I would like to begin this episode by acknowledging that I am located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and I am privileged and honored to live and learn on the unceded unsurrendered territory of the Anishnaabeg Algonquin nations
Hello, you're listening to Trench Leadership: A Podcast From the Front, produced by iglen studios, a show for emerging leaders from all professions, to hear from other leaders who have led from the front, made the mistakes, had the triumphs and are still learning along the way. And now, here's your host, Simon Kardynal.
Hi folks, and welcome back to yet another
A Podcast From the Front, you know, leadership principles, they can be taught, they can be memorized and they can they can be learned, you know, leadership, it can be even be mimicked, we can merge it to create our own flavor of our own personal and professional leadership styles. But you know, what we really can't fake and we really, really can't learn is just how to lead, to just be a leader. You know, how can we be people who are just going to lead and often not even know
that we're doing it? Live good news. In this episode, we'll be talking to Gillian Tietz, a biochemist and fellow podcaster, whose sage advice and to be very frank and honest, her frank leadership style in the podcast realm is quickly being noticed, why she thinks people might gravitate towards her lifestyle of leadership, and what leadership tools she might offer to help Emerging Leaders be the most successful leaders that they can be. Hey, Gillian, how's it going today?
Good. Thanks for the intro. That's cool.
Thanks. Oh, you know, I try to put something in the show, you know,
It is fancy.
I hope so, that's the hope. So listen, before we could go into all this, I'm just curious. Do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself a little bit of your background and how it is that you and I ended up talking?
Yeah, so I am a biochemist, like you said, I work in the Boston area. And I'm also a sober person. So I'm just about a year and a half sober from alcohol. And my journey, I wanted to understand, like, why this happened to me, and why it doesn't happen to other people. I grew up and I thought, I'm so strong, I would never let something like that happened to me. And then it did anyways. And because of my scientific background, I just wanted to understand, like, what's going
on? Why can't I stop drinking, and other people can make the choice to switch to water. So I started learning everything that I could when I stopped drinking, and then seven or eight months into it. I woke up one day, and I was like, I need to tell everybody, this. Everybody else needs to know what I know. And I started a podcast later on that day, I didn't start a YouTube channel because I was really shy. So I thought podcasting was better. And I chose Buzzsprout. That was the only podcasting
host that I knew of. And then I met you in the Buzzsprout Group, which is a really cool group. I love Buzzsprout. They're amazing.
They really are. They're so helpful. They're not paying us to say that! (Simon Laughing!)
This is not an ad (Gillian Laughing!)
Exactly. But if they want to pay me I'm okay with that. That's a win too. (Laughter) So yeah, so yeah, so we met on the on the thing you actually reached out to me one time because I had been asking a couple of questions about getting guests on the show, coincidentally. And then we just started chatting from back and forth from there. It's interesting how, how those connections come together. I always love seeing those types of things.
Yeah, you seemed so nice. And you seemed like you were just really genuine, and you want to give everybody a chance. And I was like, he doesn't even know the people that are trying to get on the show. So I felt compelled to warn you and just offer a little advice on how to vet people.
We'll give a little bit of background so I went on to the the Buzzsprout page to try and find or be a guest. And inside this I just got on there and I asked people. "Hey, I want I'm looking for guests" and I was put a little blurb about my podcast and whatnot. And that's when how we met, of course, and you were absolutely right. I got a lot of
hits, for sure. But the vast majority of these people were not even, not even interested in the topic, it was just more about trying to get to become a guest to push their own personal agenda or whatnot, which, to some extent I can appreciate. But come on, if you're if your podcast is about comic books, you know, this is a leadership podcast is probably not going to cross over too much. So I think that was the first time to for me that I noticed that you were
being a leader. And it's interesting, because we chatted a little bit more. And and I, one of us, I don't know who it was, it doesn't matter. We actually talked about that. That was your you being a leader in the podcast world, right? Because the reality of it is, especially in those a lot of those chats, there's a lot of people that give, you know, their personal thoughts. But they're not leading right there. They're just saying, well just go and do this and do your
thing. And yes, that it could be argued that is a style of leadership, but really being more transactional and not transformational, and how things are being taken care of. And you when you're talking to people, when you're responding to people's questions, you're actually trying to help the person out, which is so much better than just offering a some type of an opinion on the matter, which we see quite often, right? Everyone's, everyone's very courageous on the internet.
Everybody loves to give their opinion, even if it's just a totally random opinion, they just love to give it and then everyone's post is just flooded with random stuff and like personal stories or unrelated things, or sales pitches. And it's just very unfortunate for the person trying to get help.
Oh, you you're you couldn't be any more correct about that. They would today actually, we, you and I were talking we were on the on the chat site like, sign there, there was someone who was asking questions about guests and editing and those different types of things. And it was like, wow, what is going on here? And, you know, they got in there just I can't ask you a couple of questions about, you know, why don't I know these people, and I'm having these
terrible episodes. And I really appreciated how you responded to the person in that you said, Well, yeah, you know, it's a good idea to talk to the person do a little bit of research and whatnot. And if you don't do that ahead of time, that's on you. And that's not being critical. That's being honest, because the reality of it is, if you want to have a guest on your show, everyone can do it their
own way. But if you choose not to do any research ahead of time, you don't really get the right to go on to a community chat room and complain that your your guests suck. Whose fault is that? And, and that's what I really loved about any of the other posts I saw with you is you're you're genuinely trying to help people. But at the same token, you're not pulling any punches. You're not, you know, trying to put flowers and rainbows into it. You're just
being honest. And that honesty, is what I think is building so much credibility with you inside the podcast world. Thank you. I appreciate that. When we see those types of things happening and whatnot, do you think that's a form of like a natural leadership? Do you think that that's just something you just always done? Did you have to learn how to do that? maybe read some books? Like, I'd like to know what your thoughts on that.
Yeah, so I was thinking about this earlier to prepare for our conversation. And I think something about me, that sets me apart is wasting time really gets on my nerves. And that's probably one of the biggest things that upsets me, I really hate to have my time
wasted. And because of that, if I comment on or talk to you about something, I'm just going to be direct and to say it, and I'm not going to, I don't know, what are you up for, like, compliment you or try to make it sound better than it is because none of that is helpful. And what women do a lot with other women is like someone will say, I'm trying so hard, I'm not losing weight. I don't know
what's going on. And all of the comments like hundreds will be like you're gaining muscle, or like muscle weighs more than fat. And like keep going, you're getting stronger, go by how your clothes fit, and none of that is helping the person. And then there'll be one or two comments that are actually helpful. But they get hidden away by all of these fake like, pump you up. Irrelevant comments, and yeah,
it's just unfortunate. And for me if I had a post like that, and I'm scrolling through all these comments that are just like making excuses or saying nothing, but you just want to comment, that's not helpful for me. So I think of it that way. Like what would I want to hear? And sometimes you want to hear something that's a bit direct and true without being mean to the person like you can tell someone The truth and be direct and tell them what they're doing wrong without insulting them.
Like you're not a bad person, you're just doing this thing. And you could do this other thing instead, and you might have the results you're hoping to get.
Oh, and you're absolutely right. Like, that's a big part of that. And a lot of times people will take that level of directness can be taken as being mean, well, no, I'm just being honest with what I'm saying. So, when we're talking to you know, how to help emerging leaders, you know, how can you be the strongest best person that you want to be when you're in charge of that new team? Probably the advice I would get out of what we're talking about here would be just, just be honest, be direct.
And you know, you don't need to waffle, you don't need to suck up, you don't need to, you know, tell everyone their the most amazing. You can be complimentary, and you can be honest, at the same token, and I think that was what, what will earn someone to respect a lot faster than trying to blow smoke up their ass if I could word it that way.
I completely agree. And we know when leaders are being fake, or they're just trying to say something nice, because they don't want to be mean, like, we know that. And then it turns into something that's annoying. Like, every time, this person compliments you, you know, it's not genuine, you know, they're not actually feeling that way. They're just trying to ease what they perceive to be a blow, and it ruins the good things that you have to say to the person to?
Oh, absolutely. It's it's like, how many times have we all had that boss who said, "Okay, I don't like this, but it's come down from on high. We need to work the next 60 Saturdays in a row." Well, you know, I just just be honest with you tell me we have to make work the next 60 Saturdays I'm even okay with, "Listen, this sucks. I get it. But we got to do it. You're getting paid, go." I'd rather just be that that that level of bluntness as well, right. You know, we're all
adults. And, you know, you would hope that we're being paid to be the professionals, so, we can handle that, right. Just, just be honest, I think that's a fair thing that we asked anyone. But I think it's even more important
when we're leaders. And what's even more more important, when you're in a new leadership position of any type, whether you're a new leader, or you're new to a team, to build that trust and build that cohesion and one of the best ways to do that is to show that you can be honest and indirect and not washy, wishy washy or waffling.
Yeah, and rambling. Or, you know, taking, taking five times as long to get your point out, and then you lose everybody, I think, just say it, and then we will all move on. It's not an offense. And I think keeping your opinion out of it too, like anyone that I comment on. I'm not like, Oh, well, you know, you obviously suck as a podcaster, this is what you should do. No, I just say, I'm a podcaster, I have a lot of experience, this is what you should do instead, if you
want this result. So keeping your opinion out of it as much as possible, also creates that boundary. I've had bosses where they get gossipy and they talk trash about the people above them are the people at the same level as them. And it's like weird, and you want the boundary that like we're not buddies, but I respect you, and I'm going to tell you the truth, and I'm trustworthy.
And you I think you really hit the nail on the head when you said we're not buddies, when you know, I mean, just because if the next day or the day before you and I were drinking friends, bad example, I realized that but you know we're hanging out might not but you know, we're hanging out having some drinks. And now I'm the boss, not not your buddy anymore. And people need to be
able to recognize that. And one of the best ways to differentiate that very quickly, is to not change who you are, because people will recognize that. But you can certainly be direct and, you know, politely blunt as I like to say so. But it was interesting, because like you said that why is so so valuable, you know, and from a military perspective, sometimes you just don't have time, you know, when I was in the infantry, "Take that hill!", Well, I it's not time for
debate. But when I joined the Air Force, and I was working on aircraft, the world, the whole environment inside that world was such that the Y was really important. And it didn't matter who what the rank level was. It didn't matter who was in charge of the team formally, what mattered was that that y was found out because ultimately the goal is to save lives. And to make sure the pilot and the aircrew make it home safely so they can go see their families
or their pets or whatnot. So, we, the culture was such that anyone can interject a why and ask a question if they didn't understand that. So for me Merging leaders for new leaders, I think it's important to understand the level of why. But it's very, very important to understand that that why is so crucial these days, especially considering people have so much ready access to the internet?
Yeah, for me, in my job, my boss will ask me to do some kind of experiment. And my boss is very demanding, which is a good thing. I actually like it, it helps me but sometimes asked me to do something that's very involved, it's gonna take a lot of work a lot of time. And I'm like, Ah, man, can I cut any corners? And then I'll say why this is going to help our
project. And then I understand like, Oh, this is actually really important, this part that I thought I could just cut out, is actually critical to understanding the problem here. So I think when you when you tell people why they need to do something, it's motivating. People want to feel connected, like they can understand what's going on. And for me, science wasn't always my career, I was a teacher for a while. And when I switched into science, I was behind, and people would tell me
what to do. And then when I was in meetings, and everyone was talking about the project, from all different departments, and know what they were talking about, and I felt like, that's my fault. I'm not smart. I don't even know what I don't know. And sometimes you need a little direction, like, you need to know this thing, because this will help you understand this meeting, or you need to understand that, you know, this is the most important part of
your experiment. So that 'why' is really, for me critical to me doing my job successfully.
No, I, you know, I couldn't agree with you even
more. And, and I think it's one of the reasons that those of us in the podcasting world, why we see you as being one of those those, those leaders that are helping all of us out, because you're always giving us a 'why' to something, you know, I remember the first time you reached out to me, it was very similar, same thing in that, okay, well, this is what's going to happen, and this is why you it's going to happen because of how you wrote the you're thinking like, oh, okay, and I
went back, and I reread it and whatnot, and, and, yeah, I'm much more careful now, when I put more put out any requests for guests, and I do a lot of vetting because of that. And as we've discussed in the past, I've been able to dodge a few bullets.
Yeah, and there's so many people that will make excuses. Like for that person that was posting today about his issue with his guests, and the conversations not being interesting, because he didn't know them. But he was probably looking for everyone to say like, it's not your fault, we all experienced that. Your guests suck. That's their fault, because they're shy. And that saying that to him, might help his, his ego and his feelings. But that's not helping his podcast, his podcast is going to
continue to suck. And then he's going to feel worse and probably quit, if that problem doesn't get solved. And you can tell him something. Like for me, a lot of people don't respond to me. They might message me later. But a lot of people don't respond to my comments. But I've had people reach out to me and say, I took your advice. And then I had the success that I was looking for. So even though it sounds harsh, it's what you NEED to hear, not what you WANT to hear.
Well, exactly. And you know, if we can take it back to the beginning of this podcast is you were honest, sometimes people need that they need to cool off a little bit. Because when, you know, when they see a whole bunch of the the random notes of that you're right. It's not your fault. It's the it's the guests fault, this
and that. And the, jammed right in the middle is a note from Gill saying, "Well, you know, if you didn't do your research, whose fault is that?" You know, that's they're not expecting to see that. But quite often if a person is you know, I would argue if a mature person is reading that, they'll be able to digest that and then get back to you Wednesday. Okay. Yeah, right on that was a win, you know, and that's huge. That's important.
Yeah, exactly. And it's like tough love. I like to hear that too. Because it helps. And you don't have to, you can hate the person forever. Whoever said it to you. I remember, years before I stopped drinking, maybe like three years, I started joining little communities and I signed up for this app. That was kind of like Facebook in an app. And I posted like, I don't understand why keep messing up. And I can't moderate and I try so hard and I know that I can figure it out.
And I just don't understand. And this guy commented and he said, "You're not drinking to enjoy it, you're drinking to get drunk. And that's your problem." And I was so upset from that comment, so upset. And like I deleted the app like all this dramatic stuff. And years later, I remember that comment. I don't remember the fluff, comments, you know, oh, it's not your fault. Keep going. like he'd said the truth, and I didn't want to hear it. And I hated
them for years. And now I can appreciate like, wow, that guy really gave it to me, and I needed to hear it.
Oh, Hello, there. It's Glen, the voice-over artist. And if you're hearing me, that means we're at the midpoint of this episode, do you have an idea for an episode that you feel is vital for emerging leaders, leave the idea in the comment section. And if your topic is chosen, you will have the opportunity to join us as a co host during the recording session. So, drop us a note, and let's talk. This podcast is made possible by listeners like you.
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And that's just the thing, you know, and those are those, it's funny how those are the types of moments that stick with you and how they shape your leadership moving forward, I'm willing to bet at some point in time you, you know, you've been maybe questioning how you're going to respond to something and that person's comment floated around in the back of your mind. I know
that's certainly the case. For me, one of my mentors, when I was in the infantry, he did not pull any punches, and I'm okay with admitting I was a 20 year old punk, I thought I knew everything. And one thing I did not realize was just not how great an infantry soldier I was
at the time. But my mentor, this Master Corporal, he really took me under his wing, and he really helped me become a good soldier, and he did that, not by telling me I was an amazing soldier, but by telling me when I wasn't being an amazing soldier, and more importantly, telling me 'why' I was not being a great soldier, and this is back in the mid '90's. So the the why was just not a thing you didn't do in the Army, period. But he understood the importance and
the value of that. So the fact that you're able to do that now and take those forward. That's fantastic.
Thank you. I tried to do that. For drinkers now, in my podcast, and just when I talked to them, a common thing will be like, Oh, it's just a bad habit, and I made, I heard so many people say that, so I made an episode specifically about that. Is it a bad habit? Or is it a problem? And I talked about how it's actually not a bad habit. It's a problem. Because people need to accept, like, if my, if I suck at work, thinking that, Oh, I'm not that bad, whatever, that
doesn't help me. You need to say like, wow, I haven't been doing very well. And then fix it. And accepting whatever's going on, allows you to move through to the other side. But like sugarcoating it for everybody, then they just don't even understand they're like, Is it my fault? Is it this guy's fault? Like, how do I fix it, why not fix it, so it just creates confusion. And that's why I just like to direct like one sentence.
Oh, and, and it hits that punch too, especially when you say it's just like one sentence 15 words, go. And it it really hits the nail and drives the point home, which is so important. It's so invaluable. It's crazy. I love it. I love it. Well, if it's okay with you, I'd like to kind of shift gears a little bit. And maybe we could talk a little bit about, you know, what would be some of the tools in your experience with the podcasting with your with with your professional whatnot?
what's, what are some of the types of tools that you might be able to offer to a new leader on how they could be, you know, a really strong team building person? How, how can they make themselves more effective?
I think there's a few things that are important. One of the things that I notice a lot in my professional life is when there's a problem. And then science there's like always a problem, but acting on it and moving on. People will often you know, both hyper focus on the problem and and think about like, oh, why? Why didn't this work? Why didn't this work? Like let's let's think about you know, how we can address this problem? And it's like, No, it didn't work. And we you know, we
gave it a shot. Let's go do something else that might work trying to do like, um, post mortem analysis on a failed experiment that we know for sure is not going to work is a complete waste of time. So I think knowing whenever when there's a lot of confusion or things don't work knowing like, okay, let's move on, let's do this now, even if you don't know if that works, but just having, having the confidence really to say, like, that's okay, we don't need to do that one anymore.
Let's go do this now, like for me, I with my podcast, and my, all my editing and that whole setup it, it was working fine, and, you know, then I switched. And now I'm like really learning how to do everything. And you just have to build a pivot very quick, like, this doesn't work, let's do this.
Don't get stuck in that rut of, you know, this is the way we've always done it or whatnot. And that's a really great point, you know, I'll use my military experience again, we really, really, really love our SOPs, the standing operating procedures we'd love. Okay, good to hear good to hear, right? We
love those. But I would argue quite often to a fault because we get so used to doing that and become so comfortable in that, that it's easy to lose sight of the fact that maybe it's you know, technology's changed or something has changed that now longer makes it as enviable or as viable as it should be, and it's a great point, you know, as the new leader, now's an opportunity to start seeing things from a different perspective and say, "Okay, well, maybe, maybe we maybe we
need to be able to adjust." Who knows. Right? That's a great point. Excellent. I
I love that you brought up SOPs because I think another thing that will get in the way of a new leader having success is being a perfectionist, and in you know, in my profession, again, we have protocol written out how to do whatever. And a lot of people will print it out, and they'll do it word for word, and they'll do it really slow, and the fall everything exactly how it says like down to the decimal points. And you know, it doesn't work out and they're like, "Oh, my
God." Like they have no idea, because they don't know why they did it. They just know they followed all the steps correctly, like it says, but what I do is, I want to understand why am I doing this step? Why am I doing this one? Like, why is this one important? And I'm a little lazy, too. I like to cut corners. So I'll read the SOP. And I'm like, Well, I don't really think, you know, we need to filter this thing. 10 times, I think we can filter at once. And it's like,
fine. So I'll do that. And then it works out great. And now I've learned like, Okay, this is not critical. And sometimes I'll, I'll play around too much. And I'll ruin everything. But I learned this is very critical. So I think not being a perfectionist and being being willing to like experiment and take chances, and like, Why Why is this so important? Why am I being told to do this? Do I have to do it? Is another way better?
Like, is another way going to save us a lot of time or a lot of money on resources?
Oh, yeah, no, absolutely. And, and that's a big thing you brought up about the perfectionism and when to use that, and when not sometimes, of course, we all want to strive to be as best as we can be. That goes without saying for most people, not
everyone, but most people. But when we're placed into a new position of authority of whatever level, it happens to be, quite often, where we strive really hard to be perfect in whatever it is we're doing, because there's a sense of fear of looking silly, or maybe almost admitting that we don't know what we're doing, because now we're in charge, and there's maybe a self expert expectation that we're going to have all the
answers. What I seen recently, in all the different leadership podcasts I've been listening to, and my experiences throughout my career is is there's people are afraid to be afraid to not acknowledge this fear that they've got, I would argue that it's okay. To not be fearless. It's okay to have that fear. But it's more it's also important to recognize that fear is there and learn how to harness it and how
to use that to move forward. So, even if you're not perfect in what's happening, you find out that no, you really do need to filter something 10 times. That's okay. The, the failure is okay, right because now, you know, now, you know, that's a critical juncture. And that's
all right. It's so that that fear though it can be so dangerous for leaders, especially new leaders to just not help them be honest maybe and not help them explain the why of things because they're afraid of almost admitting they don't afraid of admitting they don't know the why. You know, it's it's I think it's a powerful thing. Did you have any thoughts on that?
Yeah, that is a really important point. And pretending that you know, something, when you don't know, everyone's going to find out and if they don't like six months from now, and you're still pretending you're going to feel horrible, and you're going to have so much anxiety at work all the time. It's better to just say, like, yeah, I really don't know, I have no idea. And let people tell you, and it's okay to not know, it's okay to do something wrong, as long as you're willing to learn from it.
People at work have picked up on my working style and very different from a lot of the people that I work with. And I actually get complimented on the fact that I am willing to make mistakes, or say, I don't know something, because I actually have a desire to know it, or to do it, right. And that comes out. It's not like, ooh, Gill doesn't know this, like, she should know this, should we fire
her? It's like, No, she doesn't know this, and, you know, she should, and she recognizes that, and she wants to get better, so, as long as you have the desire to learn and grow, not knowing something is it doesn't matter.
I completely agree. It's, you know, especially when, you know, if you're a new a new team leader into a new business, a new division, whatnot, it's not realistic to expect that you're going to have all that corporate knowledge that everyone else has had for years of having worked on the same team, and you're just the new person on the block. It's not realistic, you know, in the military, what we in the Canadian military anyways, I can't speak for other
forces. But for us, quite often, when we receive a promotion in rank, normally, we say that that's the right time to move someone and, and we won't just generally, we won't just move them like to another Squadron on a base, quite often, it's okay, we're going to move you from Alberta, which is in Midwest Canada, and we're going to move you to Greenwood, Nova Scotia, which is on the East Coast, and we're going to take you off of the fighter jets, and we're going to put you on a giant four
engine, Long Range Patrol craft, and go and and you're promoted, you're the new sergeant, you're in charge of the entire crew go figure it out. And everyone else has been in Greenwood for 15 years. And and it's like, well, how do I how do I lead these people? How do I be the boss with finger quotations and still gain their respect when I clearly don't have that that background? corporate knowledge?
You know, that's a good point. And I didn't think of that actually being moved to something that you don't know anything about, and in that case, like, assemble a meeting and tell them, I don't know, this is what I've done. And you can tell them about your experience, because they probably don't know anything about that and then they can tell you catch you up on everything they've been doing,
and it's fine. A leader doesn't have, like you said, they don't have to be a know-it-all, it's just a personality style, it's a way that you communicate with people. And it's the boundaries that you set. It's not the technical knowledge that you have that can always be learned and improved on.
Oh, you're absolutely right. I think the big thing my experiences have been and I'd be curious to know what your thought on this is to just be genuine Be who you are, you can you can be in charge, you know, you're not there buddy anymore, for sure. But you can still be who you are, you can still talk about your your past times, if that's what a person
chooses to do. But if you're not, if you just come in, and you're just like, I'm the boss, and that's the way it is people and people are you're trying to convince them that you are you're just the boss, and that's it. People can smell bullshit from 20 miles away. It's like sharks, smelling blood in water. And that will ruin any chance of building that cohesion that is so crucial, especially in the beginning of any team.
Yeah, exactly. You don't want to be a dominator, like, we're going to do work, and no one's gonna have fun here ever. And you don't want to be everybody's friend, because you can't, you can't manage your friend. Like if when everything's great, then whatever. But when there's an issue or you need to, ummm, you know, say something constructive, that's hard when it's a friend. So you have to find the balance between being a real person, but also being a
manager. And I think that boundaries are something really key. And I'm seeing that like even in the podcasting world with my listeners, I will have a lot of listeners reach out to me and they have tons and tons of questions. And they just want to know information. They're really passionate, and I can't do that for everybody. And I set a very
clear boundary. And sometimes I tell them about my personal experience stuff they don't know about, and that's okay, but the boundary is that I'm not going to continue to have this conversation with you for 500, you know, back and forth exchanges that I'm going to direct you to, you know, my podcasts or my website or whatever, to get that answer. And yeah, and I just think boundaries are very, very important. Like, don't be buddy-buddy, with people because no one's going to respect you.
That, that is a really, really strong point for new leaders, you know, make sure that they've got those boundaries, make sure and be very clear about what those boundaries are, you know, like, because if that once those lines get muddled, muddied, it's very difficult to clear the line up again. And then invariably, the process of going from a muddy line to a clear line is, is going to be very dirty. You know what I mean? I think we've talked a lot about a quite a few
different things in here. Are you, are you interested in moving to the Lightning Round?
Yeah, I've been nervous, trying to anticipate what you're going to say. But I guess that's the point that I can't anticipate it. Um, yeah, let's go.
That is exactly the point. And for, for all the new listeners out there, the Lightning Round is five quick questions. But what's great is when what people may not realize is, I do my research. I always, always, always have a chat and a conversation with the guests, potential guests ahead of time. And then I always send them a copy of the outline. They know the Lightning Round is coming, but I block out what the questions are and I leave a little smiley face saying that they have no idea what the
questions are. So personally, I giggle when I send that part, and it makes me laugh. But, but we're here, we're ready to go. I promise. Nothing crazy. All leadership related. All right, are you ready?
Ready.
Excellent. So question number one. As a leader, what do you consider to be your greatest strength?
I think my greatest strength is that I'm not a perfectionist, I don't get caught up in the details. I actually don't really care about the details. I don't want to know them. I know what I have to do. And I know what's important to get that done. And I can recognize what is just like extra junk that's going to, like hold me back from doing it efficiently.
That's perfect. Great. Thank you. Question number two... cup half full or cup half empty?
Before, a year and a half ago, it would have been half empty. But now it is definitely half full. I look at everything as positive and a learning experience. It's not like a personal attack.
Oh, that's fantastic. I love the way you worded that. That's really great. Question number three. If you could ask leadership advice from any leader alive or dead? Who would it be? And what is the question?
That one's hard.
It is.
I really admire.... the first name that comes to mind is Dave Hollis. Rachel Hollis' ex-husband, because I know him personally and I really do admire his leadership. But I can't think of a name but some woman in the fashion industry who's really high up, I'd love to talk to her about boundaries and like, what are your boundaries? How do you set them? How do you enforce them? That's an interesting question. We'll have to chat about that. I can see that as a whole episode
unto itself. I love it. Question number four, in one word, describe your feelings the first time you were placed in the role as the leader. Pumped.
Awesome. Excellent. Great advance, there is no wrong answer. That's great to hear. And the final question, Question number five, in one minute, describe what you believe is the most important idea or concept for a new leader to consider as they take on their role.
Formulating.... so the things that we talked about already I won't cover again, those are very important, but emotional intelligence is very important. And being mature and not being someone who's very dramatic or takes offense easily. Someone that can be very objective and respectful of other people's opinions. But when there's an issue, you're not going to explode on the issue. You're going to take a step back. Think about it. Think about what is the best way to
handle it and then do that. So, being emotionally intelligent and proactive.
That's fantastic. You know, I To coincidentally down the road, I'm going to be having a podcast episode about emotional intelligence and the importance of understanding it, how to how to how to recognize it and and how to employ it. So maybe we'll have you back for that. That'd be fantastic. Awesome. Awesome. Well, listen, Gill, Gillian, I've heard both so I'll go with Gill, it's been a real treat having you out here today. Thanks so much for all of your
time. Did you have any final thoughts at all, before we move into the conclusion?
Just that this was really fun for me. This is a topic that I'm very passionate about that I only get to rant to my husband about, and to be able to talk to somebody that has a lot of experience, and is also really passionate about it, was so cool.
Oh, thank thank you so much. It has been, honestly a real true pleasure and an honor to be able to speak with you. And just just get to pick your brain and see what your thoughts about leadership are. We brought up some great points. And I really believe that those leaders that listen to this podcast are really going to gain from from everything that we've talked about. Thank you so much for that.
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Well, that's a wrap from the front. In this episode, we learned that it's okay to look up to those we see as natural leaders, to emulate the points we like, and blend them with our own personal traits to make our own leadership style. But we have to be careful to not do this at the expense of our own values and who we are as people. If you'd like to hear more from Gillian, you can find links to her podcast, Sober Powered, in the show notes. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.
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A Podcast From the Front, produced by iglen studios music provided by Ashamaluev Music.