learn, right? So the only way you're gonna get better is if you is if you actually learn and observe and pick up tricks and whatever, and then you're gonna get better. It's the same thing. So, you know, again, I think it's people think it's an entirely different environment. And now what am I gonna do? Just keep doing what you've been doing.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Right on, right on. That's kick ass. Shauna, we're gonna go into segment four. I'm gonna turn it back over to Aaron, which is the rapid fire round. Aaron, it's all yours.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Okay, Shauna. This is where I start the sentence and you finish it. It's fun. Okay. Discipline equals.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Discipline equals. The first thing that came to me was awareness, self-awareness. Leadership equals. Commitment.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

Faith equals. Oh legacy equals impact. What's one thing you would never compromise on?

SPEAKER_02 36:33

My values.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

And if you could put a best message on a billboard for the next generation of leaders and athletes, what would your message to them be?

SPEAKER_02 36:45

Learn, grow, and evolve.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

I love it. Okay, that's how fast it was. Good job.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Thank you. Caught me on the first one.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Usually get somebody the first time. Okay, Thomas, it's back to you.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

I had to unmute myself, Shauna. We're gonna get into our closing segment, which is badass. And this is uh basically an opportunity to kind of open up the floor to you. But first, we want to put you went from the rapid fire to the hot seat. What are the top three sports movies, according to Shauna?

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Oh goodness. I don't even know what to say. Gosh, I wouldn't say they're the top three per se, but I will tell you that one that I just recently watched was I was writing yesterday and I watched the story of Mike Tyson. I think that the quality of being able to just learn about the journey that someone has gone through and like decisions they made, I think they're great information, sources of information for us to draw upon. So I I'll just I'll just say that one because I thought it was it was really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

No doubt. You know, that's this is kind of a common question that I ask a lot of our guests to just kind of you know, kind of close things out for a little fun. But you know, when you when you see these scripted movies, it's great, it's a feel good. But I think you're right. When you get to documentaries, right? When you start to watch a documentary on somebody, you go, wow, that's incredible, because you learn something that you didn't know about them. Because we always see the highlights, but you never see the the dark side or the hidden side of an athlete or executive person. So without that said, Shauna, before we wrap up, is there something we didn't touch on today that you feel like founders, executives, or emerging emerging leaders or athletes need to hear about treating leadership like a sport and maximize their contribution?

SPEAKER_02 38:51

I think that it's not something that we didn't talk about. It's just more around the sort of reaffirming something we are reaffirming yourself in the process and being people say like giving yourself grace in the process. I think that, you know, I talked about learning, growing, involving. I talked about self-awareness. And at the time, at the same time, there's an element of like knowing that you're gonna make mistakes along the way. Right. You're not perfect, and like, well, what do you do in those moments? And I think that so I guess maybe we didn't really talk about this at that much, but I think there's too many times that people try to mask or fake it because they're in a seat of leadership, so they have to look like they know what they're doing. Do you know how actually empowering it is for other people? Actually, if you say, I don't actually know, but we're gonna learn together. We're gonna win together. I had a phenomenal leader in my journey. His name is Fred Mangione. The time I was in marketing at the New Jersey Nets, then, not Brooklyn Nets. But he used to say to me, Shauna, we will get through anything together.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

And he was much more experienced, he was, you know, than I was. And that helped me so much because I didn't have to be panicking thinking I have to be perfect, or if I make any mistake, I'm gonna be fired, or whatever. It taught me the art of bad news first. Share that. You don't, you know, don't mask it. Hey, this happened and I need your help in getting through it. Or, you know, I'm the leader, but I've said something and I was observed the reaction that you had, and I'm gonna hold myself accountable for that. And I think that that sense of empathy, that sense of accountability, I don't think it's it's really effective to expect your employees to be aware, communicative, transparent, vulnerable, all of those things, or or to work on themselves if you're not. So again, it's about like, well, how are you acting? How are you handling challenging moments? It actually models for other people. So I think that's something really important. And it doesn't start once you get to a senior. You can never start this stuff too early. So, you know, I think it's it doesn't, if if you're if someone's listening to this and they're a coach of junior high kids, take something away that you can help them to start learning it now. Right, you know, and so then continue to do this, continue to model yourself after it. If you screw up, admit it. Apologize, but don't just apologize with words that are hollow. Act, show them, operate differently, continue that, and that, you know, if you hold yourself accountable in a transparent way, I think that has just, you know, there's a ripple effect to it. So it kind of started out with I don't know, or but I think I landed on something that I find was really important. And and then thank you for the opportunity to share that.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

No question, no question. And last question where can people connect with you and learn more about you, your work, and what you do, whether that's a website, your social media handles, or an email?

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Yeah. Well, I'll say email always, you can reach me at Shauna S-H-A-U-N-A at slgimpact.com. And probably the easiest way to reach me is on LinkedIn. I am someone who does accept invitations. And I, as long as you're not trying to pitch slap me in my DMs, I'm pretty open to conversation and getting to know people. And that's how I know you and Aaron. So um, you know, I do welcome people reaching out to me.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

Awesome. There it is, team. Shauna Griffiths on LinkedIn as well as her email. Thank you for showing us what leadership athletes looks like in action, both leaders and both executives as well as athletes. Team, if this conversation hit you, do two things for us. One, share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. A founder navigating growth, an executive building high performance teams, a leader ready to treat their craft like a sport, or athletes, families, and coaches. And two, connect with Shauna at Shauna, S-H-A-U-N-A at SLGimpact.com. If you're having navigating, if you if you're navigating an inflection point needs a strategic partner who understands what it takes to move from strategy to action with speed and focus, Shauna brings the athlete's mindset to business strategy. And if you're an athlete parent or coach ready to raise the standard, check us out at blueprintbluechip.com. We help athletes build identity, discipline, and legacy that goes far beyond the game. And if you're ready to get clear about who you are beyond the game, check us out at blueprintbluechip.com or reach out to Shauna. If this episode resonated with you, please leave us a five star review on the Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps us reach more athletes, parents, and leaders who need this message. This is a standard podcast, and this movement only grows when we raise the standard together. Talent fades, but truth endures. Let's raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and become the standard. Aaron, Shauna, thank you so much. Team, we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

Thank you so much.