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The Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, hosted by Ralph E. Owens II and co-hosted by Terry Baylor, is a career acceleration platform
Leadership isn’t just a skill — it’s a career strategy for professionals seeking growth, influence, and promotion.
Hosted by Ralph Owens, Chief Information Officer, and Terry Baylor, CEO of a healthcare technology startup, the podcast delivers practical, real-world leadership strategies you can apply immediately. Each episode focuses on increasing visibility, navigating corporate dynamics, preparing for promotion, and leading beyond your title.
Expect short, high-impact conversations designed to help you think, act, and position yourself like a senior leader before you’re given the title.
You’re not just an employee. You’re the CEO of your career.
New episodes are released bi-weekly.
In your last role, you were able
to learn new things.
You were able to make new, build
new relationships, gain new
wisdom, and all of that.
But in that new leadership role,
there are new things that I have
to learn, new relationships that
I have to build, new wisdoms
that I have to gain.
So what you have to let go of is
this idea that you are the
expert, you bring in some
expertise, but the reason you're
in the new role is that they
need you to apply that expertise
to the new stuff.
And so you can't go in with the
arrogance of I'm the expert.
Yeah, you are subject matter
expert.
Yes, that got you there.
But that's not what's going to
keep you there because you came
to a new bigger role that you
better get bigger and newer with
or else you're not going to keep
in the expert.
What happens when success stops?
Being enough.
When the title, the respect, the
achievements still leave you
wondering, is this all there is?
In this episode, Brenda Battle
reveals how to recognize that
whisper, the one that tells you
it's time to let go of what got
you here so you can grow into
what's next.
Hello everybody, thank you for
joining us today.
We are super duper excited about
today's podcast because I don't
know about anybody else, but I'm
looking for my life to be
changed.
This is a monumental moment for
us.
Brenda, I don't know if you know
this or not, but you are the
first woman to be a guest on
leadership sovereignty.
And just let me just set the let
me just set the, let me set the
foundation for that, right?
When Ralph and I first set out
to this, right, You know, in the
rooms that we're in, we realized
they're not a lot of guys that
look like us in these rooms.
And we stumbled, ran in the
brick walls, ran in the glass
doors that we didn't.
Glass ceilings.
All these things, right?
And so our goal was, hey, you
know, we've been talking for
years, let's write a book.
And then we were just out
getting coffee one day and we
were like, hey, let's, let's do
a podcast.
And so we were like, hey, let's
talk to the brothers and let's
share with them our experiences.
Well, on this journey, our
audience started to expand and
we started to get feedback and
really what we learned and you
know, this leadership is for
everybody, right?
Regardless of who you're
targeting.
Look, when it's it's a universal
language and the principles
apply to everyone.
And so you know, we've got great
feedback.
So thank you for being our guest
today.
Happy to be the inaugural female
on the show.
Happy to be on the show.
So it's not the first time I was
the inaugural female.
You're not looking full of
color.
History repeats itself.
History repeats itself.
I heard someone say that and
this really touched me and I'm
sure we'll we'll expound on
this.
But he said, he said he doesn't
repeat itself, but it does
rhyme.
I'm like, oh, that is.
Great.
Yes, it sure does.
And so we want to make sure that
the way we're rhyming, right and
flowing is going to help, you
know, help us help others and,
you know, just movement society
along, right?
So we can be better.
We can be better.
I'm just going to say that.
And so that topic today, though,
is I love this and the book that
we're going to be talking about.
I've referenced it before
because I'm like my mentor.
That's another thing that makes
this special, right?
Brenda mentored me, still
mentors me and where I am today
is attributed to a lot of what
she shared with me.
Some, you know, a mentor is
going to give you some hard
lessons, man, you got to have
got to have to have some, you
know, get those emotions off
those sleeves.
Right.
Right, and I appreciated that,
right?
Because when someone talks to
you in love, yes, it will, It
will, it can be received and it
will change you.
So again, what we want to talk
about today though, is today
what when you get to that point,
right?
When you hear that quiet whisper
that says can do more, there's
more for you to do.
That's the topic of discussion
today.
That inner voice where you are
like I'm, I'm good at what I'm
doing now, but should I be doing
something different?
Should I be doing more?
Am I comfortable?
So, so Brenda, I guess the you
know, for you, how does that you
know, when you hear that, you
know, what does that do or what,
how did you get to that point?
Right?
What was it for you that when
you realized, and I got a story
around that too, right?
Because there's so many
intersections here I can't wait
to share.
But how did you you know?
How did How did that happen for
you?
Yeah, You know, like all my
career at least.
And I and I would say some part
aspects of just life in general,
the need to do more was always
kind of this inner feeling.
Sometimes I got to where I felt
like I did as much as I could do
in certain places and it was
time to move on.
You know, sometimes I got
invited by people to come and do
other things, but sometimes it
was just an auction in my spirit
and, and, and and in that I
didn't always know what the more
was all that had to be revealed
in some way or the other, some
way or the other, But I always
felt it in my spirit.
I always felt I always knew when
the chapter was closing.
A friend of mine few years ago.
We worked together several years
ago before I, I came to use
University of Chicago said to
me, reminded me that a year
before I left that organization,
I told her in another year I'm
not going to be here now.
I had nothing planned to do.
I wasn't looking for a job.
And I don't even know at the
moment why I said that.
I just felt in my spirit that I
wasn't going to be there, that I
was getting to a point that I
just needed more that that that
it was time to move on.
And sure enough, almost a year
to the date, I was invited to
come to University of Chicago
Medicine to do the more there.
So it's always been kind of an
auction that it's time to move
on, that you did you, you
finished the chapter, you close
the book, it's time to go on and
do the next thing.
Sure, sure that is.
And so I don't I don't want to
skip this, right.
So Brenda, you are an amazing
person on so many levels and
just want to give the audience,
you know, just a few of the
things that you've done.
You know, of course, see
sweeter, right National
HealthEquity leader, man, I, I
love this part here, right,
because we all know that the
Bible says money answered with
all things over 200 million
raised for community health
initiatives.
Now listen to I want to say this
too.
We reference the Bible here,
right?
So if if, if you know that we
don't separate, you know, good.
That's the only way I operate
because that is by my faith that
I've been able to do what God
has allowed me to do.
That's awesome and then great
and that leads us to man
lifetime achievement award man,
an advisor, a global speaker.
We just we want to dig into all
of that and understand how those
experiences have changed you,
how being in those rooms
speaking, you know, with man,
I'm sure you've been in a room
and you look and go.
That's so and so, yes.
And I'm and I'm right there with
them, yeah.
Right.
And I got nervous for the moment
and then prayed my security,
saying, Lord, help me to do what
you sent me here to do.
Yes, that is this amazing.
That is amazing.
So let's, let's dig, let's dig a
little bit into the next level,
right?
Scott Evelyn, he's he's the
author of that book and he says
that leaders must let go of what
got them there.
Kind of kind of dig into that,
right?
Because you had done, especially
after you've accomplished
things, right?
How do you, what do you let go?
What do you hold on to?
What do you, you know, how do
you revisit those stories,
right?
To build a platform to move you
to the next level, kind of share
with that, because I'm sure we
have.
And, and here's what makes this
this session amazing as well,
right?
Because you know, we want you to
speak to the person who is, you
know, they've been an executive
leader for 10-15 years, right?
And you know, they're, you know,
you get, I don't want to say
comfortable, but you know what
you're doing, right?
You're the expert, right?
How do you ask this question?
How do you deal with yourself
when you know you're the expert?
Yeah.
Well, so in leadership, every
new leadership responsibility is
a new job.
It's a new responsibility.
So what happens is in your last
role, you were able to learn new
things, you were able to make
new, build new relationships,
gain new wisdom and all of that.
It becomes like a stacking.
And that's how I've seen it all
my career, that these things
stacked up for me so that I can
take them into the next
leadership role, but not rely on
them completely.
Because in that new leadership
role, there are new things that
I have to learn, new
relationships that I have to
build, new wisdoms that I have
to gain.
And I can leverage the stacking
of what I learned before.
But I better be ready to realize
that it's not that that you have
to depend on you have to depend
on being ready for the new
things that you have to do in
that new role.
So what you have to let go of is
this idea that you are the
expert, You're the expert.
You bring in some expertise, but
the reason you're in the new
role is that they need you to
apply that expertise to the new
stuff.
So you can do new stuff and be
grain new ex greater expertise.
And so you can't go in with the
arrogance of I'm the expert.
You are subject matter expert,
Yes, that got you there.
But that's not what's going to
keep you there because you came
to a new bigger role that you
better get bigger and newer with
or else you're not going to keep
in the expert.
So that's.
Got to let go of.
Yeah.
You got to make sure you cut.
Cut that one man.
You got to get bigger and
better.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
absolutely.
Follow up question on that.
At what point in your career did
you was the aha moment that what
got me here is not going to make
me successful in this role and
that I have to go into this
looking for the things that I
need to learn and accelerate my
learning so that I can compete
at the highest level?
You know, like God has always
placed me into these new roles
that I didn't do before.
Like I didn't do that before
when I when I went over to a
Barnes Church hospital in Saint
Louis, I have not done.
I went over there to stand up
there center focusing on
reducing health disparities and
creating creating a more diverse
and inclusive.
I'd never done that.
Now I'd never done it formally.
You did some of that as a
leader.
You know, you're you're
advocating for others, you're
advocating for marginalized
populations.
You're doing all of that, but
you hadn't done it formally.
So I'd never done that job
before.
So I think, OK, Lord, I've got
some skills I'm going to take in
here, but I never did this job,
didn't do this job before
actually formally.
So I had to learn to do that
job.
And So what was humbling about
that experience is I had to go
and learn how to do that
specific work from folks that
weren't in the industry that I
was in, who had been doing it
longer than me, and bring it in
with the experience that I had
in the healthcare industry and
shape that for that industry.
Then I left there and came to
you Chicago Medicine, and took
over Michelle Obama's role.
And guess what?
I hadn't done that either, not
fully.
I've done aspects of it, but not
all of it.
And then I had to like, and this
is where, you know, raising
money and and all of that.
I hadn't done that.
God had to like plant me in
places.
It's very humbling when he does
this where you don't know, oh,
you don't have all the skills
that it takes to do the job.
You have some skills.
How the way can we?
Can we just let's focus there
for a little bit because I think
as and that and I want to, I
want to kind of get really
specific on that.
I believe we have a double
whammy when it comes to that as
being African American leaders.
And so can we just dig into that
a little bit because you always
have that little thing saying,
do they really?
Do they trust me?
Yeah, You know, do I trust you
have?
A little bit of sleep pastor
syndrome, too.
Yeah.
Wondering is am I really the
one, You know, you start
sometimes questioning yourself,
am I the one that ought to be
doing this?
Which is I'm so glad that I I'm
a person of faith because you
know what?
When I asked myself that God
answers that for me, I sent you
there.
Yeah, you're the one.
Quit asking that.
You know, of course.
What?
I'm glad you said that, right?
So I told Shamika Ralph, I said,
Shamika, we need to do, we need
to do us because I walk with
Shamika in the mornings.
So we'll talk.
I'm like, honey, we, you know,
we may have to start
broadcasting.
I'll walk and talk because she
said, because we were talking,
right?
And I said, you know, over these
last 10 years that I've been in
Houston, the only thing that
doesn't change are our
principles, but our practices
and our preferences are minimal.
Absolutely adaptable.
You have to be able to.
It's adaptable.
That's a better word.
Yeah, yeah.
That's good, that's good, that's
good.
You got to have some wisdom and
you have to have some
experience.
And I'm going to harp on the
word humility.
You've got to have some humility
because sometimes the wisdom
doesn't come from you and your
experience.
It has to come from other folks,
mentors and other people who
don't know.
And so your ability to adapt
sometimes has to, you know,
makes you have to go out and
find somebody and listen and
learn and then adapt.
Interesting.
That's that's good.
That's good.
So so I love the the piece that
you talked about moving into
spaces that you may not have
already had the familiarity
with, but there's a reason why
you know, outside of God opening
the door, right?
There's a reason why people are
attracted to you and make you or
make you available, or we want
you to be available for these
opportunities, right?
Can you talk a little bit about
the human connection that you
have to really develop as a as a
leader that could open up those
doors like that?
Yeah, yeah.
You know, this thing about not
burning bridges is a real deal.
Doesn't mean that you don't
stand up.
You know, if somebody is like
being unjust, it doesn't mean
you don't correct when people
are not right.
It doesn't mean you do that.
But you can do that in
relationship with people.
And so this this what what
happens is people get a tract it
to your consistency in the
relationship and that
consistency that you display,
regardless of how you know what
you have to do in that
relationship.
That's what tracks people to
you.
That's what says that's the
person who I want to come and do
this because the one thing that
person is is consistent.
I know I can trust that person
and I know that person is
experienced and skilled and can
do these things.
It doesn't matter they they
can't do everything.
They know you're able.
You have enough in your in your
in your toolkit to be able to
execute on what it is that they
have asked you to come for.
But you've got to be a
relationship through consistency
and trust.
That's good.
That's the problem, that is.
So, so let me, let me, let me
just throw a story on there,
right?
And this, I can't make this up.
I cannot make this up.
So we had been living here in
Houston maybe three years maybe.
And so we get a new neighbor,
right?
And so they have a couple
daughters.
So my daughter's excited about
it because we're like, all
right, girls in the
neighborhood.
So of course we go down and
introduce ourselves and the
young lady was like, yeah, I
moved.
I moved from Chicago.
I'm like, really.
I'm like, okay, I got, I said my
mentor lives in Chicago and I
said, I said she works at the
University of, you know, Chicago
missing.
She was like, I worked there.
I'm like, really?
I said, do you know Brenda
Battle?
She was like, yes, I love
Brenda.
She is.
So I'm like, OK, I can't make
this up.
So you're consistently it it
travel travel to Houston.
Thank.
You for that, yes.
Yeah, that is.
So important.
That's a real story, guys.
Like, I'm not kidding.
That's a real story.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Was there, was there a question?
Was there ever a moment for you,
even in success, that you felt
like, you know what I I have
just done everything I need to
do here, right?
I always talk about seasons,
right?
A season has a beginning and a
season has an end.
And the ability to understand
the difference between the two
is what defines a person being
successful because it's, you
know, it's I won't say it's sad,
but it's heartbreaking to see.
And Terry and I have worked with
people in this position where,
you know, that they've passed
their season.
They should have left a long
time ago.
And now they're in an element
that doesn't even make sense for
them anymore.
Can you just kind of talk about
that, that inner sensing of
knowing, OK, this is the
beginning.
It's time to go hard.
OK, I think it's it's time for
me to, you know, to to hand the
reins over to somebody else
because the seasons is in.
You know, interesting, when I
made the decision to retire,
that was one of the things that
that actually was a, a, a
deciding factor for me.
I felt like I had done all that
I could do.
I felt like there was another
level for the organization to go
to and I didn't have the energy
or desire to do it.
My season was up.
Thank you for listening to the
Leadership Sovereignty Podcast.
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Until next time, stay safe,
peace and blessings.