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Quick Lift: Why Career Security Beats Job Security · Loud & Lifted

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  Welcome to Loud and Lifted. I'm your host, Betsy
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  Hamm. This quick lift comes from my conversation
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  with leadership coach, podcast host, and author,
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  Lindsay Doed. She's all about heart -centered
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  leadership, prioritizing authenticity, integrity,
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  and openness over power place. We talk about
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  what she calls career security, not just job
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  security, and creating cultures where leaders
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  lift their people up instead of micromanaging
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  them into burnout. Today, I'm giving you the
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  highlights, real talk and action steps you can
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  use right away to build your brand, expand your
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  influence and lead with trust. Let's get into
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  the key takeaways and action items. First up,
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  build your career security, not job security.
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  Your title or company are not your safety net.
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  It's your skills and your reputation that are.
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  We talked about during this episode, how back
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  in the day and even during Lindsay's career,
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  people spend 20, 30 plus years at the same company.
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  And the reality is it just doesn't happen today
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  like it used to back in the day. So you have
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  to think about how you're building your skills
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  and your reputation that that can perpetuate
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  outside of your current company. I can certainly
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  relate to this. And I talked about this during
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  the episode. It felt like everything I did was
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  attached to my past job at Duck. Now, of course,
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  being the CEO and a male. dominated industry
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  gave me the opportunity to get exposure and to
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  build my brand. And I did realize at one point
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  that I needed to focus on building my own personal
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  brand that it wasn't just always about the donors
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  per se. So no matter what level you're at or
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  what company you're at, you have to think about
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  how are you building your skills and reputation
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  that if you end up by chance to be at the same
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  company for 20 years. Amazing and awesome, but
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  you're probably still going to want future and
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  further opportunities. But what if you do look
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  for a future opportunity somewhere else? You
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  have to have that reputation and those skills
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  that are what you're known for. So the action
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  item here is ask yourself, what are you known
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  for? And then work on amplifying that. The biggest
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  way to do this, of course, is from a LinkedIn
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  perspective. Nearly every profession is on LinkedIn.
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  So think about how you're putting out content,
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  when you're putting out content, and how you're
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  maybe casually or passively promoting yourself
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  too, not just the company that you work for.
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  because build your brand before you need it.
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  Takeaway number two, exposure is everything.
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  It's not enough to impress your boss. Seek conversations
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  outside your reporting chain. Exposure builds
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  perspective, mentors, and opportunities. Now,
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  we couldn't have timed Lindsay's episode to be
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  any better than being right after Linda's episode.
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  If you have not listened to Linda Strange's episode,
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  you need to. It's all about pie, your performance,
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  image, and exposure. And Lindsay reinforced that,
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  again, with that building your career. not your
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  job security, and then the exposure piece. She
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  talked about asking for meetings or calls with
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  people who are outside your reporting structure.
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  And I understand that this isn't necessarily
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  accepted at every company or in different cultures
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  of companies, but it's worth an ask. Ask if you
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  can meet with somebody outside of your current
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  reporting structure, whether it's somebody at
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  a higher level or maybe it's someone in a different
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  department, but get that exposure to people outside
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  of your current department. And again, this is
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  twofold, right? Maybe you get to learn about
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  a department that you have potential interest
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  in the future. It gives you that opportunity
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  to build exposure and talk about what you've
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  been working on. And it just gives you that opportunity
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  to shine. So your action item here is book one
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  coffee chat this week can be virtual. It can
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  be in person, which is even better, but do it
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  with somebody outside your team who inspires
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  you, learn how they lead and let them learn who
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  you are. And if this isn't something that's really
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  embraced within your company, then seek somebody
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  outside your company. Again, we've said it before,
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  but LinkedIn is a great place to make those connections.
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  And if it's just setting up a 15, 20 minute virtual
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  coffee chat, you're still going to make some
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  new introductions, meet some a menu, learn about
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  what they do and let them learn about what you
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  do. Next, trust is your currency as a leader.
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  Micromanaging kills growth. Great leaders inspire,
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  protect and give people the space to shine. That's
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  so important. I'm going to say it again, but
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  great leaders inspire, protect and give people
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  the space to shine. That's such a great line
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  and I have some friends in my life who deal with
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  some micromanaging right now and listening to
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  their stories, it gives me... major anxiety.
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  Luckily, I never had a boss who was that severe
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  of a micromanager. But if you are an employee
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  who is being micromanaged by your boss, you really
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  need to take a step back and maybe have that
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  conversation and figure out how you can build
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  that trust. Because the reality is it comes down
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  to trust. So if you are the manager and you have
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  people on your team, you need to take a step
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  back and realize, have you been building trust
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  with your team members? If you're micromanaging,
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  you are not. You're not building trust with them.
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  They do not trust you. You do not trust them.
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  It's a horrible relationship. And while you may
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  feel like you're in control of what's happening,
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  you're actually killing productivity and you're
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  killing their desire to want to do better and
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  to be productive because you're basically telling
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  them that you don't think they're good at their
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  job. encourage you if you are a manager to take
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  a step back and really evaluate this. This is
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  a really good action item here is if you're a
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  manager, ask your team one simple question. How
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  can I be the best leader for you? Which is great
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  to ask, but then listen and act on it. And you
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  know, Lindsey talked about having employees or
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  team members reporting to you is sort of like
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  the parents mindset, right? And if you have kids,
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  you know that you have to treat each one of your
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  children differently. How you motivate them,
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  how you discipline them, how you support them.
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  Of course, it's just human nature. Everyone's
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  different. And that same exact mindset has to
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  be used at work. You cannot treat all of your
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  team members the same. So take a step back, ask
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  the hard question, make sure you get a real answer.
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  And if you don't, it's because you don't have
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  trust amongst your team. And then move forward.
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  The last takeaway, power skills over soft skills.
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  Communication, delegation, empathy, recognition.
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  These aren't soft skills. Lindsay says they're
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  so important. They're power skills and they're
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  what make leaders magnetic. During our conversation,
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  Lindsay and I talked a lot about, of course,
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  delegation and that obviously ties into the trust
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  that you have as a leader or a manager with your
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  team and making sure you're delegating appropriately
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  and giving someone that opportunity to shine.
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  That's your job is to help them to succeed. The
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  other thing that we talked a lot about is recognition.
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  and I love to talk about recognition. I think
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  it's so important. Lindsay gave the example of
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  a vice president who had a sales team and she
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  would leave little post -it notes when she heard
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  that they had a really great call, just saying,
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  hey, great job, awesome, congrats for closing
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  the deal, whatever it was. But it was just a
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  little post -it note. And when the leader of
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  the department started doing that, that was great.
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  That really set the precedence and created this
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  culture of positivity. And other team members
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  started doing it too. They started leaving it
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  for each other. And I think that's the biggest.
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  thing when it comes to recognition. You know,
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  the formal recognition programs that a lot of
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  big corporate organizations have. That's great.
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  That's awesome. We need that. But it's really
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  those little moments where you get to recognize
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  somebody and maybe it's a text or an email, a
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  duck. We used to have a shout out board where
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  I'd recognize anybody for doing something really
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  awesome. Maybe it was big or small, but it was
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  our opportunity to share. I made that person
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  feel really good and it helped for other team
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  members to know just what was going on. Who doesn't
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  love to read good news. So this doesn't have
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  to be something that only managers or leaders
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  do. This is something, no matter what level you're
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  in, how can you recognize your peers from a better
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  standpoint? It just builds a positive culture.
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  And when you have that positive culture, that
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  helps to continue to perpetuate the optimistic
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  positive work. And it makes people excited. It
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  makes people want to do better. And you're going
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  to grow from a productivity standpoint. Action
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  item, celebrate someone on your team today. Send
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  the text, write the note, acknowledge the win.
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  Small celebrations create big culture shifts.
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  And side note, a handwritten note is amazing.
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  So if somebody does something really awesome,
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  send them a handwritten note. When's the last
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  time you got one? Lindsay reminds us leadership
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  isn't about holding power. It's about giving
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  it away. Build your brand, grow your network,
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  trust your people and lead with power skills
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  that actually matter. If this episode resonated
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  with you, please share it with a friend and follow
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  along on Instagram for more leadership advice.
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  And if you haven't listened to my full episode
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  with Lindsay, go check it out now. It's a master
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  class in leadership done right. Until next time,
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  stay loud, stay lifted, and lead with heart.