- When I was growing up, there was only one super hero for me: Wonder Woman. She fought against the bad guys. She wore a cape. She had powerful bracelets. And her red leather boots!
- One day my aunt came home from shopping and bought me red, leather boots. Moment those boots touched my feet, I was Wonder Woman. I did not have a cape, but I did have a cardigan.
- My feet grew. I lost all my powers, abilities. I was just ordinary, just a little kid.
- We might feel that we need to be super heroes to get the jobs done. We might think we need special secret tools. That’s not true.
- Leadership is inspiring but it’s also disappointing. Leadership is faith-building but it can be soul-crushing.
- How do we level up our leadership to the challenges of our day?
- We can learn to level up our leadership by asking some probing questions about what is happening in our life?
- Question 1: Who were you before anyone told you who you were supposed to be?
- I’m a Brit, but I was also a Nigerian. On Sunday nights, my aunts would come over and they’d cook all our favorite foods.
- One night, the news coverage referred to a neighborhood about a couple of miles from where we lived. There were riots, looting, cars were burned. There were similar riots for similar reasons across the country throughout the year.
- The way the news described immigrants was scary.
- Auntie Bassie – “Joanna, my dear, you need to understand. You have two marks against you: you’re black and you’re a woman. You will have to work hard at school. You’ll have to worker harder because you’re black. Additionally, you’re a woman. You’ll have to be better than every man. You’ll have to be at least twice as good….You’ll have to work extra hard if you want to make it in this country.”
- Her tone was matter of fact, almost medicinal. She knew from her own journey.
- We were a problem, a threat, often a statistic.
- My auntie saw my imagination, my worth. She gave me the talk. She did not want me to believe the world’s limits on me.
- Is that perception still shaping how you see yourself and limiting your leadership?
- The way we think matters.
- “What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.” – Muhammad Ali
- The way you think about yourself is already shaping who you are.
- Who were you before life happened to you? Before the crisis, before you were passed over for that promotion?
- You call it wiser and steady now. You call it angry, disappointed.
- What businesses aren’t be started? What church aren’t being planted? All because our game-changing ideas are buried under the rubble of the stories that life has told us.
- Henri Nouwen – “You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.”
- Question 2: If your body could talk to you, what would it want to say?
- It was an ordinary day. My husband went to work. Kids got off to school. My heart was beating harder and faster than usual. The next day, it happened again. I ignored it again. On third day, I called my doctor and he sent me to urgent care.
- I started first to God and then to myself, asking how I got here. Your heart is fine but clearly something is going on. After a battery of questions, he asked, “How do you sleep?”
- Insomnia – it’s been a hard year.
- Have you ever had a job that was more than just a job? That was where I was until it was shattered. It fractured my families, our place in the community, it broke me. Every day I tried to push past the pain but I could not handle it. I remember worrying about the future, my kids, the upheaval in their lives. Some nights I just laid awake just angry and raw. Other nights I’d wake up in a cold sweat, gasping for breath, immobilized by the fear and panic. It increased until it was happening on a nightly basis.
- My doctor gave me anti-anxiety medication. I went to a therapist. I took long runs. Eventually I slept a night. Slowly I began to heal.
- What was my body saying to me? “Honey, you’re not a super hero. You’re a human. It’s time to pay attention to your mental and emotional health.”
- 2019 Gallup Study – study of 7500 full time employees – 23% employees always, 44$ employees are burned out sometime, 63% more likely to have a cik day, 23% more likely to visit emergency room.
- Depression and anxiety cost the global economy one trillion US dollars every year.
- You have one body and your leadership live in it.
- What’s your action step? It’s time to take time to pay attention to your body, your heart.
- Question 3: Who are your people?
- Asked a mentor for leadership tips, she said, “I hope you will have friends. You’ll need friends for the hard times, but the good times too.”
- 2012 CEO Snapshot Survey found 50% were feeling lonely, 60% acknowledged loneliness affected performance.
- I’ve known the loneliness that comes from making the heavy decisions and responsibility carries.
- “The Year of Yes” – the first, only, different (FOD)
- Nothing prepares you for the constant impact of loneliness.
- ‘The Lethality of Loneliness” TED Talk – John Cacioppo – described impact. It increases depressive symptoms; increases powerful stress hormone – cortisol; decreases the quality of our sleep; increases your vulnerability to impulsive behaviors.
- There’s always been a loadstar that has helped me navigate what life was doing.
- It takes a village to develop a lead.
- Who are you going to do this for? You want to level up your leadership? Be a loadstar for someone else.
- Look for ways to leverage skills and connections among people of a different gender, race, tribe than you.
- McKinsey and Company – improved financial bottom line.
- Who are your people and act on it as soon as you can.
- Ask yourself these questions and make an action plan for each question.
- To get The Leader’s Level Up Guide: Text LEVELUP to 345-345 (US only) or go online josaxton.com/gls2019
Thank you for your words and passion.