Why Great Teams Don’t Happen by Accident: Toni Burkard on Leadership and Trust

In this episode of Activating Greatness, Alec McChesney sits down with Toni Burkard, Business Enablement Lead at Pfizer CentreOne, to explore what it truly takes to build high-performing teams through trust, mentorship, and intentional leadership. Toni shares her journey leading in a traditionally male-dominated industry and how investing in people, fostering authentic relationships, and creating environments rooted in trust drive both culture and performance. From coaching future leaders to building teams that support and elevate one another, this conversation highlights why great teams are built with purpose, not by accident. If you are focused on building culture, strengthening trust, and leading teams that consistently perform, this episode delivers actionable leadership insights.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

In today's episode, we really talk about everything from being a woman in science in a male-dominated field. What does that look like from an individual contributor perspective? What does that look like from a leadership perspective? And then we spend a lot of time on what really makes Tony light up, which is putting her people first, and why putting your people first is really the ultimate competitive advantage. Tony is brilliant. You're gonna want to connect with her after you listen to this episode, and I can't recommend it enough. Enjoy the show. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Activating Greatness, the show where we dig into what it really takes to lead with purpose, inspire performance, and create lasting impact. As always, I'm your host, Alec McChesney, and every episode we sit down with leaders, thinkers, and change makers who are unlocking potential in themselves, their teams, and their organizations. Here we talk about the real stuff: leadership that drives culture, strategy that creates momentum, and the mindset that turns good intentions into game-changing results. Because greatness, it isn't a title, it's a choice. It's something you activate every single day. So thank you. Thank you for listening, for showing up, and for being part of a community of leaders who refuse to settle for good enough. Now let's dive in and meet today's incredible guest. Today's guest is Tony Burkhard, a commercial leader in the life sciences industry, known not just for driving results, but for building people. Tony has built her career in a traditionally male-dominated space, rising through commercial leadership while staying anchored in mentorship growth and investing deeply in her teams. She is passionate and advocates for women in science and women in leadership, currently mentoring multiple female professionals and helping them navigate confidence, perception, ambition, and long-term career growth. But more than anything, the reason I'm excited for this conversation is that Tony lights up when she talks about her team, about helping people win, helping them cross the finish line, and watching them grow into leaders today. Tony, uh, this is an episode that I've been looking forward to since I first reached out. Obviously, you and I have been connected for a little while now, and somebody that I look up to as a leader and somebody that I always leave our conversations ready to run through a brick wall. So thank you so much for spending some time with us. Um, everybody that knows the podcast knows me, knows that I'm ready to ask questions and dive in. But before we do that, I want to give you a chance to maybe further introduce yourself to the activating greatness audience uh and and to introduce your role and your background.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Sounds good. Thank you so much for having me today. I love the premise of this podcast. I'm really pumped to be here during Women's History Month. I don't know if that was coordinated intentionally or not, but super excited about that. I think the topic is uh really relevant. So um nice to meet all of the people listening to this podcast. Um, I am Tony Burkhardt. I am currently the business enablement lead for Pfizer Center One, which is a small um group within embedded a CMO inside of Pfizer. Um I started my career at Pfizer 20 years ago, and I have spanned all of the sales roles that you could potentially have within those 20 years. Most of my experience is in commercial, um, and that's kind of where I say I grew up. But right now my role resides in Pfizer Global Supply. Um my team is the business enablement lead. I say we do all of the support functions that help our business development group sell and um drive our growth. And within my team, I house marketing, I have a commercial strategy and commercial planning colleague. I also have some proposal and SOW writers, and I also have a team of professionals that do technical development and regulatory authority work for our custom APIs. So um wide breadth, but a really fun group. And as Alex said, I do light up when I talk about my team because this team is absolutely the best. Um, but I do believe great teams are created and not uh just happen by happen stamps. So I think that we can talk a little bit more about that on the podcast. Um traditionally from Michigan, I've grown up here, went to Michigan State, a diehard lions fan. And yeah, that's just a little bit about me.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Oh, I I love it. And even just right out of the gate, I knew that you would come in uh and have a couple of mic drops right right out of the gate. And you hit one with the teams uh don't happen by accident. And how you just talked about your team. I mentioned you lighting up, but you also have so many different functions within those teams. And so I certainly want to dive into that. But before we do, I I wanted to bring up you mentioned the Women History Month. The reason that I reached out originally uh was you had a fantastic post uh about women in science. And and I think it was a women in STEM focused, and um, it's something that we're really passionate about at Velocity Advisory Group telling stories. We had Women in Construction Week a couple of weeks back and shared a lot of those stories as well. And I'm curious, Tony, you've built your career up in the the life sciences and historically that is in an industry that is male dominated. And um I'm I'm just curious, right out of the gate, what was it like coming up in that environment? And do you think that it shaped the type of leader you are today, the type of people leader where you do light up about your team and you want to be a mentor and you want to give back to that next generation of leaders? What just kind of this is a super vague question to get us started, but what was that process like coming up through the industry and and certainly now being one of those voices that that people and especially young women look up to?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Yeah. So when I started very many years ago, 20 years ago, um at Pfizer, it was it was definitely different. Um, and at the time, I didn't see a ton of people that looked like me. And definitely women in leadership wasn't something that um was as impactful as it is today. I'm grateful to see that over the years we've seen a transition where we've had more and more women in leadership, diversity in leadership, and and all of the like. But to be honest, like I had a choice. I could either fit into the mold that was not built for me, or I could decide to be effective and great and amazing and do all of the things that earned my name, my credibility in those things. And so I chose the second path. I'm a, you know, if you've ever done a disc profile, I am a high D, high I. So I am a driver, I am an achiever, I am all of those things. So I went out there and I won every award I could win. I did all the things. I tried to elevate my communication skills, elevate my performance. I stuck myself in uncomfortable situations. And I think that in a male-dominated world, that your credibility isn't just assumed, it's earned. So you need to continue to develop these skills over time. And I think, you know, that's why I try and be an authentic leader because I truly believe that you don't have to learn the hard way. I mean, I know most people do, or you kind of stumble through things, but I like to share my story. I like to tell people what I went through. I like to talk about, you know, difficult things that I've I've transversed through my career to help them and hopefully give them a better leg up. You know, and with women, we're taught to be kind of more demure, more shy, more quiet, not to take up space. And in a male-dominated world, you have to function differently. It's just, it's the way that it is. But I will tell you, the interesting thing is that like this whole environment did not necessarily make me a harder person. It made me kind of more grounded and stable, and it really shaped my leadership style in the sense that, you know, I try and be firm, but also be human and be decisive, but also be reflective. And, you know, try and use some of those more um like difficult conversation kind of skills to really elevate my overall persona. But it's definitely different because perception of how women behave and how men behave is is totally different, whether we want to believe it or not. And and so I think understanding the context that you're in and knowing how to transverse it is really important and kind of the key to success and growing and leadership in a men male-dominated world.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

And it's a conversation that is not one and done. It's evolving, right? And I'm so glad you brought up the disc profiles. That is uh, you know, that's really how Velocity Advisory Group was founded. Our co-founder, Dan Silvert, wrote the book on disc and birds, the true competitive advantage. And I know there's people who aren't watching this, they're listening, but I'm holding up a note that has my parrot and my eagle, which shows my high D and high I as well. Um, because Tony, I think it makes sense why you and I get along so well is that we have very similar communication styles and personality styles, but even within disc, the way that a D and an I, the way that an eagle and a parrot can be perceived from a male and a female is still a wide gap. And it's something that I have noticed over the last decade, especially as I've worked really closely. Um, you know, I've been fortunate that every organization I've worked at post-college has been loaded with unbelievable female leaders. And a lot of them are DI in terms of about the top of the birds uh with parrots and eagles. And the way that I say something and the way that they say something might be the exact same. And the way that a client interpreted it might be different. And so I'm curious when you talk about this perception and performance, you said credibility isn't assumed, it's earned. And I love that. How do you mentor to that? How do you go to these up-and-coming individuals? And how are you coaching women to navigate that line without losing their edge? And I noticed you said something that didn't make you a harder individual. It kind of taught you some of those different skill sets to acquire. How do you pass that on and how do you communicate that to the next generation?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

I I think, you know, in being a true driver, I think hitting the topic head on is really important. And um, you know, anybody that I work with as a mentor, I am definitely very candid with them and we have some real conversations. And the truth is that the double standard is real, the bias exists, it's there. It's something that I don't like to talk about because I wish it didn't exist, but the reality is it's true. Whether we acknowledge it or not is is, you know, takes away from that fact. And, you know, if we choose to ignore it, then we don't get to design the narrative, right? So to me, like you hit that head on, we have those conversations, we coach to be intentional, right? And and we're being deliberate about how we're having conversations. And, you know, you said edge, but the edge matters, you know, you want to keep it sharp, you want to be, you know, authentic, but at the same time, you need to be very specific about how you deliver your message because it can be taken differently. And I think um, you know, being strategic about practicing, like that's really important. You know, I I encourage people that I work with, if they you know, say, okay, I have this difficult conversation coming up, can I roleplay this with you? I mean, I came from a sales background, we role-played everything, and it sometimes feels silly or doesn't feel comfortable to do that. But if you can find somebody that you trust and feel comfortable with, there's so many times that I will say, Hey, Alec, when you said this, this is what I've heard. And I know that's not your intention. So let's craft that message to be different. And so I think that that is really important. And you know, that's part of finding the right mentor, right? Like you said, you and I clicked, and we totally did. And maybe that's because we're the same profile, um, or maybe we just are great friends. But the reality is, is you're not gonna click with everybody, but you need to find a mentor that's gonna push you and test you and be willing to ride through those hard situations because that's when it really matters.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

And and you have to be able to have these tough conversations as a coach, as a mentor, or just as somebody on your team, right? I like how you said you're gonna address it head on as a as a true driver. And, you know, I think that's it's really applicable to just regular day-to-day business operations, and it's also applicable to what we referenced at the beginning in terms of the perception of a woman in science, a woman in construction, a woman in leadership is there, whether we, whether someone wants to admit it or not, and I love the way that you're looking at it, it's here, but what are we going to do about it? How are we going to respond? And what skill sets are we going to level up with? I love the role-playing exercise to be able to work through. And and something that you said that I want to double-click on is you you might call out and say, hey, Alec, you know, I know you said this. This is what I heard. I don't think it's what you meant. And too often when we're moving in this fast-paced but remote environment, the intent of what we were trying to communicate ends up being a lot different than the impact that we were trying to have. And I think that goes both ways in terms of the one doing the communication, but also the one receiving the communication. And when we get that message through, we all of a sudden go through that ladder of inference or the shame spiral and we start to speed up. I joked this morning, I had somebody send me a note that said, Hey, I'm in back-to-back meetings all day. I need you to call me as soon as possible. And the first thing that I went to was, Well, here it is. I'm finally in trouble. This is my time, you know? And it was, it was a two-minute conversation where nothing, we were just moving a scheduled meeting. But the in the impact to me was cortisol rose a little bit and maybe some PTSD of getting those types of team messages. So when you work through that role playing, I'm curious, and this might be my one bad podcast question. How do your coaches, how do your team, how does your team respond to that role playing? Is that something that they were used to? Is it something that they get excited about the way that you know somebody like like you and I would get excited about? Or is that stepping into a new comfort zone for them, stepping outside of the box? Uh, and how have you handled that over the years?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

It it totally depends, right? So, like I have one person on my team who has a commercial background and is used to that. And so him and I, we can just go at it and have, you know, very, very active role-playing conversations. There's other people that are more shy. And so I kind of have to pull it out of them. And um, but again, like as a good mentor, I feel like that's my job, right? Like, my job is to get to the bottom of what we're trying to accomplish here. And if you tell me, Alec, that your goal is to present well at this meeting, then as your mentor, it's my job to make sure that you're prepared or you feel comfortable, right? Um, you know, that's what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be giving you the tools and the tricks to be able to be successful in a space that I've probably transversed before. Um, and that's why you pick a mentor that's got more experience than you, right? And it's it's similar to listening to your parents, right? Like no kid wants to listen to their parents. But my 14-year-old told me the other day, he's like, mom, it's so annoying that you know, when you tell me something that I don't want to do, and then you end up being right, you know. So I think that mentor role is a similar situation. It's like you're just trying to guide these people to have um, you know, a better career. And it and it's not always well received, but I I think it's my job to push. So, you know, and I think, you know, it's just like just like the people receiving the mentors, probably some of them aren't in that kind of instance, they're not as pushy or as you know, high D as we are, but um, for me, that's just how I feel.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Well, and I I think it's it's uh it's an interesting call out about taking taking your own medicine too, right? Because Tony, you certainly still have mentors that you call upon and and and vice versa for for each of these individuals. And sometimes there is that realization if I if I want to level up, investing the time in a mentor, in a coach, and whatever that might look like is an investment in us as individuals. And I think a lot of times we see it as a coaching firm who does the birds and 360s and all those things. A lot of times people look at that as a negative and they see, oh, if I have, you know, if I need a mentor or if I need coaching, it's it's one step away from being put on a pip, or it's because I'm struggling, or it's because I have flaws. And it's hey, no, it's it's actually an investment in yourself. It's an investment in your future, in your organization, all of these different perspectives. Uh, you know, I'm curious, I know this wasn't in our our outline. Uh, we'll get back to that in a minute, but what what led you to wanting to find mentors? Was that just, hey, I know I need to level up? What what really sparked that curiosity in in you as an individual to seek those individuals out um and to seek that value and knowledge out as well?

SPEAKER_00 18:23

So um it's very interesting that you asked that. So I had somebody that pushed me, right? So, like I was doing well in my career. Like I said, I won a lot of awards. I was really good at sales and I loved my job. I loved it. And I had a mentor coach, um, was my boss at the time that saw something more in me. And she said, you know, I feel like you were meant for people leadership. You know, I think you should do this. And so I kind of started talking to some people just in my close circle. And actually, my boss's boss at the time, he said, I'm gonna give you some homework. I want you to go and I want you to find three leaders that you respect, and I want you to find three people that report to them. And I want you to ask them all the same. Well, I want you to ask the leaders what makes them a good leader? What you what do they think that makes them a good leader? And I want you to ask the people that report to them, what makes them a good leader? And it was funny because all six people came back and said that the most important thing or what made these people people that they wanted to work for, inspiring leaders, is that they invested in the people that were around them, right? So like they were pushing for them to do more. And it was such an eye-opening thing to know that, you know, as a leader or as somebody that looks up to somebody, if if you think about that, if you think about people in your life that have influenced you or people that you really respect, they probably are all people that have invested in you. And in as you whether it's as a person, if it's at work, if it's at school, if it's in a hobby, whatever, um, you know, that's really a telltale sign. But it was that homework assignment uh that really opened my eyes to what mentoring could be and what people leadership could be, and where I needed to grow myself to be ready to be a people leader.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

I'm just letting that sit for a minute because it's definitely coming out as a LinkedIn post. This is a that's exactly what it was a it ended up being a great question. I'm gonna give myself credit for that one, Tony, because that that answer in one fantastic homework assignment by your boss's boss. Uh an incredible thing. And I would encourage a lot of people to take that to heart. But it's also what we hear across the board at Velocity Advisory Group when people stay at jobs, they stay because they believe their leader invests in them and wants the best for them as people at home and people at work. And when people leave jobs, we see it more and more and more that it's more about the manager, the leadership at the organization. And so I just I love that perspective. And it it sets up the rest of our podcast, which is being people first is a business strategy, it is a leadership strategy. And I've hinted at it a couple of times. You mentioned it, that you light up when you talk about your team. It's always been clear to me that you want to invest in your team, you want to have the best and brightest on your team, but also from a resources perspective, you want to ensure that they're set up for success. And so I'm curious, it sounds like you were given that message uh at some point in your career and and still today have that same fire. Why is helping others succeed such a central part to how you define yourself as a leader? And then How you define yourself as a leader in terms of managing up and and managing into the higher ups inside your organization. How is people leadership at the focus of all of that?

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Well, that's a that's a loaded question. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

That's what we that's what we do here on the Activating Greatness podcast.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Um, so number one, I think that um, you know, as far as my team, yes, I light up about this team. Again, like I've hired a few people, I've acquired a few people, I've had some different functions added to my team, but I I can't take credit for this. It's lightning in a bottle. This team that I work on right now is so top tier. They are so excellent. Like I feel so lucky every day to get to work with such talented individuals. They're just the next one is more smart than the next. And not only that, but like this team is I I tell them all the time, I said, I've never seen a team like this. They lift each other up. Like they will cover, you know, if somebody has extra work, they pick it up. Nobody ever comes to me and is tattletaling. Like it's just such a supreme group of individuals. I just can't say enough wonderful things. So that number one is just like, I love my job, I love my people. So that makes what you just asked me very easy to be people-centric. Um and I think it's it's absolutely a joy to to coach and lead people that love what they do. And so I right now have all individuals that really love what they do. And something that I'm really proud of as a leader is right now, all of my candidates that work for me are doing what we call um a growth gig or they're working on like a special project. And I know that sounds kind of crazy to any other leader because why would I give all of the people on my team more work? But I found that the more I invest in my people, like we were just talking about, the better work that they do. They are going to do, they're gonna, you know, elevate themselves, they elevate their work, they're constantly trying to do more and they're happier overall because they know that they're taking the next step in their development, they're adding skills to their toolbox, and it's just been such a joy to watch them grow. Um, I will tell you though, that winning through others or watching other people's grow, that was a skill that I developed. So I am by nature a winner and achiever. And as a a new people leader back in the past, like it was it was a learning for me. It was something that I had to learn that, you know, there's more than one way to accomplish any goal. Like I always am like, you should do it my way, because that's the best way. But now I, you know, as I've progressed in my career, I can see that the watching other people do things differently is how I learned. So it actually benefits me, but it's definitely something that I've learned. Um the second part of your question was about coaching up. And I just, you know, again, this is probably just a tony character trait, but I just I I can't be anything other than authentic. And so when I see issues or when I, you know, see, you know, solutions or problems, like I bring them to my leader and I try and have, you know, the authentic relationship with my leader that I have with the people that work for me, right? So I think again, like just being authentically you and when people see that you are there to grow the business, you're there to commit to to the project, or you're there to commit to whatever the goal of the organization is, your feedback and the way that you're perceived comes across in a much different light than if you're just, you know, complaining or just giving negative feedback or you know, stuff like that. Like, you know, you can give negative feedback if people know that your authentic truth lies in the company succeeding, right? So um, again, it's all about being intentional about your purpose and your goals and who you are, um, and trying to stay committed to that, even though you know some things are challenging.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Wow. So much of that was spoken like a true eagle, uh, and that high D. Uh, and I I love it. And it also seems like as you've grown as a people leader, you have learned to flex some of that owl and the dove and say, okay, it's not my way or the highway. It's hey, there's other pathways to do this, and I'm gonna show you what's possible, but I want you to show me what's possible. And the way that you just talked about your team, in terms of there's not someone coming and calling you and tattling, or there's not talking behind each other's backs, that's also an infrastructure that has to be built, right? I mean, one, it's a it's a quality of of human, and and it sounds like you have a lot of them uh on the team, but it's also an intentional framework that the leader sets up. And so if you don't mind me asking, Tony, from a from a meeting standpoint, do you guys have, I mean, do you have one-on-ones with a ton of team members? Do you really foster one-on-ones for them? What does the group meetings sound like? I think a lot of what you just described is why people want to listen to this podcast, is to try to figure out how do we get our teams to be more like Tony's teams? And now I'm gonna send everybody to your LinkedIn and say, hey, go to Tony's LinkedIn and we can uh foster that conversation. But I'm just curious, are there any is there anything that you've done over the years that you've said, wow, that really worked from a meeting standpoint, from a culture standpoint, collaboration to help foster what you've built uh with inside your organization and within your team specifically?

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, so a couple things. Number one, first and foremost, is trust. So, yes, there are death by meetings. And as I said earlier, is you know, I have a lot of functions. So we have a lot of, you know, this group's meeting and this group's meeting and this group's meeting, and then a whole team meeting and then individual meetings. So yes, there are meetings endlessly, but um, I think trust, uh, the one-on-one trust I have built with every single person on my team is really important, right? Because, like I said, nobody's talking behind each other's backs because I'm not creating that environment. I've worked in the past for a leader that fostered a very nasty environment. People were constantly being praised for bringing bad news to the leader of things that people weren't doing or gossip or things like that. That's not something AI tolerate, and I definitely don't sponsor that, right? So I I the one-on-one conversations I have with my colleagues, very direct, very open. We talk about everything, but I don't go to the next call and say, this is what colleague A said. I don't do that. I just, you know, I've left that conversation. I moved on to the next one, and that conversation stays where it is. Um, and the other thing that I personally just subscribe to is positive gossip. I love telling people like, hey, I was in the room and Alex said you were awesome. Or hey, I heard this person say that you gave this presentation the other day, and it was great. And I believe in sharing positive gossip about people, and I personally just love it because I think it makes people feel good, and then that in turn make me makes me feel good. Um, I love that thing that's cool is doing it in a room, right? Like I love, you know, I will say Pfizer Global Supply is awesome on recognition. We do a lot of recognition, we put people's names up, pictures what the good, you know, celebrate the good work, but that's just something I personally subscribe to in my personal life and at work. So those I think are really cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Positive, I've not heard on this podcast or anywhere else the this this concept of of positive gossip. And I I'm gonna steal that, Tony. It's really good. Um that way, listen, uh, someone has to make up everything, and then if somebody else runs with it, and it it'll all come back to you, Tony, when we trademark it. Um, and I think I think it's something that it comes back to though the relationship factor. And if you have the right relationships, you have the right butts uh in the right seats, you have all these different things, that's what makes a team successful. And at the same time, if you don't have the right relationships, if you don't have trust, that's what can erode this. Um, I want to circle back before we get to our rapid fire questions, to this authenticity piece of the puzzle. And, you know, being authentic is something that maybe five years ago, it was just like the number one blanket advice for everybody. Hey, just be authentic. And then it got a really bad rap, and now it's back again because AI is coming into the picture. And it's like, hey, just be the version of you in order to be successful. Easier said than done for a D and an I from a disk profile standpoint in my in my learnings, is it seems like that's always been the case. How do you coach authenticity? How do you help people come out of that shell? And especially if we tie it back into the women in science perspective that we've talked about. How do you coach people to truly be authentic when maybe they have a little bit of that shell? And hey, I've I've tried that before and it hasn't worked. And I'm gonna put a giant asterisk by this question that this is the bad podcast question. I thought maybe earlier there was one, but this is a tough one. This is this is not easy for 244 uh Central Time on a Tuesday afternoon. But how do you pull that out of people? And how do you pull it out of people who maybe aren't comfortable with that thought uh at this time in their career?

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Well, so that's exactly it, right? Like you can't push somebody to do something they don't want to do, right? And everybody's career journey ebbs and flows. I mean, if you've read Cheryl Sandberg's Lean In, like there are times in your career you lean in and times when you have to sit back. And um, you know, sometimes, you know, we say, Oh, come out of your shell or do this or do that. Number one, that may not be authentic to them. And there might be, you know, just as we talked about before, there may be a different way to handle it. So, you know, you have to find ways to elevate people in the ways that feels good to them or the ways that they're capable of, right? Like, there's just sometimes you have people that can't do X, Y, Z, and that's okay. There's probably always, you know, there's probably a different way we can get to the end result as long as the person is willing to work through that, right? Like, you know, if you're bad at public speaking, yeah, you can go up and you can take a class and you can be trained and you can practice and you do all those things. But if that's not your thing, that's okay. Maybe you're just not the person that's on stage, you know? So I think part of everybody's leadership journey is different. And I think that that's really important is as a coach and as a mentor, is that it's not one size fits all, right? Like I need to have a conversation. Whenever I have a new mentee, I sit down, I want to know them in and out. Like, what's important to you? What are your personal goals? What are your, you know, what are your career goals? You know, and sometimes people say, I just love this job. I don't ever want to do anything else. Okay. Then let's just be the best at this job. You know, I I just had a a mentee come to me the other day and he was saying, Oh, you know, I I, you know, I'm talking to, I'm trying to build all these skills and I'm trying to do all these things, but he's like, I just don't have time because I'm not good at this job yet. And I said, you know what? Building a skill to be the best in this current role is developing the next skill. You don't have to have an additional, you know, task or another class or whatever. You can really dive in and learn a lot about yourself, about your leadership, about you know, the skills that you're building in that role, being the best in your current role. That's okay too. So I think, you know, just pulling somebody out of their shell to me feels inauthentic, if you will. I think you really have to find the path that makes sense for everybody else.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

So that is um such a good answer, Tony. And we we talk about it with the disc profiles and birds that everybody, you know, you think of the golden rule, treat others how you want to be treated. And what we flip that on its head within disc and the birds profiles is treat others how they want to be treated. And how you would get me to do a task or to come out of my shell is different than how you would get Lauren or John or Jennifer. And the fact that you just walked through that example of, you know, especially the individual who is, you know, putting pressure on themselves to be ready for the next thing, the next thing, uh, so much good there. So I appreciate you bearing with me uh for that, for that bad podcast question, because it was a fantastic answer that I think a lot of people need to hear and need to implement for their teams, and especially those individuals that have 15, 20, 30 direct reports, and then those individuals have direct reports underneath them as well. We have to be able to meet them where they are more so today than ever before. You know, we talk about that whole human leadership and understanding that, you know, I have an 11-month-old daughter. My priorities are a lot different than somebody who is an empty nester or does not have children yet, or wants children in three to five years. And how we might approach our pace of learning or our pace of development is completely different. So thank you for going down uh that tangent with me was a fantastic answer. All right, we've got four rapid fire questions. I just looked at the clock and I can't believe it's been 40 minutes uh already. And we even had a little bit of a delay. I knew that you and I would have too much fun recording this, and I'm already thinking like, all right, 2027, we're getting Tony back on uh uh for Women, Women in Science Day. We'll have that episode drop. And um, there's so much good here. It was exactly what I was thinking, but we still have to hit you with the four rapid fire questions, then get you out of here with the uh who is one leader that we should interview next. So let's start with question number one. What is one leadership habit that you rely on every day, no matter what?

SPEAKER_00 36:52

One leadership habit that I rely on every day, no matter what. I think um assuming positive intent. I think that is something that is missing from a lot of leaders. And um, I like I said, I always assume positive intent with my team. And I think that that changes my perspective in a lot of things. Because I think people come in sometimes thinking, like, oh gosh, this person screwed this up, or oh, this is gonna be bad. Um, but if I know that their intent was positive, then if the outcome is negative, that's something we can work through together. And that changes my whole demeanor.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

I have a sticky note on my uh desktop right here that says assume noble intent. And it is something that I, no matter how many times I read it, it is something that you have to continuously remind yourself of and put yourself in that position. I absolutely love that one. Question number two, Tony. What's the most underrated skill that a leader needs today? And I'm gonna add a bonus. What's the most underrated skill that a woman leader needs today? And if they're the same answer, even better, great. But if you have two different perspectives of that given the topic of today's conversation, I would love to hear it as well.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

I think self-reflection, right? Like you, um, I think especially for females, right? There's just a lot of things that we need to self-reflect, you know, especially as a high D, high I, sometimes I say things that I need to reflect on so that I can be better tomorrow. But, you know, there's there's learnings and even positive situations. So reflection is is really, really important. And everybody that looks different for everybody, you know, whether you journal or you talk to yourself or you just review it in, you know, while you're on your run or whatever it is. But thinking back and um, you know, looking with those 20, that 2020 vision and trying to be to be the best version of yourself tomorrow is is a really, really important skill. Um, I think whether you're a man or a woman, but particularly for women, just because, like we've talked about the perception bias. I think that there's there's ways that you can say things or do things in business um and in your personal life that you know can be perceived a certain way, and you can achieve the same outcome with a different approach sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yeah. Uh I have we have not gotten self-reflection as that answer 20, 25 episodes in. So I love that. And posted today, uh, it's March 31st, but self-awareness is a is a superpower. And I think self-reflection is the key to self-awareness. And so uh love that answer. Question number three is gonna go on the flip side of this, and it's what's something that great leaders should stop doing? Uh what what should we stop doing in 2026?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Oh um, I think my initial answer was gonna be death by PowerPoint. But um I love it.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Uh I think uh, you know, I I think maybe having favorites, I think that that's something that still is very real. And um I think it just can devour a whole team, right? Like, you know, everybody has their favorites, but there's way to ways to navigate without everybody knowing who your favorite is. So I think that that's a really important skill, but leaders should definitely stop doing that because, you know, although there is always going to be a shining star on every team, that doesn't mean that the light of everybody else's star needs to be dimmer, right? So I think that um, you know, focusing on trying to elevate the uh the rest of the team to be like your favorite is is something that you could change that into.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

People, if you cannot see my face right now, I've got the goosebumps on that. The there's gonna be a shining star, but it doesn't need to make everyone else's lights dimmer, is awesome. And Tony, I gotta be honest, so far, three out of the four questions you've answered in a way that the other 25 guests have not answered, uh, which I love, absolutely love. We'll put the pressure on you for question number four and the last one of the rapid fire. And it's just what's the best leadership advice that you've ever received?

SPEAKER_00 41:22

Um, I think building trust. I think that, you know, like I said, you know, investing in your people, but the only way you really can invest in them is if they're willing to be open to you. So building trust, building relationships with everybody is really important. You know, you you mentioned a few minutes ago that, you know, you have 11 month month-old daughter, so your situation may be different or what you're trying to drive right now may be different. Like if you don't trust me to tell me about your life and what's going on with you, then I'm not gonna know that. I'm not gonna be able to support you as a leader. So I think building trust and and having that relationship with each one of your colleagues is critical.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah, and trust is a two-way street. And you know, one of the things that that comes up a lot on this podcast is the only way to build trust is through actions. It's a show, not tell, right? Like it is, it's it's doing what you say you're gonna do, it's repeating that, it's putting yourself in those positions to win. So um, awesome work on the rapid fire questions. And I think you answered all of them in 30 seconds or less. The only reason we went long was because Alec had to add the commentary. Sometimes he needs to take the microphone away from himself. Um, final question. Yes, that's exactly I make all the rules. Uh the final question before we get you out of here and wrap up. Tony, who's a who's a leader that that we should interview next? Somebody who is doing meaningful work. It could be inside the organization, it could be somebody you've worked with historically, somebody you don't know, um, but somebody that you want to give uh a little hype to um and and suggest that we interview next. Full disclosure, no matter who you name, I'm gonna reach out to, and I'm probably gonna send them the clip of you saying that we should interview them and say, oh my gosh, Tony is my favorite, and she's recommending you. So you have to be on the podcast. Who do we interview, Tony?

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Oh my gosh, I've got so many good people. I could just give you a list. Do you want a list?

SPEAKER_02 43:20

Listen, uh you send me a list, I'll reach out to everybody. Uh, and you could name off uh 20 people right now, and we'll give them all the limelight. Uh, we'll give them all a little bit of the spotlight here.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

Okay, I would say um the next leader, since we this is women's month. I'm gonna support um Jenny Guitari, who is one of my peers. She is one of the most positive, bright lights that I have ever worked for. She just oozes about her people and she shows up to work just with the most overtly positive attitude every day. Like there is nothing that comes out of her that is not sunshine at all times. And I am so envious of her demeanor and just the way that she leads and the people that work for her love her as well. So I think that she would be a great option.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

Ooh, I it's gonna be hard for her to turn down this opportunity after the way that you just described her. Uh, one of the bright lights, sunshine. She sounds amazing. Uh, I think I'm connected with her on LinkedIn already. So I will I will reach out and we'll get her on the podcast. Tony, this is this is exactly what I thought the podcast would be. I know that the activating greatness uh audience is going to love this. There's some fantastic content that we're gonna share on LinkedIn as part of this. Any final thoughts before you get out of here? Anything that you want to wrap up with or send people away with?

SPEAKER_00 44:45

No, I think this has been so fun. I can't wait to come back. So please, like this is it's been a great, a great day. And uh thanks for inviting me. I love talking about this topic. Um, you know, I encourage anybody that needs support to find a mentor. And um, you know, working on yourself is always a good thing. We all have work to do, and even the top, top CEOs are still growing as leaders. So, you know, your journey is a never-ending, ending cycle. So I continue, I continue to encourage everybody to continue to work on themselves and be the best belt, best self that they can be.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Oh, I love it. What a good way to end this episode of Activating Greatness somehow, some way. We are 20 plus episodes in and we are on pace for more than 80 in 2026. Um, we're releasing every Monday, every Thursday. You're probably listening to this one and you're thinking, oh my goodness, Tony is unbelievable. You are right. Make sure you go connect with Tony on LinkedIn, uh, connect with her, send her a message, say the activating greatness podcast is what sent you. Leave it a five-star review. If you haven't yet, this is definitely the episode to do it. I do make the rules and I am the host, but I still want to prove to everybody that it works. So signing up to get the downloads, leaving it a five-star review, listening, commenting, engaging is really what makes this show great. Um, I said 80 plus episodes. The only reason we're able to do that is the unbelievable guests like Tony, but also the unbelievable audience like yourselves who continue to push this content forward, ask great questions, and recommend future guests. So continue to do that. You can listen to Activating Greatness anywhere that you get podcasts or on the Velocity Advisory Group website. Thank you again for being a part of community, the community of leaders who refuse to settle for good enough. And we'll see you on the next episode of Activating Greatness. Have a great day.