End of Season 1?? Next Steps For the Leader Who Cares, Impact

Wrapping up Season 1 and talking about next steps for leaders who care and what to expect for Season 2. 

Transcript

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We need better leaders. We need more people who care about people. We need more people who genuinely intend to carry out the missions they have committed to. Missions that bring out the better side of our humanity. Missions that heal and missions that impact. Are you one of those better leaders? Or do you know someone who is? Or have you lost hope in us having better leaders? Or are you simply curious if it could still be possible? I'm here starting a conversation with you so we can go on a journey together to actually answer these questions. And whatever conclusion you come to, at least you will know what is and what isn't worth leading. Hey, it's Amanda Sophie, and we're here continuing our conversation about what's worth leading. If this is your first time here, the reason why this podcast exists is for people who are hesitant about leadership, people who've lost hope in leadership, people who are curious about leadership, people who are jaded in their leadership, people who are former leaders and people who are current leaders who are making some adjustments. Regardless of the reason that you're here, even if it's curiosity, uh, feel free to join the conversation at any point in time. So, wow, today is our seventh episode. It is technically the end of the first season, and I feel grateful that I can say I went from start to finish and completed this full circle of creating this podcast from idea to execution. Yes, this morning I have my cup of water. It is warm, and um, but I woke up a little bit late today. I've don't know if I I said it before, but I usually wake up around uh the early side. I think it's more so 5-6 for me. Um and uh today I woke up at 8 o'clock, but I still have to kind of get my voice warmed up, so I usually have a warm cup of water right before I record the podcast. Anyway, today's episode is next steps for the leader who cares. And we're talking about impact. I am wrapping up this season, and I kind of want to give you some insight about observations and reflection about the episodes and the formatting and and uh what my plan is for season two of this, because I will be continuing. But just want to drop some nuggets about what next steps are in framing and kind of like putting a bow on the conversation of what we formulated for season one. And so we did a lot of work in um understanding the history of what leadership was viewed as in society around the globe for the past 160 years. You know, we did a couple episodes, history background, uh, approaches to leadership, and um the reasons why you should lead, and and things that would be helpful to think about or use when you lead. And now that we've gotten to this point, hopefully you're someone who says, Hey, I want to lead, and I know my reasons why, and I'm equipped with uh knowledge about the history of approaches and why people see leadership in certain ways. And then also I need to know what the next steps are. So got these things in my toolkit. So when it comes to next steps, there's a lot of things that we could do. Um couple episodes ago, I talked about uh the frameworks that I created and using those. And so, with all of these things tied together, the next thing is application really, and impact of using certain frameworks, impact of actually experiencing these scenarios in real life. So we want to dig deeper in season two with actually real life scenarios. I want to invite people on the podcast, I want to have their experiences shared, I will share more of my personal experiences and leadership, and then also really wanting to dig into some maybe quick uh solutions. So, for instance, if you find yourself stuck in a certain situation or experiencing a certain situation as a leader right now, being able to address that and say, hey, if you are experiencing this, try this. So the reason why this podcast was started was utility. I really wanted it to be helpful for people, not just something to listen to or just for entertainment, but have some form of utility for the people who want to be in leadership and want to understand their reason why. One of the things that we also have to consider when it comes to next steps, because we're uh talking about next steps now. I've kind of gone into next step mode, is we need to think about environments and systems that we're entering into. So you're on the journey, you say, Yes, I know my why, and we're looking forward and we're moving forward, but you with this toolkit walking into different environments may mean different things. Some environments may work for you as a human being, and others will not. Some environments have longer life cycles, and others will have shorter ones. And so, really, when we get into being a leader and impact, we're talking about how to apply skill set and be strategic in different types of environments. There are some environments that you just shouldn't be in because they're too dysfunctional. A lot of times people use the word toxic, but dysfunctional is a good word as well because it speaks to the reality of what it is. That environment is not operating or does not have uh an appropriate streamline of what elements that work together as a collective properly. So it could be there are policies in place that are not followed or executed, and you're there, and because the person in power or the people who made the policies don't enforce them, you can't do anything about it as a leader. You can only do so much. Maybe this is a place that you you learn, get some skill sets, add to your resume, and do what you say you're gonna do in that space and then keep it moving. You may be in a situation where you really truly are making impact, and unfortunately, there's a change that occurs, and you can no longer make impact, or you can't lead the way that you're used to in a space, and maybe that time is up in that space. So I think that one of the things that we have to realize when we start getting into these environments and and attaching ourselves to these systems is that being a leader doesn't mean you have a job, you do have work to do, but it doesn't mean you are a leader for, and I'm talking about better leader, and so I'm digging into better leadership. I'm not just saying, hey, yeah, of course, you can just be a leader and and just sit there or just you know, collect a paycheck, or just hold up space, or just whatever you're doing, use resources, get the perks, get the conversations, get the parties, get the whatever realm of leadership or uh industry that you're in. You can do that, but when you're talking about something that's worth leading, something that someone who's trying to be a better leader, you're really looking at it as how am I gonna make impact in this space for whatever allotted time period I need to be here and how to stay focused on doing that and not get off track. Uh I personally am leading in a couple different ways in my life. And one of the things that I have to remind myself of is not to get distracted. I enjoy conversations with people, I enjoy learning about people, I enjoy collaborating with people, but even so, the ugly side or the I would say the uncomfortable side about leadership is that there are times where there are boundaries that you have to have for the sake of making impact and making decisions that are necessary that even people who you've collaborated with may not care for. And so then there's a reminder that, man, I'm kind of alone as a leader. And on this journey of you making impact, I want to remind you that in a sense of the totality of leaders, you're not the only leader, you're not the only person going through it. So if you are experiencing loneliness in your uh organization or your workspace, just know that you are not alone and that in that environment that you're working in, it may be a bit lonely because you can't really share with the people that you're uh supervising how you feel. You can't necessarily confide in people, and maybe even that company, maybe maybe you can't even confide in people in the company. Maybe you are having to confide in with friends or a therapist, or you haven't even taken it that far. You just are holding it in. You're talking to family members, just holding it in. Just know that you're not alone, you're not the only person who's dealing with the challenges of leadership. And so, really, we want to season two, really kind of like open that can and put things. I was about to say put things in a bowl. I mean, what do you do with the can after you open it? Oh God. I don't know. I mean, I'll just like set myself up for that. Open the can and put it in the bowl, put it, put, put it wherever, put it in the pot. I don't know. Whatever you do with cans, uh, when you open them, maybe you avoid canned food. I don't know. But we're gonna open up some stuff and start uh digging in deeper. And I'm excited, I'm so excited because it's one thing to talk about theory, and it's another thing to really be in the middle of application, in the middle of the fire of it all, and it can be exhausting, it can be exhausting. I think one of the most exhausting things when it comes to impact and application being a leader is that no matter how genuine your heart is to make impact, your ability to collaborate with other people is essential. Your ability to have people believe that it's worth doing, worth following, is essential. And we've talked about different approaches. Sometimes people just won't believe you, or some people sometimes people uh don't want to change their mindset. They you're introducing things that are a change to them, and then you realize, oh my goodness gracious, they have to go through this curve of grief that psychologically before they even get to the point where they are willing to change and do something different potentially, or try a new approach and go in a different direction and follow the mission that you're supposed to follow. There's pushback and dealing with people's pushback, people do it with their own unique personality. Sometimes people are nasty, and that sucks because I don't want to take that home, I don't want to deal with that, and then we have to figure out as leaders, how do we stay healthy and consistent and protect our minds and protect hope? How do we maintain energy? How do we you know keep our minds focused on the goal, on the mission that got us here in the first place? Sometimes when we are around certain people who don't make it easy for us, sometimes we'll start second guessing, why am I even doing this? Why am I leading? Is it worth it? And that's when we start getting the original intent of this this podcast is what is worth leading? How far can how far what will we allow? And so we're gonna go through different cycles of that, we'll talk about different situations, um, different scenarios. And if you are someone who is a leader, and you are someone who knows a leader, or if you're someone who wants to contribute in some type of way to this worth leading podcast, let me know. Send me a message. You know, one thing that today I did not do, I did not bring up the website worthleadingpodcast.com. If you want to contact me, just go there, go to the contact section section, and send me a message, and I will follow up with you about it. But yeah, I'm gonna start recruiting guests to be on the podcast because I want to hear other people's stories, and I think other people's stories. There's one person that I follow on Instagram, and I definitely don't know what they're at is, but I do know that I said when I start having guests or when I do that, that I'm gonna have them on. And he said he has some stories to tell. So I'm excited about his story. I'm gonna go through my notes app and see where I what his profile is, and hopefully he hasn't changed his profile name, and then I'm gonna reach out to him. Maybe that'll be my first guess. Who knows? We'll see if he responds. I'm pretty sure he will. He seems fairly active on social media the last time I checked. So that maybe be our first guess. Do you have any ideas? Before I wrap this up today, because this is a very short episode. I didn't really want to dig too deep into anything, but I did want you to be aware of the fact that we're wrapping up this first season and that I'm looking for guests for the podcast, and we're gonna be talking about you know, you things that have utility and and scenarios and applying them and having guests and everything. If you have anything to say, if you have any guest ideas, or if you have any contribution, once again, please let me know. Send me a message at workleadingpodcast.com. Trying to figure out if there's anything else that I want to say before I stop this. Oh, I am going to have a bonus episode. This episode wraps up everything that I plan to do, but there's gonna be one more bonus episode. And the bonus episode is about black women and leadership. That's all I'm gonna say. Yeah, that is all I'm gonna say. That is gonna be a bonus episode because it was a conversation that I wanted to, I saw online on social media multiple times within the past year, and I wanted to chime in and say something, but I didn't want to really break the flow of what I was doing and planning to do because it's super important not to be, I feel like, scattered in the way that I'm addressing the idea or the concept of leadership. I don't want to hop around just talking about different topics because this is something that's supposed to be useful and have utility. Uh, so there's a plan for it, an approach to it, but I do want to address this issue that I'm seeing come up very often in conversation. It's a very weird, and I actually feel like I had to take some time over the past month or so to process my thoughts about black women and leadership. By the way, I am a black woman and I am in leadership as well. So I'm talking about myself, um, as well as what other people have said, and so it is kind of like a touchy subject, but you can talk about yourself if you want to, and I can talk about myself if you want to. So yeah, I'm gonna do it, and that's that. So if you want to get um some insight on my perspective of black women and leadership, myself and leadership, then definitely listen to the bonus episode. When it comes to season two, really, I am going to probably it's July 17th. That bonus episode is coming up in another couple weeks. I would say that really season two is gonna start in the fall, maybe September. We're looking at. If you think about it, it's almost August now. And so the next episode isn't is gonna come out at the end of the month of July. There's gonna be a little buffer for between season one and season two. I'll probably do some promotion and and really sharing season one and what it was and the start of it with people and during the month of August, end of summer, wrapping up. Probably put some more visuals and and and and posts on different platforms about this podcast for those who haven't had access to it or didn't know it existed yet. And then in September, by that time, I know that I'll have more people who I can have on as guests and have everything formatted for how we're gonna do season two. So, yeah, I think that's it. I don't want to drag this on longer than it needs to be. I am super proud of myself. But if you've listened to every episode in season one, I'm also proud of you as well. If this has helped you in any type of way, please give me feedback. Please give me feedback. Let me know what you thought. If you loved it, if you hated it, just tell me why. Because it's data that I can use to form before I do the next season. And it'll help me guide some decisions that I'm making, saying, hey, Amanda, you did that, I did not like it. Okay, maybe other people think that way as well. And maybe there's something I can add or take away or reformat. And I'm totally okay with that because at the end of the day, if this doesn't make sense to you, or if you're not receiving the information in the way that I'm presenting it, then I would love to adapt. I would love to. Uh so yes, give me feedback, give me some ideas for season two if you have them. Thank you for listening uh to season one of the World Leading Podcast. And like I say always, till next time. You are healing your own humanity. You are a whole human being, and in this, your courage is activated. And with this courage, you can choose to lead. Choose to lead something worth leading, choose to lead something worth doing, choose to lead something worth giving your best in rest with your humanity. You can leave. Till next time. It's worth leading.