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Join NABR in partnership with Corp! Magazine for our CEO & Executive Thought Leadership Series, where Jennifer Kluge sits down with C-Suite Leaders to get their insight and expertise.
NABR is a service organization igniting greatness in companies and their people.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:12
Jennifer
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of CEO and Executive Thought Leadership. I am your host, Jennifer Kluge, and today we have a very special guest, Kim Boudreaux Smith, who is an expert in our subject of CEO and Executives and Leadership. So you walk the talk, Kim.
00:00:21:15 - 00:00:26:07
Kim
Thank you. Jennifer I yes, I attempt to do that every day. Perfectly imperfect.
00:00:26:11 - 00:00:52:16
Jennifer
Well I and let me let me tell everyone a little bit more about you. You shifted out of your own executive career into being a coach to help inspire others, to confidently claim their seat at the table. And you also founded her bold voice. And you work closely with executives and their teams, ensuring that everyone can contribute their best while driving results.
00:00:52:17 - 00:00:55:01
Jennifer
It's a pleasure to have you on the program.
00:00:55:03 - 00:00:58:03
Kim
Yeah. Thank you, Jennifer, for having me. I appreciate it.
00:00:58:05 - 00:01:22:21
Jennifer
It's so much fun to have you here, Kim, and you always have such wonderful energy. I know you spend a lot of time with leaders and coaching them, and I would gather that you have some common leadership styles and traits that you see in leadership. What advice would you give many of those that you coach? What advice would you give them?
00:01:22:21 - 00:01:43:16
Kim
Oh, well, you're right. I do see a lot of different leaders ship styles and skills. And one of the things, and I don't want this just to sound like, you know, it's a hot topic because it is a I mean, this has been around since the inception of time is that emotional intelligence piece for for leaders. And I'm not an expert in that.
00:01:43:19 - 00:02:02:14
Kim
So I want to clear the air real quickly on that. But the emotional intelligence and and it's not just the emotional intelligence of discovering emotionally where everyone else on the team is, that it's our own emotional intelligence, how we're going to be able to critically think. And these are all skills that we learn as we develop as adults.
00:02:02:14 - 00:02:38:06
Kim
But the other pieces of leadership I love when my clients can really boldly, authentically show up when they're leading meetings. Still staying. Candor. Kim Scott radical candor. Stay in candor, but really be authentic and and really show their human ness that they don't always have all the answers and how they. I love when my leaders learn how to pull in their teams, you know, at where specific people need to be at the table all the time and get curious and really engage.
00:02:38:09 - 00:03:08:16
Jennifer
All right. Well, that that's really good advice. So emotional intelligence many leaders don't have that. So that is one thing that they need to show up with. And then you also mentioned radical candor. And we can swim in radical candor all day long. Every day. And how how teams are trying to do radical candor. And as a leader, you want to give radical candor, but at the same time, you have that heavyweight title behind the radical candor.
00:03:08:16 - 00:03:26:02
Jennifer
So how do you deliver that kind of radical candor without, quote unquote, hurting someone's feelings or doing it in a way where it's received as from a caring, giving leadership potential? Yeah.
00:03:26:04 - 00:03:46:07
Kim
Great question, Jennifer. That is not something that can just happen overnight. I mean, this takes, you know, development of relationships among the team lead and the teams. And, you know, and I don't like to use the word employees because then it sounds like that we are worker bees. You know, these are teams. Team lead. There always has to be a team lead.
00:03:46:07 - 00:04:19:17
Kim
Because if we don't have a team lead, it's like trying to go through a major intersection without, you know, without the traffic lights. So there's always a team lead. But those team lead have to develop those relationships. And in turn, those teams have to also step in and embrace and develop those relationships. And there's always going to be there's a difference between intentionally creating harm and then, you know, delivering with compassion direct and boldness conversations and being able to probe curiosity and all that.
00:04:19:19 - 00:04:47:10
Kim
So a lot of I see, especially a lot of women, I see a lot of women. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Apologizing. We don't need to apologize when we walk into rooms, take up spaces. But there are times for we do. And even then we do have to apologize because we unintentionally maybe did create some harm. But when you're going in and you're like my Labrador retrievers with their tail in a China shops, just, you know, smash and everything, there's a lot of less intention there.
00:04:47:10 - 00:05:13:02
Kim
And there's too much of that. You're going down that road of that harm. So leaders do have to back up and learn how to create relationships. You know, not everybody is going to be best friends and teams. But we got to create those environments because we spend a lot of time at work. We need to create those environments where people can feel safe to come into a team leader offices sit down and just say, hey, you know, this is what's going on.
00:05:13:04 - 00:05:38:04
Jennifer
And even preferencing some conversations with you are incredible. I want you to be even better. I'm giving you this feedback to improve, but let me know what you think. This is what I think you know, opening that door for candor and transparency. I know you specialize in the how a CEO should show up, how they should present themself.
00:05:38:08 - 00:05:46:19
Jennifer
For those that haven't heard you present before, how should a CEO show up? How how should we present ourselves?
00:05:46:21 - 00:06:08:07
Kim
Well, I love the human word. I like to see a human. I actually I'm going to I'm going to reflect this back to you, Jennifer, because I. Oh yes. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh you are you're an, an amazing leader and and I know your team can say that too because your executive team has been with you for a long time.
00:06:08:07 - 00:06:42:23
Kim
And that in itself says a lot. But I love every time I'm in a room and you take a stage and not necessarily walk up stairs and stage platform, stage room, you have such a an inviting, warm, compassionate or about you. And so that's your that's one of your sources. That's one of your spot. You know, I think leaders need to show up more compassionate, more caring, because it's not all about problem, solution, passion driven go.
00:06:42:23 - 00:07:15:12
Kim
And we're plowing people over and then the passion gets mistaken for impatient and lack of, you know, lack of compassion and too direct. But I think we need to learn, first of all, all of us adults, especially leaders like yourself who have a lot of responsibility. We need to learn to go back to how how kids, how we used to be kids and let some of that pressure off and have some fun and show up with compassion and get curious.
00:07:15:12 - 00:07:42:19
Jennifer
Curious is a great word. Curious is a great word because so many times when leaders show up, they think they have to have the answers. Present the facts, present the data, present the strategy. But being curious and asking questions. A friend once said that his secret sauce is every time he meets with someone, his. His secret sauce is tell me more, tell me more.
00:07:42:22 - 00:07:43:09
Jennifer
Yeah.
00:07:43:11 - 00:08:11:19
Kim
Those are my tell me more. Those are my three favorite words as a coach. Tell me more. Because, Jennifer, you could say, you know. Hey, Kim. Hi. How are you? That weather's really hot out there today. Well, hey, Jennifer, tell me more, because I'm over here. I got a scarf on. I don't think it's that warm. You know, we we have, we have, we as humans, we we take on assumptions as opposed to just simply saying, tell me more.
00:08:11:19 - 00:08:37:19
Kim
And as leaders, like I said, you know, I mean, working with CEOs of very, you know, tier one organizations, they're on a mission, but it's getting them to slow down, just simply say, hey, Jennifer, how was your weekend? Yeah. You know, you know, wow. Well, how was your day yesterday? Oh, how are you doing today? You know, as opposed to Gene so focused to get into that meeting and what's going to happen.
00:08:37:19 - 00:08:38:13
Jennifer
Yeah.
00:08:38:15 - 00:08:43:13
Kim
And just getting curious how are you. Tell me more, tell me more. My three favorite words.
00:08:43:15 - 00:09:03:21
Jennifer
Yeah. Well, you know, for a lot of leaders there and back to back high pressure meetings or they have something coming up next. So I think the the misperception is, is that they don't care or they're only focused on the business we're in reality, they're just trying to get through the day and get the results going right, because that's what they're held to a standard for.
00:09:03:21 - 00:09:31:09
Jennifer
That's what the green board requirements are, is to drive the results. And lately in the last five years, there's been a lot of pressure. There's been back to back marathons. There's no sprints anymore. It's the long haul. So I can see both sides of that. I can see where someone is just trying to do their job, but it can be misinterpreted as not caring or not having enough time for someone.
00:09:31:11 - 00:09:49:03
Kim
And going from that, if I could interject Jennifer and go from that, not caring also too, it could also look eventually like, oh, you're this one person when we see you, but behind closed doors you're this other person and that inauthentic authenticity starts being question.
00:09:49:05 - 00:10:14:01
Jennifer
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, there's all kinds of leaders, young leaders, female leaders, male leaders, second generation, family business, you know, so many different demographics out there. And I would imagine that they need different coaching. So can you walk us through a few of the different demographics and what advice you would give for each group?
00:10:14:04 - 00:10:45:10
Kim
That's a good one, because you're right. And you know what it's like. I mean, it's like your your business. I mean, you know, it's it's family and stuff. But we have so many different, you know, generational, upbringings and, and skills and training. And then you throw in social media and technology and, and things like that is I believe as different generations of leaders are coming up is I imagine and I, I like to see a lot of mind leaders.
00:10:45:10 - 00:11:06:06
Kim
They have a quite a diversity at their executive roundtable. And they love, you know, the younger ones that are up and coming to, first of all, to mentor and give them this space at the table. The boy, oh boy. I mean, you give, I laugh, you give this young, younger generation five seconds with the brand new iPhone and they got the whole thing.
00:11:06:06 - 00:11:32:01
Kim
Figure it out. A year later, I'm still trying to figure out, you know, a couple different groups. It's it's it's the older the older generational leadership has a lot to be brought to the table and so does the younger. And then we of course, we have the in between. It's being able to everyone to pause and get curious as opposed to getting frustrated and and give people into their strengths.
00:11:32:01 - 00:11:50:11
Kim
I mean, if you got someone on your team who's just really hot with social media, I don't do the social media. I mean, especially that's something that, you know, us being a little older, we've had to learn to grow into that. Or, you know, if you got someone that's really strong with technology, I can't handle that stuff over fast enough because I don't want to be a pro.
00:11:50:13 - 00:12:03:01
Kim
So it's a matter of looking at that executive table and having that diversity of the skillset around that table.
00:12:03:03 - 00:12:36:01
Jennifer
Yeah, and bringing everyone in, I would imagine, you know, we can just chit chat here for a little bit. So I and I was in my first meeting in this position, I was in my first meeting, I was pretty young and it was a it was a social mixer before the, the meeting. And I'm there with all these big, big executives and I'm standing there and, you know how awkward it is when you're in a circle trying it with a cup of coffee, trying to have a conversation.
00:12:36:01 - 00:13:04:12
Jennifer
And they were talking about the economics and things that were happening. And I think for young professionals and young leaders, young CEOs, I would gather that they have to prove themselves pretty quickly. In that situation that I was in, I jumped in right into the economics conversation and they said, yeah, but when this happened, that this happened and, you know, this market did this.
00:13:04:12 - 00:13:41:07
Jennifer
And then they looked at me and I was part of the conversation. So sometimes I think you have to force your way in with that skill set. So for example, if there's executives, young executives out there that to your point, have strong social media skills. They can jump into the conversations in the boardrooms or wherever and say, you know, I like that idea, and I'm going to add to it with the social media package around that, and we're going to do some digital metrics, and we're going to get X number of impressions, because that's a good idea and I'm going to add to it or whatever needs to happen.
00:13:41:07 - 00:13:49:15
Jennifer
So there is a little bit of, for lack of a better word manipulation that needs to happen. Yeah. As leaders.
00:13:49:17 - 00:14:09:20
Kim
Yeah. Especially the young leaders, I mean they it's you're right. It's almost well it's a pressure and it's a societal pressure that we that we all embrace and say, oh, they're young, you know, and they're new. And boy, they got to prove themselves. But, you know, if they're very strong in a specific area, then they need to step out.
00:14:09:20 - 00:14:35:10
Kim
Like what you did step into lean into that conversation around the economics. Because even though at that time, many years, years ago, you were a little bit younger, you bring a different set of eyes to the topic, to the conversation that maybe the set of the older eyes, no pun, no pun intended or no whatever. You know, small things in a different lens that they've been seeing for years, a different lens.
00:14:35:16 - 00:14:56:07
Kim
But we all have something to bring to a table. Here's the catch is we need to be prepared to bring things to the table. We have to be wearing that beautiful suit of confidence. Even though we don't have all the answers and, you know, not everybody is going to be open to that. It may take time for those shifts and those changes.
00:14:56:11 - 00:14:59:11
Kim
We need to just keep showing up to that.
00:14:59:13 - 00:15:26:23
Jennifer
Yeah. And so for those different demographics, to kind of sum up, what I'm hearing that you're saying is we all have diversity of thought from our backgrounds, whether we're young, we're female, we're second gen, whatever it may be. And to bring those diverse thoughts to the table with a result that could happen from that. So thank you. Thank you for that.
00:15:26:23 - 00:15:52:07
Jennifer
That's that's fun. I would imagine you see more of what leaders are doing wrong than right. Well, let's talk about that. What are the common things that you see leaders doing wrong. Like as if you could swim in the details without embarrassing anyone. If you could give some examples, that would be great. If you can't keep the the guilty innocent on this conversation, what are what are they doing wrong?
00:15:52:07 - 00:16:14:11
Kim
Well, I see quite a few things. I see a lot of leaders that come from their heart, and they want more for their teams, but the leaders are showing up. So they're asking for something from the, you know, from the team, but they're not showing up. It's almost like, oh, I am not raise children. But let's use a parenting in children analogy here.
00:16:14:11 - 00:16:37:11
Kim
Oh, I want my child to be I want my children to put their electronics down at dinner time. But the parent is the first to pick up the electronics. So it's things like that. And I'm not saying the electronics, but I see that with leaders, I also see leaders say one thing and they mean another. And if you want to create mistrust and that's a tough bridge, you can be rebuilt.
00:16:37:11 - 00:17:05:05
Kim
But that's a tough bridge to rebuild is leading from mistrust in sharing, you know, fear and teams not feeling like, the team leads doors open and that they can't come to. So it creates teams feeling like they have to, I don't like this analogy. Fake it until you make it or they have to say and show up based upon what they think that the leader is feeling and thinking that day.
00:17:05:05 - 00:17:27:19
Kim
There's that. I see leaders that are very passionate, that can turn into some impatience because they're in the fifth meeting and they're still or they're still discussing the problem. They have gotten to the solution, which has a lot of the responsibility of the team lead. You know, bring in the whole team. Bring it. Okay, set the timelines after the meeting.
00:17:27:19 - 00:17:56:04
Kim
Who's responsible for what? What kind of support do they need if they're taking on this task? I see a lot of stuff like that. I see a lot of leaders that are sweeping things underneath the rugs, because they don't want to directly deal with team behaviors. Yeah, you know. Yes, yes. So, you know, there's a lot of things I think I think leading the team, which I am, I personally have not done in years, I've done that in my corporate role.
00:17:56:06 - 00:18:19:14
Kim
I was leading, I was leading big teams, started here locally and then state and then went into a regional position and was traveling all over. But I think I'm going to say this and then hang on after I say this, let me explain it. I think leading the team is like trying to lead a very safe and effective family.
00:18:19:14 - 00:18:47:15
Kim
There's no rulebook, there's no playbooks. And I'm not insinuating the teams are, you know, a little three year olds that you're trying to micromanage. It's like having a family and making sure the family is safe, being felt, seen and heard. And of course, there's provisions and there's the boundaries of within that team, you know, so there's a lot of things that we can apply it as we are raising families.
00:18:47:17 - 00:19:12:01
Jennifer
There's definitely been a shift to leading the whole person rather than leaving the team member. That has been a recent shift, I would say, in the last ten years is to treat the person as a whole person and their success in their life and in their career. Is your success as a leader? I think that's a really good trend.
00:19:12:03 - 00:19:40:19
Jennifer
And just to recap, what you had just said is, is what leaders are doing wrong, making sure they walk the talk, making sure that they're patient, empowering the team and clearing the road for them to get those projects done and to not avoid the real problems. And I personally think avoidance is one of the big ones. From the leaders that I have seen, there's an pink elephant in the room and no one's talking about it because we all don't want to deal with that.
00:19:40:19 - 00:20:02:10
Jennifer
But that's the job is to deal with it, and to write those pink elephants down on a piece of paper and say, okay, what are we doing about this? So, yeah, make it real. Now, I, I would imagine there's a lot of tools for CEOs and executive leaders. What do you recommend most often for them? Is it a book?
00:20:02:10 - 00:20:09:00
Jennifer
Is it a speaker? What would you recommend for CEOs and executive leaders? I want to self self-reflect.
00:20:09:02 - 00:20:38:15
Kim
It will all depends upon the individual. So not all. One thing here works for everybody, but I like to begin checking in. A lot of my leaders at lunchtime like to work through their lunch, and I'd like to take that, whether it's 30 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever they're pausing for, as long as they're not in a lunch meeting and they're alone, is I like to begin there and taking the first five minutes, set that plate of food down during your inbox off, turn your phone off first five minutes.
00:20:38:15 - 00:20:57:03
Kim
Just look at the color that is on your plate. You know the different colors of the food those first couple bites feel into the chewing. It's a mindfulness exercise and just to breathe and pause and then go if you want while you're eating, want to read the news and get caught up on some non-work stuff, so to speak?
00:20:57:05 - 00:21:29:23
Kim
Yeah, I'm a big proponent on how are you starting your day? And it doesn't have to be an hour long, meditative, whatever that may be. I mean, you know, we all are human. We spend a certain amount of time in front of a mirror, whether it's brushing our teeth or shaving your face or women, you know, putting makeup on or whatever, you can do some quick breathing mindfulness exercises when you're going through that so that you're not starting off flying out that door and trying to catch that train for the rest of the day.
00:21:29:23 - 00:21:54:18
Kim
So I like a little mindfulness things implemented throughout the day and then ending your day with something. It could be, I don't know, climb into bed in it's three guttural, deep breaths. You know, hand on your chest, hand on your gut, feel the expansion. And then, I don't know, read your book or turn on Big Bang Theory and decompress for the day.
00:21:54:20 - 00:22:20:02
Jennifer
The a lot of what you just described is yoga related yoga meditation type things. And I have seen and this program to almost every leader has some sort of form of sport or exercise in it. But you're reminding in addition that we need to add the brain exercise. Keep keep yourself emotionally whole and present.
00:22:20:04 - 00:22:21:23
Kim
Yes, absolutely. Yes.
00:22:21:23 - 00:22:49:05
Jennifer
You know, I, I, I like to swim in this question a lot. I think the reality of what leadership is and what who leaders are and the myths about them. Now, there are the bad characters that you see on the news. There are the bad portrayals, but most executives are something very different than the stereotype that that represents.
00:22:49:07 - 00:23:04:11
Jennifer
How would you describe the leaders in reality? The people that you work with, what are they like? What do they care about? You know, there's some ness and then there's reality.
00:23:04:15 - 00:23:35:15
Kim
Well, what I see with a lot of the leaders that I work with, they care very deeply about their families. They care very, very deeply about the mission that the organization is heading towards creating impact and change there. There are some, you know, there's some gaps here with some of these leaders that they have this compassionate side. But sometimes and that could come into the emotional intelligence piece, is they have a hard time getting from this piece to over here.
00:23:35:15 - 00:24:15:07
Kim
There's a gap, and it's just a matter of being able to slow down and turn and, and and being gentle and grace graceful with ourselves of navigating, maneuvering through a lot of this, of these things. But, I mean, the leaders I work with, oh my God, they're so they're so passionate about impact in change. And they're, they're passionate about their teams and how to how to retain, you know, you know, the teams and and to make sure that that their teams are feeling heard and that that where they're at is a great place to be.
00:24:15:07 - 00:24:48:07
Kim
And if it's not, what can they do to change it? I mean, I see so much of that, unfortunately, the last five years, our society has always been fast paced, especially when you added the land of internet and technology. We're going faster than we ever have, and I think a lot of these leaders have got to learn how to put the phone down, pause everything, especially when they're in meetings, and become very attentive with their team and listen to what they are saying by simply asking questions.
00:24:48:07 - 00:24:52:00
Kim
And, you know, the three of my favorite three favorite words tell me more, tell me more.
00:24:52:02 - 00:24:59:06
Jennifer
Yeah. The the they also say to walk the four corners. Walk the four corners. Talk to everyone.
00:24:59:08 - 00:25:01:08
Kim
Yeah. Yes. Yeah yeah.
00:25:01:10 - 00:25:31:07
Jennifer
Yeah. Thank you for that. Well said. Well said one of the, the themes. And we chatted briefly on this already. But the last six seven years has been resilience. Yes. And embracing change and lots of it. We're seeing many leaders losing their momentum, losing their energy. And it's as we said, this is back to back marathons. This isn't one one sprint.
00:25:31:07 - 00:26:00:05
Jennifer
And and quite honestly, executives are used to 1 or 2 big things a year. Yes, this has been nonstop, 1 or 2 long, tedious things a year with back to back overlap with with other things happening. The world keeps changing. We keep learning. And I hate this word now because it's overused, but the pivoting is nonstop. Nonstop. And there's a lot of change within organizations.
00:26:00:05 - 00:26:20:01
Jennifer
There's a lot of rapid growth out there as well, and there's a lot of merger, acquisition change, culture change. People change, leadership change. We're just playing to surrounded by it. So what advice would you give to those burning the candle at both ends due to external forces on their business?
00:26:20:04 - 00:26:45:19
Kim
First of all, I think all leaders need to make sure they're in some sort of a CEO type leadership mastermind where they're sitting with other like minded individuals so they can hear that they're not alone in other ideas, other suggestions, other advice, other insights. What's working? What's not working among Pierce? Number one. Number two, we as leaders do not have the answer.
00:26:45:19 - 00:27:09:07
Kim
Like we said early on in this, when we open up this interview, we don't have the answer to everything. Bring external support and forces, bring in outside of the business. Some fresh eyes support, whether it's coaches, consultants, you know, some facilitators, whatever that may look like. So the leader can pull back and not have to be the driving force of everything.
00:27:09:09 - 00:27:35:18
Kim
And number three leaders, you we all got to have time off. I mean, we schedule meetings, schedule that time off, you know, and don't just wait for a Saturday or Sunday because Saturday or Sunday may not roll around. Schedule that time off. Making sure that we're doing that mindful soulful self-care. And and again, don't let me stop anybody from going out and going for A5K run or whatever.
00:27:35:18 - 00:27:48:10
Kim
It's not my cup of tea, but we've got to have that mental peace as as well. And being able to turn as a leader and ask for help.
00:27:48:14 - 00:27:52:02
Jennifer
Yeah, that asking for help is hard for some people.
00:27:52:04 - 00:27:54:16
Kim
It is, it is.
00:27:54:18 - 00:27:55:08
Jennifer
It is.
00:27:55:08 - 00:28:18:22
Kim
But once you start doing it and you're around, especially when you're around like minded colleagues, it's it becomes easier, becomes more supportive. I mean, last, last week I was facilitating two roundtables in the insight. And those roundtables were just amazing. And to hear everybody, you know, they're all colleagues, all supporting in what they were bringing ideas to the table.
00:28:19:02 - 00:28:30:12
Kim
One person is like, oh my gosh, I never thought about that. Oh my gosh. You know, we're trying this and this is the results that we are having. We need that help. We we all need that support.
00:28:30:14 - 00:28:54:15
Jennifer
Yeah. And it allows the team around you to rise up as well. If you're carrying the burden or whatever is happening and you're not saying this is the problem, this is what we need help with. Yes. Then how can those around you learn those skill sets? And how can we create that succession plan leadership. If we if we don't hand it off or ask for help.
00:28:54:16 - 00:28:55:12
Jennifer
Right.
00:28:55:14 - 00:29:00:19
Kim
Exactly.
00:29:00:21 - 00:29:15:10
Jennifer
You know, we all have personal traits and and we touched on this quite a bit in habits that, that successful CEOs have. What do you think is the most common success traits in style of leadership?
00:29:15:15 - 00:29:37:19
Kim
Oh my gosh, that resilience. The fact that they can see the big picture, that's that's a whole nother piece of what the leaders I work with. They're big thinkers, they're visionaries. But a lot of times, a lot of times they have this they have this great idea on Monday, a new idea on Wednesday, and I've changed all the ideas up by Friday.
00:29:37:19 - 00:29:57:08
Kim
In there frying all the teams, you know, so you don't want to rob a leader from their from their visions, but it's helping a leader, being able to keep those visions and bring them down and ground them so that they can be more focus and, and stay in their lane, so to speak, you know, so there's a lot of resilience.
00:29:57:10 - 00:30:26:11
Kim
There is the diligence that there's compassion in these leaders. Sometimes that compassion looks something differently to someone else's eyes. But boy, I really I there's such you know, I've heard so many people say, oh my gosh, a great leader has high IQ. Not necessarily. You know, their emotional intelligence is continuously developing. They don't necessarily need to go off to Yale and Harvard to be a good leader.
00:30:26:13 - 00:30:40:24
Kim
You know, it doesn't take the most smartest person in the room to be a wonderful leader. There's a many, many, many traits. My favorite one with my clients, I see, is that compassion come through where they're really caring for the team.
00:30:41:01 - 00:31:13:20
Jennifer
Yeah, I see I've seen a lot of great leaders that are scrappy. They can they can pull things together that you didn't think were even possible. Yeah. And they're like, oh, we're in this situation, alright, let's do this. But but by by doing that they're creating hope though too. I think, I think one of the things that great leaders do is they create hope and energy for their teams, both at an individual level, which is really hard to do and as a strategic thought process.
00:31:13:20 - 00:31:19:12
Jennifer
Or here's where the company's going, and this is why we're going to get through this or what have you.
00:31:19:14 - 00:31:42:15
Kim
Yeah, yeah. If I could interject and Jennifer, I love facilitation yesterday and the two co-owners, we're talking to a small company but very darn mighty. I mean, they are mighty. And the one owner opened it up and it was such a nice opening. How he stood there and said, this is our growth. This is what our we were shooting for.
00:31:42:18 - 00:32:17:22
Kim
I don't know, just 10% growth. And we had I can't remember what I will just I'll just say 15 just to keep the numbers in my head. But we did 15%. And yet he applauded and said, thank you to all of you for doing this. And then he went as far is going to each department that was sitting into the room and acknowledge everybody, all the work that they're doing and even at some point when they went into another country, they thought that they were just going to lose their minds over all of this and how everything everybody was creating the hope and how everyone stuck together.
00:32:18:03 - 00:32:30:03
Kim
And that to me is a very compassionate, heartfelt leader. And then the other partner got up and she did something very, very similar. It was just so nice of an opening of an afternoon.
00:32:30:05 - 00:32:33:03
Jennifer
Yeah, that that sounds like charisma to me.
00:32:33:05 - 00:32:37:23
Kim
Yes, very much endeavor. So these two do have charisma and endearing.
00:32:37:23 - 00:33:07:20
Jennifer
Charismatic. You want to be in a room with them because they're fun and they bring energy, right? That that sounds like what you just described in, you know, before we conclude here, some some leaders fall into their positions. Some leaders purposely sought out to be successful. Some entrepreneurs stumbled upon a good thing and, and led the team to the next level.
00:33:07:22 - 00:33:36:13
Jennifer
But some some folks don't understand the where they're heading to, you know, they're thinking, oh, I'm gonna, I don't know, make it rich or I'm going to run this big company or just a natural path of their career. And they stepped into a EVP role. Next thing you know, their president, next thing you know, they're CEO. For any of those on that path, how would you answer why they should lead?
00:33:36:18 - 00:34:02:23
Kim
Gosh, great. Great question. And I'm I'm going through my whole client base of where how it where everyone is at and how they got there, what their intentions were and stuff. I mean, I have a couple people that are in president roles and EVP roles. They never intended on being in those positions, and I think that's why they're very successful where we are a society that.
00:34:03:00 - 00:34:17:21
Kim
It's okay. We've got this position now we start thinking what's next? And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But that's a society of where we come from and what that is all about. Excuse me.
00:34:17:23 - 00:34:47:24
Kim
I, I don't believe every person is meant to own a business. Just because we have a dream doesn't mean it's meant to be on a plate. I don't believe every person is meant to be in a leadership role, even though I believe every person is a leader. I think for any leader, whether it's middle, you know, emerging leader, middle management, you know, senior VP, VP, executive, VP whatever, and CEO, I believe there needs to be so many ingredients.
00:34:47:24 - 00:35:11:23
Kim
It's like you and I just can't sit down. Here's my analogy. It's not going to be just two ingredients to the cake. There's multiple ingredients to a cake. And we're all going to possess stronger ingredients to our leadership roles than we do in others. If you're on a trajectory to become a leader and that's what you want a boy, push your sleeves up.
00:35:11:24 - 00:35:28:23
Kim
Get yourself a coach. Take some. Get into organizations. Be around others. There are a few steps ahead of you. Look. Read. Live. Learn. You know, before you really step into that, I hope that answers your question, because that was a tough one. You know, it's.
00:35:29:00 - 00:35:53:23
Jennifer
Well, you should point and everyone should lead. Not everyone should lead. And I need to say, not for me, not for me. But, you know, I think for those of us that are leaders or are on the path for leadership, we get you. We get the keys to the car, we get to put people in the seats. We get to make things happen.
00:35:54:00 - 00:36:30:18
Jennifer
We have the privilege of using the power and the resources of the organization to help others. If we choose, we can help others within the team if that. If that's your calling. There's also we can inspire others to be the best their best selves while hitting a goal. And it's very similar to sports. Here's a goal, here's a target, here's what winning looks like and making people feel good and building their self-esteem to get on a path to lead and to teach people how to fail and fail gracefully.
00:36:30:20 - 00:36:48:18
Kim
Right. And that and that failing our opportunities there. Those are opportunities that we get to live, learn and and grow from. And you're right. That's a great analogy of sports. I mean, it's not just about the quarterback of the football team. It's their whole team and how they are pulling their whole team up.
00:36:48:20 - 00:37:01:19
Jennifer
Exactly right. Exactly right. Well, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us today, cam. It was wonderful to have you on the program and, keep fighting the good fight out there and keep shining bright.
00:37:01:21 - 00:37:04:00
Kim
Thank you so much, Jennifer.
00:37:04:02 - 00:37:07:08
Jennifer
All right. Be well. Thank you everyone. We'll see you next time.