Here's what leadership is actually all about...
Today's goal: to give you some major aha moments!
At the beginning of this year, I headed to NOLA for 3-days to attend the Rising Tide Society Leaders Retreat. I was expecting to eat some beignets, meet some cool people, and come home feeling a little more inspired.
Welp. I came home a changed woman!
My head was spinning — and clearer at the same time — after learning from incredible speakers and selfless leaders.
So, naturally, I wanted to share everything I learned with you.
Since you don't have all day, I compiled my top 5 aha moments / lessons learned for you.
01. Leadership isn't about you at all.
Turns out leadership isn't about living a glamorous life, being a rockstar on stage, having everyone know your name, and sitting at the cool kids table…
Leadership isn't about you. It's about who you're serving.
Leading isn't about becoming known. It's about knowing them — the people you're serving.
"Leaders stand up and call out the good in YOU." — Mary Marantz
Mary tore down my vision of what it means to be a leader and replaced it with a much gentler, approachable, reachable version... And I am so so thankful she did.
02. It's better to grow slow.
Hear me out on this one.
I'm sure you've heard the saying "it's okay to grow slow" before and fought the urge to roll your eyes (like me) thinking "Yeah, that's easy for you to say because you're already grown and doing the dang thing!"
Really think about it though...
Would you rather falter and fumble through your first speech in front of 10 people or 1,000 people?
(I'll take the audience of 10 please!)
Next time you're wishing you were further along, think about this analogy (from the amazing Mary):
Would you rather be a weed or a tree?
Which one do you think is sticking around longer?
Credit goes to: Mary Marantz. All I did was take the notes and get my mind blown. ;)
03. You are enough.
You are enough. Period. End of sentence.
Your story is enough to inspire + motivate + encourage others.
Fill in the blank with your gut response to this statement:
I am not ___________ enough.
Now replace that negative with TRUTH:
I am ___________ enough.
Before this moment at the retreat, the night before actually, you know what I was thinking? "I'm not making enough to be around these incredibly boss women."
Well, I wasn't alone in my thoughts.
Everyone in that room felt not enough for some reason or another.
Imagine what would happen if we all believed we were, in fact, enough...
Empowering, incredible, ground breaking things.
Credit for this exercise goes to Mary Marantz again!
04. Instead of asking "Who am I to..."
Ask yourself:
"Who am I NOT to show up and serve my audience?" — Jessica Rasdall
You were given gifts for a reason.
Don't doubt them or waste them.
Use them to advance and serve others.
05. "Pop your creative bubble."
After Jessica Rasdall made us all cry with her story, I went up to her personally and asked a question / shared an insecurity:
"How do you know when you're ready to speak? How do you know when you have a story to share? I look around this room and see business owners far beyond where I am in this entrepreneurial journey... which makes me feel like I can't possibly have anything unique to teach or share with them."
Jessica's advice (paraphrasing):
"Stop trying to teach and speak to those people. Pop your creative bubble. Think about the people you can serve right now — with where you are on your journey."
And then she asked me two totally mind-shifting questions:
What message do you want to share?
Who needs to hear it?
All credit for this exercise goes to Jessica Rasdall.
Is your mind blown yet!? I hope so.
My mind was still moving 100 mph / minute for weeks after I came home, dreaming about where to go from here — or more importantly — who I can help and how I can serve you better from here.
Because, as it turns out, that's what leadership is actually all about... serving YOU.