In this episode, Jan explores the deeper questions around authentic leadership and the plans for season 3 including an increased focus on Gen Z

[Transcript]

00:03

Welcome to the Finding Gravitas podcast brought to you by Gravitas Detroit. Looking to become a more authentic leader. Finding Gravitas is the podcast for you. gravitas is the ultimate leadership quality that draws people in. It's an irresistible force encompassing all the traits of authentic leadership. Join your podcast host Jan Griffiths, that passionate rebellious farmer's daughter from Wales, entrepreneur, leadership coach, keynote speaker, one of the top 100 leading women in the automotive industry as she interviews some of the finest leadership minds in the quest for Gravitas.

Hello, how are you today? It is a beautiful day here in Michigan a beautiful fall day. And we've been taking a break from our podcast interviews, to refresh, take a step back, we think, where we're going, what we're doing, how we're doing it, why we're doing it, ask ourselves all of those questions. And I was thinking about this. The other day, I was at a Young Leaders Conference. And they were asking me about authentic leadership. And they said, Well, how do we start? You know, what do we what do we do? And one of the things I told them was, well, just start with your meeting cadence. Question, the meetings that you're involved with? Why are they there? What are you trying to accomplish? Start with that discussion start to open things up a little bit. And then as I was talking about that, with this young leaders group, I thought, you know, I need to do the exact same thing, I need to take some of my own advice. Now, the podcast, as you know, the mission of the podcast is to provide authentic leaders, interviews, where we can learn from authentic leaders as to how they practice authentic leadership every single day. And when we started the podcast, season one and season two, we've been doing exactly that. And then I've been bringing in some subject matter experts, so we can go a little deeper into certain areas. And then I've spotted in some solo episodes for some self reflection and commentary on certain aspects of authentic leadership. Okay, so here we are today, and we're getting ready to start season three.

But it seems to me that we've all evolved, we understand the basics of authentic leadership. And in fact, my experience and the interviews that I've conducted in season one, and season two allowed me to put together that document the 21 traits of authentic leaders. And then that gives people something to really grab on to and a structure. But for season three, I think we need to go deeper. And I think we have to recognize what's what's going on in the world right now. And of course, some of the challenges that we're all faced with. So this is what I'm thinking, I'm going to keep the question, what's your story? And who are you? Where did you come from? Because I think, you know, we all love to hear somebody's story, right. And sometimes, they started off in a field that's totally different to where they ended up. And the sequence of events that led these people to where they are today, I think is fascinating, you can learn a lot about somebody's story. So I'm definitely going to keep that. But then I want to move and ask the question, what are you doing to break the mold of corporate leadership? What has worked for you in the past, that will not work for you in the future? I talk all day long about breaking the mold of corporate leadership, but we're gonna get deeper and very, very specific. Exactly. What is it about the old leadership model that's not going to work in the future? And I want to hear examples from our interview guests. Then I want to move to what are you doing to attract Gen Z? Forget millennials. They're all in the workforce. It's about Gen Z. Now, what are we going to do to attract Gen Z? And on the Gen Z question, something I'm going to add into the format that I didn't have in season one and season two. I am going to interview Gen Z and flip the script. So instead of having The small senior leaders talking about practicing authentic leadership. Let's flip the script and ask Gen Z, what it is they want from leaders in the workplace today. And we've got a few episodes lined up for season three, so that we can get the Gen Z perspective.

Then I'm interested in employee engagement, because that's something that we're all talking about. So there's a few parts to this, I'm going to ask people, hybrid team, how are they doing it? What are they doing? What's working? What's not, I think we're all genuinely interested in what everybody's doing out there. But I really want to go a little bit deeper and say, okay, employee engagement, what are you doing? I think that's going to be a great question, and good information and content that will come back for us to share with each other. And one of the challenges that you have told me about is this, it's, you know, establishing a vision and mission, okay, we all, we all know how to do that. But it's making that vision, a reality, keeping people focused on the long term and preventing them from getting lost in the weeds from day to day, that's a real challenge for a leader today. I know, I felt it when I was in my corporate role. And this, you know, this idea that you have to stop and pull back and be very intentional about, wait a minute, you know, what are we doing yet? Where are we going? Are we on track, rather than just focused on week to week to week or month to month and needing the quarterly goals? What is our ultimate purpose and objective? So I'd like to know how people do that. And then here's another area that I want to probe. The traditional employer employee model is changing. Now, I know a lot of us don't want to acknowledge that. But it is this idea that you're just gonna, you know, hire a bunch of people to perform certain number of roles in a business is changing the gig worker, the talent ecosystem, this digital talent platform that's evolving. How are you embracing of that? In his very interesting article in Harvard Business Review, and they talk about this, and they say, you know, there are some companies out there that engage with the digital talent system on an ad hoc basis. And let me be very clear what I'm talking about here. So this is about, instead of hiring a person full time to do a job, you may hire a person on a temporary basis, just for a specific job or a specific skill set for a specific project or task. And it's a little uncomfortable in the beginning. And I've done it myself with my business, because as you can imagine, as a startup business, I can't hire a graphic designer and have them on staff or a web designer or a full time marketing person, when you're a startup business, you can't afford to hire all these people and have them around you. But you need that skill set. So I've learned how to define exactly what it is I want, and go out there into the marketplace to get that skill set. So I buy only what I need, when I need it. So I don't have the overhead and all the costs associated with a full time employee. Now, I'm not suggesting that everything goes to the digital ecosystem, of course not. But we are going to have to embrace that more than we're doing right now. So I'm very interested in how people are doing it. And if you're interested as to what that is, for me in the world of graphics and marketing and video editing, and all those kinds of things. I use Fiverr FYI, F i v e r r, and there are many other platforms out there talent platforms, such as catalent Upwork. There's one called Toptal, T O P T A L, there's a whole bunch of them out there. But it's really gonna, it's gonna take something to embrace it at a company level, and start to employ that as the model for doing business and transforming the way we work. So I'm going to ask my guests that question, what are they doing to embrace this? The gig worker and the changing talent ecosystem? I am going to keep What is gravitas? I don't think I'm going to ask people anymore. What is authentic leadership to you? Because I think we've we've burned out on that question. I think we've got it. We've moved on from that already. But I am interested in how people view the term gravitas as the hallmark of authentic leadership.

And then I want to go a little deeper into vulnerability. One of the things that I've noticed from the corporate, the old corporate leadership model and authentic leadership is this line between your personal and professional life. In the the old days, I'll call him that, you were always very careful to keep a line between your personal life and your professional life. Now, part of that was because certainly for me, when I started a new job, I was always doing some type of restructuring. And I didn't want to get too close to people who just kiss they had to eliminate their positions. There it is. But, you know, now, I think it's, it's different. And certainly during the pandemic, that line has been blurred. And wasn't just because we thought we might have to restructure people out, we thought that as leaders, that's what we were supposed to do. Right is to fit this mold of a leader and keep it very, very separate and not share anything of our personal lives. But now with a pandemic, that's changed that that line between your personal and professional self has blurred, and leaders, we've all had to show more vulnerability. And I'd like to talk about that. I'd like to go deeper into that question. Ask people, did they indeed do that? Did they show more vulnerability? And since vulnerability is a critical trait of an authentic leader? How do they plan to do more of that? Think that could be an interesting question. And the other thing that's come up, and I've heard from many of you, is this idea of resilience. Resilience, again, a trait of an authentic leader. Resilience is a muscle. It's something that you build over time. So it's how you handle situations, it's bringing calm to chaos, it's being in control of your emotions, there's a lot to resilience. But how do you build it? That's a tricky question. So that's one that I definitely want to ask our guests to come on the show. And then my favorite, of course, is psychological safety. How do you as a leader, make sure that people feel safe at work? How do you create a safe environment and encourage people take risks? If we want creativity and innovation, we are going to have to banish fear and create psychological safety? How are we doing it? That's the question that I want to know the answer to. And then I'm going to talk about diversity. I haven't really focused too much on diversity in season one and season two, that I really want to get into cognitive diversity. And I plan to ask my guests, what actions are you taking to further the DNI agenda? I'd like to know what actions people are taking. And then positive energy. Positive energy is more important now than ever, as a leader, how do you maintain positive energy? How do you shift it? So if your energy is not where it needs to be? How do you shift it? You know, I love music. I'll blast ACDC, and that'll do it for me. But I want to know what other people do. The question, how do you start your day? I might change that a little bit. Sometimes I might ask people, How do you start your day? Other times, I might ask people, How do you end your day? And then I may probe a little deeper into how do you hold yourself accountable? What's that process look like? So I might cycle through those questions. And then I definitely want to keep the question. If you could write a letter to your 25 year old self in today's environment, what advice would you give to yourself? Because I think that our younger listeners really get a lot out of that. And it is, it's a fascinating question. I love to ask it. So that's what I'm thinking about for season three. Those are the questions. I'm loving the idea of getting some Gen Z people interviewed on the podcast, and we've got some of those already lined up. I've got a great guest lineup starting to build in the pipeline, but I can't share it with you yet.

If there are other questions out there that you want answered, if there are other areas that you want me to focus on, please email me directly, Jan, at gravitas, detroit.com. We are all in this. Together, we are all creating the future of work together. This podcast is a way for us to share stories, share practices, lessons learned, bring in subject matter experts. This is for us to be able to truly embrace the future and let authentic leadership shine through and I am here as your guide. I will talk to you soon.

16:02

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast and you found something of value that will help you on your quest for your gravitas then please share with your friends and colleagues and subscribe. Visit us at gravitasdetroit.com To find out more