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A Transformational Journey Beyond Technical Excellence Into Influential Leadership
What does it really take to lead in today’s professional services world, where the expectations are high, the demands never stop, and technical excellence is no longer enough?
This show is where we explore that journey together.
Each episode, join me, Grant Herbert, as we unpack the real shifts that help lawyers, accountants, engineers, consultants, and all other high-performers in professional services, to step beyond the confines of their technical abilities and into influential, people centred leadership.
Some episodes will be just you and me, having the honest conversations most professionals never get to have about identity, confidence, resilience, influence, and the behavioural skills we were never taught at university. Other episodes bring in guests from across the professional services landscape who share their stories, insights, and the leadership lessons they learned along the way.
This is not another “tips and tricks” leadership podcast.
It’s a transformational experience built on practical wisdom, deep self-awareness, and the 9 Crucial Shifts that sit at the heart of Professional Services Leadership.
If you are ready to grow your influence, lead with clarity, and create impact without burning out, welcome.
You are in the right place — and your next shift starts here.
[00:00:00] Do you feel like it's a little bit like Groundhog Day every single day? You're going through the same stuff, it's just a different date on the calendar. You're not quite sure why it is you're doing what you're doing, where your career's going, and what you even got in it in the first place for. Well, you're not weird.
You're in the majority, because a lot of people that I speak to right now are feeling that way. Something that was a passion has become something that you just do. And it's lost that spark, that purpose. So in our nine crucial shifts that we go through, this area is the area for setting a clear intention.
It's about going from being scattered to being planned. It's [00:01:00] understanding why it is that you do what you do at a higher level, not just getting stuff done each day. To do that, you need to be really, really clear on what's important to you. You need to know what your purpose is. And I know for some people, when they hear this sort of talk, they think, "Oh, no, this is airy-fairy life coachy stuff."
No. It's not. It's imperative that as a human being, each and every one of us knows exactly who we are, what we're on the planet for, so that we can then do everything that we do to achieve that end. So, if you're feeling a little bit like it's just same old, same old, stick with me, and this month we'll go deeper in how you can actually get clarity again, and how you [00:02:00] can adjust and shift things that are out of alignment so that you can go to work, do what you do, and feel like you're achieving and you are fulfilled.
So the first thing you need to get clear on is, What are your values? What are the things that are most important to you? I'm not talking about if you're in a conversation on social media and you're following a rhetoric. I'm not talking about those things. I'm talking about the real you. Deep inside you, what is your makeup?
What do you stand for? And what do you choose not to stand for? What's most important to you? And who's most important to you? So when you get clear on those values, you can then set your priorities. And I mean your priorities, not everyone else's priorities. [00:03:00] I'm not talking about becoming a lone wolf here and shutting everybody out.
What I'm talking about is putting your priorities first, making sure that even if you're doing things for other people, that they are fitting a purpose that you're here to achieve. What's your mission in life? What were you born for? Now, if you don't know the answer to that question, that's okay. When I'm working with my clients, I give them a scenario to help them to work that out.
I'm gonna give it to you right now. Imagine I gave you 15 minutes, and every single person on the planet, whether they had a television or some other device, were tuning in to listen to you. A little bit of a scary thought, isn't it? But just work with me. If you had that audience, [00:04:00] what would you like to leave them with?
What is it that you want them to know about you and about what you believe that you're going to leave them pondering on? I guarantee it's not about some technical thing or about something you do at work, or it's not about something that you own or have. It's something that's deeper inside you that you just need to get out.
And when you do that, that's gonna help you to realign or, and first rediscover what your purpose is. Now, if you need some help with that, feel free to get in touch with me or someone else, because that, in my experience, is something that people have pushed down. You know, the same old, same old, day in, day out, get stuff done, no results.
It beats up on your dreams, on your ambitions, [00:05:00] on your aspirations, and your purpose. So what we do as a human being to protect ourselves is we just push that away. Just put that in the compartment back here that I'm gonna forget about. So you may need to get some support in doing that. So once you know what your values are, the next thing that you need to be clear on is: what's your vision for your future?
What's your vision for your present? And then when you know that, you can work out what needs to happen in between. And I'll let you in on a little secret. It's got nothing to do with what do you need to do, it's who do you need to become so that you can do the things you need to do and get the results that you want to get?
And that becoming who you are needs to be in alignment with that purpose, [00:06:00] with those values. So when you understand what's important to you and you have a vision, you can see it. You then need to work out your priorities. You need to work out where is the best place for me to put my energy, my talents, so that I achieve the priorities that are most true to me?
I know when I was in my corporate life, I had priorities that I was neglecting, but I didn't know that I was. You know, my greatest priority are my family, my wife, my kids. You've heard me talk about them before. But in my challenge and striving to meet the needs of corporate [00:07:00] significance, I took myself away from my family all the time And it didn't feel right.
It felt uneasy. And I remember there was a time when I was away interstate, and my daughter rang me. She was 15. And she rings me, and she says, "Dad, when are you coming home?" And I was flat out in the middle of something that was really important and I had to say to her, "Well, I've got to be here.
I've got to get this work done. I'm going to be home next week," or whatever it was, and she was really, really sad. And I said to her something crazy like, "Look, I've just put a new pool in for you so that you can have your friends over, and you can do this and do that." And this is what she said: "Dad, If it means that I get you home, fill the pool in.
I don't want it." It was like a dagger in my heart, and I didn't realize what [00:08:00] I was doing. I was sacrificing my true priorities because I thought in some weird way that I was doing what I needed to do to give my family the lifestyle that they wanted. And that lifestyle wasn't around things, it was around me.
It was around connection. It was around us. So that's just my example. I'm just being vulnerable for a moment to help you understand the power of having a purpose, of having your own values, your own vision, and your own priorities, and then making sure that you leave space, you leave bandwidth in your life to work in those, to enjoy the fruit of those.
So what's your intention? Where does your career fit in to all of your life? It's not your life. I know it feels like sometimes it takes up everything. [00:09:00] It's only a means to you becoming who you need to become to fulfill what it is that you feel that you're here on this planet to fulfill. So let's work on that this month.
Let's take you from being scattered, seat-of-the-pants, day-to-day, to being planned and purposeful in your action and your activity in everything that you do. Well, I hope this has helped you in some way, and I'd love you to join the conversation. I'd love you to interact with me, to wherever you're listening to or watching this, I'd love you to get in there and ask some questions, leave some comments.
You know, this isn't a thing where I know all the answers. I'm just on a journey of imperfection, and I'm just sharing my experience and my expertise. But I'd love to hear from you as well. So set your intention, and together, you and I can go along on this [00:10:00] journey that we're on, fulfilling what it is that we're truly here for.
I'll see you then.