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Quick Lift: Where Motherhood Meets Ambition · Loud & Lifted

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  Welcome to Loud and Lifted. I'm your host, Betsy
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  Hamm. And in this quick lift episode, we're spotlighting
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  the wisdom of Dr. Linda Fidriese Williams, college
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  president and trailblazer for women in leadership,
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  especially moms. In her episode, she shared both
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  personal experience and powerful insights from
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  her doctoral research on women in leadership.
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  We dove into guilt. sacrifice, support systems,
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  and what it truly takes to thrive without losing
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  yourself in the process. Today, we're going to
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  break down the four key takeaways from owning
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  your next chapter without the guilt, chaos, or
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  second guessing in less than 10 minutes. You'll
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  walk away with fresh perspective and real actions
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  you can take right now. Whether you're eyeing
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  the C -suite or simply trying to balance ambition
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  with family life, these insights are your roadmap.
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  So when Linda told me about her doctoral research,
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  it was so interesting because as I read through
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  it, it literally sounded like a recap of all
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  of the episodes that we've had of Loud and Lifted
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  so far. She did her research on college presidents
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  who were women. However, her findings were literally
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  what we've been talking about at Loud and Lifted
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  just through a few guests. So let's break down
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  what some of her big findings were and what the
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  takeaways are to do something about it. The first
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  segment we talked about was the myth of balance
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  and the reality of guilt. As we've discussed,
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  there's no such thing as balancing. There's no
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  way to have everything fair and equal in your
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  life when it comes to family and home and being
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  a wife, having to deal with maybe aging parents
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  and, oh, by the way, your job. The best I can
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  attribute to, and I've said this before, is juggling.
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  We have all these balls in the air, and sometimes
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  something's gonna drop, and it's not always gonna
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  be pretty, and it sure as hell isn't gonna be
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  perfect, but... We have to do the best that we
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  can and not have that guilt to know that we're
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  not going to do everything perfectly all the
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  time. And we don't have to go so far above and
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  beyond. Like we don't have to make cookies. That's
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  at least what I told myself when my kids were
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  younger. I can certainly just go by the ones
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  that giant and everything's going to be fine.
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  So we have that reality of the guilt that we're
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  not doing everything that we need to. And a lot
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  of times it's self -inflicted. Let's be honest.
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  Maybe we're being judged by the other moms. But
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  again, that goes back to the shittiness of women.
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  But at the end of the day, we're our toughest
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  critics. So we need to chill about the fact that
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  we're not going to be there for everything and
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  everybody all the time. Time is also our greatest
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  scarcity for our children, for our spouses, and
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  even for ourselves. That goes back to earlier
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  conversations about making sure we're taking
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  time for ourselves too. So that led into the
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  second part of our conversation, which was around
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  sacrifice, support, and that invisible load.
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  Now, again, we've had conversations about outsourcing
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  where we can, domestic work, whether it's cleaning
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  or childcare. And there was a comment she made.
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  It was that you either outsource, delegate, or
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  let it go. And that's so true. There's some things
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  that we can outsource, and that's awesome. There's
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  other tasks maybe that we need to delegate, whether
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  it's asking someone to pick up our kids or asking
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  her husband to unload the dishwasher. or fold
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  the clothes, whatever it is, sometimes we have
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  to ask for help. And I know I've been guilty
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  of that in the past where I just want to figure
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  it out and I'll do it all on my own. And I want
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  it to be done right. And we just can't. We have
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  to let go of that. And we have to get the support
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  around us. So whether it's from your spouse,
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  like we talked about on our dad's issue for Father's
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  Day, or other family members or neighbors, you've
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  got to take the first step and at least ask for
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  the help. The next part that we talked about
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  was motherhood as leadership training. is interesting
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  and honestly not something I really have thought
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  about. I've been a mom for 17 years, but didn't
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  cross my mind. All the participants in her study
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  agreed that motherhood made them better leaders.
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  And I love that skills like time management,
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  empathy, conflict resolution and multitasking
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  were directly tied to parenting. And for those
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  of you who are parents, you know, those are things
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  that we do a lot of the time. So honing in on
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  those skills because you're doing them more often.
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  I'll imagine practicing something and getting
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  better at it ends up being able to do something
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  that we become better at as a leader perspective.
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  And I think that I love that so much. Authenticity
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  and consistency in both roles created stronger
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  connections with teams and family. I think that's
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  so true. I think a lot of times when your boss
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  is a parent, whether male or female, there's
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  a little bit more empathy of the situation and
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  understanding the juggling that you are trying
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  to do. The next thing we talked about was trying
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  to redefine leadership for women. And that just
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  comes from those who are managers or who are
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  the employers. We have to adapt and support to
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  women leaders. So whether it's policies or flexibility,
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  mentorship, cultural shifts are necessary. Linda
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  mentioned about she's very cognizant of not scheduling
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  meetings super early in the morning because the
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  people schedule or maybe it's the very end of
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  the day because we know life happens and we have
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  kids to pick up and sporting events to attend
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  to. So just being considerate of our team members,
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  male or female schedule, is really important.
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  And again, this goes back to the support piece
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  as well. So those are some of the highlights
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  from her research and as I mentioned it was really
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  a lot of the same conversation now backed by
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  research that we've had on Loud and Lifted over
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  our first few guests. So what are the takeaways
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  that we can do to be better? The advice that
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  she had for moms aspiring to leadership roles.
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  The first was building that support network.
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  So again, outsource, delegate, let it go. What
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  can you have other people help you with and what
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  do you just need to get over? The second part
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  was getting organized. And this is true. And
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  this actually goes back to Julia's episode where
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  she was very organized and very intentional with
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  her time and her calendar. And I love that. And
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  that's something that I've been trying to do
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  at the beginning of my week. And honestly, even
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  during the day, I've had to start blocking out
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  chunks of time that I'm working on things. I
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  came from a culture where there was a lot of
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  meetings that kind of controlled my calendar
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  and helped me be organized. But with more flexibility
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  in my current role, I have to block out chunks
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  of time so that I'm focusing on something. maybe
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  for 30 minutes or an hour, but I'm prioritizing
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  when and how much time I'm focused on. The other
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  thing I think from a personal perspective is
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  have a cozy calendar app. That would be my little
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  plug. It's an app that we all and my family have
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  on our phone that is a calendar that everybody
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  can see. So when something goes on it, we all
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  get a notification. Whoever has to attend gets
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  a notification. And that way there's not that,
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  oh, I told you I have to work or I told you I
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  have this event. If it doesn't, if it's not on
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  the calendar, it doesn't exist. So just something
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  that helps to really keep us organized of knowing
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  who's gonna be where or where we have to be,
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  and that my kids don't try to make plans and
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  say that they didn't know that we were doing
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  something with our family. So just a little tip,
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  but again, it's just going back to getting organized
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  on your day and then on your week, and that really
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  is personally and professionally. Another reoccurring
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  theme was finding the right fit. You don't have
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  to force your ambition into a life that doesn't
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  work for you. The right environment honors your
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  values and also leads to authenticity. And again,
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  we'll go back to the Julia example and even Julie,
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  it's doing what you want and doing it where somebody
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  values you. And I understand that sometimes you
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  might be in a situation where you don't feel
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  that, but then what are you going to do about
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  it? What steps are you going to take to change
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  your environment or change that role that you're
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  in, in order to feel that you do have the right
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  fit? So I would encourage you to ask yourself,
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  does this opportunity align with my life or am
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  I bending my life to fit the opportunity? Be
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  honest and adjust. And the last piece of advice
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  Linda had for moms aspiring to be in leadership
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  roles was to believe in yourself. This is so
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  weird. I don't think we've talked about confidence
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  yet on this podcast, have we? A reoccurring theme
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  for sure. Self doubt is loud, but your purpose
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  is louder and you have to remember you're qualified
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  and you're capable and you're ready, even if
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  you don't feel like you are. Again, all participants
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  in her study agreed motherhood made them better
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  leaders. So don't take that as a negative. If
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  you feel like that's a quote distraction, it's
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  not, it's making you a better leader. So believe
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  in yourself. And if you're having that self doubt,
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  figure out how you can improve on that. What
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  can you do? And again, it's going to be one little
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  win at a time. You don't have to do it all and
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  you definitely don't have to do it alone. If
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  you're a mother with big leadership dreams, remember
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  the path is possible and it's yours to define.
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  Build the right support system, get clear on
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  what works for you and believe, truly believe
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  that you belong at the table. because motherhood
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  doesn't hold you back from leadership. It prepares
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  you for it. If you haven't listened to Linda's
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  episode, please make sure to do so. As always,
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  if this episode resonated with you, please like
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  it, share it with a friend, and don't forget
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  to follow us on Instagram and TikTok. Until next
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  time, stay loud and lifted.