Standing Strong: The Power of Resilience in Female Leadership

Is poor leadership in our organizations and communities throwing you off your game?  No worries, this episode equips you with the skills to stand tall in the face of such adversities. I'll be your guide as we delve deep into the impacts of traditional education on critical thinking, the challenging issues of fragile male leaders and ageism in the workplace, and how to stay committed amid these challenges. 

We’ll look at the power of small, consistent steps when it comes to creating lasting change and earn the importance of character, and focus on cultivating resilience. The future calls for resilient women leaders and it's time we answered.  Let's level up together, one small, consistent action at a time!

Poor leadership shows up everywhere - above you, around you, in your organization and your community.  It affects the culture of the organization (no matter the size), and impacts the motivation of the entire team. When it affects YOU, personally, impacting your ability to do your work well, with joy, a sense of satisfaction or at least not hate it, the issue looms larger than life. 

The question is, what can you DO about it?  The answer, learn how to cultivate RESILIENCE. 

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, or toughness, and involves three things. 

• Character - I build this up by doing what I say I'll do, even if it's hard.
• Consistency - I do small things aligned with my "why" that make big changes possible.
• Focus - knowing where I'm headed reduces my distractions, so I keep my eye on the prize.

Learn more about Andrea:
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Core Values Course Information Page (theintentionaloptimist.com)

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Chapters

• 0:02 Empowering Women Leaders and Building Resilience
• 12:13 Resilience Through Character, Consistency, and Focus
• 18:18 Empowering Women as Resilient Leaders

Transcript

Andrea Johnson: 0:02

Hey, it's summer 2023. If you're new to my world, welcome. I'm Andrea Johnson, a transformational leadership coach, and my passion is working with ambitious, high-achieving women who are truly ready to impact their world. The Intentional Optimists Unconventional Leaders podcast has been three years of teaching my philosophy and learning what high-achieving women all have in common in their stories, in their backgrounds and their mindset. I have interviewed over 75 amazing leaders and the information I've gleaned has actually changed my life. They've encouraged my growth and development in ways I never expected, and now it's time for me to level up. So I've got a brand new podcast coming out this fall and I can't wait to share it with you. It's currently in development and all the necessary gear shifting and whizz-bang thing of Majigee things are going on behind the scenes, so I want to refresh your memory, or share with you for the first time, if you're new, on some of these foundational and important concepts and thoughts that have contributed to the development of this next level. Between now and the new launch, i'm sharing with you my personal must-have episodes that will set you up to switch gears right along with me, and when I say switch gears, what I really mean is kick it into high gear. So if you want to level up along with me and be encouraged to grow past that spot where you keep getting stuck, subscribe or follow the show now, because right here is where the new podcast will live too. Share it with your friends and let's get the next revolution started.

Andrea Johnson: 1:39

You're listening to Intentional Optimists, the podcast for unconventional leaders, where you'll find inspiration, learn to discover and develop your own strengths and hear from inspiring women just like you who are making a difference in their community. Who knows, you just might find yourself stepping up as the next unconventional leader right where you are. I'm your host, andrea Johnson, the original Intentional Optimist. Welcome to Episode 91. How many times have you been discouraged by poor leadership? Love you around you in your organization or community? On TV, it affects the culture of the organization, no matter the size, and impacts the motivation of the entire team. When it affects you personally, impacting your ability to do your work well with joy, a sense of satisfaction or at least to just not hate it, the issue can loom larger than life. I've shared my own story many times and it's why I feel so passionate about empowering and developing female leaders in order to change the culture of organizations and teams or help them build their own.

Andrea Johnson: 2:55

Today's topic could be heavy, really heavy, if we let it, because, as much as I'd like to say, it ain't so. Poor leadership is everywhere. I'm not here to leader bash or talk about any specific scenarios, but it would be an understatement to say that there were plenty of examples out there, and I'm sure you're ticking them all off in your head. The symptoms of this lack of general leadership understanding are showing up in absolutely flabbergasting ways that range from just general poor, domineering and unprofessional behavior to wholesale disregard for the overwhelming data on how productive people can be when actually trusted to do their jobs, even when you can't see them. My opinion is that one of the origins of this phenomenon is that people have reached the saturation point for change. Unfortunately, this is where you land as a culture, at the end of several hundred years of training our children to follow specific instructions on what to think rather than how to think. Add to that a global pandemic full of necessitated change, thinking and rethinking, deciding, and many are left exhausted and with no reserve. However, this is not an excuse for poor behavior, just in my opinion, one of the explanations.

Andrea Johnson: 4:21

Last week's conversation with Rhonda Delaney highlighted some clear issues in an acquisition where people in leadership positions may have traditional education but no training or understanding of leadership or how to manage people. Unfortunately, i saw two horrible symptoms play out. First, fragile male leaders. I know some of you aren't going to like that term. I am amazed, however, at the sheer volume of men who still press on in the mindset that men somehow know better or should be in charge, and I'm just going to leave that right there. The man who came in to run the show milked her for all of her knowledge of the company and literally handed her boss a letter to read telling her that she was fired, and her comment was you know, he had no interest in what they had purchased, they just wanted to do their thing. And she even admits that she didn't make his decision difficult. But the idea that her dedication to both learning how to run the company and to its growth meant nothing because she stood her ground and fought for her people speaks volumes. Incidentally, my recollection is that the company went from thriving to collapsing.

Andrea Johnson: 5:38

The other symptom I see in this story here is ageism. At 58, rhonda was the easiest to get rid of, as well as the most desirable. She was in a high position in the company with influence over others. This one was visible to me in my corporate career, and I'm hearing plenty of stories from women who are being either forced out or quote capped off after age 50 with excuses like you know, you're unable to learn new technology, or your ideas and opinions are from 20 years ago, or you know, you're just costing us too much. I'm just tossing this out there, though, folks. I'm 55 and learning new technology every single day because I'm dedicated to making a difference in the lives of women everywhere, not to mention finding fulfillment in my work. So what if you offered that to these ladies that you think aren't able to do it?

Andrea Johnson: 6:36

But a more distressing symptom of poor leadership comes in the form of what I see as fragile female leaders. In light of the other symptoms I just shared, those women who are in leadership positions or have made it past that initial glass ceiling can be very terrified that they're going to be next on the chopping block. So they become some of the worst offenders, and that makes me really sad. That doesn't mean that they're all that way, but these people in leadership positions seem to be threatened by those they lead instead of recognizing the next leader in the organization or team. I'm also seeing grief. This one's everywhere the get yourself back to work or you'll be working for someone else scenario. Now I've made it no secret that this was the one thing that pushed me right out of the nest and off the cliff.

Andrea Johnson: 7:24

I truly don't understand the whole. If I can't see you, you're not working mentality, but it's everywhere, from higher education to state governments to giant global pioneers, all of whom have had successful teleworking conditions and arrangements for decades. Suddenly, trust is gone. The global economy and communication system that got us through most of the pandemic is now the enemy, and any ground gained for the flourishing of individuals which, incidentally, would cause the flourishing of the organization is gobbled right back up in order to maintain a specific type of control.

Andrea Johnson: 8:05

I know I told you this could get heavy, but the question is what can you do about it? Or, more appropriately, what can you do about you? You know by now that I'm going to tell you the first person you lead is yourself and that growth always begins with awareness. So what do you need to be aware of and how can we lead ourselves and others out and away from this crisis of leadership? In a word, resilience. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or toughness. Some call it grit. Resilience is courage lived out in our daily activities, which enables us to do and become all that we are created to be. It's the work it out side of courage and something that you actively must cultivate. When you do this is how you make a difference in your own team, company or organization. This is how we can start to turn the tide, building up new, courageous, equipped leaders, changing the culture of an organization or creating their own, where all those involved are given the opportunity to flourish Within intentional optimism. Resilience is part of the tenet of courage, and it consists of three aspects Character I build up character by doing what I say I'll do, even when it's hard.

Andrea Johnson: 9:34

Consistency I do the small things that are aligned with my why that make the big changes possible. And focus Knowing where I'm headed reduces my distraction, so I keep my eye on the prize. Here's where I want to ensure you that this topic is not heavy, because hope is right here. This bit that I'm going to share with you proves it's a simple process with simple principles that anyone can do, starting right now. And here's how Let's begin with character. I think this word gets a new definition every few generations, but in general it consists of your mental and moral qualities. Of course, that means there are going to be different opinions as to what makes up good or solid character, but within my philosophy of intentional optimism, it means this I choose to do what I say I will do, even when it's hard, because the more I practice, the more solid my character becomes.

Andrea Johnson: 10:34

Of course, there are also situations where you do need to pivot or change either your mind or your actions, but in general, following through with your own stated goals, desires and promises it keeps you honest As a leader. Your people need to know that when you promise something, you're going to follow through. This is true in your personal life, like with your kids, your spouse and your professional life. To be sure, this is more of a challenge for some personality types than others. For instance, in the language of disc, i am a very high I or an influencer. I absolutely love agreeing to fun and amazing projects or collaborations and I'm usually going to say, oh yeah, that's cool, let's do it.

Andrea Johnson: 11:15

My mom was exactly the same way. My family calls it thinking out loud. We process things after we put them out on the table, and between me and her there were plenty of things that we agreed to that actually never happened, but that doesn't work with people like my husband or my son or my sister. It most certainly didn't work at my job. Learning who I am, how I'm wired and how I could learn the skill of doing what I say I will do took a whole lot of growth, and I'm still growing. There have been things that I've had to follow through on that were truly painful. However, that process has taught me volumes about how to be true to myself and stand up for what I will and will not agree to, in both my personal life and my professional life. Can you hear how building character cultivates that toughness and that resilience? Which brings me to the second aspect of consistency.

Andrea Johnson: 12:13

I talk about this one often, in just about every context imaginable, and here's what I mean. I do the small things daily that make big things possible. My processes and methods are aligned with my why, from habit building to systems creation. Consistency provides the needed repetition to produce an automatic process or response that reduces effort and energy expenditure. When you repeat the small thing over and over and over, the effect is compounded and the results are bigger than the sum of the parts. It should go without saying that these small actions need to be the right actions, because you can practice something the wrong way and then you've got a permanent problem. So, assuming you're developing a productive habit, consistency will allow your efforts to compound. Every social media teacher I follow says don't give up. Keep posting daily. You need consistency and volume to develop a following. My health coach, pam Sherman, reminds me every single time I turn on one of her videos that even five minutes dedicated to my health will pay off Small, consistent actions. In order to stay consistent, though, these actions need to be supported by a compelling reason, which I call my why. In social media, i want to create visibility so I can then teach and help others grow. My health goal this year is to become strong, so six smaller workouts each week is really starting to pay off.

Andrea Johnson: 13:45

This podcast is an excellent example of consistency. I took a class at the very beginning on how to start a podcast. They shared the statistic that most new podcasts don't make it past the first 10 episodes. Well, when I hit episode 12, i did my own little happy dance, but I saw a new statistic today that it's actually gone down to seven. Seven episodes. People don't get past seven episodes. This is episode 91. Now do I have a million downloads? Nope. Do I have 10,000 downloads? Nope. But I do have people telling me how the message that I share here has changed their life, and I'm developing some doggone good consistency muscles.

Andrea Johnson: 14:34

Putting something out nearly every single week. Consistency makes getting up and doing it all over again automatic, no matter how hard it is. You'll see how consistency helps cultivate resilience. Which brings me to that last piece, which is focus. I keep my eye on the prize. Knowing where I'm going prevents me getting distracted by challenges. Lordy y'all, if anyone is prone to stop doing something because it's hard, it is me. The more I learn about my personality, the more that makes sense.

Andrea Johnson: 15:10

But I was that kid. As soon as something got hard, i was out Back in field, out Basketball, out Tennis, out Physics, out Calculus. Oh, how fast can I get out? I only wanted to do things that came naturally and easily to me. On one hand, that's not bad at all. I believe wholeheartedly that we do need to identify our strengths and play to them, and we need to become all the wonderfulness that we are in our own unique way.

Andrea Johnson: 15:42

However, if I want to be an amazing leader, coach, podcaster, trainer, teacher, author any of it there are hard things I need to learn. I had to learn how to build a website, how to write a blog post, how to set up a Stripe account, how to make a TikTok video I'm still working on that one, but you get the point Focusing on the good that I can and want to do in the world, no matter how big or nebulous that sounds, gives me that little push to learn how to create a new landing or checkout page for a program. Focusing on how many women can be helped by my group coaching has given me the courage and, yes, the resilience to learn how to build that community on a whole new platform Mighty Networks, focusing on who I am, becoming my own personal growth plan through all of these processes helps clarify my own mission and how I can better serve those who listen to me at home in my community, on social media and through this podcast and as clients. That person, that leader Andrea Johnson she's where I start Focusing on that cultivates the resilience.

Andrea Johnson: 16:57

I need to do the hard things with consistency And if I can do it, the kid who never wanted to do anything difficult, the one who has a tendency to speak long before thinking and the one who gets really bored with repetition. You can do this, my friend. You can cultivate resilience and become the leader who will change the culture of your organization, team or community. So much of the behavior and policies that we see out there right now is based in fear and an inability to think or change. It's time to think. It's actually time to decide. It's time to say what you mean and do what you say, to repeat with consistency those small things that will make a big difference, to focus on what's important and know who you are and why you're doing it. Remember, my work and passion is to empower you to do what I have done, to take control of your future as the leader you are created to be. The choice, though, is forever yours. It begins with you, the woman in the mirror. These three aspects of resilience, character, consistency and focus are things you can start doing right now. If you need support, help or guidance, i'm here and ready to help.

Andrea Johnson: 18:18

I absolutely love watching women realize their own leadership abilities and qualities and begin moving in a whole new way. This is your time. This is our time. Let's build up resilient leaders to carry us well into the future. We got this Until next time. Oh good, you're still here because I have one more invitation for you. My newsletter, optimistic living, is full of good stuff delivered straight to your inbox. So for weekly encouragement tips and even some special offers, hop over to my website and sign up, because unconventional leaders lead at every level, in any area, using their unique gifts, and you, my friend, are a leader. You are the future of leadership and the role models for future generations.