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Becoming sustainably human at work isn't a small undertaking. It often means letting go of systems and behaviors that don't serve us individually or collectively.
So what do we do? As individuals, as groups of folks, as leaders? How do we carve out space for our humanity while making sure we're not the only ones? How do we thrive in the workplace while not imagining we must be superhuman? How do we cultivate spaces that are generative and healing, creative and extraordinary?
I don't have the answers to those questions. And, to be fair, I don't believe one human can EVER have all the answers to those questions. I'm working through those questions every day.
This podcast curates for you a set of folks with an opinion worth listening to and sharing. So join me as I ask people I admire to share their wisdom with you in accessible doses.
Join me on my quest to become sustainably human at work.
Welcome to What's Leadership?
I'm Liz Wiltsie.
The more I learn about leadership,
the more I'm convinced there's
not a one size fits all solution.
So I am on my own learning journey
and I invite you to join me.
EbonyJanice reminds me that being
open about my journey is important.
Each episode features someone I admire
with actionable insight to share.
So please join me as I
ask what's leadership?
Today it is my joy to
welcome Kimberly Faith.
Kim is a systems thinking expert
and futurist who is passionate
about rewriting our stories.
She's the author of Your Lion Inside:
Tapping into the Power Within, and is the
host of The Sisterhood Report Podcast.
And on top of all of that, she's
my longtime friend and mentor.
Most of what I know about
leadership I learned from Kim.
So I'm super excited to welcome her.
Kim.
I'm glad you're here.
Wow.
That's a heavy opening there Liz,
but I genuinely appreciate that.
What do you see as the number one
challenge that leaders of millennial
or generation Z teams face?
I would say that the number one challenge
is to learn how to lead complexity.
We are in a changing environment,
that's at a greater rate
than ever before in history.
And that means that our systems
are being texted the limit.
And so anyone and especially
millennials who can actually learn
this particular skill, I think will
bring a great deal to the table and
their value will be immeasurable.
And so what would be your
number one tip, to leaders?
You know, it's interesting.
I thought a lot about this particular
question and at first glance, it's
going to sound odd, but hear me out.
I believe that the number one tip
I would give people is to redefine
your relationship with time.
Everywhere I go, people are held hostage
by this perception of, I don't have time.
I don't have time.
And what I'm watching is that
it's leading people to make quick
decisions, move fast under this
illusion that we don't have time.
And this is the personal challenge
that I even had years ago to reframe
my thinking, to say something
like I've got all the time I need.
I have the time to do the important
things, or I will, this will
happen in the right way at the
right time with the right people.
You see the difference it's
on which syllable are you
going to place the emphasis.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, do you think that also plays
into the sort of manufactured urgency?
Like the idea of like, it's gotta be.
Yes, what's happening.
It's leading us or it's leading
us to make many poor decisions
and we're having to redo the work.
So in effect for the long term,
we're not saving time at all.
Do you think the way that the
instant gratification piece of
social media plays in some of it?
I think it's been the tipping
point to make it excessive.
Yes.
I think this was creeping
up for quite a bit of time.
And then with the internet, I
think it certainly exacerbated it
by the time the social media come.
It has been, it has been the tipping
point that I'm actually now, this
is a serious issue, that I'm having
conversations with with leaders
at all levels of the organization.
Yeah.
So do you have sort of an actionable
step that people can take?
I mean, you said kind of reframing,
I have all the time that I need.
But is there something sort of outside
of that, that, that folks can use?
Well, the first step, I always believe
Liz is the stepping into awareness.
So the most important part is
capturing, you know, catching yourself
when you're in that place of saying
I don't have time and rushing.
Cause in that moment is
what I call the pivot zone.
When we are aware that, Oh, wait a minute.
That's a, that's a story I tell
myself, is the story true or not.
And then literally making a conscious
choice to do that and rewrite it
and go to a different direction.
So it would be learning and
almost have fun with it.
Make a little tick mark, find yourself
a quarter for every time you catch
yourself during the day, referring
to the fact that I don't have time,
because it is in fact in illusion.
So what is a book or a concept or
a talk that's really impacted you
and how you think about things?
Sure.
Well, my background is in systems
thinking, which at its basic core is about
how do you see the forest for the trees?
And so I thought about your audience.
And so there were several books
I would not recommend, but the
one that I would recommend, okay.
There is a book called Thinking
in Systems by Donella Meadows.
And what she does is she breaks it
down and it's an easier read than
all of the other books in this arena.
And it helps you begin to see
the system as a whole, because I
specifically think that millennials
will be gifted in this, in the future
because they care at a deeper level
and they're not bound yet, but the
belief systems that are their selves.
So that's the first one.
And then the second one is a little book
called The Silent Language of Leaders.
And I believe that one may even
be available on an audio book,
but that's a small book that taps
into the whole executive presence.
That's an influence methodology
and it's an easy read.
I've recommended it to all
of my coaching clients.
I love that you picked, ones that
are a bit more accessible and
potentially a little shorter.
Always know your audience.
And also, I think, I think
sometimes, this sort of age group
gets a bit of a bad rap around,
like, I want the thing that's fast.
I want something that's quick,
but also recognizing that
like we are, busy in a day.
And even if you're just a super busy
leader, who's not a millennial, you
often don't have time for a book.
That's, you know.
Yay.
Big.
Oh, see, there we go.
I don't have time.
So.
Alright.
So I'm just, I'm going to go back to
that because, here's the thing is that
I believe that a good kind of way to
measure yourself is to say, am I spending
as much time reading and learning and
growing, even if it's listening to
podcasts or videos as I am on general
TV and entertainment, because it becomes
a conscious choice of where you want to
invest your life to create this leadership
legacy that we're all here to create.
This is Liz and Kim, vintage Liz
and Kim, just so for everyone who's
listening to us, this is us like
actually probably over like breakfast.
But, so I would say in that, but if you
are, I tend to, balance that with like
time is our only nonrenewable resource.
Right.
Like is actually the only thing we
can't get back, and pushing back
on what those sort of false urgency
moments are, but saying, I still want
the shorter book because I want to be
able to hit multiple ideas by multiple
folks and like put them together rather
than a really sort of long space.
So, but yes, I think there is that piece
around, if we were like, yeah, I can
watch TV, but I can't read this book on
this thing then, you know, where are we?
I will certainly acquiesce to the fact
that there's a balance, but I, I do
find that when I have leaders who are
trapped by this concept of, oh, well,
I don't have time to read the book.
Where's the cliff note version.
When I start digging into where they
spend their time, they actually have a
little bit more time than they think.
And it's a matter of your priorities.
And I absolutely am a fan of reading,
lots of different methodologies.
I mean, I read books so
much from so many people.
It's now become a line item on my budget.
So this is serious stuff.
So I get it.
But I do believe that
there's a balance, Liz.
Professional, your professional
development line item budget.
Pretty much.
Yes.
Then Kim, Kim has a
library and that's great.
so what should I have
asked you that I didn't.
You know, what was interesting
about that particular question?
I was just at Lockheed Martin yesterday,
and I was going to keynote for people
who are in this age group and the.
Early part of their careers.
And I had a chance to speak to almost all.
It was probably almost 300 or 400 of them.
And I noticed this pervasive issue
that happens with millennials
in this space around confidence.
And I wanted to mention something
to them because this is the same
message that I shared yesterday.
I understand that there's a lot of
legacy companies out there that seem to
have this badge of honor for the number
of years that they've been around.
I was there in the days of Kodak.
Okay.
I've had a front row seat as I've
watched the challenges of GE.
I've worked with a lot of legacy
companies, as well as tech companies.
And I see that the changes out
there, the thing I do know is that
the longer we are in a system, the
more likely we are to become blinded
to real opportunities for change.
And I think that's what
millennials have the gift to do.
Millennials.
Also, I want to encourage them to have
confidence while always having a mindset
of inquiry, learning about why things
ended up the way they are today, so that
you could have a full, understanding,
an appreciation and respect, maybe even,
compassion for how the system arrived
to where it is today, and then give
your new perspective to how it could be
recreated and rewritten and the future.
Does that make sense?
Do you tend to see a reasonable
number of people saying like, Oh,
this, sucks but not really digging
into where that sort of historical,
where it was, why it got there.
Cause the thing might actually suck,
but like grounding it in, in something
that's like, here's where we are.
Is that?
Well, okay, so it might suck today, but
it might not have sucked when it started.
So I think it's really important that ties
back to this concept of systems thinking
and understanding the bigger picture,
because I think that the perception
and the viewpoints that millennials
have that say, this is unacceptable.
Why are we even doing it this way?
I think that is valid important.
And as I told them yesterday, it gives
me great hope to what the future is.
But in order to add wisdom to that,
dive into how it arrived, the way it
did, because when we have a greater
understanding of how we arrived
to that, then we are wiser in the
choices and the influence that we make
from today from this point forward.
It's like a leadership portal
past, present, and future
intersecting all in this moment.
Do you have a set of questions
that you would, recommend someone
in that spot asked to, dig at
how that system came to be.
So let me say, I don't think it's as much
a set of questions, but I'll tell you I
would take an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper
and I would draw, a horizontal line.
I would do a timeline.
I would put down.
I would ask people, what do they
remember about that organization?
And I would start mapping
that on a little timeline.
There's a, I'm a big firm believer that
if you can't put the story on an 8.5
By 11 piece of paper, you don't have
a good grasp on what the story is.
And I would start mapping out what were
some of the things that they noted?
What were some of the
things that were not said?
How that fit into the bigger
picture of even competition?
And I would gain a greater understanding
of how each data point emerges within
the larger context of the story.
So I guess the questions would
be inquiry and sincere desire to
say, well, what do you remember?
What was it like back then?
Do you remember why these decisions were
made and use the tool at the timeline?
Yeah, I love that.
If you can't fit it on an 8.5
by 11, then you don't know.
we have this false belief and
illusion and the world today
that it has to be ultra complex.
if you put that in a full circle,
ultra complex, if you really
understand the complexity, you're
able to simplify it in a nanosecond.
Thank you, Kim.
I'm so glad you were here with us.
Well, you were supposed to
ask me about a free resource.
I have a free resource for
your listeners here live well.
Great.
Please tell us about it.
So I will send you, I'm going to
share the link where I will encourage
your folks to download this article
called Breakthrough Branding.
And it's a systemic look at their overall
career, and it's a wonderful chance for
them to start thinking now about how
there's several steps within their career.
And it puts it in a simple,
easy to understand framework.
It's all about how to encourage them to
jump in the driver's seat of their career.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome my pleasure.
Have a lovely rest of your day.
I will.
And you know what?
I really admire what it is
you're doing with the podcast.
Liz, so kudos to you for having these
conversations and showing people that
a lot of, a lot of powerful insight
can happen in a short amount of time.
Thank you.
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