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The Leadership Sovereignty Podcast helps high-performing professionals use leadership as a career growth strategy β not just a skill.
Leadership isnβt just a skill β itβs 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 youβre given the title.
Youβre not just an employee. Youβre the CEO of your career.
New episodes are released weekly.
Terry Baylor (00:00)
what is it like being at the center of everyone's comfortability, right? Knowing that what I do β is impacting
Ralph Owens (00:05)
Mm.
Shachella James (00:06)
Thank β
.
Terry Baylor (00:13)
not just, I mean, a region, I mean, millions upon millions of people. And how do you carry that every day? Right? I know, you know, Ralph and I had a sense of that because we were in roles that were help feeding the grid, but you're in the role of now you're delivering that really life depends on it, right? In a lot of instances. So what is that like? And how do you, how do you carry that?
Shachella James (00:14)
.
Heavy is the head that wears a crown is what they say.
Ralph Owens (00:42)
Hehehehehe β
Shachella James (01:23)
Luckily, luckily I'm not at the tip of the spear. I'm a couple of levels down from that, but it still is our total responsibility to make sure that the β transmission distribution and all those other services are happening. And to make it make sense in the term of curiosity, and Ralph, you might appreciate this too. I know you do too, Terry. As you're looking at all these dashboards with these metrics on it.
Terry Baylor (01:25)
You
Ralph Owens (01:49)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Shachella James (01:53)
and the data is is out there just doing this data thing right here's the question is what is it saying?
Terry Baylor (02:02)
It looks good, but what is it saying?
Shachella James (02:04)
That's
right. The question is, what is this data telling to me, saying to me? So it's not just bits and bytes and β red, yellow, green stoplight charts. What is it really saying to me? So Terry, I think you asked a very important question is, what am I doing with this information when I see that red light shift to?
Ralph Owens (02:14)
Mmm.
Shachella James (02:30)
to green or when I see the green light shift to yellow and get to red, you know, the things are recovering is am I doing what's best to serve that in stakeholder? It's a customer, it's a regulator, it's my own home, right? It's the nursing home, it's the hospice, it's large industrial, it's the daycare center. So,
Ralph Owens (02:49)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Baylor (02:54)
Direct.
Yes.
Shachella James (02:58)
having a curiosity that's beyond me getting up to check on a spreadsheet and then get some data presented on a dashboard is what is the data telling me? So getting back to that curiosity, those questions about being a learn it all as opposed to a know it all. If I adjust this configuration, what is the
Ralph Owens (03:14)
Hmm.
Hmm.
Shachella James (03:28)
impact on the customer? If I adjust this setting, what is the impact on my field crew who is serving my customer? If I adjust this field, this setting, what is the impact on the field crew that's serving my customer that is a rate payer that affects their earnings per share that the company is running against?
Terry Baylor (03:30)
Right.
Ralph Owens (03:39)
Mm. Mm.
Shachella James (03:53)
So having a curiosity like I said before earlier in our talk is connecting all of those dots. So that is the strategic way of approaching the company and operations not just doing the job every day.
Ralph Owens (03:56)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
I love that. I love that. We've talked about that before in that you have to be curious enough to understand the business metrics that the company uses to determine whether or not it's successful. But because to challenge your point, most people are only focused on what they do and they have no understanding of the impact to the business and to be able to articulate in business terms how I can impact that. And you have to be curious to understand what that is.
Terry Baylor (04:17)
Mmm.
Shachella James (04:35)
Wait!
You have to be curious on two clicks down. Right? I think on a more detailed level, you know, when you start filling up, folding back and pulling back the dashboards and the alerts, β what is it saying? What should I have done differently? Again, back to those elevated questions, how can we use this to strengthen some other posture that we're trying to have? And I think it's really unfortunate that even the entry level
Ralph Owens (04:41)
Mmm.
Terry Baylor (04:43)
You
Ralph Owens (04:57)
Mm.
Shachella James (05:07)
sometimes doesn't understand the power of their position just through a question.
Ralph Owens (05:12)
Mm-hmm.
Terry Baylor (05:12)
Mmm.
Ralph Owens (05:14)
Mm, mm. That's good.
Shachella James (05:16)
Yeah, the power of your position just through a question can shift the tide of your interaction with them for a person in IT, how you're dealing with your end user internally. But for the center agent, of course they have a script. But sometimes that dynamic with the customer takes you off script just a little bit. How are you bringing them back in? How are you calming down the situation?
Ralph Owens (05:41)
Mm-hmm. Mm.
Terry Baylor (05:41)
Yes.
Shachella James (05:42)
The script is there as a guide, but sometimes you have to inject some good questions to keep everybody balanced.
Ralph Owens (05:51)
That's good, that's good, that's really good. That's really good.
Shachella James (05:52)
Yeah, yeah. So
thank you for making me apply that to actual work situation. And I just hope that people hear this and can appreciate that there is power in the prompt.
Ralph Owens (06:05)
Yes. Yes, that's good. Yeah, that's going to be on social media for sure. β Let's transition into β curiosity being used to get noticed by leaders. You're a senior leader. What are some of the things that you look for as it pertains to curiosity and those that you would possibly want to promote?
Terry Baylor (06:07)
Power in the prompt. That's good right there.
Shachella James (06:32)
Well, I like to look for people who show up. And when you're in the rooms and we actually are just having a very pointed meeting, whatever the topic may be, but we're in a round table setting and β coming in and obviously being a receiver of information because we all are positioning ourselves to learn something. But I will be totally transparent. May I?
Is that okay? Nothing irks me more than people just sitting around asking questions.
Ralph Owens (07:03)
Absolutely. β
Terry Baylor (07:03)
Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.
That's what we want.
Okay, you're have to dig into this one.
Ralph Owens (07:11)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, make it plain, make it plain.
Shachella James (07:17)
sitting in the meeting and someone said, well, Ralph, what are your thoughts on upgrading the server? Well, I do think, but what are your thoughts if we modify the operating system? Well, I understand that. Well, what are your thoughts if, you know, and it just keeps going in a circle and a circle. Do we ever get to the point where we ask and answer the question?
Ralph Owens (07:40)
Okay, I got you. Yeah.
Shachella James (07:41)
So we need to get to the point where we answer the question too. That's what I mean in terms of irking me. But when I'm looking for people to work for me, it's β definitely a business acumen and the ability to get things done, but demonstrating that business acumen with collaboration. And the art of collaboration is being able to take those thoughts and weave them together with them.
some critical thinking and the critical thinking again comes back to how are we challenging the topic? How are we advancing the topic? And those tend to be those powerful questions.
Ralph Owens (08:24)
That's good. That's
really good. That's really good. Any thoughts on that, Terry?
Terry Baylor (08:28)
Yeah, so β in terms of being in that room and you do have the person, we've all been there and you're like, okay, this is a talking head right here. How do you, what techniques in that situation should a person use to bring a level of focus to the room? And again, the fact that you're at the table means that you have influence, right? Regardless of your role, if you're at the table,
Shachella James (08:51)
Thank you.
Terry Baylor (08:58)
Well, let me just say that if you're at the table, there is an opportunity for influence. Do not miss that opportunity. So how would you, how would you encourage someone to shift the conversation, right? And because that's, that's going to be a notable point, right? That this person wants to get somewhere, but how do they do that? Right? Is it, I'm sure it's with some form of question or some form of directive, but how would you encourage them to do that?
Shachella James (09:02)
Right.
A little bit parallel to this, and perhaps you guys may have heard of an author named Priya Parker. β Priya Parker is one of the leadership books that I'm reading right now, among others. And she has written a book called The Art of Gathering.
The art of gathering is literally asking, why are we even talking? That's the question. Why are we together at all? So she has a pithy title, but the art of gathering. And the crux of a successful gathering is aligning on why we're here and what the outcomes are.
Terry Baylor (09:57)
Mmm.
Shachella James (10:17)
So when you get to that talking head, it is a very intentional focus on why we even came together in the first place. If we're not aligned on that, again, that is the question. Why are we even here? What are the intended outcomes? And structuring the next question then of how we get back on focus to that is what she gives.
Ralph Owens (10:31)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Shachella James (10:45)
a lot of chapters dedicated to, even to the point where if you have a baby shower as an example, and a baby shower is typically some women who are celebrating the birth and then there's a shower of gifts. But what happens when the husband wants to come and the expecting mom is like, why do you even want to be there?
Well, are we gathered to have a social of women or are we gathered to celebrate the coming of life? And I want to participate in the coming of life. So the fact that I'm a man that wants to go to a baby shower should not be foreign. And therefore if we can align on why we're even having a baby shower, then who is at the shower?
Ralph Owens (11:20)
Mmm.
Terry Baylor (11:21)
Mm-hmm.
Ralph Owens (11:37)
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Terry Baylor (11:40)
Sure.
Shachella James (11:41)
is then becomes a very important detail.
Terry Baylor (11:41)
Doesn't matter.
Shachella James (11:44)
So when you have that talking head, you might need to give somebody the benefit of exclusion as opposed to inclusion.
Ralph Owens (11:44)
Wow.
Terry Baylor (11:55)
Okay.
Ralph Owens (11:56)
Yeah, that's good. That is good.
Terry Baylor (12:00)
Wow.
Shachella James (12:00)
You might need to
give them the non invitation because why are we here? Our purpose are we aligned on our purpose β our agenda in terms of what we need to talk about and where we're going to talk about it is is the gift of exclusion that β maybe that talking head isn't shouldn't have been invited in the first place. But if they are there.
Terry Baylor (12:08)
Bye.
Ralph Owens (12:11)
Mm-hmm.
Shachella James (12:28)
then let's just get realigned, much like that baby shower. Let's get aligned on why we're together and then let that define who should even be in the room. But that powerful question of why are we here and what are we trying to accomplish is how I like to get that talking head back in place.
Ralph Owens (12:51)
That's good. That's good. That is so good. That is so good.
Terry Baylor (12:52)
I love it. I love it. I love it.
Shachella James (12:54)
It
is a funny thing. know, Priya has a lot more examples like that too. And I thought, wow. I thought it was just a thing. You know, there's a lot more couple reveals and those types of things happening in the space. But when they started though, I know a lot of people were shocked by like, why would a man even want to go to a baby shower? But if you look at it as a celebration of life and a reveal, a reveal and a celebration,
Terry Baylor (13:08)
Right?
Shachella James (13:24)
Why wouldn't he want to? So same thing in the workplace. If we're to talk about, you know, divesting a major entity, who needs to be in a room for that? And why are we talking about upgrading a server if we really here to talk about divesting entity? So give the gift of exclusion.
Terry Baylor (13:25)
Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes.
Ralph Owens (13:42)
That's good. That is so good. That is so good.
Terry Baylor (13:45)
Makes sense,
makes sense, man. makes sense. I'm telling you, I'm being helped today. I'm being helped.
Ralph Owens (13:51)
Yeah, me too. Me too,
for sure.
Shachella James (13:53)
Well,
the building fund is underfunded right now.
Ralph Owens (13:55)
Hahaha! β
Terry Baylor (13:56)
We got it coming!
We got it! We're coming!
Ralph Owens (14:01)
So just kind of tying onto that, Sachela, I like what you're saying because I've seen that trend, I'll say, in people that I've seen have been very successful. β You have the person in the room who loves to hear themselves talk, right? And they want to ask what are seemingly intelligent questions, right? So they can make themselves look a certain way. β But the ability to...
Shachella James (14:19)
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Ralph Owens (14:31)
gracefully guide them back to the reason why we're here. I think one thing I'll add to that too is that I've used as a technique is I'll thank them for their input. I appreciate that. How does that help us get back to the goal? β okay, all right. So let's go ahead and re-center on that topic. But thank you for that. We appreciate that. β
Shachella James (14:54)
Well, thank you for that grace because I don't know that I've ever thanked anybody for it.
Terry Baylor (15:02)
Ahhhh!
Shachella James (15:03)
But I
will go in forward though, I will go in forward.
Ralph Owens (15:07)
You know,
Terry Baylor (15:08)
Thank you for your input.
Ralph Owens (15:08)
just as a way to take the edge off. Yeah, thank you for you.