Leadership Sovereignty Podcast: Career Growth and Promotion

Curiosity opens doors. It fuels creativity. And handled correctly, it is a trust builder.

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor close out their five-part conversation with Shachella James β€” VP of Enterprise Systems at CenterPoint Energy. This is Part 5 of 5.

Shachella delivers her top three curiosity-driven leadership principles, introduces the concept of strategic friction β€” asking the question that is counter to the popular thought in the room β€” and explains how one bold question per meeting can change your entire trajectory. She closes the series with a line that captures everything: curiosity is your currency. Promotions follow it.

What you will learn in this episode:
- The top three curiosity-driven leadership principles every professional should carry
- Why a little friction in a room is not antagonism β€” it is traction
- How to ask questions that unify, clarify, or constructively divide a room
- Why one bold question per meeting is all you need to start building visible influence
- How curiosity opens doors, fuels creativity, and builds trust at every level

This episode is for you if:
- You have been sitting quietly in rooms where you should be contributing
- You want a repeatable practice for showing up with strategic impact in every meeting
- You are ready to stop playing it safe and start asking the questions that shift conversations
- You want to close out this series with the principles that will carry you forward

πŸ‘€ View Shachella James's guest profile


🧾 Chapters
  • (00:00) - A Little Friction Is Good
  • (00:18) - Curiosity That Builds Resilience and Trust
  • (01:15) - Top Three Curiosity-Driven Leadership Principles
  • (02:06) - Go Deep on Learning and Elevating Others
  • (03:47) - What Makes a Bold Question Bold
  • (04:00) - Why Friction Creates Traction in the Room
  • (08:22) - The Paradigm Shift: Curiosity Changes Everything
  • (09:27) - Lessons on Promotion, Growth, and Influence
  • (11:21) - Promotions Follow Curiosity
  • (12:34) - Closing Reflections β€” Stay Curious, Lead Boldly

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πŸ“„ Full Episode Transcript

Creators and Guests

Guest
Shachella James
Shachella James is an award-winning technology professional with well over a decade of professional experience across multiple industries, consulting services, manufacturing banking, telecommunications, and now utilities. She is responsible for information and operational technologies, and enterprise architecture. Her expertise also spans strategic and capital planning, cloud services, data center operations and infrastructure operations. She is keen on workforce management and serving up the talent pipeline for the future.

What is Leadership Sovereignty Podcast: Career Growth and Promotion?

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 β€” 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.

Shachella James:

A little friction is good. I mean, in the sense that your question is just counter to the opinion and the popular thought in the room. Be just a little bit of a contrarian, and you will be amazed at how quickly that creates, I think, traction Curiosity in the literally changes everything. I think it opens doors. It fuels creativity and handled correctly, it is definitely a trust builder.

Ralph Owens:

Welcome to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, where professionals learn to navigate challenges at work through the power of leadership principles. I'm Ralph Owens, Chief Information Officer in the financial services industry alongside my cohost, Terry Baylor, the CEO of a healthcare tech startup. Together, we've spent decades building teams, transforming organizations and coaching individuals through the moments that define their careers. We unpack the mindset, strategies and habits that help you lead with confidence, expand your influence, get promoted and increase your income. Now let's dive into today's episode.

Shachella James:

So that has helped me in the workplace more than many people would ever know, in terms of even building resilience and getting up, now I'm getting ready to go do this twelfth half marathon too, those things, the curiosity. I know we were talking about promotion is, why am I even doing what I'm doing?

Ralph Owens:

Wow. Wow.

Shachella James:

You can lock in lock in to that, then decision making becomes so very easy.

Ralph Owens:

That's so good. It is so good.

Shachella James:

Yes. Very good.

Ralph Owens:

That's powerful. That's powerful. So so as we as we continue to to to transition here, you know, what are your top three curiosity driven leadership principles? You've talked about a few, but if you had to leave somebody with three, what would be those top three leadership driven principles around curiosity?

Shachella James:

You know what? I wanna fall back on some of the things we said earlier and then just weave back in all the nuggets that we've been sharing. Bring other people along in terms of curiosity. Asking those questions so that individuals are growing and that you're actually challenging the status quo would be very important, but go deep on learning as opposed to having all the answers. Go deep on elevating other people so that they're growing from your questions, and don't feel interrogated by it.

Shachella James:

Again, it shouldn't feel like an inquisition.

Ralph Owens:

It should

Shachella James:

feel very much like a conversation, and sometimes you can see that light bulb go off in people's heads and eyes that you have really asked something that has challenged their thinking and encouraged them to help somebody else in terms of thinking and thought processes as well. And I would also, in terms of a leadership principle, is encourage people to ask other people one bold question every week.

Ralph Owens:

That's good.

Shachella James:

And I say every week, but make it every meeting. Even if you go into a session and just be just a little bit prepared, maybe that's your preparation, is just, I'm gonna leave that room depositing one bold question, that would be another leadership principle. Go prepared have those questions ready, at least one.

Ralph Owens:

And when you frame up that bold question, because I think that's powerful, you know, okay. You know, for someone who may not, you know, be active in the meetings and don't really talk, and they have to do this, that could be scary, right? You know, when you frame a bold question, what do you mean by that? Like, give me some context there. You know?

Shachella James:

All right. So some people might call it crucial conversations.

Terry Baylor:

Mhmm.

Shachella James:

Maybe it is a way to counter what they're thinking. I say a little friction is good. I mean, you can call it antagonism, but that has such a negative connotation. But I mean, friction in the sense that your question is just counter to the opinion and the popular thought that came in the room.

Ralph Owens:

That's good.

Shachella James:

Be be just a little bit of a contrarian, and you will be amazed at how quickly that creates, I think, traction in the room.

Terry Baylor:

I'm so I'm sorry. Can I can I interrupt just one quick second there? So I don't think I asked my question the right way. What what you're what you're answering now is kinda what I was looking for. Right?

Terry Baylor:

So you have questions that are gonna be that that that inspire. There are questions that are, to your point, a little opposite of the mainstream of what everyone's thinking in the room. What are those kind of questions that folks should be thinking about? So there's the question that, you know, okay, we're gonna divert from the main theme here, right, or whatever one's thinking. Then there's a question that causes everyone to think.

Terry Baylor:

Maybe there's questions that calls for unity. What kind of questions, different frameworks of questions along those lines that you've used throughout your career, to have to shift the room, kinda like a good musician, right? You know, Ralph and I, we use music a lot in terms of what we do. You know, if people asked us, you know, something about us, we'd say, well, we played in a band together. So, But how do you shift the room with your questions, and what are those kind of questions that you use to shift the room to your earlier point, which is asking questions that you already know?

Terry Baylor:

Ralph and I say this as well. You have to ask questions that's gonna lead the room to where you wanna go. So what are all these kind of different techniques? I'm sorry, I was trying to figure out how do I get this question the right way, so

Shachella James:

I see what you're saying, because I know I definitely answered it differently earlier. And I think that those things still apply too as good nuggets. But literally, I think you just wanna encourage the blue sky, green field thinking when you're asking your questions. So we'd have to have a hypothetical, but generally the type of question would be something to the effect of, if we designed this today with what we know today, what would change?

Ralph Owens:

That's a good example. It's a great example.

Shachella James:

And that one, can apply to so many different situations, especially if you're trying to unify a room where it's divided. Now we're sitting together today, what should we do differently? And if we just contribute that way, I think that's the best way I would start it off, then just let the room take it from there of any other direction you would go in. But that can be a divider, it can be a unifier, it can be a clarifier, because everybody starts contributing to how can we do this differently or what should we change. And as it starts to fall into those different camps, I think you'll have to drill down into more of what I mentioned earlier about the open ended questions and then poking in for more elevation.

Terry Baylor:

Mhmm. Sure. No. I love that. Unifier, qualifier, divider.

Terry Baylor:

I

Ralph Owens:

love it. Yeah. It Strategic sounds Curiosity. Oh, you

Terry Baylor:

know what? I think that's your book right there.

Ralph Owens:

Strategic. Strategic Curiosity. Yes. Absolutely. That is fantastic.

Shachella James:

Well, you know that, I do believe, because I think in my mind, there are tactical things, tactical questions that you just gotta check-in on people. How you doing? But asking somebody how you're doing is very different from what was the highlight of your day.

Terry Baylor:

That's good. Helping me again

Ralph Owens:

right now. Me too.

Terry Baylor:

Where the plate? The building fund is burning.

Shachella James:

It's decreasing.

Terry Baylor:

It's up. That red line is going higher.

Ralph Owens:

Is so I mean,

Shachella James:

totally underestimated the power of this conversation. So that night I was really geeked about it. And then as time passed on, I'm like, oh, that was a really good interaction. How could I go deeper on that? And then I just sat on it a little bit.

Shachella James:

And then just in getting my head back in the space for this, I'm like, wow.

Ralph Owens:

Mhmm.

Shachella James:

This is really something.

Ralph Owens:

It is.

Shachella James:

It is. Especially in terms of a paradigm shift

Terry Baylor:

for sure.

Ralph Owens:

Yes.

Terry Baylor:

Yes. It

Ralph Owens:

is. Yes.

Terry Baylor:

It is. It is.

Shachella James:

It's some it's something as simple as curiosity Mhmm. Shifting the room. Mhmm. Absolutely.

Ralph Owens:

Mhmm. We we I'm sorry. Go ahead,

Terry Baylor:

Go ahead, Ralph. Uh-uh.

Ralph Owens:

Go ahead, Ralph. I'm sorry. You know, so the the the persona of the person that we talk to on our show is that person that's in their career who's looking to figure out how to use leadership principles to move up in their career. Mhmm. That's typically who we're talking to.

Ralph Owens:

And everything that you shared today was just so rich. And, again, you know, Terry and I started this show because we went through years of trying to figure out how we can get promoted and how we get past obstacles in the workplace and things of that nature. We had each other to kind of lean on, and we would talk to each other about, yeah, I had to do this. Oh, man, we had to do that. We wish someone had told us about it ahead of time.

Ralph Owens:

This information is so rich because typically you don't get access to this information until you've been in the game so long, and you bumped your head so many times you figured it out. I just really hope that whoever's listening to this today, that you really take in, you know, what you're learning. Listen to it a few times, right? Yeah. Don't just listen to it once, because there were so many things on so many different levels that you're not gonna just catch it once.

Ralph Owens:

I I'm personally gonna be listening to this over and over and over again to make sure I cement this into my thinking. But, Sacha, this has been incredible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, your thought leadership with us to our audience.

Ralph Owens:

We really believe this is gonna really bless and help a lot of people.

Shachella James:

I can just only express my abundant thanks for the opportunity to share. It has been my absolute delight to have this conversation with you. You're right, because spice is all mine. I might need to trademark I think

Ralph Owens:

you should. You need to. I you think you should because it's so on point.

Shachella James:

It really is because you can bump into walls and then never really consolidate all that thinking into a framework that you can just have a repeatable process. I hope somebody does take spice and make it their own. Curiosity literally changes everything. I think it opens doors. It fuels creativity, and handled correctly, it is definitely a trust builder.

Shachella James:

It absolutely does. So, and I believe strongly that promotions do follow curiosity and just maybe even micro levels of emerging responsibility. But yeah, stay curious. Curiosity is your currency.

Terry Baylor:

Oh. I'm just saying, man, when we have our conference, you

Ralph Owens:

Oh, you already know. You already know. You already

Terry Baylor:

It's coming, guys. It's coming. Leadership Sovereignty Podcast Conference. It's coming. Right.

Ralph Owens:

That's right.

Terry Baylor:

Yeah. Look, this is not your curious jaw's curiosity.

Shachella James:

It's not that.

Terry Baylor:

And I think that's what when you hear the word curiosity, I think you almost think elementary, it's It's actually an It is a so Ralph and I say this a lot too, right? I didn't realize it, but it is an advanced Jedi. Right. Advanced Jedi ability, right,

Ralph Owens:

and

Terry Baylor:

trait if you leverage it the right way. Because I think I undervalue curiosity. I do too. But it is

Shachella James:

heavy weighted

Terry Baylor:

discipline and and and something that we all I need to get my $10,000 in, man. I'm way behind on my curiosity hours.

Ralph Owens:

So Yes. Yes. Yes. So good. So good.

Ralph Owens:

So good. So thank you so much again, and and we will catch all the listeners on the next one. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. If today's conversation helped you grow in your leadership, influence, or your career, take a moment to visit leadership sovereignty dot com.

Ralph Owens:

There you'll find exclusive resources, free guides and ways to stay connected to our community of leaders who are building purpose and success. Don't forget to rate, review and share this episode with someone who's on the rise in their career. Until next time, lead boldly, lead with purpose, and continue to walk in sovereignty. Take care.