Leading With Authenticity

Hello, everyone. Happy Monday. Jean Mitchell's here. Wishing all of you an amazing, amazing Monday. Calling in from Minneapolis today, talking about how to lead with authenticity. Good morning. Good morning. Hello, Patrice. Hello, Speak Wonder. Patricia, hello, Speak Wonder. My trusted advisor has joined the session. Always, always joining in. His name is Major, by the way. And the running joke is he has major FOMO because he really likes to be around. His love language is touch. And I am so grateful to have this warm little being hovering around me.

So today on Leading With Authenticity, I wanted to start with something interesting. I'm going to Speak Wonder. I'm kind of doing this for you. I have this lovely book called Ceremony. You might enjoy this one. And I'm going to read you guys something today. The people, places and things that are destined for you, the ones that give you as much energy as they take. What's meant for us becomes a symbiotic force. When we move towards what's right, what's right moves towards us. So the reason I wanted to start off with that little phrase, that little paragraph, that little snippet of inspiration, is when I think about all of our roles in our day jobs and the companies that we've worked for, whether it's your first job in high school or a job before you retired, or maybe you're retired and you're looking for communities to be a part of what energy we put out there into the world is the energy that we get back, Right?

Speak Wonder. Yes, definitely order it. I use it in my sound bass a lot and I just read it often. But the energy that we put out there. So if I'm having that day, and we all have those days, right, where. Where it seems like there's a plot twist all the time, left and right plot twist. And I call bumps in the road or I call things crashing or anything that might be going negative, I call it a plot twist because it wasn't on our plan. It maybe wasn't what we thought or how we thought our day was going to go.

But no matter what, we adjust. Every single time we have a plot twist in our day, in our life, we've adjusted. And how do I know that we're here right now? We've made it. So whatever plot twists we've had in the past, we've made it. But we always have that choice that always have that opportunity. So even if we're going into a tough call with our manager or we know that the call is going to be bad, 90% of the time, what is going to happen in Our head is going to be worse than what actually happens on that call or in that meeting most of the time.

And the reason being is we start to create scenarios in our mind of how we think it's going to go. And we do that sometimes as a defense mechanism to prepare ourselves for getting into that tough conversation. I know I Jean, when someone sends me a text that says we need to talk and it's somebody on the team at the Spin studio or maybe a client of mine, my first thought is, they're resigning, they're leaving me. And sometimes they just have a really great idea, sometimes I'm right. And that's okay, because what happens then is it just.

It prepares me to think through different scenarios so that when I get on that call or that conversation, I can respond appropriately because I've already started working through some of the emotion audit. Now, as Speak Wonder says, there we are all overthinkers. I think I could say that, ask that question to anybody. Chronic overthinkers. It's a protection mechanism. However, that is also energy that we're creating. That is energy that we're putting out there. So if we go into those calls having overthunk, what energy are we putting into that conversation and how might we shift it differently?

When we look back on our careers, we look back on our days, look back on our lives, we haven't handled every situation perfectly. But when I look ahead to what's to come, I always have the choice on what happens next. So maybe I do something different than what I did in the past because maybe that didn't work. Maybe it did work and I want to carry that forward. But it is about the people and the places that help to shift the direction in which we go. And if we remember that at any point in time, the person on the other end of the call or the other side of this stream of video is a human.

And that human just simply has a different perspective than we do. They have a different experience, they have a different life of experiences. And when we can try to humanize it a little bit, it makes some of those conversations a little easier. But it also helps us to remember what we want to put out and what we want to put into any conversation. So I'll give you an example. This morning I was on a call and I am so excited to be planning a women's in person event for a local company in Minnesota here.

And they're looking for 100 participants. And it's the first time in a few years that they've been able to bring a group of people together like this for an event like this. And the whole morning is around finding calm and wellness. And we've scripted out different rooms that people can go through and have different experiences to try to see what works for them. And today it was a plot twist on this call, this preparation call, because they were like, gene, you're going to do the introduction. And I was like, great.

They and they asked me, well, what are you going to say? And I was like, I didn't know that was part of the call for today. So I was in an immediate plot twist. But everyone on the call is so excited about what's to come with this event that I leaned into their energy. I asked them a few questions about what's important to them. Right. Speak wonder. And I gleaned from their energy and their passion for this event. And I came up with a short script of what these 30 months would look like. And I asked, do you want to have slides?

Do you not want to have slides? And then some of them said, yes, slides, but let's do slides where when they look at the slides, they find calm. And so in that moment, I took an opportunity to glean off the energy that they were putting out there and their ideas so that we could create my 30 minute introduction in a way that was going to resonate with them in all the ways that they think. Now I could have done that differently. I could have said, I'm not ready for that. Nobody told me that's what we needed today.

And I could have reacted and responded in a very different manner. And there's a right or wrong in that. Right. It's just understanding that we're creating and co creating things every single day with people around us every single day. And there are going to be times where we have the energy to hold space, to co create. There are going to be times where people are holding space for us because maybe we're not there in that mental spot to co create. But when I look back, and when you look back, we are going to remember that every step of where we are today, we co created that.

It's the people and the places and the experiences that help us move forward. It is that symbiotic force that we work together with because we're not on an island. So when I think with leading, with authenticity, it's deciding every day who do I want to be today? And every single day that can be really different because we all have life that happens. I've shared in past livestreams about my grief for the loss of my parents over the last two years and things that I've done to try to process through that.

And I've gotten him here some days and I haven't felt bubbly and energetic. But that's who I am in that moment. And in that moment I want you to see who I am in that moment. Because maybe in that moment you needed to see that. Or maybe in that moment there's something we can co create and learn from one another with. So as you move throughout your days, whether you are a leader because of how you show up, a leader in your family, a leader in your friend group, a leader in your community, again, leading isn't about title and organization.

Leading is how do I intentionally want to show up today. And if I'm having a day, I'm not going to put that on other people. Or at least I'm going to try not to. But maybe on those days I give everybody a heads up. Guys, today's a day because if we go back to what we started with, it's the people and the places and we co create what happens next. And we're going to have not great days. We're going to have overthinking days like Speak Wonder and I do. We're going to have days that are going to be plot twists every step we take.

And those days can be extremely draining unless you're someone who's like, I just go with the flow all the time. So my invitation to you is to simply pause, check in. How do you want to show up today? What do you need around you to show up that way? Do you need a candle on your desk? Because that's going to shift it. Do you need some essential oils? Because scents can really make a change. Is there something else that is needed right now that can help you just lead in a way that feels good to you.

So when you go to bed tonight, you can look back and be like, ah, today was a tough day, but you know what? Nailed it. Or today was an incredible day. How might I create another one like that tomorrow? And then my second invitation is for you to think about who are the people that you came across today? Maybe it's the same people you see every day. Or maybe it's somebody passed across walking on the street that you saw listening on their headphones, singing to themselves and dancing. What do they inspire in you?

When we take the time to just look up and look around, we are getting impacted and touched by people that we know and we don't know all day long so let's see what we can take away today on this beautiful Monday, what we can co create together. And let's see what that symbiotic force is that moves us forward so that every single day we can lead with authenticity. We can lead in a way that feels truly organic and natural to us. So with that team, I hope you have an amazing Monday. And if you want the book again, it's Ceremony by Brianna west or West Speak Wonder.

I love that you said that. I had an unexpected moment of joy with a homeless man today. Okay, if you want to bear with me for one second, I'll stay on just a second longer. I outside of our Spin studio the other day, there was a group of homeless people. And they were laughing. They just looked like they were having fun, but they had a dog with them, and I'm a sucker for a dog. And so I parked my car and I was unloading some stuff, and I walked over and I happened to have dog biscuits in my car because I have a dog.

And I asked if I could give them the treats for the dog. And this boy was like, the dog does tricks. And he said, I'm watching the dog for a friend of mine. And maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but I trusted him. And so I gave him the treat and he gave it back to me. And he said, here, take this piece. The dog can do tricks. And he told me what tricks the dog could do, and my heart just melted. And he was like, do you have any money by any chance? And I knew that that was coming. He goes, because I really need to get some food for the dog.

He could ask for anything. And there were four people around. And I looked around and I said, okay, does anybody need anything right now? And one lady, she's like, I could go for some ice cream. Another lady asked for some applesauce. And I asked the kid that had the dog. I was like, would you. Do you need anything? He's like, I would just really like a soda. And so I literally, I went to the grocery store and a bag of dog food. I got a dog toy, some treats, some applesauces in the pouches that they could just carry around with them.

Bottles of water, soda, some ice cream. I got some sandwiches, too, because I feel like people need to eat. And I just showed up and gave them all the stuff. And I happened to collect things like blankets and pillows and socks and mittens because we live in Minnesota. It's going to get cold. And homelessness is a reality of life. It's reality of being in a city. And so when I pulled back up, the boy. I looked for the boy with the dog, and he wasn't there. And then he came around the car with the dog, and the dog came up to me and remembered me and just loved me.

And so I gave him this little bag that had a pillow and a blanket and some socks in it. I put the dog food, the dog treat. I gave the dog the dog toy. She carried it around with her, and I packed him up a little bag. And then he took the bag and he walked away with the dog and his new bag of stuff and gave the snacks to the people across the street. And they were over the moon to have ice cream that day. And so I share that with you as a moment of people, places, experiences. We don't ever know anybody's journey that they're going on.

And in that moment, for me, it just felt really important to have that human connection. And so I did. So there's my little extra story for today. I'm gonna cry because it was such a great moment. And I just a part of my team and the studio was inside the studio watching all of this go down. And they were like, gene. And I was like, I'm a sucker for a dog. And, you know, and everybody. It was just a moment that I got to show my team just a different way or a different perspective on how to handle different situations.

But I share that with you. Not to say, go out and do any of this. It was just a moment of time. Based on Speak Wonder's comment about having a moment of joy with a homeless person. Every single person on this planet has a gift to offer, and I just think that sometimes we just need to see something a little different. Anyway, there's my little soapbox for today. I hope I didn't lose all of you, but I hope you have a great rest of your day and just do something that's gonna make you smile. Not just here, make you smile here and do that from a place of authenticity for you.

I hope you have a great rest of your day. Bye.