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Live Lead Last is a weekly podcast hosted by leadership coach, nonprofit director, and entrepreneur James Duvall. Designed for growth-minded leaders, this show helps you live by design, lead with purpose, and leave a legacy that lasts.
Through honest conversations, practical tools, and real-life stories, James equips leaders to develop strong roots, sustainable influence, and lasting impact — both personally and professionally. Whether you're leading a team, a business, a ministry, or a family, this podcast will help you become the kind of leader others want to follow.
Jessica R.: [00:00:00] And so your purpose is kinda that pilot light that I talk about.
So how do we keep that light lit? How do we keep that flame burning? That has to be an intentional set of behaviors, routine patterns that you put inside your life so that you can keep that fire going over the long term and that you're not beholden to what can feel like a roller coaster of energy and enthusiasm. This is the LIV LEAD LAST Podcast!
James: Welcome to the Live Lead last podcast where we help you live with intention, lead with conviction, and leave a lasting impact. I'm your host, James Deval, and today's episode is a timely reminder of why purpose isn't a luxury, it's a necessity for effective leadership.
But before we jump into today's conversation, I wanna invite you to take the five day leadership Reset. It's a free [00:01:00] guided experience designed to help you slow down, reflect deeply, and reignite your vision. Each day, I'm gonna bring you a short, powerful prompt to help clarify your calling, align your habits, and restore your energy.
You can get started right now. At live lead last.com/reset. Now let's talk about something Every leader faces the tension between busyness and purpose. You know, we live in a world that's constantly pushing us to perform, achieve, and stay connected, but many leaders feel more distracted, disoriented, and disconnected than ever.
Gallup reports that nearly 70% of professionals say they feel disengaged at work. Add to that the rising levels of anxiety and burnout, and it's no wonder so many are quietly asking, what am I really here for?
That's why I'm excited to welcome today's guest, Dr. Jessica Rimmer is the CEO of Solomon Strategic Advisors, a leadership consultancy and partner agency with Giant Worldwide. She works with [00:02:00] leaders at organizations like Google, BMW, and the US military to improve team engagement, strategic growth, and workplace energy.
Before launching her consultancy, jessica served in executive leadership in higher education, helping shape culture and elevate team performance.
She holds a PhD in higher education leadership from the University of Oklahoma and is spoken across the country on topics like transformational leadership, culture, diversity and personal growth. But at the heart of her work is a simple yet powerful question. What does it mean to live fully alive?
Jessica's new book, the Purpose Formula, learn to Be Fully Alive, explores a question through a framework that helps people, uncover who they are, why they're here, and how to live with clarity and courage, if you've ever felt stuck, misaligned, or unsure of how your personal calling connects to your leadership. This conversation is for you. Let's dive in.
Well, Jessica, it's so great to have you on the podcast. Thanks for taking some time today [00:03:00] to talk to me about your new book.
Jessica R.: I'm super happy to be here, James. Thanks for having me.
James: Yeah. Well, we've got to know each other just a little bit through Giant and some different meetings in in that space, and I'm super excited about your book.
I read it and I thought it was super practical in this area of purpose. But before we get to your book, I'd love to just get a little backstory on you. Tell our audience a little bit about who you are and how you arrived at this area of entrepreneur. CEO of a company and author, writer?
Jessica R.: Well, I think I'm surprised as anybody that I am an entrepreneur now, I, I didn't necessarily have that set in my sight, but looking back, just like I encourage people to do when they read the book, you know, there's a lot of clarity that comes from the rear view mirror.
Looking back, I've always had a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. Even as a little kid, and I see it in my kids now, I was always looking for ways to make money and looking for ways to solve problems. And that's really what it takes. You know, you have to have some initiative. You have to have some foresight into how [00:04:00] you can help people.
And so I think I've always had that spirit about me, but my background really is higher education. I spent about 15 years working in higher education and I thought I had arrived. I mean, that was for me, a super. Purposeful work. I worked in Christian higher education and I thought, man, helping students figure out what they wanna be when they grow up there is nothing better than that.
Getting people unstuck. So of course you can see the seeds that that planted for what I'm doing now, but it was in 2018 when I was working with Jeremy Hub, check who your audience will meet or has already met that I started getting a sense of what was next for me. So that. My background built into taking my executive leadership experience and then helping executive business leaders figure out how to untangle their people problems, and so it really did.
It was a story that built on itself easier to tell by looking back [00:05:00] than in the moment. I don't know that I knew exactly where it was going, but I'm super grateful it has led to this spot.
James: That's awesome. Well, purpose is such a big piece of your story and of what you invest in business leaders and individuals today.
So I'd love to hear a little bit about your book, the Purpose Formula. And I, I did read it. It's, it's highlighted all throughout it. It's, it's a great book. And so it's called Purpose Formula. Learn the Learn to Be Fully Alive. So before you tell us about the book, talk to us about the idea of being fully alive.
What does that mean to you?
Jessica R.: Yeah, I mean, I'll try to put it in a really boiled down sense that you and I are both kind of future oriented problem solvers, and I remember about 20 years ago when social media started being first on the scene, immediately I was like, Ooh, I think that we are going a direction of malaise and [00:06:00] almost like antic.
Distracted living. I, I'm concerned about the direction we're going. And now I, I'm young at this point, I'm working with college students face, the Facebook was brand new 20 years ago. You know, I mean, we're talking blogs at that point. Yeah. I was like, man, I'm really worried about what's happening. I'm watching people go to sleep.
Right. Like it was like, I'm watching people, their ambition is dying. Their awareness of others is dying. And I thought, if this trajectory continues, we're gonna have some challenges. Now, I'm not a doom mistake thinker, but I could just, it was like I was watching the people around me and even myself to some degree, kind of go to sleep to who they are.
So being fully alive to me is being awake, pursuing your potential, and being aware and not being distracted, and hitting the snooze button on why we are on the planet.
James: Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's really interesting, that ability to [00:07:00] see into the, not, not foretell the future, but you know, we talk about the ability to kind of be early warning systems and second and third order consequences of decisions.
And you know, I don't know that anybody really thought out like the effects of. Social media and isolation and relationships. I was actually just reading in Gallup about the trends in young men under the age of 35 and how, uh, despondent and depressed and isolated and lonely they feel, and that trend keeps going down.
And a lot of that has to do with not being fully alive right? And being disconnected from really their purpose. So with that in mind, what was the inspiration actually? Take your teaching and take your, your learnings and your own passion and actually put that in book form.
Jessica R.: Probably a few different things that, you know, I went to graduate school at the University of Oklahoma and to shout out to my ick advisor, Dr.
Penny Passway. I mean I loved [00:08:00] her and I just kind of set at her feet and took notes 'cause she was so insightful and one of the just best practices in. Our field of student development, higher education is you don't write about something until you presented about something. And so I was just kind of following a best practice that Penny Passway had taught me.
Speak about something, see how it lands before you write about something. Now. I like writing. I've done blogging and that sort of thing, and I think I, I have something to say from time to time, but I don't necessarily, I, I watched this message resonate, so I got invited to speak at a conference. It was a saint and word conference for women, and I had never had so many people.
Stand and wait to talk to me. And I don't mean that like, wow, look how important I am. I mean, I speak on stages all the time, but I had not had people wait in a line to say, Hey, I need to ask you, or I need to tell you, or find me later and [00:09:00] say what you said was, and repeat back to me things that had resonated.
And so I thought, okay, this message matters to people. So that was the inspiration, was what I saw. It's still a little bit of a vulnerable thing to go ahead and write a book about something. You're like, is this gonna matter? But I was trying to, I guess, spark that flame a little bit bigger. What I saw happen in the audience that I initially spoke to, I thought, let me go ahead and, and, and try to work this into something that makes sense, that's coherent, that actually might be able to help people.
James: Yeah. I think it really does help people because, you know, people struggle with really knowing their purpose and you, you know, identify some of those reasons in the book. But why is it that so many people struggle finding in, in this issue of purpose? Why is it that so many people struggle with knowing their, their purpose?
I
Jessica R.: think there's probably a few reasons. You know, I, [00:10:00] again, this probably goes back to just how I think, like there's probably not a reason specifically for every person, but I think one of the reasons is we can, we can think purpose is two grand. Like, okay, if I'm, if I'm gonna live out my purpose, it has to be something dazzling.
I need to be famous, I need to be an influencer. You know? So I think one reason that people struggle is we think it's too big. It can be ordinary. I talked about Joseph of AIA in the book, right? It can be a really ordinary purpose. The reason that we're on the planet can be daily and tactical and normal.
I think that's one reason. I think the other reason is like it. It is hard and it's a journey, and at least in our society, there is a desire for things to be quick and easy. Even the term purpose formula. Mm-hmm. It makes it sound like all you gotta do is plug in these elements into chat, GPT, and then boom, you're gonna know your purpose.
And there is a journey to finding and discovering why you're on the [00:11:00] planet, and that takes work. And I, I think we have become a little averse to struggle and a little averse to finding, finding things that require more effort than we want them to.
James: Yeah. It's interesting this, you know, concept of purpose, because I think one of the best selling books of all time, maybe outside of the Bible, is Rick Warren's book, the Purpose Driven Life, you know?
And it opens up, the question is, why am I here? Right? Like, why do I exist? And people always wanna find the answer to that. And I think you're right, that we do wanna microwave decisions, microwave discovery, and sometimes it takes life experience to kind of figure out what it is that you're actually wired to do, that God's put you on the earth to do.
So. So let's talk about the purpose formula. I know it's, it's an equation and you can't just put some things in there, but. I think it's very helpful, the formula that you put together to help people figure out what, what their [00:12:00] purpose is. So talk to us about the formula and how it plays out.
Jessica R.: You know, James, you and I were talking before we got started here.
I am raised the daughter of a preacher, so I think alliteration always just makes sense to me. Yeah. I think I was raised listening to somebody put something in an alliterative form. So the purpose formula is desires, designs, and disappointments. Mm. So. The book really unpacks and, and you read it so you'll know, but you know, what is purpose and how does it work, and why is it critical for human flourishing?
I think that's a really important topic for us to think about right now. How do we flourish? How do we help other people flourish? Mm. It impacts that purpose is not necessarily for you, but it's something that happens through you for the benefit of other people. And then it ties that concept to, to human flourishing.
You know, we really are meant to be connected to other people. And so then it impacts, you know, looking at the three elements desires, what do I want? What rings me [00:13:00] joy? What were the early dreams? That I had as a kid that made me, were in early indicators and design. What's my personality? How am I made up, you know, what are the things that energize and drain me and the disappointments?
What are the things that. In my faster in my present have really just been heartbreaking. And it doesn't have to be an experience you have. It can be something that just for whatever reason breaks your heart for you. Jane, that's like human trafficking. Yeah. There's something about that. Now we can say that is objectively reprehensible that children or people are being trafficked, but.
James: You
Jessica R.: and your family, you actually activated your life toward that cause.
James: Right.
Jessica R.: So there was something in that disappointment that broke your heart and your human heartbreak is kind of a reflection of why you might be on the planet. Mm-hmm. And what you might be here to solve. So those three things are the things that, the purpose formula unpacks, and other questions [00:14:00] that might, you know, slow some readers down, but questions for reflection to kind of figure out what those things are uniquely for each of us.
Yeah.
James: The desires and, you know, design I think makes sense to a lot of people. When I was reading it, I was like, oh yeah, I get this. You know, I have these natural desires that God's put in me and things I, I wanna accomplish or design my talents, abilities, gifting, and so forth. I, when I started the, the chapter on disappointments, I was like, I'm not sure where this is going.
Because like at first when you hear a word disappointment, you think like. Personal disappointments or like, you know, struggles or failures and so forth. And I think there's a piece of that, right? But it was very empowering to me personally to kind of go, oh, this helps me understand why my passion in this area is actually a dis It's, it's a, it's a disappointment in the world that I'm seeing.
Yeah. And actually able to apply my design, apply my desires towards that. So I thought that that. That chapter [00:15:00] was really powerful in that sense of helping contextualize why it is that sometimes we're drawn to a certain area or, you know, people who are very, you know, mission-oriented or, you know, wanna go to Africa or whatever.
There's, there's part of that that is purpose-driven, right? Yeah,
Jessica R.: that's right. Oh, I love hearing that from you because that's exactly what I hoped for. You know, it's not that your personal experience is going to mean that you know now because your parents are divorced, you go into divorce counseling.
Right. And it's very disappointing. But that may not be the thing, the injustice in the world, the brokenness in the world that you're kind of here to solve,
James: right? Yeah. But there are a lot of people who have used their brokenness. To launch them into their ultimate purpose. And you know, it's, that's right.
You know what the enemy meant for evil. God turns for good. Right? And, you know, so in that sense that like, you know, whether that's, you know, addiction or, you know, [00:16:00] failures, brokenness, whatever, that, that guy can use that as part of our design purpose into the world to use our disappointment. So I thought that was really good.
You know, the other piece that I think about purpose is this idea that our purpose is. Unique to us. Like we're, we're the only individuals, like I'm the only James. You're the only Jessica. And so God's purpose for us is unique to us. I mean, it's, there's some universal purposes that we're all part of, but it talk to us about sometimes when we misalign or try to live out someone else's expectations versus our own purpose.
Talk, you know, you talked about flourishing and so forth, and I think does that sometimes hold us back from flourishing when we're trying to live out expectations of our parents or, you know, friends or whatever?
Jessica R.: Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's really interesting. I. Dance, right? Because you've gotta figure out like how do you know if you're living out somebody else's purpose versus kind of the purpose that you're on [00:17:00] the planet for?
So the first thing that I would say is I think like God is the most strategic being that's ever existed, right? Like he can see all the brokenness. He also knows how to heal it and make it whole. I think that's one of those justice questions. People are like, well, if God knows how to do it, why doesn't he do it?
And then well. He actually is. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it through us. Mm-hmm. And so if we don't recognize that we do have a unique role to play, a unique contribution where necessary. Right. That's one of those things like understanding that we are necessary, we're needed. On the planet for other people is it's a hope anchor away from despair.
Mm-hmm. So I think that there's, there's a way that God is strategic that above our ability to completely see and understand. And so when we miss out, it's not that. God won't figure out a way to meet the needs of other people. It's that we won't get the joy, what I call participatory joy.
James: Mm-hmm. In
Jessica R.: the book, we won't get the joy of participating in meeting the [00:18:00] needs of the planet.
And I think that like a dullness of joy might be one of those indicators not being able to access the joy. Being perpetually frustrated about a problem that you can't figure out how to solve, or you can't figure out how to participate in the answer to, like, that might be an indicator that you need to move towards something different.
So I think people who love us and who are not necessarily self-interested can be good guides. Our purpose, but if we don't know what we want and we don't know what we're good at, and we don't know, like if we're not doing some level of self-reflection and just kind of, I guess, meditation on who we are and why we're here.
We're going like the, the default position is to live out somebody else's vision. The default position is to live out somebody else's purpose. And that's not to say like every person needs to go out and start an organization. Right. We're gonna help each other, like we're gonna be involved. [00:19:00] You're involved in a 21, you didn't start that ministry, right?
You have a ministry that then partners together. So we're gonna be involved in partnerships. We just wanna make sure that when we align with somebody else or even somebody's company, that we're doing it because we have a unique contribution to bring to that cause.
James: Yeah. Yeah. One of my favorite quotes from other Theresa is that you can do some things.
I can do some things, but together we can do great things. Right? And so. When our purposes align, different purposes align, we can bring greater impact to the world and to society. You know, I think sometimes, you know, for me, when I was trying to, you know, early on when I think about my, my career, my, my life, I sometimes identified my purpose with the assignment or the role that I was in.
And I, I think there's sometimes even with family structure that we can get so wrapped up in seasons of life, whether that's. Raising young kids or being [00:20:00] parents and so forth, that when that season comes to an end, we, you know, we feel like we've lost purpose or we've lost, you know, our, our north star of where we're going.
Right. And I know for myself, I had to, and we had this conversation before started that I had, you know, I was able to eventually work out that like in everything I do, here's the underlining purpose, right? Of what, yeah. So everything makes sense in my my world. How do you, how would you coach somebody to separate, you know, identity or purpose from their roles and responsibilities?
Jessica R.: Yeah, so I kind of covering that particular I idea in the introduction and I wrote the introduction last, right? Like I wrote the whole book and then I was like, you know what? One more thing. Your purpose is not your identity and your purpose is not your job.
James: Yeah.
Jessica R.: Your purpose is how you do. What you do, it's the flavor that you bring to any given relationship to any given role.
So yours [00:21:00] equip and empower people to live lives of significance, right? Like that's your purpose. Mine bind up, broken hearts, set people free. Mm-hmm. It's how I do what I do. So when I'm walking into Target and I see a checker who I can remember a day I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I'm with my girls and we're walking through Target and I said, Hey, how's it going to the gentleman who's checking us out?
And he was like, I was like, well, that's, you know, I, he's given me an indicator he's not alive. And so I'm just looking for ways to find him up, like, okay. Check out, do you need to be free in some way? Now, I didn't stand there and have an obnoxious conversation with him, but I thought, let me leave a little bit of freedom with him.
Let me leave a little bit of encouragement with him because he's not well. Yeah, it's how you do what you do, how you walk through life. And so how I would coach someone is I would look to see how tied together is their identity to their job. How tied, [00:22:00] how clear is it that it's. Your purpose is above your job.
James: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jessica R.: So can you articulate it and, you know, if your job is tied together with your, with your, your productivity or whatever, your identity is tied together with that, like, how do we begin to find your identity apart from who you are? Like who are you when you're not the vice president? Who are you when you're not the CEO?
Who are you like, okay. How do you want to show up to people? Now, morbidly, I coach them through like a, let's talk about your obituary. Like, let's think about the end of life. What do you want that obituary to say? Who do you wanna be at your funeral? Like, what kind of impact do you want to have left?
Usually that impact is a lot more holistic. Then I wanna re, you know, reach our revenue numbers for 2025.
James: Mm-hmm. You know, one of the things that's always frustrated me is knowing I should be supplementing my [00:23:00] health, but with so many options out there, who really knows what's actually helpful, right? But recently I started taking Life Pack Anti-Aging Formula supplements by Pharex, and I've been really impressed.
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You can check out both products using the link in the show [00:24:00] notes.
How does that play out in specifically like when you're coaching a business leader or like thinking about entrepreneur who's. Maybe stepping in to launch something or, you know, a creator who's creating content. Like how, how do you overlay this idea of purpose and alignment with, you know, 'cause what we do should be in alignment with our purpose.
Right? But how do you, how do you coach people in that space too?
Jessica R.: I probably treated it a little bit more like a, like an underlay and like a puzzle piece, you know? So yeah, again, it sounds like a formula because that's how I titled the book, but it's a little bit more of a journey and discovery. So it is sitting with that leader and figuring out where they are and why are you doing what you're doing.
That's a big one, right? Why are you doing what you're doing? What does success look like in your mind? How do you ensure that you don't get lost in the pursuit of this goal? So it's making sure that that. You know that aliveness [00:25:00] that we talked about, that liveliness, then that stays vibrant and aware because it's very easy to go through a side bowl, especially as a creator of insight, enthusiasm, activity, burnout, insight, enthusiasm, activity, burnout, and so.
Having some rhythms and routines that keep you well. Mm-hmm. This was a conversation I was having with someone this week. Hey, you're doing really well right now. What is going to keep you there? Because you are your most important asset as a business leader.
James: Yeah.
Jessica R.: And so your purpose is kinda that pilot light that I talk about.
So how do we keep that light lit? How do we keep that flame burning? That has to be an intentional set of behaviors, routine patterns that you put inside your life so that you can keep that fire going over the long term and that you're not beholden to what can feel like a roller coaster of energy and enthusiasm.
James: Yeah, that's amazing when you're talking about that. [00:26:00] My wife, Lisa and I, we work with married couples and one of the things that we do is help them find their unique snowflake design purpose for their marriage. You know, if you have, if you have two individuals who are uniquely designed with a purpose, when they come together, you know, they become one.
So what's that new purpose that God has put their marriage together uniquely to do? And one of the things we always talk about is that your purpose, your why will fuel your vision, what you're wanting to accomplish, a world. It really, the, the purpose is the fuel for it. And so that pilot, like, I love that, that it, it's.
It's that true north of like why you're doing what you're doing and it keeps you energized and keeps you focused on the future. So, well, I love the book and you know, if you haven't picked up the book yet, the book's in the show notes, uh, you need to pick it up. Yeah. My wife Lisa and I we're talking about she's getting ready to start a group of on confidence and clarity in leadership and she's actually getting copies of [00:27:00] the book to give each one of the people because it's, it's been such a powerful.
Tool just to begin to understand purpose and how you apply it to your life and live into the purpose as well. And great connection from just the, the spiritual aspect of it. Biblical aspect of it too, of like purpose isn't something mystical. It's not something out there. It's something that God has given us, right?
He's purposed us. Yes. And the other thing I love about what you share about the book is that purpose isn't for us, it's external impact, right? It's not just for us to. Have our purpose, but it should have impact into the circles of influence in our world, the, our families, and, you know, our communities and so forth.
So I, I wanna talk to you a little bit about what you're doing with Solomon Strategic Advisors and just your coaching platform. And you kind of have, have a really interesting journey in that because you went from education. Higher education to [00:28:00] working with some of the larger companies in the world.
Right. And coaching and consulting. Can you tell us a little bit about that journey, how that happened?
Jessica R.: Sure. Well, you know, it was a little bit of a discovery journey, and I tell a little bit of the story in the book. You know, this is how I recovered my desire, was the journey of leaving higher education, which I never thought I would do.
To start consulting and coaching. So in 2018, I had five different people ask me, what do you want? And they mattered to me and I couldn't answer them question. And so I, I went and said God in prayer, and I said, God, what do I want? You know, in, in the Psalms David says, oh God, all my desires lay open before you.
My groaning is not hidden from you 'cause said, God, you know what I want. Anyway, it long story short, it was very clear to me I needed to jump out and start doing this work. I didn't have a vision for what success could or would look like. I just was very clear that this was my next step. As I took my next step.
It [00:29:00] um, I got my very first client in the actual 10 minutes after I quit my job. I got involved with a client and that was. Kind of ridiculous grace. You know, that's the sort of thing of like, that doesn't happen. I can't tell that as like, if you do this, if you take a step of faith, you'll definitely get a call with a client.
Like that's not something that
James: Yeah,
Jessica R.: makes any sense at all. But it happened. And so that first client, I. Really became a huge supporter and referer of business. And then in that same year I started working with Google and then Google led to Microsoft and led to Dell and I, it's just been really a journey of.
My approach to it was, be faithful with whatever is in front of you. Like that was my actual mental, physical, spiritual approach was be faithful, do the work with whatever is in your hand. And I was as astonished as anybody that what came to my hand was the governor's office was, you know, some of the biggest technology companies [00:30:00] in the world, some of the biggest technology companies here locally before long.
You know, the business was growing and I needed a team and those, that was like fish jumping in the boat too. I mean, I had the most amazing previous executives start working with me and I. Honestly, it has been a journey of discovery and astonishment for me. Just serving, serving and trying to serve really, really well, serving with excellence and then allowing that work to produce new work.
So that maybe is a little bit of a, a squishy story, but it's the truth about how SOM and strategic advisors came to be.
James: Yeah. I
Jessica R.: joined Giant initially as Giant transformed their business model Then. It became necessary for me to start my own brand, my own company. And so that has been really fun. You know, so I think sometimes we think, you know, you know, you have a vision, you have a set of goals and action plans, so then you go and activate those goals and action plans to [00:31:00] actualize the vision.
And it's like sort like you kind of sort of do that, but there's a lot of figuring it out as you go. That I think happens for many and most entrepreneurs, and it certainly was the case for me.
James: I'm interested, you know, I think sometimes we hear the words like Google and Dell and Microsoft and we think these massive companies.
Was there ever like a, a sense be before you got into it? Because I, I think what we realize is that people are people, right? Uhhuh and the same leadership issues and struggles, even this area of purpose everybody deals with, doesn't matter what label or titles on the company, right? But was there a sense like when you're stepping into it because it came so quickly, like imposter syndrome?
Like who am I? Yeah. Like how is this happening?
Jessica R.: Yes. I, I remember initially having this sense that like, oh my gosh, who am I? Like how did I get in this room? You know, that's not [00:32:00] helpful. It's not helpful to walk in that sense of insecurity, that you also can't totally fake it till you make it. So I had to do.
A little bit. I mean this is where faith is super important to me. I literally used to sit in the parking lot outside of my first meeting and I would listen to that Hillsong, I am who, uh, who you say I am. Mm-hmm. And I would listen to that song and I'd be like, okay, I am the daughter of the most high King.
I can go where he says I can go. I am gonna, I'm gonna walk in and I'm gonna be a liberator to these people. Like my job, regardless of who's in front of me, is to bring lives and to, you know, help them find truth. And I remember calling my sister pretty close to after I just started and I was like, this is crazy.
I'm strangely good at this. Like, I don't understand how I'm good at this. It's just like, I walk in and it's kind of like my spiritual giftedness almost like. I can see what's going on. I can say something that helps the person. I can show the tools that we're using [00:33:00] and all of a sudden, like we're seeing clarity and movement.
And so it was almost like, you know, God knew I was gonna be effective and he had equipped me beforehand that I didn't know I was equipped until I started abusing the gifts he had given me.
James: Yeah, that's awesome. I, I'm, I'm interested, you know, business leaders and entrepreneurs. Are listening to this episode and what are some things that you've learned working with those different organizations that maybe are some big mistakes that leaders make and when trying to build healthy teams or cultures or some things that maybe, you know, when you go in, you kind of go, here are two or three things that you should do immediately to build a healthy team or culture.
Jessica R.: I think the things I do differently now than I did, even when I was in a, you know, formal organizational role is I think the, the importance of building relationships has never been clearer to me.
James: Mm-hmm.
Jessica R.: Like, I am a [00:34:00] super, let's get stuff done when we work together, we're having a good time. Like I'm so task and goal oriented.
That I don't naturally index towards, Hey, let's get to know each other. Let's get to know one another's story. Now, I love that and I actually care about that, but when it comes to time on task, I'm gonna always default to let's get work done. Mm-hmm. And so it's never been more clear to me the importance of just spending time getting to know, building trust.
I mean, I think it's Franklin heavy who talks about. You know, organizations move the speed of trust. Yep. That's the truth. Yeah. Like it's the truth and you have to do that. And if you're not doing that, and I think a lot of driven leaders are oriented like I am, I. Let's get stuff done. This vision is so compelling.
We need to, don't you see what I see? And the meaning that comes from the vision can eclipse the people that are gonna help us achieve the vision.
James: Yeah. And
Jessica R.: it [00:35:00] really does require trust and relationships. And then you don't do those two things. You're gonna turn people over, burn people out, and not understand why you're having the struggle that you're having.
James: Yeah. I think Covey actually says that when there's high trust, things move faster and are, uh, less expensive. And when there's low trust, things move slower and are more expensive. So there is, I wasn't gonna
Jessica R.: trust that's, it's just the truth. Yeah.
James: Yeah, it is. And so that building relational trust is such an i important piece of building healthy culture.
So. Okay. I have a few last questions for you. I wanna turn the corner to you being a female leader. Mm-hmm. And I know that, you know, I have a, a good friend who's be on, on the show, Katie Cole, who's a really strong female leader as well. And I know that there's challenges that come in high levels of leadership as a female leader, you know, and being a creative pioneer, you're pretty driven, pretty [00:36:00] strategic.
Yeah, you don't, don't need anybody put a, you know, fire under you to get going. So I'm sure that there's been times that you've been labeled as bossy or, you know, intense. You know, other words that unfortunately females are, that are strong leaders are labeled. So what would you say to a female leader that maybe is driven, you know, that high level executive leader or, you know, leading a lot of people who's been labeled.
Unfortunately the wrong way throughout their life.
Jessica R.: So I think a lot of people, and a lot of maybe like current algorithm advice would be, you're not intimidating. People are intimidated. Mm-hmm. And you just need to like, I mean there's a lot of just like, who cares? And you shouldn't care what people think.
And I think that advice is well intended and misguided because the reality is people do have an experience on the other side of our intensity.
James: Mm-hmm. That
Jessica R.: may [00:37:00] be wrongly shaped by social expectations, but it's their experience, it's their perception. So there's a gap between our intention and how people experience us.
So I think the advice I would give is don't. Take it personally, but do take it seriously.
James: Mm-hmm.
Jessica R.: So it can't be like, oh my gosh, I really am too much. Right. Like, that's where you're taking it into your identity. It's like, I am perfectly who God made me to be, and I don't need to dim my light for change, but I do need to figure out how to connect.
James: That's good. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, obviously. The work culture and society is coming along, but I, I still feel like there's those lids that, you know, either male leaders put on female leaders or female leaders put on female leaders. Right. You know, when Oh yeah, yeah. You know, when there's such a nurturing culture and, and many females and when you have a [00:38:00] really strong, intense driven female leader, that can be easy to label.
But I think that's great advice is like. What's it like to be on the other side of me? And I'm responsible for managing the perception of, or the reality of how people view me. Right? So I think that's such a great input.
Jessica R.: I think, Jim, I can say one more thing please. To those female leaders who might be listening is, and it has been immensely freeing to me to find other female leaders who are also driven.
James: Mm. You
Jessica R.: know, who are, I had a group of executive women friends. And I mean, it is a relief to me. I lead a women's faith and work group here in a city. It's a relief to me that there are other women who love their jobs as much as I knew, like I. It's a relief to them to see me. And so there are people in the world who see the world like you do, and if you'll find them and they don't give toxic, stupid social media advice, you know, like [00:39:00] if you'll find a couple of peers that you're like, blah, you're like me.
That is a true relief. So I would just encourage you to find somebody, one person who is as ambitious as you to be friends with.
James: That's really good. That's great. Okay, last question for you. If you could give one piece of advice to leaders who wanna live and lead with greater purpose, what would be the one thing that you would want them to leave with today?
Jessica R.: Okay, so James, my Uber driver two days ago asked me, what do you think the most important characteristic is of a leader?
James: Okay.
Jessica R.: And immediately what hopped into mind was, I think it's humility. So I think the advice I would give leaders is embrace humility. Because humility is the vehicle for learning.
Humility is the vehicle for leading. Humility is the vehicle progressed, and humility doesn't look like a shrinking yourself. It looks like rightly [00:40:00] understanding your giftedness and understanding how you utilize that as a tool to serve other people.
James: That's fantastic. Well, Jessica, thank you so much for, uh, spending some time on the podcast.
This has been really great and I'd love to have you back again to just to talk leadership and life and all that you're a part of. But I'm gonna put in the show notes all the ways that people can connect with you, and Strategic Solomon Strategic Advisors and just your world. And I would encourage everybody listening to pick up the Purpose formula, learn to be fully alive.
It's a great read and it will inspire and encourage you. So thanks Jessica. Thank you,
Jessica R.: James.
James: Jessica, thank you so much for being on the podcast. That was such a rich and meaningful conversation. And if you're like me, you're probably still thinking about the reminder. Your purpose isn't just what you do, it's how you show up in the world. And if you wanna go deeper, I wanna encourage you to pick up a copy of Jessica's new book, [00:41:00] the Purpose Formula, learn to be Fully Alive.
It's practical, thought provoking, and full of insights that will help you lead from a place of authenticity and alignment. You can find the link in the show notes. And if you're ready to realign your leadership.
With what matters most. Don't forget to sign up for the five day leadership reset@livelylast.com slash reset. You can also get our weekly leadership email rooted. It's a short, actionable reflection sent right to your inbox every week. Just text grow GROW to 6, 6, 8, 6 6 to subscribe. As always, if this episode encouraged or challenge you, Take a moment to rate, review and share the show with someone who needs it. You can also connect with me on Instagram and LinkedIn. I love to hear your takeaways. Until next time, live with intention, lead with purpose, and never settle for anything less than impact that last.