In this episode, Dr. Jim and B are joined by JD Peterson, CEO of Matheson, to bust the myth that leaders are born, not made. JD shares his personal journey and how he realized that leadership is a skill that can be learned and developed over time. They discuss the importance of understanding DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and how fear often drives resistance to it. Tune in to gain insights into the true nature of leadership and the value of continuous learning and growth.
Key Takeaways:
DEI has become overly politicized, leading to misgivings and fear that drive some CEOs' negative perceptions.
There is a potential need to rebrand 'DEI' to focus on its core principles of fairness, quality, and boosting business performance.
The myth that leaders are born, not made, is debunked through JD Peterson's personal growth and observation of others' development into leadership.
Fear, particularly among white male CEOs, of losing status or jobs may contribute to resistance against DEI initiatives.
Continuous learning and facing failures are critical components in evolving effective leadership skills.
Chapters:
0:00:00
Dr. Jim introduces JD Peterson, CEO of Mapperson, at Transform 2024.
0:01:34
JD Peterson discusses the misconception that DEI is a waste of time.
0:03:11
JD Peterson challenges the myth that leaders are born, not made.
0:04:30
JD Peterson shares how his own failures led to a shift in his mindset.
0:05:37
Dr. Jim and JD Peterson discuss ways to continue the conversation.
Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda
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Transcripts
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Of Matheson and the best hair in the business, obviously hang it out with us to help us out with that. JD, you're welcome.
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[00:00:27] Dr. Jim: Yeah I'm looking forward to this conversation but I think it's going to be important for you to share a little bit more about your story and the work that you're doing at Matheson to get the listeners up to speed on who you are and what you're about.
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And that's really where I first fell in love and found the [00:01:00] DEI space and realized, wow, I could use a lot of my power and privilege to help people . So I'm taking that to a, I'm really putting my money where my time, where my mouth is on that point by coming to Matheson, where I lead Matheson.
We are a DEI focused technology startup.
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So how do you respond to those folks.
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I also think just the term DEI, I've had a bunch of interesting conversations about this here at Transform. I don't know if we need a rebrand, if that's the way to put it. But just the term DEI, I think has become so politicized that people just want to [00:02:00] run from it. They're afraid to get in there.
But when you get underneath it, you actually talk and break down the principles of people that we're talking about. Fairness, equality, we're helping boost business performance. It's hard for people to really argue with the underlying things that we're trying to accomplish through
DEI.
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And there's room for debate on all sides of that.
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They're probably mostly white men and that sort of thing. And I think there's a lot of fear, [00:03:00] right? Are people coming for my job? Are people coming to take something away from me? There's just a lot of that fear out there too. And when people operate from a place of fear, they just want to avoid it. They want to get away.
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[00:03:11] JD Peterson: Let's try.
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[00:03:26] JD Peterson: Surprisingly, I think people are still hanging onto this myth that I'll go right off leadership, that leaders are born, not made. You have to have a certain amount of natural ability or natural leadership to ultimately play a leadership role. And I bring this one up because I actually used to believe that.
ever been around had to work [:
It took them a long time to even step into any sort of leadership role, but once they did, wow, they could thrive.
And I've seen that, more than once.
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And you can see a lot of that in sales organizations too. Great sellers are born, not made. And that's a myth as well. But you realize that wasn't true. What was it that triggered that shift in mindset?
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And again, I thought I was always leading, whether it was in school organizations or friends or things. So I thought even again, in my own situation, this must just ultimately be a thing that some people have, some people don't. And I think what started to open my eyes to it first was just some of my own failings.
earn. There's actually a lot [:
And it wasn't because they brought, maybe they certainly had certain natural abilities, but they worked at it. And they put in the work and they put in the time they put in the practice and that led to great results. So seeing that firsthand and also coming to terms with some of my own failures and seeing how I had to work at it and learn to get better.
I think that's where it comes from.
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[00:05:37] JD Peterson: Yeah. You can find me on all the social medias, JD Peterson.
It's JD underscore. Peterson is on Twitter. You can find me on LinkedIn, JD Peterson, CEO Matheson. Those are always great places. Shoot me an email to JD at Matheson. io. You can always
reach me there as well.
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[00:05:53] JD Peterson: Absolutely. Always a pleasure.
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Thanks for your help and tune in next time where we'll have another myth that gets [00:06:00] busted.
