Latest / Unstoppable Success Podcast / 14 - Mentorship and Growth: Building a Supportive Leadership Culture with Leadership and Training Concierge's Morgan Massie

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14 - Mentorship and Growth: Building a Supportive Leadership Culture with Leadership and Training Concierge's Morgan Massie · Unstoppable Success Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight, influential leaders and their game-changing insights.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Jacqueline Strumager, CEO and founder of LeapTear Success.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's LeapTeerSuccess.com.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: We help entrepreneurs, leaders, and CEOs grow their business, become unstoppable high achievers in their careers and life, gaining that 1% edge.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: We believe every professional has the power within them to leap to their greatest success.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: That not only will impact their life, but the lives of the people they touch.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: So stick around to the end of the show and we will share with you how you can be our next guest.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: So stick around for those 15 to 20 minutes and let's be unstoppable.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everybody, and welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast, where we hear from influential leaders and their game-changing insights.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Jacqueline Schuminger, your host, and today I want to welcome our amazing guest, Morgan Matthew.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Do am I saying your last name right?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I should have asked that.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you are.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, Morgan, can you share a little bit of background because you have some amazing leadership experience?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: And we, Morgan and I actually live in the same city, town, and we met on Facebook.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm it's so fun to connect this way too.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have to grab a coffee sometime in town, like face to face.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Face to face.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, thanks.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm super excited to be here on your podcast and see where this goes today.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: My bio.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you gave me a little tip off on this.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And now, so now I have to remember what was my bio and what do I do and why am I here today?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, Morgan Massey, I run a couple of different businesses.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: One of them is leadership and training concierge, where I have global clients and I serve them in a whole host of talent development, leadership development, team development support.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do behavioral assessments as well.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of came from my uh career past as the leader of the talent development team and department at several large-scale organizations.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I figured if I ever start a business, I'm gonna do this on a bigger scale.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I do.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much whatever types of programs and leadership you need for your leaders and your organizations.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: My team and I provide that.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I also own a small business called Mountain Mama Watercolor Arts.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I do watercolor art that's sold around the Reno, Tahoe, Truckee area and online.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was just started for fun, but took off.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's actually a legitimate business instead of a little hobby now.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I get to put my art in galleries and sell for gifts and whatnot.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then most recently, I've partnered with a couple other local ladies here in the area, and we are positioning ourselves to launch a nationwide directory for women-owned businesses, which is going to be so exciting.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're in like the launching plans right now, be launching before the end of the year.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my responsibilities for that women-owned business directory will be providing leadership training, team training, and mentoring support for women-owned business leaders, entrepreneurs, et cetera.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm super excited to see how that venture kind of couples along with the other things that I've been doing.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, for the cream on the top, I've just recently gone back to school to get my doctorate in business management with a specialization in leadership.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I have about a year left in that.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So time management or time blocking.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's would hate to see your calendar or love to.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we try to keep it balanced.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I still get my seven hours of sleep a night.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm lucky in that.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got so many amazing things happening, and there's so many great things that we could talk about, but we want to talk about leadership and great insights.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm curious for you what was a defining moment in your journey and your leadership journey that transformed you into the leader you are and how you actually lead.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like to say that I always want to be the leader that I wish I had earlier on in my career.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, I had some wonderful leader mentors in my career, but I had some not so great ones as well where I didn't feel seen and heard.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it was necessarily because I was a woman or of a certain age, younger in their career.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it was I wasn't showing up and being seen, and my leaders weren't helping to get me out of my shell.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess a turning point came like earlier on in my career where I was working a lot, giving all that I could give, working my 40 plus hours and almost feeling like two little kids.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you go to a playground and you see those seesaws, right?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I felt like I was in the middle, I was the middle of that seesaw, like the fulcrum.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I had like my company or the project on one side.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And as a fulcrum, I'm trying to lift that, but I don't have any help on the other side.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just stuck and the organization's not helping me.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm working and working and working myself raw.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so the mindset switch happened when I thought, okay, I don't have to do all this by myself.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have colleagues, I have coworkers.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to depend on my leader to step up and help me.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I can go source that help and support on my own.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So take yourself out of that fulcrum piece and put yourself on one side of that seesaw and then put your network and your collaborators and your mentors on the other side.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: That way you can have this ride together and it's a lot more fun.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's the type of leader I try to be is a collaborative one, one that will recognize, oh, you have this strength that complements my strength over here.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's work together on this and build on an idea together that we couldn't do on our own.
• 6:14
  unknown: Yeah.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's fantastic.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a great analogy.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's as you're sharing that, I keep thinking, we have to learn to define and find our board of directors, so to speak, right?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Those people that we're going to, or the network.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: And our network is our net worth.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I we talk about that till I'm like till I'm blue in the face because it's such an important thing.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: But it's so true, right?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Where you created a network for yourself within in that, which ends up elevating yourself and them.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think now that I've had the opportunity to, I'm an ICF certified coach and I've been a leadership coach for a number of years now.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what I see is it doesn't matter if you're a more senior leader or this is your first year leading others.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: I see like this phenomenon where there's a point in a leader's career where they feel like they have to do it all themselves because that the responsibility is on them as the leader of the team, the organization.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And those leaders like end up, they burn out.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's actual research around that.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then their teams feel stressed out because the leader is carrying all the weight and not enabling the team to grow and develop.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like benefit to leveraging your network, leveraging your team and others around you to get to that shared goal together rather than carrying all that burden on your own.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's so true because we need to enlist.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: I always think of leadership as like you're it's still the family dynamic, right?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Where you together everyone achieves more.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can share and pace your vision with somebody and the team and they catch the vision, then they're all gonna work together.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're the dictator, it doesn't work.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, you it just doesn't happen.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna happen that way.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: That old model of leadership is so far gone, and in today's workforce just isn't very effective.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're thinking about your experience as a leader and also as a coach and in in what you are doing, what do you think is like the single most what is the single, or maybe not the single most, but one of the biggest game changing insights you've discovered either in your career and how did it impact your leadership style and how has it impacted what you do with your clients?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Game-changing insights for me and for my clients.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let me think about that one for a moment.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's still around this whole theme of connection and how do you leverage effectively your connections?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And as an entrepreneur, earlier on, starting to build my first businesses.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Again, are you doing that as a solo effort or are you finding your people to help you along along the way?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that I often revert back to in my coaching with leaders too.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a leader that has a similar role to yours within your organization?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: You have complimentary responsibilities.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah, but I feel like there's some competitiveness there.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So why does there have to be competitiveness there?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're all on the same team, you're all working for the same boss, same CEO if you're working within that same organization.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: So why don't you do a little bit of relationship rehabilitation there?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of seeming like opposing forces, see how you can join forces together.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And once people get that and understand that they can go farther together, that really does change the trajectory of how successful they are, their teams, the organizations.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that was continuing to be a huge insight for me.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And as an entrepreneur is as well, it's like there's a magic in the connectedness.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like you and I we live in the same town.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: There is going to be a magic to the connections that we'll probably make together in this town going forward at some point if we stay connected.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of time, not if, but just right.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: When and how, right?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's what you just shared is so it like gives me chills because I think it there it plays out in so many different areas where we can teach people again it's better together.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: The team is the team, and it works, you know, no matter whether you're in business or in sports.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I love the analogy of like my son's into in basketball.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: And we went and watched some of the uh oh my god, Final Four NCAA championships that were like whatever.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, it was and it was it's amazing to see the teams that win and the teams that rise up.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I've always said, What are they doing that's different from the other team?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you it's and it's always that they're playing together.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a ball hog, they're they're more just looking at who's gonna get the best shot, who's got the best angle.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm passing and having fun with it versus the team that's you know, they got the guy who's oh, he's gotta take the ball because he's the only one that can shoot.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, right.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you know that as a leader?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like you take time to get to know your people and allow them to get to know you.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I talk about this, I did a recent TED talk a couple months ago, and it's um lowering your professional masks so you and your team can achieve more profit.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we talk about that.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: You have to allow people to get to know you.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then once you understand your team's strengths and I wouldn't call them weaknesses, but just development areas, then you know who to put in what position if you're playing the game and who not to put until they've had some chance to grow and develop in that area.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you're and they need to know that about you too, right?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Morgan, she's really great at developing us, she's really great at coaching and mentoring, but don't give her a report that has a lot of numbers and math to do because she's not good at that.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really key, knowing the strengths of your team and helping them bring out those strengths and an area that they're weak.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: If they want to develop it, ask them.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if they don't, if there's somebody else that's better at that, X, then let them do the X and somebody else do the Y.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's so it's so huge.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: You hear a lot of people talk about emotional intelligence these days.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like it's oh, it's like the new buzz, like what are the new buzzes?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, where do you think emotional intelligence does play in leadership?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you think it influences people's ability to lead?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: I I think a lot, and a lot more so in this post-COVID world than it ever has before.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And again, because I'm such a research nerd right now, like there's research around that.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually studying the effect on engagement, like leaders' perceptions of engagement in their hybrid teams.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And EQ or EI, whatever you want to say, like that definitely comes up in the research.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like leaders have to lean into that soft skill.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And some leaders that are maybe more senior in their career or in their life, they might say, Oh, I remember a time where we didn't talk about emotions at work.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't talk about empathy.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Who cares about that?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're here to do a job, you do your job and then you go home, clock in, clock out.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And organizations just can't be successful that way anymore.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I remember the best support that I felt during the early pandemic, and I was terrified.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what was going on.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I have two little kids at home and the schools are closing.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how I was gonna balance my life.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was a consultant at the time, traveling up to 40%, and all of our projects got halted.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how am I gonna be bringing money in to support my family?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was spinning out.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I would literally go into my closet and cry so my kids wouldn't panic, seeing mom panic.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And my boss at the time would call me out of the blue.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: He lived in San Diego, and he would call me out of the blue and say, Morgan, I'm just checking in on you and just to see how you're doing and if there's any support that that you need from me.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just waiting for him to go down that laundry list of things that we had to do at work, but he wouldn't.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's just taking that time to check in with me.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that was I still remember that.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's still a very special person in my life, and if he's listening, and I carry that with me, and that is just such a good demonstration of emotional intelligence at work, recognizing that his team member was suffering mentally, putting the work aside and just checking in.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have that to keep your people engaged until we're all robots.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: You need it, and hopefully we'll never all be robots because that's not gonna be fun.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, one of the biggest things about leadership is we all throughout our career, ups, downs.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So can you share something in your journey where you faced a significant resistance or challenge?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to say failure because I feel like there's no failures.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're all from they're all learning moments.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: And how did how is it how did it transform you and how you operate?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: I worked for a national organization as the head of talent development and was at that organization for a little over 10 years.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: As while I was with that organization, they went public, they grew, they acquired smaller companies.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I worked very closely with the senior executives, the CEO, and his immediate team, bringing talent development, change management support to the organization.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I grew a lot in that role and I'm still connected with a lot of people there.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think it's any secret that we went through a period of large-scale change shortly after the company went public.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And as a result, my role and many other roles of senior leaders in the organization became redundant and we were let go.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that I handled that, as I'm looking back on it, I wasn't showing a lot of emotional intelligence at the time.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was very reactive.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: I called my employees, told them what was going on.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I probably should have kept some things confidential for my own sake.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I learned from that.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I got a lot of support from that, but really looking back, it helped me grow as a leader to recognize even though I saw the writing on the wall and I was helping them, that a whole organization through a change at that time and I could plan for my exit, it still stung.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I had to recognize that it wasn't personal, it was a business decision.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And now I recognize that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that when I coach other leaders to lead a reduction in force, we talk about the talking points and how to address it with empathy and how to talk one-on-one with your leaders who might be having to be let go so that they don't have such an emotional reaction.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't my most graceful moment, but I learned through it.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And now I use that lesson as something that I can help when I develop other leaders going forward.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's always such a tough time.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's so it's there's the good, the bad, and the ugly in that.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's it's great to be able to learn from it.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes you look back and you're like, oh, I should have maybe done that better.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe shouldn't have said those things, but uh yeah, I said my apologies and all we can do is grow forward from here.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're thinking about leadership, is such a great it is, and I sometimes I feel like the word has so many different meanings to it.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: But the way we uh bring people together and create and and actually raise other people up, it's it's it's so important.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so what advice could you give or share to somebody who is either an emerging leader or has somebody on their team and they see them as an emerging leader that could help them either accelerate their own growth and impact or their team members?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I always go back to the connection.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that I see in first-time manager experience sometimes when I'm teaching in my classes, I say it's a first-time manager syndrome, is that you used to be responsible for everything in your own day.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And now you're in this bigger fishbowl and you're not just responsible for yourself, you're responsible for others too.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and do you have the relationships established to help you with that?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, you have to manage your team, but who's gonna help you?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Who's gonna help you through challenges?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And especially if you're in that middle manager role and you're emerging leader and all of a sudden you're middle management, like you're getting it from all sides.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're getting questions from below and above, and it just gets very lonely and confusing.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, my piece of advice for any emerging leader would be like, even if you step before you step into that new leadership role, look around your organization, make yourself a list of like stakeholders that you need to develop relationships with.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: And in one of my programs, we we break out a little table worksheet and consider the level of stakeholder.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Are they just someone that you need to provide information to keep them happy and informed, or is it more of a back and forth dialogue that you need to develop?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to have like an actual human-to-human relationship with that person in order for those stakeholder relationships to be successful.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you'll find a mentor through it as well.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: So consider who those top five people are now and say, hey, I'm considering moving into, I'm considering applying for this leadership role, or my boss has just had a conversation with me and I don't think it's any secret, but I'm being prime for this role.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to better understand what your role is and what advice you might give to someone in a position like mine.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like just start to build that relationship because it's going to help you down the road when you're in that leadership role full blown.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's such great advice.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I think to add to that, when people are listeners as you're hearing that, even if you're not in a leadership position yet, want to be, or this you're listening to this, and maybe you have your first job out of college, like ask and get to know the people in the organization, because then they also get to know you.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're memorable.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: People again, going back to what we talked about earlier, your strengths and your opportunities.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: People know, oh, this is what Morgan's good at.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have an opportunity coming up on a project, and maybe she would like to help there.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And they they know where you can fill in for what's needed with the organization.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's yeah, and that's such great advice.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're thinking about this, is something that is just like near and dear to my heart because I think that this is something that sometimes a lot of people forget about.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: But how do you integrate purpose and vision in your leadership to drive both personal and organizational success?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think it starts from who you hire.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to align your interview questions so that there's something around cultural fit.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, someone has to be able to do the job and the tasks, responsibilities.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: They have to have those strengths and that, but are they a cultural fit for your team, for the organization?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do they share the same values?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there are ways that you can design ethical interview questions to get the right people on board.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: But once you do, you want to make sure that there's still that alignment with purpose and vision.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I like to tell my people, and when I'm leading people myself, That career development conversation isn't just like a once-a-year, end-of-the-year conversation you have when you're talking about goals and performance for this year and the next year.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like you want to have an idea of where do your people want to be?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: What do they aspire to do?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And how can you help support them?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: What do they feel their purpose is here?
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you feel your purpose, what do you feel their purpose is?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And are those visions aligned?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And how can you support them?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's just a matter of having an ongoing open conversation around people's values, their interests, their strengths.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And really for you as a leader, you have to do some self-reflection on that too.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I know I don't know about you, but I've been in roles where I haven't felt like I'm being leveraged for all I can do or be.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a misalignment of value and purpose there.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And as a result, like, how do you feel?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: You feel disengaged.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: It just for me, I just I didn't want to show up and do my job.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: I did it for the money and for the benefits, but like my heart wasn't in it.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I think our heart has to be in what we're doing.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's also where vision and mission and like the whole purpose comes in, where you actually get to know that of the of your people that you're hiring, but also of yourself and the company, the organization.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like it helps bring that out.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: And as you're talking, I was just, I kept, I was thinking about there was a point in time that I was in a position and I knew I wanted my boss's job.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: And my boss basically was threatened by me and made my life miserable.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so how do you deal with a leader who is threatened by somebody?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: What do you say?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's that's a tough one.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that there's a magic wand there.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: When I come into those type of situations, I always think, okay, so there's a lot of things that I can't control.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I can't really control what my boss thinks of me.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can't control how they act around me, but I can control what I bring to the table, how I act with them.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I could have a conversation with them and say, hey, I feel like I've been in this role a while.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of what you do that I feel like I have some similar strengths.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it just depends on how honest do you want to be at the table with that, with that boss and having an open conversation?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are they willing even willing to have that open conversation?
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And advice for that boss would be if you have someone that wants your job, awesome.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: How are what are you doing to develop yourself to that next level position in your organization so you can allow your people to grow and develop?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not our intent on this earth to be in one's place forever.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the way that our workplaces work anymore.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe for our grandparents, but it's just not the nature of business anymore.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's the nature to grow and evolve and develop.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've had people on my team who frankly outgrew their role.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt like it was tough, but an honor to help place them elsewhere because that's where they would grow and develop and be happier rather than feeling like I was keeping them down.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's and Morgan, that's such a great to hear because I think so many people and listeners, it's I think it's an important thing to note to help your people rise up and level up.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: And know, like to me, that's like the MasterCard moment because then it's you're watching them launch, you're watching their growth, and it is such a beautiful thing.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And when we don't do that, we are there, it's it becomes stifling.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I can see the risk to put myself in your boss's shoes.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, she might feel a little it might be feel like there's competitiveness there.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe she can do my job better than me.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want my boss to see that.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: I just feel like that comes from the wrong place.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, scarcity versus abundance.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like we should be more focused on connection versus competitiveness within the workplace.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a a tough shift for some folks that have been used to doing it differently.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like having that fight for their position.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that brings me to a question I I love asking this.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: We are all people that continually to grow.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: So for you, what aspects of leadership are you still working on?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and how are you challenging yourself to grow?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Besides taking the classes.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Besides taking classes.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm a continuous learner.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I take feedback pretty well.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it stings.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I take that to heart, be like, okay, why am I triggered by that?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have to really get real with myself and figure this one out.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right now I'm going deep with my studies.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like I've I'm studying in my doctoral program business management and leadership because I wanted to be a better leader, because I wanted to figure out what made good leaders and what makes people feel engaged.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't have a very large team right now.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess one of my biggest challenges is like, how do I continue to dive deep in building connection within our local area?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: So for a number, for a little while, when I first started my businesses, before I did that, I'll back up.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was a consultant, like I said, like 40% travel on the road.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And most of my clients, like I don't think any of my clients were here in the local area.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so even though I've lived here for, I don't know, what did I say earlier, 14, 15 years, something like that.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would go out in the community and not really know anyone because I'd work from home and I get on an airplane and I go whatever, and then I come back and just no one knew me.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like you, we've been in the same area for how we've never met each other.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: So one, I'm like in the middle of this growth period right now where I have super strong connections outside of this area, but I have to get to I have to figure out how to do it here.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Getting myself physically out there to networking events and face to face with people.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a freaking introvert.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So like my energy level for those events, like I gotta stagger them.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's my challenge right now.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Bringing the balance.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I totally get it.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: I totally get it.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Morgan, you are a wealth of knowledge and information and amazing leader.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I've just loved everything that you shared.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: How can people find you and get connected with you?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to leadershipandtraining concierge dot com and reach out to me and chat, take a look at some of my services there.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Also on LinkedIn, Morgan Massey, M-I-S-I-E.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can see it.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Where is it?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right there.com.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure on my socials we'll be advertising more about the upcoming launch of the Women Owned Business Directory.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll have some readings so that people can connect with us and me in that way too.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, that's awesome.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so excited for that directory to come out.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: I truly appreciate your time.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been so much fun to meet you this to meet you.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's great.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we're can't believe that we're literally like 10 minutes apart.
• 29:11
  unknown: Exactly.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: On the road.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, so thank you everybody for listening.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast, where we help leaders uh have and learn influential insights and game-changing insights from amazing leaders.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: I came up funny.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, but thank you all for listening and head over to leaptoyeursuccess.com to check out all the other amazing podcast guests that we have had and tune in next time.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Jacqueline Stromager and I want to thank you so much for listening to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight, Influential Leaders and Their Game Changing Insights podcast.
• 29:56
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• 30:06
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• 30:11
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• 30:37
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• 30:41
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• 30:58
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• 31:03
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• 31:12
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• 31:14
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• 31:25
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